Post by rustic313 on Nov 3, 2020 10:25:40 GMT -6
I wanted to throw a question about sizes of baronies out there for discussion. Specifically, are the borders of a barony at a radius of 2 hexes (10 miles), 4 hexes (20 miles), or something more from a typical stronghold? I am working out some more detailed rules for stronghold play which is why I've been thinking hard on this question and would be interested to hear other perspectives.
First, some quotes from U&WA:
The case for a 4 hex border:
- The first quote indicates that the borders of a barony may be up to 20 miles (4 hexes) distant from the stronghold. This is the area that "may" (not necessarily "must") be cleared.
- It is also a day's march for footmen so long as the terrain is amenable.
- This happens to be an enormous area: we're looking at something on the order of 139 hexes, which is several dozen wilderness encounters worth of monster to clear. From a practical point of view, even if your group games every week and gets through four major wilderness encounters per session that will take a few months of play to resolve. This could be good or bad depending on how you view grinding away at wilderness encounters, probably with solo adventuring (as each character will want to clear their own stronghold area, presumably). Determining the presence or absence of various resources also gets to be kind of a bear: that's 139 hexes that need to be keyed and diced for to determine unique features.
- 4 hex borders greatly reduce the threat posed by the Wilderness. A large part of the outdoor survival map falls within at least 4 hexes of some sort of stronghold. You really have to get off the beaten path to find hexes where there is potentially a risk of wilderness encounters.
The case for a 2 hex border:
- When we read into the "castles" section we see that NPC rulers never patrol further than two hexes from their strongholds. If their borders extend past this they sure aren't doing a good job maintaining control over the hinterlands.
- When we look at the Outdoor Survival map, we see an arrangement of towns and castles which is generally fairly dense: a minority of the strongholds in OS are spaced such that they can fully enjoy a four hex radius border without running into another nearby settlement. Those that do have space to "stretch their borders" a bit happen to have pretty consistent borders based on terrain with a 2 hex radius (example: the swamp castle in the SW with a two hex border basically controls the heart of the swamp but not the surrounding forests).
- A 2 hex border still creates a barony of about 19 hexes. This is large enough for there to be a few interesting resources but small enough that you can actually key it and determine unique features hex by hex.
- It is five hexes of travel across the domain. A mounted party can cross the entire domain in a day's ride.
- The "points of light" in the setting get much smaller, with much larger swathes of wilderness filling in the gaps between settlements.
Current Thoughts
Right now I am leaning towards establishing baronies with 2 hex borders as the customary claim for a baron. All hexes within 2 hexes must be cleared and remain clear, and the baron customarily exerts total control over these inner hexes. Any hexes out to 20 miles (4 hex radius) that the baron clears will remain cleared so long as there is a well traveled road/river (or some sort of regular patrol or garrisoned outpost) which allows for things like safer trade routes between nearby baronies. Looking at the outdoor survival map this creates a number of pretty obvious trade routes with certain strongholds having pretty key placement on critical roads or rivers.
It also limits the workload on the DM and player: each stronghold just needs a key for 19 hexes (which lets me generate a random hex on a D20 roll...) plus some basic awareness of key lines of communication within 20 miles which could probably be annotated with a simple notation like "East road clear. West road plagued with bandits."
Thoughts? Anyone else run things differently with any lessons learned?
First, some quotes from U&WA:
Territory up to 20 miles distant from a stronghold may be kept clear of monsters once cleared -- the inhabitation of the stronghold being considered as sufficient to maintain the monsterfree status.
Castles: As stated, the ponds indicate Castles. The inhabitants of these strongholds are determined at random. Occupants of these castles will venture out if
a party of adventurers passes nearby. If passing over the castle hex there is a 50%
chance (die 1- 3) that they wi II come out, if one hex away there is a 33 1/3%
chance (die 1-2), and if two hexes away there is only a 162/3% chance (die 1).
a party of adventurers passes nearby. If passing over the castle hex there is a 50%
chance (die 1- 3) that they wi II come out, if one hex away there is a 33 1/3%
chance (die 1-2), and if two hexes away there is only a 162/3% chance (die 1).
The case for a 4 hex border:
- The first quote indicates that the borders of a barony may be up to 20 miles (4 hexes) distant from the stronghold. This is the area that "may" (not necessarily "must") be cleared.
- It is also a day's march for footmen so long as the terrain is amenable.
- This happens to be an enormous area: we're looking at something on the order of 139 hexes, which is several dozen wilderness encounters worth of monster to clear. From a practical point of view, even if your group games every week and gets through four major wilderness encounters per session that will take a few months of play to resolve. This could be good or bad depending on how you view grinding away at wilderness encounters, probably with solo adventuring (as each character will want to clear their own stronghold area, presumably). Determining the presence or absence of various resources also gets to be kind of a bear: that's 139 hexes that need to be keyed and diced for to determine unique features.
- 4 hex borders greatly reduce the threat posed by the Wilderness. A large part of the outdoor survival map falls within at least 4 hexes of some sort of stronghold. You really have to get off the beaten path to find hexes where there is potentially a risk of wilderness encounters.
The case for a 2 hex border:
- When we read into the "castles" section we see that NPC rulers never patrol further than two hexes from their strongholds. If their borders extend past this they sure aren't doing a good job maintaining control over the hinterlands.
- When we look at the Outdoor Survival map, we see an arrangement of towns and castles which is generally fairly dense: a minority of the strongholds in OS are spaced such that they can fully enjoy a four hex radius border without running into another nearby settlement. Those that do have space to "stretch their borders" a bit happen to have pretty consistent borders based on terrain with a 2 hex radius (example: the swamp castle in the SW with a two hex border basically controls the heart of the swamp but not the surrounding forests).
- A 2 hex border still creates a barony of about 19 hexes. This is large enough for there to be a few interesting resources but small enough that you can actually key it and determine unique features hex by hex.
- It is five hexes of travel across the domain. A mounted party can cross the entire domain in a day's ride.
- The "points of light" in the setting get much smaller, with much larger swathes of wilderness filling in the gaps between settlements.
Current Thoughts
Right now I am leaning towards establishing baronies with 2 hex borders as the customary claim for a baron. All hexes within 2 hexes must be cleared and remain clear, and the baron customarily exerts total control over these inner hexes. Any hexes out to 20 miles (4 hex radius) that the baron clears will remain cleared so long as there is a well traveled road/river (or some sort of regular patrol or garrisoned outpost) which allows for things like safer trade routes between nearby baronies. Looking at the outdoor survival map this creates a number of pretty obvious trade routes with certain strongholds having pretty key placement on critical roads or rivers.
It also limits the workload on the DM and player: each stronghold just needs a key for 19 hexes (which lets me generate a random hex on a D20 roll...) plus some basic awareness of key lines of communication within 20 miles which could probably be annotated with a simple notation like "East road clear. West road plagued with bandits."
Thoughts? Anyone else run things differently with any lessons learned?
