Turning DnD on its head

[Paganboy28]

As an idea for an "adventure"...

How about the idea or concept of a campaign where the players are the local government of a small town or such and charged with running it.

They would have to fight off invaders, ensure the prosperity of the town so maybe go with locals to locate new resources and such...

Would this be a viable concept?

[Pharaoh's Fist]

You might not want to use DnD for it, though.

[Gamerlord]

Absolutely.

[Yuki Akuma]

I agree with those two.

[Paganboy28]

Which system?

And why not DnD?

[Aron Times]

In before Birthright?

[Edge of Dreams]

It definitely could be an interesting game, but the mechanics of D&D are not oriented toward that. Something more free-form and story-oriented might be more suitable, unless you really want to include D&D-style combat in this game.

[appending_doom]

Dnd isn't the best for social/managerial situations; it's geared towards combat or (at best) tactical-level interactions.

While I don't have advice about what would be good for managing a small city, I can point out that if you tried to play it as DND, you might have more fun having the characters make plans and then play out individual situations with their subordinates.

Example: As the city leaders, you've planned to repel an attack of kobolds. Your players can simulate the attack, playing the captains or whatnot.

[hamishspence]

Power of Faerun discusses what "being in power" can mean for a D&D character, from the founder of a new settlement in the wilds, to a general, courtier, major church figure, etc.

Roleplaying might be more important and mechanics less important in these cases, though all seem to assume the character has Leadership and is using it a lot.

[The Rose Dragon]

Well, if you don't mind switching that small town with a kingdom, you can use Exalted for this.

If you don't mind switching that kingdom with the multiverse, I believe you can also make it work with Nobilis.

Otherwise, here's a weird suggestion: MAID. Where the Master is the Mayor and you're his assistants, the butler is the sheriff, etc.

There is a Song of Ice and Fire and Blue Rose, as well. Blue Rose is quite close to D&D, but has several additions that make it more suitable to town-running than dungeoncrashing.

[Sliver]

I think M&M is the best system built for this.

[jmbrown]

Just a general correction (or rather insertion): 3E and 4E aren't suited for that. NPCs are weak, monsters are strong, and PCs are meant to save the world. AD&D? Certainly. Very few creatures have hit dice higher than 11, NPCs are dirt cheap and 20 level 0 (level 1 warrior in 3E terms) militiamen armed with mundane equipment can actually hold their own against 3 or 4 giants unlike 3E which simply rules 1-in-20 will likely hit.

In before Birthright?

Tears streaming down my face. Birthright = love.

[lesser_minion]

3.x is supposed to support a range of play styles from pure hack-and-slash to deep immersion. This isn't too far from deep immersion gaming.

The DMG suggests that you might want to streamline the combat system a lot if you want to do this sort of thing.

True20 or Blue Rose would definitely be better choices, however, as they actually have streamlined combat and simplified mechanics.

[onthetown]

My characters own land and act as landlords in most campaigns I play -- they'll usually find a keep and take it over, and then people in the area tend to flock toward it as a haven or something, and then the DM directs his attacks of all the enemies I've made at my little homestead. I've always loved playing those campaigns.

And this is coming from somebody who's never played anything but D&D 3.x/Pathfinder, so obviously it can work out for D&D just fine. We've honestly never run into any problems with it. You just have to like that sort of gameplay.

[bosssmiley]

Tears streaming down my face. Birthright = love.

Truth.

• Birthright
• Pendragon (you get a manor of your very own at character creation)
• Gamma World (the d20 remake) allowed you to benefit from enhancing the productivity, health and wealth of your home town (eg: you discover a microfusion generator, the town gets electric light, you get a status boost and free power cell recharges)

[GolemsVoice]

You might want to ahve a look at the World of Warcraft D20 core book. For some reason, they decided to devote an entire chapter to city-building (they even said it was specifically for DMs who wanted to recreate a little RTS feel). Basically, it treats cities or towns like characters. They have a defense score, ans offense score, and can gain talents like Temple (helps with divine spellcasting) or various levels of Fortifications (help with the defense score), etc... A city would ahve a few craft skills representing the major trade of the region, etc.... Problem is, you'd have to buy the book. It's quite good, but if you're no Warcraft fan, 95% of it would be wasted.

[AslanCross]

What people have been saying. D&D was really designed with the adventuring party at its core. If the party isn't doing adventuring and is instead doing managerial things, they might be better off playing a different system that was already designed with this concept in mind. It's less work and probably more interesting.