Founding a kingdom or settlement

[farinal]

Hello all,

I was wondering how would it be to create a kingdom in the Wilderness? Kingdom might be a fancy word, so it could be also like a "tribe" or settlement like one of the Woodmen or like the ones in the DoM campaign.

A kingdom similar to Dale for example, quite small and not really powerful but a kingdom nonetheless. What do you think? Would you one day reward a character (or punish) by giving him a right or duty to rule?

[zedturtle]

Hello all,

I was wondering how would it be to create a kingdom in the Wilderness? Kingdom might be a fancy word, so it could be also like a "tribe" or settlement like one of the Woodmen or like the ones in the DoM campaign.

A kingdom similar to Dale for example, quite small and not really powerful but a kingdom nonetheless. What do you think? Would you one day reward a character (or punish) by giving him a right or duty to rule?

I think looking at the Holding rules from Darkening and tying them into Standing would be the way to go. Also, I'd make it clear to the player that this is the end-goal and not a step along the way. Also, I'd speak to them about the themes of loss and diminishment in Tolkien. Their little fiefdom might be on the edge of the Easterling lands. When the War of the Ring comes, they might be the first to fall. But until then, maybe they can stand as a little light against a vast darkness.

[Summerhawk]

I'm trying to look ahead to that problem myself as my players have implied an interest in resettling one of the Eotheod settlements in the Vale of Gundabad. Obviously such a task would face stiff resistance and would require the cooperation of a lot of people, but should they eventually accomplish it, I'm trying to find a way to expand the holding concept to encompass a much larger undertaking.

[farinal]

Yeah I didn't think it can actually survive until the War of the Ring either.

[Murazor]

The fellowship in our game have set up a settlement in the mouth of dust. Short version of the tale is that the dwarven community there owed them a big favour. Then several game years later the pcs set about freeing slaves of the viglundings - they called in the favour with the dwarves and now a strange hybrid community is eking out an existence there. The pcs aren't in charge though and they haven't even been there for a few years. There has been war with viglund , famine, tense negotiations between the ex slaves and the dwarves. It's been fun.

[robert_pat]

I think this could be accomplished by nesting holdings. A small-ish settlement like an old Eotheod village might be a "superholding" comprised of many smaller holdings, while a kingdom like Dale might be a "hyperholding" comprised of many "superholdings". And I realize that super- and hyper- are basically equivalent prefixes, I just can't think of better names.

Different events could occur when rolls are failed at different levels of holding. Failing a roll on the hunting lodge sub-holding of the Eotheod village might mean there's a shortage of food, or that some fearsome beast is slaughtering game. Failing a roll on the village superholding might mean that an orc band is going to attack, or that the villagers are grumbling about leaving for greener pastures.

Throw in an adventure or two about drumming up support for a new settlement, an adventure or three about clearing the immediate area of threats, and you have yourself a solid campaign based on founding and sustaining this settlement. You could even periodically make it harder to maintain these holdings, as they did in DoM. That'd make it very difficult to sustain the settlement all the way to the War.

Dang, just talking about this has made me want to run/play in a campaign set up like this.

[farinal]

Nice idea robert_pat! Yeah reading it also made me want to play!

[Summerhawk]

An excellent idea robert_pat, and all the more so because it simply adapts what's already there rather than inventing a new system.

[Glorelendil]

I love the idea of a campaign book...another multi-decade adventure like DoM...based around the idea of founding a new settlement and growing it over the years, fighting off various threats. Vales of Gundabad and the North Downs would both be good places to do that. There might not be as many Journeys as in other campaigns (although one or two long trips, for trade or diplomacy, could probably be worked in) but otherwise there's a lot of adventure potential.

[Robin Smallburrow]

The best way to look at founding settlements is to look at how they occur historically, and then look at the map to consider where you could found similar settlements. Rome, London etc. all began with one person putting an initial building at a ford across a river, the only fordable place for many miles. Thus it is because of trade that one's initial homestead becomes a village, then a town etc. I think the Easterly Inn is similarly situated in a good spot for inland trade.

Robin S.