Basic D&D Companion Set

[phindar]

I am thinking about running a short campaign that focuses on the PC's as they carve out and tame their lands from the wilderness. The module I am looking at is CM-1 "Test of the Warlords", and most of the stuff that deals with managing a keep and the like refers to the rules in the Companion Set. I'll be updating this to a later edition, but I'm wondering if the rules for maintaining lands from the Companion Set would be useful, or if I should look elsewhere for campaign resources that deal with that sort of thing.

Pdfs of the Companion Set are inexpensive, and I'm looking for a set of rules with a satisfying level of crunch. How the PC's gather, maintain, use and trade the resources of their lands would hopefully be a big part of the game, particularly downtime. (My group also plays a lot of Settlers of Catan, so something like that with a suitable increase in detail and granularity would be ideal.)

Does anyone have any experience with the Companion Set, and if so, how detailed and playable are the rules pertaining to the establishment and management of a dominion?

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I am thinking about running a short campaign that focuses on the PC's as they carve out and tame their lands from the wilderness. The module I am looking at is CM-1 "Test of the Warlords", and most of the stuff that deals with managing a keep and the like refers to the rules in the Companion Set. I'll be updating this to a later edition, but I'm wondering if the rules for maintaining lands from the Companion Set would be useful, or if I should look elsewhere for campaign resources that deal with that sort of thing.

Pdfs of the Companion Set are inexpensive, and I'm looking for a set of rules with a satisfying level of crunch. How the PC's gather, maintain, use and trade the resources of their lands would hopefully be a big part of the game, particularly downtime. (My group also plays a lot of Settlers of Catan, so something like that with a suitable increase in detail and granularity would be ideal.)

Does anyone have any experience with the Companion Set, and if so, how detailed and playable are the rules pertaining to the establishment and management of a dominion?

I would recommend you post this over at the Mystara forums at the Piazza.

There have been some Mystara fans who are very knowledgeable in the Dominion/War Machine rules in the Companion set. Some Mystara fans have adapted the Birthright rules to the Known World as well.

 

[Remathilis]

the D&D Rules Cyclopedia reprinted and (I think) edited the rules from Basic, Expert, Companion and Master, so the dominion rules are in there.

 

[johnsemlak]

The rules for dominions in the D&D Companion set (also in the Rules Cyclopedia) were only 7 pages long, so don't expect too much depth. In my and other people's opinion however, (I think), these rules are among the best ever written for D&D on this subject.

There have been a few attempts to write dominion rules for 3e, if you want. Most products dealing with this subject have mixed reviews (at least in how they handle Dominion Management). They include AEG's Empire, Mongoose's Strongholds and Dynasties, Fields of Blood from Eden Studios, and A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe. All of these books are probably hard to find in print now but they're available in PDF probably. There's an excellent thread discussing these products here.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

The rules for dominions in the D&D Companion set (also in the Rules Cyclopedia) were only 7 pages long, so don't expect too much depth. In my and other people's opinion however, (I think), these rules are among the best ever written for D&D on this subject.

Indeed, there was a fellow who did a review/comparison in the EN World forums of many dominion systems for 3e. It was a few years back during the early years of 3e when there there handfuls of 3PPs who were coming out with dominion systems for 3e. The reviewer also included the dominion/mass combat rules from BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia. As I recall, BECMI had a good showing.