So it's been a while since I've GMed a role-play, much less an NRP. I've got a few inklings flowing around in my head I was wondering if anyone would be interested in them.

(0 Votes) 1. A modern to post-modern NRP set in the year 2020. Players will play as some of the states in our modern world, playing politics and military strategy against each other as a great shift in global power is teetering in Asia. With ISIS losing power, and China shifting toward a more dominant power on the global power, and Russia regaining its old power, it is up to NATO to try to keep the status quo.

(0 Votes) 2. A sci-fi NRP on a scale so massive it's staggering. Players will build their own civilizations from scratch, scattered throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, all interconnected by the great Galactic Social Network, a grand council made up of a congress of the galaxy's power brokers. War is brewing in the Galaxy, however, as its oldest and most feared Imperial Force is beginning to expand ever-so-slowly, ignoring many urges from the GSN to halt its superpower navy.

(0 Votes) 3. Set in a fantasy Europe, the third and final idea I have is based on the early stages of the Roman Empire. Players will pick factions within the "Roman" controlled territories, or foreign powers (i.e. a Carthage, an Egypt, etc) and play politics (or war) to expand their power in the growing Empire, with the eventual goal to build an alliance large enough to dominate the Empire and seize control of the Senate.

Anyone interested seeing more information, and if so, which idea piques your fancy the most?

I think my main honest concern might be: what are you trying to offer that this forum doesn't already have, or what I'm not already in? The third option feels the most unique, but then we run into an issue where an RP that's based on the politics of Rome - even in a fantasy setting - isn't very open to those who aren't versed in Roman politics, and based on my knowledge of the Roman political system it can get confusing and complicated. So it's not already the most accessible of topics.

The second option is something that's already prevalent in the forum. There is nor has their been a shortage of sci-fi NRP I feel. Although I do have ideas I'd like to pursue in something like that. But in an almost ironic twist I'd like something more vanilla than not. I'd also require Earth.

And on the first I already got stuff like Precipice of War to wet my tongue. It may not be the near-future area, but it's evolved enough over the four/five year tenure it's existed that it has its own unique, pulp-fiction world. And scanning the Interest Check and active RPs I can pick out a couple already within this area in some form or another (either "Post WW3" or in some fantasy analog for modern conflict and politics).

I've been wanting to do a Roman RP, but it is difficult to get them off the ground. I have been thinking of making an RP set in late antiquity based on a world where a unified Roman Empire survives long enough to face Islam, but i don't feel confident that there are enough period interested in that time period to justify it.

@Dinh AaronMkI'd say as far as option three goes, we could make up a bit more of an accessible political system to make it easy for new people to Roman politics to play. I can draft up a political system and throw it out there if it helps.

As for you requiring Earth, I see no reason why Earth would not be relevant in a Milky Way Galaxy-set NRP. :)

@VilageidiotxI agree. We could definitely throw an Islam-themed nation into the mix, if you'd like. :D

Well, i'd be more into something more meticulous to be honest. If it was over-simplified or over fantasized, I couldn't get into it.

Like, i'm talking Robert Graves level detail, with the alternative aspect mostly in place to make sure we can tell our own story.

@VilageidiotxI can do something along the lines of a detailed history of the past century or so, draw us up a map, and design a political system, as well as create a few nations that need leaders... As well as divide up the factions of the Empire, and list their traits for people to apply their own leaders and taste to. If detail is what you want, you've come to the right guy. I enjoy detail just as much, if not more.

I say two or three looks interesting.

Definitely vote 3, maybe to 2 and and no to 1 :)

I've been wanting to do a Roman RP, but it is difficult to get them off the ground. I have been thinking of making an RP set in late antiquity based on a world where a unified Roman Empire survives long enough to face Islam, but i don't feel confident that there are enough period interested in that time period to justify it.

Well, the Eastern Roman Empire fought Islam didn't it? Came off pretty bad if I recall.

In fact, didn't we send the Crusaders over, because the Byzantine Emperor was like "yo, we're losing, and when we lose, then you Catholics are gonna get a face full of Islam"?

But yeah, the idea of a Western Roman Empire, or indeed, a totally Unified Empire (No Byzantium) would be interesting. I did a lot of research into the how the western Empire fell; poorly managed multiculturalism was a big factor, if memory serves. Also the whole pagan vs Christianity thing went down like a boat on fire full of orphans.

Your best bet, to make it simple, but also credible, is to inject a highly competent Western Emperor in 300-400 A.D who managed to reverse Rome's fortunes, stabilize the frontiers and the flagging economy, and who through political means reunited Rome with Constantinople. That way you haven't got to read through tonnes of history books to grasp the finite details of what went wrong, and why.

EDIT: Unless that's what you want to do; may take you a while though. In any case, I'll keep an eye on things and see how they develop.

I'm pretty knowledgeable on Rome, more so than when I started NRPing, so I'll throw my hat in for option 3

<Snipped quote by Vilageidiotx>

Well, the Eastern Roman Empire fought Islam didn't it? Came off pretty bad if I recall.

In fact, didn't we send the Crusaders over, because the Byzantine Emperor was like "yo, we're losing, and when we lose, then you Catholics are gonna get a face full of Islam"?

But yeah, the idea of a Western Roman Empire, or indeed, a totally Unified Empire (No Byzantium) would be interesting. I did a lot of research into the how the western Empire fell; poorly managed multiculturalism was a big factor, if memory serves. Also the whole pagan vs Christianity thing went down like a boat on fire full of orphans.

Your best bet, to make it simple, but also credible, is to inject a highly competent Western Emperor in 300-400 A.D who managed to reverse Rome's fortunes, stabilize the frontiers and the flagging economy, and who through political means reunited Rome with Constantinople. That way you haven't got to read through tonnes of history books to grasp the finite details of what went wrong, and why.

EDIT: Unless that's what you want to do; may take you a while though. In any case, I'll keep an eye on things and see how they develop.

The fall of Rome was complicated, but the rapid fall of the West in the 5th century seems to mostly have been a mix of highly incompetent Emperors combined with how so much of its borders faced the German north, which had been destabilized by rapid migration from the east. There had been competent Emperors in the fourth century, Theodosius was quite capable and held the entire Empire together up until 395. I'm not sure what could be done to change the course after him though. Perhaps Flavius Aetius or Stilicho are Emperors, or maybe Honorius decides to man up and do his job? We'd have to come up with some excuse.

By the time that the west fell, the Christianity vs Paganism thing was already more or less settled though, so I don't think that would be an important situation. We'd be seeing the theological problems of the time still shine through. Probably Catholic Orthodoxy vs Monophysites.

However, even with a competent Emperor at the helm, a complete Roman Empire that survives until the 7th century would be dragging itself along stretched thin and bloody. It wouldn't be Augustus's Rome, this would be a state permanently teetering on civil war and facing invasion on all sides. You might see Britain fall to the Saxons despite Roman success on the continent, and by the 7th century Europe would be facing invasion from Franks, Lombards, Slavs, Avars, and Bulgars. In this environment, the sudden explosion of Islam could still be incredibly dangerous to even a unified Rome.

The reason I think it would be interesting is that it has this quality of being between the ancient world and the medieval. It is a world where there are knights and proto-feudal nobles on the frontiers, but there is also a very ancient quality to education and bureaucracy. You would still see standing armies led by generals with political ambitions, and noble children learning their Aristotle and Plato, and big cities full of seething masses who are so obsessed over Chariot races that whether you are a "Blue" or a "Green" plays a part in absolutely every part of daily life, right up to Imperial politics. It is true that this all happens to be the case with the Byzantines as well, but there is something more grandiose about including the entire Empire, and it allows us to go our own way. There is always something defeated feeling about the Byzantines, like they are the Rome that lost it all but stubbornly refused to jump off the boat. They switch to Greek, and after Justinian dies they become very regional in their politics so that it is clear the rest of Europe no longer belongs in their sphere.

Hmmm, on the topic of theological conflict, what if for a theological debate it was an Arian West vs a Chalcedonian/Nicean East?

It could be a mixture. The western frontier experiencing a lot of Arian goths, Monophysites in Egypt, Nestorians in Syria, and Orthodox Chalcedonians spread throughout the Empire.

Alright, well if we go with the Rome idea, I'd like to reserve a Gothic Nation

If you do go this route, I would suggest making it so multiple people can RP the bigger Empires. Maybe split the Romans into dioceses and handpick who is the Emperor? You can also split the Arabs into tribes and the Persians into noble clans, hand picking people to play the respective Caliph and Shahanshah as well.

The thing with Caliph to remember though is that the title effectively means "successor" and is designate to those chosen to be the successors of Muhammad. So if during the time of Muhammad there'd be no "Caliph" since there's no one to succeed him and his mission. But if during the Rashidun that followed him, there'd be Caliphs. Elected Caliphs prone to being murdered because tribe dies hard.

The thing with Caliph to remember though is that the title effectively means "successor" and is designate to those chosen to be the successors of Muhammad. So if during the time of Muhammad there'd be no "Caliph" since there's no one to succeed him and his mission. But if during the Rashidun that followed him, there'd be Caliphs. Elected Caliphs prone to being murdered because tribe dies hard.

If we are RPing in the time in which the Islamic invasion is starting into Syria, it would be during the Rashiduns.



Looking at that, an RP during Mohammeds lifetime would be relatively bland if we are focusing on the Roman world. Especially since the conquests of Mohammed are difficult a draw a border for, since most of that land was nomad filled deserts where the claim is based on where the Muslim tribes happened to be concentrated.

Near future RP I have interest to some degree in, but not enough to participate. I don't have the time to play more than 1 or 2 RPs really.

Space RP I already am part of. Really, anyone who wants a space RP should just play the one that's gaining the most players and not make more space NRPs. Don't know why that one guy made that andromeda RP. Aaron, consider True Vacuum. Yeah it's not in a galaxy but once you get past that it's pretty vanilla space adventuring.

Roman Empire surviving to see its thousandth anniversary (and I mean the real empire, not those eastern cooks) with Muslim invasions? I can already imagine the marble and wine my villa will be flowing in! Like others have said, it's the most interesting of the bunch if only because I get to march in formation with big red shields and shout in Latin.

Like others have said, it's the most interesting of the bunch if only because I get to march in formation with big red shields and shout in Latin.

Well, no, not really. The Empire survives, but society and technology still changes.

EDIT: To elaborate - Roman military strategy would change to meet the standards of whatever era it survives in. And with former barbarians (and conquered peoples) assimilated into the Empire, you'd be looking at a very multicultural, and multilingual empire that only distantly identifies as Roman.

@Pepperm1nts
Or rather, something well frayed at the edge as Vilage is suggesting. It's an Empire collapsing and on its last legs, loosing the frontier to those groups themselves.