Fantasy Kingdoms

[Jrandom]

I am working on a low-level campaign, which eventually I want the heroes to be able to carve out their own empires in the world. I was thinking that they would be able to spend some their points on their lands, sort of like spending points on bases, followers, or vehicles (and of course, be able to have complications as well).

 

I am curious about other game masters who have done this and what sorts things they let their players buy for their empires.

 

So, I guess I am asking for links to other discussions about similar topics, or to hear your ideas.

[Markdoc]

We've run three games where this was the focus (in two of them I was a player, in one the GM) but in none of them did we make the PCs pay points for stuff directly (in all of them players chose to spend points to help them gain/manage/keep their spoils, but that is a seperate issue). Everything else was handled in-game. In other words the PCs got a watchtower by finding a site and hiring labourers and guards, not by spending points on a base. We roleplayed out aspects of this. To take one example from one of those games (one set in during a quasi-historical first crusade), I couldn't shore up the defenses of my little town, because there was a shortage of skilled masons: they had all gone off to Jerusalem, where there was more work. That might sound like busywork, but the result was a) sending one PC all the way back to France to recruit commoners (at vast strain to our economy) a war with our neighbours sparked by our need for more cash, and our desire to steal some of their workers.I think that's more fun (and adds to flavour) compared to just spending points.

 

Cheers, Mark

[BhelliomRahl]

As a GM I have done this the same as Markdoc. My players were from a possible future earth and were experimenting with a dimension gate end up stranded in a Fantasy world.

 

Through Roleplaying they aquired land and goods which they used in the construction of a settlement which started an Industrial Revolution. I did award them points for this which were only to be used for related matter; e.g. One character roleplayed hiring a Secretary through interviews and talk and used his points to purchase her as a follower, as the game progressed she was developed further.

Another spent his points in skills related to managing and construction.

 

The intial settlement (base) was aquired by gold and deals. It expanded as they hired people, who brought their families. In time the intial building had expanding into a full fledged town.

 

As a group we found this to be much more enjoyable than me giving them points and building a town. Which was an option I offered them if they wanted to focus on other matters in the game.

 

Doing it this way I introduced alot of interesting NPC which they met during their dealings. As I stated they sparked a small Industrial Revolution; this mainly being the construction and operation of a Railway System. This had a massive impact on the world, effecting trade, politics and economy.

 

However I would advise looking at the Ultimate Base book as it discusses these topics.

[Jrandom]

Well, I just bought the Ultimate Base. While a great resource, it wasn't really the direction I wanted to go. I don't want the players to have to sink so many points into their lands.

 

I was more feeling like, player A spending 5 points to unlock the ability to purchase followers from their land that could start with an improved template (apprentice mage, ogre, etc.) that would be normally restricted. Or player B wanting to spend 10 points to have a tradition of iron working in her land, which would increase the availability of arms and armor to her and her followers (potentially increasing any rating of soldiers raised from her domain.)

[Markdoc]

Either of those could be worked in through roleplaying, though (which to be honest, is how I'd do it). Want top recruit apprentice mages? Start a magical college. If you want to recruit a loyal follower to run the college, instead of entrusting it to an NPC wizard - say, Ridcully the Brown - you could certainly spend points on that. Finding suitable faculty could be an adventure in itself! Want to recruit ogres? Well, you're going to need a recruiting team that can recruit and train ogres without getting eaten and that has a certain tolerance for banjo music Want better ironworking - recruit a ferromancer. Or some dwarves. You get the idea. If you don't want to do it yourself, buy a contact or follower to do it for you.

 

My own experience has been that players don't want to run around sweating all the small details, but they do want trusty sidekicks to run things. So they tend to spend plenty of points on social skills, contacts, and followers. At the extreme, we had one PC (modelled on Blackadder the first) who had few, if any marketable skills, but was rich and had a mass of followers. His solution to combat was invariably to hide behind somebody else and then yell helpful commands like "Frow him wuffly to the gwound! No! Wuffly, I say!"

 

Cheers, Mark

[ayinde]

to be honest I don't like the hero kingdom rules. instead I use a mix of hero and birthright (an older tsr game) if you like I can show you how it all works

[Jrandom]

Yes please!

[Lord Liaden]

One simple approach to take when having PCs carve out their own domains, is to have them just purchase Perks reflecting their new social status, e.g. Head of State, High Nobility, etc. Rather than costing out all their Followers and Bases, you define the cost of the level of Perk you think appropriate to exercise authority over their dominions, guided by the examples in the rulebooks, Fantasy Hero, and the like. Quite inexpensive, and what the players have at their command is governed more by the story needs than the point totals.

 

If you and your group prefer to have everything more clearly defined, you might adopt an approach common for published Champions supers teams. If the PCs establish their realm as a group, rather than each one having his or her own sovereign territory, the characters could each contribute a share of the points toward their common Bases, Followers, and so on, thus dividing the cost among them.

[Nolgroth]

One simple approach to take when having PCs carve out their own domains, is to have them just purchase Perks reflecting their new social status, e.g. Head of State, High Nobility, etc. Rather than costing out all their Followers and Bases, you define the cost of the level of Perk you think appropriate to exercise authority over their dominions, guided by the examples in the rulebooks, Fantasy Hero, and the like. Quite inexpensive, and what the players have at their command is governed more by the story needs than the point totals.

 

If you and your group prefer to have everything more clearly defined, you might adopt an approach common for published Champions supers teams. If the PCs establish their realm as a group, rather than each one having his or her own sovereign territory, the characters could each contribute a share of the points toward their common Bases, Followers, and so on, thus dividing the cost among them.

The post-PC Death scenarios for this kind of setting are both frightening and full of possibilities. I approve.