D&D 5E Building communities and ruling domains

[Mouseferatu]

So, I'm looking for a solid but simple rules set for domains. Building cities up from tiny hamlets, maintaining military power, trading with other domains, etc.

It doesn't have to be 5E-specific, as long as it's not too much work to adapt to 5E. And again, while some granularity is good, ease of use and simplicity are more important to me than all the nitty gritty details being just so.

I've heard decent things about this section in the Rules Cyclopedia, and I'm going to look into that, but what are some others? How do they compare?

 

[SkidAce]

I was converting Birthright (2E) into 3E at one time. I found a conversion on the net for that at one time, then switched over to converting for 5E and never finished.

A lot of Birthright conversions you find are character and class based, the domain rules are fewer and far between, but there are some at http://www.birthright.net/

I might have a pdf floating around.

In my campaigns I use the dominion rules to determine level of civilization versus magic. There are guidelines for how high a "level" a province could be based on terrain, the higher the civ the lower the available magic. I love that.

Simplicity? Once a conversion was done, I feel it would be simple enough. I bit off to much and tried to detail ALL the surrounding countries adjacent to the PC domain, when I should have just created a stat block type entry.

 

[Quickleaf]

So, I'm looking for a solid but simple rules set for domains. Building cities up from tiny hamlets, maintaining military power, trading with other domains, etc.

It doesn't have to be 5E-specific, as long as it's not too much work to adapt to 5E. And again, while some granularity is good, ease of use and simplicity are more important to me than all the nitty gritty details being just so.

I've heard decent things about this section in the Rules Cyclopedia, and I'm going to look into that, but what are some others? How do they compare?

The Rule Cyclopedia system, itself based on Mentzer's Companion rules, is pretty simple yet has enough granularity to scratch that domain-management itch. There's a great review of it over here: http://www.tribality.com/2016/03/03/domain-rulership-part-one/

Pathfinder has a system, extrapolated originally from their Kingmaker adventure path, that I believe is on their SRD. Some really fun ideas mixed in with lots of "tax form"-like stats for communities.

And Adventurer Conquerer King (a B/X clone with an eye toward name level domain-management) has rules I've looked at as well, though those are a bit more involved. Those are robust in terms of logistics and economics, and follow the traditional "fighters build feudal-esque fiefs", mages build "research sanctums/towers", etc. While the complexity was more than I was looking for, I *really* liked ACKS take on Leadership Roles (Councilor, Grand Diplomat, Spymaster, etc.) – there are enough of these to involve most player types in management of a single realm both narratively & mechanically, which could be a real boon depending on the setup your group has.

 

[aco175]

I saw something on DMsGuild that had building cost and income/expense associated with a base for PCs such as owning an inn, temple, manor, etc. It might not be what you are looking for on a whole town, but it may have something you can use, and I think it was PWYW.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I'll echo [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION]'s second suggestion of the Kingmaker rules from Pathfinder. I'm almost positive you can download them for free as the Kingmaker Player's Guide. There's a Kingdom sheet much like a character sheet, with different stats and so forth. You can use that as a base and them make things simpler or more complex as you like.

 

[CapnZapp]

My beef with every such system I've seen, including Birthright, is that it's created from a point of view that is *not* that of the board game.

That is, if you focus on the historical/"realism" angle, or the fantasy angle, or the D&D class angle, or merely anything so we have something angle...

You end up with a system that trivially breaks down / is easily abusable.

I realize you can cover much by judicious DMing, but I'd prefer a domain system that hums along by itself, that doesn't crack when used.

You know, like a decent board game!

Especially when you consider board games that work when played solitaire - to work even without the self-compensation that is the other players, the design needs to be *really tight*.

Lightyears more tight than anything I've seen in the ttrpg arena, that is.

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[Li Shenron]

A lot of Birthright conversions you find are character and class based, the domain rules are fewer and far between, but there are some at http://www.birthright.net/

That's a huge system... it's a very interesting simulation, but also sounds like it would require quite a lot of work from the players!

I don't know if this is what Mouseferatu wants when he says "simple", but I would rather expect a much lower level of simulation, so that it's a tangible addition to the game but still remains in the background. Ideally a rules module that would fit in 1-2 pages.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I like Autarch's Adventurer Conqueror King system for this.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

That's a huge system... it's a very interesting simulation, but also sounds like it would require quite a lot of work from the players!

I don't know if this is what Mouseferatu wants when he says "simple", but I would rather expect a much lower level of simulation, so that it's a tangible addition to the game but still remains in the background. Ideally a rules module that would fit in 1-2 pages.

Ray Winninger presented a pared down version of the Birthright domain rules in Dragon #293.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I don't know if this is what Mouseferatu wants when he says "simple", but I would rather expect a much lower level of simulation, so that it's a tangible addition to the game but still remains in the background. Ideally a rules module that would fit in 1-2 pages.

That's exactly what I'm looking for, yes. Something the players only have to interact with on an occasional basis.

Have any of you played Dragon Age: Inquisition? You know how the Inquisition's Power and Influence grow as you do stuff, and you then spend those to open up new adventure/negotiation/trade options? I'd honestly love something of that level of simplicity, where the community has a few simple traits--maybe Military Might and Economic Growth, or the like--that the PCs can affect through their decisions, accomplishments, and failures.

I mean, it doesn't need to be exactly like that. That's just an example.