-Introduction-
Welcome to the rules page for the online roleplaying game of the Orient. I am your webmaster, and you can call me Eldoreth. Essentially, this game is about ancient Japan. Not any real time period necessarily, just a lumping together of all the stuff I think is cool (which is basically a meld of History, Rurouni Kenshin, Legend of the 5 Rings, Princess Mononoke, the SNES game Inindo: Way of the Ninja, and the book Shogun.) Idea is that you have a character, and the characters go around fighting each other and having fun. What you do is pretty much up to you, but these are the few rules that, considering that you join, you will need to follow.
-Generic Rules-
Before I get into the workings of the actual RPG, I just want to throw a few generic rules out there. Just common stuff that you need to follow on the OOC (Out Of Character) forums on the message board and hopefully the chatroom, though I don't control that, James does.
Rule 1 - No horribly bad swearing
Rule 2 - No making fun of religion. The only rule that we really try to take seriously, because it's the only rule that ever gets us in trouble.
Rule 3 - Have fun. Nobody likes people that don't have fun. I'm here to have fun, you're here to have fun, so leave if your not having fun. I will.
Rule 4 - You do kind of need to stay active.
Rule 5 - If you're sending me a joining email, please title the email as "Join form", and if you're sending an action, please put the word "Action" in the email. Helps with my email filters.
-Update Information-
The RPG updates weekdays for actions, and weekends for adding members. So don't send an action on a weekend and don't send a join form on a weekday. If there is a day that I have to miss, I'll announce it beforehand. When exactly the RPG will update I have no clue, but it will definately be after 5 PM Pacific Standard Time, so get your action in by then.
Actions and Roleplaying are the two ways your character does things, and it's very important to do both. You can make 1 action per update, and a common one is to move somewhere or attack something. You can always shop during the day, that doesn't count as an action unless it says so on the Market page. Only thing is you can only buy stuff at the location you are in. Also, if you are healing, you can do nothing during the day but RP and shop. Anyway, on with the rules.
-Roleplaying-
Roleplaying is an important part of the RPG. We have a Roleplaying board, and it's important to RP your character, so we get to know them better. It's also the best way to have fun in the RPG. You don't have to, but you really, really should, basically. I give out honor bonuses for good RPing sometimes, but more on that later.
-Movement-
The essential idea of movement is that you are always at a location on the Map page. It takes an action to move somewhere, and you can only move from one location to another, only move to adjacent locations, and only make one move per action. For example. To get from Tokyo to Shinano, you have to move from Tokyo to Muttsu, then from Muttsu to the Muttsu/Shinano Border, then from there to Shinano. 3 actions. Somewhat hard to get around that way, but you can always buy a Horse, which lets you make 2 actions in a day.
-Battles-
Battles are generally the other action you can make. Battles are a way to fight people, which is what these RPGs are all about. There are 3 types of battles, Duels, Ambushes and Events. Normally you get about 5 EXP for an Ambush, 10 for a Duel, and 15 for an Event, though it may vary depending on the battle. Finally, remember that you have to be at the same location as somebody to fight them. Anyway, here's a quick description.
Duels - Battles between 2 or more people, all particapents must send in actions to participate in the duel. Involves a close-up and personal fight, either to kill the opponent or not, but the main idea is people will go to their fullest potential, for a higher EXP gain.
Ambush - Battles where 1 person surprises the other, only the attacker needs to send in an action. While less EXP is involved, the basic idea of surprise gives a bonus to the attacker. Ninja excell at this type of battle.
Events - Anything that involves a large Army, a Building Cluster, or a Ship will be labelled as an event. Email requirements are different based on the event, the basic idea of them is it's an excuse for me to give out more EXP, and write the events on a different page. Fun stuff.
Finally, once in a while there will be quests on the quests page, but details of those are always different.
-Death and Dying-
Since I just talked about fighting so much, this is how dying works. When your character battles they will recieve an amount of damage in the status box of their roster, either 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 points of damage. From that point on they will instantly start resting to heal themselves, and can heal 1 point of damage per day. You can't make actions while healing except to move ships and armies, shop, and go to a Mendicants store, and can't make actions again till you are back to 0 points of damage. You can't be attacked either, just to make it simple on me. If you get hurt more than 5 points of damage, you're dead. Dying means you just have to make a new character, but if you make him that weekend you get to keep your honor, koku and exp (though all of your posessions are lost.)
-Classes, Styles and EXP-
When you join the RPG, you will be asked to list a Class, a Style, a Primary Weapon and a Secondary Weapon. This is because this isn't a Gundam RPG and we can't tell people apart by their mobile suit =P. No, seriously, if I made everybody a Samurai with a Katana it'd get real boring, real fast. There are 6 classes, notably Samurai, Shugenja, Ronin, Ninja, Sohei and Monk, and their advantages and disadvantages will be listed at the bottom of this section. First though, I'd like to quickly explain weapons and styles.
Although all Samurai, Shugenja and Ronin own a Katana and Wakizashi, and everybody in Japan knows Martial Arts to a degree, you get to pick a Primary and Secondary weapon, IE: What your character is GOOD with. You will automatically be supplied with these weapons and fight with them in battles. Your character will be better with his Primary Weapon than his Secondary Weapon, obviously. Also, note that Shugenja, Sohei and Monks have to pick their kind of magic as one of their weapons, as that's how they fight.
Styles are so the battle writers can have an idea of how you fight in battles, and are basically rock-paper-scissors. There are 4 styles, and all of them but Balanced have an advantage against one style, and a disadvantage against another. Balanced is what all the NPCs have, and basically means you're a Balanced fighter who uses a little of everything. They have no disadvantages against any style, but no advantages either. Remember though, a style isn't everything. It makes a difference, but EXP and sometimes your weapons have a lot to do with it too. These are the three styles.
Offensive - This style basically means your character likes attacking. You're always charging, always slashing or punching or whatever, and never give your opponent a moments rest. It has a bonus against Defensive people, who can't gather their wits enough to find a weak spot, but is weak against people with the Counter style, who just sidestep and hack off your head.
Defensive - People with this style like to play it slow, throwing a feint here, a jab there, they try to find an opponents weakness and then jump on it like a rabit beaver. They're strong against people with the Counter style, who sit back and wait for the enemy, but weak against people with the Offensive style, where their slow nature gets them killed.
Counter - People with this style wait for their opponent to make a move, block it, then counterattack. That's the general idea. They're strong against Offensive people, who usually leave themselves wide open to counterattacks, but weak against Defensive poeple, who usually don't.
Finally there's Balanced which has no advantages or disadvantages, in case you forgot.
EXP - A general idea of EXP, that is how skilled your character is. NPCs have EXP too, having 10 EXP for each Level they are. Every time an NPC fights and wins a battle, he will gain one Level. Most NPCs start at Lvl 1, and all but the Peasant classes can go up to Lvl 5. The smaller the EXP difference between you and your opponent, the more styles and weapons matter, but the greater the difference the more EXP matters. Keep that in mind.
-Classes-
Samurai - Part of the warrior class of Japanese society, as a Samurai you serve the clan of whatever province you start in. Samurai start with 10 EXP, 50 koku, and 1 honor. Their advantage is they get an additional 10 koku every Sunday update from their ruler, for being good servants. Their downside is they have to be good servants and do whatever their ruler says.
Shugenja - Half Samurai, Half Wizard, Shugenja are proficient in Elemental Magic. Seeing a Shugenja wield fireballs is not a abnormal sight. Shugenja start with 10 EXP, 50 koku, and 0 honor. They are like the Samurai and get a 10 koku paycheck and get magic, but start with no honor and have to be good servants as well.
Ronin - These Samurai have left their masters and wander off into the wilderness, accepting jobs wherever they can get them. Though you get no paycheck, you don't have to do what anybody says either. Ronin start with 20 EXP, 100 koku, and 0 honor.
Ninja - These warriors are peasants, but are as skilled as Samurai, and specialize in their own kind of weapons and the arts of assassination. They start with 10 EXP, 25 koku, and 0 honor. Their bonuses are that they get 10 EXP standard for an ambush and 5 for a duel, unlike the normal way of doing things, and can make an action to do an assassination job, which will yield them 5 koku, or 1 koku for every 10 EXP they have +1 for every honor they have, whichever is higher.
Sohei - These are Shinto priests who go to the battlefield, fighting alongside Samurai. They aren't as tough, but get Ancestral Magic, many can even summon spirits. They start with 0 EXP, 10 koku, and 2 honor. Their bonuses are their magic, and that they can make an action to sanctify a building, which will yield them 5 koku.
Monks - These are Zen Buddhist Warrior Monks, who often fight in tandem with Sohei. They're experts at their own weapons and get Zen Magic, which can often make the user stronger and faster. They start with 10 EXP, 0 koku, and 2 honor. Their bonus is their magic, but the problem with them is they're Buddhists, and will never carry money on their persons. Luckily however, they always get -1 to their damage points when fighting (not cumulative with a Mendicants house or Medicinal herbs), and can get passage on ships for free.
-Koku and Honor-
Koku is money, you buy stuff at the market with it. That simple. Honor is another type of money, though it isn't money. You can spend honor points to buy things at the shop, but the more honor you have, the more famous you are, so the more NPCs and other people will notice you. You can also usually spend honor to buy favors from the webmaster...
-Teams-
5 or more PCs can get together and make a team. They all just have to tell me they want to make a team, and have to specify the team leader. The bonuses of teams are (besides it being good for RPing) that you get your own passworded message board, and the team gets a team account, which members can put koku into it. Only the team leader may spend money in the team account, but can spend it to buy things at any location a team member is at. Finally, teams themselves will get honor, which can be spent by the team leader.
-Armies and Fleets-
Real quick, a character can own Armies and Fleets, which is cool. Armies are the way you move troops you buy around without a boat, and fleets are the way you put boats together so they have to attack all of them at the same time. If you're making an army/fleet, just tell me what goes in the thing (everything has to be in the same location), and what the army/fleet name is. One ship in a fleet has to have a flagship to. Armies can only have between 10 and 100 soldiers in them, and Fleets have to have a minimum of 3 ships.
-Other-
I might have FFAs or Tournaments, or giant wars between the provinces, but right now those are just there to look good. So, everything is set up, you can go join now, check out the Joining page.
~Ketara
Rules
Joining
Roster
NPC's
Battles
Events
Quests
Map
Market
Fiefs
Teams
Chat
Board
Links
-Staff-
Ketara
Thomas
Tian
Tural
Terry