I am working on a Homebrew game. I've always wanted to run a game sort of like wrath of the righteous in pathfinder. However I vastly prefer 5e. I want the party to be part of a colonizing effort of a new continent. However there is basically a rift to the hills on this continent. So a big part of it will be fighting a war.
But I need systems. How to build and supply towns, and forts. How to build and fight armies. Without it being extremely boring. I would assume pulling from West Marches campaigns would be helpful. I would love input.
What other sy stems would I need in place to run a long game. Basically i want them to take this continent from an untamed wilderness to a populated new world, with cities, factions, countries, armies, etc.
D&D 5e is not a game system designed to deal with large scale combats. It's not really that much fun doing it either - maybe combine with a tabletop battle game system like Warhammer if you want to play out battles. D&D is at its best when your characters are advancing their personal storylines alongside a longer overall plot, and using their individual powers to take out individual opponents.
I would say always keep in mind that D&D is a game about adventurers going on personal, independent quests. You can have your heroes do things like clear out a temple, so that the new colonists can use it. Have them defeat the marauding giants so that the NPCs can construct a fort on the high ground. Have a BBEG to drive out, and to clash with, as the many aim of the game, or a series of BBEG's.
A campaign starting with a wilderness and turning it into a populated country is a game that will likely take years to play. It's a cool idea, but even playing weekly, you're going to have to find specific players who are more interested in administration than adventuring if what you want is to see them governing towns and overseeing construction.
I agree which is why I'm trying to come up with systems or adapt them that will make it fun. My group is into long games. My first homebrew was 18 months, second was just over two years. So the length isn't the issue. But you're right 5E isn't the perfect system for it. Hopefully with a bit of work it can be fun.
I don't expect them to govern the towns or forts. Help establish. They will then run off and do the typical D&D stuff. Clear that fort, scout this area, delve into that dungeon. However it will all be part of the expansion of the new continent, hopefully.
Strongholds and Followers is supposed to have a good mass combat system. Also 2nd ed. Birthright campaign setting has mass combat mechanics. Lastly, there are some light rules for mass combat in 5E DMG Ch. 8.
If you have players that have the interest in this idea, great. I will agree that this isn't everyone's cup-o-tea. Let your players determine if this is fun or not.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I agree which is why I'm trying to come up with systems or adapt them that will make it fun. My group is into long games. My first homebrew was 18 months, second was just over two years. So the length isn't the issue. But you're right 5E isn't the perfect system for it. Hopefully with a bit of work it can be fun.
I don't expect them to govern the towns or forts. Help establish. They will then run off and do the typical D&D stuff. Clear that fort, scout this area, delve into that dungeon. However it will all be part of the expansion of the new continent, hopefully.
That being the case, I would run it on a hex grid system as follows:
Draw a large map of the whole region, and give each hex a theme (think how every area in a MMORPG like WoW has a theme for each area). Vary these up - put in deserts, swamps, forests, barren plains and so on. The theme of each area will determine what is encountered there.
On a hex on the coast, put New Landing, the small colony outpost that the players will begin the game at. The only buildings are made out of the hulls of upturned ships. This will serve as a resupply point and quest hub. Periodically, new NPCs will arrive here, and the players can order things to be sent from home (a journey that takes a long time!). After a year, there could be a permanent Teleportation Circle here, so the PCs can nip back home if they want to. The area can evolve each game session, with the players having input on what buildings they want to see there.
In each of the first 3 adjoining hexes, plan out who or what the local power is and make them powerful. Tie this in to a natural resource that can only be gathered once the PCs have cleared it, or made allies of the creatures. Examples might be:
One area is mountainous and has old ruins in it, haunted by undead. The colony could salvage the stone from the ruins to make buildings.
One area is a toxic swampland. Creatures from the swampland keep attacking the colony because a creature has recently relocated to the swamp and drives them out.
The last area is jungle, where a hag lives with a small group of satyrs that hold wild parties. Many of the colonists are being seduced to join the hag and are leaving instead of building their new home, but they inevitably end up getting eaten.
Give the PCs free choice of which area to go, all of which should include a series of sub-quests to enable them to fully explore, and conquer the area.
After the initial 3, there can be friendly NPCs - a village of good aligned monsters or fey perhaps - that can serve as a levelled up quest hub point. There is a need to make an alliance with them if the PCs want access to their meadows of magical flowers for medicines, or they can brute force their way into conquering them.
And so on. Each area can provide something that PCs want to get for the colony, and after clearing the early areas it's time to expand inland. They aren't likely to be waging war or building more towns until they hit somewhere around level 10, as they don't have the skills for that kind of thing until then, so it's really a case of fixing things for the colony until they move into tier 3.
D&D 5e is not a game system designed to deal with large scale combats. It's not really that much fun doing it either - maybe combine with a tabletop battle game system like Warhammer if you want to play out battles. D&D is at its best when your characters are advancing their personal storylines alongside a longer overall plot, and using their individual powers to take out individual opponents.
I would say always keep in mind that D&D is a game about adventurers going on personal, independent quests. You can have your heroes do things like clear out a temple, so that the new colonists can use it. Have them defeat the marauding giants so that the NPCs can construct a fort on the high ground. Have a BBEG to drive out, and to clash with, as the many aim of the game, or a series of BBEG's.
A campaign starting with a wilderness and turning it into a populated country is a game that will likely take years to play. It's a cool idea, but even playing weekly, you're going to have to find specific players who are more interested in administration than adventuring if what you want is to see them governing towns and overseeing construction.
I agree which is why I'm trying to come up with systems or adapt them that will make it fun. My group is into long games. My first homebrew was 18 months, second was just over two years. So the length isn't the issue. But you're right 5E isn't the perfect system for it. Hopefully with a bit of work it can be fun.
I don't expect them to govern the towns or forts. Help establish. They will then run off and do the typical D&D stuff. Clear that fort, scout this area, delve into that dungeon. However it will all be part of the expansion of the new continent, hopefully.
Strongholds and Followers is supposed to have a good mass combat system. Also 2nd ed. Birthright campaign setting has mass combat mechanics. Lastly, there are some light rules for mass combat in 5E DMG Ch. 8.
If you have players that have the interest in this idea, great. I will agree that this isn't everyone's cup-o-tea. Let your players determine if this is fun or not.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
That being the case, I would run it on a hex grid system as follows:
And so on. Each area can provide something that PCs want to get for the colony, and after clearing the early areas it's time to expand inland. They aren't likely to be waging war or building more towns until they hit somewhere around level 10, as they don't have the skills for that kind of thing until then, so it's really a case of fixing things for the colony until they move into tier 3.