Holy Land Quest

>>352627
Also decide what kind of Crusader you wanna be
>Zealots(Deus Vult)
>Opportunist (Land deprived nobles in Europe eager to carve their own realms in the Holy Land)
>Pragmatists(Willing to compromise and negotiate to reach our goal)
>Warmongers(Unable to fight in Europe they came to kick saracen ass and burn cities to the ground)

>>352627
>Bohemian
>Pragmatists(Willing to compromise and negotiate to reach our goal)

>>352627
>Norman(The bulk of the crusader army)
>Pragmatists(Willing to compromise and negotiate to reach our goal)

>Bohemian
>Pragmatists(Willing to compromise and negotiate to reach our goal)

Anyone else? Still got time, OP got things to do,
Oh, and your nationality represents the difficulty if it isn't obvious enough

>>352627
>>Norman(The bulk of the crusader army)
>Opportunist (Land deprived nobles in Europe eager to carve their own realms in the Holy Land)

>>352641
>>352644
>>352669
>>352759
You are William, count of Neapolis. Born in Normandy in 1050 AD, you earned your spurs at Hastings. killing a saxon housecarl. As the fifth son of your father, your chances of inheriting is slim, so you left with your cousin Henry to Southern Italy to offer your service as a mercenary. Soon you manage to create a respectable domain around the city of Neapolis which you manage to conquer.
When the pope called for a crusade, you answered dutifully. However, you are a pragmatist, for you the crusade is a duty that all christians must fulfill but you are willing to seek less violent ways to achieve that goal.

>>352848
So, why easymode?

The cold marble steps of the palace rang loudly as you head to a large table where your brethren have gathered. You took your seat at one end of the table where you can see the emperor have seated, flanked by his generals, and his daughter?
Silence ensues as the Emperor begins talking
>We welcome you fellow brothers in Christ who have taken the cross and vowed to retake our holy cities, now let us get discuss the preparations.
You nodded, as he continued
>We will provide you with provisions for the journey and we will send 10 thousand of our men to accompany and guide you through the treacherous path ahead, in return, I demand that all of you swore an oath of fealty to me and vow that you will not harm or plunder through my lands.
Your fellow crusaders look upon you, waiting for your response, a few of their faces betraying their disgust. You know that traveling on your own would mean plundering and looting through on your way to Jerusalem.
So
>Accept the deal
>Reject
>Write in

>>352853
I'm afraid the quest gonna end too quickly especially with the horror rolls I've seen

>>352899
>Accept the deal

>>352899
Accept
Not for a second are we to deny help to the Romans
They are a naval force to be reckoned with, have a ton of supplies and reinforcements, plus they technically were the ones who asked for help

>>352932
>>352908
April 1097
You look at the magnificent city one last time before steppimg into the boat. You wonder if you will ever see it again. The army landed on the other side of the Bosporous, 50 thousand in all.
It consists of
>10k Romans
>5k Crusader Knights
>35k Crusader men at arms
You are the leader of the Norman contingent, the largest and most zealous of the Crusaders, hardened veterans of numerous battles. Your second in command is your cousin Henry, a good, piteous, God-fearing man. He has been your true friend ever since you left Normandy.
Your army consists of
>1.6k Knights
>12k Men at arms
The second largest contingent are the Provencals of Southern France, they are led by Duke Simon, a power hungry lord known for his unsavoury methods acquiring various castles around his realm. Once he accused the widow of baron of heresy, had her burned and seized the castle for himself.
He is in command of
>1.4k Knights
>10k Men at arms
The third contingent are the Franks, led by Count Philip, a wealthy magnate and grandson of a King. Known for his piety and virtue, he is nevertheless a formidable commander in the battlefield.
He leads
>1.2k Knights
>8k Men at armss
The final part of the army is a coalition of various peoples of the German Empire, Germans, Bohemians, Flemings, and Wends. Their leader is count Ottokar, an infamous man, known for pillaging villages in Hungary.
He leads
>800 Knights
>5k Men at arms
The crusaders marched forward in 4 columns according to their nationalities with the your men leading ahead and the Romans attached. Soon you met the first obstacle in your way. The city of Nicomedia, recently captured by the Turks lie ahead. Your men is eager for blood, you can rush forward before they're aware of your presence and capture the city. On the other hand, this will annoy other crusaders who think you're seizing the glory all for yourself.
Do you
>Rush forward and catch the defenders unprepared (This will harm your relation eith other Crusader leaders)
>Wait for the rest and besiege the city
>Bypass the city (This will harm the flow of your provision and displease the Emperor who expects you to capture a few cities for him)

>>352908
You as the QM decide if there will be horror rolls or not, it depends on the dice you tell us to roll.
1d20, best of three rolls: a critfail or crit (on a 1 or 20) happens in about 30 % of the rolls = high chance of horror rolls, not recommended.
1d100, average of three rolls: will usually give numbers between 40 and 60, leads to lot of frustration for the players, thus not recommended.
1d100, best of three rolls: depending on crit range (1-5/96-100 or 1/100) either a high chance or a low chance.
3d10, 3 rolls, success tiered as 0-3 of the rolls pass the DC: very low chance of crits (if crits only on 3 and 30) but chosing the DC is more complicated because middle numbers are much more likely than extreme (there are tables with the probabilities on the net though)

>>353069
>other
How far are the others behind? Can we send couriers to inform them of the city so that they hurry up and then we attack together before the Turks notice us?

>>353177
My style is taking best of the first 3 rolls we got, still I've got 3 3s in a row lmao

The second column are Franks are about several hours march away and could be contacted, the others are more than a day's march so higher probability of losing our surprise

>>353069
>Rush forward and catch the defenders unprepared (This will harm your relation eith other Crusader leaders)

>>353238
>>353069
then send a courier to the Franks and
>Rush forward and catch the defenders unprepared (This will harm your relation eith other Crusader leaders)
After we capture Nicomedia another faction can march in front to capture the next city we reach, so they won't be too jealous

>>353288
>>353303
Roll a 1d100 to see whether the Franks arrive in time

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>353325

Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>353325
Blood for the blood god! (Old Testament)

>>353330
>>353331
You've waited and waited but you received no message from them, it seems they're further behind than you thought,
>Do you still wish to assault the city?

>>353354
>Yes
We don't want to loose the element of surprise.

>>353370
*lose

>>353354
>Yes
Having send message will hopefully mitigate the envy

>>353370
>>353378
Roll 2d100 to determine the success of our suprise and assault

Rolled 10, 34 = 44 (2d100)

>>353397

(trip for future reference)

Rolled 19, 27 = 46 (2d100)

>>353397

Rolled 8, 61 = 69 (2d100)

>>353397
third roll, hopefully with better success

>>353410
The suprise failed, it seems that the Turks has spotted you while you were waiting for the Franks.
However, you and your Roman allies still manage to capture the city as the Turks have no time to fortify the city, you lost 50 knights and 300 men at arms in the battle but now your banner flies proudly at the ramparts of Nicopolis. You see some of the men begin sacking and plundering, do you stop them?
>Stop them we're better than that
>Let the men have their fun after a hard battle
>Leave the city intact for our friends to sack instead
>Fill in

>>353456
>Stop them we're better than that

>>353456
Weeeeeell, that's a difficult choice. Too much sacking and we get a bad reputation from the Saracens and since we're the pragmatic type that might bite us in the ass in the future. Not plundering at all means frustrated soldiers and the other factions will laugh at us. Option 3 is just stupid.
So how about
> a bit of plundering to fill the coffers, but no raping/killing and other atrocities?

>>353486
>>353470
Gonna wait 10m or so

>>353486
Going with this.

Rolled 61 (1d100)

>>353542
>>353486
You tried to stop your men from murdering indiscriminately to only looting
Gonna roll for our success

>>353598
Yell yeah, respect our authoritay!

>>353611
Hell*
Authority*

You managed to stop the worst atrocities from happening. The populace aren't happy but at least they aren't dead. The Romans will garrison and take over the city after we leave.
The rest of the crusaders arrived the next day.
Despite the letter they aren't happy that you left them out of a battle and looted on your own. The leader of the Provencals, Duke Simon even accused you of greed and deceit.
>Defend yourself
>Give them (write in)
>Ignore them and march on
>Write in

>>353712
So what I might suggest here might be dumb, but what if we challenged him to a duel for honor? He did insult us after all.

>>353712
Tell him to walk faster next time, then
>Ignore them and march on

>>353735
Changing my vote to this.

>>353732
>>353739
You told them in the most polite term that they should've stuck closer and marched faster. Duke Simon seemed to get funny ideas and demanded that he'll be our leading column and with the Franks behind him. It looks like You'll be quite far from action
>Accept
>Reject
>Negotiate

>>353802
>>Accept
Let them be crushed by then next enemy.
Just as planned

>>353802
>Accept

>>353802
Accept with a grin and make a sideways comment about 'seeing the strength he proclaims to have'

>>353967
>>353951
>>353833
May 1097
With a smirk, you let the duke take the lead.
Our forces
>1.55k Knights
>11.7k men at arms
The rest month has passed without a notable event, the French ahead of you seemed to savor their time pillaging the countryside while you follow from behind. The romans looked unhappy at this but they follow you, for now.

Continuing tomorrow, same time cya lads