Simple Town Building System

[theMoon]

Hey folks,

Been a long time lurker here grabbing little bits of info and inspiration from you all since I picked up the game last Christmas. My players and I are all new to tabletop role playing (TOR is our first!) and we've been having a blast. So first off, thanks for all your LM tips, tricks, adventure ideas, and rules clarifications!

Now one of my players (my brother) is a dwarf and when I was describing an RPG to him and how you can basically do anything save what your imagination limits you to he asked, "what about building structures and cities?" He comes from a Minecraft tradition, shall we say, and I told him, "Absolutely." So I've been working on an adventure that would allow him to do just that. The idea is that after the Gathering of Five Armies the PCs get word of an expedition soon underway to rebuild an old way station along the road from Dale to the Iron Hills. Along the way they bump into raiding wolves, stone trolls, and the mystery of a group of former Dale men now living spitefully in the hills. The central mechanic however involves the town and gives the PCs an opportunity to affect the restoration efforts and measures their progress. I tried to keep the system relatively simple in accordance with the design ethic of the game, but allow for more specific or minute options. Below is what I came up with.

These are jobs the adventurers may assist the settlers in to increase the rate at which the town grows upon arriving. Each adventurer is permitted to roll for two Projects each month. During the Fall and Winter, the TN of all Projects should be raised by 2 and 4. Extra levels of success represent a project taking less time than expected, allowing attention to be focused on others. A great success awards 1 bonus die and an extraordinary success provides 2.
- Explore for a fitting quarry for the stone required to construct the town. A good site can be found only a few miles north. Only at night will the adventurers discover it has been made the home of several stone trolls. +2 Progress. May only be successfully undertaken once.
- Explore the best location for a series of protective watchtowers above the town. Improper placement could lead to devastating landslides. Allows for the construction of watchtowers. A landslide causes -2 Progress.
- Undertake the construction of the watchtowers with Craft. Wooden towers can be completed with 2 Craft tests and provide warning of approaching enemies (lower Awareness test TN by 2) and provide 1 bonus die during combat occurring within the borders of Longwalk, but can also be easily overtaken. Stone towers can be completed with 4 Craft tests, provide warning of approaching enemies, are much more difficult to overtake, and provide 3 bonus dice during combat occurring within the borders of Longwalk.
- Hunt for a suitable source of fresh water. Several streams seep down from the Iron Hills. They are likely to be guarded by wolves. +2 Progress. -1 Progress each month this has not been completed. May only be successfully undertaken once.
- Explore for a suitable pasture for the livestock. +2 Progress. May only be successfully undertaken once. Livestock are considered dead if not completed within 2 months.
- Enervate efforts and dispel fears of the rough wild with Song or Inspire. Add 2 to the result of another character’s next Project test, 3 with a great success, and 4 or the companion’s Heart score (whichever is higher) with an extraordinary success.
- Provide wood and stone for the construction efforts with Athletics. A dearth of materials will prolong the reconstruction. Over applying oneself (rolling an EYE) could lead to weariness or possible wounding in mining accidents. +2 Progress.
- Maintain the perimeter bonfires to keep the wolves at bay with Craft. (Wolves and wild men are supposed to make monthly raids on the settlement)
Assist in the construction of key structures, roads, and abodes with Craft. +2 Progress. May not be attempted until a quarry is found.
- Hunt for hardy game with which to feed the town. +2 Progress
- Patrol the borders with Awareness. Success prevents an ambush.
- Any tasks the adventurers can devise should award +2 Progress.

Every successful test awards the players an amount of Progress points. These are added together to form a Total Progress number. Once the number reaches one of the below targets then the town is considered sufficiently rebuilt and the adventurer’s contract fulfilled.
Total Progress Requirements:
2 players = 20
3 players = 30
4 players = 40
5 players = 50
6+ players = 60

So my questions for you all are basically, does this sound decent or are there any glaring obstructions to comprehension/enjoyment?

Do the Total Progress numbers seem alright? I designed them with the idea that the adventure should take about half a year. I figured each player should be responsible for contributing 10 points as that would still require three months of work if they were lucky with their roles or wanted to spend Hope points.

Any suggestions for additional Project tests? The idea behind them was to put some focus on many of the common skills my party does not get many opportunities to flex as they are a very socially minded group, but I would like other skills to be represented and increase the system's usefulness for other games.

Have any of you tried or made similar rules to represent building or large construction projects? I would love to see them for comparison and borrowing/stealing.

[Stilts]

I actually like your idea here, it provides a long-term goal for the PCs that feels a bit more personal. I would also suggest taking a look at the rules for Holdings in the Darkening of Mirkwood campaign book. I don't have it, so I don't really know how the mechanic works, but I think it's similar to this sort of thing. Maybe someone could help me out on that?

You could also incorporate Treasure into this system, or even a character's Standing. For example, a more respected character might be able to attract more settlers, pull some strings for free supplies, etc. I don't think Treasure and Standing see enough use in the game, so I'm always looking to apply them to various things.

[theMoon]

Yeah I do have access to the Holdings rules and was planning on using them as a reward. If the companions do a swell job they can own that inn or farmstead or toll house they helped build.

I hadn't thought about Treasure and Standing but really like the idea and agree that there seems to be a paucity of uses for them. My players enjoy gaining treasure but never spend it as they don't yet seem to appreciate the role of Standing (but they are very low level still). I can see Treasure or at least the affluence level of the characters allowing them to purchase specialized gear or larger herds that might give them +1/2 bonuses to their rolls in much the same way the market pool undertaking works in the Lake-town sourcebook.

[Robin Smallburrow]

I think this has a lot of merit as a new Fellowship Phase Undertaking - I don't really see that this would work during the Adventuring Phase however.

How about you tidy this up into a doc and put it on Dropbox, and I will add it to my Fellowship Phase Undertaking?

As someone has already mentioned, it really goes with the 'Tending Holding' Undertaking - see the stuff on Holdings in Rich H's resources etc...

Which reminds me, I need to fix up my Fellowship Phase Options....

Robin S.

[shipwreck]

I think this has a lot of merit as a new Fellowship Phase Undertaking - I don't really see that this would work during the Adventuring Phase however.

This, then apply the holdings rules.

[poosticks7]

You could add in:

Persuade: Get the local hunters/trappers in the area to provide food for your workers.
Battle: The right configuration for the defensive wall, ditch, towers etc.
Healing: to address any injuries/sickness that happens to the workers.

[theMoon]

I like those additions and on second thought Battle does make more sense for placing fortifications and towers and I always need more uses for Battle. Thinking now I should also add walls and bonuses for them.

I can write this up as a Fellowship Undertaking but I'm not really seeing it that way. Can you elaborate? I don't see where this shares territory with the Holding rules as I always imagined Holdings being much smaller than a full settlement. I can see how this might work as a Holding upgrade (plough more acres, clear more forest, import a finer brandy) but I also saw that as the province of the Gandalf result of the Tend Holding die.

My idea for it functioning in the Adventure Phase was that it sort of replaced the Travel tests of the journey as the PCs have already got to a place and settled down. Now the LM calls for tests to see if they're progressing on their settlement in between going around fulfilling the more narrative plot-driven portions of their adventure.

[poosticks7]

I actually did an adventure where the heroes were part of a group that was reclaiming an old guard tower/keep that sat on the borders of Dale - it was base on the premise that one of the group was a mason. He was hired to assess the damage of the structure and work on repairs as needed. I managed to weave it into an adventure which worked quite well.

had a bit of everything in it.

rivalry with another mason.
fighting off hobgoblins that had claimed it. - including finding the back way in (dwarf built)
finding out about the history of the place and the family link to the lord who was reclaiming the fort.
a ghost in a tower - who was related to the above guy and dabbled in shadowlore.
A plot to kill the lord. - (which actually succeeded in the adventure - cause of anguish for the fellowship because they liked the guy.)

It worked well - and the rebuilding of the tower worked as a backdrop to the other stuff. Actually I'm going to give myself a pat on the back

[theMoon]

That's the kind of thing I'm going for and I'm glad to hear it worked out well, you're giving me hope for my adventure! In mine the PCs have to both assist the Bardings in rebuilding and resettling this old town and uncover the mystery of a half-crazed wild man they discover stealing from their provisions. Turns out he's the son of a chief of a tribe of local men who once pledged fealty to the Kingdom of Dale but now have ruled themselves for close to 200 years and aren't particularly keen on being absorbed back into Dale. The PCs navigate tensions between the Bardings and king-less folk while also uncovering a dark pact between the wild men and the wargs of the Waste. We'll see if everything ends up rosy or if they just decide to wipe out the prior inhabitants. We're playing this weekend and I'll get to put the building rules to the test and let you all know how they turn out.

[Robin Smallburrow]

To Elaborate:

Adventuring Phase: (p.136 of Rulebook)

The Adventuring phase is by far the largest part of the
game. It is here that the adventures take place, as opposed
to the Fellowship phase, where the events in between the
characters’ adventures are described. During this phase,
the Loremaster presents to the players the situations that
the characters find themselves in, and weave the world
of Middle-earth around them as they interact with it and
attempt to achieve their objectives.

The Loremaster will challenge the players by putting them
in difficult circumstances, setting fiendish plots for them
to attempt to solve and confronting them with formidable
opponents. This isn’t achieved by steering the players
along a pre-determined road, but by setting the world
before them and helping them to create the path they
choose to follow. One way to do this is to structure each
game session as a series of problems to be solved.
As a story, an Adventuring phase is composed of many
twisted plot threads: they can be unravelled gently and
smoothly through clever gameplay, or can end up tied in
knots if players stumble and produce new problems for
themselves by making less than ideal choices.

Whereas the Fellowship Phase (p.192 of rulebook)

A Fellowship phase is a session of play driven by the
players’ choices. While during the Adventuring phase,
players usually react to the Loremaster’s storytelling,
during a Fellowship phase they get to elaborate upon their
characters’ stories and ambitions. The Loremaster is the
final judge regarding the interpretation of the rules, but is
invited to sit back and follow what his players have to say
about their characters.

A Fellowship phase marks the conclusion of the current
Adventuring phase, and as such ideally takes place at the
end of a gaming session.

This is why I felt your Town Building ideas fitted the Fellowship Phase better, but its your game!

Robin S.