any RPGs with an overworld metagame?

[supermonkeyjoe]

Essentially what I'm thinking of trying is a campaign that has a metagame aspect, the regular sessions, adventures, missions whatever all contribute towards some higher goal which is then in some way played out by the players.

Essentially think of a game like risk with an overworld map but the PCs can contribute meaningfully to moving various pieces around the map or taking/defending territories, do any games exist with a system like this or does anyone know of an existing game/ruleset that could be tacked on to a more in-depth RPG.

My ultimate goal is to play a game of 3.5 D&D in which the PCs are heavily involved with various factions vying for control of the City of Sharn in Eberron, looking at the maps in the Sharn sourcebook reminded me a lot of Risk (but more vertical) and I thought it could work out quite well if the PCs had a hand in who controlled which sections of the city and in turn the state of the map had mechanical consequences on the actual game (in terms of encounters, NPC attitudes, goods available and other things like that)

[lt_murgen]

The closest I ever saw was the Birthright campaign setting for D&D.

You played a regent of a specific kingdom, and turns were in months. It was very complicated, but fun none-the-less. It also had adventures where you could take your regent and his followers and do something- a dungeon crawl, route goblins from a forest, etc- and the rewards were money and powers you could use on your next turn.

I took it and essentially used the over-game to wage war, and the players were agents of a particular kingdom. Their success and failure influenced the course of the war- requiring me as DM to have to make some significant changes to my plot-line after they spectacularly failed on one mission.

[supermonkeyjoe]

That looks like the kind of thing I was going for but it seems a bit too complex for what I had in mind, I'll have a look through the rules and see if there's anything I can use, thanks!

[Siegel]

The Invasion Mechanic in Burning Empires really is this.

[Drascin]

The Creation-Ruling Mandate ruleset in the Exalted supplement Masters of Jade is meant to allow players to do stuff like this - clashes of big organizations and countries in spans of months, without getting too indepth about it.

Haven't seen it in action, though, so I can't really tell you how well it works.

[Crow]

I'd second Birthright. Birthright.net has a set of 3.0 rules that are mostly usable with 3.5

I made some minor changes to get rid of the fluff and used the rules for realms and war with great results.

[Analytica]

The Kingmaker campaign for Pathfinder is all about this, and features adaptable rules for both holding/conquering/establishing territory and for large-scale battles.

[Knaight]

REIGN more or less works. Technically speaking, maps aren't strictly necessary, but there are rules for organizations with territory gobbling up other organizations and taking their territory, and sometimes getting other stuff as well. Moreover, the actions of the PCs have a noticeable effect at the Company (organization) level, which is where all this happens.