Deus Vult IV

[Lucius Malfoy]

Deus Vult! God Wills It!

His Holiness, Pope Urban II, made the call to arms across Christendom, to save their Christian brothers in the Byzantine Empire and to reclaim the Holy Land, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Many answered the call and many died for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the Church, for the sake of Heaven, and for the sake of the ambitions of their nobles. The Prince's Crusade has gone through the Crucible, from the shores of the Bosphorus and through the arid and mountainous lands of Anatolia. They came down from the Tarsus Mountains, descending upon the city of Antioch. They marched south, braving sands, dunes, mountains, and their enemy through the Holy Lands. Now, this mighty army of God stands ready to take their greatest prize, the City of Jerusalem, the glorious and most holy city that perhaps even outshines Rome herself. Can the Latins take this city in the name of God or will the sands become their graves?

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Deus Vult IV is the fourth installation of the DV series and returns to its roots with this new setting, set to start in 1099, at the Siege of Jerusalem. The states of Antioch, Edessa, and Tripoli are already formed, but the Kingdom of Heaven is just outside the grasp of the Crusaders. Yet even if the Holy City is reclaimed, the trials do not end there. For the Latins are surrounded by enemies on all sides, not only of the Muslim faith, but even their tenuous allies within the Byzantine Empire. A crucible was endured to get here, but God will continue to throw trial after trial upon the Faithful. Can they endure the turbulent waters and see their kingdoms rise, standing tall and strong? Or will their bones be forgotten within the dunes of the Holy Land?

You decide!

[Lucius Malfoy]

Subforum Layout
Deus Vult IV: The Holy Lands
An RP set in the early 12th century AD after the First Crusade

The Holy Cities of the Levant
Here the cities of the mighty Crusader States stand tall

The Castles and Keeps
The homes of the nobility and the knights

The Sands and Dunes
The wide and open range of the Levant

The Clash of Sword and Shield
Where the battles rage

The Chronicles of the Crusades (Archives)

Information (Maps and Links)
Vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
First Crusade
Armies of the First Crusade

Maps for Information - courtesy of Ian Mladjov, my professor from college
Map of Outremer
Map of Northern Levant
Map of Southern Levant
Map of Cyprus

Maps for the Setting - thank you, Wonderdraft software!
Political Map of Northern Levant
Political Map of Southern Levant
Hex Map of Northern Levant
Hex Map of Southern Levant
Plain Map of Northern Levant
Plain Map of Southern Levant

Character Claims
Bohemond de Hauteville: Brewster
Raymond of Toulouse: Lucius Malfoy
Baldwin of Boulogne: Oznerol
Godefroy of Bouillon: Bastard Feudalism
Robert of Normandy: cfmonkey
Tancred de Hauteville: Jokern
Eustace of Boulogne: Gandalfus
Richard of Salerno (Hauteville): Della
Hugh of Vermandois: Lord William
Stephen of Blois: Chesser
Peter the Hermit: Chesser

Start Date: 1099, Siege of Jerusalem
- Bohemond in Antioch, having left the Crusade
- Baldwin in Edessa, keeping an eye on the Euphrates
- Tripoli taken by Raymond (or his equivalent) prior to Jerusalem, yet he moves south to aid the siege of Jerusalem
- The combined armies of the First Crusade lay siege to Jerusalem

Starting Armies
Starting Armies will expire after 7 to 14 days (1 to 2 weeks, determined by the mods) as the knights and soldiers will either settle in the newly conquered lands or return home. These armies should be utilized to the full potential of a swift early expansion for the various states. Once they are gone, players will have to rely upon levies and retinues to do the job. These starting armies will have a composition of 10% knights, 20% archers/crossbowmen, 30% heavy infantry, and 40% light infantry.
- Antioch: 5,000 men
- Edessa: 3,000 men
- Tripoli: 5,000 men
- Jerusalem: 7,500 men

[Lucius Malfoy]

New Rules To Add In

Reputation (to replace Charisma)Reputation is the standing of your character (good and bad) towards other players and NPCs. Reputation grants a +1 to NPC rolls (or -1 to NPC rolls for bad reputation) (persuasion is what it mostly affects). Reputation is earned via mod discretion but gained, nonetheless, through actions performed by that character such as disputing a matter or winning a battle Good reputation is the result of good deeds and outcomes. Makes vassals and the Church like you. However, a bad reputation can be viewed as either cruel (as in not liked) or feared (a good kind of bad reputation). Bad reputation, however, can make it hard for NPCs to like you and could encourage them, as well as players, to seek to overthrow said character. Bad rep tends to leave an effect on the asserted heir, but a good chunk can be removed by such actions Knights and Holy Orders Knights have a unique chance within the Holy Lands. This chance can result in the founding of a Religious Knightly Order within the Latin states of the Levant. Historically, these orders were founded on the principles of aiding pilgrims as well as the sick and poor. However, as time went on, their military prowess, financial riches, and immense holdings made them a powerful force within the Crusader States. Orders are typically formed by knights with approval from the Pope or religious authority or the patronage of a ruler. Orders, early on, rely on charity from rulers, so please be generous to them. Land grants help towards their power, which will take money and manpower away from overall budget of that state. Orders require budget be spent on gaining knights or reputation to convince NPC nobles to have their troops join their order. Replenishment will require the same means if losses are incurred. Powerful orders can become focal points of immense political influence and possible trouble. Rulers may seek to downsize them, but risk excommunication and loss of support from these orders. However, their professionalism and core of knights makes them highly valuable and desirable for campaigns. Upon creating an order, the order’s founder is allowed 50 knights to start and a budget of 1,000 bezants to be used for recruiting more knights (a max of 100), to be used for building a castle, or more. Knights Knights will only cost for knightly orders as nobles will have their retinue of knights as well as knights brought up from the levies. Knights can be bought separately or in groups. Individually, Knights are worth 10 per person while, in groups of 100, they will cost 1,000 to gain their services. In general, there is still a cost to everything, based upon roleplay and will have a degree of mod discretion when it comes to price (especially if the projects are big ones, implemented by rulers). Think of stuff like road improvements, new roads, new castles, and so forth. Building Projects Similar to before, building projects will require funds. However, since there is no economic value to provinces, as before, money for these projects will come from player’s share of the budget. Castles 1,000 for basic castle, known as a Rectangular Keep. Improvements, such as outer walls, inner walls, etc, will require roleplay and bezants to purchase. Ex: if a lord wants to add a wall around his keep, a simple post or two explaining this improvement would yield what he wants. Cost for it must be reasonable, but not cheap. Moderation will keep an eye out for improvements and ensuring people aren’t cheating the system. Castles were very Norman influence thus not very extensive No more than an inner and outer wall, but more frequently just a keep Budgets of Money and Manpower Unlike previous settings, there will be no provincial values. Instead, each state will have its own budget of money and manpower. These numbers represent the total financial and military strength of each state which should be divided among players and NPCs, representing fiefdoms and vassals within each of the four Crusader states. Note that this budget is not absolute, but can be gained and lost due to events within the game. If the Kingdom of Jerusalem expands, the budget is increased accordingly. However, if losses incurred result in land lost, moderation will adjust the budget based on the losses. Starting Budgets (Money and Manpower) (in 1099) - Jerusalem: 10,000 dinars a year and 7,500 men - Antioch: 7,500 dinars a year and 5,000 men - Tripoli: 7,500 dinars a year and 5,000 men - Edessa: 5,000 dinars a year and 3,000 men The Rule of One-Fourth The rule of One-Fourth involves the lands, budget, and manpower of any state within the Levant. All rulers are entitled to 1/4 of the total for any of these three categories ensuring their dominance as the ruling family. This also represents the power of the ruling family as well. For a weak ruler may have the nobility seek to make this 1/4 entitlement be lessened, showing the rise of the nobles as the power of the state. Vice versa, rulers may seek to gain beyond the entitlement rule, representing a pursuit of greater royal power. Both of these have their benefits, but do have consequences. A ruler, controlled by the nobility, may cause loyalists to rise. A ruler, seeking greater royal authority, may antagonize the nobility and cause them to rise up against them. Each grant, from the manpower side of budget, will have an x to x range for levying them. Each noble will be granted a maximum range, with a minimum range determined by moderation. An example being that the Lord of Jaffa can levy between 500 to 1000 men based off the land grant given to him (i.e. the manpower side of Jerusalem’s budget). As a result, when rolled, levies will be rounded to the nearest hundredth. Levies will be composed of: 5% of knights, 10% of light cavalry, 20% of archers/crossbowmen, 25% of heavy infantry, and 40% of light infantry All characters above the rank of knight will have a retinue of 50 knights, free of upkeep Mercenaries - As with a previous idea, there will be a thread for mercenaries in which a player will request the services of a company. Money from the player’s budget will be utilized as payment. There are several types of companies (light cavalry, archers/crossbowmen, heavy infantry and light infantry) that can accept this offer - Players will have to state the bezants (currency) they offer and for how long. Alternatively, players may offer rights to sacking settlements conquered to the company in lieu of direct payment. However this option is risky because if the company is not satisfied or if they are blocked from sacking, they may likely leave or revolt against their employer. In addition, the player must request for how long they desire to have their services (a max limit of 4 weeks). - An NPC will reply and accept or attempt to negotiate the price and/or the time.

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General Roleplaying Basics

- A maximum of six main characters (characters that have traits and can hold land) may be allowed. Each player may have a maximum of three noble houses. - Characters given traits MUST be role-played on a consistent basis. Those who are not will not have their traits counted. If that means keeping relatives as auxiliary characters, then do so. - Only the landholding characters within a family may collect income from their land. - Auxiliary characters are limitless. - Characters may commit suicide or die of illness (at the player's discretion) though abusing this in an unsportsmanlike fashion may warrant punishment. Leaving a Thread All characters who posted in a thread are assumed to remain in that thread unless they post a leaving post or after two full days of non-activity. This means that if you posted in a thread that you were there, and then someone an hour later assassinated you, you can’t claim that you were no longer there unless you specifically posted that you left before the assassination attempt was made. Letting Others Respond In your posts if they involve actions of other characters it is a rule that you must allow them a chance to respond and refrain from one post wins. For example, you cannot just post "John cut off Jimmy’s finger". You can however post "John went to cut off Jimmy’s finger" as you can see the second version allows Jimmy to respond to your action before you've done it (since you can’t take back a cut off finger). Dice Rolls All chance rolls (i.e. a birth roll, or an assassination attempt) are based on a D20, and have been done so that regardless of modifiers a natural 20 will always succeed, whilst a natural 1 will always fail. Thus a roll of 15/20 will succeed on 6-20, and fail on a 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. All vs rolls on the other hand (duels, jousts, etc) are based of the highest score wins. A + modifier always improves the roll odds, while a -Modifier always worsens the odds. Other notes: - All noble born patriarch characters start with a retinue of 50 men: 1/4 knights/huscarls and 3/4 serjeants/thegns. - Once these characters are landed, this retinue increases to 100 men. These troops never disband, but can be killed in battle. The standard regeneration rate is 25 men a year.

Life and Death

Death and Aging The medieval world is rife with disease and untimely death, with infant mortality and an early grave being common thanks to most serious diseases being nigh untreatable. A character ages at a rate of 1 year per in game week, and will, at some point, be subject to various death rolls. These can be divided into two categories: child death rolls (representing the high infant mortality rate) and adult death rolls (representing the low life expectancy of a typical adult) Child Death Rolls Newly born children have a death roll every five years of their life, up until the age of 15. The chance of death begins at 3/20, gradually scaling down by 1 each time (so that the chance of death is 1/20 by the time the child is on her/his third roll). These rolls can be negated by survival traits, but there will always be a minimum 1/20 chance of death regardless of the survival stat Adult Death Rolls Adult death rolls take place at the age of 30 onward, once per decade until the age of 50, when they then occur once per five years. Though the chance of death initially will be very small, this will of course increase with age. As always, the minimum chance of death is 1/20, regardless of any survival traits. 30 – 34: 1/20 chance 35 – 39: 3/20 chance 40 – 44: 5/20 chance 45 – 49: 7/20 chance 50 – 54: 9/20 chance 55 – 59: 11/20 chance 60 – 70: 13/20 chance 70 onward: 15/20 chance When a character dies, you are expected to kill them off by the end of the in game year. You'll be allowed to clear up any existing situations and resolve them, but following that your character must be declared deceased as soon as possible. Child Conception & Birth Siring Children ATTENTION: Players MUST post the current ages of the two would-be parents. Order of rolls: Conception: d20 Birth: d100 and d50 Defects: d20 Gifts: d100 Conception Roll a d20. 25% base chance of conception, so 16-20 is a successful copulation. You can only have one successful childbirth every 5 RL days. If you fail at conception, you may try again in 2 RL days. The would-be mother’s age affects this. Aged 31-35 gives a -1, 36-40 gives a -2, 41-45 gives -3, and 46-50 gives a -4. 51 years and above thus require getting a 20/20 to successfully conceive. If successful at conceiving a child, the child will be born in 5 RL days (so if you got the conception roll on a Monday, the child will be born on that Saturday), representing the 9 months it takes for pregnancy to progress. Birth Roll At that point (or earlier if you like), ask for a childbirth roll. This is one d100 to determine gender, 1-50 is a boy, 51-100 is a girl; and then a d50 to determine the outcome of the birth: 1-5 is death for both mother and child, 5-8 is a stillborn (or similar result), 9-12 is a stillborn that causes the mother to become barren, 12-15 is the mother dead but with a surviving child, and 16-50 are perfectly fine births. If the mother is aged below 18, add -10 to this roll. -20 if she is aged below 16. If the mother is 31-39, add -5 to this roll. If the mother is 40-45, add -10. -15 if the mother is 46-50, and -20 if the mother is 50. Birth Defects If the child survived, we roll a d20, to see if they have any defects. If the mother is aged between 31 and 35, add a -1 to the primary roll. If she is aged between 36-40, add a -2. Each increment of 5 years thereafter is thus worth a -1. Ex. a mother aged 52 gives a -5 to this first roll. The father also has the same effects when it comes to birth defects, and his age effect stacks with the mother’s. So a father and mother both aged 52 gives a -10 to the primary birth defect roll. Roll a d20. Subtract penalties from the age of the parents if applicable. 1-5 result is a child born with an abnormality of some sort, which sends you to the second roll. If you got a 1-5 and the child has a defect, the mod will choose a condition for the child (or let the player). Depending on the condition, it will have moderate to severe effects in life. A child with hemophilia for example will likely be unable to recover from an attack on them (such as an assassination) that drew blood. Troublesome Blood (such as sickle cells, hemophilia) Bad Organs (such as Polycystic Kidneys) Progressive Debilitation (such as huntingdon’s, sclerosis) Developmental Disorder (such as down syndrome, retardation, etc) Autism (autistic or asperger’s) Uncontrollable Convulsions (such as epilepsy) Bad Skin (such as eczema, porphyria) Growth Defect (such as dwarfism) Frail bones (such as marfan’s) Misshapen Body (such as scoliosis or a clubfoot or a hunchback) Aesthetic Deformity (such as harelip) Birth Gifts Lastly, there are gifts. Roll a d100. 96-100 is a golden god of genius and strength; Two free +2's in different skills of your choice upon the age of 16 (may also be 4 different +1's). Females get +10 on birth rolls. 91-95 is a genius child; A free +2 to a skill of your choice upon the age of 16 (may also be split up into 2 different +1’s) 86-90 is a smart child; A free +1 to a skill of your choice upon the age of 16. 81-85 is a strong child; +2 against all diseases/plagues and natural causes death rolls. Females get +10 on birth rolls. 61-80 is a healthy child; +2 against all diseases/plagues and natural causes death rolls. Females get +5 on birth rolls. 1-60 is no gift. Gifts may counteract a defect, cancelling it out. Ex. rolling a a physical deformity but then getting the gift of strength cancels both out - the child is fine, never was born with defects, nor a gift.

Skills

Characters have the following free points for their skills: Age 10-18: 4 points Age 18+: 6 points - Characters may start with a maximum of 6 trait points, even if age 50 or older at the start. - Characters may start with a maximum of +3 in any skill. - You can gain additional skills via RP. Skills 1. Military Skills - Battles: +1 to battle rolls per level. Gained when a character wins an engagement against even or disadvantageous odds - Pillager: Improves loot gained from raids, see Raid rules. Gained after every 3 raids. - Scout: +1 to detecting armies preparing to attack the force the character is in command of, and -1 to enemy detection rolls made on an army your character is in command of. This applies if the character is specifically in command of the scouts (in RP this can be confirmed with anything like 'Scouts', 'Outriders', 'Light Horse', 'Cavalry', anything that can easily be interpreted as being in charge of the scouts) or successfully ambushes an opposing force. - Logistician: Armies this character is in overall command of move 5% faster. Calculate total marching time in hours and subtract x%. Gained on request on a per-campaign if moderators feel the character's army's mobility has significantly contributed to a successful outcome. - Rearguard: -1 to your army's rout casualty rolls. Applies only if the character is in command of the reserve. Gained if the army the character is in retreats in good order (i.e. the reserve wins their fight with the victorious enemy flank and no rout roll is made). 2. Personal Skills - Survival: +1 to surviving death rolls and in duel defensive rolls. Gained if the character loses a battlefield duel (e.g. no sparring, training, friendly, or tourney duels) but is not killed by his opponent or from surviving an assassination attempt. - Personal Combat. +1 to duel and jousting rolls. Gained if victorious in a duel that occurs either during a serious battle situation (a real battle, not a practice fight, tournament melee, training etc.) or if the victor is the winner of a tournament. Can be gained under other conditions if mod approved (highly unlikely). Does not require the death of the other combatant. - Assassin: +1 to assassin rolls. Gained if the character assassinates another player character. - Wealth: +5% to province income if you are a lordly character or +5% to asset income if you are a merchant character. Gained if the character uses their wealth to achieve something political (e.g. bribery, blackmail, buying someone's death) at moderation discretion. - Reputation: +1 or -1 modifier to NPC Rolls. Every 10 Reputation equals a +1 to NPC Rolls (capped at +5 or 50 reputation). Vice versa, every -10 Reputation equals a -1 to NPC Rolls (capped at -5 or -50 repuation). Reputation is gained or decreased based on moderation discretion, it is not something that players can invest in with trait points. Actions result in the gain and loss of reputation. Good and bad reputation have their own effects on a person's realm as well, so be aware of that.

Dynamic Foreign System

Dynamic Foreign System (aka DFS) Throwing a pebble into a pool creates a ripple effect. So, too, does changing history in one country, even if it’s in a seemingly inconsequential way at first. Or, as the old poem goes: “For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the message was lost. For want of a message the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.” In past games, history outside of the country being played would flow on rails, following the same linear paths it did in our reality. No longer! The Dynamic Foreign System intends to provide at least a little variability in how history unfolds from the moment the game starts. Every year, mods will select a number of major historical events that year which plausibly could’ve gone another way, determine those other ways and their likely short to medium-term consequences, and roll a die with as many faces as there are outcomes to determine what happens. For example, let us take the Flight to Varennes. There could be at least two other outcomes to King Louis and his family trying to flee the country in addition to the historical one, them getting caught: perhaps he succeeds, or perhaps he doesn’t try at all. Then we, the mods, will take a 1d6 and assign outcomes to each value: 1-2, historical outcome. 3-4, Louis escapes successfully. 5-6, Louis doesn’t try at all. The historical outcome would produce historical consequences, ie. Louis and the royal family discredit themselves badly, get confined to the Tuileries Palace and are probably doomed in the long run (though he might be able to avoid getting condemned to death by vote at a later event subject to the DFS). If he escapes, it could make him into a lightning rod for royalist resistance, or still discredit him and actually damage the royalist cause more by leaving them stuck with a hated figurehead instead of a royal martyr - subject to more rolls. And if he doesn’t try to flee at all, thereby retaining popularity and credibility, perhaps the French Revolutionary Wars peter out more quickly and the Bourbon constitutional monarchy will survive. This is just one example out of many. We encourage players to suggest major historical events to be subjected to DFS rolls, as well. It is not guaranteed that the mod team will tackle them all, obviously - too many rolls and too much time lost - but the most interesting (not necessarily the ‘biggest’ events, either) will certainly be taken under consideration for their own rolls, to further spice up and alter our timeline from reality’s.

[Lucius Malfoy]

Types of Soldiers

Unit Types Levied Troops Latin Knights: 6 points +10 if clean line of sight to massed formation at close range. +10 if coherently charging across open ground (a coherent charge requires the Cavalry to have been unengaged in the previous Battle Round). -10 in Rough, Marshy, Hilly, and Wooded Terrain. -5 after 2 Battle Rounds in action. Cannot charge in Rough or Marshy Terrain, can only charge out of Wooded Terrain. Latin Serjeants: 4 points +10 against Cavalry if in a stationary formation. Latin Footmen: 1 point +5 in Rough, Marshy, Hilly, and Wooded Terrain. Latin Archer/Crossbowmen: 1 point £2 Per man per week +5 if clean line of sight to massed formation -10 if firing into wooded terrain Equitibus (Light Cavalry): 1 point £7 Per man per week Can move across 2 Flanks, or move across 1 and fight in it, per Battle Round. -5 in Rough, Marshy, Hilly, and Wooded Terrain. +4 to raid rolls Mercenary Troops: Byzantine Cataphracts: 6 points Mounted unless dismounted in combat (must specify) +10 if coherently charging across open ground (a coherent charge requires the Cavalry to have been unengaged in the previous Battle Round). -10 in Rough, Marshy, Hilly, and Wooded Terrain. -5 after 2 Battle Rounds in action. Cannot charge in Rough or Marshy Terrain, can only charge out of Wooded Terrain. Byzantine Scutatii: 6 points +10 against cavalry if in a stationary formation +5 in rough, marshy, hilly and wooded terrain Armenian Spearmen: 4 points +10 against Cavalry if in a stationary formation. Bedouin Bowmen: 2 points +10 if clean line of sight to massed target formation -5 if firing into Wooded Terrain. Turkish Light Cavalry: 1 point Can move across 2 Flanks, or move across 1 and fight in it, per Battle Round. -5 in Rough, Marshy, Hilly, and Wooded Terrain. +4 to raid rolls

Levying Troops

Levies Each fief has a set budget of manpower, dictated by a grant (which has the maximum range) by the ruler or overlord. Ex: the count of this fief will have a manpower of 1,000 men. Based on this range, and their land grant, they will have a range of 500 to 1000 troops. The range will be rolled, upon request, and rounded to the nearest hundredth. Modifiers are applied via event/buildings and at the discretion of the moderators. It takes 6 hours for a levy for muster. The Lord must remain within his demesne whilst his levy is being mustered. Levies will stay raised for two years, after which they must be disbanded. Disbandment triggers a cooldown that lasts for one year.

Scouting & Detection

Scouting - Scouting is done on basis of location (please see maps) - Scouting can only be requested if Cavalry is in the army. - You may only scout one shire/county per 50 Cavalry in the army per 24 hours. If, for example, you have 99 Cavalry, you may only scout one shire/county; 100 would allow two. When scouting is requested, the mods do one D20 roll with the following possible results: 1-4/20 - Scouts captured by the enemy - The scouts are captured and may now be tortured for information. 5-10/20 - Scouts fail to return with any information - The scouts return without any information. 11-12/20 - Scouts return with 20% accurate range - Mods post back a wide range of possible army numbers (20% accuracy) 13-14/20 - Scouts return with 40% accurate range - Mods post back a narrower range of possible army numbers (40% accuracy) 15-16/20 - Scouts return with 60% accurate range - Mods post back a small range of possible army numbers (60% accuracy) 17-18/20 - Scouts return with 80% accurate range - Mods post back a ting range of possible army numbers (80% accuracy) 19-20/20 - Scouts return with exact enemy numbers When posting back results, mods do not post the actual roll they performed just the random range of numbers based on the accuracy of said roll outcome. When deciding the range, mods simply take the actual troop numbers x inaccuracy (opposite of accuracy) which will give them their interval, which they can apply into a range any way they like (as long as the actual army numbers fall within the range). For example: The interval of 20% accuracy on 1,000 troops is worked by 1,000x0.8=800, thus the range is 800 wide. Now the mod can post back any range of 800 hundred that they like as long as 1,000 is within that range. For example, 800-1,600 range, or 950-1,750 or even 1,000-1,800. Detection Every army has a passive detection range of 1 hex away (thus 40 minutes of movement time away, if in England). By default, the armies become aware of each other as soon as they come into that range. If one party wishes to try and slip past this detection range of another army, they must undergo a detection roll. Base chance of doing so is 16/20, modified negatively by the opposing top commander’s scout trait. It’s also -2 for every 200 Cavalry in the opposing army; thus having 1600 cavalry or more in your army will reduce chances of being ambushed down to 0. This cannot be done if there has been a scout roll reporting your location with 60% accuracy or more and you have not moved to a different province since. If an army attacks another after successfully surpassing this passive detection, the sneak attacking army gets +4 to all rolls as with Surprise Attacks.

Battles

The Battlefield The battlefield is divided into 3 Flanks: Right, Centre, and Left. Forces will begin the battle arrayed in one of these three Flanks, but can move throughout the battlefield over the course of the battle. The Battlefield may have different terrain types covering some or part. For example, a battle in a valley is likely to have Rough Terrain on one or both Flanks, a battle near or within a forest may have Wooded Terrain in some or all areas. For complex battlefield, a basic map may be posted. Units will perform drastically differently depending on terrain. Cavalry, for example, will operate very poorly in Rough or Marshy Terrain, while Light Infantry will excel in these areas. In addition, heavy units (Heavy Infantry, Heavy and Elite Cavalry) will quickly tire and, as such, must be used to maximum effect in decisive strikes. Fighting the Battle Fighting a Battle Armies will be divided into Battalions, commanded by a Character. This Character may be player-controlled or NPC. Characters with Traits that give them bonuses commanding certain troop types only gain their bonuses if their Battalion is all or mostly (90%+) of that unit type. These Battalions will be posted to a specific Flank to start the battle, and given orders by the Army or Flank commander, or both. It is up to players whose orders, if any, they follow. It is up to players whose orders NPC characters sworn to them follow (eg a Reach Lord will do what a Tyrell tells him to do, regardless of whether the Tyrell is the appointed Flank or Army commander). If no orders can be sources(eg the Army, Flank, and Battalion commander all fail to suggest a movement in a reasonable amount of time) then the moderator will decide a reasonable course of action, which may be to remain stationary. A Battle will last for a maximum of 5 Battle Phases. How many Flanks and Battle Phases are used will be decided by the controlling Moderator, depending on how important the battle is, how large the armies fighting are, how many players are participating, and whether the wider game is lagging behind real time or not. In each Battle Phase, the players controlling Battalions will decide their next move and tell the moderator, who will take each Battalion's moves and decide what the outcome will be (eg if an infantry battalion is trying to charge into the enemy archers, but enemy light cavalry has been told to attack the infantry, it is most likely that the cavalry will intercept the infantry). After each Battle Phase, the moderator will decide whether troops engaged in combat will break and run, or continue to fight. Casualties suffered, the weight of numbers pressing against them, the quality of the troops, and the skills of their commander will all be considered. Levied light infantry is far more likely to break and run if the odds are stacked against them, while a Lord's personal bodyguard will almost always fight to the death to preserve their liege's life. Casualties per Battle Phase are limited to 10%. In small battles where there are only one or two phases, the standard cap of 25% will be used. Assigning more than 1 Battalion to the same task may result in penalties as coordinating multiple independent units in the chaos of a Medieval battlefield is inefficient. This will depend on the task, the units being used, and how they might interact in attempting to complete the task. For example, assinging both Archers and Infantry to attack enemy Infantry may result in some of your own soldiers being hit by the arrowfire, but assigning several Battalions of Infantry to attack the same enemy unit is unlikely to cause detrimental clashes. Heavy Cavalry, if charging into the rear of already-engaged enemy units, may run through them and into your own forces, causing casualties. So on. Rolling a Battle: The Moderator will roll with the following formula for each of the different combats between Battalions (sometimes more than combat for each battalion) for each phase. * * * [Score of Soldiers] * [d10 Roll] = Score. Repeat for both sides. Winner with the highest score. Winner dead: ( [Lower Score] / [Higher Score] ) * [Number of Soldiers]. Dead capped at 10% of [Lesser Force] Loser dead: ( [Higher Score] / [Lower Score] ) * [Number of Soldiers]. Dead capped at 10% of [Lesser Force] In small battles where there are only one or two phases, a casualty cap of 25% should be be used. * * * Major Notes: Almost NEVER should any cavalry be rolled in a melee against a whole corps of infantry, but only a portion of that infantry that would be either equivalent in number or men or smaller (preferably). Having them fight a whole battalion or flank of men at once defeats their purpose. Their advantage goes away if they cannot attack stragglers and isolated targets. Archer rolls are done with casualties only falling on the target. Contests between two different groups of archers should be done as two different combat formulas. Concluding a Battle At the end of the battle, when the last Battle Phase is concluded, a winner will be declared if both armies are still on the field fighting. It may be declared an inconclusive draw if both armies control significant parts of the battlefield and are not being threatened with a rout or with becoming surrounded and cut off from retreat. In this case, the end of the battle comes with nightfall and both forces break off and retreat to their camps, and may either electively withdraw in good order or resume with a new battle the following day. Night raids may be considered, depending on whether there are any troops fresh enough to mount one. If the battle reaches a point where one army is clearly overwhelmed or broken apart, the Moderator will halt the battle and declare one army the winner. The losing army will then retreat, either in a rout (causing casualties) or in good order, depending on whether the victor is able and willing to pursue. As such a hard-fought battle may not result in the defeated force being routed, as the victorious enemy may have fully committed to the battle itself and his Cavalry may be exhausted and disorganized. Whether a rout occurs will depend on the victor's Cavalry: Men-at-Arms with the -5 malus for exhaustion will not chase down routing troops. Hobelars and Mounted Archers bogged down in any type of non-Open Terrain will not chase down routing troops. d20*[Pursuing Cavalry] casualties will be inflicted in a rout, capped at 50% of the routing troops.

Surprise Attacks

If an army is laying siege they are vulnerable to surprise attacks by enemy forces in the local area. Base chance of successfully surprising a siege is 16/20. Patrols of mounted or dismounted soldiers may be put on screening duty by the besiegers, resulting in a -2 chance of surprise per 50 men. Thus, 400 men on screening will render surprise attacks impossible. If an army is taken by surprise during their siege, the attackers gain +4 to all rolls during the battle.

Post-Battle Condition Rolls

Post battle condition rolls are not modified by survival and are done with a d-100 1-2 death 3- permanent wound no survival modifier on the disability table 4-6 permeant wound using survival modifier on the disability table 7-12 Major wound (Mods choice: comma or bedridden for 3 IRL days) 13-20 Serious Wound (Mods Choice: -3 to Duel, Survival, or Battle traits for 2 RL days) 21-30 Minor Wound (Mod pick -1 to duel or survival for 2 irl days) 31-40 Captured if on the winning side a d20 is rolled a 6+ is free 41-100 Free and unharmed Disability table, not modified by +Survival. Trait points made redundant by rolls here are not refunded. 1-5 Disfigured. -10 Charisma. Character's face is badly maimed (on a level similar to Sandor Clegane's), making them unsightly. 6-10 Crippled (Arm). Cannot Duel, -10 Survival if participating in a Battle. One of the character's arms is rendered useless, rendering them unable to effectively defend themselves. 11-15 Crippled (Leg). Cannot Duel, can still Joust. Cannot command Infantry, only Cavalry. 16-20 Old War Wound. Begin death rolls every year henceforth. Starting at 2/20, with +2 every 5 years. If the character is already of age for death rolls, +2 henceforth.

Castles and Sieges

Castles Castles are purpose-built military positions whose primary purpose is to militarily dominate the surrounding region. In the Norman period, castles were only simple wooden structures, but they were still presented an obstacle for the armies of the time. Castles have the following attributes: - Will last 3 days in a siege - Have a +5 roll to any siege assault undertaken against them. - Can hold their entire garrison plus 300 extra men. Castles have a base garrison of sixty men. These cannot be moved out from the castle: 20 light infantry 20 heavy infantry 20 archers/crossbowmen Rolling a Siege Rolling a siege is the same as rolling a Land Battle except the flanks are Gatehouse and Walls, not Left, Right, and Centre. Remember also that sieges require patrols of dismounted and mounted troops screen protecting the besieging army in order to ensure the besieging army is not taken by surprise by a relief force. Siege Equipment Tier 1 - Light Ladders - 6 hours to construct. - Basic siege equipment required for assault on a castle. Tier 1 - Rams - 9 hours to construct. - Grants +1 to siege attack rolls. Tier 2 - Siege Ladders - 12 hours to construct. - Grants +3 to siege attack rolls. Tier 3 - Siege Towers - 24 hours/1 day to construct. - Grants +5 to siege attack rolls. Does not stack with Siege Ladders.

Duels and Jousts

Tournament Jousts: For jousts, you do two D20 rolls, one for each player. 1-5 miss 5-10 glancing blow, body 11-16 - shield hit, good 16-19 - shield hit, flawless 20 - potentially fatal hit When one player rolls 20 against the other, another 1D20 is rolled. 1-5 = death Rolls will be done until one player has rolled 16-20 and the other player has not. In other words, a flawless hit on the shield that is not matched by the opponent results in the opponent being unhorsed. Duels and Battlefield Jousts A duel or a joust is decided by whether players are dismounted or mounted, though both are modified by the same skill, Personal Combat. Simply, each player has 20 health points. For every 4 Survival points, a player can have 1 extra health point. Then Roll "rounds" these in order: 2 D20 [(Higher Roll - Lower Roll) / 2] + Weapon/Traits of Winner - Armor/Traits of Loser = Damage to Loser 1 D20, 50% chance of damage to winner also; If damage is done: 1 D10, 10 is 100% same as damage to loser, while 1 is 10%. Take this number and apply halved Weapon/Armor/Trait numbers to it (We round up if you get a decimal). Then you let the players RP it and decide whether to continue or not. Worse case scenario, the loser player loses 10 health in one round. You keep doing these "rounds" until one player dies, submits, or otherwise "loses". In a normal tourney, unless otherwise stated, characters are given equal armor and weapons, and as such, the weapon/armor points are non-existent.

Bodyguard rules

Knights have their squires and conroys, while Kings and great lords have their comitatus of knights and nobles or hird of housecarls and heorthgeneats. Either way, medieval nobility and royalty did not enter battle completely unsupported, but would usually have some close companions fighting at their side as bodyguards. In case a character is targeted for a battlefield assassination or duel by a player-controlled commander of the opposing army, any characters above the age of 14 - that's to say, at the point where they can start having traits - who have been accepted into his household as a squire or companion will have a chance to defend their lord, forcing a duel (using normal duel rules) between them and the assailant. Only if the latter prevails can he go on to attack/assassinate his original target. Knights' squires have a 12/20 chance of intercepting threats to their master in combat. Members of a king's comitatus will have a 15/20 chance. In case a character has more than one possible bodyguard, another roll (simple 50/50, 33/33/33, 25/25/25/25 odds, and so on increasing with the number of bodyguards) will be done to determine which of the bodyguards faces off with the assailant. Only up to three bodyguards may have a roll to intercept threats to your character, to prevent situations where a King or knight goes into battle with 10+ bodyguard characters to make himself effectively untouchable; however, the assailant will only have the HP he has left from his previous duels when facing a second or third bodyguard. For example, if Knight A goes to try to assassinate the enemy king in battle, fights Bodyguard A and wins at the cost of half his hitpoints, he will face Bodyguard B with only 10 HP instead of the usual 20. Also, to prevent players from signing up an excess of bodyguard characters for themselves, only bodyguard characters belonging to other players will be counted when it comes to intercepting threats to your own. The above does not apply to assassinations or duels fought off the battlefield.

Raiding

Detection Roll (Modified down by the highest Scout trait of any character on the raid) Note: Each 'location' has a base garrison of twenty men. This number can be improved through building upgrades. 1-5, the garrison are caught completely by surprise and no defense can be mustered. Proceed straight to a Loot Roll. 6-10, the garrison musters a weak defense, but in the chaos do not send riders to report the attacking banners. Proceed to Raid Roll. 11-15, the garrison musters a defense, and report the identity of the attackers by rider to the local keep. Proceed to Perception Roll. 16-20, the attackers are detected well before they arrive, allowing the local troops to retreat to the closest friendly castle (if applicable) taking all their valuables with them. The castle must be captured in order to loot the province. Proceed to perception roll. If there is no castle, a field battle is rolled. Perception Roll Roll a D20, with 1-10 being a vague understanding of who you are (e.g., 'Welsh') and 11-20 being a more specific understanding (e.g., 'Welsh from Powys'). Use of banners will not alter this roll, though banners will be reported alongside any other findings (e.g. 'They had Percy banners but seemed like Nevilles to me'). RP justifications shall be the survivors recognising an accent or dialect, overhearing raiders mentioning something that gives a clue to their origin, etc. Proceed to Raid roll afterwards. Raid Roll Roll a d5, with the outcome being the % of your force lost during the pillaging spree to death, desertion or disappearance. This is capped at 100 men, since large forces are otherwise at a disadvantage, where every 1% represents ever larger numbers of men for no extra gain. If a force larger than 20 men is present, this is the phase in which they fight your own men. Loot Roll Roll a d20, with the outcome x10 in % being the loot you gained, based on the following table: - Tier I - 200£ - Tier II - 250£ - Tier III - 300£ - Tier IV - 350£ - Tier V - 400£ In addition, gain +5% for every 50 men present in the raiding party (after the Raid Roll casualties are factored in, and rounded to the nearest 100) up to a maximum of +30% (600 men) and +2% for each point of Pillager for any character in the raiding party (max 1 character applied per player, to stop single players exploiting this by sending parties with 4 characters each with +3 Pillager). Once a province has been raided, the victim's manors may be occupied, so long as no hostile forces remain there. Occupied provinces bring in 50% of their base income per annum so long as they remain under your control. It takes two years for an occupied province to become officially 'owned' by the occupant. Raid Size Limitations The size of a raiding army will have effect on how easily it will be detected. The more men that are present in a raiding force, the easier it becomes for the local populace to detect that force and prepare against it. Historically, it was much easier for a small group of men to remain undetected compared to a larger group of men and this rule is meant to simulate this kind of effect. - The maximum size that a raiding force can be without having any penalties is 500 men - For every 100 men above this cap, a +5 will be added to the raid detection roll. - An army that is over 900 men (+20 detection rolls) will always be detected by the local populace when it is on a raiding mission and it will be subject to a battle with the garrison or local force if applicable.

Rebellions

There may come a time when a player decides that he can no longer sit idly by under the rule of his liege, or fears that the King is being controlled by evil councillors, and begins plotting rebellion. Reasons for rebellion will be strictly vetted, and if it is suspected that players are creating noble houses solely for finding a reason to rebel, they may be barred from rolling the house entirely. A rebellion is a serious matter and, in a feudal culture, unthinkable at first glance. There is nothing wrong with rebellion as long as it is conducted with valid IC justification. The only time the moderators become concerned is when Out of Character reasons begin to pollute In Character decision making, so ensure that your character's reasoning and goals are entirely consistent with the way that you have been portraying them. Whilst this goes for all actions, rebellion has the greatest ramifications upon the game and thus must be analysed the most carefully.