Dire Panda
2013-03-16, 11:51 AM
TL;DR version: Do you know of any third-party or homebrew rules for population/economic growth, governance, and the like?
Lately I've begun planning for a fairly ambitious campaign: as some of the few remaining spellcasters in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, the PCs find themselves the leaders of a small town. Over the next several decades or even centuries - possibly longer than the lifespans of short-lived characters - they are tasked with building that single town into an entire rebuilt civilization, mitigating the effects of the cataclysm, and possibly discovering/correcting its origins.
Now, I've already done a fair amount of homebrew - most notably ritual spellcasting centered around monoliths (either found in ancient ruins, giving the PCs incentive to build new towns on them, or built by the PCs and their followers) - but I can't find a good resource for rules on nation-building and governance. Have any of you had success using third-party or homebrew rules for that sort of thing? Or is another RPG better suited to this task?
Specifically, I'm looking for figures on population/economic growth, good resolution mechanics for governmental challenges, dealing with racial/cultural unrest and rebellions, and the like. I'm not worried about traditional adventuring - recovering lost magic/technology and taking care of rival warlords will be plenty - but that's only going to be one side of the campaign. I want the players to feel like they're really building their own world.
EDIT: To be clear, the current plan is to alternate "traditional" adventures with long periods of downtime during which the civilization-building happens. Obvious the two will tie into each other - if you're trying to found a settlement somewhere dangerous, you'll need to clear out the traps and monsters first. Conversely, the knowledge and items found while adventuring can contribute to civilization-building. Once the PCs have accumulated followers, apprentices, and eventually a standing army, they'll be able to 'automatically' resolve the lesser adventures during downtime so they can focus on the big stuff.
EDIT2: If it helps, more world information: Most of the world was absolutely ravaged by an unknown magical cataclysm. The sky is darkened by dust in the upper atmosphere (and occasional colorful bursts of toxic fumes descend), most of the land is polluted and no longer arable, planar connections are cut off, huge canyons were torn in the earth, and almost all of the old cities were reduced to rubble. All of these and more are intended to be eventually fixable. The majority of the surviving population (of all the common races) are either nomadic or clustered in small subsistence farming communities. Attracting these people to the players' cities could provide a quick population boost, assuming they can be educated and culturally integrated, but otherwise the players will have to breed their own followers.
Lately I've begun planning for a fairly ambitious campaign: as some of the few remaining spellcasters in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, the PCs find themselves the leaders of a small town. Over the next several decades or even centuries - possibly longer than the lifespans of short-lived characters - they are tasked with building that single town into an entire rebuilt civilization, mitigating the effects of the cataclysm, and possibly discovering/correcting its origins.
Now, I've already done a fair amount of homebrew - most notably ritual spellcasting centered around monoliths (either found in ancient ruins, giving the PCs incentive to build new towns on them, or built by the PCs and their followers) - but I can't find a good resource for rules on nation-building and governance. Have any of you had success using third-party or homebrew rules for that sort of thing? Or is another RPG better suited to this task?
Specifically, I'm looking for figures on population/economic growth, good resolution mechanics for governmental challenges, dealing with racial/cultural unrest and rebellions, and the like. I'm not worried about traditional adventuring - recovering lost magic/technology and taking care of rival warlords will be plenty - but that's only going to be one side of the campaign. I want the players to feel like they're really building their own world.
EDIT: To be clear, the current plan is to alternate "traditional" adventures with long periods of downtime during which the civilization-building happens. Obvious the two will tie into each other - if you're trying to found a settlement somewhere dangerous, you'll need to clear out the traps and monsters first. Conversely, the knowledge and items found while adventuring can contribute to civilization-building. Once the PCs have accumulated followers, apprentices, and eventually a standing army, they'll be able to 'automatically' resolve the lesser adventures during downtime so they can focus on the big stuff.
EDIT2: If it helps, more world information: Most of the world was absolutely ravaged by an unknown magical cataclysm. The sky is darkened by dust in the upper atmosphere (and occasional colorful bursts of toxic fumes descend), most of the land is polluted and no longer arable, planar connections are cut off, huge canyons were torn in the earth, and almost all of the old cities were reduced to rubble. All of these and more are intended to be eventually fixable. The majority of the surviving population (of all the common races) are either nomadic or clustered in small subsistence farming communities. Attracting these people to the players' cities could provide a quick population boost, assuming they can be educated and culturally integrated, but otherwise the players will have to breed their own followers.