[D'rek]

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms - Chapter 3: The Rise of Heroes



In the last days of the Han Empire's authority, when men of worth still sought to serve the Empire at the capital in Chang'an, there was an auspicious meeting between ______, the Imperial Protector, ______, Imperial Inspector of Yizhou, and First Field Marshal _______.

That morning, while the Imperial Protector was watering his plants, two of the Field Marshal's generals led a score of men into the garden, summoning the Imperial Protector to the garden of the Field Marshal. There, a smiling ________ greeted the Imperial Protector, as well as, _______, Imperial Inspector of Yizhou, who had also just arrived. "I was admiring the plums on the branch," the Field Marshal remarked, "and having some wine just heated, I decided to invite Your Lordships for a drink at this little pavilion."

The wine had enlivened their spirits when dark clouds appeared and overspread the heavens: a flash storm was threatening. An attendant pointed to what seemed like a distant dragon suspend on the horizon. The three men leaned against the balcony and watched it.

"Do my lords understand the dragon's multiform manifestations?" asked the Field Marhsal of the guests.

"Not in great detail," the Protector replied.

"The dragon," he continued, "can enlarge and diminish itself, surge aloft or lie beneath the surface of the water. Enlarged, it creates clouds and spews mist. Diminished, it can veil its scaly form from view. Aloft, it prances triumphant in the upper realm of space. Under the surface, it lurks among the surging breakers. Now in the fullness of spring it mounts the season, like men who would fulfill an ambition to dominate the length and breadth of the land. In this respect the dragon can well be compared to the heroes of the age. You gentlemen have traveled widely and surely must be familiar with the great heroes of our time. Please try and point them our for me."

"How can these eyes of mine sight heroes?" the Protector said. "Set your modesty aside," the Field Marshal urged. "Thanks to His Excellency's gracious benefaction," the Inspector responded, "We each have succeeded in serving the dynasty. But as for the heroes of the realm, such things are more than we would know of." "Even if you do not know any personally," the Field Marshal persisted, "you should at least have heard of some."

"Yuan Shu of Huainan?" the Imperial Protector ventured. "His warriors are first rate, his provisions abundant. Would he be one?"

"Yuan Shao, then," the Imperial Inspector suggested. "For four generations the Yuans have held highest office and many officials served under them. Shao has a firm grip on Jizhou, where he is supported by capable men. Would you count him?"

The Protector asked, "And how would you rate Liu Biao, a paragon whose reputation stretches across the realm?"

"There is Sun Ce," the Inspector suggested. "The leader of the Southland is in his prime."

"Though he wanders with no lord or army, Lu Bu is still a fearless warrior who can ride a thousand li in a single day and slaughter a dozen men before dismounting. No man can match his prowess, what greater hero could there be?"

"Cao Cao has many fine officers and administers Chen Liu with a strict and efficient government."

"Fan Chou has taken over the armies of the fallen villains Dong Zhuo, Li Jue and Guo Si and none dare match the strength of his armies," the Protector said, "surely he is a hero."

"Zhang Lu has administrated the dangerous region of Hanzhong for years and has mastered many of the mystical arts of the great Taoist sages, surely he is a formidable hero!" proclaimed the Inspector.

"Liu Bei is an imperial uncle and a benevolent leader to all his officers and people. When displaced, entire towns give up their livelihood to follow him to his next settlement. How can such exemplary virtue not be worthy of the title of hero?"

"Since Dong Zhuo's demise, the Zhangs Ji and Xiu have recruited many of Dong's former officers," the Inspector ventured, "perhaps they could be heroes?"

"There is Dong Cheng," the Imperial Protector put in, "he is a noble man, of the Empress' lineage and serves the realm with virtue and justice."

"Yan Baihu's fleet knows no equal across the entire Great River," suggested the Inspector. "To clash with him upon the water is to lose. Would he be a hero?"

"Liu Zhang," the Protector said, "perhaps he could be considered."

"Then," the Inspector continued "what about the great generals Yang Feng, Han Sui and Ma Teng of the west, the Gongsuns Zan and Du of the far north, Lu Kang and Wang Lang of the south-east?" "Or," added the Protector, "the Imperial-appointed Governors Tao Qian, Kong Rong, Liu Yao, Liu Dai, Zhang Yang, Jin Xuan, Zhao Fan, Han Xuan, and Liu Du? Each of these men has ample land, valiant officers and could raise an army at a moment's notice."

"Truly," said the Protector, "I can think of no one else." The Imperial Inspector agreed.

"Mediocrities, one and all," declared the Field Marshal. "Now, what defines a hero is this...

[D'rek]

Game Specifics Rules and Mechanics:


Days are 40 hours. Nights are 0 hours.

There are numerous factions within the game. Each and every faction's goal is to be the last faction standing. All players who survive and are part of the winning faction, or who died while they were part of the winning faction, will win. The last 3 factions alive will be the "Three Kingdoms" and will continue to feature in future games (Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Ce's factions in actual history). The winning faction will be the most dominant of the 3 (Cao Cao in history).




Influences:

The inclusion of roles and their personalities are based off of a combination of true historical accounts and their novelization in the book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (or just "Three Kingdoms" in the Moss Roberts translation, which is awesome). An easy list of personnages and factions from the 3-Kingdoms era can be found on this wikipedia page. Though it is certainly not required, if you want to read the (mediocrely-translated) novel, you can at the wikisource page (only has up to chapter 12, out of 120). (A complete and better translation is the Moss Roberts one, but you'd have to buy that!)

The events that transpired in the last Rot3K games (Mafia 50: the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and Mafia 51: the Tyranny of Dong Zhuo) may also be slightly relevent, especially as to the inclusion/exclusion of some characters. For example, Li Jue and Guo Si died in Mafia 51, so they will not appear in this game. Don't get too worked up about it, though, it's pretty minor.




Factions, Reveals and Referencing Mods:

There are several factions, all of them merc-factions. Every faction has one faction leader. All subordinates know their faction leader. Factions continue beyond the death of the faction leader, but no one takes over as a new faction leader or gains any of the former leaders abilities.

You can reveal whatever you like. The opening scene provides an extensive list of just about every half-notable warlord I could think of, in case you want to fake reveal. There are no factions other than those bolded in the opening scene.

You can quote or claim whatever you want in regards to role PMs, messages from PS, etc. (Historical example: Cao Cao had Xu Shu's mother's handwriting forged to summon him to the capital and get him away from Liu Bei)




Personalities and Night-Abilities:

Each army is commanded by an officer - either a Leader or a subordinate - and every officer has an assigned personality: either Offensive, Defensive or Tactical.

For subordinate officers, the personality determines what abilities their army can do at night:
-Offensive officers can Kill at night
-Defensive officers can Guard at night
-Tactical officers can Find at night

Officers that are faction Leaders still have personalities, but have their own unique night actions.

The results of every successful action are reported to the player that performed the action and to that player's faction leader at the end of night. Unsuccessful actions will receive no report at the end of night.




Army Size:

Each player corresponds to an army, and the size (also skill, experience, etc but I'll just keep saying 'size') of the army functions as a power level of the player.

-All players begin with an army size of 1.
-For every successful night action, you gain +1 army size
-Some leaders, once higher-ranked, may be able to boost the army size of their subordinates.

Hostile night actions (hostile = pretty much anything except Heal) will not succeed if the army performing the action is smaller than its target.

Any hostile night actions performed where the two armies are the same size will succeed depending on the personality of the officers commanding the armies:

-Offensive succeeds against Defensive, but fails against Tactical
-Defensive succeeds against Tactical, but fails against Offensive
-Tactical succeeds against Offensive, but fails against Defensive

Performing a hostile action against an army of the same size commanded by an officer of the same type will fail, but reduces the target's Army Size by 1.




Ranks:

Every few intervals of army size has different ranks associated with it. All promotions are announced on thread with the officer's name and new rank (but not the army name or faction, no worries). There are no demotions even if you lose army size.

Faction Leaders:
1-3.......... Warlord
4-6.......... Governor
7-9.......... Duke
10-12...... King
13+......... Emperor

Offensive Subordinates:
1-3.......... Warrior
4-6.......... Captain
7-9.......... Imperial Corps Commander
10-12...... General (repeats every 3 - at 13, 16, 19, etc)

Defensive Subordinates:
1-3.......... Guard
4-6.......... Garrison Commander
7-9.......... District Commander
10-12...... Prefect (repeats every 3)

Tactical Subordinates:
1-3.......... Scholar
4-6.......... Advisor
7-9.......... Director
10-12...... Minister (repeats every 3)




Order of Actions:

All Faction Leaders' friendly actions are performed first, then subordinates' actions, and lastly Faction Leaders' hostile actions.

For hostile actions, they are performed in the order in which they were submitted to the mods. With that in mind, provisional actions are not allowed. If you change targets, your previous place in the order is removed and your action is added to the end of the line.

Guard actions may be submitted in advance for any future night, Finds can be submitted up to 2 days in advance, and Kills must be submitted on the day before they would occur.

Lastly, no player can be recruited twice in the same night - the first successful Recruit action on a player in a night will prevent any others on that same player during that night.

This post has been edited by Path-Shaper: 05 February 2010 - 10:55 PM

[D'rek]

Your standard ME Mafia rules:

1 - General Structure
Players may begin posting as soon as the mods announce that the game has started on the thread. The game begins during the day. The day ends when when a sufficient number of people have voted to lynch a player (remove that player from the game) or voted to end the day without a lynch. Many games also have time limits on the days, and if no consensus is reached when the time expires, the day ends with no lynch (36 hours is the time limit for the present game). When the day phase has ended, night begins. The mods will then post a scene reporting the outcome of the day. Players may continue posting in the thread (unless they've been voted out) but no voting is allowed. Night ends when the mods post the morning scene reporting the outcome of the night actions. Day and night phases continue to alternate until the game ends.

2 - Day Phase
During the day, players may post in the thread and vote. Some roles may have special powers which can be used during the day.

2.1 - Voting Mechanics
To vote for a player: bold that player's name.
To vote to end the day without a lynch: bold the word night.
To change your vote: bold the other player's name (or bold night).
To remove your vote without casting a new vote: bold the phrase remove vote.

2.2 - Voting Restrictions
You may only vote during the day phase. You can only have one vote outstanding at any time. You may not edit a vote into a post. You may not edit a vote out of a post.

2.3 - Bold Restrictions
The use of bold should be limited to voting. If you want to emphasize a players name or another word, you can underline the word or post using a different color

2.4 - Majority Defined
A majority means either more than half of the active players voting for one player's lynch or half or more of the active players voting to go to night without a lynch.

2.5 - Ending the Day
The day ends as soon as a majority is reached (or, if the game has a day time limit and the players fail to achieve a majority, once the time limit has elapsed). Anyone lynched is no longer an active player and must not post in the thread. Votes can no longer be withdrawn and new votes cannot be cast until the night phase ends.

2.6 - Evening Scene
The mods will post a scene shortly after the day ends to report the results of the day actions. If the day ended with a player's lynch, the mods might also reveal information about the lynched player, such as the player's alt or alignment. This is the mods' choice, and they'll explain what, if any, information will be revealed in the game rules. There are no hidden clues in the evening scenes.

3 - Night Phase
During the night, players may post in the thread but may not vote. Some players will have the ability to perform special actions. Once again, the mods decide which roles will be included for their game, so be sure to fully read the game rules and any role descriptions which may be included.

3.1 - Performing a Night Action
If your role includes the ability to perform a special action at night, you need to PM the mods to indicate the action you wish to take. Most, if not all, roles have the ability to "withhold" their powers (i.e. take no action). This will be made clear to the roled players, and, usually, to all other players as well. If you chose to not perform your allowed action, you must PM "no action" to the mods. Most games have a time limit on nights (12 hours is the time limit for the present game). All players must PM their night actions to the mods within this timeframe. Players are strongly encouraged to send their night actions as soon as possible. You may also send in a PM for your special action during the day phase, this is very strongly encouraged.

3.2 - Contingent PM
If you send in a PM during the day phase, you may choose to list alternative actions contingent on the manner in which the day ended. If none of the contingencies you list actually occur, your PM will be disregarded, and you must send a new PM to the mods (example: if Meanas is lynched I kill Kaschan, otherwise I kill Hood's Path).

3.3 - Provisional PM
You may choose to send a provisional PM if you want to further consider your night action but do not want to extend the night if all other roled players have decided upon their actions. Provisional PMs must be clearly marked as such. A provisional PM will not be acted upon by the mods until it becomes a 'definite PM.' A provisional PM becomes definite as soon as ( a ) you confirm your choice with another PM, ( b ) all other roled players that need to send night actions have done so, or ( c ) the time limit for the night has expired.

As a courtesy to other players we ask that you confirm your provisional PM as soon as you are able.

3.4 - Last Resort PM
In extraordinary circumstances you may be allowed to send in a last resort PM. A last resort PM will not be acted upon by the mods until ( a ) you confirm your choice with another PM or ( b ) the time limit for the night has expired. Should you need to send a last resort PM, you must first seek the mods approval by explaining the circumstances that necessitate such a PM. Last resort PMs are accepted only at the discretion of the mods.

3.5 - Failure to PM
If not all PMs are received within the time limit, everyone who has failed to send in a PM will be considered to have taken no action. In addition, those who failed to send in a PM will be warned by the mods or may risk further penalties.

3.6 - Changing a Night Action
PMs to the mod can be changed at any point before the new day is announced. A PM is considered to be changed only after the mod receives and has read the PM. The player bears the risk that the mod will post the morning scene after the player has sent in a new PM but before the mod has actually read it.

3.7 - Abusing the Time Limit
If the mods have included a night time limit, it begins as soon as the previous day ended, regardless of when the mods posted the evening scene. However, this time limit is a maximum limit, and all players should send in PMs as soon as they feel comfortable doing so. Players (and mods) prefer shorter nights, as people are anxious to see who may have died and to begin voting again. If the mods feel that a player is abusing the time limit by unreasonably stalling, they may force the player to take no night action or take other appropriate action.

3.8 Preventing Night Actions
Except where expressly noted, no night actions prevent any other night actions sent in from taking effect.

3.9 - Morning Scene
The night phase ends when the mods post the morning scene. The mods will post the scene shortly after all night action PMs have been received. The scene will report any player deaths that occurred during the night, and might also reveal information about the lynched player, such as the player's alt or alignment. There are no hidden clues in the morning scenes. As soon as the scene is posted any players who have been killed at night will no longer be active players and can no longer post in the thread. The time limit for the new day will begin with the morning scene.

Section 4 - Endgame
The game will continue to alternate between day and night phases until the game ends. The game can end after either a day or night phase.

4.1 - Winning Conditions
The game ends once one faction has reached its winning conditions, which the mods have stated

Mafia is a team game. Once one faction achieves its winning conditions, all members of that faction have won whether or not they are active players when the winning conditions are achieved.

4.2 - Ending Scene
The mods will post an ending scene and declare the game over shortly after one faction achieves its winning conditions. If for any reason it becomes impossible for either faction to achieve its winning conditions, the mods will declare the game a draw.

The game is only over when a mod posts the ending scene. Even if you know (or believe you know) the result of the game before then, you may not post in the thread unless you are an active player.

4.3 - Calling the Game Early
The mods reserve the right to end the game at any time before a faction achieves its winning conditions provided there are compelling reasons to do so. In general, the mods will end the game early as soon as one faction's victory becomes inevitable.

4.4 - Spoilers
When the game is over, the mods will reveal the alts and roles of everybody who played and also give everyone access to the spoiled spectator threads on the discussion board.

RULES

All players must:

A1) Have an account on malazanempire.com/forums

A2) Log in and view the thread and the discussion board anonymously at all times, unless they have informed the mods that this is not possible for technical reasons

A3) Post at least once every 36 hours. Any player who has not posted within the last 36 hours will be automatically modkilled, whether or not the mods announce this on the thread. Warnings will be issued after 24 hours and subsequently closer to the deadline.

The mods may grant extensions to this limit in some cases (if so, they will give details in a later post). However, if they have not posted on the thread to announce an extension before the 24 hour limit is reached, no extension will be granted, whatever may have been said elsewhere. Please contact the mods as early as possible if you wish to request an extension.

A4) Send in role prescribed night actions (including the desire to take no action) within the time limit

A5) Treat everybody else playing with courtesy and respect.

A6) Make any edits the mods request of them as soon as possible, whether or not they believe that the posts need to be edited.

A7) Contact the game mods as soon as possible if they feel you are at risk of breaking a rule or fear they or another person may have already done so.

A8) You must not edit previous posts unless to change spelling or grammar.

Players must not:

B1) Act in any way intended to reduce the chance of their faction achieving its win conditions. (However, should all surviving members of a faction agree that they wish to resign and end the game early, they may do so by PMing the mods privately, without stating their intentions on-thread until the mods post to announce that the game is over.)

B2) Discuss the game with any other living players outside this game thread except when told they may do so in their role PMs.

B3) Reveal any information about the game at all in any other thread than this one, or in any other forum (including message boards and chat rooms) where it may be seen by a living player.

B4) Give anybody access to any of their accounts (including game alts, if the game is using them), either here or on the mafia discussion board.

B5) Attempt to obtain advice about the game from anybody not currently playing.

B6) Post information on the thread relating to another player's past or current activity on (or absence from) the board that would not otherwise be available to anybody reading the thread. Refrain from using meta arguments in thread, or from refering to your reasons as being based on meta.

B7) Quote, in whole or part, PMs from (or other private conversations with) the mods on the thread, or discuss the timing of any PMs sent to the mods.
B8) Post on the thread at any time after they are dead until the mods themselves post on the thread to announce that the game is over. Any posts accidently made after death should be immediately edited blank.

B9) Make any bets about the game.

B10) Offer to break any of these rules or any other rules the mods have set in place for the game, encourage others to do so or help to conceal the fact that rules have been broken.


AND JUST SO YOU KNOW

C1) Failure to comply with the rules may result in any punishment the mods deem appropriate, including, but not limited to: a request to edit posts; formal warnings on thread; "modkilling", lashing, spanking, paddling, the rack, thumbscrews, waterboarding, time-out, death and/or ending the game prematurely in favor of one faction or none. Except where clearly stated in the rules, the mods are free to respond to any rules violation in whatever manner they wish. In all cases the mods' decision on these matters is final. Tapper heads this game and he's more than willing to use the modkill option or lock you out of your game alt for the duration of the game.

C2) Feel free to PM your thoughts (or questions) to the mods. We love to hear them!

C3) The mods reserve the right to amend the rules during the game if we realize we've forgotten to cover something.

-------------------------

As well as running the game on this thread, the mods are also responsible for administering the spoiler thread and anybody not actively involved in the game (whether spectators or dead players who no longer wish to play) can request access to this thread by PMing the mods. Only dead players will have access to the Beyond. Please note that while in general the mods will be happy to let anybody have access to this thread, they do reserve the right to refuse access to anybody for any reason. Accordingly, please do not ask anybody other than the mods for access to the spoiler thread or give yourself access to it, even if you have the power to do so. Any posts found to contravene these rules will be deleted and the responsible players will be added to a blacklist for any future games run my this mod.

Once given access to the thread, spoiled spectators should also take note of the following rules, and must not:

D1) Share any information from the spoiler thread with living players, or post such in a forum where it may be seen by living players.

D2) Offer any advice, hints or strategy to living players.

D3) Make personal attacks on players in the game or on posters in the spoiler thread itself

D4) Post on the game thread before the mods announce that the game is over.

D5) PM living or dead players with comments on the game.

[Meanas]

Dare I say... FIRST?!

[Tulas Shorn]

I don't know, dare you?

Here, if it helps you relax, I'll say it too:


FIRST!

[Meanas]

Tulas, I'm glad we had this conversation. I feel so much better now about speaking out loud.

[Tulas Shorn]

I'm glad we had this conversation too. Just next time, say it with more feeeewwing.

[Korvalain]

It is I!

... this looks too complicated for my poor brain

This post has been edited by Korvalain: 08 February 2010 - 08:21 AM

[Tulas Shorn]

Has D'rek ever NOT made a game that hurt the head?

At least she doesn't demand we play in Chinese.

[Korvalain]

Ssssshs! Don't give her ideas!

[Meanas]

Good night you two! It's waaaaaay late.

[Okaros]

Tulas Shorn, on 08 February 2010 - 08:28 AM, said:

Has D'rek ever NOT made a game that hurt the head?

At least she doesn't demand we play in Chinese.

You think if I install a chinese language pack all those blanked names in the OP will suddenly appear

People are posting, but I dont see an official game on post. PS, can we have a time-count and list of players please?

[Telas]

boo, i have woken up, now time for food

[Tulas Shorn]

Game on?

Anybody out there?

[Telas]

im out here.

[Tennes]

I'm just checking the rules. This is going to be awesome.

[Anomandaris]

Until the mod says game begins you guys can't be first lol.

[Galayn Lord]

I just noticed the PM. I would have been on sooner.

I am going to go out on a limb and say, um, ah? I got nothing.

I hope I can figure this out. I may be way over my head.

Anyway I'm here.

[Anomandaris]

Nightmares of the Galayn Lord Alt resurface.

This post has been edited by Anomandaris: 08 February 2010 - 01:22 PM

[Tulas Shorn]

I have the best avatar. It's actually comic.

He's like.... "Yo! Dragonsexzorz!"