Crimson Snow OOC Thread

Post » Wed May 02, 2012 3:42 pm

An infiltration party of Svetlana, Brom, Skir and, um, Kayle's cat could conceivably work. A little short on brute strength, but if we take this as a mainly successful sneaking mission, that might not be such a problem. Why do I have the feeling that the rest of the RPers were all arachnophobia and I scared them into hiding with Svetlana's interjection? :P
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Lucky Girl
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 3:57 pm

Dragons then a siege... The Longstrides are gonna have their work cut out for them
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Damned_Queen
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 1:12 pm

By the Nine!
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Natasha Biss
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 8:15 pm

WHICH REMINDS ME!!!

Something that we probably should have done at the start was to decide how many soldiers each hold has at it's command, and then how many soldiers are in the armies of the Legion and Stormcloaks. This kept me up last night while I tried to figure it out, and this is as best as I could think of to make it balanced yet realistic.

The number of soldiers (guardsmen) in each hold would vary accordingly. This is also made under the assumption that the cities themselves are much bigger than they are in game, and that there are more smaller settlements (eg, Riverwood, Shor's Stone) in each hold than in the game. Each hold's capacity for troops would depend on their climate, size, number of settlements, topography, and any other clues that were given in game. (Note, this is soley for a 'paid' garrison. This doesn't cont militia levies raised when needed, such as being done in Whiterun at this very moment).

Haafingar (Solitude);
- Largely mountainous but a very strong, well defended city. One small settlement (we can take that as meaning maybe two or three in the RP). Plus, being the capitol, it has access to a large population and sea trade. It's also the base of Legion Operations, so it's standing garrison of guardsmen doesn't need to be very large. That said, I think that it's own Hold Garrison would number maybe 1000 men, due to it's status as both head of the Legion, Capitol of Skyrim, and Home of the Last High King.

Hjalmarch (Morthal);
- Swamps, wetlands and marshes, small city, no small settlements in game (maybe one decent town, or a few tiny villages). Unlikely that it could muster a very large standing force of guardsman. Perhaps an army of 500 at best.

The Pale (Dawnstar);
- very cold, large forests, mostly uninhabited, though covers a large area. Once again, the city is small and there aren't town sized settlements within. Once again, probably a garrison of 500.

Winterhold (Obvious);
- A city in decline, very few residents, and the inherit distrust for the College. Most likely has a very small population and is so out of the way that very few men would guard the hold. Perhaps 300 soldiers.

Eastmarch (Windhelm);
- A very large and well fortified city, the old capitol of Skyrim and centre of Stormcloak operations. Once again, like Haafingar, there is one town sized settlement (scaling up to two or three). In fact, it is very similar in many regards to those found in Haafingar, so we can assume then that it would have a similar sized garrison. Seeing as the guardsman are also Stormcloaks, the home garrison could be 1000 as well (got to make it fair), but Ulfric would no doubt want more men in the fight so in actual fact, the garrison could be 700.

The Rift (Riften);
- A decent sized hold, also possessing a fairly large city. Lush habitat, good climate, and two settlements in game (translating to four or five towns in the RP). With a decent population and favourable conditions, the Rift's Hold Garrison could probably stand at around 800 men.

Falkreath (obvious);
- A medium sized city, one in game settlement (which is destroyed), so probably a few villages. Largely forests and hills with mountains. Probably capable of producing a decent sized force, the Hold's ability to summon troops is reduced. Where once it could have held around 600 men, it's hold garrison would most likely stand around 400.

The Reach (Markarth);
- A very mountainous hold, so the likelihood of a large population to draw troops from is unlikely. Most of the population would live in Markarth, which would stand as a sizable city. However, due to the two cultures living in the Reach (Nords and Native Reachmen), the chances of a large, united army, as seen with Solitude, Riften and Windhelm is unlikely. With one settlement in game, a low population and a divided culture, this hold could probably only produce a small army. We are also told that without the Legion, they were unable to hold back the Forsworn. The garrison force of the Reach would probably stand at around 600 men, which could easily hold the Dwemer made city. Further, with the silver mines, these men can be paid and armed well.

Whiterun (This is going to seem really bias)
-A large city, with mostly open plains, ideal climate and two in game settlements (probably four in the RP). Vast open space ideal for farming, and plenty of game to hunt. It's central location makes it ideal for trade, and probably boasts a decent population as well. I think it's also the largest Hold in Skyrim. (Ideal place to train cavalry?). It is said to have had the potential to become the "Skyrim equivalent of the Imperial City". I can easily see this hold's standing garrison of guardsmen numbering around 1000 (In a sense, balancing the capitols for Legion, Stormcloak, and Neutral capitols).

Legion
- Seeing as the Legion is based on the Romans, and Tullius has the 4th Legion at his command (correct me if that last statement is wrong), then I would wager that the Imperial Legion army in Skyrim would be around 5000 men thereabouts, once you factor in local recruitment and the lack of reinforcements to replace lost troops. Obviously, they would be divided in Cohorts (and even smaller centuries, as can be seen by the Pyrrhic attack on Fort Hraggstad), so the largest army I imagine the Legion could gather in one place without under-manning garrisons would be around 2000 - 2500.

Stormcloaks
- As the war seems to be fairly even handed, the Stormcloak army would be similar. I imagine it standing at around 6000 men. Remember though, Stormcloak soldiers also double as Eastmarch Hold Guardsman, so in reality, the actual army would stand somewhere between 5000 to 5300 men, depending on how many men Ulfric is willing to move from defending Eastmarch to the front lines. The largest force they could muster would be similar to the Legion, though perhaps with the advantage of a hundred or so more men.

Other factions of interest
-The Reachmen army, if it could be called such, is scattered across the hold in most of the redoubts and fortresses. Seeing as each practically every member of the Forsworn doubles as some kind of fighter, they might number around 500 - 600, though seldom would they gather in such a large force, more likely in small groups numbering little more than 50, though on occasion, perhaps as many as 200.


Feel free to refute any of this of course ;)
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electro_fantics
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 2:56 pm

Just glancing over that list, I doubt there would be more than 50 guards in Winterhold. The city has fallen into the sea of ghosts and there are no other major settlements. Sending patrols into the blizzardy wastes would be a waste of good men, and the hold isn't on the frontier. Back in ye olde times there really weren't such things as standing armies, they are a modern thing. The one exception would be the Imperial Legion, though with the heraldic system of thanes and house-carls in Skyrim, I don't think it would have much relevance. Instead of having standing armies, each hold would realistically be protected by a system of huscarls (house-carls) loyal to the local Jarls. The only exception to this would be legion forts (all of which other than Fort Dour are out of commission in game until there is a siege on...), and those under control of the rebellion, on the front line.

The total "Manpower" that Jarl Ulfric could drawn upon would actually be the total number of able bodied, armed men in Skyrim sympathetic to his cause. As Skyrim has no standing army, a war is something you join due to heraldic oaths with local Thanes or Jarls, or out of your own choice.

The Empire is an entirely different story, it can draw upon Legions of professional soldiers from throughout the provinces. Their manpower is as many as Titus Mede II deigns it to be.

Anyone with a better knowledge of Medieval Northern European Warfare please correct me :wink:
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Sheeva
 
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Post » Thu May 03, 2012 3:32 am

Vaild points all, especially the one with Winterhold.

I called them "standing armies" because they
- receive training as recruits (as can be seen in Solitude with the local garrison)
- each hold has uniformed guardsmen, with apparently standard gear; uniforms show some sign of an organised, professional fighting force.

Regardless, each hold would have some sort of organised fighting force - the guardsmen - their equivalent of men-at-arms; obviously not up to scratch with the Legion, but still formidable. True, Skyrim as a province doesn't have a united standing army, the Legion fulfills this role, but seeing as each Jarl is a king in all but name (hence ruled by a High-King), each hold would have some sort of "standing army", even if only a garrison one.

All of that aside, the main reason why I assigned numbers to the amount of troops that the Legion and Stormcloaks can muster (at this stage anyway) is to make sure there is an element of fairness within the RP. In reality it could be said that the Legion would have as many men as Titus Mede wants to send and for Stormcloaks the number of men willing to fight for Ulfric; but giving them numbers makes the situation less ambiguous.

I've probably over simplified things, that's a given, but just to make things a little easier. :tongue:

EDIT: but aside from that, do the numbers seem fair?
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HARDHEAD
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 8:39 pm

Also! Just another idea. Seeing as this thread doeseth appear to be dying, Rex and I have another idea for an RP. It would be very linear, with a clear ending in mind, but would allow for deviations within the plot. See I wrote sort of a little draft of a fanfic based on the characters I made for Crimson Snow, and we read it over, and thought it might make an interesting RP. You could, of course, keep your own characters if you want to, as the story line allows for that. It would still involve the civil war and stuff, but rather than have everybody all over the place, the plot would be a kind of follow on from Crimson Snow, starting from or after the Siege of Whiterun, with everyone more or less on the same side.

The storyline we made deviates A LOT from the in-game plot, but I thought it might be an interesting idea.

Sorry for the double post :tongue:
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Ricky Meehan
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 12:18 pm

I'd post, were I not waiting on others, frankly. Rex's 'reserved' post is just sat there, not doing much, the Stormcloaks have frozen solid and...yeah.
Still here, still willing, just not really able. I think maybe having the sides split was a bad idea, but, eh. What canya do?


Failing that, I'm half tempted to start my own RP thread, with your typical 'band of adventurers' thing XD for teh lulz
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Betsy Humpledink
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 6:34 pm

Haha! I'm a fan of reading about bands of adventurers *coughfellowshipoftheringcough*... I actually had a wierd parallel where I put together an old Breton wizard, a tall dark haired Nord, a blonde altmer, an Imperial swordsman, a red haired and short Dunmer, and four little Bosmer, running around in a Dwemer ruin before the old wizard killed off a dragon... "Wow, I wonder where I got that idea from?"...
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Laura
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 3:32 pm

Same here, waiting for captainrex and Ranry to post something. And irked at Rex's posts which is basically holding everything frozen on our side - between me, Kayle and Ranry we could probably still have a few posts each finishing the fight and starting to sort out the survivors.

If Rex is short on time, he ought to post something liek 'ok, Brogan is KOed, command drops to ..., keep going until real life let me catch up.'
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Roberto Gaeta
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 3:31 pm

A more focused RP might be cool. What is the gist? I'm quite fond of my Svetlana Milk-Eyed character I have to say, I think she has real potential, so I'd love to RP her again.
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maddison
 
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Post » Thu May 03, 2012 1:31 am

Kahn is fun to RP, but...he'd probably feature better as an antagonist, rather than protagonist. He's a bit too psycho.
Lyrial, on the other hand, works fine as a protagonist. Either that or I can bring Alaric back, heh.
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Stat Wrecker
 
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Post » Thu May 03, 2012 3:24 am

I am waiting on Cleans to post myself, but since Tom has gone ahead and posted I'll bash up a post within the hour so Manu can post again. As for a new fanfic rp, having an ending in mind kind of defeats the point of an rp, doesn't it? Anyhoo, we need to get the siege of Whiterun started before we start thinking about chapter 2s.
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R.I.P
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 8:11 pm

About teh fight in hte fort : if Brogan is disabled, odds are Lyrial will find herself the highest ranked survivor. And probably high ranked enoiugh that there won't be much qustions. with the small number of survivors, it'll barely qualify as a sergeant's billet.
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Unstoppable Judge
 
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Post » Thu May 03, 2012 1:53 am

Gah, been so busy all day, super tired, I promise to get a post up tomorrow.
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Margarita Diaz
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 10:38 pm

Sorry for the waiting my post WILL be in today, just been busy getting ready for going to school and such.
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courtnay
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 5:50 pm

A more focused RP might be cool. What is the gist? I'm quite fond of my Svetlana Milk-Eyed character I have to say, I think she has real potential, so I'd love to RP her again.

Basically, it would be a 'what if' RP. For example, what if one of the Jarls decided he didn't want to join the Empire or Stormcloaks, and declared himself totally independent from either of them. Then he starts a rebellion of his own against both sides, creating a war of three parties. He then gathers an army and sets off conquering holds. The RP would follow the exploits of this army as it travels around Skyrim. This leaves a few positions to fulfill - obvious choice would be a soldier, either from the Jarl's Hold, or a Legion/Stormcloak deciding to change sides. But being an army, it's also going to have a decent baggage train with it, so other roles could be a quartermaster, one of the high ranking soldier's (or Jarl's or Thane's) servants, maybe even family members, medics and all sorts of people that are usually found with an army on the move.

A comparison could be made to the situation in George Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice Series, where it is a civil war of many sides vying for supremacy (but in this case, it would only be three).

I am waiting on Cleans to post myself, but since Tom has gone ahead and posted I'll bash up a post within the hour so Manu can post again. As for a new fanfic rp, having an ending in mind kind of defeats the point of an rp, doesn't it? Anyhoo, we need to get the siege of Whiterun started before we start thinking about chapter 2s.

Not really. It's not like a specific ending l as in "He will fall in battle as the bridge collapses under them." It's more of a loose draft of a story line.
For example; I might know that the army will end up with city in their possession, before moving on the next one, which they will take, but they must route a small force in another fortress nearby first. What is not predetermined is how they might take the said city, or how far back trying to route the defenders will take, or whether they will route them and be forced to try a different approach. Or whether there will be complications, such as our very own Stormcloak surprise at Fort Hraggstad.
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!beef
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 7:11 pm

Hey guys, sorry for the absence the last couple of days, been really sick. I just got home from class and I'm exhausted, but I'll probably post after I inevitably wake up at 4AM (EST). See you all then.
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Mrs. Patton
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 11:11 pm

Eh, personally think that tying PCs too close into armies and big NPCs is what can really stilt an RP. RP in stuff like Skyrim (and even in other settings) should primarily be about the PCs. So while yes, it's sorta cool to have your character in with Ulfric and Tulius et al, it also makes you a second fiddle to a bigshot NPC, not to mention all the problems of writing for said characters.

Having a group of PCs with a few key friendly created NPCs that can be developed and personalised, along with some main antagonist NPCs and their minions/random thugs, bandits etc, gives the PCs the spotlight that they kind of need.

Just my opinion, of course =P
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Anna S
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 9:31 pm

I tend to agree with that, even if I have no problem with using some high octane NPC to set the PC's objective. But from a PC side, being a mere cog in the army isn't exactly thrilling. The PCs should be more akin to special forces commandoes than WWI private 'just another guy in the trench'.
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Shae Munro
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 1:43 pm

Hmn....Army group...drop a dragon on it...survivors...dragon hunting...?

I could see a way to salvage that =P
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Neliel Kudoh
 
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Post » Thu May 03, 2012 3:51 am

I agree. That's why the head honcho in this new RP was going to be a PC... probably me or Rex, seeing as one or both of us would be GMing. But I can see your points
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Manuela Ribeiro Pereira
 
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Post » Thu May 03, 2012 2:44 am

Eh, on that point too; having GMs with 'PC' characters is kind of a contradiction, surely? As in, the GM controls NPCs and encounters and such. I find it hard to see a balance for both, personally. Or maybe the fact I just had to re-format 200 images and it's 2.33am here is utterly scrambling what little sanity I had left....take a long running jump, University >_< ugh...

So, are we making a new thread for sure, or are we going to keep plugging at this IC?
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Charlie Sarson
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 12:40 pm

I reckon only fall back on the new one should this one die, or make the new one a continuation from this one. (we should at least get to the Siege of Whiterun)



Eh, on that point too; having GMs with 'PC' characters is kind of a contradiction, surely? As in, the GM controls NPCs and encounters and such. I find it hard to see a balance for both, personally. Or maybe the fact I just had to re-format 200 images and it's 2.33am here is utterly scrambling what little sanity I had left....take a long running jump, University >_< ugh...

So, are we making a new thread for sure, or are we going to keep plugging at this IC?

It might be difficult to balance, but I reckon I could handle it ;P
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Scotties Hottie
 
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Post » Wed May 02, 2012 12:08 pm

Posting later today after returning from the beach.
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Nuno Castro
 
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