Oh god help I'm out of control
Land Claims!
Currently, Land Claims are a great concept thats not entirely well fleshed out. Time to suggest how to change that.
I've been informed this would be tricky but possible. My idea is to portion the Map, extensively. Make every single piece of land covered as a Region. That forest in the corner? Thats now the Barack Forest, known for people disappearing in it every twelve years, and so on. Change the Region indicator to just give the name as you enter it, i.e. 'Osrona', and if you /region it'll give the name and the description of it, so every region can have some flavour text without being obtrusive or spamming the chat. This would eliminate the question of 'Is this x territory' quite handily, I believe.
This one is easy; its a landclaim thread like the Construction and Conquest one is used for Construction. Each territory will have a descriptor, pretty screenshot, and type of territory/benefits to having it (more on this coming up). Its owner will be tracked either in a new post every time territory changes hands, or just edited into it. I like the idea -with this- of using the above idea to make a map of Esshar thats political -i.e. Osronan territory has a white overlay, Fireblooded a red, etc.
This is a little more complicated. Give every territory a type and benefit. I would propose these types:
This is a variant. Essentially, under this variant, Guilds can land claim to raid a territory. If they raid, they get the benefits of the territory; they intercept caravans and steal the resources, for example, or occupy a mine for a brief period. The control is temporary -a year, two at the most- and then the territory lapses back to the last owner. In this time, the benefits of the territory (i.e. the +1 to cap rolls) would also be negated. This way, guilds without the NPC population density to hold land still get to feel like they're interacting.
To be able to Raid, you'd need to apply for your guild to be able to, with something like membership count and your reasoning attached. If approved, you'd then be able to make landclaims as raids.
So yeah, these are just some ideas!
Map Revamp
I've been informed this would be tricky but possible. My idea is to portion the Map, extensively. Make every single piece of land covered as a Region. That forest in the corner? Thats now the Barack Forest, known for people disappearing in it every twelve years, and so on. Change the Region indicator to just give the name as you enter it, i.e. 'Osrona', and if you /region it'll give the name and the description of it, so every region can have some flavour text without being obtrusive or spamming the chat. This would eliminate the question of 'Is this x territory' quite handily, I believe.
Conquest and Territory Thread
This one is easy; its a landclaim thread like the Construction and Conquest one is used for Construction. Each territory will have a descriptor, pretty screenshot, and type of territory/benefits to having it (more on this coming up). Its owner will be tracked either in a new post every time territory changes hands, or just edited into it. I like the idea -with this- of using the above idea to make a map of Esshar thats political -i.e. Osronan territory has a white overlay, Fireblooded a red, etc.
Territory Types and Benefits
This is a little more complicated. Give every territory a type and benefit. I would propose these types:
- City: The core of a settlement. Ideally, each settlement would be split into two or three regions, so we can have piece-by-piece occupations. Being in here gives you, for example, a +3 to cap rolls, or a -3 to enemy cap rolls. If you're in here as an enemy, you're in the shit, essentially.
- Outskirts: Here you can 0 cap someone to force them out of your territory. You have to control one of these to attack a city its adjacent to.
- Chokehold: You must control this to strike at adjacent territories. Needing Baleford Bridge to attack Osrona is a good example of this. +1 to cap rolls.
- Resource Spot: +1 to cap rolls here, and a yearly/bi yearly delivery of free resources to the controlling faction, whether that be ore, reagents or coin.
Guild Land Claims
This is a variant. Essentially, under this variant, Guilds can land claim to raid a territory. If they raid, they get the benefits of the territory; they intercept caravans and steal the resources, for example, or occupy a mine for a brief period. The control is temporary -a year, two at the most- and then the territory lapses back to the last owner. In this time, the benefits of the territory (i.e. the +1 to cap rolls) would also be negated. This way, guilds without the NPC population density to hold land still get to feel like they're interacting.
To be able to Raid, you'd need to apply for your guild to be able to, with something like membership count and your reasoning attached. If approved, you'd then be able to make landclaims as raids.
So yeah, these are just some ideas!
Variants
This came to me a little bit after I made the first post. These are optional addons to the above idea to make territories more interesting to hold, and pump a little more flavour into them!
Variant: Randomised Yield
Make resources spots be not static on what they give. I.e. a Mine can produce Copper, Iron, Adamantine, Tyrium, Orichalcum, Mythril, Nysehk or Arcanium. Thats eight different types of ore. So, at the start of a Resource Spot's yield cycle, a d8 is rolled, and the ore who's number corresponds to the result is the resource gotten. Then, roll a d10 or d20. That result is then multiplied/divided by the ore's modifier. I.e. Copper has a x10, so if you roll a 1, you get 10. Arcanium is divided by five; you roll a 5, you get 1.
Variant: Events
Every three-five years, a d6 is rolled. The result corresponds to a kind of event specific to the region. I.e. in the Forest, a 3 might be a hunt of a rare animal, available for 5 PCs. A 6 in the Celestial ruins? A new corridor is discovered leading into a secondary part of the dungeon. This can permit some subplots that the players who don't get to go on the bigger events can enjoy!
Variant: Coin Sinks
This is dependent on one or both of the above variants being instituted, and its pretty simple; allow factions to invest coin for more resources/a better chance of rolling an event. Thats about it.