One setting I think never gets enough attention for fantasy is the brand-spanking new colony. The players are right off the ships. There is a small town and some docks. Go ten miles inland, and it's largely unmapped wilderness filled with savages.

This also allows the players to have a variety of backgrounds. Maybe they came from a cosmopolitan Empire. Maybe it's just a bunch of prisoners dumped off at a work camp (in preparation for the "real" colonists). Maybe one of the players is a friendly native.

Quote from: danbuter;624964One setting I think never gets enough attention for fantasy is the brand-spanking new colony. The players are right off the ships. There is a small town and some docks. Go ten miles inland, and it's largely unmapped wilderness filled with savages.

This also allows the players to have a variety of backgrounds. Maybe they came from a cosmopolitan Empire. Maybe it's just a bunch of prisoners dumped off at a work camp (in preparation for the "real" colonists). Maybe one of the players is a friendly native.

Isn't that the setup for the new L5R box set "Second City"?

QuoteOne setting I think never gets enough attention for fantasy is the brand-spanking new colony. The players are right off the ships. There is a small town and some docks. Go ten miles inland, and it's largely unmapped wilderness filled with savages.

This also allows the players to have a variety of backgrounds. Maybe they came from a cosmopolitan Empire. Maybe it's just a bunch of prisoners dumped off at a work camp (in preparation for the "real" colonists). Maybe one of the players is a friendly native.

Do a game based off of Dwarf Fortress. You know you want to.

I was playing around with somne tools once for establishing a settlement/colony. Mostly because I was playing a lot of Dwarf Fortress at the time, and I realized like you there hasn't been much done like that.

This is one of my more favored adventure setups, yes.

Quote from: Piestrio;624966Isn't that the setup for the new L5R box set "Second City"?

I have no idea. I haven't messed with that game in years.

Quote from: danbuter;624964One setting I think never gets enough attention for fantasy is the brand-spanking new colony.

It appears but rarely in fantasy RPG's. Wasn't Maztica something like this?

We did one where we were missionaries 100% priest game but using variants to get martial orders, inquisitors and scholars.

Worked well until the second TPK then became hard to see where the replacement PCs were coming from......

As an aside read the new Abercrombie book Red Country. Basically a fantasy take on Wagon Train with a sprinkling of Pale Rider and Paint Your Wagon (only with less music).

AD&D never really did this (until maybe Bloodstone I guess).

BD&D had B10 - Night's Dark Terror, and CM1 - Test of the Warlords.

There hasn't been much written about how to run a colony though that I remember, which means in general D&D games, players end up just being the the scouts/outriders/enforcers for a community instead of an actual part of it with land, responsibilities etc.

There are some areas tailor-made for this though, for example the Black River area in Conan, where Aquilonia is pushing into the Pictish Wilderness.  Sword and Sorcery meets Last of the Mohicans.

Even though I don't think there is stuff there technically for building a new colony from the ground up, Harnmanor, ACKS and AER all would have information on economy, etc...

Anyone know any good gaming books out there that has info/rules on creating and building a colony?

Since you mentioned it I quickly thought of some themes and things you could do with a colonist scenario:
- mismatched characters thrown together
- meritocracy
- far from home
- resource management (or die)
- settlement borders on wild area, ripe for exploration and danger
- negotiation with locals
- internal power struggles
- everyone suddenly equal
- strange cultures and gods
- mysterious pasts, fresh starts and redemption
- aliens
- new drugs and addiction
- small communities where everyone knows everyone else
- dwindling stocks of luxuries from home

That took five minutes! You're right, colonies are just awesome.

LIke I said the trouble I actually found was replacement PCs.
If you are part of the first colony, say 1 ship.  After a battle and then some PCs deaths its really hard to get replacement PCs .

Way back when Black Industries were still in charge of WFRP, i was a few inches away from writing what i considered a proper Border Princes supplement for the forum.

This would have been all about 'upgrading' your chunk of appropriated land in order to attract more colonists - stuff like building bridges, mills, watch-towers, livestock pens, and recruiting progressively more (and more badass) troops. Mining, forestry, trade routes, setting up business enterprises so you can bring in more money etc. Clearing your land of monsters, negotiating with adjoining clans/domains/monsters, creating a dynasty, political alliances and the like.

Basically a Civilisation mini-game within the WFRP framework.

I was big on Birthright at the time too, so that may have influenced me somewhat.

Never got round to it though.

Quote from: danbuter;624964One setting I think never gets enough attention for fantasy is the brand-spanking new colony. The players are right off the ships. There is a small town and some docks. Go ten miles inland, and it's largely unmapped wilderness filled with savages.

This also allows the players to have a variety of backgrounds. Maybe they came from a cosmopolitan Empire. Maybe it's just a bunch of prisoners dumped off at a work camp (in preparation for the "real" colonists). Maybe one of the players is a friendly native.

That what Points of Light 2:The Sunrise Sea is about. There are three setting in it each depicting a different type of colonial situation. Sugar and Spice Island, Native Empires, and a Settlement Colony.

The early C modules for the Companion level of BECMI (The ones set in Norwald) were something like this, only the characters were high level.

There was a Birthright novel (The Spider's Test?) that had the hero setting up a new settlement. That idea stuck with me, and I used it for a couple of campaigns.

Keep in mind, there's also transportation. For whatever crimes, the players are sentenced to death, but have it commuted to transportation for a period of 5 years to the remote outpost on the Frost Giant Frontier, where the kingdom desperately wants to build up at least some sort of presence....

Honestly, it's something I'd love to see more resources for.