AD&D 1st Edition 042 - Territory Development

[@doug9964]

D&D basic has a ton of information about dominion rule, and it fits perfectly into 1st edition ad&d

[@CaptCook999]

CM1 Test of the Warlords was the only large scale "Domain" I ever ran. And depending on the player, you could get as detailed as to your domain and forces as you liked. Other than that I had no characters that got high enough level to get their followers but we did establish several "strongholds" in various campaigns. Players tend to ignore the fact that you can't carry all your stuff with you everywhere you go. So you eventually need a place to stash your stuff and you definitely want somebody guarding it! And all that costs money. Gygax knew this and it was a way that he could drain the purses of his players characters. Which also made them want to keep playing those characters. And every time we had to hire guards for our strongholds it was also a way to utilize those low power magic items by giving them to those guards, like sergeants and lieutenants, to keep them loyal to you.

[@TheEldarGuy]

The Basic D&D put the Companion sets at 15th level or something like that. I never played any of the BECMI variants, I did hear that it provided some new concepts. I think this was one of the first attempts to bring mass combat to the RPG. Getting the party to have a base of operations is a great start. Once, my players set up a base out of a tavern and ended up turning the village into a town.

[@CaptCook999]

@@TheEldarGuy they have been using mass combat for D&D from the beginning. They first used the Chainmail rules and later made other rules at least a few times before adding it in the BECMI setting. We were using the mass combat rules from Judges Guild way back when. We had a great occasion to use them when one of my characters went insane with monomania. Somebody said "We should take over the Holy Cities". And that's when the trouble started...

[@TheEldarGuy]

@@CaptCook999 There's always one in the party.

[@CharacterNPC]

I've never did make it to something this far along in a character's life or campaign to do this. I dreamt of it, but it never happened. Today, I'm afraid there are too few of us playing 1st edition AD&D to even dream of it anymore. I unfortunately hear too many D&D players these days talking more about how they only want to play one shots and continue to dummy down things as opposed to putting up the effort for campaigns that lead to developing your own keep and fiefdom anymore. Sad. It's also sad that now I sound like the old man raging about the kids like we complained about our parents doing. Ha! GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!

[@TheEldarGuy]

We are out there, we just have to look further afield. I run a game (we're on a small pause), that is play by post on Discord. The game has been running for several years with no 'regular' time for play. We play when we play, if all 5 or 6 players are onboard at the same time, all good, often it can be days between posts. Getting in touch with the likes of the GrogTalk Empire puts you in contact with hundreds of like minded players across the world. Yes, there is a focus on the one-shot or tournament play, but that is driven by our time constraints and other commitments (I imagine). Keep the faith, and you are allowed to sound like and use that old 'Get off my lawn!" energy