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Thread: Starting Domain

  1. #11
    Site Moderator Magian's Avatar
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    RP it would seem in the context of what darknaj used it is Role Play. RP in Birthright otherwise is meant in terms of Regency Points.
    One law, One court, One allied people, One coin, and one tax, is what I shall bring to Cerilia.

  2. #12
    Site Moderator Magian's Avatar
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    There are different types of campaigns for Birthright. You can play the grand campaign where every player has their own realm or domain. I think a good idea for you would be to play the D&D party system and transition into the domain level.

    You can take a party and run regular adventures with them and you and the players get to know the characters and they know each other. Then eventually they are awarded some lands or decide to take over some lands and make them their own. This way its a learning experience for all of you at once and creates a team play where they need each other. They can each have their respective domains within those lands that their class can benefit. So a warrior can be the lord over law, a rogue over the guilds, and cleric over the temples, and a wizard over the sources. Like in the party system they serve to help each other. Its a much more player friendly approach to starting out the game.

    You can put this realm your players make anywhere you want and adjust the world to fit your game as you learn more. You can take a wild land with no rulers or replace an existing realm with it. The nice thing about Birthright is you can do whatever you want with it. You can find all kinds of rules here on birthright.net from the downloads section and wiki or take ideas from other games and products and plug them in. There really is no expert just experienced with their own rules when it comes to this game. Some of the players here get into historical ties into the Birthright world, and all that takes is some reading and research. None of that is necessary. There are many perspectives and ideas to play with and this community has provided hoard of treasure on the threads in previous years for more ideas. Other places to look are PBEM sites or Play By Email. They usually have some cool ideas for how to organize a game or just some neat homebrew rules.

    What part of Italia are you from, if you don't mind me asking.
    One law, One court, One allied people, One coin, and one tax, is what I shall bring to Cerilia.

  3. #13
    I'm from Abruzzo!
    I Was born in Pescara and live in Vacri (a very small place nearby Chieti).

  4. #14
    Site Moderator Magian's Avatar
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    I was stationed at Brindisi back in 1997.
    One law, One court, One allied people, One coin, and one tax, is what I shall bring to Cerilia.

  5. #15
    I think we'll play at domain & adventure level since the start.
    Maybe I allow people to start from 4th or 6th level.
    We are all D&D veterans and domain level is the only thing which really attracts us to BR.
    I would like you to give me another suggestion.
    I'm sure various of my players will want to play different human races.
    Can you suggest me any domain or realm where races mix more freely?
    Maybe something with old ethnic enclaves of old reigns.
    Given the complicated history of BR this should have happened somewhere, for example with pockets of old Anuireans in Brech-ruled or Khinasi-ruled lands.

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    I think you should try starting a campaign in Roesone based on the Player's Secrets of Roesone. There's one Brecht and one Rjurik noble in Roesone, and the neighbouring Medoere has a Vos general. A Khinasi guilder is also quite active in the area but based in nearby Ilien. Medoere and Ilien are both covered by official Player's Secrets and there is a fanmade Player's Secrets of Ghoere which is located to the north. Aerenwe to the east is the only 'blank spot'. There is also Spidefell nearby which could provide the 'ultimate challenge' for adventuring PCs.

  7. #17
    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    For mixtures of races, etc I like Dhoesone, possibly overly so as the victims of the possibly-over-long PS Dhoesone I've partly written will attest.

    Dhoesone is a frontier between Anuire & Rjurik lands, to the south it has Cariele and Mhoried which are two very different Anuirean realms, to the west it has the Telshore realms of the Rjurik, to the north wastlelands of monsters, goblins, etc, to the south weakly allied elven and goblin realms (!) It wouldn't be hard to fit in Brecht sailors, or even Khinasi refugees (there is a Khinasi wizard in the realm of Rjuvik for example) while Dwarves live in the Silverheads to the north. It also has many competing guilds, temples, etc so there is plenty going on - I've put a lot of PS Dhoesone on the wiki if you are interested in my thoughts.

    On the downside you'd be less open to the rest of Anuire as the Aelvinnwode is in the way, but the history of Dhoesone does lead it to having some place in Anuire, albeit often as victim of powerplays and there is always the sea to connect you to the west coast.

  8. #18
    Sorry for the continuous questions, but I'm just eager to learn as much as possible on Birthright.
    I have a series of questions, just to check if I well understood.

    1) PROVINCES & HOLDINGS
    Are these 3 assumptions correct?
    - A domain ca be built with holdings of different types in different (or the same) provinces.
    - A Province is a kind of territorial holding for the potical ruler of the province (separate from Law, which is army & police).
    - A domain could be built with different holding types, both in the same or in different provinces. Am I wrong?
    If these three assumptions are true, dominions can be complicated, and I like it.
    So, for example, we could have a domain like this:
    - A high priest with 3 Temple holdings (giving both RP and GB) in 3 different provinces (provinces A,B and C).
    - Maybe he is also the legitimate regent (a realm) of two of these provinces (A and B) and he receives both RP and GB from those 2 provinces (while Province C is maybe ruled by somebody else)
    - Maybe he has also the Law holding in only one of the these 2 provinces ("Province B"), receiving RP and GB, giving the Law holding of the other province (Province C) to somebody else.
    Is this domain correct according to the rules?

    2) ASSETS
    Can the assets (higways, bridges, etc.) be built by ANY holding, or just by the regent of the province?
    If non-province holders built assets in the province, do they pay for the maintenance or is the province-regent to pay?

    3) COURTS & PALACES
    So, could every domain have a Court?
    Even a domain without the regency on a province? (e.g. somebody having only guild holdings).
    Can palaces be built by any kind of domain?

    4) STARTING DOMAINS
    I have understood that domain choose is kind of arbitrary choose by th DM.
    If so, are domain stats (holding levels, assets, etc..) for starting domains also arbitrarily chosen by the DM?
    Should I just take a domain from "Ruins of Empire" and substitute the regent with a PC, without any relationship to PC stats (e.g. bloodline score)??
    I ask it with particular reference to courts (i've seen no sign of court levels in 2ed books).
    Maybe I can just give a court whose value is equal to that of the largest non-source holding in a domain.

    5) APPROXIMATIONS
    Many costs are given according to fractions, especially regarding army & assets maintenance costs (e.g. 1/12 GB, 3/4 gb).
    Since these costs tend to sum up, I found is easier to calculate the fractions, rather than keep the fraction.
    So 1/12 of 1 gb will be 0.08 gb.
    So 3/4 of 1 gb will be 0.75 gb.
    I find it easier to do it, rather than keep aproximations.
    What do you do for cases like these?
    Calculate or approximate?
    And if so, do you approximate by defect or excess?
    Last edited by LucaCherstich; 09-05-2011 at 09:04 PM.

  9. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    Sorry for the continuous questions, but I'm just eager to learn as much as possible on Birthright.
    I have a series of questions, just to check if I well understood.

    1) PROVINCES & HOLDINGS
    Are these 3 assumptions correct?
    - A domain ca be built with holdings of different types in different (or the same) provinces.
    - A Province is a kind of territorial holding for the potical ruler of the province (separate from Law, which is army & police).
    - A domain could be built with different holding types, both in the same or in different provinces. Am I wrong?
    If these three assumptions are true, dominions can be complicated, and I like it.
    So, for example, we could have a domain like this:
    - A high priest with 3 Temple holdings (giving both RP and GB) in 3 different provinces (provinces A,B and C).
    - Maybe he is also the legitimate regent (a realm) of two of these provinces (A and B) and he receives both RP and GB from those 2 provinces (while Province C is maybe ruled by somebody else)
    - Maybe he has also the Law holding in only one of the these 2 provinces ("Province B"), receiving RP and GB, giving the Law holding of the other province (Province C) to somebody else.
    Is this domain correct according to the rules?
    Yes this is correct. Just have to remember that not all classes benefit from owning certain holdings. That is they get half or no RP income from the holding so there isn't much reason to have them. Economically speaking of course.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    2) ASSETS
    Can the assets (higways, bridges, etc.) be built by ANY holding, or just by the regent of the province?
    If non-province holders built assets in the province, do they pay for the maintenance or is the province-regent to pay?
    As a rule of thumb I play by that anything that effects the provience as a whole must be supported by the ruling regent. Projects that the regent doesn't want happening tend to have workforces that meet untimely ends, material shortages, etc.

    Otherwise who ever makes it maintains it. Rare occasions have happened where something is traded at a later date or is subsidized (guilders agreeing to pay for some road maintence for example), but it is really up to whoever wants it around.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    3) COURTS & PALACES
    So, could every domain have a Court?
    Even a domain without the regency on a province? (e.g. somebody having only guild holdings).
    Can palaces be built by any kind of domain?

    4) STARTING DOMAINS
    I have understood that domain choose is kind of arbitrary choose by th DM.
    If so, are domain stats (holding levels, assets, etc..) for starting domains also arbitrarily chosen by the DM?
    Should I just take a domain from "Ruins of Empire" and substitute the regent with a PC, without any relationship to PC stats (e.g. bloodline score)??
    I ask it with particular reference to courts (i've seen no sign of court levels in 2ed books).
    Maybe I can just give a court whose value is equal to that of the largest non-source holding in a domain.
    In theory yes anyone can have a court. To me having a court is more of a status symbol with a small bonus. Palaces being an even greater status symbol.

    Substituting a PC for the domain regent from the "Ruins of Empire" is the easiest. Before the first turn you could let them choose their court level. Some players like big courts, others like small ones... best to let them pick in my opinion.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    5) APPROXIMATIONS
    Many costs are given according to fractions, especially regarding army & assets maintenance costs (e.g. 1/12 GB, 3/4 gb).
    Since these costs tend to sum up, I found is easier to calculate the fractions, rather than keep the fraction.
    So 1/12 of 1 gb will be 0.08 gb.
    So 3/4 of 1 gb will be 0.75 gb.
    I find it easier to do it, rather than keep aproximations.
    What do you do for cases like these?
    Calculate or approximate?
    And if so, do you approximate by defect or excess?
    I've only been involved in games that account for fractions. Can't remember off the top of my head if everything was rounded up to .25 minimum value or not. I personally would do this to make accounting easier.

  10. #20
    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    1) PROVINCES & HOLDINGS
    Are these 3 assumptions correct?
    - A domain can be built with holdings of different types in different (or the same) provinces.
    Yes, and generally will. Most rulers will have some law and possibly some guild, possibly even a small temple or two. Many temples will have some law, many guilds will aim for some law as well. The basic rulebooks tended to be very 'pure' but that's not too realistic in my view.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    - A Province is a kind of territorial holding for the potical ruler of the province (separate from Law, which is army & police).
    Law could also be criminal gangs, influence over police/army, strength of custom/laws, wise advisers who are looked to for guidance, etc - anything which is good at influencing any large group of people. A sidhe law holding would be composed of very different building blocks than a karamhul law holding.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    - A domain could be built with different holding types, both in the same or in different provinces. Am I wrong?
    No, generally there will be some geographical proximity of holdings for historical reasons, but given inheritances, marriage, etc geographically isolated domains are quite possible.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    Is this domain correct according to the rules?
    Yes. I would add in vassal rulers etc, possibly with multiple vassalage loyalties, to build a messy tangle ripe for conflict.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    2) ASSETS
    Can the assets (higways, bridges, etc.) be built by ANY holding, or just by the regent of the province?
    I'd say by any-one, although any law holder could oppose the attempt to build the project and anyone local will probably know about it if it is big enough to factor at domain level. In general however role-play issues will come into play - the ruler may not want roads that allow enemy armies ready passage through their realm, and may certainly have violent views on the building of castles! I'm a big fan of assets and see them as good ways to differentiate domains and add colour, Karamhul army-slaying traps such as glacial dams, collapsing bridges, prepared battlefields, etc could also be built with asset rules as a note.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    If non-province holders built assets in the province, do they pay for the maintenance or is the province-regent to pay?
    The owner of the asset benefits from its powers and pays for its upkeep. You could have assets gifted, sponsored, loaned, etc - a ruler building a nice cathedral and gifting it to the local temple as penance for something they did / were going to do would be fairly normal as would a guilder building some wondrous work of art like a theater or library with which to boast their fortune and taste.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    3) COURTS & PALACES
    So, could every domain have a Court?
    Even a domain without the regency on a province? (e.g. somebody having only guild holdings).
    Can palaces be built by any kind of domain?
    Yes to all, smaller domains may ask to share a court although that is fraught with diplomatic issues best handed through role-play and DM arbitration. I note that again role-play issues can arise over this - if a lesser noble, guilder, etc had a grander palace and greater court than the local king then a confrontation may well arise over wounded pride.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    4) STARTING DOMAINS
    I have understood that domain choose is kind of arbitrary choose by the DM.
    If so, are domain stats (holding levels, assets, etc..) for starting domains also arbitrarily chosen by the DM?
    Should I just take a domain from "Ruins of Empire" and substitute the regent with a PC, without any relationship to PC stats (e.g. bloodline score)??
    I ask it with particular reference to courts (i've seen no sign of court levels in 2ed books).
    Maybe I can just give a court whose value is equal to that of the largest non-source holding in a domain.
    Arbitrary is a harsh way of looking at it. The DM will have an idea of the type of game wanted and try to create balanced domains without critical vulnerabilities or easy wins that could end the game too quickly. I'd say that court level = highest holding level would be a good rule of thumb for courts, but regents noted as frugal might have a level or two lower and profligate regents the converse.

    Quote Originally Posted by LucaCherstich View Post
    5) APPROXIMATIONS
    Many costs are given according to fractions...
    Personally I go decimal, excel doesn't care so just sling in the sums...

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