shadowthorn
First Post
I'm trying to create a turn-based system for managing the kingdoms & cities in my home-grown campaign. Ideally, I'd like a system that I can use with any D&D campaign setting, one that meshes well with 3E but isn't too complicated.
Specifically, I want to determine how much revenue a city takes in over a certain time period (one "turn"), and then decide how to allocate the revenue & resources of a city in construction, recruitment, training, expansion, etc. There is an existing system that I'm thinking of integrating with 3E to accomplish this, but I'd like some feedback from others to see if this makes sense.
The system is the one used in Master of Magic, which is an older, turn-based strategy computer game much like Master of Orion, but in a fantasy setting. You begin with a small colony, and then expand outward, all the while improving your colony and building troops. Each turn you have a number of gold pieces, food, natural resources, productions units, etc to spend on either constructing a new building in your town, developing new troops, creating a settler (to found a new colony), etc.
My purpose is to have a simple system for managing the realms in my campaign in order to keep the world dynamic and changing. The DMG states how much wealth will be in a town at any given time, but it doesn't explain what a town's revenue is, or how frequently that revenue is collected. While Dragon magazine #293 had an article addressing realms management, I found it a horrible system that didn't seem balanced with existing 3E rules at all.
Understand, the primary purpose of the campaign is for the PCs to run around and do what they please, killing dragons & bad guys & such. I don't want to turn this into a Birthright campaign setting - most of the realms management stuff will be unknown to PCs until they're quite high-level. I simply want to manage the towns & cities in my campaign in a logical way.
So, I want to know the following:
How long should one "turn" be? One month? Three months?
How do I determine the revenue a town/city takes in each "turn"?
How does the terrain type and number of square miles controlled affect a realms' population, revenue, required military units to defend it, etc?
How does the town/city allocate their revenue? How much should new buildings cost? Additional military units? How do the new buildings affect the economy (that is, what is their upkeep per turn, and what do they contribute to the economy?)
In Master of Magic, each colony must construct certain buildings in a particular order - much like a feat chain, there are prerequisites. The first buildings required are usually Smithy, Builder's Hall and Barracks. Once you have a Builder's Hall, you can construct a Granary, which contributes to your food production. Once you have a Smithy, you can build a Marketplace, which increases your gold revenue every turn. Once you have a Granary and a Marketplace, you can construct a Farmer's Market, which adds food and population every turn. Other things a city can build include: Library, Sage's Guild, Fighter's Guild, War College, University, Bank, Forester's Guild, Miner's Guild, City Walls, Shrine, Temple, Shipyard, Merchant's Guild, etc. Each building has an initial cost and an upkeep cost, and certain prerequisites.
I have the chart which lists the cost & requirements for each building, but I haven't a clue how to post it here for your review. I know I'll need to modify the costs/effects of each building, but I'm not quite sure how.
Basically, I'd like some feedback on this idea. What do you think? Any suggestions? Are there any pre-made resources out there that can accomplish this for me so I don't have to reinvent the wheel? Is Wizards planning some sort of supplement in three months that will handle all this for me? Am I totally whacked right out of my skull?
Specifically, I want to determine how much revenue a city takes in over a certain time period (one "turn"), and then decide how to allocate the revenue & resources of a city in construction, recruitment, training, expansion, etc. There is an existing system that I'm thinking of integrating with 3E to accomplish this, but I'd like some feedback from others to see if this makes sense.
The system is the one used in Master of Magic, which is an older, turn-based strategy computer game much like Master of Orion, but in a fantasy setting. You begin with a small colony, and then expand outward, all the while improving your colony and building troops. Each turn you have a number of gold pieces, food, natural resources, productions units, etc to spend on either constructing a new building in your town, developing new troops, creating a settler (to found a new colony), etc.
My purpose is to have a simple system for managing the realms in my campaign in order to keep the world dynamic and changing. The DMG states how much wealth will be in a town at any given time, but it doesn't explain what a town's revenue is, or how frequently that revenue is collected. While Dragon magazine #293 had an article addressing realms management, I found it a horrible system that didn't seem balanced with existing 3E rules at all.
Understand, the primary purpose of the campaign is for the PCs to run around and do what they please, killing dragons & bad guys & such. I don't want to turn this into a Birthright campaign setting - most of the realms management stuff will be unknown to PCs until they're quite high-level. I simply want to manage the towns & cities in my campaign in a logical way.
So, I want to know the following:
How long should one "turn" be? One month? Three months?
How do I determine the revenue a town/city takes in each "turn"?
How does the terrain type and number of square miles controlled affect a realms' population, revenue, required military units to defend it, etc?
How does the town/city allocate their revenue? How much should new buildings cost? Additional military units? How do the new buildings affect the economy (that is, what is their upkeep per turn, and what do they contribute to the economy?)
In Master of Magic, each colony must construct certain buildings in a particular order - much like a feat chain, there are prerequisites. The first buildings required are usually Smithy, Builder's Hall and Barracks. Once you have a Builder's Hall, you can construct a Granary, which contributes to your food production. Once you have a Smithy, you can build a Marketplace, which increases your gold revenue every turn. Once you have a Granary and a Marketplace, you can construct a Farmer's Market, which adds food and population every turn. Other things a city can build include: Library, Sage's Guild, Fighter's Guild, War College, University, Bank, Forester's Guild, Miner's Guild, City Walls, Shrine, Temple, Shipyard, Merchant's Guild, etc. Each building has an initial cost and an upkeep cost, and certain prerequisites.
I have the chart which lists the cost & requirements for each building, but I haven't a clue how to post it here for your review. I know I'll need to modify the costs/effects of each building, but I'm not quite sure how.
Basically, I'd like some feedback on this idea. What do you think? Any suggestions? Are there any pre-made resources out there that can accomplish this for me so I don't have to reinvent the wheel? Is Wizards planning some sort of supplement in three months that will handle all this for me? Am I totally whacked right out of my skull?
