The Land of Desera

[nedalezz]

If Robin doesn't mind, I'd like to answer Noah in this thread as I believe his questions might be on the mind of quite a few others.

Thanks for the condolences on Cedar - I'm personally devastated. I think out of all the MDs and CJs I've had the past 7 years, Cedar was my absolute favorite. I loved building it, writing its story, and developing it the way I did. I know alot of people stop their MDs with random excuses so it seems that they didn't give up on it, but Cedar was a treasure for me. I thought I'd play it forever.

Anyway, I'm glad you asked that question, and the answer is this: I myself am constrained by time, so this project has to be simple enough that I can manage on my own. As a participant, your activity will really be up to you - in terms of being active, you would have to follow the MD frequently, and make desicions whenever you feel like it. Updates will probably be every few days, so desicions would be made between the updates presumably. Obviously, most of the work will fall on me; as a participant, I want it to make it as enjoyable as possible without being bogged down by obligations. In short - you can be as active as you want. Obviously, the more active and more in tuned to the MD you are, the investments you make, presumably the more your character will benefit, but it is by no means a requirement.

Hope that answered your question. Anyone else with any questions, please feel free to ask!

[nedalezz]

Just having a little fun

Still waiting on some more feedback on the idea of mine in the previous posts!

[Risu]

Just having a little fun

Still waiting on some more feedback on the idea of mine in the previous posts!

Trees don't grow well in sand, do they? I recall seeing some beach props items around somewhere. Cos' this looks like it oughtta be better as a wealthy beachfront touristy area, rather than a business district. It's just too close to the water, imo.

[marsh]

I have to say I love the idea. The Towne failed, mostly because it needed multiple people involved. And all those people could not be guaranteed to be devoted to it for the entire period of time, which lead to it's demise. I think if 1 person controlled it, it would work quite well. And the way you described it is similar, but also quite different.

I love your idea and would be glad to be a part of it. But I have 1 suggestion. You should make the timeframe just "whatever you can do." Rather than 6 months. That way if some real life issues come up. You wont fall behind and you also wont have that feeling of being forced to do something. And it will still feel like a game and not work. (Believe me I know this feeling all to well.)

To say I'm really sorry about Cedar. It was one of my favorite MD's by far and it's sad to see it go.

Last lovely scene there. Love the star reflections in the water.

,marsh

[rooker1]

Very nice night scene.  Your MD always has my full attention.

As for above reply to that question, I do not mind at all.  For two reasons....you are already in The Classics Section and really there is no other place your MD is going to go based on post count.  And second, that was a well thought out response that was really needed sooner than later.

Robin 

[nedalezz]

Right, since I have Robin's blessing, I'll continue posting on this thread

So we have Noahclem and Marsh on board, its a good start

I was looking through some of The Towne's files, and there are some pretty good ideas there that I could definitely use, like the random event calculator. Overall, there is alot of similarities to go by, but with one key difference: The Towne was really, really detailed, so much so that you had to buy a latern (!!). I dont think I will delve into that much detail. I thought the best example would roleplay a character myself:

So its 2011, and Rawa'a has just been founded. John Doe has decided he wants to move to this new country, so with $20,000 in his hand he sets sail to Dunya. The Dunyan monarchy/government has already set up a couple of buildings: The Rawa'a Pier, to receive incoming boats; the Bank of Dunya, and ofcourse, the Royal Residence. In addition, the Dunyan authorities have set up a small generator/power plant and a water pump for running water, and have constructed a few small houses for newly arrived people who need a place to live (plus the NPC of the game currently).

John Doe has to pay $200 a month rent ($2,400 a year - all rental figures are paid by year), so that leaves him with $17,600. Dunya is a completely barren, unexplored desert, and because he has limited savings, his choices are limited to start with: To make a living, he has to do one of these things: Fish, Farm, Work for the Government, or Trade.

If he decides to fish (A profession which requires NO education), he would have to invest in a small wooden boat, which would cost $1,500. Since his boat is small, he can only benefit from one plot. So if one plot can produce $100 a day, he's only going to get $100 income a day.

If he decides to Farm (also a NO eduction profession), he would need to invest in a small plot of land and the required start up capital for underground irrigation set up, etc. The land per plot is $300, and a plot is 100 square meters, so a 5x5 plot, or 2,500 sq. meters, would cost him $7,500, and another $5,000 ($4,000 to set up the irrigation, $1,000 for the products). Thats $12,500 to plant some apples. The return, ofcourse, would be from 25 plots, so if each plot delivers $10 a day, thats an income of $250 a day. That is the normal number - the random event calculator could both reduce this number or make it higher depending on how its rolled.

If he decides to work for the government, he gets a bank job, doesnt need to put any capital, and gets a fixed salary at the end of each month. Depending on his education, his job could range from errand man (NO education) to Branch Manager (University Graduate).

If he decides to go the Trader route, he has to set up somewhere to sell his products first, so he buys a small covered stand and places it right next to the Pier. The stand would run him $2,000, and he would have to wait for imported products coming in by boat to buy (this is where the random event calculator can help), and then sell them at the fixed market price. The boat will come in with $30,000 worth of LIFE NECCESSITY products (LIFE NECCESSITY products are products that each character has to spend a specific amount on each month in order to survive. Presumably, these include water, food, bath and care products, etc. As the character's house, family, expenses get larger, so does his LIFE NECCESSITY bill.) John Doe decides to buy $10,000 worth - the market price will allow a mark up of 20%. Using a formula of current population, wealth of population, product, and competition (for example: current population is 50, wealth is LOWEST level, and product is LIFE NECCESSITY, meaning everyone HAS to buy it. If we say each person has to spend $200 a month on LIFE NECCESSITY products, that is $10,000. Given he is the only trader in town and located in a HIGHEST level area for RETAIL, he will sell $10,000 a month, leaving him with $2,000 worth of goods. When the boat comes in the following month, he buys $8,000 worth, which the government will allow him to sell for $9,600, so it 2 months he would've sold $20,000 from the $18,000 he used, and still have $1,600 in assets left).

I know this isn't exact science, but I feel it works. Again, I want realism to be a big part of it, but I dont want to delve into mundane details. Obviously, this time of project will be forever evolving with new ideas and inputs, but that is the general idea. Sooner or later, John Doe might decide to buy a second boat and have an employee, or expand that farm, or open up a bigger storefront that covers more than one plot, or decide to further his education when a new school opens up in order to become a HEAVY INDUSTRY ENGINEER and open up a STEEL FACTORY. He could even follow a political career and become involved in the real life desicion making (the more money you have, the more you can spend on increasing the character's INFLUENCE, which is what is needed to become a politician) of the project.

Ofcourse, this cannot work without the input of the participants into making it the type of game you want. As I said, it is Turn Based - so each turn, you make your desicion, and see how it plays out over the following terms. Building a factory would take 2 years IG (4 turns in RL) for example. You could be building the factory in what you hope would be the future industrial zone of the city, where sales and value would jump through the roof, or you could totally have been wrong in your prediction that industry would move alongside that new road and your sales and value would stagnant, not reaping the benefits you assumed you would have. Its all part of the fun!

So what do you guys think? Obviously, there is more to the game, such as LUXURY products, different type of houses, etc. You may even choose to own a sports team in the newly formed Football League - Who knows!

Most importantly at this point while Im fine tuning the concept, I need input!

[travismking]

I like this, I really think this would be fun if done correctly Ill be following this

[nedalezz]

Right, so I'm getting the first update in order, along with the guidelines and a starter's guide, but we are still short on participants. Im looking for about 5-10 participants - we have marsh confirmed, and I believe noahclem is interested. We have given our own thread for the project, so all issues pertaining to it will soon be over there. But we do need more participants!! Please let me know!

[nedalezz]

Chapter Seventeen: Starium Ore Mined

They did not have to wait long for Graham Coronus to come back into town, and Sheriff Turner did not waste any time letting him know that Ray Black wanted his services. Coronus was a middle aged man who had settled his wife and two children in a small town called Trucker to the west of Wildbank, and made his living from buying up fresh produce from Ray's companies and reselling them back in his home town. His experience developing a Tilkan gas extractor and refinery was exactly what Tiberius and Ray were looking for, and they were not disappointed.


After explaining to Coronus what they wanted to do, they offered him a package he could only dream of: free housing, free education for his children, a salary that almost tripled what he brought in a month, and a chance head a team of eight men in developing the Starium ore mine. Although gas and ore were two completely different components, their extraction from underground would be similar. In fact, Coronus suggested that getting the Starium would be much easier than extracting the Tilkan simply because it was found relatively close to the ground.


With the plans and blueprints drawn up, Ray and Tiberius turned to Sheriff Turner to start organizing his men and set up the defenses to protect the mine. The outpost was to be constructed simultaneously with the mine, and by the team the mine would be ready for use, the outpost, along with its missiles, would be operational and ready to serve their purpose. The final step was making sure the mine never fell into the wrong hands, so Tiberius and Ray registered it in the Wildbank Town Hall as the second company owned by the town after the Bank of Wildbank, calling it the Wildbank Mining Company. 


Wildbank's population now eclipsed 700 people, and small homes were starting to pop up outside of the town, alongside Ray's farms. They were doing their best to try to employ everyone in town, but the growth was starting to overwhelm Ray and Tiberius. They were happy that so many people were finding refuge from the tyranny of the Haven Republic in their little abode, but they needed help.

The Starium Redstone mine northeast of Wildbank.



An aerial shot of Wildbank, looking north.



An artistic shot of the Wildbank River, looking south.

[rooker1]

The city looks a great as the story!
Great work my friend.

Robin

[Tomas Neto]

Fantastic work!!! Very nice!!!   

[supremec]

indescribable so much it is fabulous   

[peter007]

I wanna participate nedalezz

[nedalezz]

Great! So we have marsh, noahclem (?), and peter007! We need atleast 2 more participants to get it started! I've been writing up some more on it, and here's what I got so far:

GENERAL RULES

1 – Each turn IG (in game) will amount to 6 months. The turn updates will be specified as such, as there might be mini updates within each turn.

2 – All decision making has to be done at the beginning of each turn (after the update). The first update will give an overview of Dunya (the country) and Rawa'a (the city), after which the participants will write what they wish to do in the update thread.

3 – I am one man running the project, so please be patient! This whole project is about FUN – let's not lose sight of that with overly complicated analysis and methods of calculations, etc.

4 – The Random Event Calculator will be used each turn update. I will list the random events in separate sheet. Each participant will be rolled a Random Event each turn, and there will be a general Random Event roll each turn as well.

5 – A lot of the development in Dunya will be based on my judgement; I will be attempting to keep it as realistic as possible, but at the end of the day, there might be something certain players might disagree with. For the sake of the continuity and fun of the game, please keep criticism to a minimum. There will be a discussion thread to discuss issues – I will listen to everyone and take everything said into account, and if something was wrong, rectify it for the future, but let us try not to dwell on past happening!

6 – Each player will start off with $20,000. Expenses will be calculated at the beginning of each turn for the rest of the turn, so if you have $5,000 worth of expenses to cover in Turn 2, they will be taken out of the character's account  at the beginning of the turn.

PROFESSIONS

To start with, these professions are available:

Fisherman: A fisherman makes his living from fishing. A fisherman will need a capital of $1,500 to acquire the SMALL WOODEN FISHING BOAT, which will be added to his assets. This profession requires an Education Level of 0. Each plot yields a set number of income unless changed by the Random Event Calculator. Each turn, if the fisherman chooses to export his products, the Random Event Calculator will roll to decide how much of the fish gets sold. Alternatively, they can sell their fish to local traders, who choose how much they wish to buy. If sold to a trader, the selling price will be at 80% of the market price. Fishing produces LIFE NECCESSITY products; so the fishermen can use a portion of their fish to contribute towards their LIFE NECCESSITY expenses.

Farmer: A farmer makes his living from farming crops. The capital of a farmer varies on how big of a land he or she purchases initially. As with fishing, each plot yields a set number of income unless changed by the Random Event Calculator. Any farm larger than 5x5 plots will need a TRACTOR to operate, which costs $50,000. This profession requires an Education Level of 0. Each turn, if the farmer chooses to export his products, the Random Event Calculator will roll to decide how much of the products gets sold. Alternatively, they can sell their products to local traders, who choose how much they wish to buy. If sold to a trader, the selling price will be at 80% of the market price. Farming produces LIFE NECCESSITY products; so the farmer can use a portion of their products to contribute towards their LIFE NECCESSITY expenses.

Trader: A trader makes his living from buying products either from incoming shipments or from local participants, such as fishermen and farmers. If products are bought from fishermen or farmers, the mark up margin will be 20%. As a trader, the Random Event Calculator, when calculating selling, will be designs to be more favorable to this profession, so a trader will have a higher chance of selling 100% of his inventory than a farmer or a fisherman. The only products that will be arriving to start with will be LIFE NECCESSITY products, or products that each participant, depending on income, size of family, and assets, will have to spend a specific number on each turn as expenses. Additionally, only someone in the Trader profession can import goods into Dunya. Trader requires an Education Level of 0. The capital for a trader can vary: initially, a trader has to acquire a STAND, which will cost $2,000, and if it is placed on land that is not owned by the trader, there will have to be rent paid to the government. A trader's acquisition of products depends on the player; at the beginning of each turn, a trader can choose to keep his inventory and continue trying to sell at 20% markup, or sell it to the government at the market price (no profit).

Government Employee: A government employee makes his living from working for a governmental entity. At the start, a government employee will have a choice to work either at the Rawa'a Pier or at the Bank of Dunya. The fixed salary of the governmental employee varies according to Education Level; to start, an Education Level of 0 will mean the lowest level of income. A government employee will be provided with basic free housing according to the level of his job, and LIFE NECCESSITY products will cost 50% less.



GENERAL INFORMATION:

Expenses: To start out with, each character will have to spend $500 a month on LIFE NECCESSITY products, or $3,000 a turn. Given as the only housing available is owned by the government, they are renting out each house for $200, so that's another $1,200 a turn. This will be taken out of each character's account at the beginning of each turn. As the game progresses and evolves, different type of expenses will come into play: Once a player starts operating their business, I will calculate, given the size of the business, how much expenses their business will face. Families will also add to the expenses, with each head costing a certain amount depending if they are adults or children.

Taxation: The government will collect a set tax of 10% of final profits each turn from each character.

Age: In this game, characters will age, so sooner or later, the character will have to get married and have children if they choose to carry on their legacy. The passing of each character will be decided by the player, but generally, as the character begins to get to his 70s and 80s, we will discuss when the appropriate time would be for the character's passing.


Please keep in mind this is an ever evolving game, so there will always be things being added to it.

[rooker1]

Interesting.

Robin

[marsh]

Great work planning all this out. I'm anticipating it. 

[Exla357]

I would like to be a participant in this RPG concept.

-Alex 

[travismking]

I too would like to participate if you need one more, sounds interesting

[nedalezz]

Awesome! So we have marsh, noahclem, peter007, Exla357, and travismking, which should be enough to start with!

Everyone is going to start with the same $20,000 - and all characters will be 22 years of age. Please tell me for now what your character's names will be while I finalize the general starting rules and our own thread!

[art128]

Interesting idea you've got there Nedal, i'm gonna follow it !