Guest Pillar Posted July 29, 2000 Share Posted July 29, 2000 I'm going to start an RPG for CM as well. Here's how it's going to work: 2 players, one axis commander one allied. I'll be the GM. There will be actual role-playing in this, it's not going to be all battles. I'll be making a map (large scale, non CM) which will function as our "operational map". It will be grided and I'll asign you "Units" which will be company sized and can be moved around. There will be objectives, like Towns, hills etc. The map and operational aspect will function much like "The Operational Art of War", but without TAOW of course and with all conflict taking part in the CM engine. The map will be made and saved as a jpg with the grid, so you can print it out or just use a transparent sheet to overlay your monitor for movement. As for roleplaying, I will email you/icq you guys regularly with commentary, orders, opportunities and lots of decisions. I'll play "High Command", prisoners (yes, if you catch one in the CM battle they will do more for you than just points) , locals, and other "units" not attached to your command. Reconnaisance will be more important, not just tactically, but strategically. I'd prefer people who are going to be around during the weekday evenings to trade turns. Also, you have to do the thinking. I'm not going to prompt you often with "Do you want to go in the nearest village and ask around"... It's up to you to post sentries, threaten families into not speaking to the enemy, dig in, build bunkers (wooden), request reinforcements from HQ, and all that other good stuff. [This message has been edited by Pillar (edited 07-29-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyperstork Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 I'm interested in playing (either side is fine), if this is a rpg that usually won't expect me to do more than one email turn a day (I've got an active toddler here) and allows for sometimes a weekend off when we go camping, etc. Also I'm not ex-military so I wouldn't have accurate looking reports, and no time to compose them anyway- I'd be rather informal. However I'm an experienced roleplayer involved in several tabletop games as well as live-action games. Are you planning on raising the combat skill levels of some units that do well, etc? Anyway, if you might want me: email me at cws1@concentric.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 The most I'd do is raise a Regular to Veteran, a Conscript to Green, and an Elite to Crack. The reason being is that it only constitutes some battle experience, not more training. I don't expect the reports to be formal or anything. I'll try to keep things as accurate historically as possible but I'm not going to make this so grueling as to be tedious. The one email a day thing will be a problem though... I'd like to be able to get at least 2 or 3 a night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L4Pilot Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 I'd really be up for something like this, especially if I could play Ami's. Got quite a bit of RPG experience under my (ever increasing) belt and can do quick turnarounds of turns most days and evenings. Just a thought - we could and should each mail the CM (Combat Master) our movies with passwords so you could watch the action as it unfolds. Let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 L4Pilot, You sound like a perfect candidate for the allied player. I like your idea about the movies. In fact, some of the battles will be controlled by me. For example, if you send out a lone tank or do some other odd thing (I'm sure you'll be thinking of lots of odd things to do), then I will deal with it during it's encounters since it would have no way of communicating with you. The problem with letting the commander control forces like that, ie. the ones that don't have any way of talking to the commander, is that you gain unfair intelligence on the enemy. This brings up another point, in any major battle I will assign an HQ unit that represents YOU. Keep this unit safe! You can also decide to send special units out in order to grasp more control of the battlefield. For example, a "Command HQ" unit of some sort could be assigned to go along with your lone tank, providing instant feedback to you. Keep in mind, I'm making most of these rules up as I go and they may not be THE best idea. If you or anyone else reading has any ideas on how I could work this, please feel free to add to the discussion. I'm very open to suggestions. Now we need a Nazi so I can start thinking up the scenario and the story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasj Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 Well........I'm not a NAZI, but I am fairly competent with the German forces. Prior military and tons of RPG experience. I am GMT +1 working for DOD here overseas and might be able to crank out even more than a few emails a day. So if ya'll have me, I'll be the AXIS. "The desert fox commands again?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 TomJ, you've got the AXIS. I'll even go so far as to give you an amry that has been purged of any pro-nazi fighers Any further ideas, either of you, for resolving the "what I can know and what I can't" issue when it comes to recon? I'm going to work on the structure of the game right now and will post it here for you both (and anyone else) to see. I'm also considering allowing you guys to "sub" out various forces to other people on the forum. This way, you can go on the forum and ask if someone will "Take my Recon squad forward 200km for a patrol". This means, to someone else, an opportunity for a quick part in the vast scheme of things. If they perform well, you can put them on your "good guy" list and call on them again for various tasks. Hyperstork mentioned he would be interested in playing, but doesn't have the time to be the main commander. Well, this system is perfect for guys like him. The only problem is this will be based on trust, in that if the Recon squad gets slaughtered Hyperstork won't go and email you in private details "out of game". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mortiis Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 Sounds like a fun idea, interested in hearing more about it- Id like to play as germans or canadians- email me with details when you have em. jagdpanzer210@icqmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest olebooya Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 I would be interested in taking part...... Lots of wargaming exp (17 years), military exp, and a love of history. I would be interested in playing Axis...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 Do you guys like the "sub" command idea, and are you willing to do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 Can any of you help me get some Operational Maps? Also, how will movement be calculated? Any ideas? I'm thinking about Generic movement options... like 5 for vehicles on roads, 2-3 offroad, 1 for basic walking, 1/2 for extremely rough terrain (impassable with vehicles). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasj Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 I love the sub idea. The idea of being a field marshall is quite entertaining. Nah, really it would make for really great RPG'ing. Specially on the strategic level. The recon part, is going to be very interesting there are many way to try and work it out, will get with you Pillar on my ideas via email, have to keep my war secrets don't I? How are we going to work out forces? numbers, types, quality, year? I believe this will factor in the ideas for the recon to a large degree. Off for now, will check back in later for more input/output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasj Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 BTW i think your movement point idea is really good. On the map part, could you not generate several HUGE QB maps to make your area of operation? This way we would have grids, roads, towns, bridges, terrain, pregenerated and from there you could change it how you see fit. I imagine though that maybe the roads would be a hard part for they may not line up from map to map, but the grid update for CM would give us grids lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 On the map, I was thinking of using something else. Something of operational size, with the grid overlayed for movement/orders purposes. You don't have to move in the grid spaces themselves, they just give an idea of distance. All Strategic and Operational level movement and scouting etc, will take place on the big map. The map will detail things like forests, rivers, towns, bridges, important hills, etc. All roleplaying will be done through email, or ICQ. All combat, in any form, will be done in CM. I'm going to get the unit data (The Operational stuff) from TAOW or some other historic reference. My two problems right now are: -Finding a reference for a map and force composition. -Deciding how advance recon will take place fairly without letting the commander know of results unless a unit survives. Two new developments: - I'm going to allow Field Marshalls to "Sub" out command of various units for specific missions to other players. It will be up to you to post openings on the forum and let me know who's getting what. You'll have quite a bit of power... I'm sure a few people will want to take command of your units so you'll get to "hire" people and "fire" them based on how they perform. Lucky you huh? - I'm going to use "Huge" maps in CM for planned engagements with good intelligence, -large maps for general offensive and defensive action with moderate intel, medium for meeting engagements with little intel and "small" for planned ambushes by one or the other side. The later point will simulate organization and terrain available to deal with given the situtation.. here's an example: Your recond squad gets ambushed by the enemy (They will have to have told me to set this up and where to do it, this won't be random). Next thing that happens is I generate a quick battle with the appropriate units on a SMALL map, giving the ambushing side defence. If I control your force, which will prob. be what happens to preserve FOW in these cases, will be that I will try to gain as much info about enemy forces as I can while preserving at least one motorized unit to go back with the new intel, or a radio unit. If the unit has no radio, you'll have to wait till it moves back to your main force to know what it saw. I'll tell you what it saw via email. I'm going to enjoy doing this as much as (I hope) you guys will enjoy playing it. I've already had an email from a very enthusiastic player. I'm going to spend some more time working on this tommorow. If any of you can help me with the two problems I mentioned above, especially getting a good operational map we can play and unit OOB's, I'll be happy ! [This message has been edited by Pillar (edited 07-30-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 PS -- You can always tell me how you want your recon to act in any engagement, and I'll follow your orders like a unit commander would. The example above is just the "default". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 I'm also thinking of putting up a newspaper style website with info on the game and updates for people interested to read. Nothing of more detail than newspaper style stuff, so no big intel giveaways. You'll be famous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyperstork Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 I guess responding first to the topic didn't help as I got shuffled aside pretty fast. I could do several turns in one day, but probably not all in one predictable stretch- like every night. In other words, I couldn't do and email 5 turns every night between 7 and 11 PM. However most days I could do a turn at 7 AM, then one at 11 AM, then maybe 2-4 of them between 6 PM and 9 PM. Such goes my schedule here. If anyone is starting a rpg where they have a loose schedule, please let me know. I'd start one myself but don't have the time flexibility right now. Thanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterNZer Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 Actually, i'm surprised noone has bothered to actually -use- a game like Operational Art of War to run the big campaign and CM to run the small. I can't think of a good game example to use, (hehe axis and allies? .. but surely someone could do that fairly easy, would be rather fun PeterNZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BasilD Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 Sounds like a promising idea and I can play on a regular basis...Im in if you'd care to have me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest olebooya Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 I would love to be a sub commander..... no problems with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pillar Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 Hyperstork, I was under the impression you wouldn't have enough time to be a Field Marshal/General for this RPG "if this is a rpg that usually won't expect me to do more than one email turn a day" If you want, I can try and find you a generous position somewhere. Just remember though, and don't take it personally, that if you can't keep up with the war your commander might replace you! I'm going to work on a webpage that has rules and the map stuff on it today. Should be up in some form later tonight, maybe tommorow. From there you will be able to see the chain of command etc. I still don't have a map! Someone please help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomasj Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 Hyperstork & olebooya, Send me an email soon. I am starting my, should we say interviews, for field commanders. Pillar, Looks like I left my email at work on and will have to wait until tomorrow to start the flow of email from me then. Any ideas on overall forces sizes so I can work out the number of field commanders I would like to have? One other question/concern. Can we keep the use of HUGE and large maps for battle down to a minimun to promote faster and easier gameplay while we a tuning the system to its best potential? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TURBO Posted July 30, 2000 Share Posted July 30, 2000 Sounds like a good idea, if either side needs a sub commander i would be willing to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrD Posted July 31, 2000 Share Posted July 31, 2000 Actually, I think that using TOAW would also be cool. Units in TOAW could be set up as companies, and whenever they come into contact a CM battle could be generated. You could also follow supply rules and give a company less ammo based on its supply score in TOAW. Ditti for experience (or whatever it's called in TOAW, it's been awhile.) The TOAW map would give you a rough idea of the terrain in order to make the CM maps. The difficult part would be putting the results from the CM battle back into TOAW. You might have to design a whole new TOAW scenario after each CM to reflect unit losses, etc. Artillery would also be cool. We could allow a player attacking with artillery (in TOAW) to either include it as FO's or to do a prepatory bombardment in which case the GM would have to generate its effects and incoporate this into the CM scenario. Just some thoughts. It sound like you have some great ideas and the RPG should be fun. I hope it catches on, perhaps with several sub-GM's and one head GM to make a campaign for several players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niklas Johanson Posted July 31, 2000 Share Posted July 31, 2000 I like small maps so if any of the supreme commanders would like me to handle some unimportant small skirmish or similar I´m all ears. I like the Idea with the website following the battles and so on. Sounds interesting Pillar. I'm a 25 year old swede with decent english knowledge, several years of roleplaying and a short military experience. //Niko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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