D&D 5E Building communities and ruling domains

[ExploderWizard]

As stated earlier up the thread, the domain section of the companion rulebook handles this stuff pretty well. It was designed to both slip into the background when needed and become the focal point for campaign activity when something threatened the domain of one or more players.

 

[pogre]

Domains and larger military actions have always fascinated me. I know that is not exactly what the Mouse is looking for - however, I have yet to DM for a group that enjoys delving into a "reign" style campaign. Something simple like the Mouse is requesting might not ask too much of my players and work a bit for me too. In other words, this is one loquacious BUMP.

 

[Zardnaar]

Easiest one I have found is the Castles and Crusades Castlekeepr Guide, its tied to level if you have a domain you get XYZ income.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/88525/Castles--Crusades-Castle-Keepers-Guide

For a bit more complicated try Adventurer Conquer King.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/99123/Adventurer-Conqueror-King-System

Rules Cyclopedia has been a while but I think ACKs is a bit more complicated.

And finally Pathfinders Ultimate Campaigns has a hex based build a city system in it. In effect its a mini game.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Honestly, looking at RC, even that was more complicated than I wanted. I want something that disappears into the background 95% of the time, and requires little bookkeeping.

I wound up just whipping up a page of modifiers for things that can raise or lower an Economic Might score and a Military Might score. It's a crap system, with no relation to realism or actual economics, and is basically just a vague guideline for eyeballing things and making ad hoc judgments, but it'll do for me.

 

[Zardnaar]

Ok C&C Castle Keepers Guide pg 195/196 land as treasure. Has a table for level and obligations.

 

[77IM]

Definitely look at Dungeon World because they have rules for Settlements (I forget what they call them) that are tag-based and very easy to follow. Basically, a place has a Size (village, town, small city, large city, etc.) and has Tags, which are things like: poor, rich, well-defended, has a peace treaty, overcrowded, etc. Then there are some pretty simple triggers for gaining/losing Tags and Size: like, when a village is "rich" and "overcrowded" then during the next season it upgrades into a town, but loses both those Tags. Or something like that: you should read it because I'm not quite doing it justice. Anyway, PC actions can influence Tags, and Tags can enable PC actions.

The other thing to consider is finding a good table of Kingdom Events. I find these way more interesting and enriching than playing accountant. I'm partial to this list, but there are others: https://roleplayingtips.com/campaigns/kingdom-events-4-seasons/

 

[Gwarok]

Try the Companion Set rules for basic DND, had really simple rules for domains and also mass combat. In fact I recently purchased another copy for just those rules.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I have rules for strongholds that I got from BOH5 reddit. They look usable, but I never tried them.
Here's the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwF09f1afXWlMlhlVUozZGY2RGM/view

If my players were interested in building communities and I wanted a simple system, I'd probably try a conversion of the Ark rules from Mutant: Year Zero. You only have 4 civilization scores to keep track of: Food stock, Culture, Warfare, Technology (could be used as magic). At the start of each session where the PC are in their settlement, they can gather an assembly to select the next project (building) that the village will work on. Each project needs a number of success of a specific skill; at the end of a day helping the project, a character roll for the skill. Each completed project give a bonus in a civilization score and allows for more complicated project to be developped.

 

[bmcdaniel]

Honestly, looking at RC, even that was more complicated than I wanted. I want something that disappears into the background 95% of the time, and requires little bookkeeping.

I wound up just whipping up a page of modifiers for things that can raise or lower an Economic Might score and a Military Might score. It's a crap system, with no relation to realism or actual economics, and is basically just a vague guideline for eyeballing things and making ad hoc judgments, but it'll do for me.

Mind sharing, even rough notes? I'm looking for something similar...
Bmm

Sent from my SM-G9550 using EN World mobile app

 

[Fanaelialae]

I like An Echo Resounding, which I plan on using for my next campaign. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/99063/An-Echo-Resounding-A-Sourcebook-for-Lordship-and-War?

It's an opt-in system, where the DM sets up the domains in the background, manages them between sessions, and the players can choose to engage with that system as much or as little as they please. It's made for Labyrinth Lord but I haven't found anything that would be incompatible with 5e.