A major campaign [Archive]

PCyric

01-04-2002, 09:31 PM

I will present you an idea I had talking with a friend of mine this afternoon.
We were thinking that a major Cerillian PBEM could be realised from several members of this community. A PBEM that is going to have all the provinces of Cerillia. A PBEM that is going to contain the Rjurik highlands, the Brechtur lands, the Khinasi and Vosgaard. Of course I didn't forget Anuire, it is obvious that this part of the continent cannot be ommited.
There could be five DMs running the PBEM and sharing the pbem messages amongst themselves. Each of the DMs shall be in charge of one part of the continent, but the scenario must have a structure accepted by all the DMs.
I am willing to run such an immense campaign, but I need at least another 4 DMs. Those who are willing to help should afford to consume a lot of their personal time to run the campaign. All the standard historical events will be agreed amongst the DMs.
Mail me at darkon62@hotmail.com . Of course you can post your ideas/opinions here. I am currently receiving applications for an other PBEM I am running (C&B), but I think I can manage them both (I am a student).

Lawgiver

01-05-2002, 12:34 AM

I'm afraid I'm not up for co-DMing, but I'm always willing to play!

Bryon

01-05-2002, 06:17 AM

I know this has been tried a few times before and never really got off the ground. Pride is a very hard thing to beat, so is sloth. Most of the DM's that commit themselve to a campaign should commit themselves. It is alot of work and hard to stay on top of. (Please DM's that I play in don't hurt me:) )

That being said I know the Legacy of Ruin PBem is running Anuire and Rjurik, Dangerous Waters is doing Brectur, Plains of Blood has a part of Khinasi and I would probably do a 8-10 player Vosgaard game.

Most of these PBeM's are just starting and could set up togeather if the DM's could all work togeather.

Let me know what comes up and I'll take Vosgaad.

PCyric

01-05-2002, 12:27 PM

That is an even better idea. If the Dms of these campaigns would like to bring all the peaces of the pazzle (SP?) together and unite their games in a huge Cerillian PBEM with common timeline, this could benefit us all. Less work to do, since a part of it is already somehow done.

Xander

01-07-2002, 11:56 PM

A major campaign would take a lot of planning by all DMs involved , but if done right sounds truly quality. If it gets off the ground, I am definitely interested in playing. I would offer my services as a DM but barely know enough to play well.;)

Ramlyns

01-08-2002, 02:42 AM

I would be quite interested in participating in such a campaign. I cannot commit the time to DM a section but would gladly participate as a player. Sign me up!

Eisel Miloh

01-08-2002, 02:14 PM

though I truly don't have time for dming with two campaigns of my own and a more than full time job. I can also help with coordination and communication if you need someone for that.

Dosiere

01-09-2002, 06:01 AM

The DM or Rjurik and myself, DM of Anuire, (Legacy of Ruin)are looking for someone that would be willing to start campaigns in Khinasi, Brechtur and Vosgaard...in that order. If anyone is interested, please email me at dosiere@bellsouth.net

I'll also see about contacting those DMs that are already running the game, mentioned earlier. Great stuff guys! Problem with those will be that they may already be going in a certain direction that will not make it easy to just drop them into LoR. That has already been the case with the Khinasi game mentioned earlier.

Bryon

01-09-2002, 06:07 PM

It looks like we may have the beginning of a total game here. I have already said I will do Vosgraad, only about 15 players, also someone may have said they would do Khinasi.

I think this may work, but we have to work togeather or like alot of old tries it will fall apart.

brownie

01-13-2002, 10:25 AM

I love the idea and i would love to play a guilder in the adventure. It would a different challenge for setting up trade routes and guilds in other areas and would give me a new challenge to think about. If you have a good guilder which i think i am abover average i could bring certain parts of the group together with tales and trade through espionage checks and stuff of that nature. Also we could have fun with player against player with the guilds fueling the fight or having someone hit by using assassins. I would love to try this and i would love to deal with more than one DM nice or stingy. Everyone needs tribute and RP so let me in please.

Dosiere

01-13-2002, 10:44 AM

If you are interested just go to www.legacyofruin.com and look around...there are opening available in both Anuire and Rjurik Highlands.

PCyric

01-13-2002, 06:51 PM

http://pub10.ezboard.com/bbrookgames
This is the DMs forum of the major PBEM we are preparing.

In that adress you can find a player's forum in order to post any suggestions and proposals you might have.

I hope that the DMs are going to sign in the DM board soon, in order to start working on the details.

Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel

01-14-2002, 01:35 PM

Is this an expansion of your Crown and the Blood pbem?

PCyric

01-14-2002, 04:46 PM

No, it is something entirely new. The Crown and Blood is based only in Anuire, but the new campaign is going to be based in the whole Cerillia, and I am going to manage the Rjurik Highlands.
Anuire and Brechtur are currently open for those who want to DM those areas. Those who are interested could email me at darkon62@ceid.upatras.gr . The DM at Vosgaard is Bryon, and Raesane Andu is currently contacting me on Khinashi (I believe we have found common ground)

The web page is going to be published in one month (it is quite complicated).

Strahd

01-14-2002, 08:20 PM

Well, PCyric 's e-mail is darkon62@hotmail.com.

I will most probably manage Brechtur....

PCyric

01-14-2002, 08:47 PM

yeah right, my mail is darkon62@hotmail.com (I don't even remember my mail, I need vacations really soon)!

morgramen

01-14-2002, 11:59 PM

So is Crown and Blood cancelled then? I would assume so, unless you have oodles and oodles of spare time to run two games. :)

PCyric

01-15-2002, 12:03 AM

No the Crown and the Blood is not cancelled. I have the time to manage them both (expect an update of the site during the weekend)

Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel

01-15-2002, 05:14 AM

I'm in college, and I still can't even imagine that much spare time.

PCyric

01-15-2002, 03:44 PM

I am a student and I also have friends (they are students too) who play BR and are willing to help me in the task ahead...

Strahd

01-15-2002, 04:01 PM

.... but they also want to graduate :)

PCyric

01-15-2002, 04:32 PM

Raesene Andu has accepted to play Khinashi and we have found a DM in Brechtur (Strahd). Anyone interested in managing Anuire?

goblin_khan

01-15-2002, 04:45 PM

Well , if DM's are finally found , it 's going to be a real mayhem for open player - slots...

The goblins will support this effort techinically...

Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel

01-16-2002, 04:29 AM

I wish I had fellow students who played birthright...

brownie

01-16-2002, 01:34 PM

Athought. Why is it that some people do not like guilders or thieves in the group. Especially in BR when it is all needed. I am not understanding when a DM says we dont like them. I think guilds are very much needed and BR. maybe they just have not seen a proper guild run yet. Not usre but he give me achance and we will have some fun with some guilds.

Bryon

01-16-2002, 02:31 PM

Well as the DM for Vosgraad, I must report thet I am only going to have about 12 players. The area is not really player friendly, but I have a pretty good story line planed.

I would love to just be a player, but I think we need to give back to our game. Alot have played, but few have DMed. ;)

Strahd

01-16-2002, 02:40 PM

... I will be opening almost everything (sorry no Ehrsheglien :P). And of course, the Havens require skilled guilders and merchants, so brownie I hope you apply for a Great Bay domain ;)

Eisel Miloh

01-16-2002, 02:45 PM

Byron. The same people get stuck dming over and over again, and once they have proved their mettle, they never get a chance to play again. I've been dming small adventures on our boards for almost two years now without relief (hint hint to anyone who plays with us!) but I really don't have the expertise to dm a major campaign like this. Which is why I offered administrative assistance instead. I think the reason more people don't offer to run campaigns is lack of self confidence and experience. What about having assistant dms? Give them a chance to learn, train them, take some of the burden off the main dm and eventually let them run their own? I once had a group that met up with two other groups, and the three dms worked together at the end and it worked rather well. We were each responsible for our own players and worked together on the story line.

Strahd

01-17-2002, 04:12 PM

Question mainly for the DMs of the major campaigns or anyone else who can help:
I will be handling the Brecthur area of the game. The question is where does one find the trade routes of the realms? The Havens accessory does not state explicitly them if I recall correctly and one should expect quite some trade in the Bay.
In the realms' description you can find quite a few info (i.e. the X realm is maintaining trade relationships with thee Y realm/area), but it could save me a lot of time if one has done this before.

Raesene Andu

01-17-2002, 10:30 PM

Usually when beginning a pbem, I assume that there are no trade routes currently active and then allow players to create their own.

Strahd

01-18-2002, 01:18 AM

...but if time presses and no other solution has been found I will probably do as you propose.

morgramen

01-18-2002, 02:58 AM

Orginally posted by PCyric

Raesene Andu has accepted to play Khinashi and we have found a DM in Brechtur (Strahd). Anyone interested in managing Anuire?

Why not add the Corwn & Blood as Anuire?? Or did I miss something??

Lawgiver

01-18-2002, 03:18 AM

Orginally posted by Raesene Andu
Usually when beginning a pbem, I assume that there are no trade routes currently active and then allow players to create their own.

I generally create at least one per realm, with two or three if it has a high concentration of guilds.

brownie

01-18-2002, 03:27 AM

How can i sign up for this monster campaign and i do know of at least one other person would play and prolly a sorcer but i would like to play the guilder in your area. Give me time and you wont need to worry about trade because i will create my own.

PCyric

01-18-2002, 05:50 AM

To be sencere Morg, I hated to redesign my site in order to fit it in the campaign (not that I had to but I felt compeled to). After three days and nights of hard work (I hope I am making sense write now cause I hardly can see the screen of my computer), I managed to redesign the site, and thus I am going to follow your advise. From now the Crown and Blood campaign s a part of the Shadow of the Blood (I believe that this is going to be its name).
Those who have already applied, are accepted as players of the major campaign. There are a few changes in the holdings (in fact the holdings are exactly the same as presented in the Ruins of Empire). The site of the major campaign is going to be published at the end of the weekend (half finished). I believe there are going to be at least 200 free slots, and we are currently working on a rule that might alolow the players to play two different realms, in different parts of Cerillia.

morgramen

01-19-2002, 01:52 AM

Orginally posted by PCyric

To be sencere Morg, I hated to redesign my site in order to fit it in the campaign (not that I had to but I felt compeled to).

Hhehehe... yes, I know the feeling. :P

From now the Crown and Blood campaign s a part of the Shadow of the Blood (I believe that this is going to be its name). Those who have already applied, are accepted as players of the major campaign.

Wooo Hooo!!! Can't wait to play! I don't have time to actively DM or do any big projects for the game, but I can help out here and there if you like. Also, feel free to rob, borrow, alter, or otherwise manipulate the stuff from my sites if this will save you time.

(I used Dreamweaver 4 for mine, and based all my domain pages on a template.)

Chaos Lord Arioch

01-19-2002, 05:04 AM

I hope to see this as a reality. Looks like it would be both exciting and terrifying at the same time.
(No longer will the Realm next to you slumber. One diplomatic blunder or oversight and you may be overrun).

Lets all hope the FRC becomes a reality.

PCyric

01-19-2002, 05:20 AM

We are going to publish the site by Monday, thus you are all going to have the opportunity to see Brechtur, Anuirean, Rjurik and Khinashi holdings (the last from the site of Raesene Andu). Vosgaard is going to be added by Bryon once he has the opportunity to see the design of the website.
Thanks for the offer of the help. I use Frontpage for the design, and built the site in something more than a week (with the help of Stradh, since he is dming Brechtur and we live in the same city).
We are going to update the site frequently in order to fill in the missing information...

Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel

01-19-2002, 05:24 AM

I'm pumped

Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel

01-19-2002, 05:29 AM

Especially since dangerous waters seems to have gone kaput, considering the dm has not replied to any emails or pestering.

DM Gryffon

01-19-2002, 10:43 PM

Sheesh. Talk about a guy nearly missing the boat! I just posted earlier today about creating a game of all Cerilia, and here you guys are, working it out without me.
I want in, if possible. I am Dm-ing a game with 5 other Dm's called ITSOD, and am frustrated about only and always playing in Anuire.
I have all the boxed sets except for Cities of the Sun. I had a brief life with a Brecht campaign of my own, so I am very familiar with the Havens of the Great Bay.
So... what say the powers that be?

morgramen

01-19-2002, 11:07 PM

So... what say the powers that be?

Well, Marlae says to simply throw down your sword and submit to her will and magesty now. That will save everyone lots of trouble! ;)

DM Gryffon

01-20-2002, 02:09 AM

Greetings, Black Baroness.
I am sorely tempted to toss aside this steel blade and carry a sword of a different type for your majesty. Alas, I pray to land somewhere far away from Roesone, hopefully in the Great Bay or Vosgaard, so I doubt we could sustain such a long distance affair.
I must politely decline your gracious offer.
;)

Umm... I don't suppose you can direct me to the authorities, guardsmen or Gatehouse so that I can sign in, sign on and start the process?

PCyric

01-20-2002, 02:23 AM

...Strahd (who happens to sit on PCyric's PC) says that you are most welcome in the Great Bay. Regarding Vosgaard... you will have to ask Malla Urden... eeerr..... Bryon :)

--
Strahd (or Count von Zarovich for you :P)

DM Gryffon

01-20-2002, 05:28 AM

Well bless my stars and stripes!
BSL! Imagine finding you around a bunch of guys talking Birthright! :P

This game is in great hands if you guys have Leslie helping in administration. We go back a ways, don't we Lady Miloh?

I have one question to ask those that have taken on the tasks of DMing. Are you planning on trying to run each expasion setting alone? (ie Anuire, the Havens, Vosgaard?) or are you planning on trying to split your settings up into their respective areas ( ANUIRE- South Coast, East Coast, Heartlands?) and having a DM for each one?
Not that it matters if the DM has the time to take it all on themself, ( Vosgaard can be managed this way, it's not PC friendly), but the others have a ton of regents in them, and I feel for the person taking that on their shoulders.

I guess what I am saying is, I would like to be a player first, in Brechtur. But if you are going to allow what many of the other games do, I will gladly help out elsewhere, even if it's an errand runner.
:)
WB

PCyric

01-20-2002, 08:10 AM

Well, for now we are trying to create a setting in Anuire as a whole. We want the game to give us a flavour of the whole continent, with diplomatic missions from Anuire trying to reach the cold lands of Vosgaard, trade routes from Rjurik Highlands to Khinashi lands being destroyed by monsters or bandits, etc...
We need all the help you can offer, but frankly, we prefer to have you as players. The more join in the game, the better it is going to be, with a lot of surprises for each one of you.
Tomorrow is a great day...

Raesene Andu

01-20-2002, 09:56 AM

And speaking of players, the Khinasi section is now accepting new players, so sign up all.

The webpage for the Khinasi section is at this address
http://users.chariot.net.au/~hoss/pbem1/index.html

Follow the directions on the page to join.

NOTE: The Khinasi section will have somewhat different rules that the rest of the pbem, as I will be play testing new 3E rules that are currently being developed by the Birthright developers group.

DM Gryffon

01-20-2002, 04:43 PM

Uh oh.
What system is the rest of the game being run under, guys? I don't have a single thing 3E, I have way too much money invested in the earlier version to run out and start buying up new books to play AD&D.
And if the other sights are 2E, how are you going to make adjustments when the two systems cross paths in the game? With the Khinasi lands bordering parts of Anuire, Brechtur and Vosgaard, there definately will be interaction between the different cultures.

Arjan

01-20-2002, 04:59 PM

I dont want to know the total of money we spend on ADnD
raven loft > almost complete
birthright > complete with doubles
planescape > complete with doubles
darksun,mystara, and alot of FR stuf.

still switched to 3e, and i must say, almost every 2nd edition item is still usable in 3e. Most of the time it is Background info, not game technics.

So if you only would buy the PHB,DMG and MM the rest of the info you can get from your 'old' books.

Raesene Andu

01-20-2002, 07:09 PM

You don't need to buy the 3E rules, you can download them from http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/srd.html

Sure not as good as the books, but good enough to get the basic idea. Anyway, my game will only be using 3E rules for characters. Domain rules and bloodlines will be the same as normal.

Strahd

01-20-2002, 08:28 PM

The campaign 's site is now up and running (it's been a long weekend!). There is still work to be done of course, but you will find instructions on how to apply for Anuire, Rjurik and Brechtur domains, the holdings' pages for these areas and links for the Plains of Blood (Raesene 's PBEM), which will host the Khinasi portion of the game. The URL is

http://students.ceid.upatras.gr/~mperedim/SotB/

All you have to do now is apply for a domain, and give some feedback on the site (what else you 'd like to see, broken links etc.).

PCyric

01-20-2002, 09:11 PM

I am Darkon, the DM of Anuire and Rjurik Highlands. In the domain availability pages there are only 2 of the 8 mail addresses that should be written down. That is because I did not remember the other adresses, and I would have to access my mail account in order to see the mails of the other guys. But first of all I wanted to publish the site. The addresses of the players can wait.
I am going to update the site in short notice, to include the other players' addresses.

DM Gryffon

01-20-2002, 11:20 PM

OH MAN!!!
Nice job! Damn nice job!
The sight looks great everyone, a hearty slap on the back to all! I waited all day for the links to show up, it was well worth it.

I noticed the Forums are all password protected, I was going to drop in and say howdy there. What do we need to do to get acceptance to those areas?

And how long of a wait to hear if we get our regents will there be?

Can't wait to get going!

Strahd

01-20-2002, 11:38 PM

Well, for the time being all the links point to the DM's forum (1st error found, thnx Gryffon!), which is of course password protected :) I'll fix it tomorrow, so that the rest links point to the public players' forum. For the time being you can say high at this link:

http://pub10.ezboard.com/fbrookgamesfrm13

DM Gryffon

01-21-2002, 04:22 AM

My pleasure in helping.

One other little thing.
If people do not know how to go to full screen, they might have trouble viewing the bottom left side of the page. When I go to the standard IE browser, I can't see that area where you have the Regions and DMs located at on the menu popups. This is using a minimum sized monitor with a 14.3" viewing area.
(Yes, life sucks with a tiny monitor.) :(

PCyric

01-21-2002, 05:53 AM

OK guys, I am trully sorry for the wrong links in the forum option of the menu. I guess I was too eager to upload the site.
Can you all "see" the site and the links? Some have reported that they cannot even see the menus, and I am trying to figure out why.
Stradh has also done a great job (we were at my home yesterday the whole day and were trying to beat the due date).
Keep reporting errors and we are going to try our best...

DM Gryffon

01-21-2002, 06:19 AM

No problem in being eager! :)

You could have gone through it a thousand times, and still wouldn't have found all the bugs. It's never untill it's posted and others look over things that you start seeing the mistakes.
I can see everything fine, though, as I said earlier, I browse with Internet Explorer,and I have to go to Full Screen, (F11), so I can view the bottom left 2 menus.

It was still great to see it up, allowing us to browse it. Things can be fixed at your own pace now.

Let me know if, when, how you need me to help in the Highlands.

goblin_khan

01-21-2002, 09:22 AM

At last , the human infestation has finally come up with something good.There is indeed a minor defect regarding the menus.

Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel

01-23-2002, 11:34 AM

Wow, this site looks awesome. Best of luck to everyone in this magnificent campaign.

Strahd

01-23-2002, 03:13 PM

There is a version of the site with no java applets, for those who have prodlems viewing the site.
The URL is:
http://www.ceid.upatras.gr/~mperedim/SotB/.../SotBnojava.htm (http://www.ceid.upatras.gr/~mperedim/SotB/SotBnojava.htm)

Strahd

01-23-2002, 03:43 PM

The correct URL is:

http://students.ceid.upatras.gr/~mperedim/.../SotBnojava.htm (http://students.ceid.upatras.gr/~mperedim/SotB/SotBnojava.htm)

Andy

02-18-2002, 11:28 PM

I applaud your ambition in starting a Cerilia-wide game, but let me warn you that it is harder than it seems, which is tough enough already.

Back in 1999 I worked with several other DMs, some of the best DMs I've known, to start a Cerilia-wide PBeM called (In The) Shadows of Diesmaar. There were about five of us, and we planned to take on Khinasi, Anuire, and Brechtur. Unfortunately, we could not maintain that size a game, but luckily ITSoD lives on as an Anuire-based PBeM.

So here I offer my tips on running a good PBeM:

1) Have no less than one DM per two inner-regions (Southern Coast, Heartlands, etc), preferable one DM per region
2) Make a DM mailing list so you can all communicate
3) Have a good central webpage that links out to an individual webpage for each DM
4) For those individual webpages, you are more likely to update them if all your stuff is on one big page rather than spread into several different linked html files
5) Keep your turns moving, but together. Have a universal due-date and return date. If it takes three months to do a turn, people lose interest
6) Keep in mind the numbers of available players per culture. Every BR player can play in Anuire, but it drops off from there. Brechtur/Khinasi are next, followed by Rjurik and Vossgaard. not everyone owns every BR book ever published
7) I find density makes a better game than area. When you have every landed-regent in Anuire run by PCs but no guilders, priests, or wizards, it is up to you, the DM, to take care of what those several dozen NPCs do.
8) More regions = more NPCs = more work. If you just do the southern coast, you have to run the Spider, Avanil, Ghoere, and Osorede as major NPCs, if you do all of Anuire, you've got them plus a couple dozen more.
9) Make turns easy to do. Have a standardized turn format that is easy to work with, and, for your own sake, use one of the simpler, single-die tax-collection methods.

Well I could go on and on, but that's what's most important. Good luck.