Persistent World Mod for Mount & Blade: Warband

0 comments by Rajiska on Feb 21st, 2013

• Background

In 1187, the Sultan of Egypt, Salah-al-Din, otherwise known as Saladin, was looking to reclaim territories that his ancestors almost a hundred years back had lost during the First Crusade, where Christian forces urged by the Pope, Urban II, went to capture the Holy Land, including the city of Jerusalem. This city was important for both religions. For Christianity, it was where Jesus was crucified and killed by the Romans. For Islam, it is the acension of the prophet Muhammed to heaven. Which is why Saladin, in 1187, fought to recapture the Holy Land from the "Infidels" and he decisvely defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin, which was the beginning of the end of Christian hold on Jerusalem. The Sultan later captured the city in a siege and pushed the Crusaders to their strongholds such as Tyre and Krak Des Chevaliers, the latter a mighty castle, unlike any other in the Medieval world.
In light of this "invasion" on the Holy Land, the new Pope, Gregory VIII, called for a Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem in 1187, after hearing of the defeat at Hattin. The King of England, Henry II, and the King of France, Philippe II, declared a truce to lead a Crusade against Saladin. Frederick Barbarossa also responded to the call to arms, and led a massive German Crusading force to the Holy Land, through the Byzantine Empire, but Barbarossa drowned in the Saleph River, modern day Göksu river. Being impatient, he had decided to walk his horse through the river instead of crossing the bridge that had been too crowded with troops. The current was too strong for the horse to handle, and his suit armor was too heavy for him to swim in: both were swept away and drowned. Some of Frederick's men put him in a barrel of vinegar to preserve his body.
With Frederick's death, the Holy Roman Empire crusade broke up. Meanwhile, back in Europe, Henry II died and was succeded by his son, Richard the Lionheart and, although he disliked Philippe bitterely, they agreed to work together to capture Jerusalem and the Holy Land. However, while Philippe had sailed away to besiege Acre, Richard's fleet got seperated in a storm, half of his fleet trapped with him near Rhodes, the other half containing his new wife, Berengaria, and his sister, Joanna, near Cyprus, led by the power-hungry Issac Komnenos. Richard regrouped his fleet at Cyprus and fought a short war with Isaac to control Cyprus. Richard emerged victorious and took Isaac's young sister, Anna, as an honoured hostage. During Richard's war in Cyprus, Philippe demanded that Richard come to Acre, but Richard ignored him, making the relationship between them grow worse.
Richard did, evantually come to Acre and together with Philippe, captured the city of Acre. It was here that they was an arguement, and Philippe lost this arguement with Richard. It was about how the city of Acre should be divided. Philippe wanted French Crusaders to control most of the city, but Richard disagreed, saying that the English should have most of it because they had captured the city. So Philippe sailed away with most of his French Crusaders. Some decided to stay and fight with Richard. Yet Jerusalem was far away, many battles would be fought to decide the fate of the Holy Land.

• What is it ?

Welcome folks. Some of you may have heard of this campaign already.
Here some eye candy for you :  www.youtube.com/watch?v=amdXTSVDGgE
What is it ?

The campaign overview

The campaign will be based off on the Third crusade in 1189

This will be a historical stage with a few historical leaders (French and English lords ) but it's mostly for the RP effect
We will provide up to date  interactive map so the leaders could see how far they are from Jerusalem
And this map represent a rough and simplified campaign map divided by religion
Dl.dropbox.com
Red for catholics, purple for orthodox and Green for muslims.
It's essentially a tabletop roleplay. Where the lords are the players, their advisors are NPC, and the fighters are the  sword-fodder. 

What the goal ?

The goal is for the crusader company to reach Jerusalem guarantee the free passage for christian pilgrim. 
The campaign can be finished in 4 weeks if the crusade win every single battle. But eventually defeat may slow them down.

How it will be played ?
The game will be divided in 2 parts :

1. RP (Roleplay ) session on saturday evening which are designed for decision meeting for the leaders of the crusader.
They will take decision which define their road to Jerusalem and how they will get to their.
This part will be moderated and over watched by game admins.

2. The battle part on sunday afternoon which will be a the fighting part and where crusaders will decide if they go trough or not.
Clear objectives will define. And at the end we will call for a defeat, a minor victory, a major victory. Using the objective system.

You can see a raw footage of a battle here : youtube.com/watch?v=amdXTSVDGgE

How will it be balanced ?

We will make some design choice, while retaining some historical accuracy.
However, players decision or battle result may lead to have unbalanced battle for one side or another. As defeat and logistic may cripple the crusader army, the Saracens are likely to increase in strength as the crusader get close to the holy land.
All battle will not be balanced, but in the end player's skills, and tactics may do the difference even if a bad decision was taken.

• Strategic Map & Gameplay

Strategic map

Dl.dropbox.com
Each week on Saturday, the lords must agree on a decision about what to do and where to go. If they don't the default order is "hold position".
They can decide to go to the next territory on land or on sea (if they have ship).

If they didn't negotiate free passage they will fight against the owner of the land, orthodox or Muslim. The crusaders will choose the best attack plan which will change the map layout before the event.
Attack plans :

- Sea assault
- Land assault
- Land siege & blockade
- Pass trough to the next territory
Sea assault :
Use the naval force to set up a force invasion using the city docks.
Land assault :
Prepare a siege camp and attack the outer walls.
Land siege and blockage :
Aim to starve the enemy city. The crusaders may have to find supplies as well to hold longer than the defenders. Land or naval raids for supply can be organised.
Pass trough to the next territory
The crusaders pass trough without attacking the city. They won't have to suffer from the loss of an attack but won't get any supplies or loots from the city and have to travel to the next territory on their own supply.
They may have to face the enemy army to leave the territory anyway.

Logistics :

This point is extremely important, the spending in supplies for the travel have to be carefully planned.

There are indicator of "manpower" in %  and wargear level.
Gear is divided in 4 level, from "milita wargear" to "Knightly wargear"

1. The crusader army start at 100% manpower with level 2 wargear.
2. Depending of the left manpower and the gear level picked, the travel will consume an amount of supplies point.
3. If there is not enough supply. The army will become starved and start loosing effectiveness and gear level( Turn the horse into food, leave the heavy gear behind ect... )

When an army got a manpower %  below the opponent, the players ratio start to change from balanced to stacked
Instead of having 50  Vs 50 we can have 45 vs 55  for exemple.

• RP System

The RP system is very simple. We will have a meeting in a castle during 2H. Issues concerning the campaign will be addressed, and lords will have to agree on this.

Players will have to pick up roles. Please show up if you promise to come. From a week from another, the roles will be distributed once again for the next RP meeting but the one playing the role first will be prioritized.

During the RP meeting, players surrounding the lords may have special assets/skills to use. For example, a merchant will have exclusive contact that he may or may not use to help the lord.

• RP Roles

Leadership:
Lord (French or English)
Marshall ( 2nd in command)
Capitain (3rd in command )

Support:
Quartermaster
Navigator

Negotiation :
Bishop/Priest
Merchant

RP roles :
Wife (of any roles) 
Waiter/waitress
Servants

[Suggest more] 

• Registration & Link

You can register to one of these roles and see our official forum thread at forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,264294.0.html .