Mount & Blade: Warband - Let's Play!

[Kipi]

Few days ago I found a copy of Mount & Blade: Warband from one of my boxes I hadn't opened since I moved. After few hours of playing I was totally hooked and then it occurred to me that, since the game is basically sandbox with lots of things to do, I could try to make a LP from my next character. And since my last character "retired" due some mistakes I made it's time to make this LP to happen.

Mount & Blade: Warband?

For those of you who don't know much about Mount & Blade: Warband really suggest to read [url="http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/rpg-user-reviews-118/mount-and-blade-warband-118606.html"]Stworca's review[/url] of the game. Basically it's a sandbox game where you try to make your character a ruler of the land by fighting and diplomacy.

I'm using the latest version of the game but with some modifications. Here is the quick list of all the tweaks I made using special tool dedicated for tweaking the game:

• Cattle follows character instead of running away
• Increased the freaquency of tournaments
• Lowered the amount of time required for quests to be available again
• Tavern keepers can buy prisoners
• Village Elder is now accessible from the village screen as well.
• Removed the skill reduction after certain amount of days passed (default was somewhere around 700 days IIRC)
• Certain skills are now treated as party skills

I think that was all of the tweaks, I will update the list if I forgot something.

As for the settings inside the game, I'm going with "easy" method; game damage system is set to easy, blocking direction is chosen automatically and the attack direction is determined by enemy's relative position. Otherwise everything was left to default settings.

How does this thing run?

While playing I write down notes of different situations and events as well as take screen shots. After I have enough material I will write an update in diary format (excluding the character creation). The pictures will be uploaded to Photobucket and the links posted here.

The story will be divided to several chapters, the number of chapters depends on how things go. This first post will contain the links of the first updates of each chapter, allowing quicker access to the spot you left.

Of course comments, criticisms, questions and suggestions are welcome. Not sure how many is going to read this LP but I hope you enjoy it. Now let's get started!

Oh, and if any of the moderators thinks this thread fits better to somewhere else (mostly thinking SYM or Tabletop And Forum RPG -sections) feel free to move this.

List of Chapters

[url="http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,130782.msg3508431.html#msg3508431"]Map of Calradia (Link to post in official forum containing the map)[/url]
[url="Character Creation"]Character Creation[/url]

[Kipi]

Character Creation

Before I start creating the character I must consider few things. The most important thing is which of the six kingdoms I will spend most time with?

As I could be considered as "new" in M&B: Warband in terms of skills I have basically two options; Kingdom of Vaegirs (resembles Slavic culture) and Kingdom of Swadia (Western Europe style of culture). This is mostly because the random bandits are more difficult in other areas, which would make early game a pain. Now, as my last character started in Vaegirs, I decided to go with Swadia.

Now, what kind of character am I going to play? Two-handed weapons are just so fun, nothing beats the feeling of landing huge blow while mounting a fast horse! But on the other hand, I would like to have some kind of range capability as well. While crossbows have better damage and it's easier to aim with them the reloading time is just too long for my taste, so I go with bows. This means I'm going to create a character that uses both two-handed weapons as well as bows to take out enemies.

Now it's time to create the character!

The first choice I have to make (after choosing my gender as male, of course) is what my father was. After reading a bit of the guides about what each of the options do I decided to go with "Hunter".
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... nd/mb1.jpg

Next I had to choose how I spent my early life. This time I took the "Shop assistant" just to get free skill point in trading skill.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... nd/mb2.jpg

Third question I need to answer is about my early adulthood. This question is actually quite important as it will determine my starting weapons as well as if I get some extra things in my inventory at the beginning of the game. The only good option is "A game poacher" as it gives me both a bow as well as two-handed axe.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... nd/mb3.jpg

Finally I need to choose the reason I begun my journey. Personal revenge is what I took, and I already have a decent background story in my mind.
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But before I can continue I must choose whether I want to use "Realistic" saving system or be able to save and exit as I see fit. Of course I choose the realistic, which allows me to save only while quitting.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... nd/mb5.jpg

Now that I have answered to the questions it's time to get more detailed!
I pumped up my Intelligence just to gain few extra skill points, which I spread out evenly to several skills. All of those skills will make the early game easier but I will stop developing those as soon as I get companions who can train them. Also, as can be seen from the right side of the screen, my archery skill is highest one at the moment from weapon skills, following with two-handed weapons. Those are the ones I'm going to use so I can kind of forget everything else. The good thing in M&B is that weapon skills will get better through use as well as from training, so if I really need to change to something else (like throwing weapons or polearms) I can just start using them and I should be gaining skills immediately.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... nd/mb6.jpg

The last thing I must decide before I can start the game is my starting town. As I had decided it already I choose the city of Praven, capital of Swadia. This should give me a easy start.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... nd/mb7.jpg

And so the character creation ends and Kipi, the upcoming lord of world has begun his journey!

[Kipi]

Chapter 1 - New kid on the block

Chapter 1 - New kid one the block

March 23, 1257

Today I finally reached Praven, the capitol of Swadia. My purpose of coming here was to find the murderer of my father. Several years I have been tracking him down, travelling from city to city and from village to village, always staying few steps behind. But not today! The information I had indicated that the bandit should still be in the city. And it was! Finally I caught up with him!
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When he approached me I readied my bow and shot him. It took few arrows but finally, after years of tracking him down, I was able to kill this murderer!

Right after there was this strange man who introduced himself as merchant and wanted to have a quit chat with me. I was a bit worried if this was some kind of ambush but decided to follow the man anyway as he claimed to have an offer for me.
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We entered the house where the merchant lives and got right down to bussiness. Apparently the man had seen me shooting down the murdered and was in desperate need of capable soldier. You see, he wanted me to rescue his brother from bandits who had kidnapped him.
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I agreed to help the merchant as I had finished up my own personal goal and had nothing else to do. I could have had returned home but there is nothing for me anymore, so instead I think I should take any opportunity I can get here.

The first thing I need to do is to recruit few soldiers to help me out. The merchant suggesed that I should check out the local villages. But before that I went to market and sold the furs I had with me, wich gave me nearly 700 denars.
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Next I headed to Azgad, a small village next to praven. Unfortunately they weren't too interested in joining my company and thus I was able to recruit only one lad.
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After visiting Azgad I decided to check out other villages too. Today I was able to visit three more; Iyindah, where I got one recruit, Veidar where I didn't get anybody and Nemeja where four recruits joined my company. As the night was approaching I decided to make a camp outside of Nemeja and continue my journey tomorrow.


March 24, 1257

First thing I did today was visiting another village called Elberl. This time I got lucky as seven young lads joined my company. Now I have thirteen recruits which should be more than enough to help out the merchant.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... d/mb16.jpg

After leaving the village one of my soldiers approached me and suggested that I should visit a local training field and talk to trainer there. I'm no expert in melee combat so I thought this as good advice and headed directly there.

After reaching the camp I had a short discuss with the master and he decided to put me on test: I need to beat several opponents in training fight one at a time. If I can do that then there is nothing he can teach me, otherwise we should have some serious training.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... d/mb17.jpg

The practice fights were quite easy, didn't have much problems beating the "chapmions". The master admitted that I had some talent and that he can't teach me anything more. Well, at least I finally know that I'm more than capable to fight.
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Next I headed straight to Praven and the inn where I found the merchant. He suggested that I should try to find a band of robbers seen near the city for the information of location of their camp.
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While visiting the inn I noticed this older man. Whe I approached him he introduced himslef as Artimenner, a engineer without work. After a short discuss I decided to recruit him to my company.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... nd/mb9.jpg

It seems that this Artimenner is quite valuable asset to our company; he has knowledge of trading, how to manage inventory, engineering and tactics. And I have to pay only seven denars per week! I think it was wise decision to recruit him.
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We located the bandits and approached them. They refused to surrender so we had no chance but fight. It was a small surprise as there were only four of them against fifteen of us.
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The battle took place in area full of huge hills and smallish mountains. This area was quite difficult for us as we weren't able to spot the robbers before they were right at us and riding a horse in this land is hard.
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After quick clash against the robbers we emerged as victorious. Three robbers died but one of them was still alive and conscious. After a short chat with the remaining robber I decided to let him go in exchange of the location of their camp.
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It was later afternoon when we reached the hideout near Azgad. I decided to take a quieter approach and thus took only six recruits with me.
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There were only handful of bandits and the battle was easy. After the last bandit was hacked down the brother of merchant came from small cave to thank us. This was quite easy task but should net some denars in the form of reward as well as selling the loot.
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After we left the camp two of the six soldiers seemed to handle their weapons better. I promoted them to militia, which means I have to pay more to them. On the other hand they requested the chance of visiting Azgad before returning to Praven so that they could buy some new equipment with their money. I agreed.
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I returned to Praven, met the merchant and was rewarded for saving his brother. Next the merchant requested help with the bandits inside the city as well as capturing the captain who had let the bandits inside. I agreed to help as my task was only to take out as many bandits as I could.
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I don't have much memories from the battle as I were knocked out at some point. The merchant claimed that I had killed several bandits before going down and that we had won the fight. Well, I have no reason to doubt that. And the 200 denars is good reward for getting knocked out.
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It's already late evening and I'm going to take a rest before heading out once more. I need to think what to do next.

[Kipi]

Chapter 1 - New kid one the block

March 25, 1257

After leaving Praven we encountered some looters. There were ten of them and I decided to attack them. After all they are just some lowly bandits who are harrashing the country.
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The battle started out well enough, few of the looters were already down. But apparently the wounds from last evening were still hindering as I was knocked out by a rock thrown by one of the looters. My men carried me out after they had finished the looters so I can record this battle as won.
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We attacked another group of looters, eleven of them this time. The surrounding area was better suited for battle ths time and we had no problems beating the lowly criminals. Of course I was more careful this time and avoided direct contact as much I could. Instead I used my bow to pick out any looters heading my way.
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After the battle we looted the corpses and chained the prisoners, after which we continued our patrol again. No more looters were spotted todday, which was a bit of dissapointment. So, before it came too dark, we returned to Praven to sell the loot and prisoners. I'm a bit surprised that here in Calradian tavern keepers also deal with ransoms and buying prisoners from adventurers. But nevertheless we earned some denars today, more than enough to cover one week of wages. Our recruits are also getting better, one of them is specialized to archery already and only three can be considered as recruits.
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March 26, 1257

We were on patrol again. Only one group of looters were spotted, a group that we had no problems dealing with. We have three archers now and only two recruits.


March 27, 1257

Most of the morning we tracked down some deserted militia. I heard the tavern keepers pay good money for those and my group should be good enough to kill and capture them.
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Just before noon we caught the deserters. They refused to surrender so we had no choice but attack.
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We won the battle and my party took no casualties. Unfortunately none of the deserters survived, so no ransoms this time. And the loot was poor so we took a risk and, while we didn't suffer from it, we didn't gain much.
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After we had finished the deserters we hunted down two groups of looters. I have to tell you, my archers are unstoppable against looters; both times only one looter was able to reach my infantry, rest of them were slaughtered by the archers. In the end this day was rather profitable to us, mostly due the looters we killed.


March 31, 1257

Last few days we have been mostly hunting looters. Not many groups have been seen lately, which is unfortunate. Instead I noticed the increasing number of bandit groups traveling around the countryside. Perhaps we should start hunting those as well?

During the patrols I also recruited some villagers again. Thirteen new recruits joined my group during last few days. Few of our soldiers have also been promoted due the experience they have gained during the battles. I think my group should be good enough to hunt the bandits now.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h147/ ... d/mb35.jpg

I have also expanded the area where I have been traveling. Most the last day we have been around Suno, another big city east from Praven. We have also spotted some war parties of other kingdoms as well, fortunately those haven't paid any attention to us. After some inquires I learned that Swadia is at war with kingdom of Rhodoks. Did I arrive to a land in the middle of war?

Finally, just few moments ago whe I was leaving the tavern here in Suno, I noticed this elderly woman who was helping some wounded customers. When I approached her I realized this woman is good at patching people up, so I went and talked to her. She was more than happy to join our cause as long as I pay her some denars immediately and some weekly. Of course I hired this Katrin, 100 denars immediately and few weekly is good price for a healer.