How does one settle new lands? (5e ish)

[MintyNinja]

Hey Playground.

I'm looking for help deciding or working on a method or a system or even just a gameplan on how to settle a displaced population on new lands. That includes: what do they need to survive, what trades would be most valuable, and what challenges should arise? I'm no stranger to games like Banished or Civilization, but those aren't helping here. I need something a bit more thorough and in depth, or at least with D&D in mind.

Relevant Info:
- We're using D&D 5e.
- Non-magic setting, as well as no gods or organized religion.
- The culture is vaguely Viking-like and the characters are successful raiders.
- I intend to have NPC's handle the boring day-to-day stuff, but I still need to know what they're doing.
- Assume that any neighbouring nations are semi-hostile and across a massive language barrier.
- Likely settling on island or coastline.

[darkmammoth]

Well if I'm not mistaken I believe there are some rules handling what you are requesting on the pathfinder srd20 under the kingdom section.

But as you are using 5e I'll take it you want something simpler. To handle the day to day affairs you can simply just say the NPC's do the things needed such as hunting, guard duty, etc. Unless you really like to micro manage things, the actions of the NPC's should easily be left that vague unless something is crucial, such as one of them is a key figure for the quest.

As to the how for population distribution, you could have the party serve as contracted land prospectors for this newly discovered land. Set the campaign/adventure to have a time laps of 6 months to one year for the expedition. Make them also as part of a fleet of prospectors sent by a kingdom. Once the adventure is concluded they can travel back to the specified homeland and deliver their report. Or consider the expedition as a means to discover the quickest water route for this new land in a similar fashion as what Lewis and Clark did after the Louisiana Purchase.

For some challenges, consider having the party encounter natives that possess an unknown poison. One player or key NPC becomes effected by a poison dart so the party must rush to find a cure. Or the party's ship/vessel runs ashore and needs repair work. Perhaps consider the example of Odysseus (from the Odyssey) where he was held captive by that enchantress lady (name escapes me at the moment) where the party encounters a similar event.

Really there are plenty of things that can be done with what you are doing. Get creative and don't be afraid to take inspiration from other works or ideas to incorporate into your own.

[nomotag]

I assume your looking for rules rather then general fluff.

I wouldn't use the pathfinder kingdom rules. They are kind of complex and people tell me they are broken.

If you want something really simple, you can rip off a system from AW. Every now and then make a roll on a chart of necessities/wants and if it comes up then your people have a shortage of it. (Maybe mix in positive surpluses on the table too.)

If you want something more complex, but not as complex as pathfinder. I did make my own substitute rules for the pathfinder system. Kindoms work like characters with six attributes that loosely match the player attributes, Military might, Subterfuge, Welfare, Economy, Knowledge base, Culture. If the players want their people to do a task then they just make an ability roll with one of the attributes. Starting attributes would be simple, you would roll up different sets for settlement sites the players could scout. (Then justify them with a description of the place.) Additional bonuses could come from the population, (Just copy the race stats.) The type of government, or the different improvements that get added over time. (A well might be a +2 to welfare well a blacksmith would be +1 to economy and +1 to military might.)

[2D8HP]

- We're using D&D 5e.
- Non-magic setting, as well as no gods or organized religion.
- The culture is vaguely Viking-like and the characters are successful raiders.....

OK as a DM I have no advice beyond visualize scenes, and narrate them to your players, and the more I made up on the spot, the more the players seemed to like it.
As a player while normally I would be against a "Non-magic setting", because no Dragons, I've got to say this campaign sounds AWESOME! And I want to be a player in it!

[TheYell]

Clearing forest to plow grain; herding pigs into oak groves to eat the acorns; driving goats to pasture: digging a millpond and a channel; building a mill to grind and saw; catching fish in the millpond; raising geese; trapping and skinning squirrels for meat and fur; boiling willow branches to make wickerwork: rendering hog fat to lard by boiling; plowing with oxen and harvesting by scythe; grinding grain to flour; slaughtering hogs; milking goats and cattle; slathering clay on staves to make cottage walls and adding a thatch roof. Having metal tools and a forge helps a lot. Polish lords settled woods with Germans by promising a German overseer a bailiwick and a cut of literally everything.

[Mutazoia]

Fortunately, most of what your new settlement needs is going to be free. The only "cost" will be sweat equity.

Two things they will need first, is food and shelter. With out those two, you might as well pack up and go home. Depending on the terrain, these will either be fairly easy to come by (assuming that your settlers are not idiots and try to set up shop on a giant, baren rock).

Log cabins are pretty easy to build, and the land cleared by logging, can be turned into farm land and pasture. Cob houses are also fairly easy to construct (just cover some straw or grass bails with mud. Early Norse and Celts used sod for roofing material, and loose-fit stone walls.

Food would be planted (hopefully some one thought to bring some seed stock) or fished out of the sea. Hunting would fill some of the gaps, but live game close to the settlement would become more and more scarce as time went by. Hopefully, some one brought some livestock. Pigs an goats travel well and can survive on much less food and water than cows, so they would be more common. Cows can be traded for (much) later, once things are established and the colony can start thinking about trade.

Defense would be your next priority, especially if there is a hostile nation near by who just might view the land the settlers set up house on as theirs. Wood walls and earthen embankments to start, maybe a moat (dry) if you have the time and resources. The colony would most likely need to be set up on a hill, for easy defense (make the attackers run up hill while you roll stuff down) as well as a good view of the surrounding area.

Trade wouldn't even be on the radar for quite some time, as getting a self sustaining settlement up and running would take priority. Early on, if any trading had to be done, it would be in items found in abundence around the colony, such as furs and plants not native to who-ever they were trading with. Eventually they would need to import some metal tools and the like, to replace those lost and/or damaged over time. It would be some time before the colony could expect to do any mining/smelting/smithing (if at all, again, depending on the terrain).

[MintyNinja]

Fortunately, most of what your new settlement needs is going to be free. The only "cost" will be sweat equity.

Two things they will need first, is food and shelter. With out those two, you might as well pack up and go home. Depending on the terrain, these will either be fairly easy to come by (assuming that your settlers are not idiots and try to set up shop on a giant, baren rock).

Log cabins are pretty easy to build, and the land cleared by logging, can be turned into farm land and pasture. Cob houses are also fairly easy to construct (just cover some straw or grass bails with mud. Early Norse and Celts used sod for roofing material, and loose-fit stone walls.

Food would be planted (hopefully some one thought to bring some seed stock) or fished out of the sea. Hunting would fill some of the gaps, but live game close to the settlement would become more and more scarce as time went by. Hopefully, some one brought some livestock. Pigs an goats travel well and can survive on much less food and water than cows, so they would be more common. Cows can be traded for (much) later, once things are established and the colony can start thinking about trade.

Defense would be your next priority, especially if there is a hostile nation near by who just might view the land the settlers set up house on as theirs. Wood walls and earthen embankments to start, maybe a moat (dry) if you have the time and resources. The colony would most likely need to be set up on a hill, for easy defense (make the attackers run up hill while you roll stuff down) as well as a good view of the surrounding area.

Trade wouldn't even be on the radar for quite some time, as getting a self sustaining settlement up and running would take priority. Early on, if any trading had to be done, it would be in items found in abundence around the colony, such as furs and plants not native to who-ever they were trading with. Eventually they would need to import some metal tools and the like, to replace those lost and/or damaged over time. It would be some time before the colony could expect to do any mining/smelting/smithing (if at all, again, depending on the terrain).

Clearing forest to plow grain; herding pigs into oak groves to eat the acorns; driving goats to pasture: digging a millpond and a channel; building a mill to grind and saw; catching fish in the millpond; raising geese; trapping and skinning squirrels for meat and fur; boiling willow branches to make wickerwork: rendering hog fat to lard by boiling; plowing with oxen and harvesting by scythe; grinding grain to flour; slaughtering hogs; milking goats and cattle; slathering clay on staves to make cottage walls and adding a thatch roof. Having metal tools and a forge helps a lot. Polish lords settled woods with Germans by promising a German overseer a bailiwick and a cut of literally everything.

These have been immensely helpful. Thank you.

OK as a DM I have no advice beyond visualize scenes, and narrate them to your players, and the more I made up on the spot, the more the players seemed to like it.
As a player while normally I would be against a "Non-magic setting", because no Dragons, I've got to say this campaign sounds AWESOME! And I want to be a player in it!

Here are the links. Game is underway, but feel free to lurk and read to your heart's content.
Recruitment
OOC
IC

[TheYell]

Thanks. For when they do consider trade there are sheep:
"The most blessed of all the animals was the sheep. Sheep were led ceremoniously to fertilize fallow land, and a sheep's hoof was known justifiably as the 'golden hoof'...Walter of Henley estimated that 20 ewes could produce as great a benefit as 2 cows and yield one stone of cheese and a half gallon of butter a week.
For the medieval farmer sheep were more useful than any other animal. Their 'golden hooves' were a great asset; the farmers could drink their milk, make butter and cheese, eat mutton, and with the skin make parchment...But the prime value of sheep was their wool...Thierry d'Hirecon...purchased 160 sheep...The following year he resold them...He had invested £68, it brought him £83. But that was not all; he sold the wool for £52 so that in one year he made a total profit on the operation of approximately 100%." The Medieval Machine , Jean Gimpel , pg 45

[LibraryOgre]

A prime thing to consider, incidentally, is access to water. Where is the water, how do they access it, how do they control it.