Designing a Settlement System

Welcome to Worcester

I wanted to make something to model the growth of the settlement the party leaves behind when going out on adventures. It started as a random event table, but then it sort of inflated into a mini domain game. I was planning on developing this system sometime in December for the next Bolthaven Folio, but my brain started early.

So let's talk about where this came from and how it's going.

I wanted something that could handle random events in a frontier village serving as a base of operations for an adventuring party. I then thought about the PCs actually settling and growing a settlement on their own, as Name Level used to imply back in AD&D. And then the idea for Motewright flew across my Bluesky feed, so I started developing this system that I could flesh out for that particular RPG project.

Working Out Stats

I needed a set of numbers to define a settlement. Hearkening back to Brithright, we've got centers of power roughly based on the 4 classes: Military, Economic, Research, and Divine. Add Size to that, and that was my first stab at the list. I started playing with it to find that there was too much overlap with the projects and infrastructure that I wanted to see, so I shuffled things around and punted Divinity.

So we're down to Size, Militia, Trade, and Culture for durable settlement stats.

Since I'm developing this initial system for a tiny zine, Size only goes up to Village, though there's a top half of the scale waiting in the wings for the bigger system. That means we're only getting the settlement up to about 500-600 people, so we don't need to worry about huge public works projects. That should shorten several lists and take some pressure off.

So what about consumables? The actual Population total relates closely to Size, so we can keep track of that. People need Food to live, so that's something worth monitoring. Nothing happens without Gold, and Trade facilitates the movement of coins, so those go hand in hand. Morale will keep the Militia from running away when someone threatens the settlement, so I think that's important. Everything else can fall under Resources. Anything from Iron Ore to a stash of healing potions can fit into Resources, and in most cases they'll be consumed to make something else or traded away for Gold.

(Actually, I think Coin works a little more generally than Gold. I'm updating my notes now.)

For more volatile resources we have Population, Food, Coin, Morale, and the catch-all category called Resources.

Specialists and Infrastructure

Every settlement can attract people who can do extraordinary things. Some can heal, some can train, some research, and some make. I'll call these people Specialists, and they'll cost Coin and possibly Resources to grant their bonus to the settlement.

Even the smallest of settlements can have civic structures that help everyone. The easiest example that springs to mind is a defensive wall. And then I thought of irrigation, mines, marketplaces, temples, smithies, aqueducts, and every other city building I've ever made in any Civilization-like game. All of these classify as Infrastructure, and they will also require upkeep in the form of Coin and/or Resources.

Projects

What else does a settlement need? Something to do. Enter the Projects category. I figure everyone can work toward a project after taking care of their own business, so every settlement gets 1 Project Point per Size. Those points can go toward a specific project (or multiples up to the Size stat). Need another specialist or more people? Go Recruit. Need more resources? Go Explore. Need more Morale? Throw a Festival. Need a specific thing in town? Build what you need.

Scope and Timeframe

I initially conceived of having one settlement turn per week. People get projects done, random events happen, and people shuffle Food, Coin, and Morale around. But there's nothing that says you can't push things out to one settlement turn a month for something going on in the background. That adds some flexibility if needed.

I'm keeping this version small. Size can go up to 3 (Holding, Hamlet, or Village). I've got plans to go up to 6 (Town, City, and Metropolis - or maybe even 7 by adding Market Town before City), but I want to see what issues arise with a larger scale before committing that scale to paper. So yeah, I'll need some testing with this system. Please let me know if you want to play with it, and I'll make sure you know to grab a copy when it's published.

To Sum Up

So yeah, I just wanted to go a little behind the scenes to talk about where this came from and some of the ideas that went into it. I've got most of this written up already, and hopefully I can get the art and layout squared away in the next week or so.

This settlement system won't be playtested at all. Like, Not At All. I might run a few turns and see where things start trending, as I have flashbacks to developing Domo and watching the gold accumulate turn after turn without any mechanism to burn it off. The majority of that testing will happen when I flesh it out for Motewright, as I'm more interested in getting a draft complete and out the door. I'll put warnings all over the zine: First Draft. Alpha. Not Tested. Ye Gods Use At Thine Own Risk.

But that's the glory of zines, right?

Final issue: A catchy and short title. "Settle Down" currently leads the pack...