“Lords Of The Earth”

"Lords Of The Earth"
A Guide to Reading the Player Sheet

Introduction

The Player Sheet gives the essential facts and figures for a "Lords Of The Earth" nation. As such, it is the primary resource a player will draw on when preparing orders for their nation.

Because of the wide scope of the game and the many fields of activity open to players much of the player information is summarised, frequently by way of abbreviation. This guide is intended to introduce the newcomer to "Lords" to making sense of the Player's Sheet. Each section is dealt with in turn and abbreviations or acronyms explained.

While the Players Sheet may at first glance look a little daunting, a new "Lords" player will quickly become familiar with all the terms used in the sheet.

The Player Sheet

Each turn, your GM will update the information in the player’s nation record. This will reflect changes resulting from the player’s actions and/or those affecting the nation undertaken by another player. Sometimes these changes will be transparent i.e. they will be a consequence of overt action (e.g. a rise in Income due to more Public Works Bonuses being built by the player) or to covert action (e.g. a foreign nation conducting Intelligence actions against you). If you detect an apparent discrepancy, you can query it with your GM – but bear in mind they may not be too forthcoming….

The Player Sheet is divided into several sections:

ADMINISTRATION	Provides player name, contact details, account balance etc.
SOCIETY & ECONOMY	Provides the basic details of the nature of your nation and its financial standing for that turn.
RATINGS	Applies a numerical grading of the various Military, Religious, Intelligence, Governmental and Educational capabilities at your nation’s disposal.
SUPPLEMENTARY	Gives information on current Population levels, the Agricultural output of your nation and, importantly, the current Tax Rate.
SUPPORT COSTS	Records the GP cost of maintaining various nation capabilities and facilities.
PLAYER NOTES	An area for the GM to record any comments or explanations relating to the nation.
TRADE	Identifies the various Trade Routes maintained by your nation and the quantity of shipping on and Sea Trade routes.
ARMIES	This section lists all the current leaders at your disposal and any troops under their personal command at the end of the turn.
CHILDREN & HEIRS	What it says. A list of your ruler’s and/or Heir’s offspring.
CONTROLLED REGION LISTING	A breakdown of all the regions and cities that make up your nation.

Section Descriptions

ADMINISTRATION

This is the section at the top of the Player Sheet.

Nation	the short name of the nation used by the GM to manage all information on the nation.
Turn	The turn just completed. Note that the length of time represented by a single LOTE turn may vary depending on what historical period this particular game started at or depending on what stage the game is at. Generally speaking, LOTE games taking place from c.1000AD – c.1400 AD will have each game turn representing five years of real time. After that date, turn length will gradually decline in steps from 4 years per turn, to 3 years per turn and so on.
Nation	This second use of the Nation moniker gives the full name of your position. This may be based on a historical predecessor or be of your own creation.
Player	Your own name.
Address	Self-explanatory.
Phone	Self-explanatory.
eMail	Self-explanatory.
Credit	A statement of the balance of funds in your player account at the end of the turn. Be aware that maintaining adequate funds to cover each turn is advisable as a GM may not process orders for any player whose balance is in arrears.
ID Number	A number against which your personal details are recorded in the game program.
Mail Resl?	Indicates whether you have elected to have the player sheet mailed to you. Note that this is an overhang from the "old days" when many Lords players lived within shouting (and verbal complaining) distance of the GM.
Nation Type	This identifies which of the several nation types available in LOTE applies to your position. There are four main types in current use: Open Empire Your classic nation, holding land and cities with a King or similar leader at its head. Primacy Pan-national religious "nation" encompassing leadership of all co-religionists. Example - the Pope. Secret Empire What it says. An underground "nation" of adherents to a particular belief. Example - the Assassins, Freemasons etc. Merchant Combine Emerges in the Renaissance period. A nation or organisation emphasising mercantile activities. Example - the Hanseatic League, Renaissance Venice.
Print Phone In Fax?	Records whether you have requested your phone number to be made public in the MSI list.

SOCIETY & ECONOMY

This consists of two sections – Society Information and Economic Information.

Society Information

Culture Type	See the relevant explanatory sections in the Player Rulebook for a more detailed description of these.
Society Base	See the relevant explanatory sections in the Player Rulebook for a more detailed description of these.
Economic Base	See the relevant explanatory sections in the Player Rulebook for a more detailed description of these.
Government Type	See the relevant explanatory sections in the Player Rulebook for a more detailed description of these.
Religion	See the relevant explanatory sections in the Player Rulebook for a more detailed description of these. Note that this records the official religion of your nation, which determines how other religions regard you.
	(Note that your Culture, Society, Economic and Government types have an impact on many things affecting your nation e.g. income derived from trade, accumulation of Tech Points etc.)
Geographic Zone	See the relevant explanatory sections in the Player Rulebook for a more detailed description of these.
Tech Level	This will give the current technology rating of your nation. Cross-reference the description given here with the Tech Table at the back of the Rules to determine what numerical Tech Level you are at. Your Tech Level is of considerable importance as it has significant impact on many aspects of your nation e.g. ability to govern it, the quality of your troops etc.
Language	Identifies the primary language of your nation. This has minimal effect on the conduct of play.
Military Strength	This is recalculated every turn. Several factors contribute to the final figure. It is usually this figure that determines your nation’s ranking on the MSI list published at the end of every turn. It gives a rough idea of how powerful your nation is in relation to others.
HBZ Origin	Identifies the region from which you calculate the reach of your Homeland Build Zone (HBZ). See the relevant explanatory sections in the Player Rulebook for more detail on the significance of the HBZ.

Economic Information

IntrNatn Trade Value	The value (in GP) of tradable goods produced by your nation. The figure is derived primarily from the number and size of your cities. Abbreviated to ITV or simply TV.
Natinal Market Value	A numerical reflection of the abilities of your merchants to profit from trade. All else being equal, the higher the figure the more money will be made from trade. Abbreviated to NMV.
Regional Income	The base income from taxing all the regions under your control. Each region’s GPv (Gold Point Value) is modified by the level of control you have, your culture and the region’s terrain.
City Income	The income derived from taxing all the cities under your control. Each city level (1GPv) yields a base income of 1 GPv. Like Regional Income, this base figure can be modified.
Inter-City Income	The income derived from taxing trade conducted between cities under your control. Abbreviated to ICT.
Public Works Income	The base income produced as a consequence of the improvements and enhancements carried out in regions and/or cities. In all but a few cases, this will very quickly become the main source of income for your nation.
IntrNat Trade Income	The income accruing your nation through the taxing of trade conducted between your nation and all others with which a trade route has been opened.
Total Base Income	Self-explanatory. The sum of all the income figures from preceding entries. (N.B. X-ref this with the entry below on Tax Rate).
Saved Gold	The value of GP left unspent from the previous turn.
National Force Pool	The manpower at your nation’s disposal for the next turn. Expressed in number of National Force Points (NFP). The figure here is the sum of unused NFP from the turn plus new NFP generated for next turn.

For much of the time, the two most significant figures from this section will be your Total Base Income and your National Force Pool. Between them, these will largely dictate how and what you can do. Obviously, the more of each, the better.

RATINGS

This section is divided into five parts – Military, Religious, Government, Intelligence and Education. Each heading represents a particular capability in its own right. A numerical system of grading is used to represent just how good your nation’s abilities are in each of these fields.

Furthermore, next to each of the individual entries you will find a separate column marked "I". This records the amount of GP you have invested in this specific capability in an effort to improve it. It is a cumulative figure, so the amount invested one turn will be increased by subsequent investment until such time as the rating increases. At this time, the amount invested will revert to 0 and the process starts over again.

Military

There are several types of military units that come into play in LOTE. To begin with though, you will be most concerned with the four basic unit types –

Infantry	- the footsoldiers
Cavalry	- the horsemen
Siege	- the engineers, sappers and miners
Warship	- the sailors

The game is not concerned with the actual equipment, training, morale etc of each individual unit. Instead, these matters are abstracted into each type’s Quality Rating (QR) on a numerical scale of 0 – n. QR plays an important part in deciding the outcome of any battles fought. Again, the higher the number, the better your troops/ships are.

(Should you be participating in a game that has entered the Renaissance period, you will find and additional military type – Artillery – is available. Its ratings are handled in the same way as the other troop types).

Religious

This identifies the capability your nation has for undertaking Religious Actions. The ability to undertake one such action is termed an Operations Capacity (Ops Cap). The Operations Bonus (OpsBonus) is a numerical expression of the supporting infrastructure. The bonuses can be allocated to Religious Operations to increase their chance of success and/or effectiveness.

Both Operations Capacity and Bonus can be invested in to increase their capabilities.

Government

This area covers four key national statistics –

Bureaucracy level (BL)	this determines how extensive a realm your king can control and the number of leaders the nation can have.
Infrastructure (Infra)	this is critical in establishing how effective your tax collectors are. Used in conjunction with Imperial Size (IS).
Size (IS)	a numerical expression of how difficult it is to effectively govern your realm. If your nation’s size is greater than your Infra level you will find it more difficult to collect your taxes.
HBZ	the figure here states how many Action Points (APs) distant from your Homeland you can build military units.

Intelligence

This identifies the capability your nation has for undertaking Intelligence and Assassin Actions. Handled in a manner similar to Religious Actions above.

Education

Although the word University is used in this section, the statistics here represent an abstraction of your nation’s prevailing levels of education, know-how and research as well as specific educational institutions. The three areas of this section are –

University Investment
- a running total of the amount of GP invested.

Years In Operation (YIO)
- a running total of the years since the first investment was made in University.

University Rating
- a number grading the strength of your nation’s educational system. Higher is better, with this rating playing an important part in the calculations determining how many Technology Points (TPs) your nation gains each turn.

SUPPLEMENTARY

Population

Lists the total number of people in your nation and how many of them are in Friendly regions or cities. The amount of NFP you gain each turn is directly related to this latter figure.

The Census line identifies whether a Census is in operation. A Census affects how much income and NFP you have at your disposal each turn.

Tax

In conjunction with the Total Base Income and Census, this will let you calculate the actual quantity of GP available on a turn i.e. Base Income x Tax Rate x Census (if in effect).

TaxStats

Identifies the type of taxation in effect for the next turn using the following codes –

C	Census in effect
N	Normal tax
T	Thin tax (Imperial Size is greater than Infra level)
F	Famine tax (Agro consumption exceeds production)
L	Low taxation (player has lowered taxation)
H	High taxation (player has increased taxation)
R	Ruinous taxation (player is wringing every spare penny out of their nation)
D	Default taxation (player's Bank has crashed or has defaulted on a loan)

TaxRate

This identifies what percentage of the Total Base Income actually reaches the royal coffers and is available for the player to spend on the next turn.

Agriculture

Straightforward record of the production and consumption of agricultural produce in your nation.

Production and Consumption are as they suggest.

The Harvest Code identifies how bountiful (or not) the harvests have been. There are three codes –

Code	Meaning	Description
N	Normal	The standard yield was gathered.
B	Bad	Less produce than usual, perhaps due to bad weather or drought.
G	Good	Above-average production. Converse of Bad.

Reserves
Records the quantity of Agro stored by the nation.

Surplus
Is the excess left over should production exceed consumption. This can be converted into GP and NFP at varying rates, traded to other nations etc.

SUPPORT COSTS

Each turn, your nation will incur certain costs to ensure various aspects of the nation are kept in good working order etc. Most are self-explanatory –

Troop Support	the cost of keeping your existing military forces fed, clothed, paid etc.
Govmt Support	The cost of ensuring the wheels of government are running smoothly.
Intel Support	Keeps your Intelligence and Assassin capabilities in good working order.
Relig Support	Keeps your Religious capabilities in good working order.
Train Support	The cost of keeping your military forces’ training – QRs - up to snuff. (N.B. Only features once QRs exceed level 8).
Proj Support	The cost of ensuring your Public Works and Megalithic constructions are well maintained.
Total Support	What it says.

TRADE

This part of the Player’s Sheet consists of two sections - Merchant Fleets and Trade Routes.

Merchant Fleets

Each non-military fleet currently in use by the nation is listed here with a description of its activities –

Base Port	Where the fleet is based.
Route	A unique I.D. number for that fleet’s trade route.

Activity	Code	Meaning
	T	on Sea Trade.
	I	on Internal Trade.
	F	on Fishing duties
	L	on loan to another nation.

MSP	The number of MSP allocated to that route. This can be either undefined MSP (i.e. general merchant shipping) or Transport units put on fleet duties. The latter provide MSP equal to their Cargo Capacity.
Units	A list of number and different types of vessels on the route.
Notes	Self-explanatory
Trade with	The trade partner on that particular route.

Trade Routes

A description of each trade route –

Route
A unique I.D. for the route.

Between...
The nation initiating the trade route.

And...
The other nation on that route.

eMSP
The Effective MSP allocated by both parties to this route (identified under "Your" and "Their" headings). EMSP equals (your Trade Range / Route Distance) x MSP on the route.

Type
Code Meaning

S Sea Trade

L Land Trade

C Closed route (no trade passing through it)

Route Status
Code Meaning

NST Normal Sea Trade.

LTO Land Trade via Open Terrain.

LTD Land Trade via Difficult Terrain.

LTH Land Trade via Hostile Terrain.

LTC Land Trade via Silk Road.

LTS Land Trade via Sahara.

LTR Land Trade via Road.

BST Blockaded Sea Trade.

INT Interdicted route.

WAR Route blocked by War.

Distance
The number of Sea Zones crossed by the route. (Only applies to seaborne trade.)

Duration
How many years the two nations have been trading.

TTV
The total trade value of the route (the combined ITVs of both nations on the route).

FreeCap
The Free Capacity is either 0, a negative number, or a positive number.

IF n = 0
- route is operating at optimum efficiency.

IF n < 0
- there are more ships on the route than there is trade for them to carry.

IF n > 0
- there is more trade on the route than there are ships to carry it.

ARMIES

This section gives details of all the nation’s leaders and any troops under their personal command.

The leader’s I.D. number.

Leader

The leader’s stats.

Age

The leader’s age.

Dth

A placeholder for the leader’s predetermined (secret) age at death.

Name

The leader’s name. Players are advised to name all their leaders.

Troops

The military forces under the leader’s personal command. The letters used to denote various troop types are available on the build chart in the Player Rules.

(N.B. to avoid confusion between the number "1" and the letter "l", some GMs have adopted the convention of denoting Light troops with an "x" e.g. Light Infantry becomes xi rather than, previously, li.

Location

The city or region where the leader ended the turn.

Status:

Describes various statuses a leader can have using the following codes –

Code	Description
N	Normal
R	Ruling
A	Administering
C	on Campaign. Has undertaken military action during the turn.
S	Laying Siege to a city
B	Besieged in a City
G	in Garrison, when his army is the only one in a Pacified region.
M	Mutinous
P	Prisoner, in captivity in another nation.
E	Sneaking around.

CHILDREN & HEIRS

This lists the Royal offspring, the sons and daughters of your Kings and Heirs. The various parts are self-explanatory. Note should be taken of the Male? column, which indicates whether the child is male. This can have an impact on the succession.

CONTROLLED REGION LISTING

This final section gives a breakdown of the important information pertaining to the regions and cities under your control.

Region

The region’s name. Cities are noted in a distinct, indented entry under that of the region in which they are located.

The Gold Point value of the region or city.

PWB

The number of Public Works Bonuses in the region or city.

Type

The specific attributes of the region or city, using the following codes –

Regions
/	Normal region
f	Fur Line region
h	Hostile region (i.e. very difficult terrain/climate etc)
s	Silk Road region
Cities
p	Port city
c	Capital city
r	city on a Royal Road
+	Port city on a Royal Road
/	Normal city, the default setting
s	Silk Road city
$	Treasury city
u	University city
h	Holy City (i.e. sacred to certain religions)
b	Besieged
i	Isolated
N.B. The number immediately following the city type code indicates the number of Wall Points the city has.

The Region Resistance Value. The higher this is the more difficult the region is to incorporate into your realm, but the more loyal it will be should you succeed.

Note that the Resistance Values of cities are not set in this manner. There are a number of different methods in use in LOTE to determine City RV. Consult your GM to see what method is in use in your game.

YfC

Years from Conquest. This applies to Pacified (P) and Pacified Tributary (PT) regions (see below) and keeps count of the elapsed time since you captured the region or city by military means.

This identifies the political relationship the region or city has with you. In descending order of importance, these are –

Code	Status	Description
HM	Homeland	Your nation’s ancestral home.
F	Friendly	The region or city is to all intents and purposes an integral part of your nation.
A	Allied	The region or city has established close ties with your nation while maintaining a small measure of autonomy.
EA	Economic Ally	The region or city enjoys close economic ties with your nation.
T	Tributary	The region or city pays annual tribute to your nation.
FA	Feudal Ally	In return for retaining considerable autonomy, the region or city provides military forces for your nation’s use.
NT	Non-Paying Tributary	The region or city acknowledges your interest in its affairs but remains aloof.
C	Claimed	The region or city recognises your historical claims to it.
N	Neutral	The region or city is independent and you have no influence in it.
H	Hostile	The region or city doesn’t like you. Perhaps you may have inadvertently insulted them?
AW	At War	The region or city is so upset with you that they’ve decided to settle matters on the field of battle.
In addition –
PT	Pacified Tributary	You have militarily captured the region or city and have established a sympathetic local government with your own placemen. On the political scale, equivalent to Hostile.
P	Pacified	You have militarily captured the region or city and are directly controlling it through the good offices of a garrison. On the political scale, equivalent to At War.
OC	Occupied	This region or city was at one time either your Homeland or Friendly but has subsequently been conquered by another nation.

The majority religion of the region or city.

The terrain of the region, denoted as follows –

Code	Description
c2	Intensely Cultivated
c	Cultivated
w	Wilderness
i	Island
s	Steppe
d	Desert
j	Jungle
t	Tundra
m	Mountain

Megalithic Constructions. This section records the number of MC levels in the region that require support.

Garrison

Lists any troops left in the region without a leader.

Fort

The number of Fortress levels in the region.

The percentage of any Wilderness, Steppe or Jungle region that has become Cultivated through the natural cultivation due to the existence of a city in the region.

Port

Records whether there s a Port Area in the region. Note this is not to be confused with a Port City.

Indicates whether there is a Trade Centre in the region and, if so, what type using the following codes –

Code	Description
G	Gold Mine
A	Silver Mine
M	Mercantile Market
P	Silk Market
S	Salt Mine

Notes

Any additional information the GM deems it necessary to record.

Lang

The majority language spoken in the region or city.

Last Word

To the newcomer to "Lords of the Earth", the apparently cryptic Player’s Sheet and 100+ page Player Rulebook can appear daunting. Nevertheless, you will find yourself quickly becoming familiar with the significance of key aspects and factors. You will master some of these – like financial, taxation, investment and leader action activities – in almost no time as they will be used constantly. All other aspects of the game flow from these and can be examined and experimented with over a longer period of time.

Discovering how to weave all these elements together in optimum manner is part of the fun (and, occasionally, frustration) of the game. In that respect, you will share the same joys and headaches experienced by your historical predecessors. Unlike many other games (like chess), you will find that there’s no "right" way of doing things. The game system is sufficiently flexible and robust to allow you to pursue your goals by varying routes.

To this end, the newcomer to Lords may find some of the introductory articles written by previous players useful. These discuss various aspects of the game, from suggested economic strategies to how to handle inter-payer diplomacy. They can be found in the Player resources section of the main Lord web site at:

http://www.throneworld.com/lords/

Another useful source of information is the various Lords-related mailing lists. There’s a general Lords list – LOTE-L – and a number of game-specific lists. You will find older hands happy to deal with any queries you may have about the game mechanics.

Alternatively, please feel free to send any "Lords of the Earth" related queries to the author at:

lorne@lcolmar.freeserve.co.uk

and I’ll endeavour to give as prompt and illuminating a response as possible.

Have fun!

Lorne Colmar

GM, Lords 17, Player – Lords 1, 24 and 31

Document date - 15 December, 1999

Route	A unique I.D. for the route.
Between...	The nation initiating the trade route.
And...	The other nation on that route.
eMSP	The Effective MSP allocated by both parties to this route (identified under "Your" and "Their" headings). EMSP equals (your Trade Range / Route Distance) x MSP on the route.