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Fantasy Arms Race, Round Two
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<blockquote data-quote="Dr. Strangemonkey" data-source="post: 678557" data-attributes="member: 6533"><p>First of all, I'd like to tip my hat to RangerWickett for a perfect scenario for the sequel to Arms Race I. There is no way I could have thought of a better way to continue the conversation into more complex civilizations without making every post way too long and complicated.</p><p></p><p>I agree that the Plains people are likely to pick up a good few tactics from their adversaries. Shields seem to me to be the most likely migration. Bronze should be near impossible for them to reverse engineer unless they have much better knowledge of mining then your scenario implies.</p><p></p><p>But I would think that the quest for bronze would lead them to attempt to find a culture that knew about it and was either willing to teach them or had bronze smiths that were acquirable either through defection or espionage. This would lead to greater exploration at the least and possibly both boats or some mystical or ritual means of contacting some knowing entity such as a dragon or genie.</p><p></p><p>Now, an additional effect that is certain to occur is a drastic restructuring of the society given their loss of manpower. With several important effects:</p><p></p><p>First, they're going to develop infrastructure so they can watch their borders, negotiate, make fortification, and train militias.</p><p></p><p>Second, they're going to have to develop central organization in order to do so. For taxes, administration, and coordination.</p><p></p><p>Third, some element of the prior society will gain a lot of power.</p><p></p><p>The priests are a likely beneficiary from principal three: They are already pretty powerful and they were key to getting people organized enough to turn back the invaders.</p><p></p><p>If they or their clients win out then:</p><p>The infrastructure is likely to be fairly magical and conservative in nature, as they seek to regrow the population, use their own talents, and keep their people safe and unchanged.</p><p></p><p>In order to keep people safe from invaders they will probably use their druidic powers to change the country side. The Coastline and borders will be sprinkled with magicly shaped watch tower trees, coastal villages will be surrounded by cleverly engineered marshes through which there will be hidden safe paths, and hidden strongholds will be constructed out of earth and briar works. A communication network will be established based on homing pigeons. When an invading army is spotted, word will be sent to all the threatened villages. The population will then fall back to the strongholds while the militias organize to use the swamps against the adversary.</p><p></p><p>Buff, camauflage, trap, and information spells will see increased development, and orders of druids trained in wilderness maintenance and fighting will become the officers of the nation. Military forces will be formed into orders that will enforce specialized training and division so that the druids and people won't be threatened by a unified military coup. Fairs and religious competitions will encourage men to train in skills useful in guerrilla warfare, in the tradition of their plainsmen forebears, while a select few are then selected for the military orders. The druids will also encourage training with combat animals, which leads to such peacetime benefits as new methods of wildlife management, beasts of burden, exotic guard beasts, new food beasts, and beasts of labor. All on a scale unknown by most societies as the value of labor in the wake of invasion increases.</p><p></p><p>The order of the Dog and Stag will be the most independent order. It's members will be trained for patrolling the wilderness, and not only will they be excellent scouts but they will also keep the wilderness safe by identifying and eliminating wild threats. The Druids feel that they will not disturb the society as they spend so much time away from it, though they maintain strong ties as hunters and heroes. They develop their own mystic traditions in order to promote internal unity. In times of conflict they will be the first alert and the rank and file will constantly harrass and confuse the enemy. They will also support the druid lead guerrilla militias, and make heavy use of animal companions.</p><p></p><p>The order of the Wolf and Bear will be intimately tied to the druids. They will spend peacetime as Temple guards and peacekeepers, and will be trained to use what heavy equipment the druids allow and rely on magical support in combat. In the event of invasion, they will be the organizers of stronghold defense and the core of any large military formations that the druids must form. This order will attempt to learn from and use the secrets of the blessed dog warriors. At once they become handlers of the lycanthropes learning how to use their fits to harass enemies at night and over long ranges, and they gain transformational techniques themselves, gaining the ability to rage. They will be trained to fight alongside animals, but only while the druids they revere control them.</p><p></p><p>The society as a whole becomes more xenophobic and anti-technological, viewing metal weapons with great distrust, but the new levels of prosperity brought by their greater understanding of nature and use of animals combines with the Druid desire to see what other nations might be a threat to create an order of merchants/ explorers/diplomats. These individuals are kept largely ignorant of the druids magical techniques in order to prevent military secrets from leaking, but they become highly skilled in travel, espionage, and trade. Their relationship with the Druids becomes very close as the Druids become the major supporters of their venture in order to protect the people from heavy taxation. Some druids even participate in this venture resulting in a great deal of cross training and friendship, though also a certain amount of friendly tension in situations where command is in question. Both druids and traders are careful to show the benefit from these ventures to the populace in limited ways. They want them to benefit, but do not want them to develop a spirit of materialist greed and individualism that would lead to both increased competition and societal breakdown. In fact the countryside becomes rife with hidden structures as the traders seek to enjoy their wealth in secret and the druids use the often abandoned strongholds as settings for magical experimentation, working to limit the results of failures and maximize the benefits of successes for the defense of the people. Not too mention the secret outposts of the Dog order and the 'holds' in which the Wolf order keep their dog soldiers and practice their rage techniques. </p><p></p><p>To outsiders the nation appears to be a sort of Shangri-La in which the people live in harmony with nature, practice fabulous games, and seem largely untroubled by grim professions. At the same time, they will gain the distinct impression that all is not what it seems and that there are places and answers to which they are not welcome.</p><p></p><p>Another scenario would be for the military side of society to gain power as the druids lose prestige for not stopping the invasion earlier. No need to go into as much detail, but the character of the society itself changes as they become far more technological looking to craft things without as much reliance on druid mysteries and to capitalize on what they learned from the invaders. Everyone spends time in the militia, villages are walled and connected by broad roads, fortresses appear in which the military elite are housed and trained. Magic focuses on gaining concrete and long term advantages. As the expense grows the society becomes actively expansionistic. Looking to loot and raid. At first they target local threats such as unfriendly dragons and monsters with their most elite and changed heroes. After they learnd about metal they force local groups of goblinoids to mine for them. And they begin to look for targets that will be less threatening to their commanders and hold larger and more human profits. </p><p></p><p>The society becomes very spartan and the church limits itself to very prestigious oracular pronouncements. Learning a great deal about divination, summoning, and spell and item creation. Turning increasingly arcane and 'scientific.'</p><p></p><p>I prefer the first option, but find the contrasting evolutions interesting.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dr. Strangemonkey, post: 678557, member: 6533"] First of all, I'd like to tip my hat to RangerWickett for a perfect scenario for the sequel to Arms Race I. There is no way I could have thought of a better way to continue the conversation into more complex civilizations without making every post way too long and complicated. I agree that the Plains people are likely to pick up a good few tactics from their adversaries. Shields seem to me to be the most likely migration. Bronze should be near impossible for them to reverse engineer unless they have much better knowledge of mining then your scenario implies. But I would think that the quest for bronze would lead them to attempt to find a culture that knew about it and was either willing to teach them or had bronze smiths that were acquirable either through defection or espionage. This would lead to greater exploration at the least and possibly both boats or some mystical or ritual means of contacting some knowing entity such as a dragon or genie. Now, an additional effect that is certain to occur is a drastic restructuring of the society given their loss of manpower. With several important effects: First, they're going to develop infrastructure so they can watch their borders, negotiate, make fortification, and train militias. Second, they're going to have to develop central organization in order to do so. For taxes, administration, and coordination. Third, some element of the prior society will gain a lot of power. The priests are a likely beneficiary from principal three: They are already pretty powerful and they were key to getting people organized enough to turn back the invaders. If they or their clients win out then: The infrastructure is likely to be fairly magical and conservative in nature, as they seek to regrow the population, use their own talents, and keep their people safe and unchanged. In order to keep people safe from invaders they will probably use their druidic powers to change the country side. The Coastline and borders will be sprinkled with magicly shaped watch tower trees, coastal villages will be surrounded by cleverly engineered marshes through which there will be hidden safe paths, and hidden strongholds will be constructed out of earth and briar works. A communication network will be established based on homing pigeons. When an invading army is spotted, word will be sent to all the threatened villages. The population will then fall back to the strongholds while the militias organize to use the swamps against the adversary. Buff, camauflage, trap, and information spells will see increased development, and orders of druids trained in wilderness maintenance and fighting will become the officers of the nation. Military forces will be formed into orders that will enforce specialized training and division so that the druids and people won't be threatened by a unified military coup. Fairs and religious competitions will encourage men to train in skills useful in guerrilla warfare, in the tradition of their plainsmen forebears, while a select few are then selected for the military orders. The druids will also encourage training with combat animals, which leads to such peacetime benefits as new methods of wildlife management, beasts of burden, exotic guard beasts, new food beasts, and beasts of labor. All on a scale unknown by most societies as the value of labor in the wake of invasion increases. The order of the Dog and Stag will be the most independent order. It's members will be trained for patrolling the wilderness, and not only will they be excellent scouts but they will also keep the wilderness safe by identifying and eliminating wild threats. The Druids feel that they will not disturb the society as they spend so much time away from it, though they maintain strong ties as hunters and heroes. They develop their own mystic traditions in order to promote internal unity. In times of conflict they will be the first alert and the rank and file will constantly harrass and confuse the enemy. They will also support the druid lead guerrilla militias, and make heavy use of animal companions. The order of the Wolf and Bear will be intimately tied to the druids. They will spend peacetime as Temple guards and peacekeepers, and will be trained to use what heavy equipment the druids allow and rely on magical support in combat. In the event of invasion, they will be the organizers of stronghold defense and the core of any large military formations that the druids must form. This order will attempt to learn from and use the secrets of the blessed dog warriors. At once they become handlers of the lycanthropes learning how to use their fits to harass enemies at night and over long ranges, and they gain transformational techniques themselves, gaining the ability to rage. They will be trained to fight alongside animals, but only while the druids they revere control them. The society as a whole becomes more xenophobic and anti-technological, viewing metal weapons with great distrust, but the new levels of prosperity brought by their greater understanding of nature and use of animals combines with the Druid desire to see what other nations might be a threat to create an order of merchants/ explorers/diplomats. These individuals are kept largely ignorant of the druids magical techniques in order to prevent military secrets from leaking, but they become highly skilled in travel, espionage, and trade. Their relationship with the Druids becomes very close as the Druids become the major supporters of their venture in order to protect the people from heavy taxation. Some druids even participate in this venture resulting in a great deal of cross training and friendship, though also a certain amount of friendly tension in situations where command is in question. Both druids and traders are careful to show the benefit from these ventures to the populace in limited ways. They want them to benefit, but do not want them to develop a spirit of materialist greed and individualism that would lead to both increased competition and societal breakdown. In fact the countryside becomes rife with hidden structures as the traders seek to enjoy their wealth in secret and the druids use the often abandoned strongholds as settings for magical experimentation, working to limit the results of failures and maximize the benefits of successes for the defense of the people. Not too mention the secret outposts of the Dog order and the 'holds' in which the Wolf order keep their dog soldiers and practice their rage techniques. To outsiders the nation appears to be a sort of Shangri-La in which the people live in harmony with nature, practice fabulous games, and seem largely untroubled by grim professions. At the same time, they will gain the distinct impression that all is not what it seems and that there are places and answers to which they are not welcome. Another scenario would be for the military side of society to gain power as the druids lose prestige for not stopping the invasion earlier. No need to go into as much detail, but the character of the society itself changes as they become far more technological looking to craft things without as much reliance on druid mysteries and to capitalize on what they learned from the invaders. Everyone spends time in the militia, villages are walled and connected by broad roads, fortresses appear in which the military elite are housed and trained. Magic focuses on gaining concrete and long term advantages. As the expense grows the society becomes actively expansionistic. Looking to loot and raid. At first they target local threats such as unfriendly dragons and monsters with their most elite and changed heroes. After they learnd about metal they force local groups of goblinoids to mine for them. And they begin to look for targets that will be less threatening to their commanders and hold larger and more human profits. The society becomes very spartan and the church limits itself to very prestigious oracular pronouncements. Learning a great deal about divination, summoning, and spell and item creation. Turning increasingly arcane and 'scientific.' I prefer the first option, but find the contrasting evolutions interesting. [/QUOTE]
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