Running a realm
This chapter is for advanced playing and adds a lot of cumbersome details for the gamemaster. (And maybe a few for a player that decides to run a realm)
Note that this was written with a fantasy campaign in mind, and would need some tweaking to be transferred into a modern setting
The building blocks of a realm are provinces.
Each settled province generates resource-points(RP). The amount of Resource points depends on the kind of terrain and the settlement.
A RP represents the value of about 1500 $ for most purposes. Buying a resourcepoint certainly costs that much, but transforming leftovers into money gets only about 150$.
This is due to the fact that only part of the resources come in form of taxmoney, and a lot of that has to be paid out again too.
A lot of the resourcepoints come in form of work peasants might do. And if they are only busy 80% of the time, it would be hard to rent the other 20% to someone else.
Lots of provinces include several terrain types, if so the value gets determined by the way it gets used.
Terrain values
The following table gives value for different terrain types for different races. This value gets used as a multiplier for the resource points a settlement
can generate.
| | Human | Elf | Dwarf | Halfling | Goblin/ Orc... |
| Aquatic/Coast | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Desert | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Forest | 4 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Hill | 4 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| Marsh | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Mountain | 2 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 6 |
| Plains | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Underground | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Settlements
How much resource points you get now depends on the the biggest settlement in the province.
The following table gives you the population required for a settlement type, the resourcepoints it generates per season. (Dont forget to multiply with terrain value)
and how many resource points you need per season to keep the settlement in the condition it is. (If not paid, people wander off and the settlements degrades one point per season)
| Type | Population | Resource points | Upkeep cost |
| Thorpe | <80 | 60 | 100 |
| Hamlet | <400 | 125 | 150 |
| Village | <1,000 | 250 | 225 |
| Small Town | <2,000 | 500 | 900 |
| Large Town | <5,000 | 625 | 1,350 |
| Small City | <10,000 | 750 | 1,800 |
| Large City | <25,000 | 1,000 | 3,200 |
| Metropolis | >25,000 | 1,250 | 5,000 |
Kind of rulership
The kind of ruler a province has can effect the amount of resources it produces.
Despot
The Despot rules with an iron fist.
Advantages:RP production +25%
Disadvantages:Each settlements needs 10% of it's population as soldiers to keep them in line. (And more soldiers might be required elsewhere too)
Warlord
A warlord concentrates on his military progress.
Advantages:RP production +10%
Disadvantages:At least 10% of the population have to be soldiers.
Standard
Just about every ruler whose army is smaller than 10% of the population
Advantages:None
Disadvantages:None
Collecting resource points
Now that we know how many resource points a province generates, we have to see how many of those the ruler collects and how much the population will have left for itself.
(Meaning how much the GM gets to pay).
The actual amount depends on the taxation level and some luck. (Remember a lot of it will be paid in work instead of money)
| Taxation level | Percentage of earned RP for the regent |
| Light taxation | 2d6+22 |
| Moderate taxation | 2d6+32 |
| Heavy taxation | 2d6+42 |
Spending resource points
Those resource points that stay the property of the people will be used to pay for the upkeep of the province and maybe even for upgrades.
If they don't have enough points to pay for their own upkeep or if a ruler wants to speed up upgrades he is free to pay for that with his own points.
Army
Each normal soldier costs the regent 2 Resource points per season. Elite units might cost more, depending on their actual skills.
Bureaucracy
Keeping a government running costs money, depending on the size of the realm and the ruling style.
The following table gives the cost in percent of resource production each province would have to pay.
This points get paid from the share of the regent.
| Number of Provinces | Cost for Despot/Warlord | Cost for standard rulers |
| 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2-3 | 7 | 4 |
| 4-6 | 13 | 8 |
| 7-8 | 17 | 12 |
| 9 | 20 | 16 |
| 10 | 23 | 20 |
| 11 | 26 | 24 |
| 12+ | 29 | 28 |
Settlement upgrade
The costs in this table give you the price to increase the size of a settlement to this point from the stage below that.
Or incase of the thorpe to create a settlement in the first place. The growth of settlements take normally decades, but if money flows freely people
from elsewhere consider moving to that location more quickly. (And so the ruler can indirectly create larger settlements)
| Settlement type | Upgrade cost |
| Thorpe | 500 |
| Hamlet | 1000 |
| Village | 2,000 |
| Small Town | 5,000 |
| Large Town | 10,000 |
| Small City | 25,000 |
| Large City | 50,000 |
| Metropolis | 100,000 |
Buildings
A regent might want to get a new palace or castle at some point. The building can be paid with resourcepoints instead of the gold price.
(In which case 1 RP pays 1500 $ of the building in question)
Churches
While the cost for the building is already covered with the rule above and the entries in the pricelist, it isn't much good without clerics to run it.
Keeping clerics around costs a certain amount of RP as upkeep. (Which normally get paid by the people in the area.)
In return you have clerics around who can aid in time of need with their spells.
The skillrank given in the table is the effective skill in their path of proficiency. the upkeep gets paid according to the biggest church in the province.
| Type of church | Skillrank | Upkeep cost/RP |
| Chapel | 6 | 225 |
| Church | 12 | 450 |
| Cathedral | 18 | 900 |
Magic guilds
Magic guilds can be a terrible drain on resources, but it also never hurts to have capable mages ready in case of an emergency, or if you want some magical item.
For starters guilds need buildings.
this can be an Wizards tower, A Guild hall (Mansion) or a university (four mansions and 4 towers).
The wizards will make dealings with the people around them and so drain certain resources. (Upkeep for the guild).
In return you get wizards who can be able to cast all sorts of spells.
The skill rank in the table below is for all paths of magic.
| Type of guild | Skillrank | Upkeep cost/RP |
| Tower | 4 | 225 |
| Guild hall | 8 | 450 |
| University | 12 | 900 |