HYPERBOREA / Game Lab 2: Committee game opening discussion / ideas

**Posted by The_Great_Lestrade** 8/01/2015 9:27 am

I am considering running a pbf game. It will take the form of a committee style single blind strategic game rather than a adventure.

I need to guage player interest.

The playes will be a ruling council of a hyperborean city or settlement of one form or another (suggestions will be considered). Turns will represent a week of game world time. The players will have to discuss their actions and deal with threats to the city at the political and strategic scale. This may involve launching fleets, dispatching adventurers, dealing with plague outbreaks, preparing for winter, evading assinations etc.

I will gm the game, formulating briefings and writing npc decisions and then aducate the impact of the player decisions.

I require 2-5 players initially for this to work. Later more players can be fed into extra roles. Currently I am thinking of setting the game in a viking settlement, but Ixan might work too, and to give the players an interesting amount of resources it will probably be political significant on the game map. The starting material will be the description of that region or city from the ASSH refs handbook, but over time we will probably diverge from strict cannon.

I will run the rules entirely myself, the players do not need to know them. They are very simple and are mostly based around player logic and bit of freeform storytelling with some die rolls to resolve certain situations (all d6).

This game approach is really just an evolution of kriegspiel and has a long history; http://www.wargamedevelopments.org/Wargame%20Developments%20Handbook.pdf

This will be a bit of an experiment but it should allow us to explore Hyperborea from a different angle.

**Posted by Scalydemon** 8/01/2015 10:25 am

Count me in. Sounds like an interesting experiment

**Posted by Chainsaw** 8/01/2015 5:51 pm

Sounds cool! Can't wait to read this.

**Posted by The_Great_Lestrade** 8/02/2015 4:12 pm

2 players is enough to start, but more can join later if they read this and find it interesting.

**Posted by The_Great_Lestrade** 8/02/2015 4:27 pm

Unity on the Fields of Vol The fields of Vol are a described as a grassy plain abundant with beast and game ruled by disparate horse tribes of Kimmeri-Kelts. If these tribes were but to unite they would pose a great threat to the peoples and powers around them.

Each player represents the warlord of a small Kimmeri-Kelt nomad tribe near the mouth of the River Vol at the start of the year 590 (Whale). I need each of you to decide the following;

a name for your warlord
a character class and level for your warlord (level = 3+d3)
up to 3 character traits and 2 personal objectives for your warlord (do not post these in the thread, pm them to me, we can discuss them).

a name for your tribe
the primary religion for your tribe
the size of your tribe (= 250+d6x10)
one thing that identifies your tribe as unique or interesting
one thing your tribe is particularly good at.

The flow and play of the game;

Turns will be 1 month long, though multiple decisions and things may happen in one month, so this will be sort of abstract but gives a general frame work.

Players currently active are assumed to have their tribe in an area (will produce a map) around the mouth of the River Vol on the fields of Vol.

Here a formal alliance has been agreed by (starting two players, more can join or leave).

The tribes in the alliance will be given descriptions of opportunities or threats and will have to discuss them present responses. They will have the resources of their tribes to consider, the needs of the forth coming winter, their personal goals, and the fragility of the alliance.
Each month players will have to decide make a few generic decisions; the broad activities of their tribe, where it is going to relocate too, what it is willing to trade or stockpile etc. Then they may undertake specific tasks such as expeditions, monster hunts, rituals, and many more in response to scenarios as they arise. Think of this game as a light improv driven strategy game and roleplaying game.

This thread will be used for game dicusssion and ideas. Once I have a map (sometime mid week probably) and player info I will start a thread for in game responses for the gm and players.

**Posted by Ghul** 8/02/2015 8:01 pm

Sounds like an excellent concept. Looking forward to reading the results, too!

**Posted by Scalydemon** 8/03/2015 12:48 am

Each player represents the warlord of a small Kimmeri-Kelt nomad tribe near the mouth of the River Vol at the start of the year 590 (Whale). I need each of you to decide the following;

a name for your warlord: Lythandros
a character class and level for your warlord (level = 3+d3): Barbarian, lvl 6
up to 3 character traits and 2 personal objectives for your warlord (do not post these in the thread, pm them to me, we can discuss them). (I'll get some ideas on this to you when I get a moment)

a name for your tribe: Riders of the New Dawn
the primary religion for your tribe: Crom/He who watches from atop the Mountain
the size of your tribe (= 250+d6x10): 282
one thing that identifies your tribe as unique or interesting: Conduct raids at night under full/nearly full moon, instilling fear into villages/victims. Symbol on shields of a crescent moon
one thing your tribe is particularly good at.: horse breeding/riding

some more players should join in!!!

**Posted by The_Great_Lestrade** 8/06/2015 2:29 pm

here is the map. EDIT! 1 square = 10miles

It looks like its just you Scaly for the time being, so this will be less committee game and more solo vs the umpire, though I will message other users of teh site and get them to make Ai decisions for the various other factions perhaps.

I will post a new thread with the opening game description and the first month briefing asap

the map covers an area spanned by around 2-3 hexes on your hyperborean game map. I do have an area slightly larger than shown mapped, so the game can expand if the campaign pushes outwards.

Last edited by The_Great_Lestrade (8/06/2015 2:30 pm)

**Posted by Scalydemon** 8/06/2015 11:47 pm

I put a recruitment add up on odd74 proboards in the wargame section, we'll see if anyone hopefully wanders in.

I am a bit busy for a few days as I am prepping for running a Saturday game at a local Con here (Dragonflight), and will be at the Con all wknd. Games, games, games