Altalazar
First Post
I was curious how many campaigns have dealt with the concept of nation building done by the PCs.
I'm talking about where new castles and even towns and cities are founded and ruled by PCs, presumably after they have achieved some level of power and wealth.
They could be taking over existing areas or they could be carving new realms out of the wilderness. The wilderness method was what was described in the original (1st Edition) AD&D books - that initially caught my imagination - clearing out an area of monsters, then laying the foundation for a stronghold and attracting followers. I remember rolling them up for various PCs back in the 1E days. That was always fun. Especially for fighters, who got a lot of them.
There also seems to be two different ways this could come about - either the DM builds the campaign around activities involved with nation building, or the players decide to do it on their own and the DM accomodates it, perhaps building some adventures along the way.
I ended up going the latter path, building a large castle after clearing out an area in the rough mountains, and founding a city. Eventually I had three significant cities and many small settlements in the realm, along with many castles, as the followers and cohorts (so-to-speak) of the original characters also got castles of their own. I ended up building, in-game, an entire new nation, with trade, taxes, and towns. Other PCs ended up settling in the main city and it led to other adventures later on. Since I designed the castle and wrote it up, there even was an attack against the castle (by certain theives) which was "DMd" by someone else, using the plans (I wasn't involved - except to react to things as I was "alerted" to what was going on). That was fun and interesting.
So I wonder, how much has this aspect of character development happened in your games? Have you built entire nations? Was it DM or Player motivated? Have you gone on to adventure in those newly settled lands?
As I asked in another thread about starting at the "dawn" of "advanced (i.e. D&D standard) magic and technology - I ask here - where you have done nation building, at what point in time was it? The dawn of the world? Or just some new space carved out of the wilderness in an otherwise old (typical) world? Have you done it in established settings, like FR, or does this really only lend itself to home-brew, where there is less likelihood of a "conflict" with what is published?
Personally, while I can have plenty of fun with various characters totally uninterested in such things, I have really enjoyed nation building like that. DMing and creating a world can satisfy those urges, but there one has total control - and there is something satisfying about having to "earn" it by building a nation through playing a character in someone else's world.
I'm talking about where new castles and even towns and cities are founded and ruled by PCs, presumably after they have achieved some level of power and wealth.
They could be taking over existing areas or they could be carving new realms out of the wilderness. The wilderness method was what was described in the original (1st Edition) AD&D books - that initially caught my imagination - clearing out an area of monsters, then laying the foundation for a stronghold and attracting followers. I remember rolling them up for various PCs back in the 1E days. That was always fun. Especially for fighters, who got a lot of them.
There also seems to be two different ways this could come about - either the DM builds the campaign around activities involved with nation building, or the players decide to do it on their own and the DM accomodates it, perhaps building some adventures along the way.
I ended up going the latter path, building a large castle after clearing out an area in the rough mountains, and founding a city. Eventually I had three significant cities and many small settlements in the realm, along with many castles, as the followers and cohorts (so-to-speak) of the original characters also got castles of their own. I ended up building, in-game, an entire new nation, with trade, taxes, and towns. Other PCs ended up settling in the main city and it led to other adventures later on. Since I designed the castle and wrote it up, there even was an attack against the castle (by certain theives) which was "DMd" by someone else, using the plans (I wasn't involved - except to react to things as I was "alerted" to what was going on). That was fun and interesting.
So I wonder, how much has this aspect of character development happened in your games? Have you built entire nations? Was it DM or Player motivated? Have you gone on to adventure in those newly settled lands?
As I asked in another thread about starting at the "dawn" of "advanced (i.e. D&D standard) magic and technology - I ask here - where you have done nation building, at what point in time was it? The dawn of the world? Or just some new space carved out of the wilderness in an otherwise old (typical) world? Have you done it in established settings, like FR, or does this really only lend itself to home-brew, where there is less likelihood of a "conflict" with what is published?
Personally, while I can have plenty of fun with various characters totally uninterested in such things, I have really enjoyed nation building like that. DMing and creating a world can satisfy those urges, but there one has total control - and there is something satisfying about having to "earn" it by building a nation through playing a character in someone else's world.
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