Special Edition: Wild Bill Kelso interviewed by Kscott
Today were have had the privilege of interviewing WBK on his new forum RPG. The RPG takes place in Shogun Japan and the player picks one of six Japanese clans. The goal is supremacy of Japan by use of military. Interestingly the RPG utilizes the MTW engine to decide battles. The mod is based off the Samurai Warlords mod which converts MTW into the Shogun era. Now without further ado lets move on to see what WBK has to say about it.
To many the concept of a forum RPG may be completely alien so why not begin with a short explanation of how exactly your RPG is played?
Well my RPG isn't exactly an RPG in the sense that you create a character and play it out. It is more of a boardgamish style RPG where you control a specific faction. There was something like this done on TWC a long time ago by Siblesz. The main difference is that my RPG is a little more structured. If you have ever played axis and allies you will see a traces of it in how I structured mine.
What my RPG does is this: The Forum is used for all diplomacy, faction upgrades, and military movements the MTW:VI game engine is used to resolve any combat resulting from what occurs in the forum.
So the next question would be how many people can play this and how many are still available?
The current RPG has space available for 6 players. At present I believe 3 spots have confirmed players.
Is prior experience a prerequisite or is it easy for beginners to catch on?
Beginners are welcome, but they must read and be somewhat familiar with the rules. At first it can be a little confusing, but after a few rounds things become clear. I would suggest that players have at least some experience playing MTW over multi-player though
This is actually the third time I have run the RPG here at TWC
So what happened with the other two?
Well the first one I ran in May of 2006. Actually I made my rules back in the spring of 2004, but never used them. I was inspired to use them when you were working towards your own RPG.
The first RPG was a testing ground for my rules and ended abruptly once I went to Japan. (I was the GM and also a general for one of the players who did not have a copy of MTW:VI) The second RPG I started in September and added some extra features: raiding/fortifications and dukes. It was going along well, until the umm... crisis in October. After that I found it lost a lot of steam and I retired it in mid November. The one I am wanting to start will be the third one with further enhancement to the rules.
Well its certainly good to know that your formula has been successfully used in the past.
The rules themselves work well. The problem lies with myself and players.
Well life certainly has a way of surprising us. On a different note possibly the most interesting aspect of your RPG's is the use of MTW for battles. I know this is covered in the rules, but would you summarize how exactly this works for the readers?
Well in the rules we have 6 parts in a round. In part 2, you state where you are raising and army and how large it is, as well as which general will be leading it (a new addition is using generals with traits to lead armies). In part 3 all players state where their armies are moving. And in part 4 any battles for territories are resolved over multi-player. The reason the battles work is because when you raise an army, you only say how much income you are using, not is specific composition. For example, I would say I am raising an army of 5500 koku. I would then move this 5500 army into your territory, lets say you have a defensive force of 3000. Then we take these two monetary amounts and use them as our income for multi-player battlesSounds simple and effective. So when does the game end. Upon conquering the whole of Japan
In the past I have left the end-game rules up to the players. Last time the end-game rule was when all kings capitulated to the major power. I am not sure how we will set it this time around.
Democracy is certainly a great way to go. But now I got to ask the question that is always at the tip of everyone's tongue. When will this begin?
As soon as I have enough players. So it really depends on the response the community gives me. If I can only get 4 players then I will modify the map . But I am really hoping to get 6 people
Fair enough. So do you have anything else you want TWC to know?
Well, if the demand is there I would really like to make this RPG a regular event at TWC, perhaps always having at least one running all the time. Unfortunately, RTW does not allow different levels of income between attackers and defenders (I think) so it isn't suitable for the game. However, I believe M2TW does so I may attempt to use it in the future. That is if there is demand for it
Alright well thank you for the very informative interview. I for one am very interested to see how this all turns out so please keep us posted on the results.
Will do.
So there you have it, if you have not yet checked out WBK's RPG do yourself a service and do so now, spaces are limited!-LINK
Time for some goodies:
Here is the faction map:
And here is the economic map:
. One can dream.
