Running a Kingdom

[Jenx]

The first time I ran the mechanics for the players kingdoms was in the 80s using Becmi.

It wasn't very interesting. Number crunching and as a group we lost the fun from dungeoneering or exploring. They were all frightened to death I'd usurp their characters with a pretender to the throne. Too right I would.

Reign is a thing and 2e is sort of on its way (delayed) but are there any other zero to hero to king games out there worth searching out? I'm itching to run a fantasy play by post but it's for the long haul and want to make sure the system will do it. There's always becmi to fall back on and it's that I'm looking at right now but wondering if I'm missing out on a better option.

Can running a Kingdom be fun? Or is it deciding which farmer owns the pig and going over trade agreements with merchants (yawn)?

 

[A Fiery Flying Roll]

It's worth checking out Renegade Crowns for WFRP. It's somewhat setting specific but it definitely focuses on the fun side of rulership.

 

[robertsconley]

Can running a Kingdom be fun? Or is it deciding which farmer owns the pig and going over trade agreements with merchants (yawn)?

The trick is not to focus on the minutiae any more than what you would for a Classic Traveller Starship. Harnmanor has minutiae but it does one thing very well and that bring a manor to life by a nice series of event tables that generate good and bad things that happen to the manor and its tenants. That what you need to do with running a kingdom. Assume that pig ownership and trade agreements with merchants are handled in the realm management mechanics. Generate both good and bad events for NPCs and the realm amounting to about a dozen or so per cycle. Then based the "adventures" off of dealing with those.

It like Journeys in Adventure in Middle Earth. The system deftly reduces a 500 mile trek down to 4 to 6 encounters, that cover events, encounters with creatures, oppourtunties to replenish supplies, etc. So what a slog of encounter roll after encounter rolls becomes something that can be handled in a single session.

 

[Jenx]

Well back then I guess it was 14 or 15 year old me (can't remember when the CMI parts of BECMI came out but I was still at school) so I hope I'd be able to make it a bit more interesting.

I was trying to remember a game I thought I'd heard of which might do the job and thought of this one /\ However is there something iffy about it? I seem to remember something on TBP a few years ago maybe about this or something else, I could be mistaken. I tend not to get involved in the 'We love this game'/'Now we hate this game and everyone who plays it is a fascist/idiot/said means things about stuff' flip/flop that goes on there sometimes.

 

[A Fiery Flying Roll]

Well back then I guess it was 14 or 15 year old me (can't remember when the CMI parts of BECMI came out but I was still at school) so I hope I'd be able to make it a bit more interesting.

I was trying to remember a game I thought I'd heard of which might do the job and thought of this one /\ However is there something iffy about it? I seem to remember something on TBP a few years ago maybe about this or something else, I could be mistaken. I tend not to get involved in the 'We love this game'/'Now we hate this game and everyone who plays it is a fascist/idiot/said means things about stuff' flip/flop that goes on there sometimes

The reasons TBP don't like it are political, so afraid that's not really something to go into on here. It's not the game itself.

 

[Jenx]

That's fine, I can check the game out without feeling I'm funding a blacklisted author for whatever reason, hopefully.

 

[Simon Hogwood]

While I have a great deal of respect and admiration for ACKS, it must be admitted that it doesn't shy away from the number-crunching:

 

[Jenx]

While I have a great deal of respect and admiration for ACKS, it must be admitted that it doesn't shy away from the number-crunching:

Wha... Spreadsheets and Sorcery? Doh. That doesn't sound like fun

 

[Silent Green]

The reasons TBP don't like it are political, so afraid that's not really something to go into on here. It's not the game itself.

Are they? IIRC it was about the author making “legal threats” to TBP, so they decided to ban all discussion of it (and him) to make themselves less of a target.

 

[A Fiery Flying Roll]

Are they? IIRC it was about the author making “legal threats” to TBP, so they decided to ban all discussion of it (and him) to make themselves less of a target.

That was after the political stuff rather than before I believe.

 

[Luca]

Are they? IIRC it was about the author making “legal threats” to TBP, so they decided to ban all discussion of it (and him) to make themselves less of a target.

The "legal threats" was the author (Alexander Macris) asking TBP to stop slandering him on their forums.
You should really take everything you read on TBP with a Jupiter-sized serving of salt.