Generic Universal Eggplant: Eggplant Strategy

Eggplant Strategy

by Enraged Eggplant

Play-by-post turn-based strategy system

Version 0.2

The rules you see below are not tested, and do not have enough content. It's just a framework, that will be expanded if I ever find somebody to test it with.

Changelog

v0.2

- Turn resolution order changed – income rolls and maintenance subtraction are moved to the start of the turn.

- Troops and characters being recruited and buildings being constructed may be given orders that are carried out immediately after they are recruited/built.

- Wealth was reworked, now the income is static.

- Increased resource costs of buildings and units.

Introduction

I have had the idea of creating a system for a play-by-post strategy game that you could play on a forum or a similar media for a few years already. I have participated in games of this kind in the past, and it made me realize that I certainly like this thing, but I do not want to use a published system for this – I want to create one myself. I began searching all the corners of the Internet, looking for inspiration. The best thing I have found was a system for PBEM strategies called Atlantis [1], but it had a program component. The rules document was read multiple times though. Some other PBEM strategy systems looked promising to me – Empire Forge II [2], War of Wizards [3], COSMOS Fantasy [4]. I have also looked through some d20 sourcebooks, such as Empire [5] published by Alderac Entertainment Group, Fields of Blood: The Book of War [6] published by Eden Studios, Inc., Cry Havoc [7] published by Malhavoc Press, and Ultimate Campaign [8] by Paizo Publishing.

The last four systems (I especially grew fond of [5]) were fine with me, but the combat system was based on d20, which required the players to have extensive rules knowledge and would slow down the combat immensely in the play-by-post format. And this is unacceptable when there are many players.

The aforementioned sources have a fantasy setting in mind, which is fine by me, but I did not want to limit myself with that, as I planned to create a system not only for fantasy games, but also for sci-fi space operas. There was also found a system of incredible detail and complexity called Lords of the Earth [9] that focuses on historical past and present of our planet. In addition, it has a supplement for near future. From other sci-fi systems, I have found only SuperNova: Rise of the Empire [10]. The rules document is inspiring, but it does not actually provide most of the rules, because the game includes a program component.

At last, after analyzing all the aforementioned systems, I noted that there must be a balance between depth and abstractness. If the game is too abstract, the player’s involvement in the game becomes much lower than when you’re using a deep and detailed system, but excessive complexity will turn the game process into a micromanagement hell for the player, and even more so for the GM. As a result, I chose to use GURPS Mass Combat [11] as the base, and create strategical and economical parts of the game, working from this base.

Many sheets of paper were filled with notes and scribbles, but they just were not working together as a whole. Many hours were spent to code helper-programs that afterwards were scrapped as useless or unsatisfactory. At last, I made something that satisfied me. Naturally, a question came up in my mind – what should be the name of the system? Of course, I could name is something colorful like Ultimate Lords of Fantastic Lands: A Fantasy Play-By-Post Strategy Game System, but the first thing that came to my mind was Eggplant Strategy. Short, meaningful, and satisfies the author’s ego. Therefore, I decided to use it.

1. Factions

Each player control a faction. A player can choose one of the premade example factions or create one himself, using the point pool provided by the GM (for example, 15, if the GM thinks it is enough). The faction starts owning one region on the map, a town in this region, one unity (the leader), a sum of money (usually 500K), a reserve of food (usually 10 units). A player can turn every unspent point during the faction creation into 200K of starting money, 4 units of food, or 4 units of a common resource (wood, stone, iron). Each faction has an array of attributes, such as Wealth, Food, Resources, Population Morale, Corruption, etc.

With time, your faction is going to grow, declare neutral and enemies’ territories as its property, but it still going to have only a single array of attributes. Therefore, it does not matter how many towns and lands the faction owns – the income rolls are made only once per turn for every faction, not separately for every town.

A faction is considered to be destroyed, and its controlling player defeated when the faction loses all its towns and all characters able to lead troops.

Let us look at the attributes more closely.

Wealth

Wealth is one of the most important attributes of a faction. This attribute provides income to the faction’s treasury. Money from the treasury can be spent on training and maintaining troops, creating buildings, gifts for other factions, bribes, and so on.

Each turn a faction adds 20K of money units to its treasury for each level of Wealth (usually the starting Wealth value of a faction is 12). After this, subtract the maintenance cost of all troops and some buildings from the treasury. If the balance becomes negative, the faction must disband enough troops or dismantle enough buildings to make it zero or higher.

Merchants, gold mines, high Population Morale, and some other factors can provide bonuses to a faction’s Wealth. Interference of enemy spies, low Population Morale, and some other factors can provide penalties to a faction’s Wealth.

Example: Bob is controlling the Abysia faction (see Appendix E). Abysia has starting Wealth 12 and gains a +2 bonus from owning 2 gold mines, which in total gives Abysia Wealth 14. At the start of the turn Abysia has 450K money units in its treasury. At the start of the turn Bob adds 14*20=280K and his treasury now has 730K. He wanted to recruit a unit of heavy infantry – he has enough money, but no iron.

Sherman is controlling the Ermor faction (see Appendix E). Ermor has starting Wealth 13 (because it has Mercantilism 1), but has no other bonuses, because there was no gold found in its territory. At the start of the turn Ermor has 50K money units in the treasury. Sherman adds 13*20=260K. Now his treasury has 310K. Maintenance cost of Ermor’s five units flying cavalry is 300K, and of two units of medium infantry is 12K, and of one unit of heavy cavalry – 40K. Therefore, the balance becomes negative, which is unacceptable. Sherman thinks about what unit he should disband and decides to disband one of his units of medium infantry and his heavy cavalry. As a result, the total maintenance cost was reduced from 352K to 306K, which leaves 4K in the treasury.

Resources

This is not a single attribute, but more of a category of attributes. Many units, buildings, and even ritual spells require spending resources. The category can encompass something commonly found and used (for example, wood, stone, or iron), or a rare resource (for example, mithril, diamond, raw mana, or blood slaves). At the start of each turn, a faction makes a 3d roll against each of its Resource values. If the roll is successful, you add a number of units of the resource equal to the margin of success to the treasury. In some rare cases some units, buildings, or rituals have a maintenance cost in resources. In this case, subtract this cost from the treasury in the same way you do it for Wealth.

Example: Sherman has expanded his glorious empire of Ermor, cleansing the mountains from barbaric dwarves. He decided against destroying the dwarven quarries and iron mines, so he will not have to build them himself. Thus, owning two quarries and three iron mines, Ermor has Stone 11 (starting 10 + 1 from an additional quarry) and Iron 12 (starting 10 + 2 from two additional iron mines). Sherman rolls 3d against his Stone 11 and rolls 12. Looks like the ermorian miners are not used to dwarven equipment yet, so they did not manage to provide the treasury with any stone. Disappointed Sherman makes another 3d roll against his Iron 12 and rolls 5. This gives Ermor 7 units of iron! Bob probably will be surprised when next time he fights new heavy infantry of Ermor.

In the meantime, Bob has summoned Pyrannast, the fire archomental, who has a maintenance cost of 2 units of raw mana per turn. Bob not only has no raw mana, but also has no sources of it, so Pyrannasy leaves his on the next turn. Bob is disappointed even more than Sherman who has gained nothing from his new quarries.

Food

Technically, Food is just another type of resources, but it is presented here separately, because of how it affects the faction’s well-being and the special rules. Usually the starting Food value is 12. Unlike the other resources, when you fails your Food income roll, you lose a number of food units equal to your margin of failure. Should the amount of food units become negative because of this, decrease the Population Morale by 1. If the Population Morale already has the lowest possible value, then the maintenance cost of the army is doubled.

Every 5 owned regions apply a -1 penalty to the faction’s Food, because it becomes more difficult to feed the growing population. Note that some faction traits can not only adjust this value, but also ignore regions of a particular terrain type when calculating this penalty.

Example: Ermor owns 10 plains regions, 2 hill regions, and 4 mountain regions. Sherman looks at his faction sheet and sees that his starting Food is 12, and that at the moment he has 2 units of food in his treasury. 16 owned regions apply a -3 penalty to his Food value, and four farms built in plains give a +4 bonus. Thus, the final Food value of Ermor is 13. Sherman makes a 3d roll and rolls 16. Margin of failure of 3 means that the harvest was not good, and Ermor loses his whole reserve of food. Because this decrease was able to put the food reserve into the negatives, Ermor’s Population Morale lowers from 9 to -1. Hungry peasants are not content.

While creating his faction, Bob wanted that the race inhabiting his lands would not require a lot of food and survived well in the deserts. His Abysia owns 12 desert regions and 9 mountain regions. Starting Food value is 11, because the faction has Farming -1. 12 desert regions are not counted when calculating the food penalty, and 9 mountain regions apply only a -1 penalty, because Abysia has Food Factor 5, so it has only -1 penalty to Food for every 8 owned non-desert regions. Abysia’s final Food value is 9. Bob rolls 3d and rolls 8. He adds 1 unit of food to his 4 units of food in his treasury. Bob should think about conquering plains and building farms, because luck may be not on his side next time.

Population Morale

This represents the general well-being and efficiency of the population. Unlike the attributes described above, Population Morale is not a value to roll against, but a number from -3 to +3. This bonus (or penalty) is applied to most of other “rolled” attributes of the faction:

- Wealth;

- Resources;

- Food.

Initially, Population Morale is 0. It can be changed by the leader’s actions, spells, hunger, foreign influence, and so on.

Example: Starving population of Ermor is depressed after the last bad harvest and has Population Morale -1. Now Ermor has a -1 penalty to Wealth, Food, Stone, and Iron. Sherman thinks that the leader of his faction should make a speech in public to raise the morale.

Corruption

Like Population Morale, Corruption can range from -3 to +3. A spy attempting to negatively influence a faction or its character gains a bonus or a penalty equal to the Corruption value of the faction being affected.

Example: Starting Corruption of Ermor is -1, because Sherman purchased the Corruption Shift -1 trait for his faction. Abysian spy that is hiding in the capital of Ermor, tries to find out where the main army of Ermor is, and makes a 3d roll against his Diplomacy skill of 12 (13 – 1 for Corruption). He rolls 13. If not the incorruptibility of Ermorian officials, then the spy would have found out what he wanted!

2. Characters

Characters are outstanding personalities that can lead troops, control the faction, cast ritual spells, investigate mysterious ruins, and sow chaos in enemy lands. At the start of the game, each faction has only one character – the faction’s leader. During the game, the number of characters can be increased.

Each character has an array of attributes, skills, and qualities. The attributes are Fortitude and Will, they represent his resistance to physical and mental afflictions and influences, respectively. Some skills cover broad areas, important to the faction’s survival (for example, Leadership or Strategy). Some other skills are only rarely useful (for example, Interrogation). Each attribute or skill has a value to roll 3d against in an appropriate situation.

Skills are detailed in Appendix A.

A faction can only recruit one character per turn, and the list of available character classes is limited by the buildings built in the town (see Appendix B for details on buildings and Appendix F for details on character classes).

Characters can learn new skills and improve existing skills. If two characters are in the same region, and one of the characters’ skill level of a specific skill is higher than the level in the same skill of the other character, then the first character can spend the turn teaching the skill to the second character that also must spend the turn learning. This increases the skill level of the learning character by 1. Some buildings also are able to teach skills to characters.

Example: Senator Claudius of the Ermor empire has Administration 14. Councilor Julius has Administration 13. Claudius decides to teach Julius and they both spend their turns teaching and learning, respectively. As a result, on the next turn, Julius has Administration 14, and Claudius is unable to teach him anymore.

Qualities of a character are special or supernatural abilities with no value or level to roll against. For example, a character with the Deep Sense quality automatically detects all minerals in his region and sees what is in the underground regions beneath him. Using some of such abilities can cost resources (usually the rare ones), and sometimes even has a maintenance cost.

3. World

The game world consists of hexagonal regions. Each region has a terrain type: tundra, desert, island/beach, jungle, mountain, plains, swamp, forest, hill, underground, coastal waters, hydrothermal vents, freshwater lake, open ocean, reef, river, saltwater sea, tropical lagoon, underwater cavern. During the game, some more rare and exotic terrain types may be found. Regions can contain troops and buildings. Two armies or two characters in the same region can interact with each other normally. Two armies or two characters in two different regions usually cannot interact with each other (combat is an exception).

An army or a character that enters a region, instantly learns about all obvious features of the region, buildings and other units in the region, and gets the same information about all neighboring regions (except for underground ones). If the region has any hidden features, buildings, or units, they must be successfully detected or found.

4. Movement

Foot troops can move 2 regions per turn, mounted - 3 regions per turn, flying - 5 regions per turn. Naval troops can move 4 regions per turn, but note the limitations of distance from the coast. Aerial troops may ignore all movement penalties from the terrain type, but must end their movement in a region they can stop in. For example, griffin riders cannot land in the ocean (unless there is some effect that allows them to do that). If a commander does not want to split his army, then the army must move with the speed of the slowest unit. Take note that for simplicity the logistics are not counted. Quartermaster's position is removed.

Typically, an army can see what is happening in the adjacent regions, but some effects can change that.

5. Production and construction

Each town can spend no more than 500K money units to recruit troops or characters in a turn. This monetary limit, called army money limit, can be increased with some character abilities, buildings (such as barracks), and some other factors. All troops and characters, whose recruitment cost was fully paid, appear in the town they were recruited in at the start of the next turn. Troops and characters being recruited may be given orders that are executed immediately after the troop or character is recruited.

Additionally, each town can spend no more than 500K money units to construct buildings in a turn. This monetary limit, called construction money limit, can be increased with some character abilities and some other factors. All buildings, whose construction cost was fully paid, appear in the town they were constructed in at the start of the next turn. Buildings being constructed may be given orders that are executed immediately after the building is constructed.

The enemy armies can raze buildings. In this case, they are destroyed, and the razing faction gains an amount of money and resources equal to 20% of money and resources spent to construct the razed buildings.

Buildings are detailed in Appendix B.

6. Faction creation

Faction points are a “currency” for faction creation. If you are familiar with GURPS then you will see that creating a faction is almost identical to creating a character in GURPS. The GM determines the amount of available faction points for the players to use. The GM may also determine the maximum available level of any particular trait, if he believes it to be acceptable.

Typically, a faction is equivalent to the race inhabiting its lands, but nothing prevents the players from creating a multicultural faction.

To create a faction, the player must pick its traits and its starting leader class.

Initially, a faction has access to land units based on land elements of TL 0-3 (see GURPS Mass Combat, pg. 17), except for War Beasts, and naval units based on naval elements (see GURPS Mass Combat, pg. 18). Unit and equipment qualities higher than Average and Basic, respectively, are not available at the start. Access to these improvements can be gained by constructing appropriate buildings in towns. Modifications to the element tables are provided in Appendix G.

By default, a faction starts in a random appropriate region on the world’s surface (so, you cannot start underwater if your faction is populated by land-dwellers). If a player wishes so, he can choose a terrain type for his starting region. This way dwarves can start in the mountains, elves – in the woods, humans – in the plains, dark elves – underground, merfolks – in coastal waters, and so on.

Mercantilism - ±4 points/level

The faction gains a bonus or a penalty to its Wealth (default value is 12), equal to the level of this trait.

Farming - ±4 points/level

The faction gains a bonus or a penalty to its Food (default value is 12), equal to the level of this trait.

Producer - ±2 points/level

The faction gains a bonus or a penalty to its specific common Resource (if a faction has no sources of the resource, it has no corresponding Resource value), equal to the level of this trait. Choose a common resource when taking this trait – stone, wood, or iron. You can take this trait multiple times, each time choosing different resources. This way a faction may have Producer (Wood) 1 and Producer (Stone) -2.

Rare Producer - 1 point/level

The faction gains a bonus or a penalty to its specific rare Resource (if a faction has no sources of the resource, it has no corresponding Resource value), equal to the level of this trait. Choose a rare resource when taking this trait – gems, mithril, etc. You can take this trait multiple times, each time choosing different resources. This way a faction may have Producer (Blood Slaves) 1 and Producer (Raw Mana) 2. Note that unlike Producer, this trait cannot have a negative level.

Militarism - ±2 points/level

Army money limit (see Production and construction) is increased/decreased by 100K*level in all towns of the faction.

Construction - ±2 points/level

Construction money limit (see Production and construction) is increased/decreased by 100K*level in all towns of the faction.

Population Stability – 0 points/level

If this trait has a positive level, then the enemy spies (and some other effects) gain a penalty, equal to this trait’s level, when trying to decrease the Population Morale in the faction’s towns. However, the faction’s leader (and some other effects) gain the same penalty when trying to improve the Population Morale. If this trait has a negative level, then it has an opposite effect – it becomes easier to change the Population Morale. Recommended maximum level – 3.

Corruption Shift - ±2 points/level

Every positive level of this trait increases the starting, minimal, and maximum possible Corruption of the faction by 1. Every negative level decreases these values by 1. This way a faction with Corruption Shift 2 starts with Corruption 2, and during the game cannot have it lowered below -1 and raised above 5. Shifting Corruption “downwards” costs 2 points per level, shifting it “upwards” costs -2 points per level.

Racial Enemy – 1 point for level 1, 3 points for level 2

The race populating the faction’s lands has a racial enemy. Commanders, leading armies with 50% or more troops belonging to the race of your faction, gain a bonus to Strategy, equal to the level of this trait, if fighting an army with 50% or more troops belonging to the racial enemy. The second level grants access to Fanatic units, whose goal is to destroy the racial enemy. Additionally, characters with a racial enemy have a penalty to Diplomacy, equal to the level of this trait, when interacting with their racial enemy. You can take this trait multiple times, each time choosing a different race. For example, wood elves may have Racial Enemy 1 (Dark Elves) and Racial Enemy 2 (Orcs).

Food Factor - ±2 points/level

By default every 5 owned regions apply a -1 penalty to the faction’s Food, because it becomes harder to feed the population. This trait changed the number of owned regions required for the penalty by a number, equal to its level. A less gluttonous faction (gnomes, for example) with Food Factor 3 will have to own 8 regions to get a -1 penalty to Food.

Favored Terrain – 4 points

Choose a terrain type. Regions of the chosen type, owned by your faction, do not count when calculating the Food penalty. You can take this trait multiple times, each time choosing a different terrain type.

Nocturnal Race – 0 points

This trait makes the race populating your faction’s lands nocturnal. They are afraid of daylight, but can fight with no penalties at night. All units of your race gain the Nocturnal trait.

Night Vision – 2 points

This trait makes the race populating your faction’s lands able to see in the dark. This allows the units of your race to fight with no penalties in the dark (at night, underground, etc.) All elements of your race must have the Night trait.

Aquatic Race – 0 points

This trait makes the race populating your faction’s lands aquatic and unable to breathe air. Your faction starts in an aquatic region and initially does not have access to elements with mobility class of Foot and Mounted. However, your faction gains access to elements with mobility classes Coast and Sea.

Amphibious Race – 4 points

This trait makes the race populating your faction’s lands amphibious. Your faction may in an aquatic region and initially has access to units like Amphibious Warriors.

Starting Rare Resource – 2 points or 1 point; see text

Your starting region contains a rare resource, and you start with a building that allows you to gather it. Choose a rare resource – mithril, crystal, etc., when taking this trait. You start with the corresponding Resource value of 10. You can take this trait multiple times, each time choosing a different resource, but the GM may limit your choices. For example, dark elves can take Starting Rare Resource (Blood Slaves) and Starting Rare Resource (Pearls) to start the game with Blood Slaves 10 and Pearls 10, and with a slave market and a pearl farm.

If you want to start with a random rare resource, the trait costs 1 point.

7. Scouting and espionage

A character with the Stealth skill can move into enemy territories unseen. To stay unnoticed he must win a Quick Contest of his Stealth against the highest Observation among the enemy units and characters in his region. If there is no character with the Observation skill in the region, then the army is considered to have Observation 10. If the army has any Rec units, then this value increases to 12.

While in enemy lands, a spy can perform the following actions – espionage, propaganda, theft, and assassination.

Espionage

While in an enemy town, a spy can spend his turn to gather information. Choose one of the following:

- Any of the faction’s attributes (Wealth, Food, or any Resource);

- Location of all towns of the faction;

- Location of the army with the highest TS of the faction;

- Information about one of the faction’s characters (location, skills, qualities, status).

The spy chooses the information to gather and then makes a Diplomacy or an Intimidation roll modified by the faction’s Corruption. If he succeeds, he gathers the information. If he fails, he does not gather the information, but stays unnoticed. He can try again next turn. If the result is a critical failure, then the spy reveals himself! He makes a Stealth-5 roll. If he succeeds, he evades capture and moves to a random adjacent region. If he fails, he is captured and may be interrogated.

Propaganda

While in an enemy capital, a spy can spend his turn lowering the Population Morale with propaganda. He makes a Propaganda roll, modified by Corruption. If he succeeds, he lowers the Population Morale by 1. If he fails, he can try again later, but he stays unnoticed. If the result is a critical failure, then the spy reveals himself! He makes a Stealth-5 roll. If he succeeds, he evades capture and moves to a random adjacent region. If he fails, he is captured and may be interrogated.

Theft

While in an enemy town, a spy can spend his turn to steal some money or resources. He makes a Stealth roll, modified by Corruption. If he succeeds, he steals 50K of money units for every point of his margin of success, or 1 unit of a specific resource for every point of margin of success. If the result is a critical failure, then the spy reveals himself! He makes a Stealth-5 roll. If he succeeds, he evades capture and moves to a random adjacent region. If he fails, he is captured and may be interrogated.

Assassination

If the spy is in a region with another character, he can try to assassinate him. If the spy wins in a Quick Contest of Martial Skill with his victim, then he successfully assassinates him. If he fails, the victim kills him. If the result is a draw, the assassin reveals himself, while accomplishing nothing! He makes a Stealth-5 roll. If he succeeds, he evades capture and moves to a random adjacent region. If he fails, he is captured and may be interrogated.

Interrogation

A character with the Interrogation skill can interrogate a captured spy. He makes an Interrogation roll, and if he succeeds, he can gain any information listed in Espionage above, if the captured spy had access to it. If there is no character with the Interrogation skill, then it is assumed that the local authorities have Interrogation 10.

Appendix A. Skills

Leadership – An important skill for commanders. It is used when a panicked or confused army needs to be returned to its normal state. If an army has no commander with this skill, it is considered to have effective Leadership 5. In administrative dealings, a leader of a faction can use this skill to raise the Population Morale. While in any of the faction’s towns, the leader can spend his whole turn to make a Leadership roll, modified by the absolute value of the current Population Morale – it is hard to raise the morale of depressed people, and it is hard to raise morale if it is already raised. For additional details, see the Population Stability faction trait. If the leader succeeds, the Population Morale is increased by 1, if it is possible.

Strategy – The primary skill of warlords, has the highest importance in battles. If an army has no warlord with this skill, it is considered to have effective Strategy 5.

Intelligence Analysis – Allows to gain information about the enemies and evade ambushes. If an army has no commander with this skill, it is considered to have effective Intelligence Analysis 5.

Administration – A successful roll allows to decrease the maintenance cost of armies and buildings by 10% (20% on a critical success) for the turn. Only the leader of the faction can make this roll, and only in the capital of his faction.

Diplomacy – Used during negotiations with NPC-factions and characters, and by spies when affecting characters of other factions.

Intimidation – Used during negotiations with NPC-factions and characters, and by spies when affecting characters of other factions.

Bluff – Used during negotiations with NPC-factions and characters, and by spies when affecting characters of other factions.

Finance – A successful roll at the start of the turn increases the money income from a Wealth roll by 10% (20% on a critical success) for the turn. A character can make this roll only in the faction’s capital. Only one character can make a Finance roll in a turn.

Interrogation – Used to interrogate captured spies.

Stealth – Used by scouts and spies to move to enemy lands unnoticed.

Propaganda – Used by spies to lower Population Morale.

Prospecting – Used by characters to detect hidden mineral resource sources. A character with this skill automatically makes a roll when moving into an unexplored region. If he succeeds, he locates all hidden sources of mineral resources in the region. If he fails, he can try again in the future, but he will have to spend a turn to do it.

Observation – Used to notice enemy scouts and spies.

Martial Skill – Reflects the combat skills of a character. A character with Martial Skill 15 or higher can do heroic deeds in battles. This skill is important when assassinating or defending against assassins.

Appendix B. Buildings

Town

Prerequisites: no town in the region.

Cost: 1M, 30 wood, 30 stone.

A town with no walls (has DB +4).

Fort

Prerequisites: town.

Cost: 500К, 20 wood, 20 stone.

The town is fortified with walls and other fortifications (has DB +6).

Farm

Prerequisites: plains or hills.

Cost: 100К.

A farm grants your faction a +1 bonus to Food.

Lumber Mill

Prerequisites: woods.

Cost: 100К.

A lumber mill allows the faction to produce wood in the woods. If this is the first wood source of the faction, then the faction’s Wood value becomes 10. If it is not the first source, then the faction gains a +1 bonus to Wood.

Quarry

Prerequisites: hills or mountains.

Cost: 100К.

A quarry allows the faction to produce stone in the hills or mountains. If this is the first stone source of the faction, then the faction’s Stone value becomes 10. If it is not the first source, then the faction gains a +1 bonus to Stone.

Iron Mine

Prerequisites: mountains.

Cost: 100К.

An iron mine allows the faction to produce iron in the mountains. If this is the first iron source of the faction, then the faction’s Iron value becomes 10. If it is not the first source, then the faction gains a +1 bonus to Iron.

Gold Mine

Prerequisites: mountains, revealed source of gold.

Cost: 300К.

A gold mine grants your faction a +1 bonus to Wealth.

Barracks

Prerequisites: town.

Cost: 400К.

The barracks increase the army money limit of the town by 500K.

War Academy

Prerequisites: town.

Cost: 400К.

War academy allows you to hire warlords in the town and recruit troops of Good quality or higher. In addition, a war academy can teach the Strategy skill, as if it had Strategy 15.

Forge

Prerequisites: town.

Cost: 300К, 5 iron.

The forge allows recruiting troops in the town with equipment quality of Good or higher.

Spy Academy

Prerequisites: town.

Cost: 400К.

Spy academy allows you to hire spies in the town. In addition, a spy academy can teach the Propaganda and Stealth skills, as if it had Propaganda 15 and Stealth 15.

Assassin Guild

Prerequisites: town.

Cost: 500К.

Assassin guild allows you to hire assassins in the town. In addition, a spy academy can teach the Stealth skill, as if it had Stealth 15.

Sanctuary

Prerequisites: town.

Cost: 500К, 10 stone.

A sanctuary allows you to hire priests in the town and teach 1^st-level priestly magic to characters. A sanctuary can be upgraded multiple times, and each upgrade will allow it to teach priestly magic of the next level. An upgrade costs 500K*(new level) units of money, 5*(new level) units of stone, and 5*(new level) relics.

A character that does not have any priestly magic abilities may be taught only abilities of the 1^st level. To be able to learn abilities of higher levels, a character must have at least one ability of the previous level. A character that wants to learn priestly magic must spend his turn and a number of relics equal to 2*(level of ability being learnt).

Reliquary

Prerequisites: revealed source of relics.

Cost: 300К.

A reliquary allows the faction to “gather” relics. If this is the first relic source of the faction, then the faction’s Relics value becomes 10. If it is not the first source, then the faction gains a +1 bonus to Relics.

Appendix C. Magic

Priestly magic

Holy Path

Level: 1.

Type: Constant.

The character may sense the direction towards the nearest unrevealed source of relics.

Sanctuary

Level: 1.

Type: Constant.

If the character becomes a victim of an assassin, then, if the assassin wins, make a 3d roll. If the result is 10 or lower, then the result is considered to be a draw instead.

Sermon of Courage

Level: 1.

Type: Combat.

If a commander of a surprised army uses the Rally strategy, and there is a character with this ability in the army, then the commander gets no -2 penalty to Leadership to rally troops.

Healing

Level: 2.

Type: Combat.

If the victorious army has a character with this ability, then the casualties are reduced by additional 10%. In addition, all characters in the army with a character with this ability have a -1 penalty to Misfortunes Chance.

Summon Angels

Level: 3.

Type: Ritual.

Prerequisites: Can only be used in a sanctuary.

Cost: 10 relics.

The priest performs a ritual in a sanctuary, summoning a squad of angels from Heavens.

Angels (Flying Infantry)

A squad of ten winged astral devas.

TS: 4. WT: 1.

Classes: Air, Rec. Mobility: Foot, SA.

Quality: Good equipment; Good troops.

Features: Fanatic (when fighting against undead and evil outsiders), Night.

Cost: 10 relics to raise; 1 relic to maintain.

Appendix D. Turn resolution order

1. Gifts of money, resources, and other gifts are sent to other nations.

2. Money income, food, resource income rolls. At this step, characters can also make their Administration and Finance rolls.

3. Maintenance cost is subtracted.

4. Buildings, cost of which was paid in full on the last turn, are constructed.

5. Troops, cost of which was paid in full on the last turn, are recruited.

6. Mages cast ritual spells in a random order.

7. Battles caused by magic are calculated.

8. Thefts, assassinations, espionage, propaganda.

9. Troops that end their movement in friendly regions move. The order in which the factions move their troops is random.

10. All other troops move.

11. Battles are calculated.

12. Global enchantments produce their effects. Note that their casting happens in step 2.

13. Random events.

14. Battles, caused by random events, are calculated.

Appendix E. Example factions

Ermor [12]

Race: humans.

Traits: Corruption Shift -1 [2]; Mercantilism 1 [4]; Militarism 2 [4]; Starting Rare Resource (Pearls) [2].

Starting Leader: Leader.

Starting Terrain: Hills.

Example Units:

Legionnaires (Medium Infantry)

A squad of ten legionnaires armed with short swords, javelins, and tower shields.

TS: 4. WT: 1.

Classes: -. Mobility: Foot.

Quality: Basic equipment; Good troops.

Features: none.

Cost: $60K to raise; $7.2K to maintain.

Equites (Heavy Cavalry)

Ten noble mounted warriors armed with light lances and broadswords.

TS: 5. WT: 2.

Classes: Cv. Mobility: Mounted.

Quality: Basic equipment; Average troops.

Features: none.

Cost: $200K, 2 iron to raise; $40K to maintain.

Abysia [12]

Race: abysians.

Traits: Farming -1 [-4]; Favored Terrain (Desert) [4]; Food Factor 5 [10]; Militarism 1 [2].

Starting Leader: Warlord.

Starting Terrain: Desert.

Example Units:

Abysian Infantry (Heavy Infantry)

Abysia mainly uses heavy infantry. This squad of ten warriors of living lava, covered in plate armor, can intimidate any enemy soldier.

TS: 4. WT: 1.

Classes: -. Mobility: Foot.

Quality: Basic equipment; Average troops.

Features: none.

Cost: $40K, 1 iron to raise; $8K to maintain.

Appendix F. Character classes

Leader

Prerequisites: capital.

Cost: 100К.

Starting attributes: Fortitude 10, Will 10.

Starting skills: Leadership 9+1d, Administration 9+1d, Diplomacy 9+1d, Finance 9+1d, Martial Skill 8.

Starting qualities: none.

Warlord

Prerequisites: war academy.

Cost: 100К.

Starting attributes: Fortitude 10, Will 10.

Starting skills: Strategy 9+1d, Leadership 9+1d, Intelligence Analysis 9+1d, Observation 12, Martial Skill 9+1d.

Starting qualities: none.

Explorer

Prerequisites: none.

Cost: 50К.

Starting attributes: Fortitude 11, Will 10.

Starting skills: Observation 9+1d, Prospecting 9+1d, Martial Skill 8.

Starting qualities: none.

Spy

Prerequisites: spy academy.

Cost: 100К.

Starting attributes: Fortitude 10, Will 10.

Starting skills: Observation 10+1d, Diplomacy 10+1d, Intimidation 10+1d, Bluff 10+1d, Stealth 10+1d, Propaganda 9+1d, Martial Skill 8.

Starting qualities: none.

Assassin

Prerequisites: assassin guild.

Cost: 200К.

Starting attributes: Fortitude 11, Will 11.

Starting skills: Observation 10+1d, Stealth 10+1d, Martial Skill 9+1d.

Starting qualities: none.

Inquisitor

Prerequisites: sanctuary.

Cost: 200К.

Starting attributes: Fortitude 11, Will 13.

Starting skills: Observation 10+1d, Intimidation 10+1d, Propaganda 10+1d, Interrogation 9+1d, Martial Skill 9+1d.

Starting qualities: none.

Priest

Prerequisites: sanctuary.

Cost: 200К, 1 relic.

Starting attributes: Fortitude 10, Will 14.

Starting skills: Martial Skill 8.

Starting qualities: one random 1^st-level priestly magic ability.

Appendix G. Elements

Here are presented the changes to some elements from GURPS Mass Combat.

Element	Raise	Maintain
Land Elements
Heavy Artillery	100K, 10 wood	10K
Heavy Cavalry	200K, 8 iron	40K
Heavy Chariots	160K, 4 iron	32K
Heavy Infantry	40K, 4 iron	8K
Light Artillery	40K, 5 wood	8K

Element	Raise	Maintain
Naval Elements
Large Boat	10K, 10 wood	1K
Light Galley	70K, 15 wood	14K
Longship	50K, 15 wood	10K
Merchant Galley	600K, 20 wood	60K
War Galley	500K, 30 wood	100K