Building a town from adventuring

[Phazeal]

My group is going to start an FR game in the near future (is FR being released 3.5 soon or something????) and myself and another player are keen to head out (when we are able) and try to find a contested keep or one in the bad-ahrs area of wherever, and try to claim it for our own.

Irrespective of how we get hold of some sort of building/complex, I am keen to try (given it's something I've ALWAYS wanted to do in D&D but never actually done) to create a community around it. Farmers, a village/town, levy taxes and try to nurture its inhabitants so that the peasants have a chance to rise above their station through education, etc (god that sounds sappy doesnt it).

I'm wondering if anyone else has actually had a character who has done this? and how did they go about it?

I don't mean spending our sessions drawing up a budget for town improvements or anything. Just using some of the earnings of our adventuring and the (slight) taxes levied to build a better life for the peasants under my care.

Anyone ever been able to do this sort of thing? If so, how did you go about it and how did the DM handle it with respect to immigration of others, and all the 'other' stuff?

Really keen to try it out and would appreciate another's experiences with it.

Phaz

 

[Runesong42]

It's almost always the goal of any of my PC's to build a stronghold, gain a following and harvest a community.

If you go all the way back to the D&D Cyclopedia (I'm talking the first hardcovere compilation of the Basic-Expert OED&D rules), there was a whole set of rules on how to create strongholds, how many peasants create how much revenue, marketable goods in the area, and so forth.

Provided your DM can't find one of those *G*, I try to find reasons why people would want to live in the area and build appropriately. If you can find the old Castle Guide (from AD&D2E), there are good set-ups for how much buildings cost, how long to build them, and even ideas on what to do while they're being built (adventure-wise).

But I realize I'm not answering your question, so I'll try again. *LOL*

Back to the 'why', the most common reasons for migration of peasants is a) lack of living space b) lack of employment c) lack of available resources in their area d) Lack of protection versus monsters/slaving races/humanoids e) trying to flee tyrannical or demanding rulers. This in mind, work with your DM to find reasons why people would want to populate your town-to-be. A good start would be followers/henchmen and their families. The Leadership feat would be ideal for this if your DM allows it, or try and convinve him to use some of the older henchmen rules (like in D&D1E, where fighters got 20-200 men-at-arms at 'name level' and whatnot).

The very short form of advice - "If you build it, they will come."

 

[Phazeal]

Thanks Runesong for your input.

Did you ever get down into details with respect to your settlement? I'm keen (if earnings permit) to actually build an evnironment that will allow those within, over a fair period, to pervade the entire landscape with their 'education' and 'upbringing' and the opportunities that go with that.

I've always been involved with power-gaming in my group and this time we are going to do the 3d6 1's included-put 'em where you like method (including the caveats for REALLY bad rolling), and I'm thinking this could be the perfect opportunity to begin to appreciate other aspects of our characters, other than just being tougher than the monsters we face.

Given that the settlement would probably start from scratch, I'd even be keen to generate an 'electoral roll' of sorts, knowing every single person in the area by name (at least, giving them one), and go from there. Building a bridge here, a school there, leasing draft horses to the farmers (to minimise their own expenses), etc. The whole kit and kaboodle.

Thoughts?

Phaz

 

[Steverooo]

I'm wondering if anyone else has actually had a character who has done this? and how did they go about it?

...

Anyone ever been able to do this sort of thing? If so, how did you go about it and how did the DM handle it with respect to immigration of others, and all the 'other' stuff?

Really keen to try it out and would appreciate another's experiences with it.

I had some PCs do this, under 1e. The 1e DMG had some rules for it, as well.

How did they go about it? Found some wild lands, unclaimed by others, went in with the adventuring party and some men-at-arms and pacified it. Used magic and a Lyre of Building to set up a castle, had the men-at-arms dig a moat and start construction of a town.

Now our PCs were twenty-somethingth level, so money was no problem (we'd been saving for a long time), so we imported some Dwarven craftsmen to build walls, etc., set up some churches and temples, etc. Peasants we didn't worry about. They came as they heard about the "new kingdom". We never recruited them.

We did recruit Craftsmen, and gave them free land in return for their services for a fixed term (five years? Been too long ago to recall!) Since The Dread Dormammu had Glassteel, we had quite a market in glassblowing, and even used glass for plate armor!

We set up schools, too, and had a public library (the MU needed a place to store all his books!) We had some problems with Orcs, for a while, but the 33rd level Ranger (+33 HP damage/strike) killed off most of the adult population, and subjugated the rest. After that, a "special" school was set up for their young, and in a few years, we had the only kingdom with LG Orcs (many of whom were fine glassblowers)!

The Government was a council of the PCs, with mandated positions (one N Druid, one "Scout" (Rogue), one Fighter/Paladin/Ranger, one MU, one good Cleric, etc.), for future generations. IIRC, we limited taxes (by the constitutional charter) to 10%, maximum (peasants tend to revolt when the tax rate rises above 50%, so this was considered quite generous).

The GM told us what happened, and we told her how we planned to do things, and how we responded to things that happened. She threw the usual at us; invasions of fell creatures, orcs, someone else claiming to own the land that we had pacified, etc. Later, after all of that was dealt with, we had some problems with Druids (since we had "turned the land from its natural state"), and, eventually, with politics (the merchants, people wanting a "City Council", etc.) By the time our PCs were 33rd level, we were ready to give it up... Being a Politician is pretty boring! I'd rather be an adventurer!

Anyway, the best advice that I can offer you is to:

1) Save all the money that you think you'll need, and then some.
2) Hire and equip troops.
3) Pacify the land.
4) Defend the land (wall-building, etc.)
5) Hire craftsmen to produce goods, paying them with parcels of pacified land.
6) Tax them 10%.
7) Hire farmers with the promise of free land, in return for 50% of the harvest.
8) Use the taxes to build the schools and grain mills, and whatever else you need.
9) Keep the government tightly under your own control. City Councils, Mayors, etc., are generally more trouble than they're worth.

 

[azmodean]

I would suggest "A Magical Mideval Society: Western Europe" from Expeditious retreat press. You should be able to find it fairly quickly on google. It even has a demo chapter detailing random generation of a town. Also it has... the 1d10,000 chart.

There was another, highly streamlined system I ran across a while back, and I'm really upset at myself that I've lost track of it. I'll post here again if I can find it.

 

[Ghostwind]

You can also look at these books for ideas and inspiration:

-Strongholds & Dynasties (Mongoose)
-Fields of Blood (Eden)
-Empire (AEG)
-Stronghold Builders Guide (Wotc)

 

[kigmatzomat]

My party's doing some town building right now. They have about 3,000 acres split between about 10 PCs, ex-PCs, Cohorts, etc.

I've heavily relied upon MMS:WE and recommend it whole heartedly. It's easy to read and full of not only historical information but well thought out extrapolations of historical roles & tasks in a d&d-type setting. It's not just a town-management system, which it includes, or an effective set of rules for constructed, though it is that too, but its also filled with plot hooks and potential storylines.

My group was deeded some uncultivated land by a duke and are building from ground up. It's going to take 2 years of work to build initial shelters and clear land before they have anything beyond a subsistence crop. They are using various enticements to get tenants varying from legal shanghaing (the halfling throws keggers and gets people to sign the dotted line) to various kinds of bribery (the paladin will provide tools & gear, the cleric healing, etc).
The PCs are too high a level to really be concerned with their land in a visceral sense; it's an investment. Additionally, their presence opens up their tenants to too much risk right now given their enemies. Its easier to keep moving and let their stewards handle things.

Simcity d20 may not get the player buy-in you expect. Truth be told, GMs have more fun with town building than most players do. It's world-building on a small scale and virtually every GM enjoys that to some degree. If my players are representative of most groups then only one in four will really enjoy it, about half will think it's okay every so often and one in four will be bored out of their skulls.

If you want a totally-manor based campaign, I'd suggest a 2-layer game. Tell them you want to run a one-shot first and then will begin a new campaign. Have the players make a few mid- to high-level PCs for a one-shot and tell them it's a group of heroes who are proving themselves worthy of being given a title and lands. Pick up an interesting pre-packaged module or a decent issue of Dungeon. When they've finished give them their land and do a bit of town building being sure to identify some key personalities, like stewards, seneschals and the like.

Then roll the clock forward a decade or three and have their new characters' grow up at the manors, children of those trusted assistants rather than the PCs. Then you can have all the fun low level encounters (rabid dogs, boar hunting, poachers, etc). Random sessions will be the retired-PCs making plans for the property and setting the backdrop for the next story arc. It'll also create an interesting dynamic as Player A's retired character is Player B's new character's lord and possibly vice versa. It should mitigate favoritism while still allowing the rather generous landowners to make occassional gifts to the characters without damaging game balance.