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Author Topic: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?  (Read 4464 times)

Stephen Tannhauser

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #15 on: July 04, 2022, 01:41:29 AM »
Just to clarify: Sword Chronicle is not part of AGE system, but is their Game of Thrones rpg without the IP. So, it's a GoT game right out of the gate. It uses what they call the "Chronicle system". While it does use only 6-sided dice (like AGE) its a level-less system where you roll pools of dice and count successes. The new generic version now also includes fantasy races and magic.

Thanks for the additional data -- I admit to having been too lazy to look this up myself, I just remembered the name and a few reviews.
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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #16 on: July 04, 2022, 03:37:01 AM »
GURPS has a realm management system.

Do you know what book that was in?  I have the two 3rd-edition Compendia and I don't remember seeing it in there.
I just searched around a bit because I was curious, and it looks like it's one of the PDFs released for 4th edition. You can find it at Warehouse 23. There's also Boardroom & Curia for organizations, and it may be based to some degree on the earlier GURPS City Stats.

4e might need some Compendia.

Rhymer88

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #17 on: July 04, 2022, 05:40:27 AM »
Pendragon comes to mind. Chivalry & Sorcery can also be played that way. TSR's Birthright Setting is also good, but AD&D isn't really a good match for it.

swzl

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2022, 08:15:28 AM »
ACKs is currently my favorite domain/political set of rules. Axiom #3 coves this from the empire level down to how profitable is your small peasant holding.

David Johansen

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #19 on: July 04, 2022, 01:54:00 PM »
GURPS has a realm management system.

Do you know what book that was in?  I have the two 3rd-edition Compendia and I don't remember seeing it in there.

It's in GURPS Realm Management and came out in the last year or two.
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zircher

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #20 on: July 04, 2022, 06:34:04 PM »
... So can Mekton II and Mekton Zeta.
If I recall correctly, nobility is even on the life path charts.  If you allow some picking and choosing on those tables, you can have a fine mess of betrayals, alliances, and assassinations.  :-)
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tenbones

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #21 on: July 05, 2022, 10:43:07 AM »
Does anyone know of a good system for a game similar to Game of Thrones, where players are powerful nobles instead of plucky adventurers? I'm considering a setting based on the Wars of the Roses or Hussite Wars.

I'm aware of the official A Song of Ice and Fire RPG, but I can't say I've heard many positive views of how it plays. I'm considering Burning Wheel or Reign, as they seem to fit this setting well.

Don't lean on a system over actual roleplaying.

Lords and Nobles are just people - just like Adventurers. Their means and ways may be different, but nearly any system will let you do GoT style play. My games contain those elements as a norm and the system is usually irrelevant to me. You just need to know contextually what the starting point is for your players.

The GoT RPG from Green Ronin actually has a great little system to do a quick and dirty "House" setup. Where the PC's will establish all the domain particulars of their House and their respective place in it. But you certainly don't need it. Just talk it through with your players, and *know* what you want to do with the setting. Give them what they want, and create what *you* want around them. The conflicts that inevitably develop is where the game is.

I've run games like this with deep domain level play with Savage Worlds, D&D (1e, 2e, 3e, 5e), Pathfinder, Star Wars FFG/D6, Talislanta, WoD (Damnation Alley is particularly useful), MSH (You ever wonder why Mutants are "simply" wiped off the map? did you *ever* look at the Map? Yeah it's scary what lives in the Marvel U. America). The POINT being is system is irrelevant - it's simply about you knowing what you want, and letting your players play fearlessly in it. At least until you put the fear of YOU upon them.

Reckall

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #22 on: July 05, 2022, 10:56:52 AM »
Wasn't Birthright for AD&D 2E about realm management/politics? That was a line that escaped me, as at the time I was involved in other stuff.
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tenbones

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #23 on: July 05, 2022, 11:00:52 AM »
yep! and it was pretty snazzy.

Dropbear

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #24 on: July 06, 2022, 07:38:42 AM »
yep! and it was pretty snazzy.

I never caught Birthright but am wondering if I should now.

tenbones

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #25 on: July 06, 2022, 03:05:08 PM »
Worth a look if you're looking for possible cohesive ways of adding "domain" level play to your game.

The thing is figuring how granular you want it and to what scale you want players to engage with such things. Do you want your players being lords of a great House with mechanical responsibilities such as dealing with resources and defenses or do you want it done narratively with instruction on what is entailed on duties and responsibilities of holding such titles on lands of specific size? Or both?

Mass combat, siege rules etc. Need to be considered as well.

If nothing else Birthright is worth looking at if only for conversion to another system you prefer.

S'mon

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #26 on: July 07, 2022, 02:13:52 AM »
I never caught Birthright but am wondering if I should now.

It's really not designed as a generic system. I'd recommend ACKS or the rules in the Classic D&D Companion Set for that.

MeganovaStella

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #27 on: July 07, 2022, 07:09:07 PM »
Use Quixalted Extended. Only Heroic Mortals should be played. It has a subsystem for politics.

shoplifter

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #28 on: July 08, 2022, 03:43:51 PM »
Reign should do what you are looking for. It’s explicitly designed to model the power of nations, guilds, and free companies.

https://gregstolze.com/reign1/

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Re: RPG System for Fantasy Political Settings?
« Reply #29 on: July 09, 2022, 02:15:16 PM »
The first thing that comes to mind is of course L5R. 4th edition so that it has almost no tainting by John Wick. Its downside is the fact that it's very setting-dependent (though with some elbow grease you could export it to something else).

Then ACKS. It's more about kingdom-building, but it has rules for intrigue shenanigans.

The FFG Star Wars and as a consequence, Genesys have a pretty robust system that can be used very well for what you want.