A New NES

[Montesquieu]

OK, I'm a noob in this Nesing thing. It looks very interesting, but I still don't know how to organize and create a new NES. Please give some advices so we can all have a great NES to enjoy and read .

[foolish_icarus]

Welcome!
The best way to learn is to participate. The basics are indeed quite basic, and can be picked up by looking at the game threads (set the forum to show older threads to see more of them). Simple summary: You need a scenario (set of starting conditions) rules (there is no set standard here; again, see existing or previous NESes for examples) and that's it. Gameplay goes according to the initiative of the participants.

Suggested reading

dark ages nes STILL GOING! JOIN THIS!

a proposed constitution

Advanced hellenistic era nes

advanced hellenistic era nes part II

a bit of discussion on the theory of Nes playing

gnome nes

an example of the process of setting up an NES

another example of the process of setting up an nes

fall of rome nes

modern nes

solar system nes

cold war nes

Homeland nes

early united states nes

[Montesquieu]

Thanks! I'm gonna see this dark ages NES. Now all I need is some ideas...

[bipolarbear]

Welcome! Icarus covered most of it quite well. We are always happy ot have another for NESing (recruit your friends!). If you've ver played Dungeons and Dragons this is a game that is similar in concept except that you control a nation or tribe and your character seeks global dominance more often than slaying Cthulu.

[foolish_icarus]

I'm up for modding

Proposal 1:

Alternate history Industrial ages (1700s or 1800s) where Europe stays backwards, North Africa and Asia are the world's colonial and industrial powers.

Proposal 2:

Future, rebirth of civilization. Ice age/climate disruption destroys most of modern civilization. Society toughs it out in a single location, and when the ice sheets finally retreat, the last remaining civilization (primitive industrial era) is on the verge of collapse, and you lead your group of settlers out onto the margins of your continent and eventually beyond with a few sailing ships, muskets, and maybe a primitive steam engine or forge to found a new society.

Proposal 3:

Remake of my Space Age scenario. The rules would be simplified, and you would start out in the same planet/moon system instead of being initially spread out across different worlds. Could start over or resume from where we left off.

Proposal 4:

Write in.

[foolish_icarus]

grunble

[Cyclotron]

Well, I like 1 best.

[Cyclotron]

That is, so long as I can be Japan.

[foolish_icarus]

At this point it looks like you could be the whole damn world.

[Cyclotron]

I'll take it!

[Cyclotron]

Seriously, though, it's very unfortunate that so few people are interested. I'm not sure what could be done for this, but perhaps people need to see activity - even though I'm the only one that has shown interest, you could put up a starting post and stuff to show the occasional visitors here what you're planning, rather than just this thread.

[foolish_icarus]

Sure sure. A few unexpected people typically will straggle in
Plenty of time for me to work the rules to perfection, that's for sure!

[bipolarbear]

At this point it looks like you could be the whole damn world.

It always looks like that at one poin ,adn always ends up being like that at some point later on in the game.


2 sounds funky new and interesting.

One is good too.

Maybe what we could do, is treat it a bit more D&D ish. In that the role of the mod would become much more like that of the Dungeon Master. Instead of leaving us up to our own devices you can have somewhat of a definite storyline planned out, kind of like you do in #2 (he he poop).

I'm jsut throwing out ideas though they need a bit of refining.

A WW2 scenario where in the mod plays Germany and deals the blows fairly and effectively would be interseting.

We could also just do an NES slightly altered take on the current global situation and just play with the world as it is.

[Cyclotron]

I suppose the reason the whole NES thing appeals to me is that I'm an old-time D&D player and DM, and this looked like a very interesting idea from that point of view. When I want to attract players, I give them some solid info and some good descriptions of the campaign world I'm working on - it's this kind of info that makes people excited about the game.

I'm all for the alternative history ideas, though I prefer earlier history to later. I was considering proposing an idea for an NES, but I see there's a bit of the "too many DMs, too few players" bit going on here, so instead I'll just give some suggestions about what I've been thinking about -

- Ancient Age, alternative history: Carthage obliterates Rome, and the great Hellenistic and North African powers abandon hopelessly barbaric Europe for the riches of Africa and the near East - players include the Hellenistic Kingdoms, the Meroitic Nubian Empire, Carthage, the Nok people of Africa, the Numidians, and so on.

- A small-scale NES about the aftermath of the fall of Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade. Players choose one of the Byzantine successor states (Trebizond, Nicaea, Epirus), the Latin Empire, or the Sultanate of Rum, and must use a combination of diplomacy with bigger outside powers (Venice, Bulgaria, the Pope, the Ayyubid Empire, and others) and military action to pick up the pieces of the Byzantine Empire.

My question would be, while it looks good and may help attract people to the forums to see lots of potential NESes, how many is too many? Clearly a lot of players have trouble staying current with just one, so how much should we do before we start doing more harm than good?

[foolish_icarus]

I like the Carthage wins scenario. A more mod-guided game is also possible. This next one should start small--not in scope, but in complexity. Something 2 or 3 people can play. Unique, with variety, but only a few factors, only a few empires to begin with. Where the players concerns are turned inward, not outward, so the game can move forward with onyl a few participants, but with the capacity for more to join later.
Something to do with royalty, and alliances, I think.
How important is historical realism to you guys? I mean, how would you feel about a scenario set up for playability, that doesn't even try to explain how real history deviated to get to that point?

[Cyclotron]

If you are looking for an NES topic that is:

- Inward looking
- Related to Royalty
- Centered on alliances

My suggestion would be to make an NES based on the Holy Roman Empire during the early middle ages. The player would play as one of the various dukes of one of the more important regions of the Empire (Swabia, Friesland, Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony, etc.), but not the Emperor. Especially in the early stages of the HRE's existence, there are some very interesting tales of the nearly-independent Dukes and Bishops of the Empire struggling with each other and with outside powers to keep their privileges, power, and wealth - without toppling the Empire or weakening it to the point where outside forces can crush each province peacemeal. It could be similar to the 13 colonies NES I read in this forum - except, of course, with a more brutal medieval theme.

I'm reading several books on the development of feudalism and monarchal power in the early middle ages, I think that might be an interesting scenario to do.

I like the "Carthage Wins" one too, but that's really more of a traditional conquest-centered one like the Dark Ages NES that's going on right now, and that seems like it can get a little slow without a fair number of players.

I'd volunteer to do the HRE or Carthage idea, but I wouldn't want to create competition or something for your NES.

[foolish_icarus]

At the moment I have no NES, so go for it.

Let’s do a little exercise, a quick way to generate ideas and get the creative juices flowing.

The first person has a general scenario or idea in mind, and makes a map according to it, but doesn’t say anything about what the idea is except what is on the map.

The second person guesses what that idea might be from looking at the map, or just makes up his own idea that would roughly fit with the map. So the second person names the countries on the map, explains what the general setting is. E.g. the time is the equivalent of middle ages, but the conditions are ripe for a technological revolution, but tensions are rising and it also appear that 500 years of peace are about to come to an end…that westernmost nation is the home of the peoples of Israel etc.

The third person fills in the details. E.g. New Israel is primarily agrarian, has a strong military but an unstable political system, they have a traditional enmity with the Carthaginian Empire and are steadfast allies of the Delhi Sultanate. In the northeast, the recent invention of the stirrup has given Korea a signficant advantage on the battlefield etc.

Doesn’t have to be complex or even logically watertight, just come up with as much or little as you feel like, for a bit of fun and to see what kind of ideas keep coming up, what we like and what we want to avoid. Plus it might draw some attention, no one has to commit to anything but you might develop an attachment to an idea of yours and want to see it through in a game. If more people show up we can further divide the steps so all can get a hand in it.

So I’ll start with a map:

[Cyclotron]

At the moment I have no NES, so go for it.

Well, I'll start working on it, but don't let me discourage you.

The second person guesses what that idea might be from looking at the map, or just makes up his own idea that would roughly fit with the map. So the second person names the countries on the map, explains what the general setting is. E.g. the time is the equivalent of middle ages, but the conditions are ripe for a technological revolution, but tensions are rising and it also appear that 500 years of peace are about to come to an end…that westernmost nation is the home of the peoples of Israel etc.

Hoo boy, you just had to choose China - perhaps the part of . the world I know the very least about. I don't even have a guess as to what the idea here might be.

[foolish_icarus]

So make something up. That's what I did. Or wait until someone else comes up with something and fill in the details. Or make your map. Or ignore this and continue working on your NES

[Cyclotron]

Alright, then, I'll wait to be the third person.