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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kigmatzomat" data-source="post: 2090987" data-attributes="member: 9254">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.</blockquote>

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