Nation level or similar?

As I said in my intro piece, I'm looking to join something with a fiefdom/regional/national level of play.

The game I idolized was one where each player took a region of a pre-existing setting and was responsible for its upkeep, foreign relations, how it managed its armies, etc. That game shut down when I was just starting high school, but I was hoping that someone here would be running one, or interested in starting. At present, I'm not really set up to run one, but I could if absolutely necessary; I would much prefer to play instead.

That does sound interesting. Which rule set were you using for the play? It's definitely interesting to consider.

I'd like in for this kind of game, although I really can't run another game at the moment.

As I said, the game was one I had only heard of. It closed down before I was able to get to it and join, so I don't know what mechanical structure was used.

I'd be willing to run such a game if we can find a decent set of rules. Are you envisioning something more where each player is a nation in their own right running their own kingdom or where the players are all members of the nation leadership at a high level and work in unison to manage the single kingdom with the DM guiding the other entities?

I think if we used Pathfinder's Kingdom Building rules (found here), the second type of game could work pretty well in a PbP setting.

Totally agree, the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread was the Kingmaker Adventure Path and the the Ultimate Campaign book.

You all have gained my attention.

Even though Drama had said he would DM, I do want to add that I would not be the ideal choice for a DM. Though, I was looking for a game of this type as well. Could prove to be not only fun but very interesting.

@Dramasailor, I see it going one of three ways. A) each player has a nation, standard to what I first said; B) there are two or three player nations that all the players must be assigned to as teams; C) one nation, everyone has a role in leadership, but one person should be the King, Prime Minister, whatever. I would not prefer C, but I am totally down with playing that way. Personally I would not prefer Pathfinder if a better system was suggested, but let's go with that for now.

Well my first thought was to run it in Burning Wheel. Partly that is because I think of running everything in Burning Wheel but partly because you an actually make characters that are high nobility or court officials right out of the gate and it has skills for managing estates and armies and such.

There is also the Reign RPG that is designed for people running companies or kingdoms. It is based off the One Role Engine. I've not played it but heard good things. You can either play everything with the Reign rules or play using your favorite RPG mechanics for actual adventures and such and overlay the Reign rules to show what effects those actions had on your nation.

I have also heard of a spin off of the game Microscope called Kingdom. It is more a shared writing game where you create the history of a Kingdom and detail all of the major events that happened in it. This is another one I've read about but not played.

I would also be interested in a game like this.

@Verrain, all of your ideas sound good (to me, a person not planning on running). If I were running, I would need something available for free, but I don't know who's going to run it at this point.

Pathfinder offers these rules for free. Have a look. I'd be up for playing. I like Pathfinder, but I'm not familiar enough with these rules to feel comfortable running a kingdom-oriented game.

Dramasailor wants to run so far. Seems like Verrain might???

I'd be down with it being run by two people: one main and one supporting them in whatever capacity is desired. I would also be down for being the supporter, as I'm much better suited to that role than actually running it.

Anyone else interested in running it, or interesting in what I just described?

The part I'm having an issue reconciling in my head (and likely because I haven't come out and asked the question!) is are you envisioning that you have both a character and a governmental body? Most of the games (Pathfinder, Reign to a point, etc) are set up such that you have a character that fills a role (could be taking command of a Company, or is the King, whatever). Their stats and subsequently their adventuring actions would in turn affect the entity in some way (you level up and get more charismatic, so your Kingdom gets X bonus or you go on a quest as a party to recover XYZ person and he now functions in the government).

What is your thought/expectation in that regard?

I'm flexible. If I had "just" a governing body, I would consider my "character" to be whoever is in charge of the fiefdom, region, or nation I'm playing. But if I were a character playing a specific role in a government, like a warden or a judge, that is also fine. I would prefer not to get wrapped up in a campaign that uses the kingdom-building as a background element. I want the kingdom-building to be the point.

Alrighty, so I've spent a few days reading through both Ultimate Campaign (Pathfinder) and Reign's material. For my own mental ease (plus, the price point), I will set up a game for this over the next few days using the Ultimate Campaign rules.

Excellent! Just link us when you're ready.