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

[DemonAtheist]

I, as others, have no knowledge of Greyhawk, but am interested nonetheless. Specifically, I'd like to play as some sort of Prince of Thieves.

basic idea would be that, while each city has its own thieves guilds, there is a behind-the-scenes organization that controls and monitors the working of them all. It controls enough people in enough locations to be of value to anyone seeking information, and is more than willing to aid political factions if it thinks there is some reason to.

As such, while the day-to-day activities of the guilds involve pick-pocketing, burglary, begging, and random other low-key crimes, the Shadow Guild (ooh i thought of a name!) plans the major heists, gets close to political leaders, bribes law enforcement, sells services, and organizes anything involving more than one guild. It also keeps the peace between the guilds, with threat of force if necessary.

The leader of the SG is known as the shadow prince. under him are seven master thieves (the shadow hands), and under them are thirteen enforcers and body guards (shadow blades). The Shadow Hands do the lesser political maneuvering, mastermind heists, and do tricky assassinations. The Shadow Blades are the most seen (though still secretive) arm of the Guild, issuing all threats, delivering most messages, and any works of thuggery that individual guilds cannot do. The Prince himself distances himself from thievery, instead making crucial political allies (or enemies, if need be) that suboordinates cannot be trusted with.

Under the Twenty One (above), are a few dozen spies, known to the organization as Eyes. They double as Bards, law enforcement, political advisors, mercenary guild leaders. They do not control their fields, and are never openly admitted to belong to the Guild, but serve as an outlet of information.






What do you think? Should I go read the CS at borders?

 

[GnomeWorks]

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

Not as young as I was!

I will be watching...

 

[Serpenteye]

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...

Those territories would make you a major power in the IR. I think that would suit you well.

I, as others, have no knowledge of Greyhawk, but am interested nonetheless. Specifically, I'd like to play as some sort of Prince of Thieves.

basic idea would be that, while each city has its own thieves guilds, there is a behind-the-scenes organization that controls and monitors the working of them all. It controls enough people in enough locations to be of value to anyone seeking information, and is more than willing to aid political factions if it thinks there is some reason to.

As such, while the day-to-day activities of the guilds involve pick-pocketing, burglary, begging, and random other low-key crimes, the Shadow Guild (ooh i thought of a name!) plans the major heists, gets close to political leaders, bribes law enforcement, sells services, and organizes anything involving more than one guild. It also keeps the peace between the guilds, with threat of force if necessary.

The leader of the SG is known as the shadow prince. under him are seven master thieves (the shadow hands), and under them are thirteen enforcers and body guards (shadow blades). The Shadow Hands do the lesser political maneuvering, mastermind heists, and do tricky assassinations. The Shadow Blades are the most seen (though still secretive) arm of the Guild, issuing all threats, delivering most messages, and any works of thuggery that individual guilds cannot do. The Prince himself distances himself from thievery, instead making crucial political allies (or enemies, if need be) that suboordinates cannot be trusted with.

Under the Twenty One (above), are a few dozen spies, known to the organization as Eyes. They double as Bards, law enforcement, political advisors, mercenary guild leaders. They do not control their fields, and are never openly admitted to belong to the Guild, but serve as an outlet of information.

What do you think? Should I go read the CS at borders?

I like it. Welcome DemonAtheist . Where would you want your guilds to be located? (It might be wise to keep your power concentrated in a few locations since you would otherwise make a lot of enemies from the onset of the game. Thieves guilds are not exactly popular with the people in charge, you know)

Your faction would be an Infiltrator organization (see my post above about espionage). You would not get a lot of powerlevels at first but you would get a unique advantage that could make you very powerful later in the game. You and Eluvan are the only players that will get that particular trait, since I like to keep the trait rare, unless we get a lot of new players who fill more conventional roles as traditional great powers..

Now when I've re-read your post I get the impression that you're not so much interested in controlling territories by infiltration as you are in pure information-gathering. That could be an interesting role to play but it would not make you very powerful.

Not as young as I was!

I will be watching...

Welcome GnomeWorks, hope you'll enjoy the show.
It would be great if you could join in as a player (any faction but the Lortmils). Show these young'uns how it's done .

 

[Serpenteye]

I will be going out of town for a few days, back on monday. I will answer all your questions then.
To anyone who wishes to join: We still have plenty of room for new players. Feel free to claim any territory that hasn't already been claimed by someone else.

 

[Serpenteye]

Good news, I guess... My travel-plans got delayed, and perhaps canceled, by a flat tire, so I'm still around.
We still need a lot of players, so come on in and tell all your friends about it .

 

[Knight Otu]

Not knowing if you're still around, a few questions:

I understand that epic spells a la the ELH are out. What about other high-powered magic (xth level spells or the like)?
I trust we can create artifacts of great power, technological terrors and the like? Given proper time, of course.
Since you've mentioned faction traits: Would they be fully fixed during the game, or could the evolve slightly?

 

[Serpenteye]

Not knowing if you're still around, a few questions:

I understand that epic spells a la the ELH are out. What about other high-powered magic (xth level spells or the like)?
I trust we can create artifacts of great power, technological terrors and the like? Given proper time, of course.
Since you've mentioned faction traits: Would they be fully fixed during the game, or could the evolve slightly?

There will be very high-powered magic. 10th and 11th level spells will be extremely powerful and vastly enhance the fighting ability of your armies, as
well as help against infiltration and espionage. It will be expensive, of course, but if you manage to get it in time, and are not wiped out by more agressive players first, it will likely be worth it.

Technology will be more incremental and will give a steady increase in your productivity and fighting-ability turn by turn. Purely militarily you might be better off with magic (even nukes will not compare with the power of magical catastrophes though magically enhanced nukes might) but industrial production will probably be the single most important factor in the IR altogether. Higher level magics might enable you to do some rather radical genetic engineering and such... I'll probably not stat that out in the rules but ad-hoc it when it comes up.

Artifacts I really haven't thought about other than as just another bit of faction-PL, I'll have to consider them.

I originally created Traits for the single purpose of making some of the smaller factions viable by reflecting their specialization and competence in a specific field. The Infiltrator Trait will make thieves-guilds, underground cults and such fit better into their roles than if their power was tied to industry, magic and war like everybody else.

A preliminary Researcher Trait would make small factions of wizards and sages more effective at researching magics (and possibly creating artifacts). I'm not quite sure that its needed since those factions would consist of mainly high-level magic users who therefore have a tremendous advantage from both their Quality as high levelers and Mobility as teleporters. On the other hand not giving them a non-warlike bonus would force them to be highly agressive from the very beginning or fall irrevocably behind. That might or might not be a problem and it's something I will have to consider.

There will alse be a Trait available for PCs that will vastly enhance both their personal power and the power of their faction. The Divine Trait will be subdivided in several different levels; Demigod, Lesser Deity, Intermediate Deity, Greater Deity and Overdeity. It will be given to one PC from the start, Iuz will be a Demigod, and other PCs might aquire it over the course of the IR. Demigod is not a terribly big deal, but once you've reached Overdeity your power will be truly awesome.

Once I have finished the rules for industrialization and war it will be easier for me to see what's balanced and what's not.

 

[Paxus Asclepius]

This sounds like fun. I think I'd like to play completely against type and run the Pomarj; with their high breeding rate, swift maturation, and physical bent, orcs make the perfect lower-class industrialites. Naturally, I'd need the leader of the faction, and his lieutenants, to be less short-lived and short-sighted; an extremely advanced barghest, perhaps, with half-fiend offspring to do his bidding?

 

[Serpenteye]

Welcome Paxus.

The Pomarj is an important nation, but it's not terribly strong on its own. Perhaps you would like to pick up a couple of other areas with a similar theme in addition? Factions don't necessarily have to be one single land-mass of bordering territories, though that's obviously easier to defend, but can have a bunch of little enclaves all over the place.

Barghests are one of the cooler monsters out there imo. One of the few things that can eat a soul, it's pretty tasty (especially in an IR). Go for it .

 

[Paxus Asclepius]

It looks like the Crystalmists, Jotens, and Hellfurnaces would be good to seize. They're already populated with humanoids and giants (fodder for my caste-system breeding program), should be rich sources of mineral wealth (and, in the Hellfurnaces, enough geothermal power to eliminate the need for imported fossil fuels), and most importantly, are the sorts of dense, impossible terrain that renders superior firepower, whether legions of fireball-wand-carrying wizards or tank battalions, almost completely moot.

EDIT: Looking at the 3rd IR thread, I can see that even this is a tiny seizure. Consequently, I might as well snatch up the Griff and Raker Mountains, and the Dreadwoods, and crown myself king of the goblinoids of Oerik.