D&D (2024) Dungeon Master's Guide Bastion System Lets You Build A Stronghold

The Dungeon Master's Guide's brand new Bastion System has been previewed in a new video from Wizards of the Coast.

Characters can acquire a bastion at 5th-level. Each week, the bastion takes a turn, with actions including crafting, recruiting, research, trade, and more.

A bastion also contains a number of special facilties, starting with two at 5th-level up to 6 at 17th-level. These facilities include things like armories, workshops, laboratories, stables, menageries, and more. In total there are nearly thirty such facilities to choose from.

 

[Distracted DM]

I'd like to introduce a base building system in my current game, the players are starting to ask about things like purchasing a house and so on. My last experience with anything like this was the Pathfinder 1e rules from Kingmaker, and boy, was that a PITA. So maybe something simple is in order. If anyone has suggestions for good rules, however, I'd like to hear them.

There are so many out there that it's worth googling and/or searching. BUT

Strongholds & Followers by MCDM provides interesting bonuses based on both class and building type. I use it all the time, though I use other mechanics for warfare.
Downtimes & Demesnes by Hack & Slash Publishing is well reviewed and was a worthwhile read.
Fortresses, Temples, & Strongholds by Warlock Homebrew is PWYW.
edit: Old School Essentials also has Strongholds rules available on their website!

 

[Micah Sweet]

The problem being that the people recruited for your bastion aren't real characters with stat blocks and hit points. Bastion conflicts are resolved with a few simple rolls which determine how many of your defenders live or die.

Them not being real NPCs is the first thing I'd change. Way too abstract otherwise.

 

[Hussar]

Some players might.

Others might lean into this stuff hard.

Not everything in play has to be done at the speed of light.

Again, IME, you get one or two players who might be cool with it and then three players who nope hard out of it.

Which means the rules get left behind because the group nopes out. Because that one player who might be interested isn’t going to be such a dick to the table as to become this massive time sink while everyone else has zero interest.

There’s a very good reason we haven’t seen these kinds of “base building “ rules in the core game since 2e. And even 2e largely rejected the 1e rules.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

There is no conflict because the player creates and plays all of the bastion characters. While these bastion characters lack a full character sheet, they are a simple form of player characters.

Except it breaks the assumption PCs control their character and DM controls the world. And it seems written to remove any possibility of roleplay opportunitties and replace them with mechanics. It breaks my heart that developers' response to accussation D&D is not a real role playing game but a gloriffied skirmish simulator was to implement design outright hostile to roleplay.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Them not being real NPCs is the first thing I'd change. Way too abstract otherwise.

I hate how immersion-breaking it is too. All the work to make living world and maintain the illusion of interacting with real characters shattered because there is now a video game bastion, with video game mechanics and video game hirelings who don't have personality and operate entierly by video game logic.

 

[Yaarel]

Except it breaks the assumption PCs control their character and DM controls the world. And it seems written to remove any possibility of roleplay opportunitties and replace them with mechanics. It breaks my heart that developers' response to accussation D&D is not a real role playing game but a gloriffied skirmish simulator was to implement design outright hostile to roleplay.

Bastion characters ARE player characters.

These player characters for the bastion are simpler, more like a statblock, because they dont need to be complex. But a player can − and I personally will − occasionally translate one of these bastion characters to a full character sheet for a new adventurer character.

 

[Hussar]

Except it breaks the assumption PCs control their character and DM controls the world. And it seems written to remove any possibility of roleplay opportunitties and replace them with mechanics. It breaks my heart that developers' response to accussation D&D is not a real role playing game but a gloriffied skirmish simulator was to implement design outright hostile to roleplay.

2006 called. The would like their edition warring back.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Bastion characters ARE player characters.

These player characters for the bastion are simpler, more like a statblock, because they dont need to be complex. But a player can − and I personally will − occasionally translate one of these bastion characters to a full character sheet for a new adventurer character.

Then they are video game minions for PCs to control, which breaks the immersion of being characters in a living-breating world. Your character is a person you roleplay, bastion characters hsould be NPCs and help maintian the illusion of playing in a world populated by people.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

2006 called. The would like their edition warring back.

Say your argument without resorting to stupid buzzwords.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Hasbro ceo made it clear they want to implement ai, the ai dms was promised (more like threatened) to be implemente on dndbeyond and wotc said they hate the fact majority of their buyers are dms and not regular players. Writing is on the wall here.

No, they are not planning AI DM's. Plus, they have an entire article devoted to how the new DMG is going to teach people to GM. Kind of a waste of space if they have made it perfectly clear their intent is to abolish the practice of DMing (somehow) and replace all DMs with robots.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1829-how-the-2024-dungeon-masters-guide-makes-it-easier