How to handle land holding PCs?

[Arnwyn]

Has anyone ran a game where the PCs are land holders? I'm trying to figure out how I should handle this. It seems to me there are three very important considerations.

1) How much land does a holding actually comprise?
2) How much income does it generate?
3) How much man power is available (mounted warriors/militia/farmers and craftsmen)

So, has anyone dealt with something like this in their game? Or are there any game books around with rules to steal?

Yep. You have a bunch of options:

- Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe (Expeditious Retreat Press) - very good
- Fields of Blood (Eden) - my favorite [but I've modified it and add from the other sources listed here as well]
- Strongholds and Dynasties (Mongoose) - not great, but stealable ideas

These all cover your questions to varying degrees of detail. [I love this kind of stuff, and so do my players. They're detail-oriented in this case.]

 

[Tonguez]

3) How much man power is available (mounted warriors/militia/farmers and craftsmen)
Personally I'd give the PC a virtual Leadership feat and use the follower figures as the basic information on how many 'productive workers' the feifdom includes. I'd then go and treat the 'Holding' as an NPC with the ability to acquire Skills and Feats (maybe even give it an NPC class depending on the PC ie a Rogue might get an Expert Holding (Thieves Guild), a Fighter might get a Warrior Holding (Fortress) and a Cleric miht get an Adept Holding (Temple)

2) How much income does it generate?
I'd then have the leading cohort and/or PC do a profession (farmer) check + 1 (aid) per follower to see what they generate per 'season'

I'd allow the same thing for other skill uses eg the Rogue using his Spy Network to Gather Information in the area, or using the Craft:Shipwright skill to see if the followers can build a ship

1) How much land does a holding actually comprise?
This I think is the least important question - I'd personally just answer 'you have enough land to support yourself and your followers' - of course Medieval Demographics Made Easy will give you a detailed answer

 

[Treebore]

Ooh! That's good, thanks!


I remember that book now. It got some great reviews, I wonder if I can find it now.

Yes, they just reprinted it a couple of months ago. Check out their website.

 

[A2Z]

Yep. You have a bunch of options:

- Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe (Expeditious Retreat Press) - very good
- Fields of Blood (Eden) - my favorite [but I've modified it and add from the other sources listed here as well]
- Strongholds and Dynasties (Mongoose) - not great, but stealable ideas

These all cover your questions to varying degrees of detail. [I love this kind of stuff, and so do my players. They're detail-oriented in this case.]

Yes, they just reprinted it a couple of months ago. Check out their website.

I'm kicking myself now because when both Magical Medieval Society & Fields of Blood came out I was interested in them but never got around to buying them.

Is Fields of Blood still available too?