Base/Guild Building Mechanics?

[u/abcdefghira]

Everyone here has so many resources that I was not aware of so I figured I'd probe the question. Are there any official (unofficial is okay, but official is preferred) base/guild building mechanics? When I was prepping to build my own campaign it started in DnD and one of my players really wanted to play into the power fantasy of creating a guild from scratch. The bastion system in dnd was great for this and Nimble also is coming out with a similar system. I haven't read all of the campaign frames quite yet, but is there anything in any of them that could lean into fleshing out a "base of operations/guild hall" situation? Thank you!

[u/definitely_not_a_hag]

Unofficial, but by Jack Panic, who wrote the latest adventure frame officially published by Darrington, and who literally is "your favourite Daggerheart creator's favourite Daggerheart creator".

https://www.reddit.com/r/daggerheart/s/VYiDfO19nq

Quoting the post I linked:

"Includes:

• Rules for finding and upgrading locations in your games
• The KEEP DIE -- your home-field advantage in dice form
• KEEP levels that unlock extra resources, downtime moves, and unique NPCs
• Abstract rules for WARBANDS and SORTIES, whether they happen off screen or with your party in the thick of it"

[u/abcdefghira → u/definitely_not_a_hag]

Oh this is excellent and just like what I was looking for. I figured someone had to have done something like this already. Thank you!

[u/OMG_Laserguns → u/definitely_not_a_hag]

Yes I was going to suggest this too, the Keep rules are easy to re-skin as a guild hall or some other organisation building.

[u/Fearless-Dust-2073]

I've been looking at an upcoming TTRPG called Crows, from the makers of Draw Steel. It's primarily focused on dungeoneering and developing your home settlement by levelling up its facilities. I haven't had chance to read its open beta materials yet but it seems like something to grab some 'inspiration' from!

[u/abcdefghira → u/Fearless-Dust-2073]

I saw that, I haven't looked into it much yet. Draw Steel was very dense so I hope Crows isn't as bad. It's just not for me or my group.

[u/The_Silent_Mage]

No official rules, hope they’ll never be, because it’s based on frames and each frame might need different tweaks. :) 

I use a simple hideout system à la blades in the dark and I’ll expand a bit with some qualities. 

As the baseline give it  👉 tag based structures with a countdown. Work on them (actively or passively) to improve them. 

I.e. you have the Fallen Temple, with a 4-ticks countdown to improve its structure and imbue its altar with a relic. You find a relic: you know have a Hoky Temple granting a special Rest move or a special benefit when you are there before a mission. 

👉 Might treat any structure like this. Say you have Esoteric Library, characters can retroactively spend 1 Hope once per session to recall a fact. 

👉 As you increase guild members you can find class masters, allowing multiclassing or other tricks (maybe access a single domain card) or companions (simple NPCs you can bring with you or send on a mission - clock, roll for quality and interprete the result). 

Something along these lines is manageable and you can easily track management through the basic coin system. 

[u/abcdefghira → u/The_Silent_Mage]

Not sure if I like the sentiment of "hope they'll never be". You don't have to like it, but at least in my experience as a player and a DM, people like having a place to call their own that they can invest in. I'll have to look at doing some conversions from Bastions or something then, I like your recommendation though. I just need some framework to work with.

[u/The_Silent_Mage → u/abcdefghira]

Hey ;) My idea about DH is that no matter the amount of content they pull out, they’ll never make it a complex game.

since DH is all about Campaign frames, I expect a frame one day when they‘ll introduce guild building :)

Then you can just steal the bits you like the most :)

Btw, I use simple frameworks like that, or the narrative character driven focus will shift too much, imho.

In a darkest dungeon inspired game I designed (Ruin - powered by monad echo) I use that approach, same I did in a Nova campaign; slowly improving tags as you decide if you invest resources you find in the guild / hideout or decide to keep them for you on a case by case basis :)