So I'm still here, I was hoping for another character sheet, but if you guys want to start it up still, make your Org sheets too and I'll get the IC up
Organization Sheets: Something you can edit willy nilly and generally fill out however you want. There is no number crunching and it pertains to your character and crews accomplishments and attitude. It's not really something supposed to be approved, it's something for you to customize.
- As for the first part, it's exactly the reason for taking out 'freeform' and putting in 'backgrounds.' If I allowed freeform, I'd have to slap everyone I felt that were trying to be too powerful, or encourage people who were being too weak. Even still, we would have needed some sort of "background" similar idea, or everyone would either not know how much gold they could start with, or assume they could have whatever they want, and start the game with the spanish armada equivalent
In other words; Don't look at "backgrounds" as restricting, look at them as starting points. A way to dip your toes into the water. They are meant to get you started, how you roleplay and what you gain after is really what matters. This just limits abuse, the door is still open to impove.
- Current ship listing is just current ships that will be sailing in the New World, just for general information. You will be able to customize your ships later and turn a Sloop into a War Sloop, Slave Transport, whatever you want. Even put a big cannon on the front.
- The manpower system was just something simple. I wish I had more time to spread out the rules and make a more indepth game rather than rock paper scissors, but then we'd also run into the problem of being a dice roll. Unfortunately, work with the Fire Department and my mother take majority of my time. Also, an apology for being late to this tonight.
- The reasoning as to why a blacksmith or a court would increase population is that more peasants/common folk would actually want to move to a modernized and civilized society. No blacksmith? No nails. No nails? Improper housing. They, otherwise, serve other purposes than just population. As of this moment I have no plans to make population effect your Nation/Org sheet. The Nation Sheet is simply for your own use and not for number crunching.
This is the problem with making multiplayer roleplays, especially with Nation Roleplays. Ever play Dungeon & Dragons, or Pathfinder? While focused on an individual character, there are structures for nation roleplaying or building. They all have numbers. In a general roleplay scene, with versus, maybe one of those old heroes versus villains games.... it's either you agree to play fun and fair and maybe choose to let someone land a hit, or dodge. But then you get those players who want to win everything. I'd rather make a story without numbers, but everyone wants to be competitive if they can, especially when they can take land and grow.
- You are the character engaging the world I have created, but you don't know the story I've written out or the events that will unfold. The system I've made allows you to explore options, options that you don't know about from a glance but which I can give you should you seek the answer. It's like being a leader of a nation and having an advisor. You don't go to the barracks, and see soldiers training, you don't go to the factory and see the guns being made, and even if you did, would you understand everything going on? It is the job of the advisor to have the information you need ready and available at your fingertips. It's my way of also progressing the story for players.
It'll be up tonight, it seems I'm alone on this one and Jiwon is MIA. It's no problem, I was just hoping for more community feedback towards things. Give me a few hours from now and the Org sheet will be up.
Hey floobs, for me your sheet looks good, except the Personal Ship. I suppose that is something I need to clarify on. Your personal ship consists of one of the ships from the Background setting. So as the Colonial Aristocrat, you'd take the Carrack or one of the Sloops as your personal ship. The Organization sheet will allow you to customize these ships later on.
Hello and welcome to Dark Ocean Piracy, a Nation roleplay set in the early age of Piracy and the start of the colonial era of the New World. This game is using a custom map with custom events and settings. While some historical events will occur, and some European countries will exist, but the point of your characters (the leaders of your pirate groups) is to explore the land, see what new wonders may lie in secret, set up camps, take over colonial forts or towns, fend off or raid colonial escorts or transports, and amass a fleet large enough to protect your gains, or build a mighty ship of myth and legend to protect your secret bounty. However, there may come a time that you may need to set your differences aside, and band together, against a common enemy. Or make a grand court to create trade and diplomacy so your neighbors don't see you immediately as an enemy and allow you to move on to more worthy foes. But the Colonial Elites do exist, and they do have their great navies. Upset them too much, and they may send more than just privateers.
At this very moment, do not take everything as the final project and set in stone. I want to make this compatible with everyones playstyle and have some custom ability to play with. At this time there will be Character sheets so you can get your basics in and some Background presets that you are allowed to choose from. Think of them as starter kits into the game. I welcome new Background ideas from players, and you will be able to change your sheet until we begin the game. So even with your sheet "approved" it's not locked in until we start. Soon after, I will present to you your Organization Sheets (or Nation Sheets), where you can more describe your band of pirates. Finally, thanks for taking an interest in this roleplay, and I hope everyone has a fun time while I try to tell a custom story.
Character Sheets
Name: Alias/Nickname: (Reputation or Personal) Group Name: (If Applicable) Culture: (Birth Country) Flag/Symbol: (If Applicable) Personal Ship: (Name, Class - Choose from one of the ships you get from the Background setting) Reputation: (Warrants/Fame) Wealth: Background Type: (Choose from the list) Background: (Tell the story of your character)
Organization Sheets
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Organization Name: Reputation: Initial Contact Behavior: (You can put defensive, hostile, aggressive, neutral, whatever you want. This is supposed to be how your crew and you behave to meeting strangers and crews without reputation) Typical Alignment: (Typically how your crew acts, not what they are required to act like. Are they drunken, abusive sailors? Or professional, snooty navymen? Just examples. You can describe them or use something from an alignment system. i.e. chaotic neutral) Backstory: (If any, whether it's about your trusted Officers, how you gained the ships in the fleet, anything) Fleet: (list ship names and their class here, like your personal ship)
Controlled Establishments: (list any towns, forts, or camps that you control here.)
Backgrounds
Ex-Privateer - You once sailed as a hired captain with one of the Colonial Elites. Maybe you took on the appearance of their Navy and uniforms to seem trustworthy and professional, or kept your piratey looks. You start with a Frigate, with a full crew. Enough gold to sate yours and your crews thirst and bellies, and some settlement supplies should you wish to start up a Camp.
Ex-Slave - You were once a slave, being transported by ship to a new land where you would be living your life in servitude, but you and a couple others were able to get free of your bindings and free the others. Slaves are sometimes kept like sardines to transport heaps of them, which gave you the advantage of manpower. You start with a slightly damaged Schooner, very little gold, and the only supplies you have is enough food for a voyage to the new lands. You should find some place to hide out of sight and repair your ship, but with the amount of men you have, you could over run a small colonial village, or gather enough supplies from the new mainland for a very fast camp.
Mythical Pirate - You were once a famous pirate, known throughout the seven seas, but you pissed off the Colonial Elite, and they hunted you down. However large your fleet was, it is now decimated. You are exceptionally wanted by the Colonial Elite, and your name stretches far enough that almost no one will trust you. Better yet, they'd do well by taking your bounty. You start with a Galleon, bare minimum crew, and very little gold. But be careful, your crew may start a mutiny if their wages haven't been satisfied and their bellies are filled. Even though you were a famous pirate, that didn't mean your crew became rich.
Fresh Start - Whether you're new to the pirate scene and looking to start your journey, a young pirate still trying to get their name out there, or maybe even just a freelancer, or explorer, looking to find your riches. Whether that would be from helping colonial villages, raiding them, or exploring the land and selling the charts away. You start with a Sloop, no gold, and an average amount of crew, with room to spare. Your crew is fed and paid, so don't worry, just make sure you can pay them or feed them tomorrow! But keeping their trust, and doing less illegal things, may make them more inspired to trust you and follow by example.
Ex-Trader - Maybe you're out looking for that new resource in the new lands, or you're a wealthy merchant looking to become ruler of their own town, or more. You were once a Trader that transported goods to all of the colonial elites and in between, making a fat purse of gold for yourself and your crew. You start with a Carrack, full crew, and gold to last awhile paying your crew and yourself. You enough enough supplies to make a small wooden fort or a large village. You also command a fleet of one(1) sloop, but it has no cannons. The Sloop has your trusted Officer commanding it, and the crew is also paid. But be careful, while the Colonial Elites have a lot of trust in you, they know how much you can be a threat. At any moment they could label you as an enemy if they don't like what you're doing, so you should pay your respects as often as you can.
Colonial Aristocrat - Wealthy, and very well known to the Colonial Elite you hail from, although you are not one for combat at all, or maybe only a little, being raised in a proper family. Perhaps the life of simple Nobility is not enough you, and you want to be bigger, better. You want to be your own King. Or... just become filthy rich and have other people rule for you, like a parliament. You start with a Carrack and Sloop with no Cannons, but one Sloop with Cannons. Your men are sworn to your loyalty, but should the Colonial Elite you hail from demands their patronage, they would abandon you. Gold isn't a requirement, but feeding their bellies is. Gold doesn't hurt, though. You have enough supplies to make a colonial Town. Colonial Elites require a much cheaper pay to protect you.
Current Ships
Sloop: The smallest ship you can find. They are prized by merchants for their sheer speed and ability to sail in shallow waters to avoid larger ships. ~6 Cannons. Often used to patrol the coast. Usually features 1-2 sails.
Cutter: A development of the Sloop, the cutter is a small fast ship and is the smallest type of ship commissioned by navies to counter piracy. 6-10 Cannons. Usually features 2-3 Sails
Schooner: A light, smallish, agile ship that can sail coastal waters. It is often the favorite of many merchants and fishers... and other less legal professions like slavers, blockade runners, smugglers, and privateers. While it is unlikely to really put up much of a fight to frigates and galleons, it still packs some firepower to intimidate merchant ships. 10-12 Cannons. Usually has ~3 sails.
Frigate: A properly rated ship of the line in many navies, the Frigate is a small warship. Big enough to act independently in navies, but small enough to operate in shallower waters compared to massive galleons. However, many frigates were built to be larger ships as well. Thus, some frigates could carry 20 cannons while other Great Frigates were seen with 80 cannons. However, these Great Frigates were a later invention. Regardless, as time passed, ships were often made bigger.
Galleon: A large hulking ship used to transport things in mass... or carry around a lot of cannons and is relatively new during the period. In fact, the largest galleon and capital ship of the Portugese navy around this time was said to carry 366 guns. However, depending on the ship, there were smaller galleons that only featured 80 cannons all the way up to the massive capital ships that featured hundreds of ships.
Carrack: An old design of "great ships". The Carrack has been used for centuries to explore the New World. However, with the emergence of firearms and gunpowder weapon, Carracks began to fall out of favor for the Galleon by many navies. Regardless, Carracks were still used to help ferry cargo and still were armed with numerous cannons. One major feature of the Carrack is the raised/tall aft and forecastle on the ships, which were designed to help prevent boarding actions. This made Carracks easy target for cannons, but it made it extremely difficult to board and capture.
You mentioned a Story, but there were also numbers?
We will make this as simple as possible, and of course I welcome suggestions. This will be as cut and dry as possible, no matter the edits or suggestions.
Manpower - For physically fighting with bodies and not ships, Manpower is equivalent to the size of your establishment (Camp, Village, Town, etc). During ship-to-ship combat, if you begin to board an enemy ship, your entire crew is your manpower. And every boarding attempt you will lose manpower (unless you are a Galleon attacking a Sloop, it's just overwhelming).
Crew - Your crew will have three stages; minimum, average, and maximum. Average could bring your Frigates Manpower down equal to a Cutters Maximum crew, and be an even fight. A Cutter with Minimum Crew and a Damaged ship will lose to a Sloop, due to inoperable cannons, crew distracted by flooding, and lesser crew available to fend off the enemy. Keep your ships repaired, and your ships crewed. Assigning your crew to anti-flooding techniques is quick and fast, they will patch your ship up as best they can, because no one wants to sink in the middle of the ocean. Full repairs require the ship docked or anchored off the mainland, and depending on the size, it may take awhile (You will be advised through events).
Damage - It is damaged, or it isn't. Your fort, village/camp/etc, or ship, is damaged, or it isn't. There won't be levels to this. Stone forts fall and require exceedingly longer times to construct rather than wooden forts. Wooden forts burn down. Everything has their weakness, and if that weakness is exposed, it's an advantage.
Manpower Amounts
Ships Minimum - The ship is barely effective at its duties Average - The ship doesn't require anymore crew to be effective at its duties Maximum - The ship has more than enough crew to keep working under attack, and enough defenders to deflect boarders -- Ships can be left adrift with no one manning them. But that explains itself; there is no manpower aboard the ship.
Establishments Camp - +5% population Large Camp - +15% population Village - +20% population Town - +35% population City - +50% population Small Fort - +10% population Fort - +25% population -- Forts can be added to Villages, Towns, and Cities to increase population, but can not be added to other forts.
Add-ons Trade Hub - +10% population (Requires discovering a good trading resource) Small Dock - +5% population (Allows you to dock Sloops, Cutters, and Schooners) Large Dock - +10% population (Allows you to dock Sloops, Cutters, Schooners, Frigates and Carracks) City Docks - +20% population (Allows you to dock every ship, including Galleons) Barracks - +5% population Blacksmith - +10% population (Allows you to build cannons and put them on your ships) Naval Yard - +20% population (Allows you to construct any ship, each taking different amounts of time. Congratulations, having this you are seen as an established community in the new world) Stone Quarry - +5% population (Allows constructing of Stone fortifications and Buildings) Court - +5% population (Automatically collects taxes and tariffs for you) -- All Establishments made out of, or converted to, stone add +5% population. Events will alert you to whether your desired location has enough stone for whatever you want to build or convert.)
Other Information
Gold - Gold is not a resource in this game, but it will have an effect through events. Such as crews causing mutiny without being paid, settlers abandoning establishments, Colonial Elites requiring tax or tribute, etc. While you don't need to worry about gold, it's not bad to have some in your pocket should things turn awry.
"How much Gold do I have?" Ask your Officer or Advisor. It's easier to find out if something costs Gold, and to ask your Advsior if you can afford doing whatever needs Gold.
Resources - Can be anything from Stone, to Gold, to Wool, anything. Everything is done through events. You will send messages to Officers (Ship crew) or Advisors (Establishment Personnel) to search for Resources on a Province. Resources can be found in the water, but some found in the water can't be found on land, and some on land can't be found in the water. Warning: Having a very expensive, or very popular, resource will piss off the Colonial Elites, but also may help you or make you rich.
Open the map in a new tab so you can zoom, if needed
Each Province can hold a single Establishment. Orange Provinces are Deserts, only Forts can function here. Building other Establishments causes severe Event Problems, and failing to rectify them will cause the settlers to abandon the Establishment. Resources can be found in the Desert. Resources can only be found when you have a minimum of a Camp on the Province. There is no "ownership," or "territory." Players may make their own maps and chart territory as they wish and to know where enemies are, but will not be supported on this thread. Colonial Elite territory markers will be made to the map, however. There is no "starting point," however, after choosing your first location to scout or explore, you will be revealed on the map to anyone close enough to see you. No teleporting. If you want to move somewhere, it will be done through events. Send messages to your Officers and Advisors. If all goes well, you will just need to wait through posting until you arrive at your destination. The farther the destination the further you wait. You are not "locked in" when setting a destination, and may stop at any time without sending a message to your Advisor or Officer. This is made so if you cross paths with another player, an event may occur. If you are set on a course, whether traveling by land or sea, you can continue posting. You can send a lifeboat out to land to scout so when you come back you already have another province explored (this is just an example, you are free to do whatever you want). How you travel matters. By land - very slow, by sea - very fast. Close or far from the shoreline. In a large ship or in a small ship. It all matters. The length of time something may take is established through events. Send a message to your Advisors or Officers.
Advisors and Officers
One Fort has an Officer, one Ship has an Officer. One Establishment (Other than Forts) has an Advisor. Barracks add one Officer, Courts add one Advisor.
Sending a message to your Advisor or Officer should be simple. You do what you personally want to do as your character in your post, and then send a message to your Advisors or Officers to complete the post. This can be in a Spoiler or in Public View, it doesn't matter. Unfortunately, events can't be done instantaneously, but as I will be OOC acting as your Advisors and Officers, I will do my best to be fast with responses. There aren't really any calculations, just see me as a story teller. You ask me "hey how long will it take to search this province for Resources?" And I'll respond with, "It'll take maybe a day, Captain," in a well posted letter back to you, in the roleplay. This, I definitely have time for.
Rules
Everything is in public, there is no private messaging the GM or Players. If you want a private discussion Captain to Captain, you will have it in the thread. Should a player Metagame ANY information, they will be banned. No exceptions. It's not hard to exclude information from a decision when you are roleplaying. This is to keep the roleplay going without pitstops. If it is found you are PMing roleplay discussions, you will be banned. OOC chatter is fine, but don't use OOC chatter to influence decisions. Just roleplay.
Combat is not a focus of this roleplay, so everything is handled like rock, paper, scissors. If they have more manpower, better equipped ship, they win. Take your time, build ships, gain manpower, then attack. Need help? Open up diplomatic discussions with another pirate group, or even a Colonial Elite for protection or mutual protection. Two ships is better than one.
No OOC aggression. Playful banter is fine, until you go back and forth belittling the other. I used to be at fault for such, and I will no longer do it. Anyone breaks this rule is banned. Even me.
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