Realm Management as a 4x game?

[Coinage]

I am curious. Has anyone tried using Realm Management as a kind of 4x game? Maybe on a hex-based grid or something like that.

For those who do not know, 4x means "Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate". It's a game that involves building an empire. Examples include Sid Meier's Civilization series, and the board game Twilight Imperium.

EDIT: In particular, I was wondering if it was possible to replicate something like Sid Meier's Civilization. You start off with a small band of newly sentient hunter-gatherer humanoids. You build up to something greater.

Would I be better using some other system? If I would be better using another system, which one's would you recommend? If you have any homebrew suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks everyone.

[Haseri]

I think it's possible, but I'm sure the writer will come in and warn it's not really designed for that.

The biggest obstacle would be the starting resources. That, for me, is the biggest sticking point in the text. I get it has the usual GURPS problem of it having to cover all of time and space and the possibilities inbetween. Unless you just decide it's country size or just starts at 0.

[Varyon]

Considering how commonly-used that last X tends to be, would you need to bring Mass Combat into it as well?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Considering how commonly-used that last X tends to be, would you need to bring Mass Combat into it as well?

Yes. 100%. You want mass combat for this. Actually, mass combat is a lot more satisfying when playing in full 4x mode.

Originally Posted by Coinage

I am curious. Has anyone tried using Realm Management as a kind of 4x game? Maybe on a hex-based grid or something like that.

For those who do not know, 4x means "Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate". It's a game that involves building an empire. Examples include Sid Meier's Civilization series, and the board game Twilight Imperium

Would I be better using some other system? If I would be better using another system, which one's would you recommend?

I ran a realm management-ish game before realm management came out. It was a lot of fun: my players still think of it as the strongest contender for the best game we've ever played.


We used the rules from GURPS: City Stats and from Pyramid 54's article "City Management". I highly recommend those works. If you're interested in city management in gurps you should also check out Mailanka's "Orphan of the Stars" work.



I put a chart to visualize the city management rules on my blog.



There are some strong breaks between that system and realm management, though they have many of the same bones. I suspect which you prefer is a matter of taste.

[mlangsdorf]

I ran a long running game that was kind of 4X - a little light on explore and exploit, but the other two parts worked fine. It was a fun game, and I think the players enjoyed setting up their military and negotiating alliances.

I didn't use Realm Management, because it was mostly a Fantasy Mass Combat focused game. The economy focus was limiting to expanding into conquered territories, long term investments such as resettling refugees, and funding the military. My players weren't hugely interested in the internal politics of their nation, so that was fine. I'd make sure your players want to deal with internal politics before I ran a true 4X game.

One thing to look out for is wealth: the PCs became leaders of their nation early on, and thus effectively Status 7 Multimillionaires with Military Rank 6+. They were spending hundreds of thousands of GURPS $ each month in maintaining their troops, much less expanding their army. At that point, dropping $50K on Very Fine mundane equipment for the leaders isn't even noticeable. I just let them own whatever they wanted, which worked fine for me, but it is something to consider.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Haseri

I think it's possible, but I'm sure the writer will come in and warn it's not really designed for that.

It's really not. I'm sure there will be edge cases if used like that because I didn't build it to be used in this manner. It's a storytelling tool, not a game in and of itself.

[Coinage]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I put a chart to visualize the city management rules on my blog.



There are some strong breaks between that system and realm management, though they have many of the same bones. I suspect which you prefer is a matter of taste.

Thank you very much for the suggestion. I will give it a look. Do you think that it is possible to tweak the rules to cover an entire realm (like, say, a fantasy kingdom, or an interstellar civilization)? Thanks again.

[Coinage]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

It's really not. I'm sure there will be edge cases if used like that because I didn't build it to be used in this manner. It's a storytelling tool, not a game in and of itself.

That's totally cool. If you know of any systems that would work better, please let me know. Thanks again.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Coinage

That's totally cool. If you know of any systems that would work better, please let me know. Thanks again.

I mean you can use it that way - but be prepared to slap on some house rule bandaids for stuff.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Coinage

Thank you very much for the suggestion. I will give it a look. Do you think that it is possible to tweak the rules to cover an entire realm (like, say, a fantasy kingdom, or an interstellar civilization)? Thanks again.

Given that that at the level of City-states Realm Management and City Stats are closely linked it should be possible to tweek things to an entire Realm. In fact, by using City Stats you avoid worrying about things that generally wouldn't matter in a 4x style game.