Are There Rules for Running a Village/Keep/Town Somewhere That Could Be Ported To 5e?

[Zander353]

Hello All,

I've been DM'ing 5e for a little while now, and I think I might have run into an issue. It has been posted in some other places, but my players have all this money and don't know what to do with it all. There have been a bunch of nice posts about what all you can spend your money on in 5e, but the one that interested me the most was spending it on land owning. I know it is certainly not for all players, but I think it might fit my group well and I was wondering if any of you knew of any home brew rules or some other table top game I could borrow rules from ( Or perhaps you have had experience with this and think its a bad idea? ). I don't want my sessions to turn into just a total "castle sim", but I think if it could have some depth it would be not only a good tool to progress the story, but it could also be a way to slow things down. This way the players don't feel like their characters became the biggest baddest kids on the block in 6 months of in game dungeon crawling, and instead can spend months at a time recuperating and preparing/planning in between adventures ( It could also add some nice quest hooks ). It can be a place to store their "trophies" from past adventures, like having a young green dragons head that they killed mounted in their local tavern, and stuff of that nature.

I guess what I'm looking for is some sort of rules as to how to start your own keep from scratch, what the population growth would be like, the costs, the risks and rewards ( Maybe a suggestion list of what all they could have built? ). How to have a standing army, and what goes with that ( As well as perhaps some charts I could modify to see if a roaming hoard of orcs comes by and decides to try and take it, or if a dragon decides to nest nearby and likes the taste of their farmers, ect... ); How to appoint advisers ( So it doesn't just become a castle sim), as well as maybe a set of milestones the keep could achieve ( Maybe a random chart of interesting people/natural disasters that could have a chance of showing up, or a system for keeping relations with neighboring kingdoms and the chance of war? ). I could make all this up, but I'm praying someone more creative than myself has already done so in some other game or home brew and I can just port it to 5e with a minimal amount of hassle.

Bonus: If you can throw in a good reason for the players to actually found a keep in the first place ( Other than them being like, "Hey this looks like a good spot..." ( I know this could be a little campaign dependent, but just generally speaking)

Thanks for all your answers!

[Daishain]

Check out 3.5e's stronghold builder's guidebook. It spends more time on architecture than the other things you were asking for, but remains a good source nonetheless.

[Madfellow]

Look up a game called ACKS. Adventurer Conqueror King System. It's a D&D retro-clone. Normally I wouldn't recommend the system, but it has exactly what you're looking for.

[Zander353]

@ Daishain - Thanks! This does look like it could be very helpful in what I'm looking to try and do.

@ Madfellow - Awesome, I'll take a look. Mind if I ask why you wouldn't normally recommend it?

[Madfellow]

@ Madfellow - Awesome, I'll take a look. Mind if I ask why you wouldn't normally recommend it?

I'm personally not interested in the stronghold-building, city managing aspect of the game. The adventuring RPG aspect is still there, but there are a number of things about it that I dislike. Randomly generated stats, limited class selection (unless you buy splatbooks), limited customization options within classes, and the deadliness of the system, to name a few. The general assumption seems to be that your character is going to die at some point, so you're going to need to be able to randomly roll up a replacement on short notice to hop back into the game quickly. There's very little that can distinguish two characters of the same class from a mechanical standpoint.

But if you're only using the stronghold and city stuff and porting it into 5th, then it shouldn't be an issue.

[Slipperychicken]

The general assumption seems to be that your character is going to die at some point, so you're going to need to be able to randomly roll up a replacement on short notice to hop back into the game quickly.

The first option the book mentions is using henchmen as backup characters (the game strongly encourages each PC to build a retinue of NPC followers). That skirts the issue of "wasting" gold for an xp reserve, makes existing henchmen less likely to bail if you pick your highest-level henchman, while allowing the player to cherry-pick a henchman who has good stats. I can understand the other complaints you mentioned though.

[Zander353]

Ah, after looking at it I see what you mean... I'm not too fond of the actual game play rules either; though I might pick up a few of the stronghold rules. Also if anyone sees this thread and is wondering the same thing I was/am I also found a book called "Ultimate Campaign" for 3.5e which covers everything that isn't dungeon crawling in D&D which is really interesting actually. {scrubbed}

[The DS Acolyte]

Ah, after looking at it I see what you mean... I'm not too fond of the actual game play rules either; though I might pick up a few of the stronghold rules. Also if anyone sees this thread and is wondering the same thing I was/am I also found a book called "Ultimate Campaign" for 3.5e which covers everything that isn't dungeon crawling in D&D which is really interesting actually. {scrubbed}

This resource is fantastic
I look forward to implementing this at my table when I get the opportunity

[1Forge]

i just multiply the lifestyle cost in the PHB by the number of people in a settlement.

[Talyn]

Ah, after looking at it I see what you mean... I'm not too fond of the actual game play rules either; though I might pick up a few of the stronghold rules. Also if anyone sees this thread and is wondering the same thing I was/am I also found a book called "Ultimate Campaign" for 3.5e which covers everything that isn't dungeon crawling in D&D which is really interesting actually. {scrubbed}

This looks very cool, but it looks like it might be an official (i.e. you are supposed to pay for it) supplement, e-published by Paizo. I don't want to break any copyright rules (or forum rules) by downloading this - is there someone who can clarify?

[PracticalM]

I like A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe for running manors and kingdoms. I haven't tried the ACKS system though.

http://www.xrpshop.citymax.com/catalog/item/3906392/6232094.htm

I only have the first edition so I don't know how the medieval combat section is.

[Steampunkette]

The Ultimate Campaign is, in fact, a costly Pathfinder book that is being illegally shared in the hotlink.

That said, buy a copy. It's great!

Other options are the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook (for the costs of buildings) and the 3.5 DMG 2 which includes costs for opening businesses and rules for running NPC organizations that can be adapted for 5e fairly easily.

It also goes into deep detail about the city of Saltmarsh, which can help the players design their community to be more realistic.

[jkat718]

The Ultimate Campaign isn't paid, it's in the Pathfinder Reference Document:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCampaign/kingdomsAndWar.html

That being said, the (actually paid-only) Ultimate Rulership (http://paizo.com/products/btpy8zc7?Ultimate-Rulership) book is a more balanced expansion of the Ultimate Campaign ruleset.

[Steampunkette]

The PFRD is using the core mechanics out of the book, only. Stuff covered by the Open Gaming License.

The art, fluff, and much more is -not- covered by the OGL and is, in fact, property of Paizo that is being illegally transferred.

It's like how Wizards started the OGL with 3e and when Pathfinder came along they couldn't use Illithid or Beholders. Go check d20pfsrd and you'll see neither of them are there. Those two monsters are trademarks of D&D and WotC and aren't covered by the OGL, so no one else can use them without express permission (for published works for profit, anyhow).


This product makes use of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. These rules can be found online as part of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Reference Document at
paizo.com/prd. This product is compliant with the Open Game License (OGL) and is suitable for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game or the 3.5 edition of the
world’s oldest fantasy roleplaying game.

Product Identity: The following items are hereby identified as Product Identity, as defined in the Open Game License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that
have previously been designated as Open Game Content or are in the public domain are not included in this declaration.)
Open Content: Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above), the game mechanics of this Paizo Publishing game product are Open Game Content, as defined in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated as Open Game Content may be reproduced in
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[jkat718]

Oh, no, you misunderstood me. What I was saying was that the rules of Ultimate Campaign aren't paid. Yeah, I get that the book itself is illegally hosted there, but I was just pointing out that the rules themselves are still accessible for free.

[Verigudi]

The DMG has the rulles for various tipes of buildings and its acoording expences and number of hirelings that it must have. Just search for strongholds in the appendix, you will find the rules under "Maintance".

[Unoriginal]

The DMG has the rulles for various tipes of buildings and its acoording expences and number of hirelings that it must have. Just search for strongholds in the appendix, you will find the rules under "Maintance".

This thread is 3 years old.

[BLC1975]

This thread is 3 years old.

Shame Matthew Colville isn't writing a book about this sort of stuff...

[ImproperJustice]

This is going to sound kinda out there, and require some work, but bear with me on this:

Take a look at Kevin Crawford’s Stars Without Number and it’s faction system.
The rule set is free and it is completely written for OSR games which adapt very well to 5e.

Basically SWN is a giant sandbox game where players can amass huge fortunes over time.

In between sessions, the GM plays a game within the game where various factions or power groups take turns like a board game trying to gain advantage over each other.

This translates into real tangible events that affect the PC gameworld. In turn, PC actions may interfere with the factions turns.

Eventually, with enough funds, the PCs can create their own factions and begin participating in the faction mini-game between sessions directly.

With a little imagination you can rename the various faction assets to a fantasy context such as cyber-assassins becoming drow shadow monks, or a logistics fleet becoming a wizard’s portal network etc...

It does give PCs an outlet for their finances and it is worth a read just for some ideas.

[ImproperJustice]

This thread is 3 years old.

And now I feel silly....

[FreddyNoNose]

This thread is 3 years old.

And still to this day after all this time, people who run forums can't figure out how to lock old threads or add a control for people to get a big warning before starting a reply. Bad code.