rulership Archives - Tribality

Domain Rulership, Part Twelve

Brandes Stoddard — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 13:00:04 +0000

It’s been a good while – longer than intended, but you can blame Unearthed Arcana for that – since I last wrote about domain rulership systems. Today, I’m correcting that, and you are instructed to rejoice. I only know of one product line explicitly intended to add domain rulership to 5e D&D, and that’s Legendary Games’ Kingdoms and Ultimate Rulership. (If you know of others that are specifically for 5e, please let me know in the comments.) Part One | Part Two | Part […]

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Domain Rulership, Part Nine

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 12:44:00 +0000

You know, there have been a lot more domain-management systems published for D&D, D&D derivatives, and D&D clones than I would have guessed. Today I’m tackling the Adventurer Conqueror King System (hereafter ACKS), which will take up enough column-inches to stand alone. I’ve been reading about ACKS for years now without actually reading it, though I came very close to buying a copy a few years ago at the Escapist Expo in Durham a few years back. My deep gratitude […]

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Domain Rulership, Part Eight

Brandes Stoddard — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 13:00:08 +0000

Last time in the Domain Rulership series, I talked about some of the relatively rules-light approaches to domain and stronghold play, in the form of 13th Age and Dungeon World. Now I’m turning back toward more involved systems: Fields of Blood by Eden Studios, given to me by a generous reader; and Kingmaker/Ultimate Campaign by Paizo, given to me by… a more different generous reader. The point is, my readers are the best. They are discerning and witty and almost […]

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Domain Rulership, Part Seven

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 12:30:44 +0000

Previously in this series, I looked at one of the high-water marks for fine detail in domain rulership systems. This week, I’m going to some systems at the opposite extreme: 13th Age and Dungeon World. Not counting, of course, systems that simply have no rules for domain rulership or strongholds. Absence is different from minimalism – and I’m about to split that hair damned fine. Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven 13th Age If you’re unfamiliar […]

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Domain Rulership, Part Six

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 26 May 2016 12:12:00 +0000

Two weeks ago, I talked about the Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook, the “main” 3.x-based book for stronghold construction and domains. I also mentioned a third-party product, A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, by Expeditious Retreat Press. In the comments, alert reader Charles Geringer brought up Power of Faerûn. Because irony is the only cosmic balance to entropy, I have a copy of that very incunabulum on the shelf behind me. This is me, in my customary writing chair, looking as dashing as […]

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Domain Rulership, Part Five

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 12 May 2016 12:54:02 +0000

Last time in the Domain Management series, we discussed my personal high-water mark for domain-level rules, known in the tongues of gods and men as the Birthright Campaign Setting. We continue therefore to Third Edition. The Dungeon Master’s Guide has nothing on this topic, signaling the total difference in the game’s assumptions about what characters do with their money at mid-to-high levels. The Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook fills in with domain rules, and I’ll get to that in a bit. Part […]

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Domain Rulership, Part Four

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 13:00:57 +0000

Two weeks ago, I covered domain rulership in the AD&D 2e DMG and The Castle Guide. Not too long after the latter came out, TSR released Birthright, which ignores it completely, operates on an unrelated set of assumptions, and presents rules for domains anywhere from the size of a small business or cult all the way up to an empire of many provinces. I’ve been going on about how much I love Birthright since I started this series, so you won’t […]

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Domain Rulership, Part Three

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 13:00:27 +0000

It’s been a few weeks since my last Domain Rulership article, so let’s get back to it. This week is the first of at least two articles on Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Second Edition, because it had two unrelated systems. The first of these is in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, expanded in The Castle Guide and at least referenced lightly in The World Builder’s Guidebook; the second is the majestic Birthright. (Part One | Part Two | Part Three) Dungeon […]

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Domain Rulership, Part Two

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 12:17:19 +0000

Last time in the History of Domain Rulership, I studied Frank Mentzer’s Companion rules and bemoaned my lack of the Expert rules. To my great surprise, a friend sent me a copy of Expert a few hours after my article went up, so now I can talk about it, and Rules Cyclopedia, and… you know what, I don’t know how much I’ll be able to cover this week, so let’s just take it as it comes. (Pictured above: every domain […]

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Domain Rulership, Part One

Brandes Stoddard — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 14:00:09 +0000

A few weeks ago, my esteemed colleague wrote about PC headquarters and home bases in campaigns. Talking to him about it afterward got me thinking about building new domain-management rules for 5e, taking the best parts from the huge list of other tabletop roleplaying games that have included domain-management elements. To do this, of course, I need to study everything, and as I do that, I might as well turn it into something other people can read too. There are […]

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