NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 9208945" data-attributes="member: 6796661">Hi, I used MCDM's Strongholds and Followers rules for the past few years for a 5e campaign that just wrapped up. I would argue that is not that crunchy.  The rules for building and maintaining strongholds and attracting and paying for followers hit the sweet spot of abstract mechanics for me. It was really easy to work in. There is some book-keeping in terms of income and expenses and I run another campaign with it, I might further abstract that. But I really like the the rules for creating and improving strongholds, stronghold abilities with an extended rest recharge, and simple rules for attracting followers and troops. The warfare rules in S&F, on the other hand, while very abstracted, and pretty light on crunch, were not my bag. I ran run session using those rules for an attack on the parties strongholds and it was boring. The second Kingdoms and Warfare book provides a more fleshed out warfare system, with a lot more crunch. But I've never tried to run it because I've concluded that I really don't want any warfare rules in my D&D game. I don't like switching to the boxed warfare game in Dragonlance, I don't want to switch to miniature game either. I've concluded that, regardless how light or heavy the crunch, I just don't want to mix wargame chocolate into my RPG peanut butter. Instead, what I like to do is treat the war as a back drop with a doom clock or success counter mechanic.  I will give the players a bunch of mission options. Some or most will have to be completed in a certain amount of time. For each they complete, it moves the needle closer to the war's success. For each they fail, it moves the needle closer to failure. A mission could be: the enemy has acquired a Mattock of the Titans, infiltrate and steal it from them.  Deliver an urgent message or change of orders to a unit. Infiltrate/scout to obtain intelligence. Assassinate/kidnap an enemy leader. Make a diplomatic mission to convince a group to ally with you or to stay neutral. Psyops missions to reduce enemy morale.  Etc.  I find that this keeps the game focused on the group of players and their heroic deeds, tying together a number of mini-adventures to achieve a larger goal, which is the most fun way to play D&D for us.</blockquote>

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