Topics

1

Roleplaying / The Prophet Severina

« on: May 23, 2022, 09:45:53 PM »

Roleplay from Severina Erickson Player experience level: mentor Player play preference: rp
Message sent to everyone in Corridor of Torment (6 recipients) - 7 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes ago
The sun set, and a cool wind whipped across the craggy rocks of the Corridor of Torment, disturbing what few sparse, thorny shrubs clung to the rocks and crags.

Severina stood before nine pyres, behind her, her disciples stood, some with arms in slings, others on crutches, none battleworthy.

They had attracted much attention when they arrived for muster some days prior. They wore mail, but their resemblance to normal soldiers ended there. Rather than sword and spear they carried maces, and iron staffs.  Besides the armor they wore cloaks and hoods of grey like the members of some ascetic orders. Their heads were shaved, and their foreheads bore three red dots.

Severina marched afore them similarly attired and armed. Her head was unmarked by needle and ink, but instead she wore a simple ring of silver wire with three rubies at its center. Most striking was her placid demeanor. Even in the heat of battle only the slightest tension in her cheeks and widening of her blue eyes, betrayed the stress of combat.

The blood of beasts and men now stained her grey cloak as well as the vestments of her followers. An acolyte handed her a torch.

"Theses nine have served the cause of enlightenment. I commit them to the divine with full martyr's honors. May the Bloodstars shine on them, and through them and may they become one with their holy light"

With that she lit the pyres one by one, the flames climbing into the night sky, illuminating the dreary clouds above.


Roleplay from Severina Erickson Player experience level: mentor Player play preference: rp
Message sent to all nobles of Avenor (16 recipients) - just in
Severina wandered the recruitment centers of Darfix, coming at last upon a group of familiar faces.

"Holy one!" a soldier shouted.

"You address me as such Sigric, but you have not treated me as such. It was quite a surprise to wake from my meditation alone."

Trembling the acolyte dropped to his knees followed by the dozen others.

"Forgive us prophetess, we beseech you!" he cried, "You had been in seclusion so long, we though surely sleeping-sickness had taken you."

"For years now clouds have shrouded the Blood Stars yet so many remain faithful. How can I trust in your faith?"

"Please! Do not send us from your sight! How may we atone?"

"Go forth and gather others," Severina replied, "find more warriors who will follow me."

The men leapt to their feet and dispersed to preach among the recruits.

2

Development / Promote or suppress religion

« on: November 08, 2021, 09:55:13 PM »

I wanted to make a suggestion for how to correct the imbalance recently discussed when it comes to legacy verses new religions. What if we gave region lords the option to suppress or promote religions? Doing so will give conversion bonuses to the promoted religions and penalties to the suppressed ones. The ability would need to be significantly less powerful than a priest or else barely anyone would bother being a priest. Perhaps it could be designed to work in conjunction with priests in order to see significant conversions. Maybe promoting a religion could even reduce the risk of a priest being wounded by a mob, the rationale being that the lord is personally ordering the city watch to protect them. There should also be drawbacks, suppressing the region's dominant religion should certainly make the peasants more unruly. Something like this could drive P2P interaction and put more control in the hands of lower-ranking players.

3

Development / Why's it so hard to become a courtier?

« on: June 25, 2021, 05:29:15 AM »

I remember a while back you could choose to start as a courtier. Now it requires 21 days in realm. Why?

It's easier to become a priest. Priests are a lot more powerful than courtiers in my experience. Also it's impossible to eject a priest from a religion. There has always been a lot of potential for people to easily infiltrate religions and be impossible to remove.

So with that in mind why are courtiers such a privileged class. Is it concern that too many people will play as them thus undermining the war and combat nature of battlemaster? I doubt that will happen. It's rare for there to be more than a couple courtiers in a given realm.

4

Development / Reworking Takeovers

« on: February 01, 2021, 08:41:34 PM »

Right now, in theory, there are eight different actions that invading armies can use to takeover a region. In practice however there are only two, random violence and freedom celebrations. I cannot remember the last time takeover orders included anything else. I certainly can't recall ever participating in a "balanced takeover". I think either something needs to change to make these other actions practical to use or we should dispense with the eight possible actions and just change them to 'hostile acts' and 'friendly acts' and let players RP what those are.

5

BM General Discussion / Grand Melees

« on: December 08, 2020, 05:43:37 PM »

Here's an idea for something new in BM that should not require any code changes. In the middle ages grand melees were an early form of tournament in which dozens of nobles would charge at each other in a mock battle. It seems to me that Battlemaster could have its own form of that. Start with a guild, "The Grand Melee League" for organizing and coordinating. All participants show up in a pre-selected region. The rules could stipulate that no one realm can be overrepresented at the melee (e.g. if Realms A and B send just one unit realm C cannot send two). At an appointed time all participants set their units to murderous. The TLs are also free to challenge each other to duels to surrender. Battles ensue for a certain number of days, perhaps 3-5. After each round all TLs of the defeated side must withdraw from the region until only one unit remains victorious. TLs who lose a duel must also withdraw. Additional prizes may be given for winning duels, wounding opposing nobles in battle or capturing them (last unit to deal damage to their unit is assumed responsible). This could be a lot of fun, especially when there are few wars going on.

6

Feature Requests / Meaningful Paganism Penalty

« on: August 27, 2020, 08:20:50 AM »

Title: Meaningful Paganism Penalty

Summary: Increase penalties for pagan nobles so there is more incentive for them to join in-game religions

Details:

According to the Battlemaster's Lore "paganism" is defined as a variety of peasant superstitious beliefs and practices. It is supposed to be shameful for a noble to be a pagan. In practice however, no one really seems to care. Pagan nobles are quite common and it's almost unheard of for this to result in consequences from players. In-game penalties for being a pagan lord are minor and in fact it can be much worse to choose a religion that is hated by your peasants.

I propose increasing region penalties for pagan lords. This can be done by simply increasing the existing penalty to the point where it will actively encourage players to select a religion. Flavor texts should read "The region's lower gentry are mortified to be serving a pagan lord. They flagrantly shirk their duties and refuse to pay taxes, some are even sowing unrest among the peasantry". This is will better explain the rational for the penalty, particularly in regions with high pagan peasant populations.

Benefits:
Encourages more players to join in-game religions which is porporteday expected of them according to BM lore. Creates potential for roleplay, P2P conflict and intrigue.

Possible downsides/exploits:

It might be possible for a player to sabotage their own region by withdrawing from their religion. However it is worth keeping in mind that there are plenty of other ways a player can sabotage their own region if they want and the realm's leadership has the power to penalize and even remove them to stop this from happening.

This rule will give more power to the heads of religions. This is not an inherently bad thing. In the middle ages the heads of major religions, most notably the Pope, could be quite powerful and able to influence politics all over Europe. However some players may dislike giving a particular class more power.

Religious leaders could cause harm to a realm by excommunicating lords from their faith. This action would in most circumstances be of limited effect as the noble could simply join a new religion.

Such excommunications would be more impactful however if:

1. The region in question overwhelmingly follows the religion in question.

2. That religion has declared all other religions evil.

On the other hand this will encourage more careful consideration for inter-religious politics and religion-realm relations.

Finally all of these potential problems can be mitigated by fine-tuning the penalty to be just high enough that a casual player will simply choose to join a religion rather than having to keep holding court but not so onerous that they can cripple a region within a short time.

7

Dwilight / Barrett Brine Goes Rogue

« on: April 25, 2020, 09:50:42 AM »

Oh man this is one of the most epic dramas ever to play out for one of my characters. When I first conceived of the character of Barrett Brine he was intended to essentially be a pirate. It's fitting that right now his flag is officially a skull and cross bones.

For a little background:

Navarch Solomon of Tol Goldora offered Barrett the chance to lead a raid in Northern Dwilight, which he enthusiastically accepted. Briefly he was named marshal for this. Later however his marshalship was revoked, which I actually hadn't noticed due to being busy on my end (I'll roleplay that Barrett spilled rum all over the letter). Still they never officially told him he wasn't leading the raid anymore.

Struggle ensued when his ideas for how the mission ought to be conducted conflicted with the marshal's. Being true to his nature, Barrett was not about to defer to some other authority when it came to his expertise. So he insulted the marshal and essentially mutinied. He resigned from the army, declaring he'd be conducting his own raid and invited the other raiders to join him. None did sadly.

The Navarch gave him a warning and asked him to recant all his insults and insubordination. Barrett responded by challenging all takers in the military council to a duel.

Now he's in the far north with all the other raiders hunting for him. He's been banned and stabbed by an infiltrator. Here's hoping he'll recover soon.

After spending so many years with characters like Turin and Sigurd who tend to be more calculating, playing a firebrand like Barrett has been a real treat, and I look forward to him going out in a blaze of glory... or perhaps not.

8

Development / Pets for adventurers

« on: April 23, 2020, 08:44:10 AM »

This is an idea I've been playing around with. What if we made "pet" a special item type that provides a small bonus.

The first and most obvious one is a dog. The dog gives you a small bonus to your hunting and combat skills.

A crow gives you a bonus to your "adventurer" skill.

A cat gives you a bonus to spell-casting (since they can see in octarine)

This one might be a little much but a horse could give you a bonus to travel speed and combat.

An adventurer can have just one pet. Collecting them all and turning into a traveling petting zoo would be ridiculous. Maybe if we use the unique item code for pets they can also be named.

Now here's the tough part, your pet can die. Dogs and horses can be killed while hunting rogues. A crow can be killed by a predator while trying to find shinys for you. Finally when using a cat as a familiar for spellcasting there's a chance they'll become *ahem* part of the spell. Finally, any time a noble arrests an adventurer, they'll have the option to kill the adventurers's pet. Think of it. One day Johannes Wicker is just minding his own business then a mean noble beats him up and kills his dog. A few years and three recommendations later and he's back for revenge.

I think pets would provide a fun way to customize a little more. As long as their bonuses remain small there shouldn't be a risk of them seriously impacting gameplay.

9

General Talk / I've got a book out!

« on: April 13, 2020, 07:27:31 AM »

Hey folks,

I hope there's no rule against a bit of self promotion.

A book I co-wrote is now in pre-sales. It was a five year undertaking and I'm really excited to see it released. It's an urban fantasy inspired by the history, culture and legends of the Romani people, an ethnic group more commonly known as "Gypsies".

For more info we've got a facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/LastoftheMagi/

And if you're interested here's our amazon page:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086W2FPKR?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420&fbclid=IwAR1JINkddsxxgYfWMdXcRc3-BmJI3TDmkV3r8gtJDo-NCfStdt7CWEORWRU

10

Development / Lemuria Rennaisance- Old Battlemaster

« on: November 09, 2019, 07:02:19 AM »

Hey so I participated in the poll and saw one of the leading options was to bring back a pre-2010 Battlemaster. That could be cool. I'd suggest a new gameworld, but running the old rules. Make the continent relatively small say 70 regions and allow everyone a bonus character to play there much like War Island.

Getting creative with the map layout could be cool. Just one idea, have a central sea like Dwilight but oriented North to South. In the middle you have two large islands with four or five regions each. One Island has a major city with sea lanes to several other regions including to the other Island, but also a rural region with a short sea lane to another rural so the island is subject to invasion. The other island has two townslands connected to a smaller number of sea lanes and a central city so easier to defend but harder to use to conquer other lands. Then on the outer sea of this continent you have two additional smaller islands with sea lanes. These islands have a rural or maybe townsland labeled "such and such harbor" and then their other region is a city or stronghold. That could make for a very dynamic play environment.

11

Development / Adventurer Subclasses/New abilities

« on: August 26, 2019, 01:18:30 AM »

There's often been talk of new abilities for adventurers. Some get more traction than others. Traditionally the main things that are not happening are abilities that will encourage rampant killing of adventurers and abilities that just involve giving adventurers noble abilities. Even if it never happens these are always fun to talk about.

One that came to mind for me is an adventurer subclass called "cleric" or perhaps something else like "pastor" or maybe even "monk" basically anything that implies something less than a priest. The subclass is only open to adventurers who are a member of a religion. With this subclass they gain an ability by which they function as a shrine. It could be passive so whatever region they're in is automatically bestowed the same bonus that prevents follower loss. Or it could be an active ability where they have to expend hours to create the same benefit, perhaps when they do so they also gain some silver in donations, otherwise there'd be little incentive to preach. The idea is they only preach to inspire piety in existing followers but don't have the power to convert. They could also get a special ability that they can sleep for free in regions that have a temple. This could be an interesting way to give adventurers more to do in religions.

Another thought I've just had is "Bard". In addition to normal adventurer activities they can also "perform". They gain a small amount of silver and create a small moral and productivity bonus in the region.

One final idea, occultist, they automatically hear more rumors about witches and sages that come from a greater range away.

12

Marketing / Landing page for newbies

« on: August 01, 2019, 05:27:30 AM »

We could add a page "Battlemaster.org/welcome". Then when introducing new players to the game we make this the standard link we provide. The landing page could feature a short trailer then links with the option to view tutorials, read the wiki or proceed to the main game page.

13

Development / Why can't courtiers train in swordfighting or jousting?

« on: April 19, 2019, 08:30:34 AM »

I've just become a courtier only to find out I can't train in sword fighting anymore. I'm still able to issue duel challenges (am I able to attend tournaments)? What is the rational behind this?

14

Marketing / Q-code flyers

« on: March 07, 2019, 01:02:50 AM »

Q-code's are a great way to grab people's attention in the digital age. We could design a flyer with an embedded Q-code that links to the game. Anyone can print one out and post it to their school bulletin board, or hand them out at cons or just staple them to telephone poles.

15

Dwilight / Shameless Darfix Colony recruitment thread

« on: March 06, 2019, 09:20:34 PM »

Have you ever wanted to be a fanatical religious zealot, hunting heretics and conquering unbelievers. Have you ever wanted to contend with a repressive theocracy as a champion for religious tolerance. The new Darfix colony will let you do it all! With it sights set on the largest city in Dwilight this new realm promises to be a Theocracy of Sanguis Astroism. Regional politics will include the ongoing Tol Goldora vs Westguard conflict as well as looting in the rogue lands and all the adventures and conflicts that can arise from that. Join the expedition today!