Um, so hi there! Im a rather new member and I figured I should at least introduce myself before proceeding to ramble on, so, hello there!
With that out of the way I’ll delve into the meat of the post I guess…which is still nebulous and likely this will get editied and the like overtime but Im working on a Burningwheel based hack for a setting I’ve written several short stories in and want it to focus not only on the nitty gritty of adventuring across an alien planet but also the building of settlements which after a quick search through the forums I haven’t seen really tackled so…here I am!
Anyways, The basic idea is built around Nature in that a town has something like a single core ‘stat’ that it can build up over time from a tiny one die hamlet all the way to a ten dice metropolis. To increase this ‘stat’ it needs to build itself up through things such as housing, townhalls,wells, etc. These of course have an impact on players as well. Something such as a meeting hall might count as a tool for an orator check while good homes and the like not only make circles checks easier but open the option for players having a place to live that can alleviate statuses.
I guess I’ll expand as I just realized how short overall this post was. As a start and indeed to start a settlement(which might be a fun series of adventures in itself) a party of players would need to find a suitable spot. Most likely through a series of checks or even something as convoluted as a conflict though I do not feel as that’s appropriate so lets say an Ob4 test to locate a suitable site to act as the start of a new town or village or city. At this point I run into something of a wall and I’m curious what ideas might get thrown back at me here for this. I’m thinking potentially a list of ‘traits’ for a settlement such as ‘good clean water’,‘plentiful timber’,‘quarry site’ etc. This first ‘trait’ is what sets this location apart, perhaps you could let the players make their own up if you wanted but a good example list can never hurt I’d imagine. I would also say this trait might help define the themes of the town itself for example a town that’s ‘good for farming’ might not have a sawmill like a town that’s ‘good for logging’ would and in the same vein likely the latter town might not want a mill as its resources they could put elsewhere. This again comes back around to player bonuses as sawmills, mills, granaries etc could provide player bonuses…but I’ll be quiet now. So I guess I should ask is this a worthwhile concept to plug away at? Or simple madness?
How specifically would this stat be used? If you plan on letting people add it to rolls recall that a kingdom-wide reputation only gives you three dice to one specific type of roll).
I guess I’ll expand as I just realized how short overall this post was. As a start and indeed to start a settlement(which might be a fun series of adventures in itself) a party of players would need to find a suitable spot. Most likely through a series of checks or even something as convoluted as a conflict though I do not feel as that’s appropriate so lets say an Ob4 test to locate a suitable site to act as the start of a new town or village or city. At this point I run into something of a wall and I’m curious what ideas might get thrown back at me here for this. I’m thinking potentially a list of ‘traits’ for a settlement such as ‘good clean water’,‘plentiful timber’,‘quarry site’ etc. This first ‘trait’ is what sets this location apart, perhaps you could let the players make their own up if you wanted but a good example list can never hurt I’d imagine. I would also say this trait might help define the themes of the town itself for example a town that’s ‘good for farming’ might not have a sawmill like a town that’s ‘good for logging’ would and in the same vein likely the latter town might not want a mill as its resources they could put elsewhere. This again comes back around to player bonuses as sawmills, mills, granaries etc could provide player bonuses…but I’ll be quiet now. So I guess I should ask is this a worthwhile concept to plug away at? Or simple madness?
Here’s how I would run a game about a town or settlement in Burning Wheel. Talk to the players about what they imagine the town being like. Maybe come up with some leading questions before hand to ask. Take notes on their answers. Fill in details of your own as appropriate. If you want to organize your notes on the town into discrete “traits”, then that’s fine, but I wouldn’t make too much fuss of it.
Burn up characters. Unless the players who are playing outsiders to the town, make sure they take skills that will be useful in the town; conversely, unless they are playing outsiders, take the players skill selections as representative of the sorts of skills that are useful in the town. Make sure they take relationships, so you’ll have people to populate the town with. Have the players write a belief about the town. Based on all this, come up with a starting situation for the characters to play out.
Start play. The players should have beliefs about the town, so their actions should effect it. Have them tell you task and intent, tell them consequences of failure, and have them roll. Whatever the result, the town, the people in it, and the situation they find themselves in should be affected in a meaningful way.
Play out the opening scenario; when it’s resolved or ceases being applicable, come up with a new one based on everything you established in play, and the player’s beliefs. Rinse. Repeat.
that could work but I want to make the founding and building up of a town or village the meat of the game. The questions ideas might work yeah but I fel like it doesn’t mesh with the overall intent I do like the idea of using Beliefs though, as they’re a core aspect of anything done in game. As to the meeting hall statement hmm…I mean its a tool for orating really that’s about the best I can come up with. Also thanks for responding!
Come up with a situation that involves the founding of a settlement. Have the players write beliefs about the settlement to be founded. That’s really all you need. The rules as written should handle that perfectly fine.
will do, and its not that I don’t see the merits taelor but my group is also coming from a lot more rules heavy systems and sees an appeal in lots of little moving parts to play with, which I can’t say Im not guilty of as well at times.
The thing is, that the little parts are odd and can be unwieldy. If living in a settlement with 4 dice is four times as good as living in a one die village, why do people not iuslive in metropoli?
I think that a good way of simulating a town-centric game is to focus on the areas of the game which already have a lot to do with settlements and towns. Using reputation as a reward for helping the town, often multiple different reputations useful in different contexts, and possibly affiliations with town officials or underworld if the right people are bribed correctly. Hell, you can burn up your own traits to allow PCs to expand their circled if they focus on supporting some peasants, or a village, directly.
From the sounds of it, the moving parts don’t have a design goal other than to separate smaller and larger settlements mechanically: Circles rules, Resources obstacles (and maybe penalties if you ply a trade in a depopulated area), and advantage/disadvantage can already hell without extra numbers.
Besides, it’s more fun to see your own numbers go up than to see your home village’s numbers go up.
thanks why, I’ve been sitting back and pondering about this actually and I think you guys are right on with a lot of this. Its left me chewing the fat so to speak while I figure out exactly what I want done in this setting I’m working on. The core premise is pretty well fleshed out but from there the gribly little bits start to rear their ugly heads. I’m thinking for now I’ll settle on getting the rest set up right and then come back around to this at another time.