Alright so I have an idea for a forum game I've been thinking quite a bit about that is kind of pretty depressing. Pretty much a player is a WW1 soldier in a platoon or company on a portion of the line in the trenches. The players would select about 4 roles they could have which are Medic, Machine gun operators (3), machine gunner and then the riflemen. The game would be handled like this:
The game would start at about the First Battle of Ypres or the First Battle of the Marne which were some of the first major battles in the early war. Players could have a variety of things happen to them, such as rolling an 8 or above would result in nothing happening in that battle to the specific character. While a 4-7 would result in the person getting a minor wound in the battle they participated in and would most likely sit out the rest of the battle. A 3 or 2 could either result in being MIA or severely wounded with a low chance of recovery (by this I mean dying as a result or being discharged) while a 1 would result in death. Now there will be a command hierarchy in which whoever ranks the highest commands the rest of the characters with a command chain. So if character X gets killed then character Y would succeed them and assume their rank. Another word on the MIA is that only that character gets to know what happened and where they are then via a personal message which would be a mini update. A mechanic that I was thinking of adding is that a player may get a furlough after a certain amount of battles or experience which requires a lower roll to be alright.
The stats would be like this:
Name:
Role:
Rank:
Current equipment: (like if they're a machine gun operator they may carry ammo belts and a pistol or something like that)
Combat Efficiency:
Experience: (would range from 1-10 with 1 being a raw recruit and 10 being a hardened veteran)
How would the battles themselves work?
Well I would use a formula for the battles to determine the general outcome of what happened and use the character specific rolls to determine what happened to them alone in their platoon/company. As well as consider their experience and rank to determine the outcome of their roll as higher ranking also equals less chance of death. Now the side the players would be playing on is a small company/platoon made up of volunteers so more players can add ethnic diversity to the mix.
What if lets say the players are surrounded and behind enemy lines somehow?
Then the players would slowly run out of equipment and eventually get wounded/captured/killed unless they break out somehow or the army meets with them after an offensive. A player may also do something heroic which might get them killed but would gain a medal for their valor.
What kind of battles will there be?
There will be types of mini battles for the company/platoon where they will have to go over the top or they would have to defend their trenches.
How would the IC go?
Basically interactions between players as well as responses to in battle situations. The highest ranking officer would make the decision for the platoon/company and the soldiers must obey unless they want to be court martialed and their subordinates would help carry the orders out. The commanding officer would receive orders from command (in this case me and any decision command would likely take as this will not strictly be ITL) though the first part of the game will most likely be historical depending on rolls.
How many players will there be?
Depends on how many I can GM from 6 to 16. Also depends on if I can get any Co-GMs to help with the process of writing.
Historical accuracy mistakes:
If I make one early on please tell me so I can rectify it immediately, I want to run a semi accurate early game.
What the roles do and how they affect the player:
If a player was lets say a machine gunner who was terribly inexperienced their chance of doing something heroic go down and so does their chance of surviving as well. So the platoon will get combat efficiency from each soldier, so if you're a hardened veteran you would add a ton of combat efficiency to the total platoon/company. Efficiency would start very low as everyone would basically be a recruit sent into battle for the first time except for the highest ranking officer. As for like a medic more experience= gives a bonus to all players in terms of healing, like for example "suffers major wound" would result in normally death but with an amazing medic they would be helped a lot more.
What about Cavalry and other support units present?
These will be mostly unplayable as I do not recall Cavalry being that important in the Western front as in the East or in the Levant.
Finally what about the Grand war?
Occasionally I will determine what happens to the other fronts and in the general front via an update. Things like German blockade and such can happen as well as Russia's revolution if we get that far into it.
The game would start at about the First Battle of Ypres or the First Battle of the Marne which were some of the first major battles in the early war. Players could have a variety of things happen to them, such as rolling an 8 or above would result in nothing happening in that battle to the specific character. While a 4-7 would result in the person getting a minor wound in the battle they participated in and would most likely sit out the rest of the battle. A 3 or 2 could either result in being MIA or severely wounded with a low chance of recovery (by this I mean dying as a result or being discharged) while a 1 would result in death. Now there will be a command hierarchy in which whoever ranks the highest commands the rest of the characters with a command chain. So if character X gets killed then character Y would succeed them and assume their rank. Another word on the MIA is that only that character gets to know what happened and where they are then via a personal message which would be a mini update. A mechanic that I was thinking of adding is that a player may get a furlough after a certain amount of battles or experience which requires a lower roll to be alright.
The stats would be like this:
Name:
Role:
Rank:
Current equipment: (like if they're a machine gun operator they may carry ammo belts and a pistol or something like that)
Combat Efficiency:
Experience: (would range from 1-10 with 1 being a raw recruit and 10 being a hardened veteran)
How would the battles themselves work?
Well I would use a formula for the battles to determine the general outcome of what happened and use the character specific rolls to determine what happened to them alone in their platoon/company. As well as consider their experience and rank to determine the outcome of their roll as higher ranking also equals less chance of death. Now the side the players would be playing on is a small company/platoon made up of volunteers so more players can add ethnic diversity to the mix.
What if lets say the players are surrounded and behind enemy lines somehow?
Then the players would slowly run out of equipment and eventually get wounded/captured/killed unless they break out somehow or the army meets with them after an offensive. A player may also do something heroic which might get them killed but would gain a medal for their valor.
What kind of battles will there be?
There will be types of mini battles for the company/platoon where they will have to go over the top or they would have to defend their trenches.
How would the IC go?
Basically interactions between players as well as responses to in battle situations. The highest ranking officer would make the decision for the platoon/company and the soldiers must obey unless they want to be court martialed and their subordinates would help carry the orders out. The commanding officer would receive orders from command (in this case me and any decision command would likely take as this will not strictly be ITL) though the first part of the game will most likely be historical depending on rolls.
How many players will there be?
Depends on how many I can GM from 6 to 16. Also depends on if I can get any Co-GMs to help with the process of writing.
Historical accuracy mistakes:
If I make one early on please tell me so I can rectify it immediately, I want to run a semi accurate early game.
What the roles do and how they affect the player:
If a player was lets say a machine gunner who was terribly inexperienced their chance of doing something heroic go down and so does their chance of surviving as well. So the platoon will get combat efficiency from each soldier, so if you're a hardened veteran you would add a ton of combat efficiency to the total platoon/company. Efficiency would start very low as everyone would basically be a recruit sent into battle for the first time except for the highest ranking officer. As for like a medic more experience= gives a bonus to all players in terms of healing, like for example "suffers major wound" would result in normally death but with an amazing medic they would be helped a lot more.
What about Cavalry and other support units present?
These will be mostly unplayable as I do not recall Cavalry being that important in the Western front as in the East or in the Levant.
Finally what about the Grand war?
Occasionally I will determine what happens to the other fronts and in the general front via an update. Things like German blockade and such can happen as well as Russia's revolution if we get that far into it.
