The (mostly finished) Rules of the 5th IR
The Turn
The IR is divided into turns. Each of them is three months long and roughly represents a season.
At the beginning of each turn I request that you send me an E-Mail at
ecaf99@hotmail.com where you let me know how you will allocate your power that turn. Tell me how many Power Points you put into Industrializing your respective provinces, how much you spend on Technology or Magic or how much you reserve for Infiltration or the Military. Let me know how you allocate your military PLs, if you upgrade your Regular armies to Elite and Your Elite armies to Epic. I need this information to know just how powerful you are going to be during the Turn.
When you and I know how your faction is going to invest its power for the Turn it's time for the game to begin.
If you do not send me an E-Mail before each Turn I'm going to allocate your power in a way that I think is in accordance with the nature of your faction in a way that I believe they would believe would benefit them. I do this for NPC-factions, but you may find that it is less than optimized for what you had in mind.
(note to self: polish and clarify)
Above all else the IR is a game about power. Power is, after all, the ability to affect the world around you. The object of the game is power and the means to the end is power. There are many different expressions of power. A brilliant speach or diplomatic negotiation can in the right circumstances guarantee your victory. Propaganda and manipulation are vital tools to control your own population, NPC-factions and even the other players. Role-playing is your most powerful tool to acheive true power. But there is much more to the game.
Industry, technology, war, magic, divinity and infiltration are the other tools at your disposal. They benefit your faction in different ways, and though you need not master them all they will all be relevant to the outcome of the game.
Industry
Industry is the backbone of the IR. The combined Industrial Capacity (IC) of your provinces determines how many Power Points you get to spend each season (3-month turn) of the game. The IC of the province itself is not reduced by this, but gives at the beginning of each turn yet more Power Points for you to spend. It represents the productive aspects of technology, your smithys, factories, farms, all the hard work of the vast majority of your population.
The IC of a province is tied to three factors.
*The amount of power you invest directly into the province at the beginning of each turn determines the maximum amount of IC the province will give you next season (And, cumulative with your future investments, the amount of IC it will give you in future turns).
1 power point invested gives you ½ points of IC, 10 PP invested gives 5 IC, etc.
*
The maximum level of Industrial Capacity in a province is limited by the population of the province multiplied with the tech-level of your faction divided by 200’000.
A province with a popluation of 600’000 inhabitants and a tech-level of 5 has a maximum IC of 15. A province with a population of 23’000’000 inhabitants and a tech-level of 20 has a maximum IC of 2300. (You still have to spend PPs to get the ICs)
Technology
You all begin with a level of technology roughly equivalent to what Europe had the year 1500. In the prologue to the IR you were all given access to blue-prints, schematics and copies of more advanced technology but for now you lack the infrastructure required to manufacture most of the inventions. You know, or can rather easily find out, how to put this infrastructure together, how to manufacture the factories you need to make the components to make the factories to make the components to make the factories to make the components and the factories required to make a car or a tank, or an airplane. But doing all that takes time. Technology is complicated, but in the IR it’s rather simple.
You create the infrastructure needed to apply your technologies in increments, linearly, by spending Power Points.
You need to spend 50 PPs to advance your entire faction one level in technology. You have the option of spending more Power Points, as many as you like, and advance accordingly. The levels of technology are equivalent to the European (and, when later applicable to the North American) level of technology according to the following table;
1: 1500
2: 1600
3: 1650
4: 1700
5: 1725
6: 1750
7: 1775
8: 1800
9: 1810
10: 1820
11: 1830
12: 1840
13: 1850
14: 1860
15: 1870
16: 1880
17: 1885
18: 1890
19: 1895
20: 1900
21: 1905
22: 1910
23: 1915
24: 1920
25: 1925
26: 1930
27: 1935
28: 1940
29: 1942
30: 1944
31: 1946
etc.
Every 4th level of technology all your military units (except for militia after level 4) gains an increase of their attack and defence-values by +1 and +1. The strategic mobility of your units increases gradually, but this is a minor effect compared to magic. Technology also has an impact on your maximal industrial capacity.
Population
Each territory has a population that functions as the labour-force of your economy and the recruitment-pool of your army. A territory without population is of very limited use to anyone.
War
War is the continuation of diplomacy with other means. If you can’t get what you want by talking to your fellow faction-leader don’t be afraid to beat them up until they surrender. Killing is the easiest thing in the word, it’s staying alive that’s difficult.
Conventional warfare is decided by the roll of a die. A number of factors can affect the outcome, but at its heart the system is random.
First I roll one d6 for the attacker, then for the defender. If the attackers modified roll is higher than the defenders the attacker damages the defender. If the attacker and the defender have as many Power Levels in the battle (the base measure of military strength) the attacker inflicts a damage on the defender of 1/10th of the defenders original strength in the battle.
If the attackers are more numerous than the defenders (has more PLs in the battle) they will inflict damage in proportion to their relative numbers. If he’s 1,5 times as numerous he’ll inflict 1,5 times as much damage as if the numbers were equal.
When I have rolled for the attacker I will then make the same rolls for the defender.
The defender will then become the attacker and his current strength will be used for calculating damage. And so it continues, back and forth, until either side has been defeated.
There are four different categories of armies; Militia, Regular, Elite and Epic Armies.
*
Militia is recruited directly out of your common population. They are 1-3 level characters of NPC classes, barely trained, nearly useless individually, but in great enough numbers they can be a terrible threat. Militia can be conscripted or recruited for no direct cost. You don’t have to pay any Power Points to create Militia armies, and they are the one kind of army you can raise after the beginning of a Turn.
Up to 25% of all of the population in a province can be turned into militia at the beginning of a Turn, up to 10% of the population can be mobilized when the Turn has already begun.
One PL of Militia is equivalent to 10’000 individuals.
Militia attacks with a modifier of –4 and defends with a modifier of –3. They do not benefit from improvements in technology beyond lvl 4 in the Technological Armsrace (1700) (they are simply too many for you to be able to equip them with quality weapons).
Militia PLs can be demobilized at the beginning/end of a round and the surviving warriors can be put back into the industrial economy.
*
Regular armies are your usual professional soldiers. They have adequate training and equipment and are PC-classes and monsters of levels 2-6. At the beginning of the game they may be vulnerable against hordes of militia but they will later be able to sweep them aside with ease.
One PL of regular armies costs 1 Power Point to create. They attack and defend with a modifier of +0/+0 and they benefit fully from improvements in technology.
Regular PLs can be demobilized at the beginning/end of a round and the surviving warriors can be put back into the industrial economy. You then regain all the Power Points you spent on creating the surviving Regular PLs.
*
Elite armies are experienced and educated soldiers, or big and scary monsters, of levels 7 to 16. They are deadly opponents who benefit fully both from improvements in technology and from advancement in the Magical Armsrace.
They can only be recruited from the ranks of your Regular armies (they need XPs, you know), at a cost of 10 Regular PLs for one Elite PL. They attack with a modifier of +4 and defend with a modifier of +3.
They, as well as Epic PLs, also have complete strategical mobility; they can Teleport all over the planet whereas Regular and Militia PLs have to travel by mundane means.
Elite armies cannot be demobilized.
*
Epic armies, or more appropriately individials, are the toughest, most skilled combatants on the planet. Your PCs are all Epic, but few others are in the beginning of the game. They are nearly untouchable by Regular PLs and can slaughter Militia without concern. They are as far above Elites as the Elites are above the Regulars.
They are the only ones who can research the Higher Magics in the Magical Armsrace and they benefit fully from both Magic and Technology (though Technology is less significant for them than for the lesser catagories of PL).
Epic PLs can only be recruited from your Elite armies, at a cost of 10 Elite PLs for 1 Epic PL. In other words 1 Elite PL is as expensive as 100 regular PLs, but they may very well be much more valuable than that depending on your play-style.
They attack with a modifier of +8 and defend with a modifier of +7.
Epic armies cannot be demobilized.
Other Modifiers:
*
Technology gives an equal bonus to all units (except for militia after level 4) of +1 for every four levels in the technological armsrace. These bonuses are cumulative.
*A faction that has access to a significant degree of
Clerical or Druidic magic gets a modifier of +1 to defence for Militia, Regular and Elite PLs, and a modifier of +2 to Epic PLs.
*A faction that has access to
10th level magic gains a bonus of +2 to attack and defence for its Elite armies and a bonus of +4 to attack and defence for its Epic armies.
*A faction that has access to
11th level magic gains a bonus of +4 to attack and defence for its Elite armies and a bonus of +8 to attack and defence for its Epic armies.
*A faction that has access to
12th level magic gains a bonus of +8 to attack and defence for its Elite armies and a bonus of +16 to attack and defence for its Epic armies.
*A faction that has access to
13th level magic gains a bonus of +16 to attack and defence for its Elite armies and a bonus of +32 to attack and defence for its Epic armies.
*A faction that has a
Demi-Deity gains a bonus of +1 to defence and attack for all its PLs.
*A character that is a
Demi-Deity gains a personal bonus of +2 to defence and attack.
*A faction that has a
Lesser Deity gains a bonus of +2 to defence and attack for all its PLs.
*A character that is a
Lesser Deity gains a personal bonus of +4 to defence and attack.
*A faction that has an
Intermediate Deity gains a bonus of +4 to defence and attack for all its PLs.
*A character that is an
Intermediate Deity gains a personal bonus of +8 to defence and attack.
*A faction that has a
Greater Deity gains a bonus of +8 to defence and attack for all its PLs.
*A character that is a
Greater Deity gains a personal bonus of +16 to defence and attack.
*A faction that has an
Over-Deity gains a bonus of +16 to defence and attack.for all its PLs.
*A character that is an
Over-Deity gains a personal bonus of +32 to defence and attack.
*A unit in a
fortification in a strongly defendable terrain gets a bonus of +1 to defence and attack against an enemy that doesn’t have access to 10th or higher-level magic.
*A unit in an extremely
strong fortification gets a bonus of +3 to defence and attack against an enemy that doesn’t have access to 10th or higher-level magic.
*A
demoralized army gets a modifier of –2 to defence and attack.
*A
routing army gets a modifier of –4 to defence and cannot attack.
*
Undead PLs gains a bonus of +2 to defence against factions who do not have access to Clerical Magic from a deity of at least Lesser status.
*
Undead PLs gains a modifier of –2 to defence against factions who have access to Clerical Magic from a deity of at least Intermediate status.
*Units who fight in
Dead-Magic Zones do not get any benefit from any kind of Magic, Elite PLs get a modifier of –2 to defence and attack and Epic PLs get a modifier of –4 to defence and attack.
Note:
Like bonuses do not stack. The bonuses for deities and High Magics are not cumulative.
When an army faces an enemy it believes it cannot defeat it will usually become demoralized. It will fight at a reduced efficiency and will attempt to disengage and retreat from the battle. If it cannot retreat in order it will either rout (break apart), surrender, or fight to the death.
Magic
Magic is the most powerful force on Oerth. It can destroy whole continents, and remake them anew. It can transform your people into godlike beings, and turn your enemies into toads, or ash. Magic is however expensive, and harder to get than technology.
You all start out at the same level of magical knowledge. All your factions know 0 to 9th level arcane spells. Many factions also have an equivalent knowledge of Psionics of Druidic magic. Psionics have a similar role as arcane magics and the two are therefore technically interchangable with each other, a matter or role-playing of no concern to the rules. Druidic and Clerical magic is another matter, it gives bonuses to the defence of your units and increases your population-growth.
Though your factions begins at the same theoretical level the differences within your factions is immense, as was shown in the chapter about War. What will be discussed here is the race for Higher levels of Magic and the power of the Higher Level spells.
In the IR magic works a bit differently than in normal DnD for characters in the Epic levels. First of all, there are no Epic level spells. Secondly, spells can not be metamagicked above 9th level. Thirdly, there are 10th level spells, 11th level spells, 12th level spells and 13th level spells. These Higher levels of spells are not a mere linear continuation of the normal spell-levels. They are vastly more powerful than normal 0 to 9th level spells and they are not (usually) cast by individual spellcasters but by the combined magical skill and willpower of the casters of an entire faction.
No PC faction has the power to cast 10th level spells at the beginning of the IR, the ability has to be researched. Unfortunately magic of such extreme power and difficulty is beyond the grasp of most people, and only a handful of your most talented spellcasters can ever hope to master its secrets. Also, even more unfortunately, such magics are as fickle as they are powerful and dabbling in it before one has achieved true mastery often comes with a deadly price.
Only your Epic PLs can be used to research the Higher level spells, and they are permanently spent by doing so. No magic has the power to bring them back to life.
Magic is researched in a similar way as technology, though both the price and the rewards are much higher.
After spending 50 points of Epic PLs in the Magic Armsrace your faction gains the power to cast 10th level spells. After spending a total of 200 Epic PLs in the Magic Armsrace you gain the power to cast 11th level spells. 12th level spellcasting costs 600 Epic PLs and you get 13th for 1000 Epic PLs.
The number of 10th, 11th 12th and 13th level spells that a faction can cast per turn depends on the amount of Epic PLs the faction has. Naturally a greater number of casters enables a faction to cast a greater number of spells. The Spell-progression is as follows:
………………….10th lvl spells…11th lvl spells…12th lvl spells…13th lvl spells
20 Epic PL……..…1…………………..0……………………0………………….0
50 Epic PL……..…1…………………..0……………………0………………….0
80 Epic PL……..…2…………………..0……………………0………………….0
110 Epic PL……..2…………………..0……………………0………………….0
140 Epic PL……..3…………………..1……………………0………………….0
170 Epic PL……..3…………………..1……………………0………………….0
200 Epic PL……..4…………………..2……………………0………………….0
230 Epic PL……..4…………………..2……………………0………………….0
260 Epic PL……..5…………………..3……………………1………………….0
290 Epic PL……..5…………………..3……………………1………………….0
320 Epic PL……..6…………………..4……………………2………………….0
350 Epic PL……..6…………………..4……………………2………………….0
380 Epic PL……..7…………………..5……………………3………………….1
410 Epic PL……..7…………………..5……………………3………………….1
440 Epic PL……..8…………………..6……………………4………………….2
470 Epic PL……..8…………………..6……………………4………………….2
500 Epic PL……..9…………………..7……………………5………………….3
As you can see you need to spend a lot of Epic PLs to cast the Higher level spells, but you also have to have a lot of Epic PLs to cast them. It’s a trade-off between quantity and quality.
What good are those spells anyway?
Well, there are three aspects of the Higher level spells. Destructive, Defensive and Creative.
*A 10th level spell can
destroy an area the size of Celene utterly, wiping out all life (except for a few lucky Epic PLs) and destroying the very bedrock itself.
*It can
devastate an area the size of Nyrond, destroying most life but leaving some stronger structures only badly damaged and most Epic PLs alive.
*It can
affect an area the size of the Kevellond League, causing widespread death and destruction but leaving most common people alive.
*It can also counter-spell any of those destructive effects.
*A 10th level spell can permanently enhance a number of individuals. It can give them enhanced ability scores, natural, extraordinary or supernatural abilities. The lesser the number of people affacted the stronger the effect.
In game-terms it increases your Elite PL by 100.
*
A 10th level spell can restore the damage caused by a 10th level spell in an area one degree smaller. It can restore the damage to an area the size of Celene that was damaged by a spell that affected an area the size of Nyrond. (It’s always easier to destroy than to create).
11th level spells are even more powerful (note to self: write more later).
Infiltration
Few rulers have complete and utter control over their countries, there’s always someone who’s either powerful enough to flaunt the laws openly or cunning enough to do so unnoticed. Either way, not all the production of a territory falls into the hands of the lawful ruler.
Most territories in the IR have Partial Ownership. Usually it’s a minor NPC faction that keeps some of the revenue of the territory out of the ruler’s hands. It can be a thieves guild, a church, a merchant-guild or a powerful corporation. It can be a rebel-force, a mages guild, or just a bunch of unorganized disloyal citizens. In other cases the cause is more sinister, because you can also infiltrate and undermine each other.
The lowest level of Infiltration is Espionage.
To place a spy in a territory you have to spend 1/20th of the IC-value of the territory in PLs as a one-time expense. Once you have placed a spy you will gain information about important occurrences in the territory or organization you have infiltrated. Your target has a small automatic chance to discover that there is a spy in their territory and if they don't find out they can nevertheless conduct a routine search for a cost of 1 PL.
Once they know there's a spy they have an option to find and remove it, for a cost of 1/20th of the IC-value of the territory.
The next level of control gives you 5% of the IC-value of the territory every turn. This level, and every following level of control, entitles you to a share of the IC-output of the territory.
To establish control over a territory you have to make an oposed d20 roll. It costs 1/10th of the IC-value of the territory to establish control.
It works the same way for the following levels of control.
The cost of establishing a 25% control over a territory is 1/4th of the IC-value of the territory, cumulative with the cost of the previous level. The cost of 50% is another 1/4th of the IC-value and 75% and 95% and 100% costs another 1/4 of the IC. For every attempt to increase your control there’s an opposed roll of d20.
There are several
bonuses that contributes to the effectiveness of Infiltration:
*
The Infiltrator Faction-Trait reduces the costs for all Infiltration attempts by half.
*
The Alien Faction-Trait gives a cumulative bonus of +5 to the opposed roll both for defending his influence and expanding it in a territory where he has a greater percentage of control than any other faction.
*The Faction that controls a
greater percentage of a territory than any other faction in that territory has a cumulative bonus of +5 to the opposed roll both for defending his influence and expanding it.
*A Faction that knows
10th level spells is immune to infiltration from factions with a lesser degree of magical knowledge and has a +2 to the opposed roll to expand their influence in a territory.
*A faction that knows
11th, 12th or 13th level spells are immune to Infiltration from factions with a lesser degree of magical knowledge and has a +4, +6, and +8 bonus to the opposed roll to expand their influence in a territory.
Conquering a territory by war will randomly remove or reduce the influence of infiltrators in the territory and give the conqueror a controlling percentage of the territory. Depending on the conquerors general policy towards the conquered population new organizations may arise.
Divinity
Hard times are coming to Oerth. The World is under siege from both the outside and within, and noone knows when a violent death might descend upon them. In times like these many people will turn to the Gods, crying out for help, for salvation. But the Gods will not hear them, for the Gods are gone.
Will the power of the faith of the people of Oerth be spilled away in desperation and fear or will new Deities arise to give succor to mortal man's weakness? The people will surely need Gods to look after them in this time of crisis. There is power to be had for those who are strong enough to ascend.
There are no hard-coded rules for attaining Divinity, but the people tend to love a winner. Be successful, be charismatic, fulfill the spiritual needs of your population and chances are they will begin to worship you as a God.
I was slightly worried that my plans of world domination would went trough the window.![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
