This was kind of the idea behind the 2e Birthright campaign setting. Domain management integrated into the game from level 1. I can't speak to whether or not it actually succeeded, as I never actually ran it. Seemed interesting though.
the problem with that is it really limits stories and it lives and dies by settings hence the idea for it to be an option for high-level play as just bigger dungeons or quest gets boring and people do love a base, forcing it would be bad but a change of pace is not bad.
There are few 3PP products that already do this for 5e. I believe both MCDM and LevelUp have these and there are others as well.
fair but that tends to be of varying quality, I have no idea what mcdm is and although I agree with several level-up ideas I do not love it sufficiently to change systems.
The traditional domain game would consist of high-level characters (primarily fighters) being put in charge of some land at the edge of a kingdom in order to pacify that region and lead it to flourishing. The main point, I believe, was to act as a gold sink for all that money you gained while leveling up (because gold gave XP): building castles and raising and maintaining armies isn't cheap.
true but people still end up with lots of gold and people desire new ways to play and people love having a base, given it could also be used to make new locations in a way that dms outside of the long-time ones or the truly knowledgeable are unable to do. it would be a viable product in the abstract as it could be sold to multiple people.
Now, in a modern context there are a number of problems with this. One is that published campaign settings tend to be "filled" already. There aren't really any borderlands in which to push.
okay so make it setting neutral also you do not just build keeps to hold borderland they are built at strategically important locations which can change over time, we have had castles at many places also you could be given to take over an already standing one as part of a treaty or gift.
Another is that modern D&D doesn't do XP for gold anymore. While there still isn't all that much to spend gold on, you might not acquire quite the hoards needed to finance such a venture.
how they get the gold is fundamentally not the problem as that is on the table's end we can't know how the party work or what the dm is willing to give them and is not the concern of the product.
A third is that you'd need a mass combat system, and that's generally not been one of D&D's strong points – particularly not since people can't even agree on whether they want one with figures on a map or a more abstract system like the War Machine from Companion D&D.
wotc is apparently already doing this with Dragonlance so we will know soon.
But the biggest issue is that there are many more people playing who would strongly object to taking part in a colonialist project like this. "Pacify the region" is just en euphemism for "kill or drive off all the current inhabitants of this land", after all. Given the direction the game has taken toward "orcs are people too", it leaves a bit of a sour taste in one's mouth.
no offence intended but that seems very American and new world perspective, in general people have built fortifications in the land they already own for reasons of defence which is far more palatable to most people thus it seems like a problem of how it is said not the basic idea.
I think a more modern approach would be to focus on base-building. Start with a village or fort and spend time and resources improving it by adding defenses, facilities, or resource generation (e.g. a lumber mill in a forested region would generate more resources for building certain things). This would still provide the satisfaction of building something lasting, without the expansionist stuff.
that is more or less what I am going for but able to build the larger-scale stuff such as forts and castles.
ideally with far better integrations with all classes having options and some more generic options.
