Modern Leaders, Medieval Armies

[Sliver]

You sit in your wooden chair, much less comfortable than what you are used to in the real world. In front of you is a simple square wooden table with a laptop sitting on it, turned on and checking your brand new email. Under the table, next to your feet, is a small box you have yet to open.

Around you is a flock of a hundred untrained NPCs with randomly generated names. You found out they are exiles from the kingdom of Exalia, a place far to the North-South (you didn't ask) that you are unlikely to ever encounter. Their main export is exiles.

You see two large cloth carpets in the center of your assigned territory. On one of them rest plenty of baskets full of miscellaneous fruit. Your computer logs say it contains 150 units. It tells you to save that amount since you will be responsible for the reports. A unit of food is enough to keep a single NPC alive for a turn, which will be a week.

On the other carpet you see some wood and cloth. In your computer it says you have 20 units of low quality construction material. You should save that too. It doesn't give you a way to determine yourself how much you can make out of a single unit. It lists a few examples and tells you to ad hoc the value for other items with the other players.

The email continues to explain the rules.

Basic production will be determined through a few rolls. A roll of 1d100 will determine success size, while a roll of 1dX where X is the number of NPCs assigned for the task will determine the success amount. If you roll from 1-33 on the d100, it means that every success (on the 1dX roll) will count as half a production unit. 34-66 makes every success a whole unit, while 67-100 means that every success counts as two production units. Modifiers can alter both the size, increasing or decreasing it by one step, or giving the roll a bonus, like in spending a Panda Favor Point will grant you a +5 bonus to the d100 roll. It is also possible to get modifiers to the 1dX roll.

For example, if you want to send 50 NPCs to gather fruit, and you want to go ahead and ensure a good gathering since you see your next week will be rough, so you pull in two PFPs into the roll. You roll 1d100+10 and see you managed to get a 68. Great. You roll 1d50 and double the result, that is the amount of fruit units you gathered.

Different tasks may require different amount of production units to complete. For example, creating spears will require one production unit to complete, but making a tent to house two of your NPCs will require 2. Making a house is out of the question for your untrained NPCs for now.

To train an NPC you roll a d20 roll with a bonus equal to the difference between the trainer and the apprentice (a level 2 trainer training an untrained NPC will grant a +2 bon0s) vs a DC equal to 10 + the level you wish to achieve. An trainer can train up to 2Xhis level NPCs without suffering a penalty to the train roll. Every apprentice beyond that will give a -1 penalty. Failing the train roll means that you will have a bonus next time. Failing the roll by 5 or more gives you +1 bonus to the next attempt. Failing by 2-4 gives you +2. Failing by 1 gives you +3. The bonuses stack. (So if once you failed by a 6, then a 3 and a 2, you have a bonus of 5 to the next attempt). The level of training gives a bonus to the 1d100 roll. Training automatically sets the production rate of the trainer and apprentices to the minimum possible (that is half normally. If they have tools it's 1, if they suffer from a penalty it can be zero)

The fruit have a low chance of spoiling. Non for the first two weeks, then it's 20% plus 5% every week beyond that. (20% after the third week, 25% for fourth and so on) so you should keep your food gatherings separated and roll for every batch of fruit when the time comes.

You can send your NPCs to hunt too. Hunting automatically increases the success size (half a success turns into a whole, a whole into two, and two into three) but without tools you can only reduce your production result by 1/3.

Villagers can survive from consuming one unit of food a week, but will be happier if they can consume one unit of fruit and one unit of meat. Also, while they have experience with sleeping outdoors, they have expectations of you and hope that their situation won't last for long and at least a cloth roof will be above their heads soon.

And lastly, you open the box.

Greystone, you find nothing in the box. But then a young wizard approaches you. He is yet learning, a level 3 wizard, but you feel that you might help him uncover his true potential. He offers you his services because he feels he can build up a name for himself in your rising colony. He also brings his little brother, a young level 2 fighter with basic armor and weapons.

Alth Falath, you too find nothing. But 4 hunters approach you and offer you aid. They carry their own bows and have a level 2 training. They don't seem capable of passing their knowledge to your NPCs though. Their bows give you a +1 bonus on the dX roll. Sending them with untrained hunters will leave the group with the 1/3 production penalty, but every 5 hunters give an additional +1 bonus to the dX. Special feature of those hunters. Each of them grants it.

Dresil, same deal, nothing in the box. But a passing cleric saw your coming and believes you are a gift from some random deity, offering you his pure devotion. He is currently level 4, equipped with low quality basic armor and weapon.

Woodsman, your box gives you the gift of nothing. A passing craftsman though agrees to be hired by you. A level 2 craftsman that agrees to train other NPCs. His tools make him count as 3 craftsmen when making something (but not training).

You may instantly trade among yourselves anything you like. You can send even your special NPCs. The craftsman is the only one currently being able to train, and you can send your own NPCs to train there, but then you won't even get their minimized production rate.

I may have forgot something, or didn't think of it. If there is anything you want to ask, go ahead. Remember, you can make up events and mechanics yourself too, depending on the other players agreeing. You start with 20 favor points too. Game on.

[Alth Falath]

Time to get to work, since I'd rather not starve.
First, I say that we send out hunting parties, to gather meat to help us survive until we can have a more permanent solution. Jamie and John (2 of the hunters), take a group of hunters with you and gather some meat.
Send out two teams of hunters, each with 25 helpers
[roll0]
Next, let's build some basic houses. Let's use the resources we have to start out, and see how many we can construct.
Dedicate 40 npcs to building basic houses
[roll1]
Next, we're going to need more wood to build a stable town. Gather some from the nearby area, which will help visibility
Dedicate 10 npcs to gather wood
[roll2]
Last, Johan, scout out the area by yourself. You should be able to find out if there is useful vegetation available.
Send the last hunter out to scout the area

[Sliver]

Tsk tsk.

The Panda Devil shakes his head behind you. You forgot to click here.. You have to roll a d100 to determine production. (Check out the rules above again. Success size is rolled for each group)

Remember that you are only able to set up tents at the moment, each to house two or three members. Those cost two production units and a single construction unit.

You also need to roll to each hunting group. That means you roll a 1d100 and 1d25+5 for each hunting group.

[Dresil]

"Well now, this should be quite interesting." After checking everything over, I would start to organize my community.

First and foremost is we not starve. Food is the most important thing we can gather right now, so 50 of my townspeople shall be sent off to gather fruit.
[roll0]
[roll1]

Looking at the construction materials we have makes me think of something a bit more advanced as a better solution than just an assortment of lean-tos.
Half of the construction materials goes to making simple shelters for the time being, with 15 townspeople working toward that goal.
[roll2]
[roll3]

The other half will go towards making rectangular boxes to serve as a mold for adobe bricks. 15 people will work toward this goal.
[roll4]
[roll5]

15 townspeople will search for wood out in the forests to add to our collection.
[roll6]
[roll7]


The last five of my villagers will go along with my cleric to see if we can't domesticate any horses. The spell Calm Animals my cleric gets from one of his domains (Animal) should help nicely with this task.
[roll8]
[roll9]

Current Resources

100 NPCs
1 4th level Cleric
150 units of food (0 weeks old)
20 units of construction materials

[Alth Falath]

Yea, I just remembered I only rolled for one production group...

For group one


For group 2
[roll0]
[roll1] Production

Seeing as houses will take too long, I say we make tents to support our people
[roll2] Production on house building

[Alth Falath]

[roll0] Production for group 1...

It seems my people are masters of building, and not gathering. Would anyone request some labor in exchange for food?

[Greystone]

Greystone stands, and laughs to himself, getting the attention of his random NPC's quite well. The wizard, a lad named Arcturis, raises an eybrow but keeps his attention on his spell book.

Alright lads, this is how this is going to work. You 30" he points at a cluster of npcs "I want you building two-person huts, in nice lines I'll remind you"They nod and scurry off.

[roll0]
[roll1]

"Alright now, you lot" he points at about 25 "I want you out hunting. Take the wizard, he can halp you scare and catch game. The wizard sighs, but leaves with the other hunters. "And you" Greystone points to the wizards younger brother Matthias "Give one of them your crossbow, maybe between the two that'll increase production"

[roll2]
[roll3]

"Now Matthias, I can tell you have the ability to make some simple weapons. Take 15 of these villagers and make some simple spears, javalins. Make them right from the trees so you don't use any of the camps wood."
[roll4]
[roll5]

"You twenty, go out and pick us some berries, maybe some apples, doesn't matter"[roll6]

[roll7]

"And finally, I want you ten to clear some trees, add to our wood reserves."
[roll8]
[roll9]

[Woodsman]

"OK then, let's get to work."

"Cooper, take four of them who seem to be best suited for crafting. Train them so we can get to work on housing ASAP."
[roll0]
(Cooper being the craftsman's name)

"Half of you should gather some fruit. While we have adequate supplies for a while, it's best we keep as much food as we can. That's the most important thing."
[roll1]
[roll2]

"Ten of you, get to work on some spears and axes for hunting and clearing down trees. Split them in half, but if it comes down to it, more spears"
[roll3]
[roll4]
Half are spears, half are axes. If an odd number, more spears. If axes can't be built for whatever reason, then all are spears. I can assume axes would help in gathering wood, though, yes? As well as hunting.

"The rest of you, get to work on gathering materials. I know it'd be nice to have housing, but it's best if we wait until we have the materials so everyone has shelter. The more materials we gather, the sooner that will be. Plus, the more materials we have, the better housing we can make."
[roll5]
[roll6]

[Alth Falath]

"Heh, clever panda," Alth chuckles. To think he'd almost missed how easy it would be to lose, and to have your population starve. Wonder if anyone else got it.
OOC:
Found the secret to not having everyone starve in a few turns, will sell for favor down the road....

[Sliver]

Dresil manages to get two horses tied up to his table. They are calm but aren't ready to be used to your needs, unless those needs are eating. A horse can be consumed for 5 units of food but also consumes a unit of fruit a week. Like the villagers, he can probably handle a week without one, but you wouldn't like to push it.

The Panda Devil looks around as the first week passes. Of course, for you it hardly feels like a week. It was a matter of seconds actually, once you all figured out what you want to do. You aren't even hungry yet, and you still have a large plate of sandwiches you got from the beginning of the new turn.

The villagers seemed confused, apparently there was no bread in Exalia.

"Maybe I should have given you some more food for the first few weeks..." Panda Devil shrugs. "You'll figure it out, or eat your villagers. Oh well, I have something to offer you. A limited time deal, you can give me one of your favors and you can get one thing, living or not, from the real world. Pretty much anything. Not nations or anything like that though."

"Oh, and by the way, you roll, you figure out the results. I won't be here all the time to keep your logs tidy and everything, so I won't bother starting with it now. If you have any questions, ask when they pop up."

"And Falath, there is no OOC. Everything is IC. That too."

...

"So... How is the bathroom building going?"

[Johel]

Dresil's Camp


"-Welcome to His Lordship Dresil the Mighty, He Who Whisper To The Horse, The Builder Of Shantytowns, The Bringer of Wood, yadayadayada...

Entrance is 1 fruit, Exit is 1 fruit too.
Please leave weapons outside, they will be given back on your way out.

I am Johel, His Lordship's adviser and I will be the one chopping your head off if you dare messing with His Lordship's desires.

Praise be Dresil and have a nice day."

Fruit supply :

Opening Week 1 : 150 units
Gathered : +18 units
Consumed : -100 units
Closing Week 1 : 68 units

Our supplies are shrinking, My Lord !!
We need to gather more yummy or your minions will get hungry.
Only two letters difference between "hungry" and "angry"

Shelters :
Opening Week 1 : 0 units
Constructed : +2 units
Lost/Destroyed : 0 units
Closing Week 1 : 2 units

My Lord, two tents have been built.
They don't look really impressive and will probably leak if the rain is too important.
But they'll do the job.
4 people are not homeless anymore.


Construction tools (brick making) :
Opening Week 1 : 0 units
Constructed : +13 units
Lost/Destroyed : 0 units
Closing Week 1 : 13 units

My Lord, it is my pleasure to announce that we can now make 13 bricks out of clay, this every 5 minutes.
If 13 people work on this 10 hours a day, we could possibly produce 10.920 bricks a week.
Average production should be closer to 5.460, though.
And the laziness of your minions can make this fall down to 2.730 bricks.
Only thing missing is the clay...

Wood :
Opening week 1 : 0 units
Produced : +16 units
Consumed : -
Closing Week 1 : 16 units

We have quiet a lot of wood, My Lord.
If you believe it is needed, we might make fires to warm the homeless ones.
...Or we could use some of the wood to actually build homes.
Until you decide how to allocate it, it can be used for both.

Construction material :
Opening Week 1 : 20 units
Gathered/Constructed : +0 units
Consumed (construction tools) : -13 units
Consumed (shelters) : -4 units
Closing Week 1 : 3 units

Our supplies are shrinking, My Lord !!
We need to gather more stones, wood, cloth and... I don't even know what that is !!
No material means no construction.
No construction means stagnation.


Horses :
Opening Week 1 : 0 units
Gathered/Constructed : +2 units
Consumed (Meat) : 0 units
Closing Week 1 : 2 units

My Lord, these beasts are magnificent.
No doubt one of them will become your mighty steed one day.
But for now, they can be useful to load heavy weight, provided you can tame them.
Keep in mind that each beast consumes as much Fruits as one of your minions.
They need to earn their upkeep *somehow* !!
Or they won't be worth their weight in meat.

[Sliver]

The wizard approaches Greystone one evening, telling him about an odd cart he found.

"It's full with four huge meat pies! Each one can be split to satisfy 5 people for an entire week! But my magical studies helped me recognize the magic of the pie! If you share your pies with others of your own power, give away three of yours to three others, each of the pies will double in size! We would lose half the food, but perhaps we could gain something else from such a trade?"

Alth Falath notices one of the hunters walking with a child. He reports to you that there is a small village a few days away. You could send your own people there if there is something you require, which would be the entire thing the person you send can do for the week. Also, it seems the child will serve you if you promise him greatness when your nation prospers. He would do anything you like, but currently he must stay at the village so he won't be consuming your food.

Dresil, the cleric approaches you, saying that a group of travelers in the name of some god of roads has approached him with a request. They have seen your catch of horses and would like to purchase one of your horses for three units of food and a scroll to control the local weather for two turns that the young cleric could use.

Woodsman gets his own special event too. Shiny! One of your craftsman's apprentices has notified Cooper that when he was getting water from the river, some kind of rocks ended up in the bucket. After punishing the kid for letting rocks get into their clean water, Cooper reported to you that there is gold in the river. With some new tools you could craft, getting some gold should be easy enough and may be good later on.

[Alth Falath]

My request is easy:
Bass Pro shop and all of it's assorted stock as based on a late summer selection
No staff
Includes outdoor displays

Placement: above the 100 year mark on the nearby river (seeing there's 100+ people, there's gotta be a river or other major body of fresh water to provide liquids)

Kid, I can easily promise you greatness, and marvels that you've never seen.

[Sliver]

The Panda Devil rubs his chin. "Interesting... Surely it's not one thing, but I like the way you think. I'll allow it. Now you went and given the others an idea..." PD grumbles as he takes a golden shiny coin. Wait, that's a Panda Favor Point? Now that you see it gone, you really want it, even if you have nineteen more!

Go and perform the rest of your turn, and give the child orders. Or not.

You notice the fish on the sign jump down and swim up the river... "You'll never catch me, suckers!"

[Dresil]

"I will certainly take you up on your offer, Panda Devil. Bring me a Wal-Mart, fully stocked if you can. If this is beyond your reach, then give me Bear Gryllis."

"This week will be quite different than last. We are united, and we are strong, like the ferocious dragon, I can see you all have the heart of such a creature beating within you, so I believe Dragon's Point shall be a fitting name to our community."

"Ten people shall work on farming. Take what seeds you may have spit out from the fruit we ate last week and plant them in the ground."

[roll0]
[roll1]
2 units of farmland produced.

"Ten of you shall go fishing. Use this (http://www.ehow.com/how_5326077_build-fish-fence.html) as your guide. Take 10 units of wood to construct it as well. This is important." (Spend One Panda Favor Point)

[roll2]
[roll3]
18 units of fish produced. (Unless bonus for getting past 100)

"Ten of you shall go hunting. Try to find what game you can. This too is important." (Spend One Panda Favor Point)

[roll4]
[roll5]
16 units of meat produced.

"Twenty of you must gather more fruit. This is very important, so I put my trust in you. Let the blessings of our cleric friend Talik go with you." (Spend 2 PFP)

[roll6]
[roll7]
12 units of fruit produced.

"Ten more go out and find more horses to domesticate. The one we have here must go to our own survival first."

[roll8]
[roll9]
1 horse procured.

"Thirteen of you can work on making bricks for sturdier buildings. Our friend Talik can Create Water into the ground itself to make clay or mud, as well as Soften Earth and Stone."

[roll10]
[roll11]
Bricks produced, Johel, could you count these for me?

"The six of you can help make fires with the rest of our wood so we do not get cold at night."

[roll12]
[roll13]
1 Fire produced.

"You five shall go forth and bring more construction materials so we can continue to expand. Wood, Thatch, Flax, Stone, in that order."

[roll14]
[roll15]
10 construction units produced.

"You last five must find some flax and proper wood to make bows out of."

[roll16]
[roll17]
1 bow produced.

"Talik, if you are not too busy, I was thinking that you can take this lad with you and the two of you can train together."

[roll18]
[roll19]
XP gained. How much, I have no clue.

"The group that succeeds the most shall be granted a portion of the horsemeat as a reward! We are strong, we are united!"

The fishermen get to share the first meat.

Supplies:

Food - 68 units (Trade Pending: 3-4)
Shelters - 2 units
Construction(Brickmacking) - 13 units
Wood - 16 units (Using 16)
Raw Construction Material - 3 units
Horses - 2 unit (Trade Pending: 1) (Using 1)
NPCs - 100
Cleric - Lv. 4
Advisor
Favor Points - 15/20
Upkeep needed: 100

[Sliver]

The Panda Devil eyes you, slightly annoyed, as down from the sky comes Bear Grylls on a winged bear, landing near you.

You also find out that you are the only one who can read from your laptop. Or read at all... Besides the cleric. And the bear.

Talik can't train others while also aiding other tasks.

[Greystone]

Before offering any sort of commands to his followers, Greystone sits at his laptop and sends out an email:

"Meat Pies for Sale. Huge, Jumbo meat pies. I'm willing to hear bids"

[Dresil]

"I bid one horse."

[Alth Falath]

...Seeing as you can eat a horse...
Anyhow
Child: Head back to your village for now. If you can learn of the gods, do so, it will pay off over time. (take cleric training).
This week, we shall dine well on fish, my people!
Let us also gather some wood, so that we can build some fences around our farm fields.
Finally, let Jamie, John, and Johan canoe around the river, searching for an island suitable for a permanent habitation.

Using 90 villagers to fish in the store (yes, they have ponds inside), each one using a rod and working individually
[roll0]
Using 10 villagers to gather lumber for a deer fence, each working individually with hand axes
[roll1]
Using the ranger trio, in canoes, to scout the river for an available island
Using myself to move the boats, bikes, and carts inside and out of the elements, covering the remaining ones with tarps.

[Woodsman]

Captain's Log
Food units: 100 fruit
Crude Construction units: 21
Spears: 4
Axes: 3
Cooper, level 2 craftsman
Four other level one craftsman

Beginning to think this is a tad more difficult than imagined, namely due to the consumption of food. If we can find a way to better produce food, then we have the key to success. Perhaps it's best if we work together to meet these ends.

"All right, I need seven of you to take the hunting tools we've produced and go hunting."
[roll0]
[roll1]

"Forty three of you gather some more fruit, please. Hopefully we'll have enough food to get us through the week so we can figure out how to keep it stocked." (Two PFP)
[roll2]
[roll3]

"Cooper, you and your apprentices get to work on more spears. We'll need some more for hunting"
[roll4]
[roll5]

"Fifteen of you, gather more construction materials. We'll need them."
[roll6]
[roll7]

"The other twenty of you, see if you can figure out a way to create farmland. We can hopefully produce tools to better use it, but for now, we need food."
[roll8]
[roll9]

"As for you, Mr. Panda Devil sir, if you could provide a building large enough to shelter our population, that would be magnificent. If not, farming tools would be great. Or perhaps a farm itself."

The other players receive an e-mail
From: Woodsman
To: Alth Falath, Dresil, and Greystone
Subject: Food production
It has come to my attention that food production is likely going to be our key obstacle. After all, if we can find a steady way of producing food without having to gather it constantly, we can spend time on other things. Perhaps it's best if we work together to figure this out.
I'm currently attempting to produce farmland, as is another of us, I believe. Should this work, I'll be sure to let you know. In the mean time, let's all try to get through this together until we're secure.

[Alth Falath]

So...rather then watching everyone else fail, here's a quick summary of how to gain food, rather then bleed it every turn.
I calculated the statistics of production for x people, which comes out to (7x+7)/12 for the average. So....no matter how many x you use, you end up losing out, with 1 exception. If you make each person work individually, you get 7/6 times your population. It's counter-intuitive, but it works.

[Woodsman]

So...rather then watching everyone else fail, here's a quick summary of how to gain food, rather then bleed it every turn.
I calculated the statistics of production for x people, which comes out to (7x+7)/12 for the average. So....no matter how many x you use, you end up losing out, with 1 exception. If you make each person work individually, you get 7/6 times your population. It's counter-intuitive, but it works.

Either you're a genius, or the Panda devil is going to punish you for such insolence.

Either way, that's still a far cry from the kind of infinite food production I'm talking about.

[Alth Falath]

And that's why I'm growing corn soon enough.
Edit: Also statistics classes have made me a far more terrifying player.

[Sliver]

The Panda Devil looks up from his GBA "Well, the benefit of working together is that you can use favors to increase the total score. If each works on his own then it doesn't work... Did you take favors into account, statistics man?"

"Oh, Woodsman, you can only train them one level at a time..."

"Also, you two may consider offering something for a pie, I heard those are good..."

[Alth Falath]

Fair enough, I factored in Panda Favors (called Fp in my equation)
n = constant bonus to worker rolls
*Based on assumption that if production rolls over 100, it still counts as double. Otherwise, it's bad to add favor
Production = (235+15Fp)/200
Average workers = [(x+1)+2n]/2
So, average production for a worker x =
(235+15Fp)(x+1+2n)/400

Worked out maths

Production
(33-5Fp)/100 * 1/2 = Roll that grants 1/2 production
33/100 = Roll that grants regular production, shift = no change in odds
(34+5Fp)/100 * 2 = (68+10Fp)/100 = Roll that grants double production
So, the sum of that is
(235+15Fp)/200
Workers
Average die roll = (x+1)/2 (+1 factors in the factor that it goes 1 to x)
Constant addition n
Simplifies to (x+1+2n)/2
Production per worker = Production * Workers

[Dresil]

"You're using that computer for math? I was just reading webcomics. Hehe, 1d4+1 sheets to the wind."

[Sliver]

"Of course there is a benefit to going over a hundred. You'll do it all the time soon enough... What kind of a horrible panda you think I am?" Panda Devil pokes Alth with an axe and gives it to Dresil "You can keep that."

PD coughs "Yeah, I just don't want to tell you what the bonus is... For now."

[Alth Falath]

I'm an engineer, we list our assumptions on principle. What is the minimum number of people needed to use Panda points, and is the extra bonus for going over 100 something like X times the roll, or is it something along the lines of "you also find 3 cows hanging out?"

[Sliver]

"You can use Panda Points whenever you like... Just using a favor on a single fisher seems wasteful, don't you agree? As for going over a hundred? A little bit of both. Didn't think anyone would go over so early so I didn't prepare the party yet. Don't you want pie?"

[Alth Falath]

I'll offer 5 units of fish for a meat pie.

[Woodsman]

"I can actually buy a pie. With unrefined gold, though. Perhaps I should work on that..."