Large Scale Darkon-esque Campaign in Wisconsin

[Aerhok]

Hey everybody! First of all, let me introduce myself... my name is Aerhok (Ryan in real life) and I used to foam fight about 2 years ago. I went to spring war with you guys in 2005 and came to a few practices. I got out of foam fighting when I went to school, but I am done in about a month and have started getting back into it. Myself and a few other interested people are going to start a Norse Viking themed group in the Baraboo area. I'm looking forward to making it up to Madison for a couple of practices with you guys.

While in college, I created a small business called Lupine Productions. With it, I have coordinated and hosted a couple airsoft (military simulation game much like paintball) events and would like to expand into other games like foam fighting. In 2008, I plan on trying to grow the foam fighting / medieval combat following in Wisconsin and try to get some decent sized games going up in our area.

A project I have begun working on has been the creation and coordinating of a large scale campaign based on the boffer/foam fighting combat rules. I used to run a campaign like this at my old gaming store for the MechWarrior tabletop strategy game and it was a lot of fun. I enjoy Belegarth, but I am hoping to create something more than just hitting people with foam weapons... I'm hoping to add in a nice storyline, a touch of LARP (experience, ongoing items, character advancement, etc) without getting too in depth with the rules, a little bit of "big picture" strategy like Risk, and a ruleset closely related to Belegarth. A perfect example of something I would like to coordinate is Darkon, currently being held in another state (www.darkon.org) which had a documentary filmed about it that airs on IFC on November 12th (www.darkonthemovie.com). I am not planning on having classes and races (like Amtgard or Darkon), just skills and abilities players with a focus on full contact combat instead of light touch LARP.

I am only in the preliminary stages of making this but I would love feedback from you guys, the foam fighters in Madison. I am brainstorming with numerous creative resources around Wisconsin to come up with a ruleset and game system and the more ideas and feedback the better.

Here are a couple of things that will most likely be in this game series...
- Emphasis on realistic combat; if you can swing a red, swing a red... If you want to wear chainmail, wear chainmail... a skill/class doesn't allow you to use a certain kind of weapon, you do
- Human race only instead of numerous fantasy races like elves, dwarves, etc... or perhaps a more Tolkein-esque setting where humans are dominant and elves and dwarves are rare, etc.
- Experience points awarded for attending events
- Skills purchased with experience points that give bonuses to your characters abilities... examples are repair (mend armor and shields) and first aid (heal others and get them back into the fight)
- No magic or limited magic system... possibly an "Offensive magic" skill (throw rocks that wound) and a "defensive magic" skill (heal others) system... no detail D&D-styled spells or cumbersome magic
- No classes... you define your character and the skills he can use, much like the system used in the MMORPG Ultima Online
- Realms (like teams) that can form and develop a unique history within the storyline
- Wage war on, make alliances with, or backstab other countries; the choice is yours
- Monthly tactical moves that allow your realm to conquer a virtual map; the more land and resources you acquire, the stronger your realm becomes.
- Events scheduled as Battles (to resolve combat actions between warring armies for that month) or Adventures (storyline games that players can participate and roleplay in... example of this could be a small adventure revolving around defending a town against an orc horde and helping them move supplies to other places, etc).
- A definite place for any style of medieval enthusiast; fighters, tradesmen, even roleplayers and politicians.
- An in-game economy and currency system for players to barter and purchase certain items/resources
- And more...

Now, some questions for you guys...

1) Is this something you guys would be interested in participating in if it was created in Wisconsin?

2) If you could create a game that was just like belegarth but had more to it, what would it be that you would like to see implemented?

3) What other ideas for a large-scale conquest style game would you like to see?

4) What other thoughts ideas do you have about this?

I appreciate everyone that takes the time to read this enormous post and any comments/ideas/opinions that spring up from it. I'm very serious about getting this thing off the ground, but the more feedback now will help in the long run.

Thanks!
Aerhok

[Sir Beauregaurd]

seems cool, but i really like the simplicity of fights in belegarth. i fight you, i win or lose, repeat. I think that once a month "events" are too often to get a good solid turnout. maybe go every month and take off the dec, jan , and feb for weather. or everyother month.

What about an indoor location for winter. and also rules are very critical, i would suggest keeping it as simple as possible.

[Aerhok]

Exactly, the simple rule set for Belegarth is great for fast paced combat and that will most likely be transferred over. That is why there won't be classes and complex magic systems, but a K.I.S.S. style rule set meant to keep the game going.

Darkon seems to be doing very well, and as a player of Belegarth I've always yearned for something "more" than just beating each other with foam. I'm hoping to catch that spark of interest and involvement in both the fighters and support people like armorers, weaponsmiths, and roleplayers.

EDIT: As for the indoor games in the winter, they probably will not count for the campaign. Right now I play airsoft (which has mechanical equipment that fails in the cold and goggles that fog up and make it hard to see) and we still play in the winter. I personally would love to run around in the snow and foam fight, so I think that will probably happen often in the winter months. As for the once a month games, the reason why I am leaning towards this is because each realm/team will get a certain number of moves on a virtual map per month. If that move puts them into contact with another country or some random force, they have to play out that battle. And this wouldn't be a single game located in Madison, but an ongoing campaign with numerous locations being played out throughout the state. I've already secured the Fairchild, WI airsoft field for foam fighting events (near Eau Claire) and the Apocalypse Paintball field (in Poynette... they have a giant medieval castle to play on!!) and will try to coordinate with others as well.

Thanks for the feedback/ideas/opinions... it is much appreciated!

[Kyrian]

Another way of approaching this is to maybe develop a 24, 36, or 48-hour campaign (CTF or some other variant perhaps) where people would be responsible for maintaining base security throughout the entire campaign. It totally changes your approach to battle when you have to maintain security and somehow keep your people rested and properly supplied. You could even expand it to having to maintain and protect supply lines.

As far as the safety of night battles, there are a few ways you might approach them:

1) Don't have them at all. All campaign activity shuts down at dark.
2) Have torches or lights for people to battle in specific areas only.
3) Give everyone chemlite necklaces and make sure everyone understands only to swing below the necklace.

Needless to say, incorporating a strategic element to Belegarth battles can be a real challenge. From when I tried to do it, the biggest thing issue is making sure people aren't sitting around waiting for something to do and communicating the rules of specific scenarios such as a convoy ambush or swamp attack. If you'd like to see some of the ideas I had, let me know and I'll post them here.

[Aerhok]

Belegarth is kind of like paintball.... quick battles in small areas that are "reset" when they are done. Airsoft, on the other hand, has large scale games that play out all day with real objectives over a large plot of land, wounded players are healed by a medic or walk back to base to respawn. This is the style I would like to build on and see if there is enough interest in it.

Kyrian,
I would very much like to see what you had worked on before, if at all possible!

[Kyrian]

Be warned...there's a lot of detail in the upcoming post...

My whole intent with this was to try and introduce a strategic element to our battles and come up with terrain-based scenarios that could reflect potential "real-life" situations.

Great War Campaign
Sequence of events.
1) Strategists make their moves on the campaign map.
2) Contested hexes are identified by strategists and game marshal.
3) Field marshal will announce the scenario and any scenario-specific rules.
4) As the battle progresses, the side marshals will indicate when a team may enter the battlefield. The corresponding banner will then be raised.
5) Once a side wins the scenario, the campaign map will be updated and the strategists will move the teams again. If neither side wins (simo or nomads win the scenario), then both teams will move off the hex.

General information
-The campaign will take place on Saturday afternoon.
-Marshals reserve the right to modify the rules as needed to insure a smooth-flowing game.
-These rules, as posted on the board, are the final draft. The finished copies of the rules will be available will be available at Troll and will supersede these posted ones.
-All organization will be done on the realm level.-The two core realms will be determined by realm meat grinder on Friday.
-Remaining realms will be divided equally into small, medium, and large realms.
-Core realms will randomly pick other realms to fight for them.-Each side will be differentiated via red and blue headbands.
-Marshals may rebalance sides if needed.
-Each side will be divided into a maximum of 5 teams composed of one or more realms. Once a team has been formed, realms may not be shifted to a different team. Teams on each side will be represented by banners indicating the team color and number (I through V).
Objective
-Two sides vie for control of 4 out of the five strategic points on the campaign hex map for one turn.
-Winner of campaign determined by success or failure on the battlefield.
-Opportunity for realms to fight together.
 
Campaign Map.
-Campaign map consists of a series of hexes with the different terrain or missions.
-Five strategic points on the map. The strategists will move their teams on the map to try and hold the strategic points.
-The outcome of each battle will be determined by a single fight.When teams from both sides land on the same hex, the teams will fight to determine who wins control of the hex.
-If a side loses, then they will move back to one of the adjacent hexes (with forward movement being towards the enemy starting point).
-Each side will be allowed 4 actions per turn.
–Moving a team one hex is one action.
–Combining or splitting teams count as 2 actions. Moving combined teams requires that number of actions, i.e., moving a group consisting of 3 teams requires 3 actions.
--To combine teams, both teams must be in the same hex

Roles
•Strategist
–Strategist determines movement of units on the campaign map
–Will not fight in battles
–May divide their side into a max of 5 teams. A team must consist of a minimum of one realm. A realm cannot be subdivided amongst several teams. Note: There is no way to win the campaign without dividing a side into at least four teams.
– 
•War Commander
–Leads teams in battle
–Cannot be the same person as the strategist.
– 
Realm battle leaders
–All realms will designate a realm battle leader.-Determined by realm.
–Interactions between the War Commander and supporting realms should be via realm battle leaders.
 
Nomads
–Nomads-Wolfpack fighters-designated with white headbands
–No affiliation
–Will attack both sides and will NOT ally.
–Random encounters-Strategists will draw cards to determine if nomads will appear.
–If the nomads should win an encounter, then neither side can occupy that hex during that action.
 
•Reinforcements
–In fighting for a hex, the teams that are currently in the hex begin fighting.
Depending on the scenario, there may be a messenger beacon at each side’s starting location. In order to get the rest of their reinforcements immediately, a side must get to the opposite beacon. As soon as the beacon is reached, all the other teams on that side may enter the field. If a side is unable to reach the beacon, the other teams will enter the field after a certain time period based on their distance from the contested hex.

Four marshals minimum will be needed. Each will have a radio.
One monitoring the campaign map(s) with the Strategists (That will most likely be me.)
One as the center marshal announcing the different battles and scenario-specific rules
Two--one on each of the sides’ starting lines to indicate when each team would be able to enter the battle.

As soon as the Strategists have made their moves, the marshal by the campaign map would radio the battle type to the other marshals to include in what sequence the teams would be entering the battlefield.
Example:
Campaign map marshal over radio: “The next battle will be a swamp battle. Red side will be Teams 1,3,2, 4,5. Blue will be Teams 2,3,4,5,1.”
Center marshal announces to field: “The next battle will be a swamp. No reusable missiles. No running.”
Red side marshal over radio: “Red Teams 1, 3, 2, 4, 5 confirm.”
Blue side marshal over radio: “Blue teams 2, 3, 4, 5, 1 confirm.“

Side marshals will not announce what the sequence of teams will be to the sides, only when the it’s a team’s turn to enter

–Swamp: No running and no reusable missile weapons [NOTE: This didn't work out very well as it took too long for people to get to each other to fight]

–Plain: Regular field battle

–Caravan: Defenders have a start point and end point to which they must safely carry supplies. The attackers may attack the defenders at any point along the route.

–Mountain top: Defenders start out completely surrounded by the attackers. No missile weapons due to the high winds.

–Crossroads (chaos bridge battle): Defenders start at the intersection of all the roads. The attackers may line up on any or all of the roads.

–River/bridge crossing: There are three bridges crossing over a contested river. Fighters wearing only extremity armor or no armor may wade (walk on knees) or swim (crawl on hands and knees). Swimming fighters must not have any shields or weapons in their hands while crossing the river. However, they are immune to missile weapons. Fighters wearing head and/or torso armor may only use the bridges to cross.

-Beach assault (something similar to the beach assault in “Troy”)
Objective: Attackers must carry flag past the defenders’ starting line.
Attackers’ transport cannot reach the beach due to shallows. Must use small boats and attempt to establish beachhead.
PVC boats
-Rowers: One hand to hold boat (row) and other to hold shield
-Max of four rowers. If there are 4 rowers, fighters in boat may run. If less than 4, then fighters can only walk.
-Rowers and fighters may be engaged by missile weapons while traveling to shore. Rowers may not hold the boat higher than their waists. Any missiles hitting under the PVC will not count.
Defenders cannot melee engage until beachhead established; however may engage with missile weapons once attacking boats are in range of shore emplacements (designated archer line).
Once the first wave of boats has landed and dropped off its passengers, defenders can melee. Defender reinforcements will be timed.

Need to lay out these scenarios in advance.
Caravan-Cones, no beacons
Beach assault-Cones/ropes, no beacons
Crossroads-Cones/ropes, no beacons
River/bridge crossing/ropes, no beacons

==============================================

The selection of realms was done using playing cards and actually went pretty smoothly--realms were divided by size, grouped together, and dealt to each side --and the sides ended up fairly balanced. The biggest issue, as I had mentioned before, was getting the word out and keeping track of what moves were being made on the strategic map.

Due to time (and complexity quite honestly) we ended up only running a few of the actual scenarios: the field battle, the mountain top, and the swamp. From what I could tell, the field battles looked like the most fun. It was quite exhilarating watching the reinforcements run in at their allotted time. There would be a loud roar and you would see the battle balance shift.

The mountain top was challenging but it took a lot of time (I believe there were almost 300 people on the field at the time) to get everyone where they needed to be.

[Aerhok]

Awesome rule set. I had something similar to this in mind for larger event campaign battles, but nothing this in depth.