Sins of the Crusades Notes on Army Organization

Sadly its really hard to research Komnenian Armies. This is because of the haphazard situation and the constant conflicts unlike Justinian/Belisarius and Maurice's time as well as titles being a tool of manipulation (an arbitrary manner to move people up or down the pecking order). Then there is the adoption of Western organization, which is simpler and more useful given the constraints of the time. To make it easier and more intuitive I will limit the terms used with those that are more modern and easier to follow.

This is also from my experience in fighting in groups, and how challenging it is to coordinate as well as some management science insight. I've noticed the Military Fiefs determine how things are organized because these are the simplest ways of disseminating resources.

This is meant to make it easier to understand military organization. For the non-military characters in the game, this is to understand the logistics - that a soldier = a household, typically with a tenant farmer attached (I was not able to assemble these into a proper thesis but reading up on Byzantine Economics by Kenneth Harl is where I got this). That their leaders have greater and greater households awarded to them, and it is up to their virtues or vices how these resources are spent. As you can imagine, the higher up the chain, the more they need specialists and administrators and how limited they are in recruiting skilled talent, or how fortunate they are to have any skilled administrators.

Military Terms

Komnenian Army
Byzantine Army

• A Squad is 10 men, with one of them leading them called a Sergeant (Dekarch).
• We will use Companies (Pentekons and Hekatons), lead by a Captain (aka Pentatonarch or Hekatonarch), to call a group (of typically 5) Squads. So this is typically 50 men average mode (100 an uncommon number and a mark of a upward climbing military career).
• We will use Bandon, lead by a Commander (aka Companions or Komes) to call a group of Companies (typically 3 to 10). 200-1000 men.  
• We will use Army (Tagma), lead by a General (Strategos), to call a group of Bandons (2 to 10). Generals and their Armies vary greatly and posturing makes it hard for us to tell how many is an army. Which is not a bad thing because that is part of the game, the confusion sowed by the differences in organization.   

In the mindset of the time grouping focused on having more maneuverable units which needed competent leaders as well as awarding Households to compensate and support the soldiers. So the Army had a tendency to break up into small subunits of Companies in order to make it easier to coordinate and maneuver. A fairly experienced captain can organize up to 50 men within the parameters and expectations of the time. So most grouping is having as many Captains as possible. Captains get a large household, while his sergeants and soldiers get a household with tenants. Gaining men and resources is up to the ingenuity and aggressive manner of the Captain and his posse.

When a captain is sufficiently skilled and experienced his men grow to 100, and he moves up to be a Commander when he can organized more as he promotes within his Company his own sergeants. Commanders aka Counts, who are typically given estates of a fifty to hundred households, organizes their assets in Companies, while his whole strength is called a “Bandon” or “Band”.

A General, typically gets a vacated or recaptured Fief or Provincial Estate worth hundreds of households. If held and maintained, the succeeding generations become Dynasts themselves. Wealthier generals have been in the military for generations and have a much larger army, they stylize themselves as Dukes (Doukas) or Princeps or what ever title the Emperor will give them. the Appearance of strength and power is important so they tend to look for titles and estates to gain. You will notice that the Byzantine/Roman Imperial bureaucracy allows for this, rewarding titles, and to make it easier for the players and myself I'll simplify this with small notes on how many titles or households or soldiers instead of remembering or researching every single title.

Households and Soldiers

Note that Soldier = Household is a very typical formula for thousands of years. Also note that the more mobile, or farther from the household the soldier operates, the need for multiple households per soldier to support him. The longer the operation the more households is needed. Its from my chinese studies that about 10 households per soldier was about the cost of the border operations of various Dynasties in China. You think in households because you think in how to make it ongoing. Sun Zi had a formula for it in ounces of silver and Chinese miles, the romans I'm sure had such rules of thumb but it wasnt as widely adopted and evolved as the Chinese.  

A household is the soldier's household, and plus that of its tenants. This is a fluid number and not necessarily 1+1. The soldier can have slaves, and they provide the labor or tenants farmers who have migrated or have been captured.

GM Seminar at Makati B&B Jan 25 2015

+Marc P. Reyes organized the GM Seminar Jan 2015.  This was held at Makati B&B aka the Gaming Library in International Language Institute in legaspi village.

Pix from Jose Roxas

The speakers were +Marc P. Reyes , mysefl, +Tobie Abad w/ +Rocky Sunico (Tagsessions), and +Jay Steven Anyong.

The other videos will be linked to their respective speaker's blogs or platforms.

+Marc P. Reyes Mastering DnD 5e

My Take of Online Table Top RPGs



+Tobie Abad's The Beautiful Lie


+Jay Steven Anyong 's All the Small Things

That was a very busy week end. 

My presentation was to Try out Online Table Top Roleplaying, and what are the Pros and Cons I've experienced in my couple of years of running them and playing them.

The event was very active, and met a lot of GMs I've never met and some old faces of a particular generation of Gamers. You can call them the younger brothers of many of the first Gamers in the country, on average 10 years younger than the generation of Gamers who first picked up the GM screen. As in the cycle of life, our seniors are all busy with family and work, and we are those who still not to busy because of such. (expecting a great amount of fall out from such causes).

Still the community is energetic and still try to get books even when there are many barriers for them to access such. This group is just the Tip of the iceberg since Metro Manila Logistics makes us Insular and many more such communities exist around the various Friendly Local Gaming Stores that have popped up.

This is a labor of love and you can see from the devotion and resources expended by these Gamers. Some of whom traveled 30+ km or what would be 2 hours drive away. The venue was full and many more wanted to join. So much more that the event created the momentum of pushing for another such event bridging DnD Philippines and trying to accommodate as much of the community as logistically possible. A stellar effort to all those who made it possible, and hope a stronger and closer community can be created despite how difficult it is to meet in the Philippines (the traffic situation is so bad, almost 9/10 people sacrifice 2+ hours per day in commuting)

This Feb 22, Sunday, in Makati B&B there will be another GM Seminar:
(by +Marc P. Reyes)

1. Using Filipino History, Culture and Myth in your RPG GamesThree designers of Filipino themed tabletop RPGs, will discuss how you could insert Filipino folklore, culture and myth into your game world, or how to look up information for these in your game!Discussion Facilitators: BJ Recio, Marc Pozon Reyes, Fabs Fabon
Start time: 12:00nnEnd time: 12:45pm 

2. Duty, Love and HonorHow to run the Legend of the Five Rings RPG to the fullest by using the social dynamics of Rokugan. Don't know what this is? Think you know what this game is about? Prepare to be surprised!Discussion Facilitator: Jay Steven Uy Anyong
Start time: 1:00pmEnd Time: 1:45PM
Intermission/break: 2:00pm-3:00pm 

3. Encounter Design in Fantasy Roleplaying GamesAn edition neutral panel on how to design combat encounters in any flavor of D&D and games similarly constructed.Discussion Facilitator: Lawrence Augustine R. Mingoa
Start Time: 3:00pmEnd Time: 3:45pm 

4. Narrative Control: What it is and how to share itTobie Abad explores the story aspect of tabletop roleplaying games and how the story is narrated by both the players and the GM together.Discussion Facilitator: Tobie Abad
Start Time: 4:00pmEnd Time: 4:45pm 

5. GM Help PanelA panel of GMs, including everyone who talked in the previous GM seminar, will offer their advice on YOUR problems as a GM. Problem players, game balance, player recruitment, rules questions etc, ask and a panel of veteran GMs will try to answer your question!GM Help Panelists: Marc Reyes, Tobie Abad, Justin Aquino,  Laurence Augustine R. Mingoa, BJ Recio, Jay Anyong
Start Time: 5:00pmEnd Time: 6:00pm 

The group is more active in Facebook in "Philippine Tabletop RPGs" Group. A community growing strong thanks to improving economic conditions in the Philippines despite massive barriers to travel, trade and access to books. 

A Call for better definition of Skills, and more

If you agree with these assertions, then I want to point you towards Agency and Skills. Particularly how people feel a greater sense of Agency when they acquire skills, and that we can define and develop a set of skills through RPGame.

One things I loved about GURPS is that their research brought them to use some real world skills. Of course, they use the term depends and is not always drawn from the real world. Still it hits some key terms on various soft skills in the discussions of the forums and in the source books. (ex. using Fortunetelling when the definition is more like Cold Reading)

If you've seen me GM then you'll notice I focus a lot on Soft Skills, particularly using the correct definition and expounding the concepts for skills. If you look at how I approach Administration, Merchant, Diplomacy, etc... (and many other skills) I go well beyond the GURPS definition and use the real world definition and scope of these skills. As a student of management and cognition, you'll notice I try to use the correct concepts when it comes to biz dealings, and draw from that for many of my explanations. This, in my guessing, should help people better understand the real world practices I draw from.

I didnt realize how important it was to me, or how to verbally communicate how important it was until this video from Extra Credit - it gave me a sense of AGENCY. If we can define the real world skills we accumulate and try then the sense of control we have over our lives become more tangible, more real.

I try most of the time to go by Conventional Definitions, and to cite sources where I get these definitions since many skills have different meaning per industry, profession, and cultural business background. So its easier to "match assumptions" and "definition of terms".

So in the system I'm working on in the side, Ill try to keep using the same real world convention for certain soft skills (while putting the particular discipline I draw from in one of notes). When we use such terms, more techniques and nuances tend to be available for the PC's creativity to master and manipulate.

I realize, not a lot of people game this way but most people feel the need to  have verbal tools to express the skillset they want to communicate to research, or expect from others. So I hope this helps in seeing how important such a verbal tool can be and how it can make teaching and learning easier through a greater sense of agency.

Back to Basics - Empathy as the Goal

This is related to my post on the thesis that GMing is very much like Active Listening. Related to my Back to Basics line of articles.



I've been following Extra Credit Lately, and this piece speaks to me. Particularly as a GM or as someone who wants to Immerse in a Historical Setting.


Thesis: Evoking Empathy for the complexity of the situation and the character's internal conflicts is a mark of a Good Role-Playing Experience.

Can I use this Thesis to judge or measure a Scene? Isn't this a great tool to measure how RP-meaty or substantive a game and scenario can be?

What this thesis is leading me to is differentiating Game Decisions and Empathic Decisions (talked about in the Extra Credit Video above). That when we role-play a scene, I do not just simply look at Goals and Objectives, I look at factors that confuse and obscure objectivity and influence the decision making in a powerful way. It leads to the idea that "Can I judge a scene on how Heavily Empathic Factors weigh in on the decisions of the Character?" The farther from Objectivity, and the closer of having Irrational Motive govern the Characters. I can't exactly throw rationality out the door, but It i not anymore the most discernible element in a decision's factors.

Which  leads me to ask - Does this Game System allow for these messy empathic factors from influencing the decision making in the game? I can go on to say, that when I design my own GM-tools or RPG system, the easier it is for me to muddy a decision for a player the better the ROLE-PLAYING aspect of a system. I realize by this Metric or Standard, some systems grant the GM and Players more tools? 

Its the opposite of real life where we struggle for Objectivity, in an RPG we struggle for STRONGER EMPATHY of the character's circumstance. This is to exercise our empathy so that when we do struggle for objectivity, we have looked at the problem with other perspectives in consideration. 

How do I reward Empathic Decisions? 

Since these are suboptimal strategies, more often these kinds of decisions get the character killed and ends the stories. How do I rewards Empathic Decisions, while keeping the story going long enough to extract maximum drama and catharsis?

To get to the Point: I don't have a real answer. What answer I have deals with altering how we deal with Success or Failure in the Game system. I've altered my method of adjudication in my games, I do not explicitly say the penalty to the roll, I just ask the players to Roll. I do have some penalties in mind BUT what matters is the degree of success and WHAT the players/PCs further do in the situation. Basically - dont make it about ending in failure, that the story keeps going while the PCs are still alive even when they have a serious set back.

So, as a GM, try not to let it end with a roll. The Roll just summarizes the circumstance, but ultimately its the number, quality of strategies employed by the PC/Player and the Empathic Content that determines the consequences. This method of going about rolls allows for Non-Binary Success or Failure approach. It's the opportunity for the GM to make Un-intended or ambiguous consequences. --- the Story Goes on, but the Tone has Changed. This requires self infliction of the "Framing Effect".

The next problem is: How does the GM think of Ambigous Consequences, that the Actions of the PCs move the story forward and that the movement forward can be Success and Failure or something in between or mixed. Lets leave that for another post.

Sins of the Crusades - Season 02, Episode 06 - Betreyal

Thanks +Wilton Heath, +Dan Mungham, +Thunder Clonch , and +Il Pella for playing.

• The team was planning an attack, the problems and challenges were plenty
• the closest target was Nicomedia (Izmit), assailable by sea and land
• it was a small prize, and vulnerable to Nicea. A wealthier city that can easily send reinforcements. 
• they had enough ships to move only 5000 troops. That would be 
• 300 Large boats
• 15 Merchant ships
• Some knew of the Sakarya River, able to take them close to Nicea or Nicomedia depending on the weather. By estimations, they were sure it could bring them to Nicea. 
• The Need for a Sea Port (after they deal with the Genoans)
• Tertius spent the past two months working on his men and their discipline. 
• Familiarization on Norman Warfare
• Gains Teamwork Perk for his men and himself. 
• Nightfighting Technique (H) 4cp, he negates -3 worth of penalties associated with night time combat and coordination. He's conditioned his men, 500, to fight and operate at night.  
• Olek sets up a kitchen for the Army, and uses it to cover for his cooking of flammable grease. He constructs a heavy scorpion able to lob the concoction a good 700 yards. 
• He proceeds to cultivate his own circle of thralls, using old and intuitive techniques of indoctrination (brain washing). He grows and feeds the beast, and these creatures come to know him as their master - enabling their twisted nature. 
• He instructs Tertius Men, in how to safely handle and use the incendiary grease. 
• Xeno, Empress Maria, and Cato approach the Genoans
• They were able to make introductions, and Cato befriends Micheal of the Agostino family who later introduces them to Nikolas, the Patriarch of the family. In exchange for the ships, the Genoans want a way to move their goods without Imperial duties by way of a friendly port to make their way West. Cato arranges something with young Constantine and the Agostine Family. 
• They learn that the Genoas facilitate some trade for Doux Theodor Garbas, in the black sea. Xeno uses the opportunity to arrange the a way to meet the "imprisoned" general.They hint on an agreement with the Doux is possible, especially if they can acquire his son. 
• Xeno, Tertius, and Theodore.
• Xeno continues his investigation on who betrayed them and caused his capture. He learns of Theodores role and that of Nikophero Milesenos. That Milisenos was making deals with the Turks, was something the Emperor knew well but who tipped off Tzarchas to take Symryna was something else. Something the emperor was not aware of, to lose such a valuable port and so many ship builders. The Taronites is a new suspect, as the Bureaucrats they possess the means to leak the attack and some influence over the emperors own Intelligence agents. 
• In the last days Cato is trying to read bohemon and see where he is in circle of trust. Given how important the next days will be he is high in his lords esteem more so when he spends the time to reassure his Lord (managing expectations). 
• Rumors circulate of the streets becoming less safe and more of the homeless disappearing. Even criminals take care to do their business in the streets when words of how so many have disappeared lately. 
• In the night they leave Olek's agents poisons one of the guest palaces and takes Gregory Garbas with them. 
• When the army finally mobilizes, it was unexpected and by the time word arrives to the emperor, the city is in confusion. The army makes it way quickly to Nicomedia, aided by Genoans and Garbas ships. They arrive in the Seljuq city and quickly move their ships to the walls and begin scaling them. Such an unexpected attack took the city by surprise and many of the defenders were slaughtered inside the walls. 
• They sacked the city, and moved quickly to gather the nobles. The city's Amir was not inclined to surrender. Cato' was very convincing, and Olek's fire caused confusion and betrayal. By the Dawn the city was taken, and Bohemmond has left Constantinople with his land force.  
• Everyone got the usual rewards 2cp for themselves, and 3cp for others. 
• Hiatus till March 13/14 2015 because of a ton of Social Obligations and Prep for a War Campaign. Which means making armies, re-familiarizing with Mass Combat Rules, and Digging up the Seljuq Generals and the Intrigues they had. 

where Nicomedia (Izmit) was relative to Constantinople (Istanbul)

where Nicomedia (Izmit) and Nicea (beside the Lake) 

 Where Nicea was compared to Doryleaum (Eskisiher)

Where Doryleaum was compared to Ankara and Konya

How to GM Abstract Combat Part 2 - Economies of Attention

This is Part 2 of How to GM Abstract Combat. Here is part 1. Back to Basics.

Economies of Attention is as simple as it sounds. People can only give so much attention to one or a few things at a time. The underlying concept not only carries into combat but also in Long Actions or Activities that transpire in weeks or months.

This is about combat, so lets talk about one of the basic priorities.  I realize that they are perfect in asking the players how they "Proceed" in a situation.

• Guard - Guard takes some effort and attention, it also signals threat. Alert can also be used, but guard implies you've taken a combat stance or readied your weapon. The more specific the PC declares they guard "against" the faster they react to it. Ambiguous threats lowers reaction time when on guard. 
• Overwatch. A kind of Guard, basically its watching over someone. Its similar to simply observing. Done correctly you lower the guard for yourself, and focus on guarding the ally. The reason you can afford to lower your guard for yourself is because you are in a safer spot. 
• Speed - It is assumed you go as fast as possible, unless other things are being prioritized or multi-tasked. When you add "Guard" or "Stealth" to your multitasking you move slower. You can say speed is the last priority or the first priority. In combat speed is defense by seizing opportunity, not just being a hard target. When the PC has momentum of fast movement, they are in a better position to maneuver.
• Stealth - ...or discretion. One of the potential other priorities in a situation. it Also means communicating silently and gestures. 
• Observation. Purely observing and taking in the situation. 
• Concentrated Action - performing a task that needs concentration or removing your attention from all the dangers you would look out for to get something done.

When engaged with opponents:

• Defense - The difference of defense vs guard is that guard is assumed automatically when you're already "engaged" with an opponent. When someone says "go on Defense" it means prioritizing risk minimizing strategies and various evasive strategies. 
• Aggressive Attack - Attack is implied in combat situation, people will attack when they have the opportunity to. When you want to attack at every opportunity or increase the effort in creating an opportunity to attack. You'll hear me say "I need an aggressive attack against A"

System Notes:

Its up to the GM how these apply. The bonuses should reflect the economies of attention and effort, multi-tasking rules as well as rules that deal with extra time and concentration, or hastily performing an action.
I simplified the GURPS combat rules under this, since there are equivalencies. In other game systems, I just look at their multitasking penalties or if they have rules for such, if not, I improvise such rules but many other game systems work in this "abstract time frame".

Multi-Tasking

Multi-Tasking can be Very Hard to Not So difficult. It really depends how complicated the two actions can be and if the game system has such.
Cumulative Penalties is one way to go about it, where for every additional action gives a Static value Penalty. Ex. for every additional multi-tasking there is a -3 penalty with two actions, -6 with 3 actions, and -9 with 4. Check with the system what is a Hard or Difficult task.
Compounding Penalties is another way to go about it. It starts with some penalty, like -3, and doubles every time there is an added multi-tasking action.  -3 with two actions, -6 with 3 actions, -12 for 4. I would recommended harsher penalties (compounding) and a high starting penalty. In GURPS "HARD" is a -4, so multi-tasking brings down both skills by -4. Check with the system what is a Hard or Difficult task.

The Character can tell time by activities. It cannot economize in currencies of seconds (like GURPS). Time is all screwed up in combat but things will always take their time. The most the brain can measure is the task they are doing - if they are very well practiced, then one can figure out how much time passes from experience. So go by action or activities turn to turn. Its simpler and more satisfying for the players, coincidentally it is more realistic.

Too Late, too Slow. The success roll, is not just rolling to see if you perform an action well, but if you perform it well in time.

Advocating Abstract Narrative Combat

1. Its easier, not much prep. 
2. Its Information Imperfect, the PCs have to take initiative and work with blind assumptions or take the time to Analyze and lose initiative. 
3. It practices more precise and effective communication, Dependency on the map, vs learning to communicate better. It's GMing fundamentals (if you're into that garbage). 
4. Any Game System, even no game system. 

How to GM Abstract Combat Part 1 - Think in Opportunities

Playing a game like Airsoft requires me to have some mnemonic tools to help improve and to compensate for the the severe lack of combat instinct. Which is not bad, because I think my strength is Intrapersonal awareness to better describe what is going on in my head and probably whats going on in the heads of others. These lessons serve as a way to better model and describe combat so as to highlight and encourage the intrapersonal cues that help people navigate through such confusing and difficult situations.

Back to Basics Series, which began with Active Listening GMing

Think in Opportunities

The number of attacks one make is the wrong "mental paradigm" or model to think of combat. Its better to think of multiple opponents as "tasks to Juggle". I ended up realizing this when a player recently asked me about it, and to find out I stopped thinking in this way. Then realized its a dangerous mental model to think in this way, if the person is in a real fight... because thats How I thought about it when I tried to fight two weapons in Kali.

GURPS and DnD work in such models. Many Game systems work in such a model - except the Narrative Generation of RPGs. As a simulationist, I want to encourage a kind of thinking that would be easier to transfer in a real world situation - that the game helps me grow. So I try to look at games and look for the Cognitive Frameworks (Applying Cognitive Biases as a way to Frame) and see if there is anything of note.

Disclaimer: Basically what I'm going to talk about here can be applied in any game system. You end up boiling the whole thing down to an "opposed" roll where the GM makes an authoritative judgement on the validity of your strategy based on his "omniscient" knowledge of all the factors to add the modifiers. There is no "SYSTEM" to over-rule the GM here. The player must trust the GM in levels some games has not needed (games where the rules matter more than the GM's authority, that there is room for argument).

Looking back into multiple attacks or "strikes" or even the funny change of what the definition of "attack" I am now in a different place where these have other meanings. An attack is simply seizing an opportunity, while a more skilled warrior can create more opportunities - these opportunities cant really be measured. Each circumstance is a kind of opportunity that is hard to "number". Being in a position to mow down 10 assailants, is not 10 attacks, it may not exactly be one (as we've experienced in Insurgency). "Strikes" or "pull of a trigger" are just minor details to what one is trying trying accomplish.

Where details come in. The only time those details matter is when I and a team mate do evaluations for what would be our training. What habits or near-involuntary actions we should be reflexively doing in a given situation. If you think about it - this is when you spend Character Points, and characters spending time to improve themselves are better equipped to do so when they are reflective of their activities and self, or when there are others who can evaluate their actions and give them advice and 3rd person perspective.  

Think of it as an "executive decision" to choose a strategy. There is an economy or finite amount of attention resource to allocate. Framing it as "opportunities" you need to create is also a very useful mnemonic in this narrative.

Ask "Opportunities I need to create?"

"I have to weaken his guard, enough to let my blade pass"
"I have to get around his armor"
"I need to dominate/distract the overwatcher, before I take out the point."
"I need to suppress the threat area for my guys to maneuver into safety or flanking"
"I need to thin out the crowd so I can take them out at a time"
"I need to keep them in a running battle"
"I need to delay this defender, while I take out this attacker"

The best use of detail is in training, and in "informing context". If the character only has one trick, there are consequences to that.

What this also means is - narrative is more accurate in simulating real combat than to break it down to strikes or seconds (my issue with GURPS). That in combat some of us tend to think in "strategies".

Narration in Steps

If you want to get all Technical About it
Step 0 Order of Initiative or Turns. IME the virtues are called Situation Awareness, which is a mix of Tactics, Conditioning, and Perception. I tend to use Soldier or Tactics with Perception for this. Still I tend to allow for other "Intelligence" to matter. 

Step 1 Resolve their action by the order of Turns from the slowest to the fastest while allowing the fastest to Interrupt. Once a character Interrupts that becomes their turn. 

Step 2 Each Player describes their actions in a Narrative fashion - use "what strategies" will the character employ or "what opportunities the character is trying to create" as a mnemonic.  

Step 2.1 The GM will inform the player based on their awareness and their combat abilities, unless the Player is, himself, aware and would need little context. If the GM is using the "yes-&/but" style this goes much faster. - GMing Philosophies diverge: GMs that reward "rule of cool" or "tactical competence" or dramatic.

if players are still having problems, ask them what they prioritize. It all boils down to prioritize in combat or any situation (applicable to social combat). What are the player's goals or trying to achieve cuts through a lot of the communication barriers and time. The details can follow.

Typically when players have a problem - active listening should kick in as quickly as possible. Starting to what the player is having trouble understanding. If a GM spells each detail out it takes time, we adapt some of the details to each others expectations is much faster and cooperative.  

Step 3 Resolve each with an Opposed/Contest Roll, adding modifiers to how much harder or easier will the character succeed given the details of their capabilities and complexities of the situation. Simple check if the character has an advantage over the other in the details like their ability to feint, maneuver, observe, etc...

Other Topics in the Future.
Process of Narrating Combat
Tactical vs Non-Tactical Mismatching