Topics

16

Development / Island-wide Roleplay Channel

« on: July 30, 2013, 02:40:06 PM »

Shizzle raised this in a different thread, and I thought it was a really good idea:

Roleplay Groups. Right now roleplaying is restricted by your character's role or current location. Why not get rid of these restrictions? Continent wide players should be able to start 'roleplaying threads' (within the game world) where they can invite other players to join. In other words, make RP more meta. Why can't I, as a player, observe all the roleplays written by rulers throughout the whole continent? It would make playing BM, for those who like RP, more like reading a book. Of course OOC knowledge being abused ICly might be a problem, but not one that cannot be overcome.

I've thought about doing something like this before via a guild, but I couldn't think of an IC rationale for a guild that would in effect serve as a channel for people to roleplay. I think having an island-wide roleplaying channel could reinvigorate roleplaying, because it's hard to gather all of the people who want to roleplay in a roleplay realm or guild.

Rather than make an official feature request right out of the gate, I thought I'd start this thread to discuss the pros and cons of the idea informally and to see if adding such a channel would even be possible from the dev point-of-view.

17

BM General Discussion / And the award for best heroic death goes to....

« on: May 16, 2013, 08:26:23 AM »

When most heroes die, you're lucky to see many comments about it from other characters. The world just keeps turning. So which heroic deaths do you feel actually meant something? Either became it was a fitting end for the character or because there was some actual weight to it through roleplays or other things.

My two contenders for the best heroic death award are Alpha and Rhidhana.

When Alpha just died on FEI, there was a real sense of shock and loss (Velax OOC comment: "holy s**t"). One of the great personalities, and commanders, on the island was dead. Added to this were the roleplays of other characters expressing their shock at the news, and Alpha's Arcaean son crossing the frontlines to attend the funeral pyre with the Kindarans.

Rhidhana gets my second vote because I've never seen a hero die at a more fitting moment. Her death during the final defence of Krimml was the perfect end for the character. She embodied Fontan, and dying at the same moment the realm died was verging on the poetic.

18

Background / Inside the Medieval Mind

« on: May 13, 2013, 05:50:37 AM »

People seemed interested in the link I gave to the documentary about medieval peasant life, so I'm going to compile a few more in this thread for those who are interested in learning more, or just gathering some material to enhance their characters or roleplays. The subject line of the thread comes from a season of programmes made by the BBC about the Medieval world. I'll probably add to this list as I hunt out more material.

We start with Inside the Medieval Mind: Power (running time 58 minutes). This one talks about how power was divided and imposed in the Middle Ages. Including the divisions of power between the priesthood, the knights, and the serfs; symbols of power such as castles; and peasant uprisings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM-slEErFtM

Next up is Inside the Medieval Mind: Knowledge (running time 58 minutes). This deals with superstition/the supernatural, religion, and the evolution of Middle Ages science and rational thought.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SUsKuG1w6k

Inside the Medieval Mind: Belief (running time 58 minutes). Religion, the power of the Church, the supernatural, and religious war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0dVLaT8rsU

Inside the Medieval Mind: Sex (running time 58 minutes). Sex, sin, love, and marriage in the Middle Ages (content warning if you're of a more puritan frame of mind).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSk4HrjuSCw

Next up, we have a more light-hearted take on the Middle Ages, with a documentary series made by Terry Jones (Yes, the Monty Python's Flying Circus Terry Jones), where he talks about the lives of certain classes of Medieval people. Still informative, but much lighter in tone. These are okay if you're looking for a bit of roleplay background material, but you don't feel you can be bothered to sit through the more heavy-weight documentaries above.

Life of the peasant (29 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg3YDN5gTX0
Life of the monk (29 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7kixg7E3Pk
Life of the damsel (29 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL5CviNAhnk
Life of the minstrel (29 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LyuIVZk5FM
Life of the knight (29 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhWFQtzM4r0
Life of the philosopher (29 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTf2EzTd1TE
Life of the outlaw (29 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9GsccLoLvY
Life of the king (29 mins): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYLXlbE6Ly4

Next we have some background for that feasting roleplay you've been planning to write. Ever wanted to know what a medieval king had for dinner? Clarissa and the King's Cookbook might answer that question! (29 mins).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=803rjwGlS-U

Lastly for now, we have two programmes from the Battlefield Britain series - this is for the battle fans and those interested medieval weapons. The first deals with the last great rebellion of the Welsh against English rule, as a 10,000 strong Welsh army invades England. (59 mins).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj7k91AQ3UI

The second is about the Battle of Hastings, the twilight of Anglo-Saxon rule in England when their control is broken by the Normans (59 mins).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_rAXH09qRY

That's all for now. If people are interested in these, I'll find more to add to this lot.

19

Background / Peasant Life

« on: May 03, 2013, 12:26:52 AM »

I originally posted this link in one of the local threads, but thought it might be of more general interest. It's a documentary on medieval peasant life. It's 60 minutes, so find a comfortable seat before starting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5ZeeiPSGAw

20

Development / Scout Reports to Open on Military

« on: March 29, 2013, 11:25:55 PM »

When you open a scout report that's been forwarded by someone through Messages, it opens on the region description meaning you then have to click Military to get to the section that's looked at the most. Is there any great reason why a scout report forwarded through Messages can't just open on Military to eliminate the need for the extra click to get there? It already does that when you send out your own scout.

21

BM General Discussion / What makes a good BM religion?

« on: January 16, 2013, 07:32:06 AM »

I'm curious about what people think makes for a good, interesting and fun religion in Battlemaster. What qualities of a religion would enhance the game for you, or what would make a religion fun for you? Or, if you tend to avoid the religions, what do you think the in-game faiths get wrong (in terms of not being fun for you)?

Do the religions your characters follow actually effect their actions in the game and become an active part of who they are, who they ally with, and who they war against?

22

Other Games / The Lords of Midnight

« on: January 11, 2013, 04:17:08 AM »

For anyone who's never heard of The Lords of Midnight, it's well worth a play.

http://www.thelordsofmidnight.com/index2.html

The game was originally released in 1984 and was light years ahead of its time. This version is newly modified to be playable on iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, PC, etc. It doesn't seem to be well known outside of the UK and parts of Europe. Like many games of that era it never really gained popularity in the States because it was a computer game in a time when North America was much more geared towards the early consoles. Sadly, Mike Singleton, the game's creator, died in 2012 without ever getting the wide-spread recognition he should have had as a pioneering game developer. He did complete a sequel to Lords of Midnight, but the third Midnight game to round out the trilogy was never finished (as far as I know).

The gameplay is a mixture of strategy game and adventure game as you recruit and lead armies on the one hand, while also trying to sneak-defeat the enemy by getting two or three other characters into the enemy lair without being noticed. Either method will get you a win, but don't expect it to be a pushover! One piece of advice to anyone who plays is to download yourself a fan created map so you don't get too lost - the playing area is massive. Maps and other interesting stuff can be found here: http://www.icemark.com/tower/.

23

Helpline / Murderous Setting

« on: December 21, 2012, 10:25:59 PM »

Over the past few days several nobles in one of my realms have been trying to force a battle with a noble of another realm with which we have peaceful relations. I'd always thought this could be done by setting your unit to murderous. But, even set at murderous, no battles have been forced. There have also been no reports of a battle having been evaded.

Could someone please clarify what the conditions are for the murderous setting to kick in and create a battle?

24

Feature Requests / Legendary Quests

« on: October 30, 2012, 08:32:10 AM »

Title: Legendary Quests

Summary:

Give margraves the ability to call a quest for a legendary artifact. The quest would be open to all warriors on a given island and would take the form of a type of treasure hunt. The quest would end with the possibility of discovering an artifact that would benefit the city of the margrave who called the quest.

Details:

Note: In order to save work, my hope would be that the legendary quest could reuse much of the underlying structure of the tournament, but with changes to the text.

A margrave would gain the option to call a quest for a legendary item, with the search lasting for a set number of days (say 7 days, for the sake of debate). Doing so would cost the margrave an amount of gold that would then be set aside as a reward for the noble who finds the item. Once a quest has been called, every appropriate noble on the island would receive a message with the option to join the quest. If they did so, they'd leave their unit behind, as with the tournament.

Once on the quest, the location of the nobles involved would be listed as 'unknown' reflecting that they are wandering the lands in their search. Each turn would generate a series of options such as 'Question the locals' to find information about the location of the item; or 'You are confronted by a mysterious swordsman/or a mysterious rider' giving the option to fight them (replicating the training of a tournament, but possibly with a reduced chance of improving the skills); and so forth. Each of these options would have a random chance of scoring the noble a point which would be silently accumulated. For example, "After questioning the locals, a merchant reveals that he has heard tales of such an artifact in a nearby valley" - silently score one point.

These points would accumulate to a 'trigger point' (say 10 points, hypothetically).  When the 7 days of the quest expire, every noble on the quest who has reached the trigger point will enter a melee (as with the battle of the tournament) as they are all deemed to have reached the same location on the quest and are now fighting for the artifact. Any nobles who have failed to reach the trigger point would just be returned home. In the melee, last noble standing claims the artifact and the gold reward.

The Margrave who called the quest then gains the legendary artifact for his/her city,  and the artifact gives a percentage reduction to the upkeep cost for buildings (say 25%, 50%, or what ever). The artifact deteriorates with time and disappears after a set number of days (maybe 60 days, maybe 90 days). The artifact belongs to the city rather than any character and cannot be sold, moved, otherwise traded, or repaired, so that it does not undermine the adventurer game.

Benefits:

Added fun. It gives players with margrave characters an extra tool (in addition to the tournament) to maintain player engagement, particularly during the inevitable periods of peace in a realm. Also gives rank-and-file knights and dames another activity to maintain their interest and participation in the game.

Introduces questing, which was a major part of both the literature and the reality of the Middle Ages, but is not currently represented in the game.

Roleplay opportunities, and possibly enhancing reasons for an opposing realm to try to take a city that has an artifact.


Possible Exploits:

Enemy margraves could use a quest to draw opposing nobles away from a war, but you can say the same thing about a tournament.

Margraves might use the percentage reduction in upkeep cost to use the gold saved to speed up building or enlargements. But they'd then be hit by the increase in upkeep costs once the artifact disappears.