Anyone here got experience, tips, stories etc.?Haven't really got experience with it, but my current group is getting up there in levels and some of them have expressed interest in it.
>>98414103>but my current group is getting up there in levels and some of them have expressed interest in it.They are going to be disappointed when they realize that managing spreadsheets and not being able to go out on adventures, which is what domain play actually entails, is boring as shit.
>>98414292>They are going to be disappointed when they realize that managing spreadsheets and not being able to go out on adventures, which is what domain play actually entails, is boring as shit.That's what currently has me stumped; I don't really see how managing their lands would entail anything beyond number crunching.
>>98414372Abstract more. You don't need to track exactly how many people are in each town and how much food they're getting just like how you don't need to know exactly how much the barbarian can bench press. Give towns and factions mechanics that can easily be interacted with and point towards what the fantasy you're trying to create is.That said, I've never done any Domain level play, and I doubt anyone else on this board in god forsaken current day has either.
>>98414449Most of the people who have are the sort to jerk off over their spreadsheets.
Unless your group are 100% number crunching wargame autists then just abstract away all the boring logistics stuff. Domain management should be portrayed as a task of managing a few NPCs who handle your shit, and then occasionally dealing with problems that arise in your domain.
>>98414465If I were to try, I'd focus it all around factions. A faction has a headquarters somewhere on the map and actions it can take. Consider a knight's order, it's headquarters is in a city, and it's actions involve sending out knights on missions. So it can spend a resource to generate units that can go to a hex to do things. You could try to manage armies as a lot of guards in one area, but I'd try to keep it simple by making armies and guards entirely separate. Maybe the guards have a limited radius that can leave away from their headquarters and limited fighting power, but the army is more expensive and cannot do anything covertly so they're terrible for scouting.Then give other factions different units they can generate with different stats and abilities. Everything can be a faction. Adventers guild? It's a faction with powerful units but a very limited capacity so they can't be everywhere at once. Bandits? They're weak faction but they have an ability to obscure their headquarters and move it. If you find something you can't simulate well, add new rules.
>>98414372The best way I've ever seen it was in BG2. After killing all the trolls occupying it, you get a castle and become a lord, and all that really means is that you leave it in the hands of a custodian who manages the place and the lands while you continue to go about adventuring. Every once in a while you can drop by your castle, collect some gold, and are occasionally asked to make some decision like acting as a judge over some dispute between people of your land.Throw in a few abstract decisions ("Do you want to raise/lower taxes? Do you want to spend money on some public work/infrastructure?") and you've got really everything you need to do domain stuff without being like one of those ridiculous spreadsheet faggots.If you raise the taxes, you can collect more gold, but your reputation will decrease and people will not respect you or your decisions.If you lower the taxes, you collect less gold, but people will respect you more. Things really don't have to be much more complicated than that.Throw in some events like another noble family seeking a political marriage or goblin tribe raids or a bountiful harvest that have the local druids asking for a festival to celebrate, and you can make running a domain fun and interesting instead of pretentious and boring.
>>98414597>>98414540Sounds reasonable.One player is already doing something along those lines with a pirate crew the party ran into earlier.Guess I'll just scale it up.
>>98414597Heroes of Might and Magic... I think 7. Party wins a deed to an estate, except the place is a dump, so they have to clear out monsters and get it fixed. Which turns it into usable base of operations and also gets them recognised by power players in the region and involved in more plot until they eventually save the world, or something.
>>98418808>Heroes of Might and Magicno heroes, just Might and Magic 7
>>98414372I don't have any experience running domain level, but the prevailing wisdom in game design more generally is to make systems connected.Managing the town should interact with the standard adventuring gameplay loop of go to place -> fight monsters -> get loot/story progressionPlayers want to improve commerce? Go to the bandit camp that's scaring off traders and kill them.Fix sanitation? Go into the sewers and fight oozes.Likewise, progression in town development would also see rewards in the adventuring domain under this philosophy.Like retainers to command in battle, or more consumables.
>>98418895Sounds like what you want is more like Monster Hunter's town upgrading mechanics.>Bring me 30 Bullfango anuses and I can upgrade the farm so it produces 15% more herbs per growth cycle!>Hunter! Yian Kut Ku keeps attacking out trade routes! Go do this request mission for me and the shop will be upgraded with new items!Which isn't a bad way to play, honestly.
>>98418895Domain level play should mostly be about delegating tasks to your followers, but your character should remain your most powerful piece on the board. Send your minions to handle everything they can, send your character to deal with what they can't.
>>98414372>>98414292>when they realize that managing spreadsheets and not being able to go out on adventures, which is what domain play actually entails, is boring as shit.??? Are you retarded? You manage the spreadsheet between sessions, and then the places where there are gaps, is where you act. Peasants in rebellion because your taxes are too high? You need to go there and either calm them down or strike down their leader and assert your dominance. Orc raids on your border? Time to gain more favor by personally leading an attack to wipe them out. Marauding dragon is raiding your borders? Time to kill him. The spreadsheet is not done at the table, or if it is, it is only part of the session. Also, it doesn't have to be that complicated. The GM should be rolling for some random events, time passing by, and prompting the characters to solve a problem. That's a good domain system. The spreadsheet can be managed, again, between sessions, and then you can easily recalculate income, etc. based on changes. It's really not that hard.Domain play is one of the most based and redpilled things you can add to your TTRPG setting. It is, unironically and genuinely, pure SOVL that turns your campaign from some reactive forgettable status-quo-satisfying "story," into a genuine attempt at building something greater, leaving a legacy behind, actually interacting with the world in a meaningful way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOh11t952Q8
>>98414540This is a good idea honestly. The domain should be controlled through a bunch of npc:s which are partially consisting on (hopefully) player aligned advisors and neutral aligned key players (guild masters and town elders). Domain management is about finding the right people for the right job so you can enact long term policies.
