(IR) Announcing a New Strategic Roleplaying Campaign of Epic Proportions!

[Xael]

Organizations not primarily based on a specific location:

The Circle of Eight:
(A powerful group of Neutral high level Wizards)

Neutral. Wizards. No backwater slums to take care of. Sold!

It's like designed just for me...

 

[Knight Otu]

You know, I very much like the half-fiend great red wyrm Ashardalon introduced in the Adventure Path, nominally set in Greyhawk, and the undeath/demonic cult around him. Though officially, he would be killed in Bastion of Broken Souls, the location of his death do make a return somewhat possible. And even if not, a partially undead faction might be interesting.

Of course, I should try to decide on a more core-ish faction.

 

[Lichtenhart]

Ah. Palpatine, the soon-to be-Emperor who would mismanage his Empire disastrously and drive it into rebellion against himself. Not a good role-model at all .

Well, he would have crushed the rebellion if the ewoks hadn't been revised overnight from CR 1/2 to 27.

Anyway I'll stop hijackin' the thread now. Have fun!

 

[Serpenteye]

Neutral. Wizards. No backwater slums to take care of. Sold!

It's like designed just for me...

Great! You might need a couple of little backwaters somewhere, or we might set you up as a covert organization.

--

I've been thinking a bit about espionage and infiltration. Everything has a cost in my IR, but everything that has an expence will also have its rewards.
To place a spy in an enemy territory you have to pay an amount in PL that's based on the value of the territory. 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 small fee. Once they know there's a spy they have an option to find and remove it, for a cost that's slightly lower than the base-value of the amount of PLs that the agressor payed to have it placed there in the first place.
One spy gives you important intelligence about your target, but nothing else. To gain influence over a territory you must pay a greater amount of PLs, because it's naturally a lot harder and more expensive. (I'm still mulling over just how expensive this will be) Influence translates into PLs, and once you have gained influence over a territory you will automatically gain a percentage of the PL of the territory as your own (the same amount will be takes from the owner of the territory, who will automatically know he's being robbed, though not by whom).
There are seven different degrees of control over a territory: Spy, minor (10%), considerable (25%), significant (50%), Normal (75%), Overwhelming (90%), Total (100%). Once your influence (and, if you wish, the influence of your allies) over a territory exceeds the influence of the other factions in that territory you will take over the management of the territory and it will be officially yours (though other factions will still be there they are then considered infiltrators). Infiltration is incremental, you have to have 10% control before you can get 25% control, etc. Though the owner of a territory can target several different infiltrators in his territory in the same month he can only reclaim one increment of control from each of them in that time.
Once a territory is considered yours you will get a decrease to the cost of further infiltration and anti-infiltration. The same mechanic is used to get rid of foreign influence in your territories as you use to establish your influence.
Some races will be harder to inflitrate, it will require more PL to get them under your control and they will get a bonus to getting rid of infiltrators in their territory. Celestials, Devils, Dwarves, Formians... etc. Also, the more totalitarian a regime is the harder it will be to get control over its territories and especially cosmopolitical regions will be easier to get into.

I'm thinking of giving some of the factions a special trait, Infiltrator, that will reduce their cost for all infiltration with between 25% and 50% (but the reduction will only work for the player who controls the faction, it does not allow the allies of the faction to funnel resources trough it to reduce their expenses.)
This will give small factions that's specialized in working this way a way to become powerful at the expense of their big, powerful neigbours. Though if they find out the location of your headquarters they might make a little visit...
Eluvan's faction would almost certainly get this trait.



Please, don't be frightened by an apparent complexity of the rules. If you don't want to concern yourself with the details you can leave them up to me. It's like a computer game, there's a lot of calculations going on all the time that the player doesn't really have to care about unless he wants to be as competitive as possible. I need the rules to be fair to you all, without rules I would be arbitrary and might easily be manipulated by your fellow players.

 

[Serpenteye]

You know, I very much like the half-fiend great red wyrm Ashardalon introduced in the Adventure Path, nominally set in Greyhawk, and the undeath/demonic cult around him. Though officially, he would be killed in Bastion of Broken Souls, the location of his death do make a return somewhat possible. And even if not, a partially undead faction might be interesting.

Of course, I should try to decide on a more core-ish faction.

He could be core-ish...

20 years have passed since the current Living-Greyhawk-time. Ashardalon could have used his cult, and his own considerable power, to take over one of the major factions on the map. It would be very interesting to see the Kevellond League or the Great Kingdom under the rule of an evil soul-eating Dragon.

--
Generally I want to see the map filled by player-controlled factions. That will spare me from playing too many NPC's, and since the game is about Domination it makes sense that the major players are the Players. That being said, I will of course adapt the faction to the wishes of the player. If someone wants the Empire of Iuz ruled by an Archon that's not at all impossible. If someone else wants to play a corrupted Celene that's just great. And if someone else feels that his faction could be a bit more powerful I'll have no objections to giving them a couple of new territories from the minor non-player nations, as long as it doesn't get too out of control.
Btw, the Minor Nations need not be minor at all. If you want we can merge some of them into an alliance under player-control. It's all good, or evil.

 

[Xael]

Great! You might need a couple of little backwaters somewhere, or we might set you up as a covert organization.

Yeah, backwater town/whatever or two wouldn't hurt really. I just have to make sure that they aren't backwater towns for long.

Please, don't be frightened by an apparent complexity of the rules.

Heh, the first few posts of the 3RD IR thread(s) were kinda overwhelming at first.

 

[Serpenteye]

Yeah, backwater town/whatever or two wouldn't hurt really. I just have to make sure that they aren't backwater towns for long.

Perhaps Highfolk, The Valley of the Mage, Vesve Forest and The Yatils?

Heh, the first few posts of the 3RD IR thread(s) were kinda overwhelming at first.

Heh... I was so young back then. Good times .

 

[Xael]

Perhaps Highfolk, The Valley of the Mage, Vesve Forest and The Yatils?

I finally found a map of Greyhawk, and I'd have to say that those areas look fine from placement point of view. Not that I know anything about them, but anyway...

 

[Serpenteye]

I finally found a map of Greyhawk, and I'd have to say that those areas look fine from placement point of view. Not that I know anything about them, but anyway...

Information will be forthcoming, but if you want them a specific way you can remake them in your image.

 

[Knight Otu]

Hmm... Ahlissa and surrounding areas might be nice, Ashardalon ruling in secret after his return, planting a figurehead as the overking for the time being...