Rulership in 3.x

[Betote]

Forked from: The Changing Game

What actual mechanical support do you get from the system in the core for gaining followers, building fortresses, ruling dominions or waging war?

I know there must be something out there. My players just acquired a fortress in our PFRPG campaign, and I'd like to throw at them some cool stuff about managing it and its surrounding areas, as well as some mass combat goodness which might be on its way to said fortress...

Where should I look? What's the 3.x equivalent to RC's Chapter 12?

 

[Merlin's Shadow]

You need to check out A Magical Medieval Society: Medieval Europe. It is a fantastic resource for castles and kingdoms. It doesn't have any rules for mass combat and I don't have any recommendations on that front. But, seriously, you need to get AMMS:ME. It is one of the best d20 books out there.

 

[S'mon]

I just use Mentzer's BECM systems in the Companion Set or Rules Cyclopedia. Nothing else approaches it.

That said, for a high crunch game focused on rulership & war there was Fields of Blood: The Book of War from Eden Studios. Lovely art & presentation, but I found the rules far far too complex and mechanistic.

 

[ruemere]

Black Company by Green Ronin contains rules on mass combat and managing armies.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[S'mon]

I just use Mentzer's BECM systems in the Companion Set or Rules Cyclopedia. Nothing else approaches it.

That said, for a high crunch game focused on rulership & war there was Fields of Blood: The Book of War from Eden Studios. Lovely art & presentation, but I found the rules far far too complex and mechanistic.

 

[Reynard]

WAR by AEG had mass combat rules in it, which I think were reprinted or OGL'd from another book. I never saw the WotC Stronghold Builder's Guidebook. DId it have rulership rules in it as well as castle building costs?

I agree that the Companion set Dominion and War Machine rules are elegant and awesome and can be used with very little modification for every edition. In fact, I have often considered running a PBeM called "Domains at War" using just those rules.

 

[Thanael]

The 3E conversion of Birthright might also be worth a look.

 

[aboyd]

One of the great losses of the 3.5-edition-wipeout is all the Grim Tales products. These include a PDF you could buy called "Mass Combat." What's cool is that it even came with an Excel spreadsheet to help automate the whole process. However, the spreadsheet wasn't really needed, because they managed to find a very clever way to handle mass combat: tally up the EL for each unit, and do EL rolls unit-against-unit.

It's so simple, and it uses the systems that D&D already has. I really like it.

Of course, the PDF has a lot more detail. It has a list of bonuses and penalties you can apply for use of fortifications, for having a player character leading your unit, etc. It has tactics for various goals such as, "Divide the Enemy's Forces" and "Siege."

But really, the basics of it come down to EL rolls. I don't recall off the top of my head, but I believe that the horrible-ness of a unit's loss would determine how much the unit's EL would be lowered. If a unit was reduced to an EL of 0 (or worse) then it is assumed that the unit is destroyed (by death or desertion).

 

[GAAAHHH]

Classic Play - Book of Strongholds and Dynasties from Mongoose has stronghold construction, rulership and a mass combat system. I believe Empire from AEG does as well, but I haven't read through it.

 

[Ycore Rixle]

The 3.5 PHB II had an organization/affiliation system that lets you do this. My advice is to play down the "affiliation" part of the chapter and focus on the executive powers such as war, law, trade, etc.