A domain management system I'm tinkering with.

[beejazz]

As some of you may know, I'm still tinkering on that homebrew between classes and work. It's kind of a 4e-alike geared more towards the survival horror aspect of D&D. It's assumed that the low levels will have their share of more old-school dungeon crawling and hex crawling. I'm also working on kind of a plug-in for it based on ACKS, An Echo Resounding, Kingmaker, Birthright, and the like. The idea is that at a certain point players can attain a kingdom and the power and problems that go with it. The main reason I'm building something from the ground up instead of just lifting from those three is that each does a few things I like and a bunch more that really bother me (awakened animal crime-bosses are cool, but a bit much for a random event table that you roll every single month).

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GOALS
1)Give the players something to do with the stuff they find in the woods.
2)Give the players some fires to put out.
3)Give the players some new toys to help with putting out those fires.
4)Allow different kingdoms to feel different based on chance and PC action.
5)Allow wiggle room so there isn't just one "optimal" way to handle a kingdom.
6)Mimic a real-ish medieval frontier.
7)Make sure that the power from the kingdom doesn't grow and eclipse character power by too much.
8)Make sure that characters starting late can catch up to where they "should" be.
9)Avoid too much of a win/loss spiral.
10)Make the system easy enough that the GM can use it and track it between sessions.

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STATS
A kingdom will have a map, a list of settlements, structures, etc. and a set of stats derived from those things. The stats are listed below.

Wealth: # (#)
Social:   # (#)
Military: # (#)

Size:      #

Wealth, social, and military have both a static value depending on your permanent assets and a treasury (the value listed in the parentheses) that can be spent for various benefits. Wealth is usually spent to build new structures. Military is usually spent to deploy troops. Social is usually spent to issue edicts.

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DOMAIN TURNS
Time is divided into four-season years, four-month seasons, and 20-day months. Every month, the GM rolls the following.

1)Roll each stat's static value vs its size. If you succeed, add a number based on the margin of success to your treasury. If you fail, subtract a number based on the margin of failure from your treasury. If you have negative treasury, you must disband structures in order to pay it off.
2)Roll random events several times (bigger kingdoms roll more times). If the event is good, make an appropriate stat check vs a listed DC to confirm it. Otherwise it doesn't happen. If the event is bad, make an appropriate stat check vs a listed DC to prevent it. Otherwise it happens.
3)Roll for each confirmed random event to determine when it happens. Roll 1d4 to determine which month it happens in, and 1d20 for the day.

Random events will include the appearance and growth of new settlements, and the appearance of nuisances like bandits or dragons. When a new thing is placed or advanced in a hex, sometimes it must be near enough a resource or far enough away from something else. For example, big cities require a bunch of nearby farmland while dragons won't lair too close to other dragons.

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DOMAIN ACTIONS
There is no discrete time when a party must act, but they must be in the correct place to do so. They may send a messenger to issue orders for them, but there are risks involved in that.

1)Build or disband structures. This will cost wealth treasury and take a long time.
2)Muster military units. This will cost military treasury and a little time. Also fielded units hurt income/upkeep checks so long as they are fielded.
3)Issue edicts. This will cost social treasury and takes the least time.
4)Address problems in character (for example, by taking their mustered troops to go hunt a dragon).

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LOCATIONS AND EDICTS
There are five or six types of location so far. Each does different things to your stats and/or checks.

Settlements are the most common locations. The basic settlement is the village, which does not alter your stats in any way. Villages appear near infrastructure, near water, and in plains hexes. Villages are promoted to communities that increase one stat, but also increase your kingdom's size. Different community types (trade, cultural, and... something for military) give bonuses to different stats.

Level 1: +1 size, +6 stat (pop around 1k)
Level 2: +2 size, +7 stat (pop around 3k)
Level 3: +3 size, +8 stat (pop around 10k)
Level 4: +4 size, +9 stat (pop around 30k)
Level 5: +5 size, +10 stat (pop around 100k)

It takes about four communities of the level below it to support a community of a given level. And a kingdom will usually only have one level 5 community, if that. So a maxed out kingdom will have four of each level up to four, and one level 5. If this were all, the likely monthly income per month could be easily calculated based on kingdom size. Based on my graph, income increases rapidly from 3 (at your first community) to 16 (at your eighth) before going down to 0 (at your 16th).

So without something nasty weighing a kingdom down, a kingdom will tend to grow rapidly until it's breaking even. If there is something nasty, the breaking even point is lower. I plan to use that effect to sort of key kingdom growth to character power. Powerful characters can oust dragons as needed, so the kingdom will grow much faster under a more powerful champion. This is how I plan to achieve design goals 7 and 8 above.

Structures are player-built locations used to maintain and protect settlements. Players can place them wherever settlements (especially villages) will sustain them. There will also probably be rules limiting their number and level, but I don't know what they are yet and therefore can't predict long term kingdom growth on that basis. Like settlements, structures add to one stat and to size. In addition, structures will enable domain actions like mustering troops and withdrawing money.

Level 1: +1 size, +5 stat
Level 2: +2 size, +7 stat
Level 3: +3 size, +9 stat
Level 4: +4 size, +11 stat
Level 5: +5 size, +13 stat

Edicts are intangible assets, like taxes or oppression. Typically they add to one stat and penalize another. The intensity of these bonuses and penalties depends on the level of the edict.

Level 1: +1/-1
Level 2: +2/-3
Level 3: +3/-5
Level 4: +4/-7
Level 5: +5/-9

Lairs are nuisances that show up and start robbing travelers, burning farms down, etc. Usually they come into play hidden, though you'll know they exist by the damage they do. Typically they add to size and can be encountered in nearby hexes if you travel in the area. It's up to the party to track monsters and bandits back to their lairs and deal with them.

Resources also begin play hidden most of the time. Players who find resources can build a related industry in that hex. Find minerals, establish a mine.

Industry encourages settlers to show up in the nearby countryside. Find a lot of minerals, and you can have yourself a little gold rush. Once settlers move in, they can become a thriving trade community as well.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Hey beejaz, your domain actions have a lot in common with a similar concept I've been working on for Echoes: Highborn (a game my company is hoping to publish this winter). Domain turns remind me of Houses of the Blooded, an indie game worth checking out, though Echoes doesn't have anything quite like that.

If it's useful for you to know:

Chapter Actions in Echoes--basically PCs start with three actions per chapter (a semi-fluid block of three adventures) which include things like managing followers, crafting stuff, and so forth. It's going into beta soon, so I'd be happy share more info and results if you want to hear how this kind of thing works out or the other ideas we've come up with.

The locations thing is pretty interesting. I'll have to browse deeper when I have more time. I especially like Lairs--awesomeness.

[beejazz]

Glad you like what you see so far. And I'd certainly be interested in hearing more about your work. I've seen many examples of domain management rules in doing my research, but so far haven't looked at Houses of the Blooded. Might be worth looking into.

Right now I'm still working on the particulars of the event table, as that will determine a lot of how this system shapes up.

[sparkletwist]

You might also want to look at the Statecraft system for Asura, though it is probably a good bit more abstracted than the kind of thing you want.

(That said, things like structures and edicts are still pretty abstracted. I do like the simple elegance of how you've handled it.)

[beejazz]

I'm really liking what I'm seeing in terms of Statecraft. The PVP, internal politicking, etc. are really interesting. And PVP bidding bits are pretty cool, done right. I haven't seen much of these elements in other games I've looked at. I wouldn't say it's more abstracted than what I'm after necessarily, though it covers a different aspect of what kingdom building means and maybe a different kind of gameplay than what I'm building. That said, next on the agenda are the guild/faction based rules, and this has given me plenty to think about there.

[LordVreeg]

Guilds and factions!!!!

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Hey beejazz, the info you requested. We expect to begin beta tests in the next few weeks.

[ic=Chapter Actions in Echoes: Highborn]
During each chapter you will submit a list of chapter actions, including any necessary details, to the Narrator. These chapter actions may or may not lead to a story. If they do, they are concluded in the story. Otherwise, they conclude at the end of the chapter. You may not choose the same action more than once in the same chapter unless otherwise noted. You may cancel an action that becomes irrelevant, but you may not add new actions mid chapter. The Narrator may choose to add additional actions to this list.
Many chapter actions require a skill check. This check is made when the action is resolved. You can find out more about skills in The Way of Heroes.
[/ic]

Our current list is:

• Crafting
• Research
• Investigation
• Construction -- fortify
• Warfare -- attack another domain
• Manage Followers -- especially manage your army
• Commerce -- buying at cost doesn't use an action, but haggling over buying/selling does
• Performance -- earn rep and wealth by performing
• Socialize -- throw or attend a party
• Gaming
• Ninja Strike
• Run a Business

Others were reserved for the first expansion because we didn't want book 1 to be too complicated.