OOC The War Room: A Gods and Generals OOC Thread

Okay folks, here we go!

Never had an OOC thread before, but I have some ideas on how to use this.

Gods and Generals OOC Timeline:

Phase I: Planning Phase
- Introducing the First Post and Answering Questions
- Dice throwing for faction choices

Phase II: Action Phase
- Behind the scene data and transparent record keeping
- Game related discussion

Rules: Follow the TOS, no baiting or flaming, etc. Keep it positive and constructive.

Without further ado:

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First Post

Introducing…



Gods and Generals: A Civil War RPG

Story

It is the year 1860 in a very different United States of America. The founding fathers, in drafting the constitution, outlawed slavery. While the Southern states needed time to adjust, they eventually reconfigured their economies away from their reliance on the cotton trade. A more unified nation embraced manifest destiny with gusto, moving westward with great enthusiasm. States grew quickly, and were peppered throughout North America, both big and small. In 1849, gold was discovered in Northern California, and a massive Gold Rush ensued. The western states, however new, quickly grew in wealth and power, as mother lode after mother lode was found throughout the Sierra Nevadas. Naturally, the Federal Government in Potomac took notice and insisted the Western states transfer a percentage of their mined gold back East.

At first, the amount was small and went towards projects connecting the nation. But this percentage increased yearly, and was increasingly used to fund more and more projects benefiting only citizens in the East. Westerners grew disillusioned as wealth continued to be removed from their lands. What projects that were started did little to improve the lives of the Pacific citizens, and were of poor quality.

In 1859, pro-secessionists came into power in most western states. One year later, a powder keg is ready to be lit. A long harsh winter has buried the rails connecting east and west under feet of snow. The banks of the West are flush with gold, and the troops of the east supervising their transfer are stuck in the Atlantic states. A window of opportunity has opened. Western states have called their militias towards San Francisco. The East, anticipating this move, has called their leaders and armies to Washington DC to plan their response.

Civil War is upon the American Republic



Mechanics

Movement
* All armies start in their capitols. These are Coastal California for the West and Potomac for the East
* At the start of the third week of the game, the snows thaw and armies can begin leaving their capitols
* Each army can only move into an adjacent territory, and can only move once per week
* Territories are claimed when an army is located in them on a weekly update, which will take place on Saturdays, US Central Time. This is needed to secure control of the region.
* Three generals can be in one non-capitol territory at once during peacetime

Battle
* Battles begin when two armies from opposite teams are on the same territory at update
* Only three armies per side can start a battle
* Armies in adjacent territories can join a battle in progress in the second round.
* There is no maximum for how many generals can be in a territory once a battle begins
* Battles will be decided by three six-sided dice throws per general per side made in the OOC thread.
* GM will roll the dice if not rolled by the general correctly at update
* All die values will then be summed and compared
* Die values will form a ratio that will dictate damage taken during the first half of the battle. These will always be in the form of 1:X or X:1.
* This ratio will refer to a base damage, which is always 10% of the smallest (combined) army.
* This process will occur twice. Once at the midway point of the battle (first Saturday) and once to conclude the battle (second Saturday). Dice are not rolled at the beginning to give players the chance to build support.

Example 1: One general with an army of 10k rolls three sixes (18 total) and the enemy general with an army of 5k rolls three ones (3 total). The base damage is 500 (10% of 5k) and the damage ratio will be 6:1. The 10k army will lose the base damage and be at 9500, the 5k army will lose 6x base (3000) and end at 2k.

Example 2: One general with an army of 10k rolls three ones (3 total) and the enemy general with an army of 5k rolls three sixes (18 total). Base damage is 500 and the damage ratio is 1:6. The 10k army loses (500x6) 3000 soldiers and be at 7000k. The 5k army will lose 500 and be at 4.5k.

Example 3: One general with an army of 10k rolls three fives (15 total) and the enemy general with an army of 5k rolls three fours (12 total). Base damage is 500 and damage ratio is 5:4, or 1.25:1 . 10k army loses 500 and is at 9.5k. The 5k army loses 625 (500*1.25) and is at 4.375k

Example 4: One general with army of 17k rolls 13 total, the enemy general with an army of 12k rolls a 7 total. Base damage is 1.2k (10% of 12k) and damage ratio is 13:7 or 1.86:1. 17k army loses base and becomes 15.8k. 12k army loses base*1.86 (2.23k) and becomes 9.77k.

Example 5: Two generals with armies of 10k and 8k respectively roll 20 (General one rolls a twelve, general two rolls an eight). The singular enemy general of 12k roles a five. Base damage is 1.2k (10% of 12k) and damage ratio is 20 to 5, or 4:1. Each general loses the base (10k-1.2k=8.8k and 8k-1.2k= 6.8k), whereas the enemy general loses x4 base and is at (12-4.8= 7.2k).

* Each battle has two rounds. At the end of round two, the side with the largest amount of troops wins.

Support
* Every day, from when the battle is formally declared to when it ends, generals have the option of writing one detailed quality post about the battle. Naturally, nothing should can be included suggesting the nature of the battle before the mid-battle update. For each post, 1000 extra “support troops” will be gained. These support troops are the citizens, sympathizers, and mercenaries from the state, defending their home along with your army. These support troops are temporary, and need to be re-earned every battle. The maximum support that can be earned in each battle is 7k per week (one support post per day).

Example: 5k army goes up against a 10k army. 5k army general writes seven support posts before the first update, while the 10k army general writes none. The mid-battle update becomes 5k regular + 7k support = 12k army vs. 10k regular + 0k support = 10k army. 12k vs. 10k. After battle, support soldiers return to their homes and jobs and the traditional armies move on.

Quality posts will be loosely interpreted to include anything that is at least a paragraph in length, uses some adjectives or adverbs, and roughly follows the rules of the English language.

Retreat
* A retreat can be called anytime during the second week of a battle. The retreating side can move to any adjacent friendly territory. The non-retreating side will need to stay in the territory to win the battle and capture the land.

Post - Battle
* The losing side in a battle automatically retreats to an adjacent territory (or the nearest in moves adjacent territory in a crowded field).
* In addition to the automatic move, a losing general can move a second time in the week following a battle to get some distance between their army and their opponent.
* Generals that lose their entire army must return to the capitol and wait a week before departing for the field.
* All armies that remain in a territory (as in, does not move for their turn) will heal 1000 troops per week.
* You cannot heal above your army size. If you choose to heal at only 800 soldiers under your maximum, you will gain only those 800, not 1000.

Map

This game takes place in this alternate reality United States:


Link

This game takes place in the lower states. Hawaii, Alaska, and all overseas territories are inaccessible.

This map will be updated weekly. For the purpose of this game, each state has one city, which also serves as its capital. These will usually be the largest city in the region, and will be provided by the GM as the game progresses.



Timeline

The first two weeks will be spent making introductions, preparations and so forth at your respective capitols. The war begins on week three. Battles take two weeks, with a mid-battle report in the weekend between them. Battles are resolved at the end of the second week.



Other Notes

- Technology is the same this game as it would be during the 1860s. No planes, no automobiles. Troops move on foot and by horse. Rail is available, but only in special circumstances dictated by the GM.
- Tags to other players can be done in person if the generals are in the same territory, through messenger if the generals are adjacent, and through post if the tagged player is more than one territory away from the player.
- In-Game Knowledge: Troop positions are common knowledge. These are big enough movements to be known by both sides. Intra-faction communications, however, are not common knowledge and exploitation of in-faction communication will be considered god-moding.

Rules

1.) GM is God!
2.) Respect the TOS
3.) No Godmoding ever
4.) No Spamming, Trolling, Baiting
5.) Keep it clean (language and ICs)
6.) Players may play one general and as many supporting characters as desired
7.) Time progression will be according to the calander
8.) Death is always real in my RPGs
9.) OOCs will be in the OOC thread
10.) GM reserves the right to add his 21.8k troops to the underpowered team if the statistics derp up the power distribution by more than double.
11.) GM reserves the right to periodically round numbers at his discretion. This will be done only at non-critical moments. Soldiers lost can be attributed to disease, soldiers gained can be attributed to recruitment. This will never exceed 10 soldiers in either direction.
12.) Any other questions can be PMed to me
13.) ALL SHEETS MUST BE PMED TO THE GM FOR APPROVAL




Character Sheets

- Characters in this RPG are meant to be partial representations of yourself (see stats). You are encouraged to craft characters with some resemblance. To this end, I'll be allowing female characters, even though they are not accurate for the time. Armies will also be integrated, though lean predominantly male.

Character Sheet:
Faction: (Do this first!) - Role one six sided dice in the War Room once. If it’s even, you’re fighting for the east. If it’s odd, you’re fighting for the west. This can only be done once per player and its result is final. Be sure to match your bio with this result.

Name:
Gender:
Age:
Skin Color:
Hair Color:
Eye Color:
Height:
Weight:
Facial Features / Other Points:
Biography:

Base Traits (See Guide Below)
Experience:
Training:
Personal Fame:
Famous Family:
Hero:
Base Army Size:

Determining your Traits

Your power in this game will be determined by the number of men and women that follow your character. A feature of this game is that this will vary based on the player. What follows is the guide to determine your base army size. Based on your decisions throughout the game, this will change.

Base Traits

Start with one point. Every point you have below is equivalent to 1000 soldiers

- Start: 1 point
- Experience: One point for every year you’ve been on the boards before 2015 (Ex: If you registered in 2010, you have five points for this trait). This can be updated on your birthday.
- Training: One point for every thousand posts you’ve written. This is calculated only at game start and does not accrue. Remainders do not get rounded up (Ex: If you have 7500 posts, you have seven points for this trait.)
-Personal Fame: If you are currently a VIP, add 1 point here. If you are currently a moderator, add 2 points here. If you are currently an admin, add 3 points here. This can be updated upon promotion.
-Famous Family: If you’re emeritus (past mod or admin), add 1 point here
-Hero: Add 0.1 points for every 10 likes. This is calculated only at game start and does not accrue. Remainders do not get rounded up. (Ex: If you have 45 likes, add .4 points).

***Post your point total (x1000) as your army size***

Supplemental Buffs

Personal Buffs
- Organization: If your army has a name, add 1000 soldiers. Declared during the first two weeks.
- Rally: If your army has a flag, add 1000 soldiers. Declared during the first two weeks.
- Epic Tale: For every quality “journal post”, 10 soldiers will be added to both your immediate army size and its overall cap. Journal posts must be clearly marked and only one per day will be counted. They will be added at the end of each weekly period. Quality posts will be loosely interpreted to include anything that's at least a paragraph in length, uses some adjectives or adverbs, and roughly follows the rules of the English language.

Team Buffs
* Voting for these can be done at any time. If you are not in the capitol, your vote can be mailed. All of these (including territory) will be applied after week two.

-Independence: If the majority of your team members agree to a name, add 1000 soldiers
-Nationalism: If the majority of your team members agree to a flag, add 1000 soldiers
-Constitution: If the majority of your team members agree to an original foundational document, add 1000 soldiers. For the West, this is a constitution. For the East, this is a statement of principles justifying war and defending unification.
- Territory: Each claimed state adds 100 soldiers per army.

-Leadership: If the majority of your team members agree to elect a willing president, add 1000 soldiers. Presidents must announce their candidacy ahead of the vote. Once elected, the President can never leave the capitol, nor can they enter into battle. They have the power, however, to issue commands to their armies. Commands issued will expect to be obeyed the following week. If commands are disobeyed, the insubordinate army automatically loses 50% of their soldiers until the command is fulfilled. Presidents may also periodically be issued special missions to add additional buffs to their team.

-Rank: Each team can decide a command hierarchy. Each comes with a particular buff. These are:

* General of the Army (5 Star) – 1 Player: Add 4000 soldiers
* Senior General (4 Star) – 1 Player: Add 3000 soldiers
* Lieutenant General (3 Star) – 1 Player: Add 2000 soldiers
* Major General (2 Stars) – 1 Players: Add 1000 soldiers
Everyone else has the rank of Brigadier General (1 Star).

Each position above brigadier general requires majority vote. All promoted generals can issue commands to their subordinates. Commands must be clearly noted. If commands are disobeyed, the insubordinate army automatically loses 10% of their soldiers until the command is fulfilled. These compound if an army is insubordinate to multiple superior officers.

*Think carefully about commands. Soldiers win battles after all! Insubordination penalties are wasted potential!

Post Format

Because there are a lot of numbers in this game, please write posts in the following format:

Command Mode
- Short notes to the GM here, including direction of movement, orders to retreat, commands (if applicable), etc.
Post Mode

IC:
Location:
Type: Epic Tale/Support/President Mode/Normal

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I_H EDIT: This game is being accelerated to immediate launch to be more in-line with RPR OOC thread policies. My apologies for the ambiguous case, mods!

-I_H

 

MAP: Week of 2/24



State of Forces

Armies of the East - 110,770 soldiers
- Charles Anthony Frazier (Point Given)
- Alexander Augustus Ward (BLemelisk)
- Borus Jabrinsky (Mitth_Fisto)
- Gaylord Fitzgerald (DarthIntegral)

Territory of the East (2)
- Potomac (Washington DC) - +100 soldiers per general
- Nova (Winchester) - +100 soldiers per general

Armies of the West - 79,840 soldiers
- Henry “Hank” Williamson (Ramza)
- Simon Chamberlain (Galactic Vagabond)
- Paul Wight (s_heffley)
- Ambrose van Amstel (Imperial_Hammer)

Territory of the West (4)
- Coastal California (San Francisco) - +100 soldiers per general
- Jefferson (Redding) - +100 soldiers per general
- Central California (Sacramento) - +100 soldiers per general
- Reagan (Los Angeles) - +100 soldiers per general

 

Here we go, looks like I'm fighting for the west.

 

Rollin' rollin' rollin'.

West coast it is! I shall take pride in representing the best rap album of all time... and also California or whatever.

 

I'm quite new to the boards. Is it even worth joining the game if I will have such a small army?

 

Hello s_heffley !

Small armies can be useful! While they can't go one-on-one with big armies, I envision their roles as valuable support units, marching with larger armies to give boosts when needed. Also, there is no size needed to capture territory, so they can also operate behind the front line supporting the team.

Hope that clears things up!

Best,
-I_H

 

I guess I'll go ahead and roll. I hope I don't get east as I only have one thousand some soldiers, and be alone as of now.

Yay, I'm west. However, I do hope we get east players.

 

Imperial_Hammer, you knew I was a Civil War buff too didn't you?

Best coast. WOULD take East if need be for balance.

 

This looks insanely awesome. If there are any smaller roles, let me know. I don't think I can do a post a day. I'm also willing to give all my points (armies) to a newer person if that'll help.

 

Still haven't gotten a single east coast

 

5 odds/wests in a row? There is only a 3% chance of this occurring on a fair die. Either or generator is broken, or we're in a grips of a massive statistical fluke.

Either way, Easts are granted for both BLemelisk and Point Given.

This is what I get for trusting statistics, haha >_<

-I_H

 

Just out of curiosity, how much of US history are we to assume happened? I feel like the Mexican War would have started earlier than 1846 given the setting of the game, if it happened at all?

This could factor heavily into character back stories.

 

BLemelisk and Point Given, yep, you can presume it happened early in the 1800s, say 1830 to 1840s. You can also assume it was significantly more lengthy, as more territory was seized faster and earlier.

 

Roster updated. Will add BLemelisk when he posts his sheet. Going forward, lets continue with the dice, but I reserve the right to continue to adjust if the gods of statistics continue to spit in my eye.

s65horsey, hello there old friend! I'll always make room for you! If you don't want to be a general, you can gladly play whatever roll you want. While the war itself is the focus of this game, all posts add richness to the mood and feel. Send me a generic sheet for whatever non-general you want to play and we can go from there.

Ideas include: Various dudes from various armies, medical staff like doctors and nurses, civilians that get swept up in the battle or battles, etc.

Though I do encourage you to think about generals. I think both sides would welcome more troops and commanders, however slow! Not everyone is (nor can be) a Sherman or Grant. Good factions will use all their resources, even armies that march a little slower.

-I_H

 

Let's do this, people.


That's right people. I'm the first legit East General.

 

Looks a lot like the size of McClellan's army in 1862

 

Looks a lot like the size of McClellan's army in 1862

Was thinking that too when I saw it! lol Hello to all other Civil War buffs here, even if this is an alternate version!

Question before I may or may not officially PM a sheet in. Is there a diplomatic mode as well? Sending emissaries, lower officers to attempt to win over cities (if not states outright) ahead of an army's advance. Which, due to game mechanics, would result more in bonuses or penalties for the arriving armies depending on the emissary success/failure. Also, why not add in the oceanic states? At least the Alaskan States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, & Cuba…they are close enough that they could potentially throw in navies if persuaded to a faction. Plus San Francisco Bay not holding any naval forces would be disastrous. I also recall the Union's "Anaconda Plan" was a big part of the Civil War, even if most forget about it.

>.> Just stating and wondering is all, my old friend. Couldn't help myself…CW Buff side coming out.

 

Man, I remember when I had over 100k troops.

 

What's interesting here is that the Navy has been nullified due to the new theatre of war, but would be interesting if the game "engine" would simulate some type of naval warfare. It was pretty crucial in the Civil War, i.e., the South never had any considerable overseas resource flow because of the literally constant Union blockade from 1861 onward.

EDIT: Elu's post reminded me, will there be a border state faction? Where say the Plains States would side with either East or West. Sorry, probably making this more complicated than it needs to be . When we get around to writing the scope of the grand strategy game for Matrix Games maybe we can incorporate these.

 

Darth_Elu and BLemelisk,

All wonderful ideas, but without a dedicated co-GM, outside of the realm of my time commitment for this game right now. As the crowd in Hoopers rightfully noted, its already more complex than most. Naval, diplomacy, third faction are great "expansion packs" that can be added to the game engine in the form of additional bonuses, buffs, and what not. At this moment, I'm more concerned about getting this out of the gates in a way that doesn't take hours and hours, haha.

 

And that is a response I fully understand.

 

GM Update

This game will remain in recruitment for one more week. This will give the last few sheets time to trickle in and the fence-sitters time to make up their minds. Next weekend, this game will launch. While the game will remain open post-launch, all new armies will have to start at the faction capitol, meaning it could be a some time for reinforcements to arrive at wherever the front lines might be. Another dynamic to wrestle with, free of charge.