Under the will of the late Emperor Theodosius I the Roman Empire was split in two. The West, less urbanized with a spread-out populace, was to experience an economic decline. The East was not so destitute, as Emperors like Constantine the Great and Constantius II had invested heavily in the eastern economy. As a result, the Eastern Empire could afford large numbers of professional soldiers and augment them with mercenaries, while the Western Roman Empire could not afford this to the same extent. Even in major defeats, the East could, certainly not without difficulties, buy off its enemies with a ransom.
In the years that followed the East would recover from its initial turmoil and flourish, showing that it had become an economic powerhouse capable of paying friend and foe alike to do their bidding. The Western Empire's resources were much more limited, and the lack of available manpower forced the government to rely ever more on barbarian troops. Rome was weak, unable to keep full control over their territories and increasingly unable to afford to pay its armies. Oh, how the tables had turned. The tribes beyond the Rhine now looked West, at the fertile and poorly defended land of the once mighty Roman Empire, poised to carve out an Empire of their own from the ruins.
Yet it wasn't just expansion that fueled their aggression, the Huns were coming. Hordes of horsemen, some claim from the depths of hell themselves. Pillaging their way through eastern Europe and slaughtering everything in their paths. A mass migration was about to begin that would change the world as we knew it. But not all was lost, the Western Roman Empire remained a force to be reckoned with. Its soldiers though few in number were battle hardened and experienced. Given time, the west might recover with help from its Eastern counterpart, but the clock was ticking and the Empire stood on the brink of disaster.
The actual roleplay and it's workings as of late.
(The roleplay level will be set at high casual.)
I was thinking of having both the Western and Eastern Roman Empire coming in to play, though finding another player for the East would mean that if they were to stop posting, an important and crucical part of the roleplay would be lost. Therefor my current aim, unless potential participants request otherwise, is that we will focus on the Western Empire only. You, the participants would be allowed to choose from various different tribes spread across Europe. Control of them would be complete and what you set out to do is completely up to you. Fight other tribes and take advantage of their misfortune, attempt to work with the Romans to backstab them later. Or perhaps you're convinced the Empire would recover, and that if you helped it then you'd be all the better for it.
I'm not quite sure how to turn this into a full roleplay quite yet but I will work things out better once people have shown interest. I encourage you to leave suggestions or any questions you may have for the roleplay. As of now you can expect war, love, drama, betrayel, the enigma of gold. Everything we've come to know and love. But for now, if I get the encouragement and interest that I need you can expect to see a much more detailed OOC.
Looking well so far, I need a little more people interested before I make an OOC though seeing as the current amount of people is to little to do the roleplay with as of yet.
I'm interested! May I suggest you leave links to various source materials about the era you are trying to portray? It may help those like me who are no history buffs but enjoy learning about it anyways.
@Serene Sender That's not a bad idea actually. I can leave various links for people that are interested in reading about the period. I had just assumed that with google being around and all people would do some searching themselves. :)
@Lauder@RomanAria@Minimum@Serene Sender@Rekaigan I don't quite have enough interest to make the actual OOC for this yet, though I've gotten a few tips about people that may like this type of roleplay as well. So if we're fortunate a few more people express their interest and i'll get the OOC going. That or I may need to think about downsizing this some how.
@Sven the Silent I'm probably going to wind up not doing it, actually. I have some IRL stuff that came up and a couple RPs that are back from teh grave.
I'll write up a proper OOC this evening or tomorrow, i'm unsure whether all the people that expressed interest are still interested, but I will make the OOC regardless and shoot everyone a private message about it.
(Red dots on the map indiciate large Roman cities, heavy resistance can be expected there. The dark lines are provincial borders to help you indentify on what portion of the map you are whilst advancing into Roman territory.)
Under the will of the late Emperor Theodosius I the Roman Empire was split in two. The West, less urbanized with a spread-out populace, was to experience an economic decline. The East was not so destitute, as Emperors like Constantine the Great and Constantius II had invested heavily in the eastern economy. As a result, the Eastern Empire could afford large numbers of professional soldiers and augment them with mercenaries, while the Western Roman Empire could not afford this to the same extent. Even in major defeats, the East could, certainly not without difficulties, buy off its enemies with a ransom.
In the years that followed the East would recover from its initial turmoil and flourish, showing that it had become an economic powerhouse capable of paying friend and foe alike to do their bidding. The Western Empire's resources were much more limited, and the lack of available manpower forced the government to rely ever more on barbarian troops. Rome was weak, unable to keep full control over their territories and increasingly unable to afford to pay its armies. Oh, how the tables had turned. The tribes beyond the Rhine now looked West, at the fertile and poorly defended land of the once mighty Roman Empire, poised to carve out an Empire of their own from the ruins.
Yet it wasn't just expansion that fueled their aggression, the Huns were coming. Hordes of horsemen, some claim from the depths of hell. Pillaging their way through eastern Europe and slaughtering everything in their paths. A mass migration was about to begin that would change the world as we knew it. But not all was lost, the Western Roman Empire remained a force to be reckoned with. Its soldiers though few in number were battle hardened and experienced. Given time, the west might recover with help from its Eastern counterpart, but the clock was ticking and the Empire stood on the brink of disaster.
Experimental Situation. The way combat has to be preformed here and the roleplay's focus on combat though it's also about diplomacy and maintaining a nation/empire, is different then i've seen on here myself. Nor have I participated in something like this before myself. If anyone has any suggestions about the combat system as is or how to improve things please do let me know. At the moment a huge part of it is simply two players communicating and attempting to play our a realistic scene of battle.
(The location of each tribe is shown on the map with its corresponding number. The information behind each tribe is an indication of what your tribe is currently good at in terms of combat or if they have a special disposition towards Romans.)
1, The Franks. (Excellent cavalry, good infantry, average archers, decent naval capabilities. Currently has a non aggression pact with the Romans and active trade.) 2, The Saxons. (Good infantry, average cavalry, good archers, decent naval capabilities. Have large quantaties of war hounds.) 3, The Visigoths. (Excellent cavalry, good infantry, average archers. Inspire fear amongst Roman soldiers, capable of taking tributes of food from communities in Roman territory.) 4, The Alamans. (Excellent infantry, good cavalry, good archers. Hatred for Rome, extra morale fighting Rome.) 5, The Jutes. (Excellent naval capabilities, excellent infantry, average archers, average cavalry, extra resistance to cold.) 6, The Danes. (Excellent naval capabilities, excellent infantry, average archers, poor cavalry, extra resistance to cold. Extra morale when fighting on the water.) 7, The Seubi. (Good infantry, good cavalry, good archers. Tolerated by Romans and allowed to live in the Roman province of Gaul.) 8, The Caladonians. (Hatred for Rome, extra morale fighting Rome, excellent infantry, good archers, average cavalry. Efficient at raiding Roman settlements and venturing beyond the wall.) 9, The Picts. (Hatred for Rome, extra morale fighting Rome, excellent infantry, average archers, average cavalry. Specialised at ambushing and fighting during the night and thick fog. Inspire fear amongst the Roman soldiers.) 10, The Burgundians. (Good cavalry, good archers, average infantry, Capable of living in inhospitable areas.) 11, The Quadians. (Average infantry, good archers, good cavalry. Hatred for Rome, extra morale fighting Rome.) 12, The Vandals. (Excellent cavalry, good infantry, poor archers. Inspire fear amongst Roman soldiers and are known for sacking and razing Roman settlements. Decent naval capabilities.) 13, The Iazyges. (Inspire fear amongst Roman soldiers, excellent cavalry, excellent horse archers, good archers, poor infantry.) 14, The Maurians. (Excellent cavalry, average infantry, poor archers. Extra resistant to heat, very capable of fighting in the desert. Decent naval capabilities.) 15, The Garamantians. (Excellent cavalry, average infantry, poor archers. Extra resistant to heat, very capable of fighting in the desert. Currently has trade with the Romans.)
Each of the available tribes has been given its initial stats regarding all areas of combat, things that are not specifically mentioned signal that the tribe has no previous experience with it, such as naval capabilities for desert tribes. That doesn't mean it is impossible for you to attempt naval construction if you come in contact with water, but your abilities would be poor. Building a ship purely for transport and not combat is something all tribes can do though.
You can attempt to make yourself better in an area of combat though that would take time and require experience for your troops. Safe to say that if you're fought several battles with your infantry force without them losing significant portions of their men, they will likely become more experienced. The aim of good and bad qualities however is for you to exploit your strengths to counter balance the weakness in an other area. You can expect me to attempt and exploit your weakness also, if you clash your poor or average infantry head on with a Roman legion they'll be routed quickly unless fastly superior in numbers.
Keep in mind that the ratings behind each tribe are for guide line purposes as well, having average infantry doesn't mean you can form a solid infantry force. It just means that your tribe is more adapt to fighting with different styles, on horse back for example. If you cavalry is better on paper then the player you're facing then you can work out that you win the cavalry versus cavalry engagement, but he or she in turn may win the infantry engagement. Or, his missle unites are so efficient that they decimate your horses before they can even show their valour in battle.
Tribe: (Put down the tribe you wish to claim here.) Government style: (Typically barbarian tribes were ruled by a high king or by a king that was adviced by a councel of lesser tribal kings. Though there are also examples of the oldest nobles of society making up the ruling class.) Head of State: (Even if your government system doesn't allow one set leader simply put down the most influencial member of the group. What he wants and how he sees things and looks upon others. Basically a little character sheet inside of the nation sheet so others can understand your stance.) Ruling Family: Sons of barbarian kings often joined the army to earn the respect of their tribe and that of other tribes. Daughters could be married off to settle the tension between other tribes or to simply seal an alliance deal. Religion: (Religion has always been a matter of conflict for people all through out history, it's safe to say that you'd get along more easily with someone that shares your faith.) Economy And Industry: (Starts of average for all factions except those that have established trade with Rome, they start out at good. Rome however starts out at very poor.) The better your economy and industry the more wealth you have and the more capable you are to replenish and equip your units. For good measure feel free to describe what your tribe uses for trade, whether that be iron, furs, gemstones, food, wood.) Tribal Army: (Your army will total 20 units at the start, one of those is your general unit, infantry units total 4,000 men each and a cavalry unit totals a 1000 men each. Missle units will total 2,000 men each. Be sure to include whether you have a pike/spear/sword or axe units. During battle posts you can then accurately move up your units to counter another. Pike typically holds back all forces back very well but take time to set up and once in close combat are easily slaughtered, spear hold cavalry and sword but lose to axe. Sword can hold cavalry with difficulty, hold spear and sword, lose to axe. Axe lose to spear and cavalry but win from sword. Furthermore, each tribe has warhounds which is an unit of 500, though this is doubled for the Saxons. Unit sizes are halfed for Rome.)
The Roleplay and Combat. As you may have noticed this roleplay is inspired by the Total War series and i've used a lot things from the series in order to form a basis for things such a strengths and weaknesses. It would otherwise be impossible to determine what a tribe is good at or not through history alone. Typically the reports of combat events are not as simple, and I found borrowing things from the Total War series worked quite well.
I expect most fighting to take place on land and very little on the actual seas hence the navy is a little irrelevant to most phases. In actual combat I expect people to basically describe their army formation the best they can for example mentioning that all your spear units are on the front, units with sword and shield right behind them and the units with axes on the flanks. Your cavalry perhaps hidden or on the wings of the formation to intercept. If they then clash you can look at your opponent, notice your infantry is slightly better then his and feel confident that unless he flanks you or has a trick up his sleeve you will win.
Terrain is also a thing I expect the players to calculate in when they battle eachother. If you are up hill and your opponent has to fight upwards or move up the hill they will get tired more easily and preform less well then on flat ground, effectivly allowing a poorer infantry unit to hold off a superior one.
I'm having tremendous difficulties changing things. In my eyes the combat need a lot more detail, which i'm working on. It's so difficult to take in account all the different types of units, the impacts of skill and experience on the unit. And how to work how strong your unit is compared to the quality of your tribe. And that's just one of many things about combat I can not figure out and that stresses me out.
Economy and industry at the moment appears to be nothing more then a line to fill up the already short nation sheet. I can't think of other things to add to it because this is not your traditional type of nation roleplay. You're tribes migrating into Roman lands and you've packed up everything you owned and left your land. (Even though this wasn't traditionally the take on all of the tribes that attacked and invaded Rome, such as the Franks who just added more land to that what they already held.) If you're migrating you don't have an economy nor much industry and you can't exactly trade with others far away either.
I am seeing so, so many flaws and I do not know how to fix them. I'm going to try though but just bare with me.
