Raid, Trade, or Settle
"Rome has fallen and the world is up for grabs."
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings tagline

Introduction
This roleplay takes place in Europe (and Northern Africa, Asia Minor, and parts of the Middle East) during the Dark Ages. You will be taking the role of a lord/lady who governs a small village. Your goal will be to raise an army and rally the support of your neighbors, who will bolster the ranks of your forces even further. You will also need to send out envoys to initiate trade rights with your fellow roleplayers. All villages pay taxes, and you use these taxes to train soldiers, pay them, invest in your villages, and bribe/gift others.

Interested. This sounds a lot like the board game Settlers of Catan. Will there be any form of magic or supernatural abilities, just to clarify?

And how will we know if an unoccupied territory accepts our Exports?

@Illuvatar: Never played Settlers of Catan; the name of this RP was inspired by a board game I saw in the back of a book; the basis is based on a boardgame called Fire and Axe: Viking Saga. There is no magic or supernatural abilities.

Let's say you chose to start in London. You get to choose the import and export. If the import is sugar, then anyone can sell sugar here for 1 coin, and you'll also receive 1 coin (simulating tax). If the export is grain, then every time you produce a trade good here it will be grain. You will then have to move the grain caravan to a region whose import is grain. Selling it will net you 1 coin. If the region is owned by another player they also receive 1 coin.

Okay then. Hope this goes ahead, it sounds really good.

And I recommend playing Settlers of Catan :D I think it is mainly available in Great Britain and North America (and maybe Australia), so I guess it depends on where you live.

This sounds good, I might join.

Huh, I hadn't expected any sort of reaction to this. It's more of a game than a RP I suppose, but perhaps I can transform it into an actual RP. Just subtract some of the mechanical things and make it realistic and whatnot.

Do you guys have anything you want to add/suggest to the idea? It's far from finished, and I still need a map.

Perhaps trading in more than just Grain, Wheat and Sugar? Perhaps we could mine for ores and clay in addition, or farm sheep.

Also, will different RPers be able to attack each other/form alliances etc?

Also, a map would help set the scene. I hope you won't have any trouble getting it up.

I'm interested.

Maybe environmental factors can affect the exports and imports? i.e.) A drought affecting the Grain and Wheat.

The RC Master said
Maybe environmental factors can affect the exports and imports? i.e.) A drought affecting the Grain and Wheat.

Now that would be cool.

Well this is just a very bare-bones idea. It was just a little project thing I had on the side, but I'll probably do more stuff to it sometime later today or tomorrow or something. Just depends.

Okay then.

Will the map/board be composed of hexagons, squares or different shaped 'territories'?

Probably different-shaped territories.

This is a NRP, but it doesn't focus on taxes, or resources, or anything of that nature. Instead, it will focus solely on a dynasty and its armies.

In a nutshell you will start out with a few family members. You are the vassal of a city under the liege of the king, whose line has been ruling your lands and all surrounding lands for many centuries. That particular king has been killed and he has true heir, so the kingdom has splintered into various vassal-states. Your goal is to simply survive the coming war.

The best thing to do would be to send out envoys to the surrounding vassals and try to ally with them. They will present terms and you must fulfill them or you can keep looking for someone else. At any time you may raise an army. Armies will equal in the 15,000-20,000 range, and this is probably the only time your army will ever be this size.

From here, you will assign a number of troops to your vassals/family and send them out to do battle. You will be controlling each of your characters in the war and plan out battles and even fight in these battles.

You may ally together, marry your family members, plan assassinations, hire mercenaries, etc.
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There are two ways to obtain income: Taxes and Trade. Every settlement in your control will pay taxes, and you will choose this tax rate. A high tax rate may cause unrest and can lead to revolt and will have a higher chance of being bribed by another kingdom. Lowering taxes will improve popularity amongst the masses, but you won't get a lot of income. Trade on the other hand is a bit more complex.

Every region you control has Trade Goods and Demands. There are a number of different resources, and each region produces a select few of them called Trade Goods; anything they do not produce is a Demand. So if a region does not produce fur, then fur becomes a Demand for them. When you initiate trade rights with another country, if any demand/goods match up you get additional income. So if you produce gems in one of your regions, and they have a demand of gems in one of their regions, then you get income for that.

You need income to hire soldiers. Even after hiring them, you still need them to pay upkeep for your armies. And even then, income can be used amongst the players to bribe rival settlements, hire assassins, buy territories from other players, or offer it as a gift.
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Underhanded Actions

You may attempt to bribe rival territories, hire assassins to kill key personnel, and whatever else you may think of. The success of all this is determined by a number of factors.
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Villages begin with 500 population. This number increases by 10% every turn. All villages have a base of 5 tax; this means every citizen will pay 5 coin every turn for tax. So 500 citizens pay (500*5=) 2500 coins every turn. If you increase taxes to 6, population growth drops to 8%, taxes of 7 drops to 6%, and so on and so forth.

Stability begins at 5, which is average. Every time you increases taxes by 1, stability drops by 1. If taxes decrease by 1, stability increases by 1. So on and so forth.

When you raise an army, the population cannot go below 500. So a town with a 1000 citizens can produce 500 soldiers. Soldiers cost 4 coin to hire, so 500 soldiers would be (500*4=)2000 coin to hire. Upkeep is 2 coin. So every turn you have to pay 1000 coin as upkeep for your 500 soldiers.

a normal village's population increases as such:
500-->550-->605-->661-->727-->800-->880-->968-->1065 (upgrades into a town)-->1172-->1289
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There are 2 types of soldiers, 3 types of armor, and 3 types of weapons, allowing you to make 18 different types of troops.
Infantry, or Mounted? - To put it simply, whether or not the soldier has a horse. Mounted troops are always faster than infantry.
Light, Medium, or Heavy? - Lighter armor allows more mobility, while heavier armor limits mobility. Heavily armored troops have better defense however.
Missile, Core, or Spear? - Ranged troops can attack from afar, Core troops use swords, maces, and flails, and Spearmen are good against cavalry.

Seems good. But I believe you missed one form of income: raiding. Sending your army against another player or NPC to take their coins/resources and add them to your own.

That's actually part of something else. This is more or less a page of ideas until I materialize something.

Okay. I will keep watching until you get it all figured out :D

In other words, I'm interested.

I'm interested too, so I hope you can get this all fleshed out. Everything seems fantastic so far, and if it could be played while actually role playing characters around plots and scenarios it would be a divine set-up.

I would also like to volunteer my graphic abilities. I create maps, sigs, avies, and banners. I could help come up with a map, and even keep the map updated as players gain/loose territory throughout the game. I have examples of my work I can share with you if interested.

I am game

Since this keeps getting a lot of interest I might as well take some time to really delve into it. Give me an hour or so and I'll come up with something better and more organized, unless I get distracted or something else keeps me busy.

Very well, 'or so' it is :P