Imagi-Nation Campaign: Pre-Start Information

This page of information is primarily for the purpose of informing the campaign players what needs to be done prior to the start of the campaign. It is a temporary page and will be deleted or replaced once the campaign actually kicks off. Keep in mind, my idea for this campaign is to have several linked campaigns, extending from 1708-1820 (or 1830). These will be taken in "chunks" of time, roughly corresponding to the significant periods of war in our history. Should these prove successful, and should the majority of players wish to continue, it is well possible that the extended campaign continue through to 1918 or even 1950. If it sputters and falters part way through the first period, 1708-1730, then that is fine too; hopefully we will have had quite a few games before then.

Note: When writing up your own histories, please refrain from placing your nation's leadership within the ruling house or houses of what we would consider a major power. So, no nephews of Louis XIV or bastard son of James II, if you please. Your ruling house's origins should come from the periphery of nobility. You can be noble and rich, there's no problem with that. However, I will be writing up options that the major powers may choose from, and a few able campaign assistants will make those decisions for this campaign, meaning that even I will be surprised at the doings of major powers.

Here is a map representing the available "nations" which players can choose from. The locations marked as "NPC" are non-player countries and the nations marked with "XX" have already been selected. Keep in mind, each location has geography and population "roughly" coinciding with the historical reality. I have taken a few liberties with history and am assuming an influx of several thousands of immigrants, but beyond that, a large port city is where it should be.

Note: Location 1 has also been taken.  Brad
Note: Location 3 has also been taken. Neil
Note: Location 4 has also been taken. Bryan
Note: Location 9 has also been taken. Brent
Note: Location 5 has also been taken. Ron
Note: Location 7 has also been taken. Alex



The campaign is now full.



Players need to do the following:

1) Choose a location and email me your choice. It is first come, first served, so you may want to send more than one choice, in the order of preference you choose. If you are a player, you already have my email address or otherwise know how to contact me.

2) Decide on the name of your nation. It should be something suitable for the period and not based on something from the 19th through 21st centuries. As campaign moderator, I reserve the right to have you choose a new name if the one you select is not appropriate. Once your nation's name is accepted, continue with #3 below.

3) Create a blog for your nation, preferably using the name of your nation as the name of the blog. The blog should be located on Blogger and have a blogspot.com suffix in the URL. This is to ease links between the blogs for the campaign, so we can all follow each other in Google Reader, etc. While there are a few other blog sites that have more numerous editing options, this site is suitable for our needs.

4) Having created a nation and blogged it, you should inform me as to the name of your capital city. The locations on the map generally include one or more historical provinces, so you may keep the historical name of the provincial capital if you wish, or change the name. However, you will be expected to include the history behind your name change in the history of your nation. For guidance on this, see my own nation's history to determine the level of detail you should consider.

5) Decide on a theme or set of themes for your nation. Is it ruled by an avant garde European who loves the exotic and therefore embraces the Orient (Turkish) influences? Is your ruler the youngest son of an esteemed Polish noble, who has brought his loyal friends with him? Is your ruling family strongly associated with Bourbon France and copies the tastes of the departed Sun King? Or does the cold, harsh north provide you with an influx of Sweden's native sons?

    You, as the player, may choose a single theme or a combination of themes, but they should all come from European or Near Eastern influences. Sorry, but Fuzzy Wuzzy tribesmen and Sino-Japanese themes will not work for this portion of the extended campaign. This is NOT to say that, in the future extensions of this campaign, that those influences will be unavailable.

6) Now that you have a theme, start working on the uniform styles and colorings. I would suggest, though, that you use a style which coincides with what was in fashion during the period of our own history. I would much prefer to not see SYW uniforms in this first part of the campaign. There are several reasons for this, but the most significant is that one of the purposes of this campaign is to allow us to use WSS and/or GNW armies that we already have or are currently collecting OR to inspire us to do so. If you wish to use NYW uniform styles, that is also acceptable, but at least a few of our nation's courts will consider your army as to be decidedly out of fashion.

7) **I am working on this part at the moment. This is where the creation of the cast of characters is to be located. There is a certain amount of role-playing to be expected in an Imagi-Nations campaign, including this one. But, as you get to play all the roles for your own nation, we will simply create the characters and then work up our own histories, using the characters to support our stories. This is where you, as the player, get to be as creative as you like...within the parameters of the framework of the campaign.**