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D20 Modern: Shifting from Feudalism to Mercantilism
Captain Carrot
Alexandria, VARegistered User regular
Alexandria, VARegistered User regular
On the continent of Gondwana, there exists an uneasy peace between the powers of two stages: the feudal lords and the mercantile princes. The major players of the former are the Austrian Empire under Emperor Hadrian (at least, in theory), the Kingdom of Burma headed by High Priest Nebuchadnezzar, and the duchy of Alsace with Grand Duke Ivan. For the latter, there are the coastal city-state Poland run by Lord Mayor Constantine, and the island of Crete governed by Councillor (formerly Admiral) Theseus. There are, of course, smaller towns on both sides, but they tend to either fall under the sway of a powerful neighbor or stay out of the way entirely.
The players are mercenaries hired to eliminate bandits by Duke Ivan. You start on the road outside his palace. You’ll be paid ten silver pieces per right ear collected (heads are bulky and bloody, so the Duke decided to make your job a little easier and less grisly for his bursar).
There will be various flavors of sidequests along the way, from the simple to the complex; a child might ask you to retrieve a toy that she dropped in a muddy ravine, or a man might request that you connect with his estranged son working in another country.
This campaign will not feature any magic, technology is as of 1650 - firearms are allowed, but I’m pretty sure that they weren’t terribly good, and there will not be a whole lot of combat. The focus here will be on conversations, roleplaying, and politics: your goal here is to come out on top of the eventual shakedown, probably by gaining control of or influence over one of the powers that looks likely to survive and attempting to defuse the conflict before it begins by convincing the lesser players that they should join with you. The governing ruleset will be d20 Modern, with the dedicated/smart/persuasive hero template being better suited to the plot. You can find the ruleset for d20 Modern for free from Wizards using Google.
Austrian Provinces:
Coastal: Rugia, Alben, Marino, Grumant
Western: Gawain, Tortuga, Elba, Nisei, Hersia
Southern: Koln, Capistrano, Delhi, Moraine
Protectorate of San Salvador in southwest
Capital is Columbia
Dividing the map into four quadrants, in the south-west corner we have a large bay with a large island in it. North of that, in the northwest corner we have a coastal city state along the, well, coast, with a mountain range to the east, with isolated small villages and single cabins.
To the east of the mountain range, in the northeast quadrant, lies the fairly big Austrian Empire, with over a dozen provinces, primarily controlled by the regional governors.
To the south-west of the Empire, south-east of the City State of Poland, and to the north of the island Crete, is the Duchy of Alsace. Southeast, Burma, ruled by the high priest of Iova, goddess of fertility and warmth. The inhabitants have skin tinted slightly green - not racially, but because of the environment. Everybody who lives there for long enough gets it, and anyone who moves away eventually loses it. They’re referred to as ‘greenies’ by the less enlightened.
There are several languages in Gondwana, and there is no equivalent of D&D's Common tongue. However, there is a lingua franca of trading, and there are a couple of languages known by the elite, plus people on the border often know both. Burma speaks Rangoon; Austria speaks Ayers, Djibouti, Kiribati, and Salamanca; Crete speaks Auberjois; Poland speaks Brasilian; Alsace speaks Delhi. Most traders in all the countries speak Pidgin, and the dead languages of Almeda and Fuca are widely known by government officials, scholars, and aristocrats.
Abd is a former Cretan captain, balls at being competent but good at pretending not to be.
Rent: freelance assassin
Simon:
Fro: undecided on whether he's playing.
If FroThulhu submits a character sheet, there will be one slot open, and if not there will be two. I'm not certain yet whether this will be PbP, but I'd rather do something like IRC so stuff happens a little more quickly.
The players are mercenaries hired to eliminate bandits by Duke Ivan. You start on the road outside his palace. You’ll be paid ten silver pieces per right ear collected (heads are bulky and bloody, so the Duke decided to make your job a little easier and less grisly for his bursar).
There will be various flavors of sidequests along the way, from the simple to the complex; a child might ask you to retrieve a toy that she dropped in a muddy ravine, or a man might request that you connect with his estranged son working in another country.
This campaign will not feature any magic, technology is as of 1650 - firearms are allowed, but I’m pretty sure that they weren’t terribly good, and there will not be a whole lot of combat. The focus here will be on conversations, roleplaying, and politics: your goal here is to come out on top of the eventual shakedown, probably by gaining control of or influence over one of the powers that looks likely to survive and attempting to defuse the conflict before it begins by convincing the lesser players that they should join with you. The governing ruleset will be d20 Modern, with the dedicated/smart/persuasive hero template being better suited to the plot. You can find the ruleset for d20 Modern for free from Wizards using Google.
Austrian Provinces:
Coastal: Rugia, Alben, Marino, Grumant
Western: Gawain, Tortuga, Elba, Nisei, Hersia
Southern: Koln, Capistrano, Delhi, Moraine
Protectorate of San Salvador in southwest
Capital is Columbia
Dividing the map into four quadrants, in the south-west corner we have a large bay with a large island in it. North of that, in the northwest corner we have a coastal city state along the, well, coast, with a mountain range to the east, with isolated small villages and single cabins.
To the east of the mountain range, in the northeast quadrant, lies the fairly big Austrian Empire, with over a dozen provinces, primarily controlled by the regional governors.
To the south-west of the Empire, south-east of the City State of Poland, and to the north of the island Crete, is the Duchy of Alsace. Southeast, Burma, ruled by the high priest of Iova, goddess of fertility and warmth. The inhabitants have skin tinted slightly green - not racially, but because of the environment. Everybody who lives there for long enough gets it, and anyone who moves away eventually loses it. They’re referred to as ‘greenies’ by the less enlightened.
There are several languages in Gondwana, and there is no equivalent of D&D's Common tongue. However, there is a lingua franca of trading, and there are a couple of languages known by the elite, plus people on the border often know both. Burma speaks Rangoon; Austria speaks Ayers, Djibouti, Kiribati, and Salamanca; Crete speaks Auberjois; Poland speaks Brasilian; Alsace speaks Delhi. Most traders in all the countries speak Pidgin, and the dead languages of Almeda and Fuca are widely known by government officials, scholars, and aristocrats.
Abd is a former Cretan captain, balls at being competent but good at pretending not to be.
Rent: freelance assassin
Simon:
Fro: undecided on whether he's playing.
If FroThulhu submits a character sheet, there will be one slot open, and if not there will be two. I'm not certain yet whether this will be PbP, but I'd rather do something like IRC so stuff happens a little more quickly.
Captain Carrot on
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