Building a colony

Every now and then I see DMs trying an adventure where they send the players to an undiscovered land. That got me thinking if there are any sources out there, printed or online, that explain the process of colonizing a land. History books about the colonization of North or South american, dont go into the details of how to build the colony, what is needed, how to organise things, etc. I am looking for specific details.

I just looked on RPGNow, and didn't see anything related to the topic, but it sure would make a good niche d20 product, wouldn't it?

I'm thinking back to that classic of Sid Meier computer gaming, Colonization. The things to consider:

• Local resources - what do you have plentiful locally that you can use?
• Manpower - how many resources for labor and defense?
• Procreation and migration - how many new colonists are introduced every month or year into the manpower pool?
• Imports - what do you need from the motherland to make life easier?
• Exports - is there anything you can ship or sell BACK to the motherland to get your goods?
• Natives - are their any friendly locals whom you can count on for aid?
• Proselytizing - are there any religious or cultural mores that you'd like to spread locally?
• War - are there any hostile factions or natural dangers locally that you must combat to keep your colony together?
• Foreign powers - how does your colony deal with foreign powers who wish to trade or raid?

A side campaign setting to consider, after looking at the fall TV line up - the PRISON colony, or the CASTAWAY colony. Suppose your people are all there as the remainder of a shipwreck. You've got a hundred men and women who depend on you to lead them to survival.

In some ways, it makes the above scenario dirt simpler. What can you salvage from the wreckage? what resources can you find plentifully on the island or archipelago? You don't have to worry about importing or trade, probably, and certainly not foreign relations, because nobody's coming for you. On the other hand, relations with any local powers is going to take on paramount importance. But imagine the tone of the campaign if the PCs are setting out instead of sword and spell and armor and spellbook, but stick and stone, and bark armor and mud poultices! I'd seriously warn anyone wanting to play a wizard in such a campaign though - they'd be screwed, short of a generous DM allowing lots of free spell mastery slots.

Thanks. That helps a bit. But one of my main worries are on subjects like this:

Imagine you are onboard one of the ships arriving this new, undiscovered continent. The ships arrive. Now what? There you are, a bunch of people from another continent, arriving in this new place. What should you do now? You need to create an infrastructure for that population. What does it consist of? How many trees would have to be cut? How many trees for each house? How much food to feed 100 people? What food? Rice, beans, etc.
Should the settlement be next to a river? Or bear the coastal area? How close to the coastal area/river and why?

Things like that.

The_Magician said:

Imagine you are onboard one of the ships arriving this new, undiscovered continent. The ships arrive. Now what? There you are, a bunch of people from another continent, arriving in this new place. What should you do now? You need to create an infrastructure for that population.

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Well, it must be "discovered", or they wouldn't be there, eh?

Everything has to be built from scratch. Even the land has to be cleared and possibly leveled for a place to put the town.

How many trees would have to be cut? How many trees for each house? How much food to feed 100 people? What food? Rice, beans, etc.

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Probably asking too much detail. The lumber thing depends entirely on what kind of trees, how big they are, what tools are available and what kind of buildings are being built. This is too much detail to micromanage.

Food, on the other hand, is important. Just don't try to micromanage it so much. Again, depends on the people, the environment, how much hard work they're doing, etc.

Many a colony has been lost or severely crippled due to starvation.

Consider what kind of resources are available vs. what they need to bring. If the land is rich in fish and game, or collectable foods (nuts, fruits, wild grains, etc), then they will need less. If it's occupied or less fertile, they'll need to import everything.

Should the settlement be next to a river? Or bear the coastal area? How close to the coastal area/river and why?

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If it is an island or other continent, then this is an absolute requirement. Because that is where the ship(s) are going to be. No sense landing on a beach and having to drag everything 20 miles inland. The PORT is the very first thing that needs to be constructed.

At first, everything, and I mean everything has to be imported. Most importantly (besides people), tools. New tools, replacement tools (due to breakage, wear, etc) and still more tools. But also food, clothing, comfort items, widgets, doodads and geegaws. Every bloody thing you need has to come over on a ship. This is a huge effort and a great expense (see below).

Henry gives you a good list of things to consider. Natives (probably other races in a D&D world) require more trade goods, weapons and soldiers to deal with, and the import of more food and goods to replace those lost to sabotage and warfare.


But the most important reason for any colonization effort, and the singlular reason why we have no colonies on the Moon, Mars or in orbit...

Economics

Why colonize this land in the first place? What does it offer? How is this extremely expensive colony effort supposed to pay for itself? What attracts the colonists to this gods-forsaken place which requires nothing but hard work and sacrifice to tame? WHY BE THERE AT ALL???

There has to be a reason. Or there is no colony.

My best suppositions:

The_Magician said:

Imagine you are onboard one of the ships arriving this new, undiscovered continent. The ships arrive. Now what? There you are, a bunch of people from another continent, arriving in this new place. What should you do now? You need to create an infrastructure for that population. What does it consist of?

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One leader/mayor. two lieutenants: one is in charge of defense, the other in charge of internal affairs. Each one appoints as many supervisors as they need.

How many trees would have to be cut? How many trees for each house?

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Depending on the wood. If we are talking tropical, assume palm trees or the like, it would have to be a fair amount of logging, because each tree doesn't give a lot of intermediate branches. On the plus side, the wood is resilient, almost spongy. For simplicity say 20 trees for each 10 x 20 hut, including sap and tar for caulking and waterproofing, and leaves (or thatch you brought with you) for roofing. Let's say 100 trees for an adequate log wall about 8 feet high. In short, somebody's gonna KNOW you are there.

If subtropical to temperate, then FAR less trees (more wood). Kinda like what the Jamestown VA colonists found. Say, HALF those estimates.

You need building for shelter, primarily; no worries about outhouses, but maybe one privacy screen and a community cesspool just outside the walls.

If you are the lucky bastard who brought the Daern's instant fortress, or the High Wizard with Mordenkainen's Magnificant Mansion, then you've got it made, and you've just saved uncountable man-hours and labor.

How much food to feed 100 people? What food? Rice, beans, etc.

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Each person needs a pound of food per day, ALL fats or carbohydrates with some fruit for health and variety. Better to have two to three pounds per day, if you are a labor-intensive society. ( I looked up a calorie calculator online and found that most labor intensive activites (chopping wood, gardening, etc.) take 3500 to 4,000 calories for 8 hours of such activity on average. If that's the case, these people gotta eat, and eat well, if they are colonists.

Should the settlement be next to a river? Or bear the coastal area? How close to the coastal area/river and why?

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Near a river; fresh water, plain and simple. That's why most of the American Colonies started near river deltas and mouths. Also, they need to institute strict sanitary laws; no sense getting dysentery because some idiots are using the river as a bathroom upstream. Rivers also make it easier to travel inland when the exploring phase of your colony's growth hits.

One word on exploring; Save deep exploration for when the colony becomes sustaining. (In other words, when they've worked out regular food gathering or they've got their farms planted). Light exploration is a necessity, because you wouldn't want to set your colony up within one day's travel of a Griffon's lair, or within range of marauding kobolds. But any exploration that would take your explorers more than two days away from base is to be avoided. No sense bringing trouble to your doorstep until your doorstep's got some arrow slits.

Colonies would also often live on the boat(s) they came on for some time even after land was discovered. First, it takes time to build all those buildings. Second because it was a great form of protection before a fort or wall could be made.
Common buildings in a colony include stuff like:
- Cabins for living. That is kind of a given
- Saw/Lumber mill.
- Warehouses for storing goods while waiting out the bad season (winter) and/or until the next ship comes to take them.
- Docks. For fishing and for shipping.
- Place of worship or other cultural center.
- Factories. No, not smoke spewing industrial sites. These wouldn't show up till the colony is well set up. But these factories are the kind that create the more pricey trade goods. Examples include: Distillers, furniture makers, metalsmiths, tanners, etc.
- A fort/palisades depending on how dangerous the land was.

Colonies are basically business ventures. That’s why many colonies were under the rule of Companies in history. Dutch East Indian Company, Manhattan Trade Co., etc, etc. The mother nation sends out people to create/extract raw goods like lumber, food, furs, etc. and sends them back to the mother nation where it then turns it into finished goods, lumber = furniture, ships. furs = coats, hats. Then the mother nation then sells these finished goods to other nations and back to the colony for more money then they got the raw resource for. The sole purpose of a colony is to benefit the mother nation.

There are different ways in going about this. Not every 'colony' needs to be a little town of 100 settlers trying to live off the land. Take for example the common practice of the French and their system of colonization in America. Often, the French would claim large sections of land. Take for example the area of the Louisiana Purchase. Among all of this land they claimed, there would probably be one or two main/major port colonies that would be well established and 'built up'. New Orleans and Montreal are two examples of this. By staying on friendly terms with the people around the colonies and in the land (the Native Americans) the French would build very simple outposts throughout their vast claims of colonial land, which could hold as little as a dozen people. These few residents would be fur trappers and very hardy folk who would build some houses to live in and a warehouse out in the middle of nowhere, trap all season, keep the furs in "depots" all over the trapped area, and then sell their huge loads of furs in bulk during the selling season. They would survive by the aid of Natives and minor bartering for goods the natives wouldn't have when they sold their furs. And that’s it. These little outposts never grew or were built to house people. In fact they were built with the idea that they could be dismantled and moved somewhere else when the area had been over trapped and let it repopulate itself. And these little outposts would all be served by the one (or two) larger permanent colonies. The French did not want to trade back with their own colonies (much). Instead they built colonies for the sole purpose of getting raw material (furs) back to France so those expensive hats and coats could be sold to the continent for lots of money.
Now take the English system. English colonies were all, for the most part, built with a more permanent idea in mind. The idea was that as these colonies grew, there would be enough population in them to create a good tax base. Along with being people to tax, they would also work as ports to trade with for further money.

As far as how colonies are run? Well, it depends again from country to country. Now, I don't have my notes in front of me, so I'm just going of memory. So I'll do my best to remember exactly what goes on...
First, a country/king/head of government decides a colony is needed. Then, they set up a charter and create a company, usually with a fancy name. This company is given monopoly status and the king places some good friend or nephew, etc. as the President/CEO of the Trade Company. If the company plans to build on one 'colony'... as in like, one town, then the President of the Trading Company usually makes himself the Governor of the colony. If there are more that one colony, then the President may assign governors to run the towns/colonies or the king might. Depends on the country and politics and stuff. The government then gives the company a loan (grant) basically and assumes the company will pay the government back from profit, plus make extra on inflation. This company then buys/charters/rents ways (boats usually, but maybe something different in a fantasy world) to get to the new land. They advertise this new investment and people whom think that they might have a chance at making it big in the new world sign on as employees of the company. The company ships them over to the new land and the colony is created. Because the company has a monopoly, they receive all the profit. They then pay the settlers money (sometimes flat prices up front, sometimes over time, sometimes letting them keep their own profits, it changes from colony to colony.) and pays back the government their loan (grant). All over the course of several years. Whether or not the settlers get upset that they are being treated as simple employees and start to demand civil rights is up to you.

Those are just two examples of how a nation might go about colonizing a new land. There are others, and I'm sure in a fantasy world, there would be even more. I could image a nation in a fantasy world sending colonies out to search for rumored artifacts (which is not to far from what the Spanish Kingdom did with the City of Gold and Fountain of Youth!).

Phew that was a lot. Hope it helped. I'm a history major and Colonial America (North and South) was one of my recent topics of study (thus the reference to notes not being near me). And, just to add, I didn't even talk about other forms of colonialism by such peoples as the ancient Greeks and the most Imperialistic nation ever, Rome

Well, the settling of America by Europeans occured quite some time ago, so trying to find info on that will not be so successful, I assume.

I suggest trying to find info on the first fleet to Australia. This was a much more recent event, and yet the same skill set and basic requirements are there.

The original settlement required a natural harbour, for the ships to be safe from storms while unloading. Access to fresh water is a major requisite as well. Some livestock would be taken (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats), as well as cereals and grains (to be planted) the colonizers are familiar with, in order for the colony to have some hope of being self-sufficient. Tents would have to suffice for shelter to start.

Large numbers of iron tools (axes, saws, plows, ) for cutting, and handling the lumber. It will be a while until any ore will be processed. First the lodes have to found, then mined, then transported, so this is a major import for some time.

A good resource for this kind of scenario is The Book of Strongholds and Dynasties from Mongoose.

It specifically covers the "get off a boat and start building from scratch" scenario, although the process is more abstract than the questions asked here.

The book does a pretty good job discussing such things at low-population counts. I find it breaks down pretty quickly once you start talking about larger communities.

Another excellent resource is A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, from Expeditious Retreat Press. However, that is less geared to the "starting from scratch" scenario than the "expanding into the wilderness near an existing site" situation.

Finally, on a very abstract level, Fields of Blood has rules for creating colonies in recently-explored areas. This one, however, is highly abstract.

None of these books go to the level of detail of "how many trees". BoS&D and MMS:WE do talk about daily progress clearing land, excavating foundations, and so on, but that is as close to "minute detail" as they get.

Forget all that. Just ask the British.

I think you're getting into too much detail and are hitting the strategy gaming point vs. role playing. Assuming you really do want to roleplay, take advantage of most RPGs abstractions.

Wilderness Lore/Survival checks provide food. Apply a penalty for how different the locale (eastern North America wasn't that much different from Europe; South America, however, was). The best hunters become dedicated hunters. They will probably take up the path of Ranger just to survive.

Craft/Profession rolls to determine construction. Assign a base GP value for a rudimentary living quarters (i.e. shared barracks). If you want to be completely anal, have Loggers provide supplies and Carpenters do the assembly. If Loggers get ahead you have a stockpile, if the Carpenters get ahead you have downtime. Either way you need to reallocate personnel.

As far as population growth & immigration, that's really a DM call. Tired people who work a lot don't breed that much so the first few years will have a low birth rate. Once things settle down and there's something like a comfortable routine then the birthrate sky rockets. Immigration will depend on exports (gold draws a lot of people) or the condition of life in the mother country (persecution drives out people).

Initially realize that most metal goods will need to be imported at first or purchased from natives. You might only be able to buy copper from the locals but it's still another resource.