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• The War Book

The War Book

This guide includes the basic points covered in the main body of the SRC Charter for this topic, as well as additional rules, clarifications, and examples. This guide is considered part of the SRC Charter. This guide is subject to frequent revision, so please return at least monthly to be certain you are working with the latest available set of rules. Updated information will be added in the appropriate section of this guide. When an update for this guide is issued, the guide name and date of most recent update will appear on the Revisions page.

Declaration of War

A Declaration of War must be submitted to and approved by the Chancellor of War. The Declaration must include the full name and acronym of the guild or house declaring the war, the full name and acronym of the target guild or house, and the terms of the war. The terms must include whether the battles are to be ghost matches or POW matches and whether POWs may be ransomed if applicable.

If approved, the Declaration is stamped by the Chancellor of War and forwarded to the commander of the target Guild or House, who in turn may accept or decline. The commander of the target House or Guild informs the Chancellor of War of their decision by signing the Declaration stating their decision, then forwarding it back to the Chancellor of War. If the target declines, the Chancellor of War informs the aggressing guild or house, and the discussion is over.

Cut and paste versions of this declaration are not acceptable, as this makes the document easier to forge. The Declaration must be forwarded at each stage.

War Rosters - If the two guilds or houses agree to go to war, each commander must then submit a war roster which includes the current value of the guild's gold pool, the screen names and gold pools of the GC and SIC (war was ultimately their decision, after all), the screen names of all guild members who will be participating, their dice and hit potential, a list of those members designated as guards for POWs, the screen names of any mercenaries hired and their dice and hit potential, and a listing of all ally guilds/houses by full name and acronym. Further, each roster must note which characters are Clerics, as these are the only characters allowed to perform healings during wartime.  If the allies of either guild or house are also participating, they will need to submit war rosters as well. Note that allies of allies may NOT participate; only guilds or houses who have alliances with one of the original two guilds. No one not listed on the original war rosters will be allowed to participate.    

Hit potential - The total amount of damage a character can do in one roll without mods is called hit potential. To find it, use the number of sides, look up on the hit chart what that side would score, and multiply by the number of dice. For example, a 4d90 character's hit potential is 16 x 4 = 64, a 3d70 would be 12 x 3 = 36, and so forth. This number is listed on the war roster to facilitate choosing targets for single matches.

Alliances and Non-Aggression Pacts

Allies of either of the two warring guilds may choose to participate in the war, however allies of the ally guilds, unless they have a direct alliance with one of the warring guilds as well, may not. If a guild is allied to BOTH of the warring guilds, they may not participate on behalf of either guild as this creates a conflict of loyalties.

Any guild which has a non-aggression pact with either of the warring guilds may not participate, even if that guild has an alliance with one of the warring guilds. To clarify, if Guild A and Guild B are at war, and Guild C has a non-aggression pact with Guild A, Guild C may not enter into the war against Guild A, even if they have an alliance with Guild B. In order for a guild with a non-aggression pact with one of the warring guilds to be able to participate as an ally, the non-aggression pact must be dissolved before the war is declared.

Alliances must be in place no less than one week before war is declared in order for those allies to be eligible to fight in the war. Non-aggression pacts may be sought as late as the day before the Declaration of War is issued to the target guild or house, and may include allies of the aggressing guild who have already said they will join in the war effort. In other words, while the target guild cannot forge new alliances in order to better their chances of survival, they can try to talk the aggressors allies out of fighting. Allies of any warring guild or house may pull out at any time during the war if the terms of their specific alliance allow for such.

Ally guilds must submit War Rosters and updates as required of the warring guilds. These are supplied to the commanders of both warring guilds, and to the Chancellor of War. Ally War Rosters must state which guild the ally guild is fighting with.

The War

All wartime matches except escape matches are fought with Guild/House dice, enhancements such as enchanted weapons and armor, and the 20/30/40-health rule. Escape matches are fought with 2d50 to 50. Everyone has the option to decline a match except in the case of the Mass battle; if you are in the war room to fight you must abide by the ruling of the proctor. Anyone defeated in a Ghost match is considered a ghost until the end of the war, and must state in their profile they are a ghost until notified the war is ended. Anyone defeated in a POW match is considered a POW until they escape, become a ghost in an escape attempt, are ransomed, or until the war is over.

In the case of a dispute of any sort, a log needs to be sent to the SRC War Chancellor for review. The decision of the SRC War Chancellor is final. If the dispute regards possible cheating, illegal AAs or KAs, or regards a fighter who is captured or killed fighting additional matches after they lost their match, the case may result in a court martial. See War Crimes, below.

Healers must state such in their profile (healer, shaman, cleric, priest, etc.) in order to be able to heal during a combat. The healer may forego their attack and instead roll to heal someone or themselves. Healing restores 1 point of health per hit scored by the healer up to the maximum health of the individual healed.

War matches earn war points for the winning guild, which are totaled at the end of the war and turned in for an experience award to be divided among the participants in the war. War points are worth 100 xp each, which is awarded AFTER the war is over. Winning a melee match earns 15 points for the guild. Winning a single match or successful AA or KA by a guild assassin (NOT an outside contractor) earns 10 points for the guild.  This way, there is potential gain for everyone participating in the war, not just the ultimate victor. 

The war is made up of three types of matches. These are Melee matches, Single matches, and Clandestine Attempts. Each of these are explained in depth below, but briefly, melee matches are mass (team) matches, single matches are just what the name implies, matches between two combatants, and Clandestine Attempts are AAs or KAs against key targets. Single matches may take place any time that is convenient for the combatants, but they must have an SRC Certified Proctor present to score and log the match. The Proctor is responsible for sending the log of such matches to both commanders as soon as the match is done.

All combatants must  email the log of that match to their commanding officer immediately after any match they fight, even though the Proctor will have done this as well. Further, if they lose the match, they can no longer fight in the war. They must immediately update their profile to reflect that they are either a ghost or a POW, and they must refuse any challenges received after they lose a match. The penalties for war crimes are very strict, and generally speaking not worth taking the chance over. See  War Crimes, below.

During the war, characters may advance their dice at the normal rate based on war matches and spars they win. GCs are expected to keep up their regular non-wartime duties, and send out regular rosters. If characters involved in the war advance their sides from what they started the war with, the war rosters must be updated to reflect these changes.

War Rosters - The commanding officer, or a person they delegate to do so, must update war rosters for the guild or house four times daily and after every major loss (on a day when a melee battle is held, there would be five updates to the war roster if that guild lost the melee). This should be done every three to six hours, and may require more than one person to keep track of the war rosters.These updates are sent to the commander of the opposing side, the Chancellor of War, and all members of the guild/house as of that update. It is the responsibility of the CO to distribute the opposing side's war roster to their members. To clarify, if Guild A and Guild B are at war, each day each guild must update its war roster a minimum of four times. Guild A sends its updates to the CO of Guild B, and vice versa. Both send their updates to the Chancellor of War. It is the responsibility of Guild A's CO to see that the surviving members of Guild A get a copy of Guild B's war roster updates. Each CO distributes their guild's update to their members.

It will be argued that updating the rosters is a tremendous amount of paperwork, and will take up all of the time of the person who gets stuck with the job. This is not true; A war roster should be no more than an email list, containing names, dice, and hit potentials, and when a character is killed or captured, they are simply removed from the mailstring and the list. The task becomes even simpler if the roster and mailstring are listed in the same order. The only other item that will need to be changed is the list of guards, once per day. Guilds of 100 or more members may have more difficulty coordinating roster updates, but they should also have more than one or two people working on them. It is suggested that unit commanders update rosters for their units, and send these in for compilation by the GC.

Single matches may be arranged by the CO, in which case the CO tells each member who their targets are to be, in what order. This does not eliminate the need to distribute the opposing sides war roster updates to the members, however, as members will need to know who is and is not a valid challenger before accepting a challenge from the opposing side.

Mercenaries

Further, like any other guild or house involved in the war, the mercenary guild must submit an initial War Roster to the Commander who employs them and to the Chancellor of War. They must also submit updates to their War Roster as per the rules for other guilds in the war.

Freelance mercenaries are assigned to the hiring guild as temporary members, and noted on that guild's War Rosters as mercenaries.

Melees

War melees are team matches which involve up to 11 members of each side, and a Certified Proctor. They must be fought in specifically designated rooms, and no spectators or non-combatants are allowed into the room. As in normal team spars, the fighters use their guild/house dice. They may also use any mods they have available, within the standard rules for modifiers.This battle will be fought until one army surrenders or has been eliminated. A winning side will be announced for that Battle by the proctor.

It may be a good point of strategy to surrender during POW wars. If at any time the ratio of POWs to Guards exceeds 10:1 all POWs escape.

Single Matches

Single matches may be fought whenever the opportunity arises. All war matches are fought with guild or house dice, and mods are allowed in any war match (subject to normal mods rules). In order to keep single matches as fair as possible for as long as possible challenges may only be issued to the opponent nearest the challenger in hit potential. For example, if your dice are 2d45, your hit potential is 14 points (7 points per die). You could challenge anyone 2d45 to 2d49, 3d30 to 3d34, and 4d25 to 4d29. If no opponent remains who is within your hit potential, you may challenge the next higher or lower.

As noted under Melees, above, any combatant in a POW match may surrender if they expect to be defeated. If the surrender is accepted, the combatant becomes a POW, and the opponent earns xp based on the score at the time of surrender.

Interrogations

Interrogation is not recommended but is included here to simulate the conditions of war. This is a role-playing game and although no player can be forced to comply a good role player will try their best to abide by the rules. To Interrogate a POW both POW and the torturer roll 2d50, and the highest score wins that round. The Interrogator must win 3 rounds in a row to break the POW. A session of torturing is 10 rounds. If the Interrogator wins the contest then the POW must answer a single question truthfully if they are capable of answering (if they know the answer). If at any time during the session the torturer wins 3 consecutive rounds the POW will break down and answer truthfully a question asked of them. A POW may be interrogated only twice and it must be at least 24 hours real time apart. A successful interrogation is worth 100xp to the interrogator, and a successful resistance to an interrogation is worth 100xp to the POW.

Assassinations and Kidnappings

Assassins in a Guild/House at war do not get payment from the guild or house for assassinating or kidnapping members of the opposing guild, as this is what they have been being paid for since joining the guild. They do, of course, earn the normal amount of experience for the AA or KA. If the assassin chooses to take contracts which are not related to the war, they may do so, and can charge the normal rate. Wartime assassinations and kidnappings fall under the standard rules, except that the assassin need not get logs on their target (as long as the target is a member of the opposing army or one of its allies).

Assassins in wartime do not have to have a contract, per se, however they must have assigned targets. The GC or proper commander must send an email to the assassin stating the SN of the target they want the assassin to go after. 

Outside Assassins may be hired as per AA rules to permanently eliminate an opposing Guild/House member. The standard fees apply.  In this Case the standard AA rules apply. If the AA is successful the target must be resurrected (they do not become a Ghost or POW). If unsuccessful the assassin may attempt to run or if forced may fight as per standard AA rules.

POWs , Guards and Ghosts

POWs are automatically freed at the end of the war. They may also be ransomed during the war at a cost of 10 gold per side. The POW may pay the ransom if they have the required gold. Half the ransom goes to the person who captured the POW and 1/2 goes to their Guild/House. Until they are ransomed, escape, or are freed at the end of the war, POWs must list themselves as such in their profile.

War Ghosts are automatically resurrected at the end of the war. Until that time they may not participate in the war in any way, and must list themselves as a ghost in their profile (ideally they would not spar, but as wars can take several weeks this is a bit unrealistic for most players).

Guards may not fight in Mass battles, or single combats other than escape matches, as they are rear echelon personnel. A Guild/House must maintain 1 guard for each 10 prisoners they hold. If this 1:10 ratio is not met the POW's escape, as the POW camp becomes undermanned. Guards gain 50xp per day and 20 gold per day. Guards may be rotated once daily if they choose.

POW's may elect to try to escape. To do this you must find a designated guard and fight an escape match (EM). Escape matches are fought with 2d50 to 50. If the POW loses this match they are considered a ghost until the end of the war, If a guard loses the match they remain active (it is not very smart for a POW to take time to kill a guard when they can escape). The POW may not use modifiers such as armor and weapons with enchantments (characters with mods spells may use them, however). The guard may use such if they possess them. All POW's that escape or that get ransomed must wait 24 hours real time before returning to active duty.(This reflects the harsh conditions of a POW camp)

Ending the War

At the end of the war, the total number of War Points are tallied for each guild or house, and they are awarded 100xp times the number of War Points earned, to be divided among those who took part in the war. Non-combatants do not receive a share of this award. Note that War Points are earned by ALL participating Guilds or Houses, not just the two central ones. Freelance mercenaries earn a share of the xp awarded to the Guild or House that hired them, just as any other member who participated does.

War Crimes 

Invalid War Matches - Anyone caught fighting in a war match after they have lost will be subject to an immediate court martial. A temporary truce will be declared, while facts on the case are gathered and a review board assembled.  The accuser must provide a forward of the emailed log in which the accused lost, and forwards of any logs in which the accused subsequently appears as a combatant.

If the accused is found guilty, that character is stripped of all their gold and exiled from SRC for cheating. The character's guild is fined 100gp x the number of matches the character fought after their death/capture. Further, if the accused is found guilty:

• Any characters who lost to the criminal after his death/capture are immediately freed or resurrected, and may return to the war (if it continues) as though the match never took place.
• If the criminal was a member of one of the two warring guilds, the opposing guild ( the injured guild, the one of which the criminal was NOT a member) may demand the immediate forfeit of the war by the guild of which the criminal was a member, OR the commander of the injured guild may choose to return any warrior already killed or captured to active duty, up to 3 times the number of matches fought after the criminal's loss. (For example, if the criminal fought three matches after their loss, the commander of the other side could choose to return any nine dead or captured warriors to active duty, as though their defeat had never taken place).
• If the criminal was a member of a mercenary guild hired for the war, that guild is stripped of its registration as a mercenary guild, and must return the contract fee to the guild that hired them. Additionally, they must pay a fine equal to the contract amount to the injured guild.
• If the criminal was an independent mercenary hired for the war, the hiring guild must pay a fine equal to the contract fee to the injured guild.
• If the criminal was a member of a registered assassin team and at least one member of the team was present when the criminal lost, if the team engaged in any war match or war-related assassination after that and allowed the criminal to participate, the team will be stripped of its registration, and subjected to heavy fines. The individuals may also lose their assassin registration number as a result of acting on an invalid contract, or performing an illegal AA. 

Invalid Wartime AAs - Wartime AAs may be found illegal if the assassin did not have direct orders for an AA, or if the AA took place during another war match (or for that matter, during a non-war-related spar or match). If found guilty by the court martial, the Assassin loses their assassin registration number, forfeits all their personal gold, and is fined 10 times the amount of experience they claimed from the illegal AA.

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