My son (Starshine_Monarch) and I have had an idea of creating a mod somewhat based on the geography, geopolitics and culture of the Society of Creative Anachronism, a medieval re-creation and educational organization founded in 1966 and that I have been a member of since 1984. Our biggest problems are that we have never attempted a mod before and that our graphic design abilities are rather limited. Therefore we are asking for advice and assistance from the rest of the D3 community.
The Map:
The map would be a representation of North America roughly from the Arctic Circle (although the 60th parallel is probably more practical. I really want to include the Alaskan groups but there are no other groups north of Edmonton) to the US/Mexico border. Florida must be included but the Caribbean is not necessary. Hawaii can (and should) be added out of scale. The final size of the map should be somewhere in the 500-750 province range. We feel that a map based on a satellite photo would be inappropriate for what we are trying to do and a map done in the style of the random maps in the game or in the style of some of the other designers (Jason Lutes comes immediately to mind) would be preferable. Frankly, neither my son nor I have the graphic skill to do this the way we'd like. We could quite probably take the map and create the provinces but we certainly cannot do the artwork. We don't have the artistic skill.
The Nations:
There would be seventeen nations (kingdoms) in the mod. All would be roughly identical in composition except each would get a special unit type unique to their history.
Kingdoms and their preferred starting locations (the cities in parenthesis would be alternate starting locations based on game balance needs):
East Kingdom - New York City (or Boston)
�thelmearc - Pittsburgh (or Buffalo)
Ealdormere - Toronto
Atlantia - Washington (or Richmond or Raleigh)
Meridies - Atlanta (or Nashville)
Trimaris - Miami (or Orlando)
Gleann Abhann - New Orleans (or Memphis)
Middle Kingdom - Indianapolis (or Columbus or Chicago)
Northshield - Minneapolis (or Winnipeg)
Calontir - Kansas City
Outlands - Denver (or Albuquerque)
Artemesia - Salt Lake City (or Boise)
Ansteorra - Dallas (or Houston or Oklahoma City)
Atenveldt - Phoenix
An Tir - Seattle (or Portland or Vancouver)
West Kingdom - San Francisco
Caid - Los Angeles
The graphics that would be used as the banners of the kingdoms can be found here:
http://www.goldenstag.net/MiscSCA/KingdomColors.htm
There are two additional kingdoms in the SCA: Lochac (Australia and New Zealand) and Drachenwald (Europe). We don't know how we'd go about representing them except to put them in grossly out of scale. Since we first had this idea when D2 was out, naturally the 17 North American kingdoms seemed like a very appropriate fit. I think we should try this with the North American kingdoms first and if the concept is successful we can do another map adding in the other two kingdoms.
Magic:
Magic would be exceptionally limited, even more so than you see in late age games although there certainly will be some otherwise it would not be Dominions. Any magic user stronger than a 3 would be exceptionally rare and the better magic sites would be almost non-existent. On the other hand, things like units with large supply bonuses would be a lot more common as would magic sites without magic abilities (like War Academies). Also, the creation of lower grade magic weapons and armor with little or no gem use would be more common and several new weapons and armor would need to be created.
Basic units:
SCA fighters come in a rather polyglot assortment depending on what the fighter shows up with that particular day. Normally a commander will simply take what they get and figure out what to do with them on the battlefield. Common types include sword and shield, two swords, polearm, spear (used mostly as rear support) and great sword. Cavalry is not used at all in combat. What I'd like to do is to be able to set a quality of fighter but randomize his weapon allotment after he is purchased. Help on how to accomplish this would be welcome. There would also be some special kingdom-specific weapons types like the Calontir war-shield (fighters with no weapon but a large two-handed shield meant to hold ground)
Priests:
Would still work as they do now although the concept would be called something else. We haven't decided on what yet. Most high-level commanders would have priestly powers to "encourage" their special troops.
Mercenaries:
Quite a few would be available but it would be rare when they were anything special.
Archers:
Archers would normally be of very poor quality to reflect SCA combat archery which is notoriously inaccurate and ineffective.
Siege weapons:
Definitely gaining in popularity and effectiveness. We'd find a way to fit them in, both with siege bonuses and on the field abilities.
I think that anyone who has ever been associated with the Society and plays the game would very much welcome this mod as it would combine two of their favorite activities. I think that anyone who played it might be interested in seeing what we're all about, come to a local practice put on the armor and get hit himself.
Again, any suggestions or assistance (particularly in the graphics end of the production) would be exceptionally welcome.
- Calvert
SCA Mod concept proposal
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