Strongholds - Base or Campaign Focus?

[TarionzCousin]

Some groups of players love having a base to call their own. If you provide it for them, they may very well love you for it.

One option: If you create a dungeon that the players can clean out, and put it someplace relatively close to the action, your players will probably talk about making it their base. Build in some history and potential future encounters, and you have a viable long-term campaign element.

Example: Back in 2E, my players cleaned out Maiden's Tomb Tor, a hillock a day's ride from Waterdeep. They rescued the bones of an ancient elven princess and slew the necromancer and his minions. End result: now empty complex of about 8 rooms. They spent in-game time expanding, cleaning, and fortifying, and ended up with a nice base for themselves.

Of course, the tribes of monsters living in the old dwarf mine far below the tor didn't enjoy having new neighbors....

 

[Arnwyn]

Do they serve merely as a base of operations for the characters out of which they operate and to which they return only to leave again for the next adventure? Or does the campaign change its focus somewhat once a character or party establishes the stronghold with the stronghold and its immediate surrounding area becoming more of a focus for the adventures and campaign?

Both, for us.

 

[Asmor]

For myself and those I've played with, the general idea is that if characters establish a base they might as well just burn their gold. Granted, not all DMs destroy bases arbitrarily, but I once had a DM run a tsunami through a city to reduce the party's affluence. No plot, no background, no other reason.
I personally love the idea of bases of operation, and encourage players in my game to establish them. It opens up opportunities beyond the dungeon stomp and princess rescue. Although, it seems few players are willing to broaden their gaming to that point.

Few players willingly choose to burden themselves with things that could be used against them... Hence the proliferation of loners, "family killed when I was a child," etc.

Unfortunately, one of the best things a DM can work with is something that a player cherishes; threats to that are taken seriously. So what's a DM do when the player doesn't have anything they cherish?

Give them something to cherish! A lover, a long-lost uncle... or even a small fort on the edge of the wilderness.

Of course, you need to actually build it up to the point where the player, and not just the character, actually values it.

 

[Slife]

The only time I had a stronghold was in a ridiculous one-shot. It could fly and burrow, and was covered in spell turrets. Like a magic tank. Much fun.

 

[Claudius Gaius]

By the way, did anyone like Birthright? We recycled a lot of the background in one game, although we had to use Eclipse to build the characters to make them compatible with the current edition.