RPGs with Bespoke Colony-Building Rules

[Eyes of Nine]

Are you looking for solo games? Are you mostly interested in SF exploration games or post-apocalyptic games or fantasy games or... other?

 

[Aldarc]

The past 5 years, I've been diving deep into survival colony builder video games. RimWorld, Dwarf Fortress, Oxygen Not Included, Norland, Stranded: Alien Dawn, Clanfolk all have 50+ hours of play (30x that for RW lol), so I obviously like this kind of game.

The first game that came to mind was Stonetop, which has already been mentioned. It's not a colony, but it is about helping your small village community survive and thrive in a fantasy Iron Age world. There are rules for upgrading your village and tracking changes in its size, population, prosperity, and improvements.

There is also Mountain Home, which is a Forged in the Dark game. It's inspired by Dwarf Fortress. The players are "founders" of a new dwarven colony, with play being about trying to secure and upgrade your new settlement.

There is also Stoneburner, which is about dwarves building a colony on an asteroid in space while dealing with interstellar demons. It's basically Deep Rock Galactic, Dwarf Fortress, and DOOM with a touch of the Mines of Moria in space. But it also includes building up your home. I don't have it on hand, but it's either a solo game or a game with solo rules. The system, as I recall, is sort of a hybrid Forged in the Dark/Into the Odd sort of game.

 

[jdrakeh]

I think GURPS Alpha Centauri has some of this but, to be honest, I haven't looked at it since around 2003-04.

 

[aramis erak]

The past 5 years, I've been diving deep into survival colony builder video games. RimWorld, Dwarf Fortress, Oxygen Not Included, Norland, Stranded: Alien Dawn, Clanfolk all have 50+ hours of play (30x that for RW lol), so I obviously like this kind of game.

But, I've never really thought about running TTRPG like this. Probably because I haven't discovered a game that does this well out of the box. I know I could try to squeeze the round block of <insert TTRPG here> into the square hole I'm looking at here, but are there any games that do this well? I'm aware that Modiphius' Fallout kind of does this (though I'm not certain to what extent). Any other suggestions?

Traveller: The New Era has World Tamer's Handbook which is specifically for doing colonies.
Traveller: T4 has Pocket Empires, which can be stretched to doing so.

Mutant Year Zero has the PCs establish a surface dwelling once they leave their arc.

Fallout has a whole sourcebook for settlers and running/growing settlements: Settler's Guide.

Of those, I've only used TNE's in play.

Oh, interesting. I got MYZ in a humble bundle and haven't had a chance to look at it yet.

It's quite interesting as a read. I don't know if I could run it well, but it's a sandboxy approach.

 

[dragoner]

I have TNE World Tamer's Handbook, it looks good, though haven't read it in a while.

 

[Bae'zel]

That previous Conan 2d20 RPG had a supplement based on the MMO Conan video game. Had crafting + settlement building rules (and upgrades). The only book I actually wanted to buy a physical copy of from that system, to be honest.

 

[Agamon]

The first game that came to mind was Stonetop, which has already been mentioned. It's not a colony, but it is about helping your small village community survive and thrive in a fantasy Iron Age world. There are rules for upgrading your village and tracking changes in its size, population, prosperity, and improvements.

There is also Mountain Home, which is a Forged in the Dark game. It's inspired by Dwarf Fortress. The players are "founders" of a new dwarven colony, with play being about trying to secure and upgrade your new settlement.

There is also Stoneburner, which is about dwarves building a colony on an asteroid in space while dealing with interstellar demons. It's basically Deep Rock Galactic, Dwarf Fortress, and DOOM with a touch of the Mines of Moria in space. But it also includes building up your home. I don't have it on hand, but it's either a solo game or a game with solo rules. The system, as I recall, is sort of a hybrid Forged in the Dark/Into the Odd sort of game.

I have to say, Stonetop and Mountain Home are pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. Mountain Home looks like a love letter to Dwarf Fortress, which makes me happy. Lots of good recs in this thread, much thanks all!

 

[stonehead]

No one's mentioned Fragged Kingdom yet. Part of the premise is that your party sets out into the unexplored wilderness to found a new town. There are rules for aquiring materials, and using them to craft buildings in your city, although there's nothing as complex as complex as a tech tree or anything. There are also rules for defending your city from large-scale attacks, using the buildings and residents you've aquired.