GURPS Realm Management

[ericthered]

My current voice-chat game is pretty close to a realm management game. After a player observed at the end of the session that we did very little dice rolling that night, I wondered briefly what gurps specifically brought to this game. My internal answer: it brought answers to questions about running a fantasy kingdom in a satisfying way that didn't require much work before hand.

If I want to know how much tax the players have access to when ruling the kingdom... that's in Gurps. If I want to know how much they have to pay to field the kingdom's army... that's in Gurps too. If I want to know how dangerous a city-wide riot is in terms of the troops... city stats and mass combat tells me the combat strength of the entire city up in arms. If I need to know how much a food to feed one-fifth of the kingdom costs because my players and considering a stupidly large import project -- Gurps has a good framework for that (and robust enough that I'm not worried about the numbers making it miraculously work and destroying one of the core dilemmas of the campaign).

And I really don't have to worry about it until I need it.

[Emerikol]

Originally Posted by ericthered

My current voice-chat game is pretty close to a realm management game. After a player observed at the end of the session that we did very little dice rolling that night, I wondered briefly what gurps specifically brought to this game. My internal answer: it brought answers to questions about running a fantasy kingdom in a satisfying way that didn't require much work before hand.

Your game sounds interesting. In my campaigns of the past, especially at higher levels, there as always been a lot of realm management. It didn't take over the play session so much as the time in between. I'd field calls from players say "when I get back to town be sure to do this or that". I've had them do everything from run businesses to manipulate empires. It definitely drives up the stakes and makes adventuring more fun as well.

[GodBeastX]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

The chapter in GURPS space (3e as I haven't got 4e yet but probably will when I play a sci-fi campaign) about generating star systems is pretty awesome and really useful for any sci-fi campaign that covers a lot of star systems.

100x yes on this!

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

So many GURPS sourcebooks fall into that category. The chapter in GURPS space (3e as I haven't got 4e yet but probably will when I play a sci-fi campaign) about generating star systems is pretty awesome and really useful for any sci-fi campaign that covers a lot of star systems.

One of the things I do for the GURPSwiki is add links to sites and free programs to help GMs. GURPS Space has links to:
*StarGen (website)
*Star System Generator (donjon)
*Star System Generator (sfrpgtools)
*Solar System Generator (RanGen)

[Emerikol]

Originally Posted by maximara

One of the things I do for the GURPSwiki is add links to sites and free programs to help GMs. GURPS Space has links to:
*StarGen (website)
*Star System Generator (donjon)
*Star System Generator (sfrpgtools)
*Solar System Generator (RanGen)

Those look cool! Thanks for sharing.

[Angle]

For the windfalls, how long do the Resource Discovery and Bumper Crop last? Is that 1 additional resource point from each of them, per turn, forever? And for Plague, it seems like it should have the same chance to resolve itself as Drought/Famine does.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Unless otherwise noted Immediate Effects last one turn for windfalls. For disruptions the Long-Term effects last until you counter them. You can swap up Plague to work like Famine if you want.

[Angle]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

Unless otherwise noted Immediate Effects last one turn for windfalls. For disruptions the Long-Term effects last until you counter them. You can swap up Plague to work like Famine if you want.

For windfalls, the ones I mentions say 'Immediate: +1d Resource points. Long term: +1 Resource Points. Which implies that that +1 Resource point is every turn. Otherwise, why not just write it as 'Immediate: 1d+1 Resource Points'? But it doesn't explicitly say 'every turn', which leaves a lot of ambiguity.

Edit: Wait, no, I think I figured it out. It's +1d Resource Points, with an additional +1 the next turn on a successful Allocate Resources maneuver. Okay, got it. XD

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Angle

For windfalls, the ones I mentions say 'Immediate: +1d Resource points. Long term: +1 Resource Points. Which implies that that +1 Resource point is every turn. Otherwise, why not just write it as 'Immediate: 1d+1 Resource Points'? But it doesn't explicitly say 'every turn', which leaves a lot of ambiguity.

Edit: Wait, no, I think I figured it out. It's +1d Resource Points, with an additional +1 the next turn on a successful Allocate Resources maneuver. Okay, got it. XD

Yup. You got it.

[Angle]

For Renewing Resource, can a realm combine an appropriate action with another action? Like, say a realm has 'Renewing Resource: Iron Mine, Level 2'. Can they spend two actions to mine iron, and a third action on Marshal Manpower, without incurring any penalties? Or would they have to choose between another action with no penalties, or spending three actions to mine iron with no penalties?

Edit: Similarly, can a realm take multiple levels of Maneuver Mastery, and then do all of those actions, each turn, with no penalty? Say, MM: Allocate Resources + MM: Marshal manpower, and then do an Allocate Resources + Marshal Manpower + another action each turn, at no penalty?