Starting out.

[T E Brightwell]

To the list,
I thought I'd update you on progress.

Magic items. The ring of human influence still seems to be a
favourite. (There's a version of it I've been told called Soul Binder
already on Cerilia.)
The way the DM handled it was to set a value in XP of what the item
could be worth. He said around 1500XP.
Two other players have already created their characters. They've gone
for Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Dwarven Thrower +3.
For my paladin, Laurence, the choice was between a frostbrand (first
magic item I ever read in DMG as Drizzt Do'Urden had one :) ) or this
ring.
The suggestion I came up with via the DM was that I had the sword but
lost it in the Spiderfell whilst on a rescue mission. The idea is
that the ring is an item traditionally worn by the ruler of Diemed as
a symbol of rulership. Very few people actually know what it does.
N.B. A rod of rulership was waaaay out. I checked. So was anything
made of that fancy metal.

Choosing a realm.
I like the idea of Diemed but there's no source book available for it.
What I've done is to buy the Ariya book (N.B. Ariya is recommended
for paladins.) and I'll see if I can adapt any of it. I think the DM
was keen on people choosing realms formerly controlled by fighters
across Anuire (Roesone, Diemed etc.) A friend warned me away from
Roesone citing Ghoere, The Spider and Diemed as enemies I'd have to
be watching out for all the time. Diemed looked safer with only the
Spider to fear.

Temples. The Imperial Temple of Haelyn sounds very well established.
If I could just have it as an ally, I think that could be enough. On
the other hand, the set up seems very reminiscent of
Terry Prattchett's book, "Small Gods." Here there was a very long
established religion dominating a country which almost collapsed,
simply because it failed to change.
Given that my paladin regent has had little or no direct contact with
the Imperial Temple, he'd be thinking more of his kingdom's safety
than continuing with tradition. So either he gets them on his side or
they have to change.
Thoughts?

From,
Thomas Brightwell

[bloebick@juno.com (Benja]

On Tue, 24 Feb 1998 14:20:36 +0000 (GMT) Neil Barnes
writes:
>
>On Tue, 24 Feb 1998, Jonathan Picklesimer wrote:

>Check out either or for good general advice on
>politics and warfare. (They're required reading for Birthright players
>really.)
>
>neil
>

How DARE you speak the names of the great prophets!!! DON'T LET OUT THE
SECRET!!!! I mean, sheesh!! How am I supposed to have any edges if
everyone reads the prophets of war and politics?? And required?!?!?
Heavens NO!!! Only for us True Followers who intend to dominate Cerelia,
leave the peasants in stupidity!!! ;)

Benjamin

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[T E Brightwell]

> Why doesn't your paladin use the Diemsword ? (The Sword of the House Diem ,
> given to the first Diem by Roele)

To the list,
where would I find information on this sword? It sounds
ideal.

From,
Thomas Brightwell

[Mauricio Muñoz Lorenzo]

Why doesn´t your paladin use the Diemsword ? (The Sword of the House Diem ,
given to the first Diem by Roele)

T E Brightwell escribió:

> To the list,
> I thought I'd update you on progress.
>
> Magic items. The ring of human influence still seems to be a
> favourite. (There's a version of it I've been told called Soul Binder
> already on Cerilia.)
> The way the DM handled it was to set a value in XP of what the item
> could be worth. He said around 1500XP.
> Two other players have already created their characters. They've gone
> for Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Dwarven Thrower +3.
> For my paladin, Laurence, the choice was between a frostbrand (first
> magic item I ever read in DMG as Drizzt Do'Urden had one :) ) or this
> ring.
> The suggestion I came up with via the DM was that I had the sword but
> lost it in the Spiderfell whilst on a rescue mission. The idea is
> that the ring is an item traditionally worn by the ruler of Diemed as
> a symbol of rulership. Very few people actually know what it does.
> N.B. A rod of rulership was waaaay out. I checked. So was anything
> made of that fancy metal.
>
> Choosing a realm.
> I like the idea of Diemed but there's no source book available for it.
> What I've done is to buy the Ariya book (N.B. Ariya is recommended
> for paladins.) and I'll see if I can adapt any of it. I think the DM
> was keen on people choosing realms formerly controlled by fighters
> across Anuire (Roesone, Diemed etc.) A friend warned me away from
> Roesone citing Ghoere, The Spider and Diemed as enemies I'd have to
> be watching out for all the time. Diemed looked safer with only the
> Spider to fear.
>
> Temples. The Imperial Temple of Haelyn sounds very well established.
> If I could just have it as an ally, I think that could be enough. On
> the other hand, the set up seems very reminiscent of
> Terry Prattchett's book, "Small Gods." Here there was a very long
> established religion dominating a country which almost collapsed,
> simply because it failed to change.
> Given that my paladin regent has had little or no direct contact with
> the Imperial Temple, he'd be thinking more of his kingdom's safety
> than continuing with tradition. So either he gets them on his side or
> they have to change.
> Thoughts?
>
> From,
> Thomas Brightwell
>
>
> ************************************************** *************************
> >

[Jonathan Picklesimer]

On Mon, 23 Feb 1998, T E Brightwell wrote:

> To the list. (again)
> the advice that I've been getting from all those who've
> responded from my list has been not to worry about my blood strength
> and concentrate much more on the holdings more than anything.

I would think that increasing your holdings and expanding your influence
would be more important at first than increasing your bloodline. For
example. If you get a really high domain initiative, opt to go last.
Then after everyone else has spent massive RP in increasing their
bloodline, use your accumulated RP to start rebellions in their provinces,
to rule your own provinces, to spawn espionage acts against their intrest,
to contest against them, and to cast spells against them. Who cares if
their bloodline strength is two or three or even 5 more than yours, if
they cannot collect RP because they have no holdings, or are collecting
less RP than you, or are having to suffer for a couple of domain turns and
spend all of their RP trying to win back ground that you are rapidly
taking away while you are calmly storing up RP for later, it is their
tough luck.


> strengths as swiftly as possible. Does this mean that I'm going to have
> to be constantly watching my back for assassinations etc?
>

You will and should always be watching your back!

>
> Each player was allowed a choice of magic item for their characters,
> with the provisio that the DM approves of it. From what my character
> knows, the other players have gone for very combat orientated items.
> (Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Dwarven Thrower etc.)
> I was thinking more of, say a ring of human influence? Any
>

If you want to win the game by political power, then by all means get the
ring of human influence. A few lopsided trade routes or a blooded wizard
for a best bud are not bad things to have going for you! Remember also
that gauntlets and weapons work really well if you are going 1 on 2,3, or
even 5, but one against 1000 pikemen, knights, and archers is not going to
be even fair. The ring may prove very useful in helping cement aliances,
and gaining larger military resources needed to put a player with powerful
weapons in a bad spot!

>
> Finally, is anybody able to pick up on my previous query - if a
> paladin is starting a new game, what types of holdings would he begin
> with. The book says Warriors get Law Holdings and Priests get
> Temples. Where do I fit in???
>

Paladins can rule BOTH law and temple holdings. Therefore, I would say
that your paladin would begin with whatever the DM felt appropriate. :)
If you can convince him that you would have control over both law and
temple holdings in your realm (this is largely dependent on the realm; see
Ariya or Elinie), then you would have the church soldiers, the popular
army, the influence of the church, the church coffers, and the law coffers
on your side. Even if the DM does not let you start with both kinds of
holdings, that ring of human influence would sure be handy in bringing the
other law or temple regents around to your point of view.

Don't make a classic blunder and think that waging war is about armies and
personal strength. War is about politics and economics. Succussful wars
are waged from the perspective of strong allied political support, and
lots of material and natural resource wealth.

I think that if you watch your steps with the group that you have that you
can subtly become a high king, or, if the domains are antagonistic, you
can easily wipe out several of your opponents. The trick is to be clever
and patient.

I hope that my ramblings help a wee bit.
JSP

[Neil Barnes]

On Tue, 24 Feb 1998, T E Brightwell wrote:
> Two other players have already created their characters. They've gone
> for Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Dwarven Thrower +3.

I assume this is the regent of Baruk-Azhik, right? At least he'll have
no shortage of ammunition :)

> A friend warned me away from
> Roesone citing Ghoere, The Spider and Diemed as enemies I'd have to
> be watching out for all the time. Diemed looked safer with only the
> Spider to fear.

And Avanil, and the evil rampaging Medoerans :)

Is it just coincidence that the Anuirean regents have names which sound
like slightly warped Essex names -

Darren, Gav, Eric, Jase etc.

(I've been on email just a little to long :)

neil

[prtr02@scorpion.nspco.co]

Neil, who by the way has be smokin' this board lately, wrote:

Is it just coincidence that the Anuirean regents have names which sound
like slightly warped Essex names -

Not to me. Some people previously wrote that the Anuireans have no culture.
One could treat them as the generic, default human fantasy culture. I prefer
to give them a Norman culture. This seems to fit well. Aggressive, (Normans-
the Waffen SS of the early middle ages!) good at fighting, decent rulers.

They've perhaps moved on to a more anglo-french culture circa the 1300s, with
regional differences and conflicts, but I think the Normans are a good base
model culture for at least the early Anuireans.

Randax

[James Ruhland]

Everything old
>
> Choosing a realm.
> I like the idea of Diemed but there's no source book available for it.
> What I've done is to buy the Ariya book (N.B. Ariya is recommended
> for paladins.) and I'll see if I can adapt any of it. I think the DM
> was keen on people choosing realms formerly controlled by fighters
> across Anuire (Roesone, Diemed etc.) A friend warned me away from
> Roesone citing Ghoere, The Spider and Diemed as enemies I'd have to
> be watching out for all the time. Diemed looked safer with only the
> Spider to fear.
>
If you're curious you should check out Joran Lindblo's Diemed pages (go to
Darkstar's Links page & you should find 'em), for someone elses vision of a
Diemed.
Not that you should follow what he's done, but you might get some
interesting ideas of your own. 8-)
Also, the OIT is definately Diemed's Temple. In fact, the OIT is, though
one of the smaller of the Haelyn Churches, one of the more interesting,
IMO. In Aerle the oldest Temple of Haelyn exists (check out the Book of
Priestcraft), under the control of the OIT. This isn't to say you can't
ally with other Haelyn Temples. . .though doctrinal differences and various
rivalrys will make that difficult (but difficult often equals fun. . .not
"go face Raesene Roele while 3rd level" difficult, by no means (getting
chopped into tiny pieces does not often equal fun. . .depending on how late
at night it is and what your mood is, however; perhaps you'll giggle
manically, I donno.)

[Mauricio Muñoz Lorenzo]

Ask to Ian Hoskin(Darkstar) or look in his webpage(Darkstar´s Domain)--
http://darkstar.cyberserv.com(look the Birthright links)
T E Brightwell escribió:

> > Why doesn't your paladin use the Diemsword ? (The Sword of the House Diem ,
> > given to the first Diem by Roele)
>
> To the list,
> where would I find information on this sword? It sounds
> ideal.
>
> From,
> Thomas Brightwell
>
> ************************************************** *************************
> >

[Neil Barnes]

On Tue, 24 Feb 1998, Randall W. Porter@6550 wrote:
> Neil, who by the way has be smokin' this board lately, wrote:

When your project has stalled, you've got a lot of free time.

> Not to me. Some people previously wrote that the Anuireans have no culture.
> One could treat them as the generic, default human fantasy culture. I prefer
> to give them a Norman culture. This seems to fit well. Aggressive, (Normans-
> the Waffen SS of the early middle ages!) good at fighting, decent rulers.

I can see this. My historical perception of the Normans is a bit biased
- - I tend to think 1066 & all that, immediately. There's a bit more
Mallory and Alfred the Great mixed in with my concept of Anuire - I see
Anuire as having free peasants rather than Serfs, and generally being
less oppressive than the Normans.

neil