[3.5] Wargame

[EnnPeeCee]

So, one of my friends and I are looking to do some PvP style games since we can't find a good group to play regular style D&D with. We'll probably just start with some duels, but we talked about the possibility of doing larger scale battles. Now, I am aware of the large scale battle rules in Heroes of Battle and the Miniatures Handbook, and have found online some decent squad combat rules, so the actual combat rules shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Really what we would like to do, is something along the lines of kingdom vs kingdom, where we each are managing cities, troops, resources, etc. So here's where my question comes in; can this be done in 3.5 reasonably well? If there are any rules already written out for this, official or not, I'd love to give them a read. Or is this trying to push D&D beyond what it is capable of?

[rockdeworld]

As Daigo mentions (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0644.html), using armies would be a bit fantastic for regular 3.5 rules. That said, there is an author who tackles the subject: Frank&K (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Races_of_War_%283.5e_Sourcebook%29/The_Mass_Combat_Minigame).

I've used that minigame to some success. You can add your own rules to make it more fun, or try it as-is.

[Slipperychicken]

There are rules for settlement stability/prosperity... somewhere. If someone can save me the trouble of finding them, that could be helpful.

Isn't there a published campaign (Kingmaker?) which deals with this sort of thing? You could try looking at that, too.

I agree, you're stretching 3.5 to the limit to the limit here.

[EnnPeeCee]

As Daigo mentions (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0644.html), using armies would be a bit fantastic for regular 3.5 rules. That said, there is an author who tackles the subject: Frank&K (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Races_of_War_%283.5e_Sourcebook%29/The_Mass_Combat_Minigame).

I've used that minigame to some success. You can add your own rules to make it more fun, or try it as-is.

Thanks, looks like some good stuff there. I'm sure I can put some of that to use.

[EnnPeeCee]

There are rules for settlement stability/prosperity... somewhere. If someone can save me the trouble of finding them, that could be helpful.

Isn't there a published campaign (Kingmaker?) which deals with this sort of thing? You could try looking at that, too.

I agree, you're stretching 3.5 to the limit to the limit here.

Hm, I'll have to look into those. Is that the same Kingmaker as the Neverwinter Nights expansion?

[Uncle Pine]

So, one of my friends and I are looking to do some PvP style games since we can't find a good group to play regular style D&D with. We'll probably just start with some duels, but we talked about the possibility of doing larger scale battles. Now, I am aware of the large scale battle rules in Heroes of Battle and the Miniatures Handbook, and have found online some decent squad combat rules, so the actual combat rules shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Really what we would like to do, is something along the lines of kingdom vs kingdom, where we each are managing cities, troops, resources, etc. So here's where my question comes in; can this be done in 3.5 reasonably well? If there are any rules already written out for this, official or not, I'd love to give them a read. Or is this trying to push D&D beyond what it is capable of?

"Fields of Blood - The Book of War" is a 3.5 supplement I sometimes used when creating campaings focused on mass battles. It's very handy, but it is a whole book, so it might need some time to figure out how everything works.
One of the thing I most enjoyed about that system is that it's really easy to create a [insert your monster's name]'s army as soon as you have the monster's 3.5 stats. The management rules are a bit of a pain though.

[EnnPeeCee]

"Fields of Blood - The Book of War" is a 3.5 supplement I sometimes used when creating campaings focused on mass battles. It's very handy, but it is a whole book, so it might need some time to figure out how everything works.
One of the thing I most enjoyed about that system is that it's really easy to create a [insert your monster's name]'s army as soon as you have the monster's 3.5 stats. The management rules are a bit of a pain though.

I'll try to find a copy and give it a read. Do you know if there is a fre version available online somewhere?

[EnnPeeCee]

I've been thinking about trying to adapt some of the mechanics from games like Age of Wonders to make this work. Something along the lines of for each day that passes, and each location you control grants a certain amount of resources, and has a certain production capacity for making units. That seems like a good starting point.

[roguemetal]

There's also the 'Heroes of Battle' book that may lend some inspiration to your cause. It doesn't directly handle massive troops sadly. The 'Miniatures Handbook' may actually assist a little for shortcut statistics of individual troops. Beyond that there's the Mongoose published 3e 'Open Mass Combat System' which I've used myself. Don't know where to find it though.

[Uncle Pine]

I'll try to find a copy and give it a read. Do you know if there is a fre version available online somewhere?

I don't know about a free version of the whole book, but you can easily find previews on the internet. However, since I only found previews on sites that sell the book, I'm not posting any link. I'll send you it in a pm instead.

[EnnPeeCee]

So, maybe I should ask; ARE there any good tabletop strategy/city building games? I mean, I know about warhammer and games like that, but those are more tactics games than strategy. Are there any tabletop games more like Civ? My google searching has me leaning towards no.