Talk:Legend of Five Zahagan

Playing the Game

Players will take control over one of the various nations of Asray.

Rolls

When a player issues orders with real risk of failure or opposition, the player will list any relevant bonuses and penalties. GMs will roll a 2d6.

On a 10+ the player succeeds. On a 5-9 the GMs will offer a bargain or complication, and if the player accepts the action succeeds at cost. On a 2-4 the GMs will offer a bargain or complication, and if the player accepts the action will either succeed partially, providing a bonus that can be carried over to other related tasks.

Turns

Each turn covers one quarter of a year of four seasons.

Players affect the world each turn with two kinds of Actions: Routine Orders and Plans. A deadline will be posted for each turn. All Actions must be submitted by the deadline, or they will be ignored. Extensions on the deadline can be granted for the game as a whole or for individual players, but must be specifically requested in advance.

Routine Orders

Routine Orders are relatively straightforward and repeatable tasks performed by a Player House. These can be adjudicated ‘on the spot’ by an available GM via Discord or a post in the OOC thread on SV, who will then adjust the Map or perform a Roll as necessary. Some basic Routine Orders are (each explained in detail within their respective sections):

• Changing Mobilization level
• Overcoming an Objection
• Building Infrastructure
• Founding a City
• Moving Armies and Fleets

Routine orders must clearly list which Resources and Assets are being utilized.

Example Routine Order [insert blah blah blah here]

All Routine Orders and their outcomes should be publicly posted in the IC thread by the player.

As elements of a Plan may depend on the outcome of Routine Orders, it is recommended to have all Routine Orders squared away before final Plans are submitted.

Plans

Plans must be submitted by the Turn’s deadline. Plans outline all schemes other than those represented by Routine Orders. A plan must clearly lay out What, Why, and How. What are you doing? Why are you doing it? How are you doing it?

Example Plans: []

Sims

If scheduling permits, the GMs or players can request a Sim. Not dissimilar to a live roleplaying session, these

Wars, battles, negotiations between characters of different Realms, and Quest events are all examples of

Resources

Players have three values representing the resources necessary for functional governance: Manpower, Capital and Influence.

Manpower

Manpower is split into two separate pools of Levies; an Elite Levy and a Citizen Levy. Manpower must be spent on projects and actions that require actual boots on the ground, no matter whether they are military endeavors, construction projects or matters of bureaucracy. Unlike Treasure, Manpower is not expended on projects, but committed to them. Manpower is only expended when lost in the course of that action. The two Levies are:

Elite

The Elite Levy has no cap and any nation can garner as many points of Manpower of the Elite Levy as they can attract, but this Levy also never recovers naturally from losses.

Citizens

The Citizen Levy represents the peasantry at large. These are labourers, peasants, conscripts and the corvée in general. The Citizen Levy has a natural cap dependent on the land and cannot ever exceed that cap. In addition, not all of the Citizen Levy is immediately available to commit at any one point. It is instead split into three separate sections, which become available in tact with the House increasing its state of Mobilization. Unlike the Elite Levy, the Citizen Levy recovers by a certain amount at the beginning of each new turn.

Treasure

Treasure represents the granaries and heaped tribute of a nation and is gained from the use and exploitation of Assets, which represent particular sources of wealth. Every House has a Treasury, which is the total sum of their accumulated Treasure. At the beginning of each turn, a player may choose to tap or exploit any number of its Assets. An Asset can be tapped once per turn, giving its value directly to the Treasury. Assets can also be exploited, returning three times their value to the Treasury at the cost of being removed from play permanently. Exploited Assets represent tax farming, raising tribute or outright corvée and negative consequences may often follow for such behaviour.

Warfare

Campaigning

Marching Order

If there is more than one Banner in an army, it must be arranged in its Marching Order. There are three basic positions in a Formation and an optional ‘Reserve’. These determine which units enter battle in what order, depending on the outcome of various Maneuvers.

Vanguard: Banners in the Vanguard are the likeliest to enter battle first and be the last to leave it. In most Outcomes, the Vanguard will take the brunt of the fighting and for that reason is often the most prestigious placement in a given army. Center: Banners in the Center will make up the mass Rearguard: Deploying into the battle last Reserve:

Marching Order must be declared at the start of the turn and can not be changed until the end of the turn.

Maneuvers

Due to the inherent complexity of moving large numbers of men about, no army can be micromanaged from a distance - at least, not with any hope of success. A general may be given loose directives, the details of which are left to their own devices, which translates into six basic maneuvers. Each of these maneuvers may be modified by a stratagem, listed in bullet points, which have certain prerequisites such as a type of banner, terrain, character, or kinship.

Maneuvers are functionally similar to Routine Orders, and must be resolved with an opposed 2d6 dice roll. An army’s Maneuver can be declared to the GM at any time before the turn deadline and resolved as soon as both players have submitted their Maneuvers.

“Everything in war is very simple. But the simplest thing is difficult.” 

As warfare is the accumulation of error and small disasters, where failure is punishing, the distribution of success and failure is different compared to Routine Orders. On a 11+ the player Maneuver succeeds. On a 5-10 the GMs will offer a bargain or complication, and if the player accepts the action succeeds with Disadvantage - such as an epidemic of desertion, an outbreak of disease, beginning battle in an unfavorable position, men strung out by forced marches, etc. On a 2-4 the Maneuver the player can choose to simply fail the maneuver without cost or succeeds at a particularly heavy cost: disadvantage and a free advantage for the enemy.

The World

Escalation

The whole world tips towards open civil war. Provocative actions that contribute to a state of civil war are called Escalations. Each Escalation also contributes to a Realm-wide Escalation Counter. Acts that are automatically counted as Escalations include:

• Raising an Army
• Raising the level of Mobilization
• Raiding & Piracy
• Blockades
• Moving an Army or Asset into another House’s territory without permission.
• Open Warfare
• Assassinations & Kidnappings
• Suspending Tribute to the Realm
• Obstructing officers of the Imperial Court
• Defying an Imperial Edict
• Inciting a change of Factions in another realm
• Aiding an Anathema

Other actions and events may also cause Escalations at GM discretion.

The Escalation Counter decays at 5 Escalation per turn, and can be further suppressed by player action to restore popular confidence in the Realm.

Acts that are automatically counted as Deescalation include:

• Disbanding an Army or Navy (stacks)
• Lowering the level of Mobilization (stacks)
• Suppressing Banditry
• Negotiating peace
• Contributing to
• Killing Anathema

The Escalation Counter has five limit breaks:

[x] Realm Unbroken > [x] Realm > [x] Realm Fracture > [x] Realm Divide

When the Escalation Counter hits the first Limit Break, this will trigger Realm Fracture. At this point most elites in the Realm agree that the Houses must be prepared to take up arms in defense of their own interests. Some will hold hope for law and order to hold. Others will perceive the tottering of the Realm as their time to act. In Realm Fracture:

• Armies can be raised without Escalation.
• Uptick in negative random events such as Banditry, Revolts, Corruption, etc.

When the Escalation Counter hits the Limit Break, this will trigger Realm Divide. Realm Divide abstractly represents a popular sentiment across all stratas of society that everyone must fend for themselves. In Realm Divide:

• All tributes to the Imperial Throne may be suspended without Escalation.
• Armies can be raised without Escalation.
• All Imperial institutions will cease to function.
• Commanders of Imperial forces will begin to declare loyalty to a House or carve out their own territory.
• A Realm can change one of its Major Factions, once.
• High chance of negative random events such as Banditry, Revolts, Corruption, Mutinies, Desertion, etc.

Realm Divide and Realm Fracture ends if the Escalation Counter dips below their respective limit breaks.

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