This is the new version of the boardwars guide, it is essentially the same just with a few of the old links removed. I'll update it as more boardwars become available as examples.
This is a useful guide an explanation for everything boardwar related. If you a new, a read of this guide is highly recommended.
What is a Boardwar?
A boardwar is a text-based game played via forums. One person posts, then another person posts in response to that, and then a third person posts in response to that. It can have any set of rules, and doesn’t have to be based around combat. It can also have any type of setting or style. For example, it could be a fully-fledged Dungeons and Dragons RPG or it could be an intergalactic war where the players control entire civilizations. Here is a example of something from a fleet boardwar:
That example was made up on-the-spot, but it should make it easier to understand what a boardwar actually is, though generally they aren’t this tongue-in-cheek.Player A: The Super Galactic Hyper Fleet hyperspaces into the Capella star system. The Super Galactic Hyper Fleet’s weapons are all charged and aiming at the vast Capella Super Station, ready to destroy it without warning.
Player B: The 15-foot-long Capella Super Station fires upon the Super Galactic Hyper Fleet immediately, all of its two Hyper Ultra Death Rays (pen-lights) firing in unison towards the Super Galactic Hyper Fleet’s largest ships. Meanwhile, the Capella Super Station’s shields are all activated up to full power and a distress call is sent. The Capella Defense Fleet responds to the call and begins to hyperspace towards the battle.
Player A: The Super Galactic Hyper Fleet starts taking losses, losing all three of its corvettes, the largest ships in the fleet. However, the two fighters left proudly fight on, firing their Hyper Ultra Mothball Cannons at the Capella Super Station, the two cannons all firing simultaneously…
…
Player B: The Capella Super Station’s defenses finally succumb to the fire, and the reactors explode in great fury, adding the final parts to the wreckage surrounding the Capella sun…
How can I start my own boardwar?
That’s actually pretty easy! All you have to do is decide what kind of boardwar it’ll be, what the setting is, and what all of the rules will be, then post it up. Here is an example of a real boardwar’s opening post, detailing all of the rules and what it is:
Terms of the Boardwar SceneAs the world celebrates the turning of the year of 2051, the political scene is in turmoil. Empires have risen and fallen in the past fifty years, developing nations slowly turning into industrialized powerhouses and developed nations getting richer and richer. Disputes and conflicts rage across the planet and even into outer space, turning the cradle of Humanity into a powder keg that could explode at the slightest spark.
Can your chosen nation survive the war in the making?
-------------------
This boardwar is, obviously, a World War BW. It's 2051, so technology is fairly advanced. Bio-nanotech, robotics, AIs, advanced armor, room-temperature superconductors, a working understanding of the brain, cyber- and bio-technology, an internet so massive that nobody really understands all its workings, and so on. There's even a few bits of esoteric super-tech.
The world will begin at peace, and the first fifty posts will be your opportunity to secure allies and prepare your forces for whatever is coming. At post fifty, something will happen....
Rules
1. This BW is grand-strategic level. We do not need to hear about the adventures of Charlie Company of the 85th spaceborne.
2. Your soldiers are not superhuman. Unless they are in a very, very specific area, a thousand soldiers cannot hold off a hundred thousand.
3. ICBMs and many other methods of achieving a "I'm going down and taking you with me" situation are obsolete. The world feels secure enough to start slugging it out between superpowers again, which necessitates that easy ways to deliver WMDs have been defeated.
4. Though you command a superpower, your military is neither infinite nor invinvible. You can be defeated, and you cannot start with absurd numbers of land battleships or other such things.
5. Politics, people. Play your nation realistically.
6. Though there is no point system per-se, you can have three fields which you are ahead of others in, such as space weaponry, artillery, infantry battlesuits, nanotech, and so on.
7. Offworld nations irk me. You may have offworld posessions, but there are no independent offworld states.
8. No powergaming or flamewars.
9. You can lose a few battles and still win the war. However, if it's that important that you must dispute the outcome, a responsible third party will judge.
That's it. Join up!
Boardwarrior: A person who plays boardwars
Example: I, Raver, am a Boardwarrior because I have played in many boardwars.
Powergaming: Unfairly gaining an advantage, by any number of means. These can include simply making your people too powerful, always countering things that happen to you, outright ignoring things that other people post, and other things of that nature.
Example: One player posts about how they are attacking with an absolutely gigantic force, and then the player being attacked defeats the entire force by having an earthquake rip through the area just at that moment, when the player’s people don’t have any control over earthquakes.
Metagaming: Using knowledge gained outside of the game inside the game in order to gain an advantage.
Example: One person posts about how they have a super-secret factory hidden underneath the ground, and then another player, without any hesitation or explanation of how he can know where the factory is, attacks the factory in full force.
Note: Some of the following links are down due to the old Boardwars forum being deleted in an online attack on Relicnews.
Styles of Boardwars
Remember, these are not the only styles possible. These are only the three most common styles – feel free to experiment.
World War Boardwar: A type of boardwar where people control a civilization, usually a nation in future Earth, that is involved in a major war sweeping across the entire globe. These boardwars are notorious for the powergaming involved, though they also happen to be extremely popular when they are made.
Example: (Link Unavailable)
Fleet Boardwar: A type of boardwar where people control an entire civilization in space. This civilization generally enters into a war with other civilizations, with fleets fighting off other fleets.
Example: Dance of the Stars
Character Boardwar: A type of boardwar where people control only a single character. These boardwars range in style far and wide, such as being a heavy-handed DnD RPG, or an extremely freeform game set in the far future.
Example: Eden of the West
Any Questions?
Feel free to post in the Discussing Boardwars thread, or join us on the boardwars IRC channel, which can be found by entering:
irc.reliccommunity.com
and then going to the "#boardwars" room.
