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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5107199" data-attributes="member: 4937">Tried to build an empire.We built strongholds - churches, castles, safehouses, etc.&nbsp; We hired mercenaries and equipped armies.&nbsp; We cleared land for villages and towns and encouraged people to settle in our land.&nbsp; We started businesses to generate more money.&nbsp; We bought sailing ships and commissioned the construction of new ones.&nbsp; We fought wars.&nbsp; These investments would eventually start paying out in the form of taxes and other revenue streams, and that money could be reinvested.Extra 'weak' magic items like sword +1s were hoarded to give to henchmen or hirelings for the loyalty bonus it would grant, and henchmen were zealously protected once they started to rise in levels until the point that the henchmen could turn into a secondary PC (which you would then play on adventures your primary PC couldn't participate in).&nbsp;&nbsp; Eventually well equipped henchmen would effectively become the new party or even parties, and we'd grant them noble titles and they'd start building strongholds and hiring mercenaries.&nbsp; We worried as much or more about acquiring new 6th+ level characters loyal to us as we did about magical gizmos (or even at times, XP).&nbsp; After all, at high levels, small amounts of XP and treasure didn't mean much to you, but payed off huge benifits if you could channel them to some loyal retainer.&nbsp;&nbsp; There is nothing quite like be able to command armies of mid to high level characters.&nbsp; Two-hundred 6th level fighters with basic magical equipment is nothing to snear at.&nbsp;&nbsp; To have warships decked out with seige weapons and crewed by 4th level fighters was as much what we thought was cool as having one extra gizmo.Using this procedure, over time, you could carve out pretty large portions of the world map as your own and build empires that matched the official nations of the setting in scope and authority.&nbsp;&nbsp; That was alot better reward than having a sword +5 rather than a sword +4.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5107199, member: 4937"] Tried to build an empire. We built strongholds - churches, castles, safehouses, etc. We hired mercenaries and equipped armies. We cleared land for villages and towns and encouraged people to settle in our land. We started businesses to generate more money. We bought sailing ships and commissioned the construction of new ones. We fought wars. These investments would eventually start paying out in the form of taxes and other revenue streams, and that money could be reinvested. Extra 'weak' magic items like sword +1s were hoarded to give to henchmen or hirelings for the loyalty bonus it would grant, and henchmen were zealously protected once they started to rise in levels until the point that the henchmen could turn into a secondary PC (which you would then play on adventures your primary PC couldn't participate in). Eventually well equipped henchmen would effectively become the new party or even parties, and we'd grant them noble titles and they'd start building strongholds and hiring mercenaries. We worried as much or more about acquiring new 6th+ level characters loyal to us as we did about magical gizmos (or even at times, XP). After all, at high levels, small amounts of XP and treasure didn't mean much to you, but payed off huge benifits if you could channel them to some loyal retainer. There is nothing quite like be able to command armies of mid to high level characters. Two-hundred 6th level fighters with basic magical equipment is nothing to snear at. To have warships decked out with seige weapons and crewed by 4th level fighters was as much what we thought was cool as having one extra gizmo. Using this procedure, over time, you could carve out pretty large portions of the world map as your own and build empires that matched the official nations of the setting in scope and authority. That was alot better reward than having a sword +5 rather than a sword +4. [/QUOTE]

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