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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GameDaddy" data-source="post: 7693213" data-attributes="member: 80711">Not here it hasn't. Economics makes it possible to run Fiefs, Settlements, Kingdoms, and Empires. This has been an integral part of many of the campaigns that I have hosted as a GM, that goes all the way back to 1978. Judges Guild worked out some basic Barony rules for settlers arriving at your stronghold, seeking charters, business grants, and land grants. There was a base figure for annual taxation collection based on civilization level times the total population. These funds were then used to hire soldiers and police, and other government officials, and also reinvested with the settlers to generate additional incomes.The players have to feed and house their workers and fighters directly, but can use the taxes as they see fit in emergencies as they are the Barons, after all. Too much taxation and the peasants rebel sabotaging tax collection efforts and killing guards, police, and government officials. Too little taxation and the community stagnates, with settlers relocating for better opportunities. Some players used magic to help their development, some don't. Made the game more interesting too... What about that next great quest or adventure? Have to put it off, because just about now, your finance minister just came to you and told you that a neighboring Warlord had just raided the Western Castle, burned the settlement there, and killed about a third of your troops. The rest of your troops are currently holed up there under siege and are just hanging on, and by-the-way, there's a pack of Werewolves on the North Frontier that have attacked the farms there... But enough of this... Back to the main thread...Tomb of Horrors totally sucked. I played in it twice literally the day it was released, but never ran it as a GM. As a group we never played it again after that one evening too, so as far as an adventure module goes because of it's limited use, It was one of the most expensive we ever bought. Contrast this to B1 Into the Unknown, or B4 Lost City, Frontier Forts of Kelnore, or Hommlet, and even Forge of Fury which we used over, and over, and over again with slight variations of course... I still use these sandbox modules today, with brand new players, and they really enjoy it! You will never see me run Tomb of Horrors though, and here is why;Tomb of Horrors is exactly what we never wanted in an adventure, It's just a death railroad, a meat grinder designed to tear up high level characters, It's the Kobayashi Maru of D&D where you literally have to cheat to win. It was the first of what is now known as misery tourism games, one where there is no positive outcome. It changed D&D made it much more about winning and losing, and much less about just playing the game. I could see it being useful at a convention game where players could get bragging rights about having survived the longest, in a Survivor type scenario, but for campaign play... pretty much useless, unless of course, you are a GM looking to kill off high level characters. This has no other purpose or use beyond that.This pretty much ensured that TSR never got money for adventure modules or dungeons from me, as I judged them partly based on what they had created with Tomb of Horrors. This was just one other thing that held me back from adopting 1e AD&D as the standard, and what kept me out of the mainstream, where I continued to play and run 0D&D or B/X games. This is part of the reason I still prefer creating homebrew game material... because I can write so much better Adventures, and create much better Dungeons than this pile-o-steaming you know what...</blockquote>

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