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Message: <blockquote data-quote="timbannock" data-source="post: 9361146" data-attributes="member: 17913">Going in a completely different direction, if you want the "social stuff" but without the "bean-counting stuff" I highly recommend looking for a system that is very lightweight. Maybe not "as lightweight as possible" but perhaps very close. The reason is that the impact these sorts of things have on the game that aren't boring/bean-counting are mostly social. Sure, they can be a money sink and an interior-design mini-game, but mostly, it's about having duties to people, making allegiances with people, and dealing with the fallout of things going wrong with people. (Substitute "factions" as needed for "people".)In that regard, I enjoyed a lot of the ideas in An Echo, Resounding, since it's lightweight but thorough. But ultimately, I've settled on an even lighter-weight mix of the faction and domain stuff from Errant, mixed with ideas from the fronts from Dungeon World, and the steading (settlement) rules also from Dungeon World. Errant gives you just enough meat, plus a boatload of procedures so it's very easy and clear to run, which I think most systems for this stuff fail at spectacularly. It has rules for running a domain, building institutions within a community, NPC-specific bonds and faction relationships, and carousing rules within a settlement. On top of that, it includes great mini-systems for rivals and scourges, which can be longer-lasting things to sprinkle in, which make a lot of sense for domain-level play. DW gives you slightly better-defined faction stuff in the form of Fronts (which work alongside Errant's procedures without a hitch), and the settlement stuff is dirt-simple but laser-focused on a community's Assets and Problems, which are the most game-friendly (and inspiring) stuff you need. With the the two of them, you really just need to track just a handful of traits or bullet points of info for each community or institution, and each faction, and the event die mechanic runs the rest for you.</blockquote>

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