Current Games
Past Games
The rules are not exactly as in the Birthright RPG books. Some rules have been removed, others modified, others expanded.
A Domain is a country, province or group of holdings owned by a Ruler. There are four Domain turns in a year, each equating to a season.
Rules collect income from Holdings, taxation and Trade.
They then pay out maintenance costs for their Holdings, Armies, Government and Loans.
There are then three monthly "rounds", during which a Ruler can take a Domain Action and move their armies if at war.
a. First Month Action.
b. Second Month Action.
c. Third Month Action.
Adjust income, expenditure, loyalty and other measures that have been affected by events during the Domain Turn.
There is not limit in principle to the number of things that you can attempt as a Ruler in your Domain, but there are a number of practical constraints.
| Domain Action | Details | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Adventure / Intervention | The Ruler gets involved on the ground in an adventure or other event of personal risk. | None |
| Agitate | An attempt to influence the population in a province for or against their Ruler. | None |
| Appoint | Choose or replace someone to administer your holdings or to an office of state within your Domain. | None |
| Build / Fortify | Order and pay for the construction of buildings, castles, forts, roads, bridges, docks etc | Castle 1000gp/lvl. Fort 500gp/lvl. Road 100gp/lvl. |
| Commerce / Trade | Use Commerce Holdings to promote trade agreements, trade routes and make money. | 100gp/lvl |
| Create Holding | Create a new holding in a province where you do not have a holding of that kind. | Depends on the holding. See Provinces. |
| Diplomacy | Talk with your neighbouring countries to persuade them to do something or stop doing something. | From 50gp to 1000gp. |
| Decree | A political action to change a law or policy, such as allow freedom for a group or restrict their freedoms. | 500gp. |
| Espionage | Use your Intrigue holdings to learn secrets in your own or other provinces, arrest know troublemakers, assassinate enemy spies. | Inform - 250gp home, 500gp foreign. Arrest - 250gp. Assassinate - 500gp. |
| Finances | Change your tax rules, borrow money and attempt to raise funds for your Domain. | Varies |
| Increase Holdings | Attempt to increase holdings that you own in a province. | Depends on the holding. See Provinces. |
| Military | Move troops, muster armies, disband armies, hire mercenaries or declare war. | Muster costs money. Hire mercenaries costs money. |
| Rule | Spend time making sure your Domain runs well. Resolve disputes, ensure everything runs smoothly and that people are doing what they should. | Usually none. |
My first thoughts on the game system are to use a Traveller-like system with a new skill list of important skills rather than a long list of possible skills, and re-arrange the list to those of importance in the game.
Levels are 0, 1 or 2 and provide bonuses to appropriate skills, like in Traveller. Starting characters start with three points to spend.
Unskilled – you don’t have the skill, -2 on a role.
0 – you know the basics and have no penalty.
1+ - your level adds to the dice.
This will grow over time but is more detailed in those areas of more importance to the game, and more general with less important skills.
20 points for starting characters.
1 point – a skill at level 0.
2 points – a skill at level 1.
4 points – a skill at level 2.
You have level 1 in your mother language. If that is not Anuirean, the main language of the Chimaeron, you will need spend at least 1 point on getting Anuirean-0, which means you speak with an accent and sound obviously foreign. (Anuirean-1 cures this, but costs an extra point.)
Melee, Unarmed
Melee, Armed
Evasion
Bow
Crossbow
Artillery
General
Admiral
Athletics
Riding
Sailing
Disguise
Espionage
Gambling
Intrusion
Stealth
Streetwise
Theft
Animals
Healing
Hunting
Plant Lore
Poison Lore
Survival
Tracking
Carouse
Deception
Diplomacy
Insight
Leadership
Persuasion
Politics
Public Speaking
Admin
Commerce
Craft
Medicine
Scribe
Academic
History
Law
Local Knowledge
Magic
Religion
World Lore
Literacy
Anuirean
Khinasi
Brecht
Rjurik
Vos
Old Adorian
Dwarven
Elven
Goblin
There are various limits to the levels of Holdings in a province, depending on the Holding and what they are being used for. If the Holdings are limited by the Development Limit of 20 and one Lord owns 10, the total other Lords can own is 10. They will need to take control of or destroy another Lord's holdings in order to increase their own.
Size - Between 70 and 100, depending on the size and any land that is uninhabable.
Development Limit - The total Land Holdings in a Province.
Tax Limit - The higher of the total Law Holdings or the total Bureaucracy Holdings owned by a Lord.
Holding levels are from 1 to 100, though smaller provinces may have a limit below 100. They prepresent how developed the province is in a number of key areas.
Land Holdings represent buildings, roads, farms, mines and other developments. They show how much of a province has been claimed from the wilderness, improved and built on for human habitation and exploitation. It is a key indicator and is usually the limit to which other Holdings can be improved to.
It is also possible to own Undevelopment Land Holdings, which are 100 less the Land Holdings in a province. Undeveloped Land Holdings are mostly hunting estates and land that could be exploited in the future. Some land cannot be developed much, such as lakes, marshes, mountains and deserts.
The total Land Holdings in a province may not exceed the Size Limit of a Province.
Population measures of the number of people who live in the province. They are not owned by anyone, except perhaps in slave societies, or could also be used to show how the people back a Lord when control is in dispute in an area.
If the population level is over the level of Land Holdings, there is homelessness and people living rough. If the population level is under the level of Land Holdings, there is a possible a labour shortage. Land Holdings that do not have anyone living in them, soon decay into Undeveloped Holdings.
Population is not limited, but generally hovers around the Development Limit.
Law Holdings represent how much of the land is under the control of a Lord, usually through militia and law enforcement. Each Law Holding represents approximately 10 local militia men and supporting staff and facilities. They can also represent bandits and rebels in provinces where the ruling Lords's control is challenged.
In lands where people do not want to pay unpopular / high taxes, the local Lord cannot tax more Holdings than he has Law Holdings in a province.
The total Land Holdings in a province may not exceed the Development Limit of a Province. They are also key to the Tax Limit of a Lord.
Civic Holdings represent civil servants and the more advanced forms of government, not based on enforcement at the point of the sword. More civilised countries will have highly developed Bureaucracies and they can collect taxes instead of local militias.
Bureaucracy Holdings make government actions more likely to succeed and are vital in more developed provinces.
The total Bureaucracy Holdings in a province may not exceed the Development Limit of a Province.
Commerce Holdings represent how developed business, industry and trade is in a province. These are generally lucrative Holdings, but expensive to start up.
While difference areas of commerce yield different incomes, for ease of game play, they are all generally treated the same. In the Birthright game, these are referred to as Guild Holdings.
The total Commerce Holdings in a province may not exceed the Development Limit of a Province.
Rogue Holdings represent how developed the criminal underworld is in a province and who control the underworld. They also represent illegitimate, illegal business and trade that can yield a profit, as well as extortion, theft and corruption.
In civilised countries, the local Lord strives through Law and Bureaucracy to keep down the level of Rogue Holdings. In the Chimaeron, the local Lords (Mayors) tend to try to control the Rogue Holdings and use them as a a source of additional income.
The total Rogue Holdings in a province may not exceed the Development Limit of a Province.
Intrigue Holdings represent the development of spies and contacts in a province. They are used to gain information from an area, to counter the Intrigue Holdings of other Lords and to agigate for / against a local Lord.
The total Intrigue Holdings in a province may not exceed the Development Limit of a Province.
Temple Holdings represent established Churches, their shrines and temples and the amount of the population who follow them. The various Churches in the land via for control of Temple Holdings.
There are few in the Chimaeron, as most people have had a hard life and doubt any God cares about them. The exceptions are Lyssan, where old Temples from Imperial times via with newer, darker cults. The other is Mhowe, where a community devoted to the Church of the Chosen of Nesirie has settled and taken over the town of Tulear.
The total Temple Holdings in a province may not exceed the Development Limit of a Province.
Source Holdings are the magical power of the land, over which Wizards vie for control. Few who are not Wizards understand much about them.
It is rumoured that less developed provinces have more magic sources than developed ones.
| Index | Buy | Dev | Mthly | Tax | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Land | 10 | 100 | 50 | 10 | 2 |
| Population | 2.5 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0.5 |
| Law | -5 | 100 | 50 | -3 | - |
| Civil | -2.5 | 50 | 25 | -2 | - |
| Commerce | 20 | 100 | 50 | 10 | 2 |
| Intrigue | 2.5 | 25 | 12.5 | -1 | - |
| Rogue | 5 | 50 | 25 | 1 | - |
| Trade | 40 | 200 | 100 | 20 | 4 |
| Temple | 5 | 50 | 25 | 5 | 1 |