City Mechanics?

[Gareman]

I'm developing a sandboxy Pathfinder campaign for my group centered around a large town, a potential city-state, that's on the verge of collapse. Using the GameMastery Guide, the town has the attributes of Hunted, Insular and Superstitious. The town is like the main NPC patron in the campaign and through adventuring there are ways to improve the condition of the town, hopefully changing its attributes.

The interesting thing about the system for giving town attributes is it has concrete results how PCs use the town, such as increasing magic item availability, levels of NPC spellcasting, etc. What I'm looking for is a more codified version of how you might modify settlement attributes. For example, liberating an abandoned gold mine might improve the wealth of the city, but how? I know there are some Kingmaker rules for that, but I'm wondering if anyone has seen something that addresses this more directly. Don't make me get all creative here.

 

[gamerprinter]

I'm not sure how I would do that, necessarily, but I do like your idea. City attributes should be able to be changed however, a change in politics, the addition of a source of wealth or revenue, a change in religion. These types of things should alter attributes of a city.

Through Rite Publishing, I did something using the City Stat block, though it was for cities. In Way of the Yakuza, I wanted to create a faction stat block using the city stat block as the seed of an idea. So using a slightly different set of attributes a unique thieves guild could be created that is influenced by it's leader/guildmaster, it's second in command, and the overall alignment of the guild/faction. The various attributes influenced the amount of wealth, how much they possess in magic items, how much they can smuggle.

We're doing something similar with our upcoming Way of the Samurai and Way of the Shinobi. So I basically use the mechanics of the city stat block to create varying factions. And philosophically I see using this describe individual churches - not the overall religion, rather the influence a given church, it's leaders at a particular location, influenced by the entire faith, but variable based on local conditions.

Although, this doesn't specifically answer your question, it does like at how the city stat block could be altered.

 

[Thanael]

First here's a nice online version of the Kingmaker rules

Jon Brazer Enterprises' Book of the River Nations: Complete Player's Reference for Kingdom Building builds on the Kingmaker rules and adds to them.

And here's an old thread comparing other systems for Kingdom Building in detail, from ye olde D&D Rules Cyclopedia to Birthright to more modern d20 products. This thread lists many different sorucebooks and gives scores for them in detail for different categories. But i think these products all do not go into such intra-city detail as you need/want.

Maybe this WotC web enhancement to the 3.5 DMG has something appropriate: How to Build a City, One District at a Time!.

 

[Gilladian]

Speaking off the top of my head, but your specific question about the gold mine got me thinking.

First, who owns the gold mine? The city proper? A guild within the city? One person?

If an old mineworks of any sort were rediscovered, I suspect that the following things would go on:

1) the mine would need to be cleared of any/all creatures dwelling there which did not belong. This would probably involve the adventurers! At this point the town might be suspicious/feel threatened by the adventurers.
2) the empty mine would need to be surveyed and assayed. Teams of experts would need to be hired and escorted into the mine to be sure it was safe, and that there were still valuables to be found there. This is when rumors of wealth get stirred up. People try to horn in on the potential business. Rivalries get started. There might be a lot of rumors, even a "gold rush". The town's attitude might start to improve.
3) repairs must be done. A great deal of work goes into keeping a mine open and safe. Mine supports, mine cart systems, air pumps, water pumps, heavy lifting equipment, etc, must all be found/purchased/delivered and installed. Guards will need to be hired. JOBS start being created. People get excited. If there are no setbacks, the town should feel happier, excited, eager.
4) ancillary trades may begin to move in. The ore will need to be processed, so a refinery might start looking at the town. People who would deal with the tailings/scrap produced may arrive now or later.

5) as the mine kicks into full working order, there will be jobs, cash in people's pockets, the need for food/shelter/entertainment for the workers, etc... the town becomes a more vibrant, happier place.

 

[Gareman]

Speaking off the top of my head, but your specific question about the gold mine got me thinking....

Funny how I'm perfectly happy to "wing it" when they find a gold mine, but I require a sub-system to determine how it effects the city.

This is good stuff and I'll be sure to bookmark this.