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Hello peeps, having rekindled some of my interest in Lords of Creation, that is, the forum game played here and not the actual RPG of the 80s; I decided to dust off my supplement 'Might of Mortals'. For the moment, I'm simply going to paste my original concept and mechanics for it, though I intend to start reworking it to make the system smoother.
I'd also like to get input from anyone with an interest in the game itself, if not a specific variant. I do understand that LoC itself can be rather complex, but what it generally lacks is a proper usage of the mortal side, especially when conflict occurs. That is the focus of MoM, it is a supplement that favors interactivity between mortal races, and supports actual 'winners' in the game if desired.
THE MIGHT OF MORTALS
by Zerombr, and Vadin
The concept of MoM is to create a supplement, a companion to the LoC games, to help provide definition to the mortal flocks without overcomplicating, or clashing with the rules-light system of Lords of Creation.
All too often in game, wars happen between mortals, which, assuredly is both fun and entertaining until the inevitable question occurs of, 'Who wins?'. Generally the game suggests that both sides decide on a victor beforehand, and when agreed upon, this is surely the easiest and best way to deal with such things. However some players, myself included, may maintain that certain advancements in matters of magic or technology may cause the war to lean a different way.
That is what this system is hoping to represent, so let's get started explaining how it works.
Gods typically bestow knowledge upon their mortals, what we have done is separated each knowledge into one of eight classes, causing it to increase one of the base stats. Gunpowder, for example, is definably a military knowledge, though it has non-violent uses. In truth, what you label the advancement is solely roleplay. Granted, one should use a modicum of discretion, as to not bestow Knowledge:Nuclear warfare upon their flock, until Doomsday actually occurs.
A few LoC commands change using this system, most notably Nourish Populace, is renamed Encourage Populace: (advancement, bonus). Create Artifact automatically bestows a point of Encourage: Faith (in addition to creating an artifact). Create Class also becomes a part of Encourage Populace.
Every population will increase one of their stats at rollover, and can have up to two points per rollover encouraged by their god, anything above that is wasted as the mortals try to make sense of all the knowledge bestowed at once.
Once per week, you may add your DR to one of your mortal's Mights (this should be one related to your domain or a portfolio element, and once chosen can't be changed). This can be used after a conflict has been initiated but before you have rolled any dice. This is a temporary bonus for that week only.
Stats:
No one stat may be over 5 pts higher than the lowest stat.
The stats are as follows:
Populace
How large your population is, and things that promote health and welfare of your people, as well as more of a 'catch-all'. Populace is very important, considering that 0 populace is considered either dead or scant survivors, depending on how you wish to play.
Factotums, Chameleons can go here, all uses of Nourish Populace.
Military
Naturally all military tech goes here as well as military organizations and classes created, such as: Fighter, Scout, Warblade, etc.
Science
Mining, Smelting, Alchemy, it's all here, as well as non-magical and non-martial classes
Faith
Religious Doctrine, Holidays, Divine casters, religious organizations, and artifacts
Wealth
Commerce in general, Currency, Trade Routes, Caravans, Nourish Land can be used here, if creating valuable goods.
Social
Society in general, not quite the same as Populace, as this appeals to royalty, class systems and government, and all things that appeal to social causes, such as Bards, Rogues and Paladins of Freedom.
Arcane
Magical organizations, arcane spellcasters, creation of meta-magic and Nourish Land if used to denote a more magically inclined area, such as ley lines.
Spirituality
A more generic magic/awareness, that supplements nature. Druids, Shamans, Rangers go here. Arcane/Divine casters may go here if the god wishes to have their people close to nature.
Environment
This isn't a numerical stat, but it is important. Civilizations can only exist in terrain types that are included here. This can be added to a civilization as an Encourage Populace action or as part of Create Sub-Race. Create Sub-Race encourages 1 stat and adds a terrain type to the places the the civilization can exist in.
Land
To determine the number of squares a group of mortals controls, simply average the Populace and the next highest score.
So a flock might have stats like this
Populace: 4
Military: 2
Science: 7
Faith: 3
Wealth: 4
Arcane: 1
Social: 2
Spirituality: 2
Environment: Desert, Mountains
Such a stat block suggests a technological focus on the civilization with little regard for nature or arcane magic. They might live entirely in the desert or only in the mountains, but they could conceivably spread themselves out across both.
Now let's discuss the Mights. A Might is determined by simply adding together the two stats that make it up.
Military and Populace are the backbone of the War Might, as they represent the standard army's power and size
Science and Wealth together are the Trade Might. Having superior goods as well as the best trade routes is not to be underestimated.
Arcane & Spirituality represent the general Supernatural Might, ie: Magical dominance, arcane aided armies and whatnot.
Faith & Social are the last might, the Religious Might. Conversion of enemy forces, divine caster based armies and their ilk
By themselves, these Mights are simple measurements for the gods to compare their progeny against each other if so inclined. Games may wish to reward those who have a high religious might, or wealth as the GM sees fit.
The individual stats can also be used for warfare itself, if desired.
Combat can be subtle or overt depending on what you pick to do.
Small Scale Combat
Small scale combat can be waged and interpreted in any number of ways; skirmishes (Military), siphoning gold from opponents (trade), converting them (Faith), infiltration with spies and arsonists (Social), spreading hurtful rumors (Populace)...
These are generally used to 'soften up' a target before an assault, which helps define weak points to attack.
example: Jeff declares a Trade attack against Matt, saying that his people are starting a new trade route within Matt's cities. To see who benefits from this most, compare the Wealth Might statistics, with each side adding 1d6 to their roll. The victor may steal 1 pt of statistic from their opponent.
Large Scale Combat
Again, combat is what you make of it. Trade wars, overcrowding, conversion of whole cities can happen on a larger scale.
The attacker selects two stats to form his army's might, the defender must select one of the two stats to defend with, but gets to choose the second stat.
Let me illustrate
Warboss Gorgutz represents himself with a large Military and Populace, representing a huge bloodthirsty army.
Combining Gorgutz Military (5) and Populace (7), we see he is sitting at a dangerous 13 Army Might.
The Artificer on the other hand hasn't a huge army to work with, as his Military (3) is much less. His Populace sits much better off with a decent (6). However, the Artificer can substitute his love of machinery as a defense instead of simple footsoldiers, which allows the Artificer to use his Science of 9, giving him a 15 Army Might. One might envision warstompers, auto-traps, or even just better forged gear depending on the age in which the game is played.
Combat is resolved as such: Army Might + 2d6, high roll wins. The winner gets to remove up to three points of the loser's stats of the two used. One might have lost a great deal of population in the war, or perhaps a good deal of steampunk tech got shattered.
Large Scale Combat may only be done once a week.
I'm sure its still partially incomplete, but I am interested in opinions, just be gentle ^_^