Base Building, Domain Management or Organization Building RPG Resources

 I am a big fan of base building and domain management type games. I assembled a list with help from the Something Awful traditional games board, of all the RPGs we could think of that had elements or full on rules of management types of games.  

This list will be updated as needed.  If a game line is listed (like Ars Magica) then these organizational rules are in the core book.  Most of the others are supplements to major game lines, as these topics do not always get a central focus.

11/1/22 Edit: I've updated this list with additions from a Reddit thread on base building rpgs, here. Where possible, I have verified that these additional rpgs have base building rules.

4/20/23 Edit: Updated the list again thanks to another Reddit base building in rpgs thread, here.  In addition I am using the excellent Realm-management wiki page from the Tabletop RPGs subreddit as a source for some of entries for this list.

   

D&D

Birthright (AD&D)

Stronghold Builder’s Guidebook (3.5 D&D)

Dragon 395 (4ed D&D) – strongholds and upgrades

Adventurer’s Vault 2; Dragon 383 – lair magic items

Dragon 412 (4ed D&D) – boats

Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium – hireling rules

Admiral o' the High Seas (4ed D&D; Pathfinder) aka Seas of Zeitgeist – building ships, naval combat

DMGR2 - Castle Guide for 2e AD&D

Strongholds & Followers (5e D&D)

OSR/D&D related

Ultimate Campaign (Pathfinder) – has updated Kingmaker rules

Hell’s Rebels Campaign (Pathfinder) – build a rebellion

Way of the Wicked Book 2 (Pathfinder) – Henchmen management rules

Way of the Wicked Book 6-7 (Pathfinder) – Kingdom management rules

The Nightmares Underneath - establishing ties to and influence over local businesses and organizations

Fields of Blood- The Book of War (d20) 

Empire (d20) 

Kingdoms: A Zine of Generational Proportions (OSR) 

Sine Nomine (Kevin Crawford)

An Echo Resounding

Godbound

Stars Without Number

Other Dust

Silent Legions

HarnMaster

HarnManor – manage noble estate, growing motherfucking turnips

Pilot’s Almanac – sailing ships, trading cargo

White Wolf

Gilded Cage (V:tM)

Damnation City (V:tR)

Exalted 2e Storyteller's Companion – Mandate of Heaven rules.

Exalted 2e Masters of Jade

Traveller (Mongoose)

Traveller: Core – build planets

Merchant Prince - trading companies

Dynasty – manage dynasties over generations

Mercenary – military bases.

GURPS

GURPS Boardroom and Curia

GURPS Low-Tech Companions 1-3

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: Taverns

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy: Guilds

GURPS City Stats

Forged in the Dark

Blades in the Dark

Wicked Ones (Free Edition)

Mountain Home

Powered by the Apocalypse

Apocalypse World - hardholder has to manage their settlement, the hocus has to manage their cult, the chopper manages their gang.

Stonetop

No Country for Old Kobolds

Solo

Penciltown

DELVE: A Solo Map Drawing Game

UMBRA: A Solo Game of Final Frontiers

Other

Base Raiders (Strange FATE) - p.187

Sagas of the Icelanders - Icelandic Homestead Management minigame

Mutant: Year Zero

Conspiracy X

Reign

Ars Magica

Pendragon

Gods and Monsters (Fate)

Mystic Empyrean

Legacy: Life Among the Ruins 

Weapons of the Gods Companion

Green Law of Varkith (Dungeon World) – build guild

Spellbound Kingdoms

Savage Worlds Super Hero Companion – build superhero bases

Champions (all versions) – build superhero bases

Rogue Trader: Stars of Inequity – build planets and manage colonies

A Song of Ice and Fire (Green Ronin) – run game of thrones house and holdings

Dune: Chronicle of the Imperium – manage a House Minor

Dune (2d20): The Great Game: Houses of the Landsraad

Underground – changing society to be more or less crime-ridden rules

Conan the King (Modiphius) - see mostly chapter 8 about kingdom management and faction power struggles

Vaesen

Forbidden Lands

Twilight 2000 4th edition

After the War

Death in Space – spacecraft and space station rules

Shadows Over Sol: Siren's Call - systems for colony building, societal planning, advancement and mass combat.

Seeds of Wars - fantasy system agnostic rules for realm management and tactical warfare. Supposedly inspired by AD&D Birthright rules (above). 

Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk – similar to Ars Magica, this rpg has rules for constructing a Vahnam, the home base for sorcerers and their staff. 

Do Not Let Us Die In The Dark Night Of This Cold Winter – obtain and manage supplies for a doomed village

Lord Flataroys Guide to Keeps and Fortifications (Hackmaster 4e)

The Ultimate Base (Hero System)

The Quiet Year 

HELLPIERCERS

Sanctum (Heart: The City Beneath) - focuses on supporting a base

Flatpack: Fix the Future 

Numenera: Destiny – has rules for GMing Communities

Wrath of the Autarch

Fragged Kingdom 

Blood and Honor 

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition, Renegade Crowns – not a resource management game, but it provides background charts and tables for developing petty kingdoms and a simple system for resolving Internal and External problems for a realm. 

Further Delta Green Scenario Thoughts

More news articles that could have ramifications for Delta Green have crawled out of the woodwork.

First up, the chemical hexadecanal (HEX) emitted by babies can make men more docile and women more aggressive.

The story is that HEX, an odorless compound emitted by humans from their skin, saliva and feces; had a relaxing effect on mice when isolated and piped into their cages.  Interestingly, HEX is among the most abundant molecules emitted from human babies’ heads.

To test the effects of HEX on people, researchers first created a computer game designed to generate frustration and measure it in players.  The game was designed to be a little sneaky.  First of all, participants were informed they were playing a two-person game with an unseen partner. They were not; their “partner” was really a computer.  Secondly, the participant was instructed to split up a sum of virtual money with their “partner”.  However, the computer partner was hard coded to reject any proposal other than 90% of the whole amount.  The rejected came in a bright red “NO!” and the participant was given the impression that neither they nor their partner earned any money.

Then comes revenge, and frustration measurement. The participant was then allowed to subject their “partner” to gradations of noise, and each gradation had an emoji expressing increasing levels of pain, as presumably payback for refusing the participant’s previous rejected offer of virtual money.  Naturally there was no effect on the computer “partner”, but this served as a quantitative measure of aggression in the participant.

 Now comes the test of HEX on human aggression. The participants were either exposed to a HEX-infused adhesive strip on their upper lip or an identical strip which did not contain the chemical.  The results were interesting.  Exposure to HEX calmed men down (made them 18.5% less aggressive) but women were found to be more aggressive in the noise-blast task (19%).  In a separate experiment involving monitoring brain activity in an MRI, similar aggression increase (women) or blunting of aggression (men) was observed.  Apparently, HEX modulates aggression in humans in sex-specific manner.

What role would this discovery take in the universe of Delta Green?  First of all lets assume that there is a fictional version of HEX called “CONTROL” that has a much more demonstrative effect on men and women’s aggression levels. Since CONTROL would blunt aggression in men, it is not out of the realm of possibility that March Technologies would be manufacturing a gas bomb to deploy over combat zones to weaken soldier’s (usually men) capabilities and make them easy targets for a force with gas protection.  Perhaps Delta Green agents are subjected to CONTROL gas upon invading a March Technologies shell company and they get penalties to combat skills, to account for their reduced aggression. Perhaps CONTROL is piped into a room before March Tech’s Spec Ops team engage Delta Green agents.  Or perhaps CONTROL even has an effect on Deep One Hybrids or Ghouls and is aerosolized in a Mythos monster cell block.

Then there is also the thought of how March Technologies would harvest the chemical CONTROL for industrial purposes.  This is best left as an exercise for the dark thoughts of a Handler late at night.

For women’s reaction to CONTROL, let us first take a look at the myths of Ancient Greece. Maenads were female followers of Dionysus in Greek mythology.  They have been portrayed as extremely aggressive, working themselves into a state of ecstatic frenzy through drinking and dance and then ripping the unlucky limb from limb.  Perhaps CONTROL is the key to unlocking the Maenad state in women. Imagine half the population of a small town becoming homicidal mad-women while the men of the population sit dumbly unable to raise resistance or even escape because their natural aggression (perhaps even adrenaline?) is drained from them.  The carnage would be extreme.  Naturally this would draw the attention of Delta Green. Even better, have the Delta Green agents embedded in the soon-to-be-gassed town looking to eliminate some vector before the howling and mass violence begins.

Another thought is that CONTROL might be replicating the effects of an Ancient Greek drug sacred to Dionysus.  Dionysus is associated with the Great God Pan (Arthur Machen) so perhaps He or one of his Servitors manifests during the mass madness, causing a full-blown Mythos outbreak.

As an aside, I could also see the computer program designed to incite frustration in the HEX experiment used by Delta Green as part of their screening (hazing) processes.

The second news story is about a Peruvian pre-Inca civilization that spiked their beer with hallucinogenics and threw ravers for diplomatic purposes.

The Wari civilization, in the highlands of Peru between 500 and 1100 C.E. may have added hallucinogenic vilca seed powder to mole berry beer.  The trick is that when consumed alone, likely by snorting the powder, vilca seeds bring on very intense, private hallucinations. Diluting the powder in beer makes the high last longer, yet not as intense, and something you can enjoy with other people; according to the archeologist who led the excavation. Thus, the Wari had developed the perfect party drug with which to wine and dine fellow elites and build diplomatic ties with other tribes.  Supposedly this is how the Wari built their empire without grand public ceremonies or military invasions.

How could this ever go wrong? Enter the Mythos and Delta Green.

Hallucinogenics can be dangerous in the Mythos. Sometimes they can break down barriers and reveal What Man Was Not Meant To Know.  Consider, the Tillinghast resonator stimulates the pineal gland of the observer electronically and allows them to see into the dimensions beyond.  Perhaps the vilca seed powder does the same thing to humans chemically, but just has a lesser effect when imbibed as a spiked drink.  Maybe instead of just partying, the Wari diplomatic ceremonies had a darker purpose.  Perhaps the Wari ruled through the mystic might of their sorcerers and the diplomatic ceremonies where vilca was imbibed was really done to expose those psychically sensitive of the opposing tribe.  Unwilling to have nascent psychically sensitive competitors, the Wari sorcerers could make the exposed psychically sensitive “disappear” as Tillinghast’s servants did when they were under the influence of vilca and could see and attract the Horrors from Beyond that would then eat them alive.  

What about the modern age? Perhaps an enterprising archeobotanist decided to throw a vilca-fueled party at a college for an exclusive meeting of grad students.  Horror begins, as thanks to an accidental overdose of vilca, the carousers see Beyond and are then stalked throughout the campus by invisible creatures intent on disintegrating their flesh.  Perhaps vilca spiked beverages are distributed to a party of elite bureaucrats and politicians at a G8 summit with the intent to make the partygoers see Beyond and disappear in a very dramatic and untraceable fashion.  After all, the only thing left of the victims would be empty clothes.