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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 6878644" data-attributes="member: 6677017">This is really good to know. I had a breakthrough with that in connection with Gygax's inspiration coming from frontier America. Basically estates are going to have to make money somehow (unless the lord has other income) but they don't necessarily need tenant farmers. In a land where feudalism proper never took hold, and a powerful monarch didn't take kindly to people with swords claiming their neighbors land (and where agreements for protection weren't as necessary) the family farm as an economic baseline could be believable (I mean, it worked in frontier America). Where estates do exist, they can acquire hired-help from the inhabitants of the hamlets that exist at the edge of the estates. Or at least that's one way to do it.Now that I've got most of it figured out, I think I want to devolve things back to D&D setting assumptions, and spell those out as a basic political template. From there I can adjust my individual kingdoms and nations to my heart's content, making them more believable wherever it seems interesting to do so, but not needing to mess with them in order to keep the D&D lore feel and the feudal nobility feel with one of the templates.So I figured I'd write this all up, primarily for my own reference. But if I'm going to do it anyway, I might as well clean it up a bit and share it with others. So here goes try number whatever:D&D (un)FeudalismTo allow for easy creation of kingdoms and nations for the purposes of D&D, I've created these guidelines. Following them will help you replicate the types of political and civilization structures featured in D&D settings and lore. From that baseline you can then expand and customize to create your own interesting ways of structuring your kingdoms, nations and lands. Since it is easier to begin with D&D assumptions and add more authentic elements to taste than to go the other way, that is how we'll do it.First, I'll cover the baseline assumptions that hold sway in all of the suggested D&D political strutures. Then I'll present templates for three basic types of political structures for lands, including examples from published settings. In addition, I'll include suggestions for how to customize for your own needs. The Baseline: The basic unit of civilization in a D&D setting is generally an isolated settlement surrounded by wilderness. This settlement is surrounded by family-owned farms and/or prospers through other natural-resource-acquiring hired-workers. The settlement itself features several independent businesses catering to travelers, supported by coinage-based inter-settlement commerce.Each of the following civilization templates assumes that baseline and then adds to it.Wilderlands: This sort of intermittent civilization features widely-spaced politically autonomous settlement-states, with no standard form of leadership, but some means of mostly adequate defense.  For a discussion of these sorts of lands, see <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?480199-Feudalism-for-D-amp-D-Part-2" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?480199-Feudalism-for-D-amp-D-Part-2</a>.Examples: The North, the Western Heartlands, and the Dalelands, are examples of this type of setup in the Forgotten Realms.Customization: Sometimes settlement-states may form alliances or confederacies, like the Lord's Alliance in the Forgotten Realms.Unfeudalism: This sort of civilization features well-spaced settlements within a simply-structured nation. The political structure features usually untitled nobility and lacks nested domains, but is protected by a strong monarch with standing military forces. This structure might be as simple as a collection of settlements in a bordered region with a single ruler. Alternatively, there might be multiple domains within the nation, each existing at the same domain level. For instance, a kingdom might be divided into quadrants, with two regions each called baronies, one called a county, and one called a duchy, but none of them overlapping with or contained within any of the others. Sometimes normally dependent domains, such as baronies or counties, might exist as sovereign nations.Examples: Cormyr in the Forgotten Realms is an example of the simplest type of structure, while the various nations of Cerilia of the Birthright setting provide examples of the multiple domain structure, and the domains of Ulek and Urnst provide examples from the Greyhawk setting.Customization: Other elements you might  consider adding could include include serfdom under local lords, types of rulers other than monarchs (councils of nobles, elected rulers, knights with estates, etc), or increased emphasis on a barter-based economy.Pseudo-Feudalism: This sort of civilization features moderately-spaced settlements within a politically complex nation. A strong monarch with standing military forces rules over feudally nested domains governed directly by a hierarchically titled hereditary nobility with their own standing military forces, while lesser untitled nobles hold appointed positions. While nobility and others may maintain wealthy estates, they are worked by non-tenant hired help rather than serfs, and estates do not imply rulership. For inspiration for this sort of political structure, see  <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?476649-Feudalism-for-D-amp-D" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?476649-Feudalism-for-D-amp-D</a> especially page 2. Examples: There are few examples of this within published D&D settings, though they are present in many other works of fantasy.Customization: For a more authentic feudal experience, you can add manorialism, shift power away from the monarch, and reduce or eliminate standing armies. Other possibilities for customization might include making a prominent distinction between areas directly governed by the monarch through appointed officials (such as shires and cities) and the domains of the nobles, or the customization suggestions for Unfeudalism.</blockquote>

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