Mistwell
Crusty Old Meatwad (he/him)
A user named Delight has done extensive playtesting and a review of every element of the Bastion system, posted a Google Doc about it open for others to see, and it includes at the bottom how they filled out the survey on the Bastion portion of these playtest rules.
It's good. It's so good I am linking it here and copying some of it in part below. The Bastion system is a bit dense to really see where the good and bad parts might be so if people are looking for advice to go off for their survey, this is a good place to start.
Delight’s Guide to Real Estate
I am also not confident that a 6 to 8 bastion turn per level recommendation is enough given how few bastion points a character gets over their career. Honestly, I'm not even sure having a recommendation at all makes sense since, having run 6 to 8 turns in succession to playtest, I didn't even have enough points to afford a Rare item in my level 10 simulation.
All that said, Bastion Points as a resource are scarce but also do not have enough things to be spent on. Everything you use BP for is only once per level and the amount you get means you can get 2 or 3 legendary items…if you save up from level 5 and assuming you use the recommended 6-8 bastion turns per level. Not saying I need a legendary every level, but that estimate is assuming no maintenance occurs
The other events are fine and flavorful, but the attack event really makes this mechanic miss the mark for me. Perhaps each turn without an attack happening increases the range of numbers that could trigger an attack? So being away for 1 week is just 10, being away for 2 is 9-10, 3 is 8-10, etc. This would incentivize the barracks as a facility made for keeping your buildings safe in maintenance while you are away for a prolonged period of time.
More events would be cool too, but these feel like more than enough as a starting point.
The Storehouse is the objectively best gold generator in the entire system if you have the gold to invest into it, which most adventurers likely will (I did the math)
It's good. It's so good I am linking it here and copying some of it in part below. The Bastion system is a bit dense to really see where the good and bad parts might be so if people are looking for advice to go off for their survey, this is a good place to start.
Delight’s Guide to Real Estate
The Survey
Bastions Overall - Satisfied
I copy-pasted The System’s overall thoughts.Gaining a Bastion - Very Satisfied
Level 5 is exactly where to put mechanical power for the bastion system. This is a nitpick, but if you want to let players have bases right at level 1, let them do so but purely with basic facilities and have no bastion turns occur until level 5. That way players who want to can start with a base but the mechanical impact is virtually unchanged.Bastion Turns - Dissatisfied
The concept OF a bastion turn is fine. However, not all bastion turns take a week in the rules as you wrote them (specifically mentioning 'slowing the pace of the adventure'). Having bastion turns be flexible but then making the timing of effects NOT be relative to bastion turns is a huge miss in my opinion. Facility actions should take 1, 2, or 3 bastion turns to resolve rather than having facilities take 7 days, 14 days, or 21 days as it is written now. This also gives the GM more control over the pacing of the campaign as a whole, which is a good thing.I am also not confident that a 6 to 8 bastion turn per level recommendation is enough given how few bastion points a character gets over their career. Honestly, I'm not even sure having a recommendation at all makes sense since, having run 6 to 8 turns in succession to playtest, I didn't even have enough points to afford a Rare item in my level 10 simulation.
Bastion Points - Satisfied
I really like the concept of Bastion Points. They are an abstract resource which is healthier for the game than tying things directly to gold. They also feel almost like 'Influence Points' in a way given the unique ways you can spend them. I feel like this potential can be leaned into further to make a point system that is truly special.All that said, Bastion Points as a resource are scarce but also do not have enough things to be spent on. Everything you use BP for is only once per level and the amount you get means you can get 2 or 3 legendary items…if you save up from level 5 and assuming you use the recommended 6-8 bastion turns per level. Not saying I need a legendary every level, but that estimate is assuming no maintenance occurs
Accumulating Bastion Points - Dissatisfied
I feel like tying the BP gain to the facility’s prerequisite level (which is what you did, don’t lie) is a bad idea. It would honestly be better if you just said “roll a die for each special facility you command this turn. The die type scales with your player level.”Acquiring Magic Items - Very Dissatisfied
The Magic items can only be gained on level up, rather than once per level. The difference between those is that if I make it to level 9 with 249 BP, I can’t get a rare item till I hit level 10. This to me feels a little unfair. If it was worded to let us spend it once per level instead, I could accrue that extra point and get my rare item.Fall of a Bastion - Satisfied
The way this is worded is currently unclear. As it says, “If a character issues no orders to their Bastion for a number of consecutive Bastion turns equal to the character’s level (typically because the character is dead or otherwise out of commission), the hirelings abandon the Bastion and the site is eventually looted”. The problem with this wording is that it is unclear how this works specifically with the Maintain order: does a player’s bastion count as being ‘ordered’ when a Maintain order is used? Can a dead player use the Maintain order since they are technically outside their bastion? I assume the intent is that the PC needs to be alive to have the Maintain order happen and that Maintain counts as the character ordering the facility. In that case, this works perfectly fine: Don’t be dead for a number of weeks equal to your level. However, if Maintain orders count towards your total consecutive turns away, then this does have a slight issue at lower levels that you are joined at the hip to your base. Traveling to another country to save the world is out of the question or else your base will be destroyed. This is a minor inconvenience because by level 9 you can get home in literally 1 minute thanks to teleportation circle, but still a problem nonetheless.Bastion Events - Dissatisfied
Overall the effects here are nifty, but only having a 5% chance of an Attack is really bad design since you made multiple facilities around the concept of Defenders but they are so rarely actually going to come into use. I do think only skipping the turn of two facilities is fine, but why can my Defenders not prevent my base from being damaged entirely? A minimum of 1 facility will be disabled for a turn even if I roll straight 6s on all my dice.The other events are fine and flavorful, but the attack event really makes this mechanic miss the mark for me. Perhaps each turn without an attack happening increases the range of numbers that could trigger an attack? So being away for 1 week is just 10, being away for 2 is 9-10, 3 is 8-10, etc. This would incentivize the barracks as a facility made for keeping your buildings safe in maintenance while you are away for a prolonged period of time.
More events would be cool too, but these feel like more than enough as a starting point.
Special Facilities - Varies
I copy pasted all of the Facilities thoughts but added this sentence to the end of the level 5 section:The Storehouse is the objectively best gold generator in the entire system if you have the gold to invest into it, which most adventurers likely will (I did the math)
