Mass Combat & In-Game Politics

[mmadsen]

As far as politics are concerned, there is a sourcebook coming out. No idea hwo good it will be, though:

http://www.spacecrime.com/dynasties.htm

From the web site:

Dynasties and Demagogues is a 160-page toolkit for running and playing in political adventures in any D20 System campaign setting. Designed for both players and GMs, it provides:

• New spells like scryjack, which lets you take control of a scrying spell and show its caster only what you wish him to see, and absorb information, which transfers written information directly from a book to your mind.
• Magic items like the tiny surveillance device called the fly on the wall, and the seeking arrow that carries a message up to 6000 miles through the air to land at a named recipients feet.
  Feats like Commanding Voice, Inspire Frenzy, and Information Network.
• Prestige classes that allow characters to become professional bodyguards, conspiracy leaders, information mages, religious leaders, and even rise to a position of power like that of the true demagogue.
• Details on maneuvering within eight distinct political settings, from anarchy to empire, with examples of how fantasy elements like magic and demihuman races impact them.
• Easy-to-use rules for conducting debates and elections.
• Blueprints for political adventure and campaign construction, plus six sample adventures and two campaigns for GMs to customize.

After all, ruling the world can be even more rewarding than saving it.

 

[mattcolville]

Fields of Blood is designed to allow players to both lead nations and wage war. It covers a lot of stuff. I believe every spell in the PHB and every monster in the MM that reasonably could be fielded or used in battle, is converted to the Fields of Blood scale, and new Battle spells are introduced as well.

The rules for running realms should be pretty damn easy to use, too. A lot of thought and work was put into making it really easy for anyone to look at their campaign setting, and overlay the Fields of Blood terms and rules onto it.

I was the original writer/designer for the book, but I had to bow out for personal reasons. The guys at Eden got Lizard to finish the book, and he's done a great job. It should be out...by GenCon at the latest.

 

[Endur]

Chivalry and Sorcery

We used to use the rules for Kingdoms/politics and Mass Combat from Chivalry and Sorcery (the old red book circa 1980ish), even when we were playing AD&D.

I quite agree that the latest edition of D&D is all about hack + slash and has lost sight of the real mature topics that a high level campaign should be all about.

Would I rather spend my wealth on boots of speed, or how about purchasing an appointment as the Minister of the Exchequer, or how about some land, or a title?

Birthright was interesting, but of limited utility. Some of the action limits didn't make sense. And while I understood the idea of having a divine bloodright, Birthright didn't do a good job of explaining rulers who didn't have the bloodright. Also, they limited the power centers to mostly PC classes, which didn't make much sense. Wealth and Rulership is what the "Aristocrat" class is all about. Fame and Prestige is what the "Expert" class is all about. Some of the NPC archtypes should compete with the PC's for political power. Even a Commoner might have more political clout than a PC.

Yes, absolutely. I lament the fact that in more than 25 years of D&D, there hasn't been an adequate book on this type of subject matter. It was touched on in OD&D (some kingdom-management stuff), there was some Battlesystem mass combat rules (but was absolutely reliant on miniatures), and it took *how long* to get castle/building rules when The Castle Guide came out?

I applauded Birthright (and still do) because it adds political and kingdom-management aspects to the game, though I thought it did way too much hand-waiving and over-simplifying. But I still use that mashed together with some of the OD&D stuff for my kingdom-management system.
.

 

[Olive]

Re: Chivalry and Sorcery

I quite agree that the latest edition of D&D is all about hack + slash and has lost sight of the real mature topics that a high level campaign should be all about.

Would I rather spend my wealth on boots of speed, or how about purchasing an appointment as the Minister of the Exchequer, or how about some land, or a title?

so you're saying that the ability to make magic items has made the game about hack and slash? then i think your MD has some explaining to do. Cos its his fault if political power is less important than boots of striding and springing in his campaign, not the game systems.

 

[Kryndal Levik]

I'm more interested in mass combat rules (and methods to run such combat scenarios) than a supplement on politics. The main reason is that I see politics to be a matter of roleplaying- I don't know that many rules are truly needed. For mass combat, however- yes, more rules (and more effective rules) would be very helpful.

 

[Farland]

Thanks - it appears to be a conversion of the OD&D War Machine to D20.

Not exactly. It is loosely based on it, but most of it is quite original, as you will notice. Read the system.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'm more interested in mass combat rules (and methods to run such combat scenarios) than a supplement on politics. The main reason is that I see politics to be a matter of roleplaying- I don't know that many rules are truly needed. For mass combat, however- yes, more rules (and more effective rules) would be very helpful.

Personally, I think that war and politics go hand-in-hand, especially when you take into account the cost of waging a war or maintaining an army.

If such a product can provide both, it bridges the gap between role-playing (Machivellan style) and roll-playing ("Cry Havoc!" style). Of course, if you have a good political system in place then you need only one half of that product.