Any ideas guys?
First things first; We need a name Here's an image that may look cool as the "logo" of the RPG Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Latinokratia is a name, but that's a sweet logo
Hmmm...lets actually see what other names we can think up. See if we can get more creative If not, it will keep the name it already has.
The wolves of Greece?
Imperium Nothus (The Bastard Empire)
Well what do we have as basic player types right now? Knight (secular and holy order), mercs(?), priests (?) I guess form there we can work out the economy etc. Also, I really like the extra titles each seat has to give away but how will they work (in terms of men they can command, income etc?)?
uhh, Knights and Priests.
Got it. So as I understand it we essentially have three player Kingdoms plus the Latin Empire. How will each of these kingdoms be divided into counties/provnces whatever? The secondary titles will take care of some of that but perhaps we will need some more. It might be fun to allow the different overlords to create such titles at need. But then you have the associated problems of determining the new Lordships income and men under arms. Each overlord must also arrange for certain lands to pass to the CHurch and to the Warrior orders. It would certainly be more 'Lord-like' to be preoccupied with matters of land grants etc. The levy system might not work so well (to begin with) so as you were saying mercs, adventurers, and aid from Christian Kings would be the way to go. Actually...I might have some ideas for that! It's just hit me as I type so I'll get back to you about it.
OK. So here goes. Recruiting system. This might seem a little disingenuous at first but bear with me. 1.) Knights and unlanded would only be able to have their squires, companions, and a few men-at-arms to fight with them (say 100 or so) at the start of the game. This would encourage minor characters to fight under more senior character, which would enable them to gain recognition and lead to titles. Of course a knight or unlanded man might be able to hire mercenaries (but it is unlikely that they will have the funds to do this). 2.) Once they gain lands Barons will have a larger retinue (say 2-300) men, and these are the men they would use to garrison their barony. However, a Baron would have no levy to raise as their lands are likely newer and so the locals are still hostile to the Catholic church. This number of men can be modified in certain ways. 1.) Hire mercs to reinforce your garrison. 2.) Your liege will provide you with a portion of his levy to help pacify your land (this will provide you with a short term increase in men, but will help in bringing down the level of resistance in your province). Of course, after a while these men will have to return to their land. 3.) Your liege will provide you with a portion of his own retainers. These men will stay for as long as needed, and provide you with higher quality men, but your liege may recall them at any time, and your liege cannot raise men to replace those he sends to you. 4.) Every year, there will be a roll done to determine how many freebooters (adventurers if you wish to be polite) come to the Kingdoms seeking wealth and fame. These will be done for each of the four powers. A certain percentage of these men will become fighters, and it is up to the Overlord to determine which of his Lords (if any) these men are sent to. These landed Lords in turn can decide if they wish to send any of the men they receive to their vassals and so on. 5.) A baron can construct certain buildings and RP certain events to lower resistance in their province. Once the level get's below a certain level a small levy may be raised. As a player moves up the ranks the system will be similar to that outlined above but with larger retinues at each level and access to better buildings that lower resistance still further allowing higher ranked Lord's to raise higher numbers of levies. One final option is for Overlords only, an appeal to the Monarch of their home country for aid. E.g. Prince Stephen of Corinth is a Dane and so appeals to the King of Denmark for men. This may take two forms. A general request in which case a roll can be done for how many men answer the call. These men will stay in the kingdom after they arrive, in essence boosting the numbers of adventurers coming to a certain kingdom in any given year. The second would be an extraordinary appeal. This is for emergencies, the number of men who come would be huge, perhaps commanded by the Monarch of the country himself. But once the campaign is done (or after a pre-determined number of years) these men will leave the country with their monarch. In addition these armies will take a large percentage of any conquests, plunder and spoils resulting from their aid. If their are no spoils then they will take a percentage of the countries tax instead. There may also be a roll for how many men from this army desert and resort to banditry. To prevent this system from being abused a rule could be made where an overlord may only make one (and only one so choose wisely) of these two requests every five years. For naval aid the system could work like above, but instead of an appeal to the Overlord's home country the appeal would be to Venice or Genoa but perhaps with a restriction of only once every three years (to reflect the historical naval weakness of the Empire and their reliance on the Maritime Republics). This may change later if we get far enough along that the Empire develops its own naval strength we can switch it to five years. Ok feel free to shoot holes in this, but I think it could be quite a dynamic system that has the potential to prevent massive hoarding of elite mercenaries etc. It also places importance on levies (which fits in with the period). And it should be quite easy to adapt as the game moves along. It also gives us something to work from!
I about to mention one thing about requesting reinforcements from a native kingdom, but you mentioned it. 1 request per 5 years balances it out. However, I think we should put a priority. Sometimes Kings would see that a Duke of Athens is not worth their time to grant reinforcements. If the Latin Emperor did it though, then it would be more of a priority in my views.
Don't worry, I have all this levy/merc hoarding planned out. 1) 50% of your levies aren't usable until you get at least 10% Catholicism 2) Mercs are incredibly expensive.
I agree with you there LM, perhaps the Emperor can request foreign aid and the overlords can request imperial aid?
I think that would work better. Emperors are serious business.
What year should it begin? EDIT: Wait, never mind. Found it.
GG I agree about the merc price. The levy's however should be heavily restricted to begin with. THe Emperor and the top tier Lords having access. Everyone else will have to work their way up with RP to get those men up! It'll place more emphasis on the Roleplay element of the game,and save you having to make a ton of event/battle/raid rolls as nobody has much in the way of troops to start with.
