Adding In Domain Play After The Fact, Part 2

29 Mar, 2024

This is the second part of an article about adding in domain play to existing games, see the first part here.

In part 1, I set up existing factions within the region. Now, time to give them some stats using in-world justification!

As a reminder, here's our region map:

Statting up an example Domain

Let's use Sedgeport as an example of how you would stat up a Domain. First, we've gotta collect all the various locations that make up the Domain and add their stat bonuses to the overall statline for the Vampire Houses.

Settlements:

1. Sedgeport, City (+4 Wealth, +4 Social), Trading Hub (+2 Wealth), Expert Artisans (+2 Wealth)
2. Bardock, Town (+2 Wealth, +2 Social), Survivors (+2 Military), Production Center (+2 Wealth)
3. Rustrock, Town (+2 Wealth, +2 Social), Ethnocentrists (+2 Social), Martial Tradition (+2 Military)
4. Spike Harbor, Town (+2 Wealth, +2 Social), Ancestral Land (+2 Wealth), Vigorous Trade (+2 Wealth)

Ruins:

1. Fort Lodestone, Ruin (+2 Wealth), Lost Mine (+2 Wealth), Willing Recruits (+2 Military)
2. Egg Tower, "Ruin" (+2 Wealth), Prehuman Ruins (+2 Wealth), Forgotten Sorceries (+2 Wealth)

Resources:

1. Good Fishing (0506), Resource (+2 Wealth)
2. Sorcerous Materials (0401), Resource (+2 Wealth)

I don't think Sedgeport has control over any other Ruins or Resources so I'll leave it there. Current totals:

Let's grant some assets now. The guidance in An Echo, Resounding is to roughly eyeball it, keeping in mind that most places have been around a while and will have built as much infrastructure as they can. I'm going to add some assets and provide some justification underneath each

1. Sedgeport (City): Academy (+4 Wealth, -1 Social), Training Grounds (+4 Military, -1 Wealth), Walls (+4 Military, -1 Wealth), Mercantile Guilds (-1 Military, +8 Wealth, -1 Social), Veteran Guard (+4 Military, -2 Wealth), Brutal Tyranny (+4 Military), Mounted Knights (-3 Military, -4 Wealth, -1 Social), 2 Pikemen (-4 Military, -2 Wealth), 2 Archers (-2 Military, -2 Wealth), 2 Rangers (-2 Military, -2 Wealth), 2 War Galley (-6 Military, -8 Wealth), Sailing Ship (-3 Military, -5 Wealth), Transport Ship (-2 Military, -4 Wealth), Training Grounds are covering the upkeep for the 2 pikemen

Sedgeport itself is a wealthy City that's been around a long time, profiting off both it's extensive trade networks and the academic accomplishments off it's noble houses searching for a magical or alchemical cure for vampirism. It's both a port and the capital of the Domain, so it needs enough ships to not only defend itself but also to guard its waters. Similarly, it needs enough ground troops to avoid being overrun by both the nearby natural dangers (the trolls of the Foggy Forest and the bulettes of the Sea of Grass) or the artificial ones (invasion by the Redmountain Orc Clan or expansion by Quillbury). Just due to the nature of the Domain, the majority of the wealth concentration will also be in Sedgeport.

2. Bardock (Town): Palisade (+2 Military), Barracks (+2 Military), 3 Rangers (-3 Military, -3 Wealth) Heavy Infantry (-2 Military, -2 Wealth), Barracks covers upkeep for the Heavy Infantry

Bardock is essentially a military outpost built around a jumped-up fishing village. The Town's production is necessary to feed the rest of the Domain but it's geographically isolated by dangers all around it. The heavy investment for Rangers as a garrison force is to keep dangers from getting to the town, while the Heavy Infantry is for ensuring they don't burn it down.

3. Rustrock (Town): Barracks (+2 Military), Hell Shrine (+2 Military, +4 Wealth, +2 Social), 3 Heavy Infantry (-6 Military, -6 Wealth), Barracks covers upkeep for the first Heavy Infantry

Rustrock is a far-off Town that's half beholden to Sedgeport and half beholden to their demon cults. The near-constant dangers of bulette predation and possible volcano eruption serve to make it a tense place to live. I figure stationing troops there would make a lot of sense for Sedgeport both to hold down the region but also to ward off any possible invasion forces coming over the mountains.

4. Spike Harbor (Town): Barracks (+2 Military), Wall (+4 Military, -1 Wealth), Market (+2 Wealth), Sailing Ship (-3 Military, -5 Wealth) Heavy Infantry (-2 Military, -2 Wealth), Barracks covers upkeep for the Heavy Infantry

Spike Harbor would need some defenses just owing to its placement on the borders of the Domain, but not a ton. Stout Walls and a ship in harbor is probably enough to keep it fairly safe from nautical threats, while the Heavy Infantry serves to keep the dangers of the island out.

This brings us to the updated Sedgeport holdings of:

This paints a picture of a Domain heavily leveraging its wealth and military might to hold onto border regions, while maintaining a prosperous core. Not much at all is leveraging it's Social score. I picture Sedgeport as being mostly defensive militarily but that means I need to be portraying them in game as much more besieged. Sedgeport isn't going to keep paying for all these expensive troops if they're not using them.

On the other hand, if they're not being used for defense, it means there's a major military power with access to a coast just hanging around with lots of might waiting to be used. They might push and try to take over Quillbury or get access to the River Dak on the north side of the Foggy Forest. Much to think about!

I statted up the rest of the Domains on my own, here are the results:

While statting up the rest, I determined that the minor Domains I had tentatively written up in part 1 didn't make sense to add in as major actors. The other Domains will act on them and I might want to take a look at what these Domains "would have had" at that point, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

The numbers also tell quite the story. Quillbury has in play reflected a very hands-off ruling style, and it's assets tell that story. The residents of Begblueton are practically under siege in their own homes, with no one in Quillbury seeming to know or care. The freehold Towns care about not being under the yoke of another Domain, but don't necessarily care about helping one another.

The Redmountain Clan is taxed up to its neck as far as Wealth goes -- they can't build more infrastructure without getting more coin somewhere. On the other hand, they have tons of slack Military power, implying that Redmountain troops likely either do lots of mercenary work or that talent is going fallow somewhere.

Fairvane is tapped both socially and militarily, with a good amount of slack Wealth. This implies to me a large upper class scraping off the top, using the twin fists of might and politic to keep down the masses.

Great! We've got stats, now let's smush our guys together and see what they're doing while our players crawl dungeons!

The Faction Turn

An Echo, Resounding has a collection of actions that it thinks that Domains will take, but it encourages the use of more by creating stats and saves. I'm going to take the list of actions as a suggestion and just figure that each Domain is going to attempt 1 action every 30 days or so (both arbitrary numbers).

For the first 30 days of Autumn, 6023:

1. Sedgeport will send a unit of Heavy Infantry from Rustrock towards Begblueton. They're not necessarily going to take the place by force, but the vampire nobles can see that Begblueton is suffering under the lack of leadership and aid from Quillbury and is going to try and step in when the community is weak.
2. Quillbury is going to attempt to Accumulate Treasure (as the action in An Echo, Resounding). They roll a d20 + their Wealth modifier which is currently +9. They get a 29 and gain 4 units of Treasure (max rolls baybee!, etc). This action is to represent Quillbury taking advantage of their recent bountiful harvests, they're looking to consolidate as much Wealth as possible.
3. Redmountain Clan has been having Rebel trouble recently by way of the nobles bucking under the lack of strong leadership under Torsten Redmountain, seeking either a replacement heir they can bully around or a stronger king that will lead them to wealth and glory. The Redmountain Clan sends their Foot Knights (representing the Royal Guard) asset east to Mon Feld to quell more riots.
4. Fairvane is going to look towards converting some of its hostile neighbors all around. This doesn't really correspond to any action in the book, so I'm just going to say its a Social roll similar to the Accumulate Treasure roll above. Fairvane rolls a d20+3 and gets an 11, which is marked as a success. I'm going to say that they're successful in recruiting, reflected in 3 units of "Treasure" which is actually just spare manpower.

And that's the turn! These actions would take place over the first part of the Autumn season, players would see signs of each of these actions taking place (and because I'm behind in my session reports, I will report that they have already seen some of these actions, I just haven't written those sessions up yet).

PC Involvement

So where do the PCs come in and interact with this piece of the game structure? By attacking it from all axes of course! In the language of An Echo, Resounding, players act as a powerful Military and Social asset possessing immense Wealth that can travel much faster than any other asset and make decisions much faster than any Domain could even hope to do. A group of PCs might disrupt the Sedgeport forces moving to Begblueton, thinking them an invading force. They might ally with the soldiers instead, guiding them towards helping the town. They might do neither and completely ignore the soldiers and walk off in a third direction entirely!

Allowing PCs direct interaction with Domains (via An Echo, Resounding or another procedure, or just via diegetic action and your notes) points you towards thinking about Domain-wide consequences. If the soldiers from Rustrock disappear, Sedgeport will need to send more forces there, destabilizing the rest of their holdings. If the PCs take over some of the farms outside Quillbury, they might wake the currently lax government, prompting them to act and expend some of their Wealth on defense. If the PCs go after a Resource that's currently unclaimed, the nearest Domain might send them a courier asking for their cut! Thinking about PC actions in terms of which faction might care points you towards making actions "off screen", which make the world feel more alive when the PCs encounter them.

In a lot of scenarios, showing the PCs the Domain-level consequences of their actions also prompts them to take Domain-level actions of their own. They might gather up some free agents and establish a fort somewhere, locking down an old Lair and claiming a nearby Resource. They might get some villages to swear fealty to them instead of the faraway capital, pointing out quite rightly that the PCs are there now and the capital is a good week away, if they send anyone at all. Having a structure of Domains and factions already present makes it easier to get the PCs in on it, because you've already got a sense of what a Domain looks like in your region and where PCs might want to set up if they dont want to cause an upset.

The Takeaway

If you're currently running a sandbox or a hexmap or a pointcrawl or what have you, think about Domain level play. What factions exist out there in your world? What Resources are they making use of, where are their military assets deployed? What might they be worrying about? What's their weakspot, such that an enterprising group of misfits and ne'erdowells would know to definitely not strike that place?

You don't need to use An Echo, Resounding to stat up your region, but I wanted to show you that even with an existing map and a moderately-complex procedure that you too can add Domain Play to your game. It's not too late and it'll make your game better in the long run, promise.

#HaY Infinite