BATTLE STATIONS!

To anyone who is interested in joining this, there is no need to await my approval. This is a freeform RP, where we all share a degree of responsibility and creative licence for the direction of the story. There are hundreds of defenders on the castle ramparts, just make your character appear as if he'd/she'd been there the whole time.


The Empire's Northern Frontier


Castle Rivergate

Story

Story? What? We haven't got time for that, just pick up a weapon and report to your posts you idiots! Can't you see those barbarians charging at us through the trees to the north? I doubt they care very much for a story, in fact, I reckon they're just here for our heads. Yes, of course that's why they're here - can't say I remember the last time they made a social call.

What barbarians? Are you simple? How long have you been stationed here? Oh that's right, you're one of them that arrived yesterday. Well, consider this your induction:

We're getting attacked by a horde of damned savages. Eight feet tall, long messy hair and matted beards. They like to swing heavy maces to crush a man's skull, or sometimes they like to get really fancy with an axe and cleave a man's limb. They cover 'em selves in tattoos of all kinds of nonsense, they reckon it protects 'em from our arrows. Well, I ain't seen it work yet, that's for sure.

Anyway, enough loitering, head to the armoury, get yourself a weapon and some armour, then get to the battlements. They'll be hitting us from the north first, like they always flippin' do, so that's where I'd suggest you go congregate.

OI, and remember! This castle is the only bloody thing keeping your families back home safe and sound, so if you're thinking of running, you better hope enough of us are mad enough to stay. Otherwise... well, you ain't gonna get far, let's put it that way.

Character Sheet

Didn't you BLOODY hear me? We haven't got time for this rubbish. Grab a frickin' weapon, head to the blasted walls and get ready! GO!

Cheat Sheet

What's in the armoury?

Medieval stuff! See examples below - but choose whatever you want, so long as it don't shoot lasers or bullets.

How do we join? Do we just state our characters names?

Just jump in there, name him/her, describe him/her through the IC.

I saw the interest check for this, and I hope there's still room for me to jump in. I love the freeform style of this, and the room left for creativity. By being so seemingly empty, this might become one of the most original settings I've seen in quite a while.

Of course! There's barely need to limit the player numbers in an RP of this simplicity. The barbarians are just about to happen upon the forest clearing, there's no need to wait for me to 'declare' their official arrival.

We are all GMs, and we are all players in this. That is the strength of freeform! My only real authority as creator is to step in and slap people if they do things that upsets everyone else :)

I like your style ^^

I've got my first post up, now to see if anyone else shows up to play. And don't worry, not all my posts shall be such walls of text. Probably. (=

thewizardguy said
I like your style ^^I've got my first post up, now to see if anyone else shows up to play. And don't worry, not all my posts shall be such walls of text. Probably. (=

All writing styles/levels are welcome. To me, Free RP is like a scrap book with which to improve my writing skills - it doesn't matter how much I write, or how little, so long as I write something. I imagine this applies to many others too. Above all though, the real aim of the game is to have fun!

Fantastic first post by the way, that is exactly the gold we're mining for!

I went ahead and hopped in. :)

Whitney said
I went ahead and hopped in. :)

That's the idea!

I like the variety of these characters. I went and mad mine all foreign, and then we have Muiri, the not-so-warrior, who really just wants to sit in a corner and make herself healing potions, and we have Captain Trinton, who adds a particular gritty air to the whole situation. I also enjoy the worldbuilding at this point in time.

From what I've seen, the Empire reminds me a lot of medieval Europe. Lots of varied cultures under a single group. Although the idea that they're a relatively small group in a much larger continent is quite interesting, and certainly sets up the barbarians as the superior foe.

Yhe barbarians themselves seem rather generic at this point in time, as they haven't made a large appearance in the story as of yet, but the tattoo aspect reminds me of african tribes. The heavy clubs makes me think of Orcs more than anything, but it seems strange that such a barbaric people with a seemingly low level of technology would have controlover a large swath of land, suggesting they don't have any adversaries of suitable size to challenge them. Quite probably, the Empire just doesn't have the men to push forward.

thewizardguy said
Yhe barbarians themselves seem rather generic at this point in time, as they haven't made a large appearance in the story as of yet, but the tattoo aspect reminds me of African tribes. The heavy clubs makes me think of Orcs more than anything, but it seems strange that such a barbaric people with a seemingly low level of technology would have controlover a large swath of land, suggesting they don't have any adversaries of suitable size to challenge them. Quite probably, the Empire just doesn't have the men to push forward.

I was actually veering more towards ancient Rome, in the way that by the end of its time, many of its armies were comprised by peoples from all over Europe - and Africa - because the Italian home states couldn't provide the troops alone.

You're right though, the Empire just hasn't gone that far. It could be for several reasons, and I'll just let it play out along the whims of the players, but here's a few ideas:

- the north holds no strategic importance

- the north holds no resources worth conquering

- the Empire is busy elsewhere, and has never had time or resources to press forwards.

- the Empire tried to press forwards, perhaps some years prior, and has been unable to recoup its losses since the failed campaign.

- no one believed that warring tribes of roaming savages would unite to threaten the Empire directly

Endless really, but it's just something to keep the ball rolling.

EDIT: I agree, we have excellent character diversity so far.

Well, one cannot negate terrain advantages. If the northern lands are covered in forests, it's quite possible that the natives simply used their knowledge of the environment to prevent any attacking campaigns. The environment and terrain can absolutely decimate an army. A recent example would be Hitler's march on Russia, where his army was incapacitated by the Russian Winter, despite the russians having far inferior weapons and technology.

thewizardguy said
Well, one cannot negate terrain advantages. If the northern lands are covered in forests, it's quite possible that the natives simply used their knowledge of the environment to prevent any attacking campaigns. The environment and terrain can absolutely decimate an army. A recent example would be Hitler's march on Russia, where his army was incapacitated by the Russian Winter, despite the russians having far inferior weapons and technology.

Correct, and again going back to Ancient Rome - the Romans could not defeat the Germans, largely because the dense forests played havoc on their organised formations and battle tactics that were suited to open ground.

Righty'o, the barbarians are coming towards us. Whoever posts next, feel free to include Trinton's command to fire when they pass the gap in the river.

I'm thinking of jumping in if that's alright with you.

Fluffy Warlord said
I'm thinking of jumping in if that's alright with you.

Of course, the more the merrier!

And on that note, anyone can jump in whenever. There's a lot of people defending the castle, just materialise from the ranks of the defenders.

SyrianHamster said just materialise from the ranks of the defenders.

Already on it!

I got sick of seeing that crappy paint drawing I did, and so I've replaced it with something a little better that I made with RPGmaker. It's not quite to scale, but it's easier on the eyes!

Ah Fluffy, I missed you out. Feel free to tag along with the captain and co!

EDIT: Thinking we gotta down that barbarian before his mates come charging out of the trees with ladders?