Dungeons and Dragons: DM Advice and other stuff

[Ancalagon]

And I would argue that super-powerful beings would be much more likely to try and become gods.

High level characters often face the possibility of being granted titles and lands, based on their actions and reputation, by those in positions of power. Its a natural progression in a campaign world that is developed beyond simply fighting ever more powerful monsters. In time, a high level character powerful enough to establish, or perhaps usurp, a kingdom would undoubtedly have henchmen and other devotees / underlings who would be able to "manage rental property"....

...(A)D&D talks about divine ascension in the Deities & Demigods tome.

This is exactly the progression of characters, based on Mentzer's D&D Companion, Master, and Immortal sets. Companion introduces the players to Strongholds and land-holding, Master further discusses Siege actions, siege weapons, and peasant management, and Immortals takes the players to god-status and details adventure outside of the mortal realms.

Personally, I would never want to play at such high-levels, I just don't find the concepts of stronghold and immortals to be that interesting but TSR at the time had definitely envisioned PCs getting to that point.

<snip>

After 40 years as a (A)D&D player and DM, I've yet to be in a group that lasted long enough for the various PCs to gain title(s) and explore the aspect of domain management. Group members came and went with college graduation, job changes, relocation to other towns / states / countries, and most recently COVID. Game play range stayed in the 1st to 12th level range. The one PC I had that was of high enough level to possibly engage in domain management was vastly ill-suited to the task (a neutral evil wizard uninterested in the day-to-day affairs of peasants and nobles). However, if I were fortunate enough to be part of a group that played frequently in a well-developed campaign that lasted long enough, then I might be interested in trying my hand, for a short time at least, with domain management for a change of pace. I'd never want to try it any other way as the history that accompanies a well-developed campaign will factor into everything.

[Necron 99]

Funny you should mention class vs skill based RPG's; it's totally been on my mind after recently watching a really good (ie objective + even Professor Dungeon Master promoted in the Dungeon Craft FB group) video from Seth Skorkowski on this exact topic.

Thanks for the reminder Wes. Been watching Seth's channel for a year or so, saved that one to my "watch later" list last week but forgot to go back and check it out. Seth generally puts out some good info.

However, if I were fortunate enough to be part of a group that played frequently in a well-developed campaign that lasted long enough, then I might be interested in trying my hand, for a short time at least, with domain management for a change of pace. I'd never want to try it any other way as the history that accompanies a well-developed campaign will factor into everything.

You know, I think if we really want to dig into some domain management and whatnot, a rousing game of Kingmaker or similar board game might just do the trick.

[Deil the Yin]

Ha-ha-ha! Touche!

You know, I think if we really want to dig into some domain management and whatnot, a rousing game of Kingmaker or similar board game might just do the trick.

[Ancalagon]

Ha-ha-ha! Touche!

You know, I think if we really want to dig into some domain management and whatnot, a rousing game of Kingmaker or similar board game might just do the trick.

Kingmaker... What a great board game!