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4E The Nentir Vale: A Sandbox

LostSoul

Adventurer
I've only recently come up with the table to deal with Lair Growth. It used to be a lame 1d6 roll +/- a few modifiers. It didn't feel "right". I changed it to use something similar to what I use to determine the reaction NPCs have towards PCs and the influence PCs have in a settlement.

Here it is. Could probably use some tweaking.

[sblock]
LAIR GROWTH
3d6 Roll
+ Charisma Mod.....Reaction.........................Successes....Level
4 or less..........Mutinous, mass desertion.........--...........-2
5-8................Challenged, some desertion.......2............-1
9-12...............Stable, no change................4............--
13-16..............Loyal, good morale...............6............--
17+................Fanatical, new recruits arrive...8............+1

MODIFIERS
Previous Reaction............Modifier
Mutinous........................-6
Challenged......................-4
Stable..........................+0
Loyal...........................+1
Fanatic.........................+2
Existing Threats In ZoC......Modifier
Lair's tier band => threat's....-1
Lair's tier band < threat's.....-1 per difference
Martial Conflict.............Modifier
Lair's tier band => threat's....+1 for victory
Lair's tier band < threat's.....+1 per difference for victory
Stalemate.......................-1
Retreat.........................-2
Defeat..........................-4
Social Conflict..............Modifier
Per loss of status..............-2
Per gain in status..............+1
Economy......................Modifier
GP or ritual components spent...+1 per treasure parcel of lair's level
Resources acquired..............+1 per resource
Settlement Respectful+..........+1 per tier band of settlement
Insufficient resources..........-2 per required resource
Leadership...................Modifier
Leader's tier band..............+1 per tier band
Leadership challenged...........-1 per tier band of challenger
per 750 XP of bodyguards........+1
Sergeant killed.................-2
Lieutenant killed...............-4
Leader killed...................-6
Guard's total XP < hex's level..-2
[/sblock]

The "success" column is to determine how many successes are needed in a social skill challenge when it has something to do with the lair - interrogation, surrender, etc. I should probably work that into the morale checks.

edit: I should note that I don't do this for every lair; I'm just too lazy. I only do this for the ones that are interacting with the PCs or the ones I think are interesting.

Atapun's Robber Baron Lair at the current in-game date; note that it started as level 4 (in September). Treasure doesn't increase with level, which makes Time more of a limited resource.

[sblock]**** 20.14 TARKAAN ATAPUN'S KEEP OF THE NINE FINGERED HAREM - LEVEL 4 ****
Stone Keep with 4 towers, 2 ballista, 2 catapaults
49 human guards, 37(1) human crossbowmen, 10(1) human nobles on riding horses, 4 human cavaliers on warhorses, 6(1) bloodseeker drakes, 1 human mage, 2 human javelin dancers, 6 dragonborn soldiers, 1 human knife fighter, 2 human slavers, 1 human dire beast hunter & dire wolf, 2 riding horses, 2 warhorses, led by Atapun, a human cavalier on a griffon with 5 town guard bodyguards. 540 villagers.
1145 gp, 384 sp, 780 cp + 6 garnet gems (100 gp each), 3 amethyst gems (100 gp each), 1 pearl (100 gp)
+980 gp from goblins in 20.13
*** MARCH ***
Level: 9
Town Level: 2
Resources: Food, ore from Sacktangle Heights
ZoC: 19.13, 19.14, 20.15, 21.14, 21.13, 18.13, 18.14, 19.14, 20.15
Influence: Loyal
Modifiers: +1 fanatic, +3 Cha, +3 tier, +1 bodyguards, -4 time, +1 settlement, +1 resources
Reaction: Uncertain [how the people in his village feel about him]
Modifiers: +3 Cha
Actions: Head to Winterhaven
Raid 18.13: 2 human slavers, 10 human guards, 3 crossbowmen; level 10; check +17 vs DC 15; hex atk +8 vs DC 21; atapun 28, +3x175 gp; hex 12
Patrol: 10 human guards, 4 human crossbowmen.[/sblock]
 
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ssheftall

Explorer
Lostsoul, just chiming in to say how much I've been digging what you've done for your campaign! I'm running a "sandbox" Nentir Vale also, but after 6 sessions so far, haven't been nearly as successful as you with the pre-planning (hex tables,etc.). I'd planned to go that route, but...

Anyway, thanks for the great read and ideas!
 

Derulbaskul

Adventurer
[MENTION=386]LostSoul[/MENTION]: Once again, this is tremendous. I am really happy to see the thread resurrected.

I'm currently planning a sandbox/hexcrawl campaign set around Loudwater in the Forgotten Realms and this is perfect. So many ideas here!

Thanks for posting.
 

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