Realm Management examples

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Michele

3) This is important - a deviation from the RAW. I am automatically assigning a Defense Bonus of 1, for no cost. That is because I'm under the impression that, no matter what the terrain, the defender will always be at a slight advantage over an attacker, if for nothing else, for knowing better their turf. That is not what GURPS Realm Management provides for; the default Defense Bonus is 0, not 1. In practice, I'm giving out one level of that for free.
GMs who want to follow the RAW should either downgrade my realms' Defense Bonus by 1 level, or leave the modifier as it is, give them one additional level of the Defensible Terrain Enhancement, and adjust the realm cost (+10%).

If you're OK with these terms, you'll find more realms soon.

As a campaign feature/optional rule I endorse this. I probably would have considered adding this as a box in RM if I had thought of it. Just makes sense.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Michele

I'm glad that the examples are useful, and I accept the invitation to continue. There are, however, a few things to point out:

1) A realistic medieval/fantasy continent would have, for instance, ten feudal realms... all rather similar. If there's a TL2 corner, then you'd find there a hundred small chiefdoms... all pretty much indistinguishable from afar. I'm not going there. I can and will post realms, but each will be one of a kind. GMs who want multiple feudal statelets are welcome to start with my one example (post #29) and modify it a few times.

There are good odds that there is an "Empire" overseeing the various Kingdoms. So you'd have Barony under Kingdom under Empire. The Holy Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire are the two I can think of off the top of my head.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by maximara

There are good odds that there is an "Empire" overseeing the various Kingdoms. So you'd have Barony under Kingdom under Empire. The Holy Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire are the two I can think of off the top of my head.

Well, in the case of those two empires, yes, for some meaning of "overseeing". The fact alone that those empires lasted for centuries means, of course, that things changed quite a bit over all that time. The Holy Roman Empire, additionally, was a unique beast of its own, even when it actually had an emperor (early on, it was not uncommon for it to go 20-30 years without a formally appointed ruler, which does raise some doubts about its central authority).

GURPS Realm Management, like the rest of GURPS, portrays reality by looking at - reality, not at form and theory. If I were intentioned to portray Palatinate and Bohemia in 1619-20, I'd never, ever consider them as being overseen by the Emperor at that time. I wouldn't represent them as an integral part of an empire, nor as non-independent states that paid tribute or vassalage to the empire. YMMV, naturally.

That said, yes, I'm going to provide a sample empire. A simpler one than the HRE.

[SolemnGolem]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

I just signed a contract for a new book

"Aroint thee, and accept my tender of coin!" ~ Frye, holding out ducats

Originally Posted by Michele

To expand on this example, here's how one could use GURPS Mass Combat to flesh out the military expenditure of this small realm.

Thanks to Michele for the Barony's military example too. I'm trying to stat up a medieval TL3(+1) magical fantasy nation that's about the geographic size and climate of Tunisia and about the population of Switzerland, and there's some political history complexities (which also translates to Levy troops, Elite troops, and some useless under-trained Ceremonial troops, etc.).

One thing I'm having to struggle with is the default assumption that a military element is a unit of about 10 individual soldiers. This is causing quite a bit of mathematical work for costs, etc. as well as some Googling of key historical battles to see what's a realistic number of people in a fighting force.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Michele

Well, in the case of those two empires, yes, for some meaning of "overseeing". The fact alone that those empires lasted for centuries means, of course, that things changed quite a bit over all that time. The Holy Roman Empire, additionally, was a unique beast of its own, even when it actually had an emperor (early on, it was not uncommon for it to go 20-30 years without a formally appointed ruler, which does raise some doubts about its central authority).

Well there is the Confederacy form of government such as the US had under the Articles of Confederation or the CSA for the short time it existed. The top most section of those was so limited as to be barely functional.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by maximara

Well there is the Confederacy form of government such as the US had under the Articles of Confederation or the CSA for the short time it existed. The top most section of those was so limited as to be barely functional.

Just to name two critical aspects, both the early USA and the CSA had one currency (only) and a federal army (in addition to state armies, militias, national guards etc.).
The HRE lacked both for most of its much longer history. The various estates making up the HRE had their own coins and mints, even though they had a common reference in the thaler. In times of crisis, all princes played the old game of debasing-the-thaler (the CSA notes also were devalued over the course of the war, but mainly as a general consequence of the war affecting all Southern states). The Imperial army almost always remained a thing made up of contingents contributed, by mutual agreement, by the various estates' armies. Or not contributed by mutual disagreement.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Michele

Just to name two critical aspects, both the early USA and the CSA had one currency (only) and a federal army (in addition to state armies, militias, national guards etc.).

For the Articles of Confederation era that is not correct for the US. You had the states printing their own money in addition to what the continental Congress did. Even with the adaptation of the Constitution this practice nearly changed to bank notes (and corporations got into the act with script)

As for the CSA "State treasuries were also actively engaged in financing the war and state economies. They, too, printed money without regard for gold and silver specie on hand" - Banking and the Civil War The Historic New Orleans Collection

Originally Posted by Michele

The HRE lacked both for most of its much longer history. The various estates making up the HRE had their own coins and mints, even though they had a common reference in the thaler. In times of crisis, all princes played the old game of debasing-the-thaler (the CSA notes also were devalued over the course of the war, but mainly as a general consequence of the war affecting all Southern states). The Imperial army almost always remained a thing made up of contingents contributed, by mutual agreement, by the various estates' armies. Or not contributed by mutual disagreement.

Actually CSA currency went into the dumpster because, as with the Continental currency before it, there wasn't anything actually behind it. The Union had gold and silver backing its currency while the CSA had effectively zilch.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by maximara

Actually CSA currency went into the dumpster because, as with the Continental currency before it, there wasn't anything actually behind it.

Eh, there was the normal stuff behind fiat currency -- the credibility of the issuing authority. Fundamentally, when people accept currency they're making a guess about the ability to later spend that currency, and being on the losing side of a war is not something that makes people confident in the ability to later spend that currency.

[dcarson]

Even gold backed paper money gets worthless if people figure the people you are fighting are going to capture the gold reserves real soon now. And if you flee and take the gold with you there tends to be suspicions that you'll use the gold to buy new stuff not repay it to the people that hold the old currency.

[dcarson]

I'm tempted to try to do the Duchy of Grand Fenwick in Realm Management. What are the military stats for 20 longbowmen and a Q bomb that can destroy a quarter of Europe?