Post by Tyseus/Victoria on Feb 23, 2017 5:59:32 GMT
Jgundara, the war of the lost.
For the sake of expediency know that if we say 'we' or 'us' it is referring to this account, as either I (Victoria) or Tyseus will be at the helm, but rarely both as time seldom allows us the time to collaborate.
In a time ageless, riddled with secrets and false truths, there were factions that battled for dominion over the land. Among these factions strode giants of battle. This is the tale of those giants, and the tales woven around them.
Jgundara, the war of the lost (to be henceforth referred to as Jgundara for the sake of expediency) is a combat focused fantasy rpg based in the fictional world of Tallasheim. Players will choose from one of three starting classes;
The Legionnaire: Warriors focused on weapons requiring great strength to wield and battle with relentless fury.
The Marine: Warriors who are trained to fight with weapons requiring an equal mix of strength and skill and do so with cunning and valor.
The Infiltrator: Warriors who rely on their skill and speed. Such warriors cannot resist the weapons of others for long, but often have no need of such paltry tactics.
Each of these classes has a specific theme, but is infinitely varied in the gear and tactics you may wish to use in combat, within the bounds of reason. An infiltrator cannot effectively wield a maul, and a legionnaire will be useless with a dagger. Whilst marines will only truly be efficient with weapons that bridge such divides, being unable to rely on either brute force or pure skill to survive. Once you have chosen a character class PM us with your decision and chosen character weapons and armour. Gear is wildly varied including consumables that can be identified and claimed throughout the game, but each character only starts with their unique equipment. A spoilered list of gear will be posted at the bottom of this post, and will contain an example array of weapons and armour that can be used, along with their classifications. But do not feel constrained to take such weapons or armour, pick whatever you wish, if you are a legionnaire, your weapon will be classed as a strength weapon, quality for the marines, and skill for the infiltrators. You may use any weapon that matches your type, including ones looted from slain foes and players.
Armour is of similar codification, heavy medium and light. However there is no limit to the type of armour you may wear, but be warned that each type carries it's own penalties and benefits, and no armour is strictly 'better' than any other. Also note that wearing heavy armour as an infiltrator is possible, but may not be optimal, as a legionnaire may wear light armour, but might not benefit it's full effects.
This brings us to the crux of the thread, the RP system. Characters will have wounds (similar to in 40K) though expect to have a fair number, rather than simply '1'. You lose a wound (or wounds) when an opponent bests you in combat. Weapons deal damage based on their type, and the armour of the wearer. All weapons are either str, qual, or skil, and have a secondary type of blunt, sharp, or pointed. Blunt weapons deal an additional wound of damage to heavy armour, sharp weapons deal an additional wound to light, and pointed weapons deal an additional wound to medium.
To best someone in combat, you must either force them into an untenable situation, such as overwhelming them with attacks from multiple sources. Or by defeating them in a rock - paper - scissors sort of mind game. Attacks can be made either high, low or horizontal. Horizontal attacks are the fastest, but lack weight, dealing only a single wound of damage. High attacks are the slowest, dealing three wounds, and low attacks are somewhere in the middle, dealing two. A character may chose to either block or attack high mid or low on his or her turn. They may also dodge, but may not dodge two turns in a row. If you attacked in one stance, you must take a turn to swap to another stance before attacking again, but may block in any stance if you wish, or attack in the same stance. If you block however you may block any stance, or attack any stance. If two characters attack on the same stance, they clash, and the one with the higher weapon weight wins and deals half damage. You declare an action by pming it to me, once we have recieved the actions of all characters involved in a combat we will pm them informing of what happened and they will rp the results as normal. Note that there is no random chance involved in this combat, and progressive stats do not exist. Players will defeat other players only based on their skill and ability to out think their opponents. If two characters attack at the same time in different stances the lighter weapon will always strike first, and the heavier weapon's attack will be negated.
Two handed melee weapons strike at double their listed strength (so a pointed weapon striking high on medium armour would deal eight points of damage) but a character carrying a two handed weapon may not carry a ranged weapon of any kind, a second melee weapon or a shield.
Shields may be used, and are also counted as light, medium or heavy. Light shields can block a single attack in sequence from any direction. If two attacks are blocked with a light shield in a row the shield breaks and is lost forever. Medium shields may block twice, and heavy shields three times, using the same rules. If a character blocks in a specific stance with a shield, this is counted as a parry, and if the attacking character is also striking in that stance, the defending character counts as landing a single hit on them for free at double strength with their weapon. A character carrying a shield may not have a second weapon (dual wield) or carry a two handed weapon but may carry a single ranged weapon, so long as it is thrown. Note that larger shields inhibit the player's ability to move, and a character with a heavy shield may not dodge. Characters with medium shields may only dodge if they had not blocked the previous turn, characters using light shields are unaffected. To be clear, only consecutive blows have a chance of breaking a shield. If three hits are suffered by a heavy shield, then the character dodges, or else performs another action, then the shield is essentially reset, and can suffer another three blows safely. Finally, characters can perform an omnidirectional kick that deals two blows worth of damage to a single blocking shield. If a character kicks and the character who is targeted is not blocking however, then the kicking character suffers a free hit from that character as if riposted.
Dual wielding characters may attack twice in the same turn, and may attack on multiple stances simultaneously, however if either of the attacks is blocked they instead count as being parried, and the defending character ripostes as normal, landing a single hit that deals double damage. This is due to the inherent unbalanced nature of dual wielding, even when attacking with two parallel weapons. If a character who is dual wielding strikes with both weapons in the same stance and is blocked, they are instead count as stunned, and suffer both a riposte and may not act in the subsequent round of combat, most likely suffering another hit. If two dual wielding characters clash, (attack on the same stances) both players attacks count as being blocked and no damage is done by either party (even if attacks were made on undefended stances.) Dual wielding characters may use weapons of different weight classes, but never more than one step away from their 'home' weight (meaning marines may dual wield a skill and strength weapon simultaneously, but a legionnaire or infiltrator may only wield a strength or skill weapon respectively, and a quality weapon. Or two each of strength or Skill respectively, but never two quality.) If they chose to do so any weapons not of their 'home' weight class deal a single wound less damage than they otherwise would (Meaning a marine wielding a skill weapon would only deal damage with it to targets with vulnerable armour to the weapon's type, or on a riposte.) Dual wielding characters may not carry a two handed melee weapon, a shield, or a ranged weapon of any kind.
Ranged weapons may be fired at any point during combat, but if a character who is shooting is in range of another who attacks, the ranged attacker's blow is cancelled and they take double damage as if riposted. However ranged attacks always deal eight wounds regardless of armour or distance (as no distance is great enough in this game that a ranged weapon would be too far away to be dangerous). Ranged weapons (if thrown) may only be used once in combat even if recovered as they are considered too damaged to use again so swiftly, and are considered repaired after the battle. Bows and crossbows carry three shots each, but a character carrying a bow or crossbow may not carry a second melee weapon, a shield (unless the ranged weapon is thrown) or have a two handed melee weapon.
You will never know the full capabilities of the other characters in this game. Their armour and weapon stats will be hidden from you, and known by only us and the player who owns the character. Because of this each player may control only a single character at any given time. You are welcome to guess at the types of gear each player has, and may glean information about them from watching the fights of others. But unless they choose to disclose the information you may never know for sure. Equally a player may disclose the information of their gear, but is not required to be truthful.
When fighting npcs we will act in the stead of the npcs and you must count on our honor to play fairly. We will determine ahead of time what the npcs in combats will do before reading the thread and act accordingly.
That's a lot of rules and situations to slog though, but they inevitably result in a fairer system than a dice based one. Note that you will most likely be fighting npcs more often than other players, this is the meat of the game and cooperation is just as encouraged as pvp. There are rewards for each.
(Tyseus notes, in Victoria's haste to post this before work she left in some minor errors, which I have amended. And left out a core part of the combat, movement.)
Movement in combat is straight forward, either you are in melee range, or you are not. Instead of making an action on your turn you may choose to move in or out of melee range, and in a turn subsequent to such a movement you may make an attack at any stance, and attacks made after movement which are high attacks, resolve at the speed of mid attacks (that is to say they are the fastest they can be). Attacks made within melee range can connect, attacks made outside of melee range do not. Note that if a character is opposing someone with a spear, or wielding a spear, then 'melee range' is the range the spear can fight in. No spear in this game will be so long that after deflecting an attack from one a character could not make a swift attack against their foe.
Finally a note about attack speed, as it was not made clear. Attacks that are mid, resolve first, that is to say that if you make a mid attack and your opponent makes a low attack, then your attack will strike first. Therefore while high attacks are damaging, they are also the slowest and, oft it is not worth attacking in such a way unless you are certain of being able to connect, or at least mostly sure. Remember that after parrying someone, or stunning them, the riposte attack is counted as 'high' and deals a minimum of six wounds of damage, eight if your weapon defeats their armour class.
-:-
The story
The game is set in a fantasy universe revolving around six main factions;
The Iron Port of Calradia: Known for it's formidable navy and versatile mercenaries wearing leather and chain brigandines, a trading port and a military port both.
The Forgotten Valley of Nult: A hidden tribe of warriors who fight with unmatched ferocity and drug-dulled brains. The lucid among them are great generals and cunning tacticians. Their soldiers wear mostly leather armour but occasionally scale, they are known for dual wielding in combat.
Iscan the Free City: The freemen of Iscan fight primarily in heavy plate armour while utilizing a variety of battlefield tactics and secondary weapons such as crossbows and javelins.
Venradis; the wooded swamp: Venradi warriors are the most proficient with bows and small thrown ranged weapons such as daggers, but rarely have proficiency in melee weapons, relying on their strength. They primarily wear light armour.
Colchis of the Bears: Colchian warriors are known for two handed weapons and thick shields, but rarely wear armour heavier than mid weight. They are nomadic and exist more as a tribe than a city.
Yinta the Garden of Many Wonders: Yintian warriors fight in all manner of ways, usually with exotic or bizarre weapons that defy identification and baffle their foes. Equally they wear a bewildering array of armour that defies codification and often surprises their opponents. But as a strange result of their locale, are rarely sane or sound tactical thinkers, expect them to be overcome by a determined foe with reliable equipment and a good strategy.
These factions have warred since time immemorial, but only via proxy. They send mercenaries and battle groups to fight roving bandits or rising factions from the cardinal edges of the mostly blank map. The six factions of Tallasheim are notoriously insular and their politics are convoluted. They deny the existence of outside empires or nations and see encroachments on their shared territory as nothing more than interlopers in their great war, no matter the size of the invasion. The players will begin the game on a ship heading to the north coast of the inland sea Yaragol, around which the factions hold sway, to join interlopers who seek to invade.
Interest?
(Note from Tyseus, as Victoria has neglected to mention we trawled through the games in planning and found that there were scant few, so we decided to throw an old favorite into the mix. This story line and setup has been floating around our gaming community for a few decades now and it never ceases to entertain. I'll only say that it isn't quite what it appears to be, and those who enjoyed dark souls will also enjoy this. Adieu, T)
As an aside, there are always rules that don't get explained properly in the first post, (because we write them from memory each time) so if something is bothering you post away and we'll answer.
For the sake of expediency know that if we say 'we' or 'us' it is referring to this account, as either I (Victoria) or Tyseus will be at the helm, but rarely both as time seldom allows us the time to collaborate.
In a time ageless, riddled with secrets and false truths, there were factions that battled for dominion over the land. Among these factions strode giants of battle. This is the tale of those giants, and the tales woven around them.
Jgundara, the war of the lost (to be henceforth referred to as Jgundara for the sake of expediency) is a combat focused fantasy rpg based in the fictional world of Tallasheim. Players will choose from one of three starting classes;
The Legionnaire: Warriors focused on weapons requiring great strength to wield and battle with relentless fury.
The Marine: Warriors who are trained to fight with weapons requiring an equal mix of strength and skill and do so with cunning and valor.
The Infiltrator: Warriors who rely on their skill and speed. Such warriors cannot resist the weapons of others for long, but often have no need of such paltry tactics.
Each of these classes has a specific theme, but is infinitely varied in the gear and tactics you may wish to use in combat, within the bounds of reason. An infiltrator cannot effectively wield a maul, and a legionnaire will be useless with a dagger. Whilst marines will only truly be efficient with weapons that bridge such divides, being unable to rely on either brute force or pure skill to survive. Once you have chosen a character class PM us with your decision and chosen character weapons and armour. Gear is wildly varied including consumables that can be identified and claimed throughout the game, but each character only starts with their unique equipment. A spoilered list of gear will be posted at the bottom of this post, and will contain an example array of weapons and armour that can be used, along with their classifications. But do not feel constrained to take such weapons or armour, pick whatever you wish, if you are a legionnaire, your weapon will be classed as a strength weapon, quality for the marines, and skill for the infiltrators. You may use any weapon that matches your type, including ones looted from slain foes and players.
Armour is of similar codification, heavy medium and light. However there is no limit to the type of armour you may wear, but be warned that each type carries it's own penalties and benefits, and no armour is strictly 'better' than any other. Also note that wearing heavy armour as an infiltrator is possible, but may not be optimal, as a legionnaire may wear light armour, but might not benefit it's full effects.
This brings us to the crux of the thread, the RP system. Characters will have wounds (similar to in 40K) though expect to have a fair number, rather than simply '1'. You lose a wound (or wounds) when an opponent bests you in combat. Weapons deal damage based on their type, and the armour of the wearer. All weapons are either str, qual, or skil, and have a secondary type of blunt, sharp, or pointed. Blunt weapons deal an additional wound of damage to heavy armour, sharp weapons deal an additional wound to light, and pointed weapons deal an additional wound to medium.
To best someone in combat, you must either force them into an untenable situation, such as overwhelming them with attacks from multiple sources. Or by defeating them in a rock - paper - scissors sort of mind game. Attacks can be made either high, low or horizontal. Horizontal attacks are the fastest, but lack weight, dealing only a single wound of damage. High attacks are the slowest, dealing three wounds, and low attacks are somewhere in the middle, dealing two. A character may chose to either block or attack high mid or low on his or her turn. They may also dodge, but may not dodge two turns in a row. If you attacked in one stance, you must take a turn to swap to another stance before attacking again, but may block in any stance if you wish, or attack in the same stance. If you block however you may block any stance, or attack any stance. If two characters attack on the same stance, they clash, and the one with the higher weapon weight wins and deals half damage. You declare an action by pming it to me, once we have recieved the actions of all characters involved in a combat we will pm them informing of what happened and they will rp the results as normal. Note that there is no random chance involved in this combat, and progressive stats do not exist. Players will defeat other players only based on their skill and ability to out think their opponents. If two characters attack at the same time in different stances the lighter weapon will always strike first, and the heavier weapon's attack will be negated.
Two handed melee weapons strike at double their listed strength (so a pointed weapon striking high on medium armour would deal eight points of damage) but a character carrying a two handed weapon may not carry a ranged weapon of any kind, a second melee weapon or a shield.
Shields may be used, and are also counted as light, medium or heavy. Light shields can block a single attack in sequence from any direction. If two attacks are blocked with a light shield in a row the shield breaks and is lost forever. Medium shields may block twice, and heavy shields three times, using the same rules. If a character blocks in a specific stance with a shield, this is counted as a parry, and if the attacking character is also striking in that stance, the defending character counts as landing a single hit on them for free at double strength with their weapon. A character carrying a shield may not have a second weapon (dual wield) or carry a two handed weapon but may carry a single ranged weapon, so long as it is thrown. Note that larger shields inhibit the player's ability to move, and a character with a heavy shield may not dodge. Characters with medium shields may only dodge if they had not blocked the previous turn, characters using light shields are unaffected. To be clear, only consecutive blows have a chance of breaking a shield. If three hits are suffered by a heavy shield, then the character dodges, or else performs another action, then the shield is essentially reset, and can suffer another three blows safely. Finally, characters can perform an omnidirectional kick that deals two blows worth of damage to a single blocking shield. If a character kicks and the character who is targeted is not blocking however, then the kicking character suffers a free hit from that character as if riposted.
Dual wielding characters may attack twice in the same turn, and may attack on multiple stances simultaneously, however if either of the attacks is blocked they instead count as being parried, and the defending character ripostes as normal, landing a single hit that deals double damage. This is due to the inherent unbalanced nature of dual wielding, even when attacking with two parallel weapons. If a character who is dual wielding strikes with both weapons in the same stance and is blocked, they are instead count as stunned, and suffer both a riposte and may not act in the subsequent round of combat, most likely suffering another hit. If two dual wielding characters clash, (attack on the same stances) both players attacks count as being blocked and no damage is done by either party (even if attacks were made on undefended stances.) Dual wielding characters may use weapons of different weight classes, but never more than one step away from their 'home' weight (meaning marines may dual wield a skill and strength weapon simultaneously, but a legionnaire or infiltrator may only wield a strength or skill weapon respectively, and a quality weapon. Or two each of strength or Skill respectively, but never two quality.) If they chose to do so any weapons not of their 'home' weight class deal a single wound less damage than they otherwise would (Meaning a marine wielding a skill weapon would only deal damage with it to targets with vulnerable armour to the weapon's type, or on a riposte.) Dual wielding characters may not carry a two handed melee weapon, a shield, or a ranged weapon of any kind.
Ranged weapons may be fired at any point during combat, but if a character who is shooting is in range of another who attacks, the ranged attacker's blow is cancelled and they take double damage as if riposted. However ranged attacks always deal eight wounds regardless of armour or distance (as no distance is great enough in this game that a ranged weapon would be too far away to be dangerous). Ranged weapons (if thrown) may only be used once in combat even if recovered as they are considered too damaged to use again so swiftly, and are considered repaired after the battle. Bows and crossbows carry three shots each, but a character carrying a bow or crossbow may not carry a second melee weapon, a shield (unless the ranged weapon is thrown) or have a two handed melee weapon.
You will never know the full capabilities of the other characters in this game. Their armour and weapon stats will be hidden from you, and known by only us and the player who owns the character. Because of this each player may control only a single character at any given time. You are welcome to guess at the types of gear each player has, and may glean information about them from watching the fights of others. But unless they choose to disclose the information you may never know for sure. Equally a player may disclose the information of their gear, but is not required to be truthful.
When fighting npcs we will act in the stead of the npcs and you must count on our honor to play fairly. We will determine ahead of time what the npcs in combats will do before reading the thread and act accordingly.
That's a lot of rules and situations to slog though, but they inevitably result in a fairer system than a dice based one. Note that you will most likely be fighting npcs more often than other players, this is the meat of the game and cooperation is just as encouraged as pvp. There are rewards for each.
(Tyseus notes, in Victoria's haste to post this before work she left in some minor errors, which I have amended. And left out a core part of the combat, movement.)
Movement in combat is straight forward, either you are in melee range, or you are not. Instead of making an action on your turn you may choose to move in or out of melee range, and in a turn subsequent to such a movement you may make an attack at any stance, and attacks made after movement which are high attacks, resolve at the speed of mid attacks (that is to say they are the fastest they can be). Attacks made within melee range can connect, attacks made outside of melee range do not. Note that if a character is opposing someone with a spear, or wielding a spear, then 'melee range' is the range the spear can fight in. No spear in this game will be so long that after deflecting an attack from one a character could not make a swift attack against their foe.
Finally a note about attack speed, as it was not made clear. Attacks that are mid, resolve first, that is to say that if you make a mid attack and your opponent makes a low attack, then your attack will strike first. Therefore while high attacks are damaging, they are also the slowest and, oft it is not worth attacking in such a way unless you are certain of being able to connect, or at least mostly sure. Remember that after parrying someone, or stunning them, the riposte attack is counted as 'high' and deals a minimum of six wounds of damage, eight if your weapon defeats their armour class.
-:-
The story
The game is set in a fantasy universe revolving around six main factions;
The Iron Port of Calradia: Known for it's formidable navy and versatile mercenaries wearing leather and chain brigandines, a trading port and a military port both.
The Forgotten Valley of Nult: A hidden tribe of warriors who fight with unmatched ferocity and drug-dulled brains. The lucid among them are great generals and cunning tacticians. Their soldiers wear mostly leather armour but occasionally scale, they are known for dual wielding in combat.
Iscan the Free City: The freemen of Iscan fight primarily in heavy plate armour while utilizing a variety of battlefield tactics and secondary weapons such as crossbows and javelins.
Venradis; the wooded swamp: Venradi warriors are the most proficient with bows and small thrown ranged weapons such as daggers, but rarely have proficiency in melee weapons, relying on their strength. They primarily wear light armour.
Colchis of the Bears: Colchian warriors are known for two handed weapons and thick shields, but rarely wear armour heavier than mid weight. They are nomadic and exist more as a tribe than a city.
Yinta the Garden of Many Wonders: Yintian warriors fight in all manner of ways, usually with exotic or bizarre weapons that defy identification and baffle their foes. Equally they wear a bewildering array of armour that defies codification and often surprises their opponents. But as a strange result of their locale, are rarely sane or sound tactical thinkers, expect them to be overcome by a determined foe with reliable equipment and a good strategy.
These factions have warred since time immemorial, but only via proxy. They send mercenaries and battle groups to fight roving bandits or rising factions from the cardinal edges of the mostly blank map. The six factions of Tallasheim are notoriously insular and their politics are convoluted. They deny the existence of outside empires or nations and see encroachments on their shared territory as nothing more than interlopers in their great war, no matter the size of the invasion. The players will begin the game on a ship heading to the north coast of the inland sea Yaragol, around which the factions hold sway, to join interlopers who seek to invade.
Interest?
(Note from Tyseus, as Victoria has neglected to mention we trawled through the games in planning and found that there were scant few, so we decided to throw an old favorite into the mix. This story line and setup has been floating around our gaming community for a few decades now and it never ceases to entertain. I'll only say that it isn't quite what it appears to be, and those who enjoyed dark souls will also enjoy this. Adieu, T)
Armour and Weapon examples;
Strength weapons;
Flanged mace, one handed, blunt.
Bearded axe, one handed, sharp.
Spiked Warhammer, two handed, pointed.
Morning star, one handed, pointed. (Could also be blunt depending on the character's wishes, as could the above warhammer).
Mountain slaying sword.
Quality weapons;
Broad sword, one handed, sharp.
Lance, two handed, pointed
Pole-arm, two handed, blunt (or sharp or pointed depending on the specific pole-arm).
Flail, one handed, blunt.
Ivilion's edge.
Skill weapons;
Dagger, one handed, pointed.
Blackjack, one handed, blunt
Scimitar, one handed, sharp
Kurisarigama, two handed, blunt (or sharp).
Vani's tooth
Ranged weapons
Javelin; thrown
Bow (of any kind); 'ranged'
Crossbow (of any kind); 'ranged'
(There's not much variation here, ranged weapons are meant to support the main arc of battle, not dominate it)
Doruva's wroth
Armour
Heavy Armour
Plate armour
Scale armour
Plate and chain
Lamallear
etc
Medium armour
Chain
Boiled leather
Brigandine
etc
Light armour
Padded armour
Cloth armour
Leather armour
etc
Strength weapons;
Flanged mace, one handed, blunt.
Bearded axe, one handed, sharp.
Spiked Warhammer, two handed, pointed.
Morning star, one handed, pointed. (Could also be blunt depending on the character's wishes, as could the above warhammer).
Quality weapons;
Broad sword, one handed, sharp.
Lance, two handed, pointed
Pole-arm, two handed, blunt (or sharp or pointed depending on the specific pole-arm).
Flail, one handed, blunt.
Skill weapons;
Dagger, one handed, pointed.
Blackjack, one handed, blunt
Scimitar, one handed, sharp
Kurisarigama, two handed, blunt (or sharp).
Ranged weapons
Javelin; thrown
Bow (of any kind); 'ranged'
Crossbow (of any kind); 'ranged'
(There's not much variation here, ranged weapons are meant to support the main arc of battle, not dominate it)
Armour
Heavy Armour
Plate armour
Scale armour
Plate and chain
Lamallear
etc
Medium armour
Chain
Boiled leather
Brigandine
etc
Light armour
Padded armour
Cloth armour
Leather armour
etc
As an aside, there are always rules that don't get explained properly in the first post, (because we write them from memory each time) so if something is bothering you post away and we'll answer.