Faith and Firearms

Faith & Firearms, a Fantasy Nation SD

Welcome to the World of Grismer, with a history spanning back a thousand years, to the dawn of time. The world emerged from the ashes of the before times, when a civilization fought the divine... and lost. The world was scoured, and every trace of the Old Ones was burned away. Now a new world, this world, has arisen from those ashes, and you are the movers and shakers of the great nations that fight for domination over the whole.

The center of our story is the great continent of Essa, beset on all sides by the Golden Miasma, the Eon Fog, the last curse of the Old Ones, which renders the great oceans impassible beyond more than fifty nautical miles. Nations rise and fall, war and make peace, and war through means other than conflict. Technology marches forwards, much as though the Divine might not wish it to, and early firearms are a relatively common sight. Airships serve as a means to cross the ocean, though thusfar no other continents have been discovered- though the scholars of the gods proclaim their existence. For now, the world that you know is in a time of peace.

After all, it is the calm that comes before the storm.

Ten years ago, the leader of House Lancaster, Heir Apparent to the Empire of Caliber invented a weapon. A firearm. Stronger than a crossbow, more accurate than a bow, and needing only a scant few months of training, the firearm began a wave of change in the ways of war- and the Empire of Caliber demonstrated this best, when firearm equipped soldiers seized the neighboring nation of Varuna, despite the latter's almost legendary Griffon Knights and their divinely empowered steeds.

In the aftermath, Caliber burned Varuna's temples, and scattered their followers. The God of the Varuna was marginalized, and the God of Caliber build new temples, and gained a swell of new followers. The empire was granted a Divine Mandate, and sought to conquer every nation in its sight, to unite the world under their banner. One world. One Nation. One God.

The other nations- and their respective deities- opposed this, and the world came together to forge the Anti-Caliber Alliance. Divine Magic fought Science- and Science won- but despite technological superiority, the Empire ultimately lost the war. The how and Why of their loss is not well known- but it is thought that just as there was a war for dominion over the world, that there was also a war in heaven, and the gods of every sort came together to banish the Empire's God from the pantheon.

The people believe the Empire lost because of the Hubris of their god- but the truth is much more insidious than that- and while not many know the truth, you are some of the few who do...

The Empire had no god. They were a godless nation, a people of heathens. Their temples, their faith, their worship- all of it was a shroud to conceal the cancer rotting at the heart of their society. The Empire dismissed the concept of gods, and gave them no succor, no worship, no faith to empower them and be empowered in turn. Instead they closed their hearts and turned their souls from the divine, and set their worship to the progression of Technology. Without divine empowerment, their end of the war depended entirely on the resources and determination of their people- and on the strength of their technology. They lost because of resource shortages, and because their people had no unity of worship, and so were turned away, returning to the embrace of the Gods and the promise of Heaven. The Empire lost- like the Old Ones before them. Their nation burned, their people were scattered, and the victors took their spoils and their territory, changing the political face of the world as you know it. There was peace at last.

Ten years later, and the march of progress still hasn't overtaken the wonders of the Empire. Though their technological wonders have vanished into myth and black market rumor, bits and pieces still surface from time to time. But that is something beyond your concern, because you have witnessed the Divine, and been granted a Mandate, a judgement to enact on the world.

Your God has spoken to you directly, and it is time to lead your nation to glory. You will succeed where the Empire failed, because you have what they lacked- Your God is real.

Or are they?

Theme

Faith and Firearms aims to recapture the glory days of the fantasy SD's run in days of yore, particularly the ones that embraced the theming of napoleanic combat, with massed formations, armies, heroes, and siege weapons that a general organizes an entire formation around. While obviously some things are different here, notably the inclusion of magic, this is the general sort of theme the game is aiming for.

To that end, there are a number of things that as a GM I will frown upon, some of which are listed as follows:

1. Attempting to introduce 'modern' weapons. I don't care how 'feasible with the technology level' a gatling gun, tank, or jet might be, it's not something your nation will just be able to casually make.

2. Giant Robots. Other games have names for these- warbots, warstriders, guymelefs- I have nothing against magic armor, as long as it isn't gigantic. But the giant warbots are not something I really want to play around with here.

3. A nation or characters from an existing piece of published fiction. If you want to use a sweet fantasy themed nation you invented for another game and adapt it to this one- that's probably fine. If you want to play the Empire of Bikini Bottom as ruled by President-Captain Goku Falcon Superman von Hitler, that's not fine.

Nation Rules

F&F is a rules light system. There are no hard unit numbers, although battles tend towards napoleanic combat in size and thematics. In general you can have lots of crappy units, or very few elite units- although the system is marginally biased towards larger armies. No super elites soloing entire battle formations!

For this SD there are two things you need to choose: The first, is your nation's defining trait. This is a characteristic that defines your nation's people- what sort of beings they are, how they behave, where they're from- all of these factors flow from the defining trait. The second, and more important thing, is to choose your God's Aspect, which determines the focus of its Powers. Each God has a primary aspect, and this aspect colors the use of its powers and its interaction with your nation. Choose wisely.

Defining Traits

Brutal

A Brutal nation can range in its expression of this trait from personal brutality- torture of prisoners, inquisitors burning heretics, to divine agonies granted to the faithful- to institutionalized brutality- children taken from their mothers and indoctrinated to serve the state, taking subjugated populations into slavery, keeping your own populations fearful and afraid of your every move- to grand scale brutality- war crimes, mass executions of dissidents, even exterminating the followers of other religions.

How it manifests for your nation is ultimately your choice, but it will bring a reputation for brutality, and a skill to do what needs doing, even if other bleeding hearts might hope for a peaceful solution. Doing the right thing demands hard hearts and iron wills.

You may spend 1 faith to have your commander induce a horrific bloodlust in your units. While so affected, they are immune to morale penalties and are treated as though they have perfect morale for the scene- albeit with some limitations. While this ability lets you jump straight to maximum morale, the affected units are totally reliant on direction from their commander. If the commander dies, they have a chance to rampage, losing track of friend or foe- and if they don't rampage, they will break and run.

Honorable

An Honorable nation can range in its expression from personal honor- that of the lawman or vigilante- to cultural honor- that of the samurai or warrior- to national honor- that of the shogun. Honorable nations respect deals and punish oathbreakers, they keep their word and act in good faith. An honorable nation is generally respected among the community, and though your individual people may be just as flawed and traitorous as any other nation's, it is generally expected that you will comport yourselves to a higher standard of behaviour. This has advantages and disadvantages.

Whenever you take an action, you may spend 1 faith. If the action is successful you gain a stacking moral boost to all units present.

Decisive

A Decisive nation acts, where any other nation weighs its options. Your strength is in your absolute certainty about your mandate, in your determination and skill. Your people do not shy away from conflict, but neither are they overly drawn to it. Conflict is just a tool- a means to an end, and a decisive nation can certainly benefit from its use, but at the same time, choosing to avoid conflict has its own advantages.

You may spend a 1 faith to gain the initiative during combat. Doing so lets you act first, react better to danger, and array more complex battle strategies than your peers. The world stands still while you act, even in the middle of an attack against your person, you are not pressed for time to think.

Charismatic

A Charismatic Nation believes that victory only comes from the agreements you make off the battlefield. War is a tool, certainly, but so is Peace. A Charismatic nation can range from the personal scale, with quick talking clerics and respectul letters, to the cultural- with sensitivity training and propaganda- to the national, forging treaties with other superpowers and serving as the standard for a neutral party in arbitrations.

You are respected for your ability to bring two opposing sides to the bargaining table, and helping them overcome their differences to achieve peace- or something close to it, at least. Where an Honorable Nation is presumed to rely on the strength of their character to prove them worthy of your respect, a Charismatic Nation relies on the strength of their words and their reputation.

You may spend 1 faith to sway a small group to your cause, giving you temporary allies, local information, places to stay, ways to stymie inquisitors, and access to a number of back channels.

Avaricious

You want it all and you want it now. As an Avaricious Nation, you might be merchants or conquerers, your people might be misers who leave their slaves living in squalor while they live in the most opulent of palacies, or they might engage in wars not to take territory, but to steal resources, bringing back slaves and serfs, wealth and precious materials- you might even be waging a war of faith, bringing other portfolios into your God's domain, converting the faithful of other gods to your ways.

You're rich. You aren't afraid who knows it. Your nation probably has slaves or serfs- or some other lower class, and you have extra resources to throw around. You can trade money for time.

Whenever you take an action related to moving or activating units may spend 1 Faith to cut through the bureaucratic red tape, to grease palms and axles, and treat that action as if you had done it last quarter, so that it takes effect at the start of the current one.

Lavish

You believe that a better future can be had if you enrich your now. As a Lavish nation, you empower yourselves, and enrich your allies with wealth and gains, improving the lives of the people (or at least the ruling class), gaining morale, and making investments for the future. Lavish nations range from those with the trillion dollar military complex, to those known for their massive shipbuilding projects, to the nations whose soldiers have the best armor, the fastest warhorses, the best commanders money can buy. While an Avaricious Nation wants things for themselves, you want to share your wealth, and you understand the benefits of a well fed economy far better than other nations.

You may spend faith to improve neutral provinces as though they were your own. Each province improved this way will align with you for a number of years equal to the grades it was improved, or for ten years if you improve a province to blue from green). The amount of time allied is cumulative- improving a red province to blue would align them to your cause for 12 years.

Cautious

There is more than one of everything, primarily because as a Cautious nation, pinning all your hopes on one man, one attack, one airship- one anything is the height of foolishness. You believe in a measured approach, are quick to establish fallback points, and always make sure to have more than one plan running at a time. Your watchmen act in pairs, your scouts always have backup, and you cultivate multiple worthy heirs, not that you necessarily let them know about each other.

You are not the only ruler of your nation- there is another. Perhaps your twin brother, perhaps a peasant raised specifically for this purpose, perhaps your own reincarnation found early through the grace of your god. If an enemy succeeded on a decapitation strike against your person, your nation would continue on the next day as though it hadn't happened.

In practice, you may spend 1 faith to force a reroll on any hostile action taken against your nation. You may only do this once per action, however.

Gods

Worshiping a God gives you benefits. There's a reason most nations follow a one god or another, and it isn't just because they empower champions or bless your crops.

Having a God grants you 5 points of Faith per quarter, regardless of the number or condition of your provinces. As long as you believe in your God, that faith is yours to spend.

Additionally, Gods have many Aspects. You may pick one aspect. For that aspect, you may discount any faith expenditures by 2, after spending at least one point of Faith. This means that an action for your aspect that you spend at least 1 point of faith on, may be empowered as though you spent 3 points on it.

Some sample Aspects are as follows:

Wrathful ~ Destroying Things

Productive ~ Making Things

Protective ~ Protecting Things

Knowledegeable ~ Knowing Things

Healing ~ Fixing Things

Seductive ~ Stealing Things

Secretive ~ Hiding Things

Childlike ~ Transforming Things

Godless Nations

Not all nations worship a patron deity. Most famously, and most recently the Epire of Caliber was, at the highest level, exposed to be godless heathens preaching a doctrine that denies the divinity of the pantheon. For these nations, Faith is an energy put to use opposing the Faith of their enemies, but otherwise they lack the divine empowerment of their peers.

A Godless Nation does not select an Aspect. Instead, they gain the following traits.

Anti-Theist

Your beliefs deny the divinity of the Gods, treating them as powerful- but ultimately mortal- forces not to be entreated with or worshiped, but as just another enemy to overcome. You cannot spend Faith to empower actions. Instead, you may spend faith to negate a faith expenditure on an action by another player. If you spend more faith than the other player, their miracle will invert by the degree of overlap, and bring ruin rather than glory. You may do this secretly (PM me)

Infectious Doctrine

Your doctrine is infectious. Any nation who shares a border with you, or whose territory you occupy, will lose 1 point of faith per territory bordered or occupied, per quarter. You gain this Faith and may spend it according to to your usual limitations. You may toggle this trait so that your provinces do not leech faith from their surroundings, but you cannot turn it off for your occupation forces. This drain is not obvious to nations IC unless they have Inquisitors active in the affected area.

Relics of the Old Ones

Because you deny divinity, you may find and use Relics of the Old Ones, the Civilization of the Before Times. These objects are capable of detecting faith that is aligned towards the Divine, and will not function for any with true faith in a God. However they will unfailingly work for the Faithless, those who deny the Gods. These objects are undetectable to the Divine, and are capable of great feats, at the cost of an expenditure of Faith.

Once per province, per quarter, you may spend 5 faith and roll d100 dice. On a roll of 70 or higher, you find one Relic which remains functional for 1 faith points spent per 5 rolled over 70. On a roll of 95 or higher, the relic is in pristine condition, and can be used any number of times without losing functionality. All relics will be designed by GM.

Provinces

Each nation is made up of a number of provinces. Nations range in size from small (3-4), to medium (5-6), to large (7-8). Provinces have three conditions- green, yelow, red. Red represents a province that has either almost completely been taken over by an enemy, or a province that has almost completely lost faith in your god. All provinces start out green at game start.

A green province produces 5 faith per quarter. A yellow province produces 3 faith per quarter. A red province produces only 1 faith per quarter. You may boost your province's efficiency by engaging in religious actions within their borders- visits by the pope, building new temples, releasing a new holy scripture- that sort of thing. Each of these acts will increase the Province's standing towards green the following quarter, but requires investment of money and resources.

Provinces also determine your number and strength of military forces. The condition of a province determines the strength of its army- green provinces have superior armies to red provinces, in general, as conditions are better all around. If a green province's army invades another green province, the armies will in theory be evenly matched, but planning, random chance, and magic all are likely to sway the conflict to the benefit of one side or the other.

Neutral Provinces

These provinces are not part of any great nation, and generally manage themselves independently. Ruled by small kingdoms, these city states are not particularly hostile to other larger powers, but nor are they immediately aligned. Depending on the treatment of neutral provinces, their people may be well disposed towards your nation, or hostile. Convincing a neutral province to join you is generally easier than convincing another major nation's provinces to join you, although there are benefits to leaving them their independence.

Neutral Provinces have the same grades as major nations- red, yellow, green (blue), but do not naturally return to green, or even start at green. Some neutral provinces are poorer in resources than others, some do better than their neighbors. They are more vulnerable to chances in their surroundings.

Additionally, these provinces often have their own gods, or worship lesser aspects of the God the nearest major nation follows. If you ally with a neutral nation, you gain access to their priests and may incorporate their beliefs into your own mythology.

If you do this, you may pick a godly aspect (even your one chosen during nation creation) and have it apply to your units as a persistent buff. The level of the buff is dependent on the state of the independent province providing it. If the nation falls out of favour with you, you will lose the benefit, and similarly, if an enemy occupies or destroys the province, you will lose any related benefits.

If you subsume a neutral province and it becomes a full part of your nation, you will not gain any of these benefits- instead gaining the benefits of it being your province.

Money and Resources

For the purposes of this game, my workload, and my sanity, most things in the game are abstracted or automated. Money and Resources are some of those things. You can feel free to come up with your own currency, your own resource descriptions- and little things like exchange rate and status of your economy and the like. Actual amounts don't matter, but in general you can only spend half your tax rate on doing things. Spend more, and your morale goes down.

If your morale goes down, provinces drop towards red. Morale is hidden stat, but generally follows the rule of 'don't be a dick to your dudes'. Do note that if your concept involves being a dick all the time, take the Brutal trait and morale won't be a problem anymore. As a note, the closer a province gets to red, the more of its Faith is going elsewhere. If your provinces are losing faith, you may want to send an Inquisitor.

Faith as a Currency

The real currency of this game is faith. Faith buys divine intervention, blessings, empowerment, mysteries, and other secret knowledge. When taking any action, you may spend one or more points of faith, up to a maximum equal to your number of green provinces or 3, whichever is greater, to empower that action. The amount of faith you spend determines the strength of the empowered action, although success or failure is generally reliant on your choice of action.

Empower a group of crusaders chasing phantoms, and you might succeed at catching some ghosts, but your army is still out of formation. Note that when multiple players are spending faith points on opposing outcomes, the results tend towards success more than failure. Two beams of ultimate power are more than likely to result in both clerics dead, rather than one overpowering the other, or the beams shorting out with no damage.

As an aside, Only so much Faith can be held at once. It is not a resource that can be stockpiled endlessly- it is granted by the Faithful, and so in turn it is meant to be given back, to be used.

For each point of Faith a Province produces, twice that represents your capacity to store Faith. So three green provinces give you fifteen faith per quarter. At the end of the year, any Faith you have in excess of 30 points is lost. (Yes, you can have more Faith than your capacity during the year).

Conversion

Sometimes you occupy land to convert the populace to the worship of your God. But more often than not, it involves sending missionaries to turn the populace to your side.

A missionary costs 1 point of Faith per quarter, and will shift a province towards red by one stage per quarter active (so at the end of the first quarter active, province shifts to yellow, next quarter, to red). You gain the Faith lost by such a province. Once the province is red, the Missionary can leave or cease being active, however if he or she does so, the province will gradually regain its original faith, shifting back towards green by one stage per three quarters.

Rooting Out Heresy

Relics of the Caliber Empire still exist- old spy rings, underground cults and other groups of heathens, and well intentioned scholars who read the wrong book and lost faith in the gods, to say nothing of the missionaries of other gods. Collectively, these heretics harm their nation, and must be rooted out- but to do so requires a special sort of individual.

Nations may send Inquisitors to provinces that are losing faith. Each Inquisitor costs a point of Faith per quarter, and each quarter they spend active in a province will heal the province one stage. An active Inquisitor prevents others from gaining Faith from the province while present.

If an Inquisitor survives for the entire quarter, he will learn the source of the Heresy (even if you already know OOCly, you now know IC). The more quarters he is active, the more details he learns. So ranging from 'the missionaries came from the south' to 'the missionaries were working for [specific nation].

Do note that Inquisitors are not popular with the people- dragging their friends and family off, having them murdered or burned or tortured to death. An Inquisitor is an effective tool, but they can very easily sway the same population you're trying to save against you. The longer an Inquisitor is active in a province, the greater the cost in people and morale. At the beginning of each quarter except the first that an Inquisitor has been active in the same province, roll d100, against difficulty (80 - 15*[#Quarters Active]), the locals drag the Inquisitor off his horse and murder the fuck out of him.

If this happens, the animosity aimed at the inquisition will gradually drop each quarter that you do not have an inquisitor active, otherwise it will stay high.

Travel Times

Airships

The fastest means of travel are airships, which drift high in the sky, and use powerful steam turbines to propel themselves forward. Airships have a travel rate of three provinces per quarter for troop movements, but courier vessels can move at least twice that speed.

Cavalry/Dromedaries

Horse or other land moving animal mounted troops travel at a rate of 2 provinces per quarter when moving army numbers- but can increase their speed by an extra half a province if they're moving a small group.

Army March

An army march can cover a range of just over one province per quarter- faster if they travel by road by about fifty percent.

Improving Provinces

Faith, as the currency of the game, isn't just used for empowering the Faithful. Nations live and die by the strength of their faith- even the Godless Heathens- and every nation seeks to enrich themselves through its acquisition.

Provinces have three stages- Red, Yellow, and Green, at least at game start. However, this does not remain true once the game has launched- provinces can be improved, through the expenditure of Faith, beyond green.

For 50 faith spent over four quarters, a Province may be improved to Blue. Once a province is so improved, mark it, because even if it drops back to green or yellow or red, it is now capable of returning to Blue just as it would return to Green.

Blue Provinces provide 8 Faith per quarter, and grant a +10 on any positive rolls you make within their borders.

Capitals

At the start of the game, you must declare one of your provinces to be your Capital. The Capital may be improved a step past blue, to Gold.

If your Capital is Gold, it produces 12 Faith per quarter, grants a +15 on any positive rolls you make within its borders, and the strength of your faithful is so strong within it that its faith may not be drained, its people may not be converted, and it allows you to produce a special unit: The Paladin.

A Paladin costs 3 Faith per quarter they are active, and do everything Inquisitors and Missionaries do, as well as serving as leaders of armies- but you may only have one at a time. They are resilient, unbreaking, know no fear, and provide a significant mobile boost centered on themselves to every action you take that they bear witness to.

Want to exterminate your enemies and burn their temples? A Paladin gives you a bonus for that. Want to broker a trade deal with a recalcitrant merchant? A Paladin has you covered.

Additionally, as long as your nation has a Paladin, the reserve of Faith they can possess increases by 15.

Races

Humans are ubiquitous in the lands of Grismer, but other races can trace lineage back to the dawn of time just as well. Below are some sample races you can use (or invent your own!)

Humans

Humans. There isn't a lot to say here. Humans live for 100 years + or - 20 depending on standard of living.

Elves

Elves live for 60 years, + or - 15 depending on standard of living. They are a very predatory, carnivorous race, and generally operate in highly mobile warbands of fifty to eighty individuals.

Beastmen

Beastmen carry traits of predatory animals alongside humanity, and strive to rise above their base instincts. They are known for nobility, honor, and daring. Two major phenotypes exist- wolf derived, and cat derived, although others exist. Beastmen live for 80 or so years, + or - 10 depending on phenotype.

Tall Men

Little is known about this race save they have the bodies of men and women, but are exceedingly thin and tall, with long limbs to support them. They can stand for years in the same position, unmoving, almost like a statue. Their skin is alabaster, and they have red eyes. Their hair comes in a range of shades, always monochrome, and they prefer dark garb. They are incredibly resilient and have little need for armor- blades break against their bodies leaving nary a mark, and killing them through direct damage is nearly impossible.

They are known to commune with each other through a collective 'group-mind', and possess better understanding of the relics of the Old Ones than most.

Tall men are ageless, but require a sort of mental sustenance derived from interaction- be it companionship, or a self-set goal or task. Without a means to drive themselves forward, they will enter torpor, becoming little more than immobile statues until something wakes them from their slumber.

Water Walkers

A race of aquatic men, they have mannish proportions, arms and legs alike, but their bodies are adorned with fins, and they find no difficulty swimming or even standing on the surface of the water, hence their name. Water Walkers live all up and down Essa's coasts, although they will not venture out into the deep ocean, as the Golden Miasma affects them just as it does surface dwellers.

Water Walkers can live up to 300 years, although after the first 120 they become sedentary, and grow to immense proportions (they turn into manatees).

Nation Creation in Brief

Player nations start out small, with four provinces, one of which is your capital.

Next, choose your nation trait and the aspect of your god (or godless if you're a filthy heathen).

Then pick your race (or make up your own!), write your history, and pick a place on the map. Then you're basically done.

Sample Nation

Name: Disciples of Kurang
Defining Trait: Brutal
Godly Aspect: Seductive
Race: Elves
Nation Size: Medium (5 provinces)
Faith Output: 30/Qtr
Faith Reservoir: 0/60
Active Special Units: None
Province Status Panel:

~Province 1~

~Province 2~

~Province 3~

~Province 4~

~Province 5~

Play Style

For F&F I'm aiming to encourage a hybrid style between the strengths of the classic 'narrative play' of SD's of days gone by, and a more modern 'post actions to actually accomplish things' style which makes games easier to GM. To that end, I've designed parts of the system to respect players who are capable of lots of narrative story posts, but to also allow for players who aren't as able to keep up with such a posting schedule.

In general, if a post isn't pure fluff, it should have a bolded section declaring actions taken at the bottom of the post.

I will also be adapting a system to support covert actions to a limited degree- things like 'casting magic' or 'attacking a player' will be partially resolved through PM with myself to determine the outcome and work with you and any other players involved. I will not, however, be running 'realtime' simulations of combat, because that shifts the interest of the game to the realtime 'RPG play' style and away from the play by post narrative style.

Instead, for things like combat encounters each player will give me a blurb about their potential actions, their goals, and any plans they have, and I will use a combination of this information, dice rolls, and other elements to determine outcomes without further interaction. If you have a secret trump card, the worst thing you can do is NOT TELL ME and then be upset when I didn't give you an opportunity to use it.