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[Meikyuu Kingdom!] The Imperial Arcadian Dynasty rises
simonwolf
i can feel a differencetoday, a differenceRegistered User regular
i can feel a differencetoday, a differenceRegistered User regular
Meikyuu Kingdom!
Two thousand years ago, the world wasn't like this. We're not sure what it was like, really, but it wasn't like this. Then the Cataclysm came, and it transformed the world into dungeons - the Endless Dungeons, as we know them. Monsters and other beasts filled those dungeons, and we humans would have been driven extinct, if not for the Landmakers. Adventurer-kings with the power and strength to drive back the monsters, with the will to place order onto the dungeons themselves. The world may still be deadly and driven by chaos, but civilisation survives, thanks to Landmakers such as you.
This is your kingdom. Make you what you will of it.
WHAT IS THIS
Meikyuu Kingdom is a tabletop roleplaying game from Japan. It's built around two complementary halves - one in which you play rulers of a kingdom that needs to expand and develop, and one where you delve into a dungeon in order to obtain the resources required for your kingdom.
The players are Landmakers and lead the kingdom to glory, each fulfilling a different role for the kingdom. The Royal is the head of state, the Vizier is the head of the treasury, the Knight is the head of the military, the Oracle is the head of religion, etc. You can also duplicate roles, but since most classes have fiat over certain areas of the kingdom and its people, you can end up with Fun situations if you have two Royals, for example.
HOW DO WE PLAY
The core mechanic of the game is based on the humble d6. Challenges and combat work on 2d6+modifers against targets, random tables often call for d66, etc. Every character has skills and gear, and everyone can do stuff in both the kingdom and dungeon phases of the game - it isn't like playing an Oracle will hinder you in combat, but you probably won't be as good as the Knight.
Basically during the Kingdom phase, you'll be given your quest, and then proceed to the Organisational Meeting and the Treasury Meeting, in which the Landmakers discuss how best to allocate the citizens and money of the kingdom for this phase. After that, everyone gets to make an action - perhaps crafting an item, or wandering the kingdom - before heading out to the dungeon.
Inside the dungeon, things become less of a kingdom management sim and more of a standard delve. The party moves room to room, slaying beasties and gathering loot. There's usually a quest in mind for any dungeon, though, and once that's complete, victory is achieved and everyone goes back to the kingdom to rest and consolidate their gains.
The game is pretty intuitive, but there's a lot of referencing to skills and such. Every player will be sent a primer of the relevant rules so we're all on the same page.
TELL ME THE CLASSES
The Royal is the head of state and as such as the final say in any dispute between the other landmakers. They're tasked with managing the Court's resources and budget. They're also the only required class in the game - every kingdom needs at least one royal. You can also have two or more, though! You just need to delegate duties between them, if that happens.
The Knight is the shield and blade of the kingdom. They get to make tactical decisions, lead the party in the dungeons, and otherwise be the combat guru. This means that anyone playing the Knight will likely need to become pretty familiar with the combat rules, as well as having an idea of what kind of army they lead.
The Vizier is the chief administrator of the kingdom, and as such they get to control diplomacy and finance, as well as choosing what gets built or renovated during the kingdom phase. It's a pretty important role, but probably not the flashiest.
The Oracle is the soul of the kingdom. They are the head of church, so they get to decide the flavours and aspect of worship for the kingdom, the gods, etc. They're also the healers in the dungeon!
The Ninja is the eyes and shadow on the kingdom's wall. They scout dungeons, disarm traps, evade enemies, and otherwise be sneaky bastards.
The Servant is the backbone of the court. They bolster the kingdom as a whole, having a more diverse skillset and multiple jobs than any other class.
IS THERE ANY OTHER VITAL LORE
Not much, really! The game is set in a world where the landscape shifts and there are dungeons everywhere, there's monsters and other ne'er-do-wells lurking in every corner, and only the Landmakers can hold them back. Of course, you're not the only Landmakers in the world! As the game is developed, we might learn that nearby territory holds other kingdoms, or perhaps even enclaves of one of the four Great Powers.
WAIT GREAT POWER WHAT
There's four Great Powers in the game, kingdoms whose influence is practically global in scale. At least, compared to the wee bud of power that young landmakers such as yourselves start out with. These are, in no particular order:
Dynamite Empire, the youngest of the Great Powers, and quickly becoming the largest. Their philosophy is simple: conquer the Endless Dungeons and place them under their thumb through sheer and overwhelming brute force.
The Milennium Dynasty claims to have existed, unchanged, since the cataclysm that forever shattered the world. Much like the Middle Kingdom of our world, they're interested in oaths of fealty more than direct conquest.
The Metro Khanate are a group of nomads and raiders whose entire kingdom exists on a network of trains and rails that criss-cross the world.
The Holy Capitalistic Empire of Haglma is an economic powerhouse led by the Haglma dynasty. They're a mixture of bank and corporation, worshipping the almighty dollar.
The kingdom ruled over by our motley crew may become friendly or come to blows with these great powers; perhaps even swearing oaths of vassalage for the benefits and protection that they offer. But this is all far off in the realm of possibility
SIMON I GET THE FEELING THAT THE NAME OF THIS GAME IS A PUN
That's because it totally is! The "Meikyuu" in Meikyuu Kingdom is 迷宮, or mystery/labyrinth, which fits because the game is set in a world of labyrinthine dungeon kingdoms, right? But "meikyuu" also sounds like "make you" in English, so it's a game where you make a kingdom - make you kingdom! It's great!
Well, I think it's great.
WHAT IF I WANT TO JOIN IN
That's great! If you're interested in learning the game (it isn't hard, I swear) all you need to do is post that you're interested, are okay with this not being a super-serious game, and have the strength of will to take back the Endless Dungeons for humankind. We'll roll up the kingdom and characters once we have a solid group of, I don't know, four people? Go with that, yeah. If there's an abundance of interest I will cull the weakest from the herd (by rolling dice).
Oh, and when you express interest, give me 2d6 that'll go towards something special.
simonwolf on
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Geth Roll 1d2
Geth Roll 2d6
Geth roll 2d6 for something special!
Geth Roll 2d6
I am a harsh but fair mistress
let the thrashing commence
Geth roll 2d6 for It is a Meikyuu???
geth, roll 2d6 for special stuffs
Geth roll 2d6 for special deluxe
Meikyuu Kingdom...
Kingdom. Make you....
OMG the name is a pun!
Guys, guys. I solved the game. Pack it up, we're going home!
No but seriously, I'm totally down to join, be a reserve, or spectate. This game sounds super fun.
Geth, roll 2d6 for Meikyuu Magiku
That is likely because the game has yet to be officially translated into English! I am mostly relying on cross-referencing between an unofficial translation and my own copy of the core book for the game, which is long out of print.
I think there's an ongoing review and overview of the game over on Something Awful, but otherwise most of the English-language discussion around this game are people clamouring for it to be released in English already.
I've got some important PhD business to get to today, but once I am at home and not being rushed around I'll probably do the player cull and get the ball rolling!
:rotate:
geth, roll 2d6
After consulting the entrails of a couple of goats and the algorithms of random.org, I have determined that the old gods and the new desire for the Landmakers of our soon-to-be illustrious realm to be:
@Egos
@weirdspaceships!
@Rawkking Goodguy!
@AlfredR!
Everyone else, please rest assured that you will be the first people I contact if I end up being able to run another game, or if one of these shiftless layabouts decides to go pick their nose instead of running a kingdom.
Now then, what were your dice rolls for? To determine the name of our realm!
Going in the randomised order, Egos contributes a 45, resulting in Imperial! weirdspaceships contributes a 56, resulting in (name of where you're playing)! Rawkking Goodguy contributes a 12, resulting in Dynasty!
With that in mind, I'm going to tentatively declare us...
Alfred, if you want to use your 12 to replace one of those names, let me know. But you don't get to find out what it would be changed to in advance! I am a fickle mistress, as we've previously decided.
But what is the next phase of development? Rolling up what traits our kingdom has, of course!
Everyone, please give me a roll of 5d6 to determine what special or distinguishing features our realm has. Also you should probably start tossing around ideas for our realm's "theme" - should our royalty be styled Emperor or something similar, should we be styled after any particular historical nation, etc.
Adding a stream-of-conscious idea to the pot to get discussion flowing (please feel free to alter this, or suggest entirely new ideas!):
Theme: Desert Kingdom. Cause Viziers are always in deserts. Logic
The Imperial Arcadian Dynasty's long and storied heritage was abruptly upended when the Dynamite Empire's rapidly expanding influence rolled into the area. Now vassals, the royal court maintained rulership if at least in name, even as the Empire's straightforward culture clashes with the subtle, storied traditions from the Dynasty's rule.
But not in name name. They changed that to something else, though the old title is still used by some of the more stubborn old guard (out of earshot of Empire soldiers, usually). Why'd they change it? I can't say.
Geth roll 5d6 for realm!
(we're also going to want to probably model the kingdom after the traits we get, I imagine :rotate: )
anyway
Geth roll 5d6
Geth roll 5d6
What about an island kingdom? Get some island-hopping going on, buckle some pirates in their ugly faces, sea monsters and Greek fire, et al.
Just thinking out loud and spitballing.
Geth Roll 5d6 for Kingdom Stuff
Egos rolls a 3 and a 5 to get a Resource for our realm. With a 6, this means that the home region of the Imperial Arcadian Dynasty is connected to a second region via a set of stairs. I'll get into this in a bit, but what it means is that we gain a second map to our home territory, with 6 corridors.
I rolled a 1 and a 3 to get a Custom for the Dynasty! With a 5, this means our realm is known for dealing in a certain product. We gain a Staple facility, and after consulting another table, this means our Staple facility produces Meat. Hooray!
Alfred rolls a 4 and a 6, gaining a Facility. With 2, this means the dungeon-realm of the Dynasty is blessed with spacious rooms and high ceilings, giving it enough room to start with a Plaza facility!
weirdspaceships rolls a 4 and a 5, giving us another Facility. With a 6, this means that the Imperial Arcadian Dynasty is located on the frontier of civilisation, and with a 4, that means we start with a Trading Post facility!
To sum all this up: the Imperial Arcadian Dynasty is located on the wild frontier and has ample space for both producing meat and having some relaxing rooms to kick back in. Through luck in location we've managed to double the standard starting territory most kingdoms start with, and at some point everyone in this region was turned undead by a necromancer of some denomination (but we got better).
So, what does all this mean?
Well, let's go back to basics. I'll be referencing maps here that are kinda large, so I'll be putting them in spoilers at the bottom of this post.
With a roll of a 5 and a 2 (which I made using the dice I have at my desk thank you very much), the starting location for the Dynasty is close to the edge of the Known World, in E2.
However! Since Egos rolled us an extra region to our home territory, we get to add one of the territories directly adjacent to our starting turf as another one of our regions - so we could expand into D2, E1, E3, or F2.
So, keeping that in mind, let's go on to the map of our home dungeon itself.
First off, we automatically gain a Royal Palace! I'll get into what each building does in its own specific post, but for the moment, here's what you need to know about the Palace: if a Kingdom doesn't possess a Royal Palace, it's destroyed at the end of the session. If there isn't a direct pathway of rooms and corridors between the Entrance and the Palace (or any other facility), that facility can't be used. The Palace is also placed at B2 on the home map by default.
We also get to place the Staple, the Plaza, and the Trading Post wherever we want within the boundaries of our territory - either the Home Turf or the Incorporated Territories, as I am referring to the two maps.
So right now, we need to put down nine corridors and an entranceway on the Home Turf, and six corridors and an entranceway on the Incorporated Territories. Entranceways are located between the edge of the map and a room, corridors are between rooms (though they can be diagonal).
Here are the maps for you to reference and make scribbles on!
The Known World
The Home Turf
The Incorporated Territories
Current Things To Do
Here are the current facilities available to us:
Royal Palace
If the game ends and you do not have this facility, the Kingdom is destroyed.
Action: If you make a [Lifestyle Level vs 10] check and succeed, gain 1 Vox Populi. If you fail, lose 1 Vox Populi.
Plaza
Action: When two people use this facility, both of them make a [Culture Level vs 5+Affection] check. If both are successful, they increase their Affection towards each other by 1, and may change the subtype of that relationship.
Trading Post
Action: Choose a type of Material when you build this facility. You may exchange 1MG for 3 of that material.
Staple {Can be Leveled}
Action: Choose a type of Material when you build this facility. Receive a number of that Material equal to the Facility level.
To answer some questions you might have:
So the main thing to think about is that the entranceway is where Bad Things could enter our fair kingdom, and balancing keeping ourselves safe with our limited numbers of corridors (and the resource costs it will likely take to make more corridors)?
Also, are the stairs connecting our regions going to be on the map? Does that matter?
Facilities have to be adjacent to be leveled, for better or worse, not just anywhere on the same map. So like XCOM in that regard, yes! Basically if you want level 2 facilities, they need to be in adjacent rooms that are directly connected via a corridor.
If you want to create more corridors in future, you can place one at a cost of 1MG during the Kingdom Phase.
The stairs aren't a facility or anything, they're just a fluffy means of transportation. Essentially that roll is saying "you have easy access to another region and it's been incorporated into your territory".
The way I understand it from simon, is that we just don't risk random encounters if we roll said region we also own (e.g. D2 if we roll 4,2).
I personally vote for D2 or E3 (to be more aesthetically pleasing). probably leaning toward e3 because it would look cooler
anyway
Geth roll 12d6 for doomed fate
Oh alright, just as a final clarification is the "direct connected by a cooridor" meaning identical for this passage?
IE: If we placed our entranceway at the top of A2, we would have to have a corridor connecting A2 and B2 for the palace's ability to be used? So the shortest possible path to the entrance has to be available, not just any pathway.
Ah, yeah, this is where I end up defining things very differently in my head that are very similar when written down.
"Directly connected" here means that there has to be a single corridor between the rooms - A1 to A2, B2 to C2, etc.
"Direct pathway" means that you need to be able to trace a pathway between the entrance and the room in order to use it - if you can't do that, the room is inaccessible and unusable.
Make sense?
Also, @Rawkking Goodguy and @Egos, can you give me another 8d6? You both managed to roll something Interesting as your background.
And thus it would connect to Home Domain's A,B,C 3? hurm
not sure if that's how it work
anyway
Geth roll 8d6 for Interesting background with extra emphasis on Interesting
I don't get the impression that where you place the entranceway matters, and it's more where you place the buildings in relationship to the entranceway. I doubt it's directly connecting to the other area?
Geth roll 8d6 for double dark mysterious jeopardy
I'll get you two out of the way since it might influence your opinions on where the Incorporated Territories should go.
Rawkking Goodguy, fated Landmaker, you were born Giorno/Noel (choose one) the Indefatigable. You were taken as a hostage by the Imperial Arcadian Dynasty from your homeland in A4, the Free Dungeon Alliance. Relations between the two realms are Dangerous. Your mission is to change the relationship between the Imperial Arcadian Dynasty and Free Dungeon Alliance to Allied.
The hereditary job you were born into was that of a Warlock.
Primary Ability: Wit
Skill Groups: Astrology, Summoning, Science
Equipment: Grimoire
Starting Skill: Ritual - (Support, Single) - Wit vs 9
Choose a Skill, other than a Permanent Skill, known by any character who has a Relationship Score towards you, and make the above check. If it is successful, you may temporarily memorize that Skill. You may spend 1 Hope to produce the effect of that Skill. Once you have used that Skill, or when you memorize a new Skill, you forget the memorized Skill.
Egos, fated Landmaker, you were born Elric/Gloriana (choose one) the Chatterbox. You are a spy from the nearby Ascendant Magical Territories, located in B1. Your family at home is being held hostage, and you have been ordered to spread chaos and collect information about the Imperial Arcadian Dynasty. The relationship between the two realms is Dangerous. Your mission is to become Rivals with another member of the court.
By birth you are a Summoner.
Primary Ability: Charisma
Skill Groups: Summoning
Equipment: Animal Companion
Starting Skill: Minor Shift - (Support, Single) - Charisma vs target's Level + 7
During Combat, choose a character. Spend 1 Hope and make the above check. If it is successful, move that character to an Area of your choice. This Skill also counts as a Summoning Skill.
Updated Known World
beat'd.
Anyway I'll go with Elric