5 replies to this topic

[mike_]

Yeah, I've been pondering how well a Napoleonic RP would go over. By that I mean it would be set in the early 1800s, an era of revolutions and ravaging - a renaissance in the Art of War, when sword and shot, pike and cannon are all of equal worth.

PROS:
-many different factions (French, Russian, Post-Revolutionary American, British, Prussian, Spanish, Italian city-states, Native Americans on the road, Indian Mughals, Ottoman Turks, etc etc. That's all off the top of my head ).
-great variety in warfare (cavalryman, rifleman, pikeman, Italian mercenary, etc etc) and weapons (long-barreled American rifles, Italian crossbows and multi-shot pistols, British/Welsh longbows, French cavalry-saber, Spanish cutlasses, Mughal/Ottoman scimitars, Scottish claymores, Irish halberds, etc etc).

CONS:
-not much room for individual action depending on your character - ie, a French cavalryman will get to do more ZOMGWTF stuff than a Spanish pikeman, just like a Swiss lancer or American frontier-marksmen on loan to one of the European armies will get some freakin' sweet stuff. So, choose wisely and within reason.
-the order of the day for this period was armies that fought as a massive, cohesive whole - multi-ranked blocks of musketeers and standing squares of pikes were expected and used. To quote one of the most successful Prussian generals - "If one of my men began to think, then all would be lost." As such, this could lead to a very boring experience of repetition. I'll try and make up something cool to fix that below. Though, I just suggest choosing one of the 'cooler' classes

So yeah. Now for the latter part of the title the Mythical part. Now, this is where things get messy; imagine that Napoleon Bonaparte really WAS the Antichrist. Right. Ultimate Evil, all that jazz. Anyway. Next; our characters wouldn't be 'real people', but instead the spirits of souls past, who were such great Sinners in life that Heaven forsook them and Hell cursed them. As such, they were placed in a sort of Purgatory; being reborn into the physical plane of existence with orders from Him to 'rise above the state of an Animal, and fight for a Just Cause'. So they'd be immortal, to an extent. Each character would fight for what they believe is a Just Cause - the roaring expansionism and free-thinking of the French, the opportunism and forgotten glory of the Italian city-states, or the patriotism and haughtiness of the Great Isle, among others. Not trying to insult anyone here! Just trying to explain

Lastly; this would be somewhat Steampunk-ish. By that I mean multibarrel pistols, etc etc. Use your imagination! Just keep in mind these sort of things would be used on a massive battlefield - so a sentient, cute little robotic spider would be all-but useless

So. How was that?

[Vortigern]

I'm game, although I recommend you set up a storyline before committing to anything here. If we end up as all one infantryman here, one artillery guy there, we'll never get anywhere, so set up your characters as a certain group aiming for a certain end. Otherwise it's just too hard to make it work.

My thought on this: if Napoleon Bonaparte was the antichrist, what did that make his marshalls? Opportunists? Or were they fallen angels sent to help him? And if there's an antichrist, is there also a regular christ, and therefore an angelic presence? How far does this mythology extend?

In terms of factions, just pre-Napoleon and similarly just post Napoleon, Europe was a mass of tiny states. England, Scotland, France, Netherlands, Hanover, Saxony, Denmark, Piedmont, Venice, the Papal States, the Sicilies, the Ottoman Turks, Greece, Egypt, Russia, Prussia, Austro-Hungary, Burgundy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, and I'm sure there are some I haven't thought of. Of course, when Napoleon really rose through the ranks the numbers of independent states dwindled dramatically because he annexed them all, but the areas were still there.

[mike_]

Yeah, to be honest I've lost all motivation for this shortly after posting it up feel free to lock and delete.

I've found a better idea... Check the Green Dragon.

[{IRS}Athos]

Dang it... the only reason I didn't post that was because I have less credibility than you.

[Fire Ze Missiles!]

That's a shame Mike, I was quite feeling that
Ah well. If you ever do come up with a plot it sounds workable enough.
And annoyingly I've just realised that I went past my 1000th post without realising. I had been intending to do something interesting in it

[Byakuya Kuchiki]

Dead, moving it to failed (no offense, you can always repost or PM me to revive).