Matt Coleville's Strongholds and Followers on Kickstarter.

[nickgreyden]

Matt's intro video for the kickstarter explains best what kind of book he is putting together, why the need for a kickstarter, and his experience with book and rpg writing. So if any questions come from that, it is best answered there or in the FAQ. The link is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/255133215/strongholds-and-streaming

However, what does this mean for those of us who come here. Well, as Matt mentions in the video, he was a major writer in the closest thing 3.0/3.5 had to mass combat and kingdom management that had an official release named "Fields of Blood: The Book of War". He also is a lover of the Birthright campaign setting (for a slightly attention deficit disorderly twitch talk on the setting itself, you can find him on twitch at mattcolville), and has actively used several version of the upcoming Stronghold's and Followers rules in his own games for years along side of mass combat.

Just thought folks 'round these parts should be aware this is going on and hope you guys check it out whether you back it or not. I don't know him personally, but love his DM stuff on his youtube channel (which you can find by typing in, you guessed it, Matt Coleville)

Edit: An edited version of that twitch chat is on his youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaIKTUkjZd8

Edit: Update post made. Book in final stages. Everything looks good. More details below. Preorder book at https://strongholds-and-streaming.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

[Arjan]

Matt's intro video for the kickstarter explains best what kind of book he is putting together, why the need for a kickstarter, and his experience with book and rpg writing. So if any questions come from that, it is best answered there or in the FAQ. The link is https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/255133215/strongholds-and-streaming

However, what does this mean for those of us who come here. Well, as Matt mentions in the video, he was a major writer in the closest thing 3.0/3.5 had to mass combat and kingdom management that had an official release named "Fields of Blood: The Book of War". He also is a lover of the Birthright campaign setting (for a slightly attention deficit disorderly twitch talk on the setting itself, you can find him on twitch at mattcolville), and has actively used several version of the upcoming Stronghold's and Followers rules in his own games for years along side of mass combat.

Just thought folks 'round these parts should be aware this is going on and hope you guys check it out whether you back it or not. I don't know him personally, but love his DM stuff on his youtube channel (which you can find by typing in, you guessed it, Matt Coleville)

he just posted a video about Birthright
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaIKTUkjZd8

[nickgreyden]

edited post :-)

[Arius Vistoon]

thanks

[DerekSTheRed]

There is a new(ish) Kickstarter for a supplement to 5E D&D called Strongholds and Followers (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/255133215/strongholds-and-streaming/). It has already been funded and contains a live streaming component. It just passed $1 Million. It looks like it would fit really well with a 5E D&D Birthright setting. They are adding Pirate rules for a stretch goal that makes me think of Drachenward.

I signed up for the PDF and plan on using during the play testing phrase. If you're looking for a set of rules for 5E D&D domain ruling, this may be what you're looking for.

[nickgreyden]

Well the kickstarter is over, 2.1 million raised, and I'm in on the playtest. I'll stop by this post every so often once the playtest is out and fill everyone in on how it is going. If you got some time, I made a playlist of 4 videos of Matt's talking about what the book is and is not.

The first talks about how you gain your followers (in a vague sort of way)
The second talks about what the artisan followers do for you (pretty interesting)
The third, and the one I really wanted to know about, is about warfare rules (light edition, another book most likely coming in the future)
The last is what exactly a "codex" is and what they do. They seem neat.

Here is the link to the Playlist. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwjCturQZ-U&list=PLXajxsAIxRwSAiQUaFH7jLXdqrXlGv4KW)

[einstein_pi]

Sad I just missed the kickstarter, thanks for sharing the video though. Richard Baker actually pointed me in it's direction - hope it's a great product.

[JakobLiar]

Ouch, yeah, I'm quite sad that I missed this as well. Saw the most recent post and it drew my attention to this, but since I've been gone for quite a while I am not surprised that I missed it. Just wish that I would've caught it in time to be able to get a copy of the book at least.

[nickgreyden]

For those curious...

The book will be available for purchase once it is complete. Sometime in the near future, the kickstarter page will have a "pre-order" button. Matt plans to also have shop set up on his website. MCDM (I'm at work and can't look up the actual webpage, but that should be enough info to find it).

The only thing that will be kickstarter only are the mini's and the shirt. Like I said, I'll be in here talking about how the playtest goes when I get the stuff in.

[nickgreyden]

Update post!

So the book is done and off to the layout artist. It should be out shortly. I'll have the pdf soon, the physical copies will take a bit longer. If you are interested in pre-ordering, you can go to https://strongholds-and-streaming.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

So, the book itself contains all the stuff for having a stronghold and all the cool things you get for having it, most of which provides limited character buffs but are also just cool things to have. The adventure that comes in the book is actually a pretty good sized and well thought out, but I feel as if it is slightly railroady, but that is personal taste. This isn't lack of forethought, it is how it is designed. The warfare rules are a light edition but I really like them (except for one thing, more on that later). The followers, the charts, the new monsters, and some of the over 100 magical items are all spot on. The artwork was done by several different handpicked people as well as a couple of art houses. It walks the gambit from pretty good to fantastic (though I've only seen a portion).

Like I said previously, I was in the playtest and man oh man did those playtesters tear that thing apart! Theory crafters and statatitions and excel wizards and impromptu game runners and rules lawyers and balance freaks put that thing through the ringer! I have no doubt that some of the playtest packets I got had major rewrites and there was also quite of bit of clarification needed in a few areas. The sad thing is I didn't get to see the whole thing. There are some large sections that never made it to the playtesters and that wasn't a good call imo, time is an issue and Matt has said frequently that it will evolve over time. Newer versions will have errata fixed in their printing and online resources will be available for older versions. Plus they have (a few) in-house people to take a look and that is always a plus.

Anyway, I feel that this whole book can easily be adopted for use in Birthright with only a few minor tweaks from the DM (mostly the special abilities you get for your class as they change every D&D edition but they are common so it shouldn't be a big deal). Likewise you can hand-wave them away as bloodline powers. The warfare system is very strong and I like it a lot except for the fact that you don't field your armies in a wargamey kind of way, they just all attack. Kingdoms and Warfare looks like it will be the next book and will add more stuff that armies and their commanders can do as well as some more stock armies to use, but aside from this thing that I'd throw out the nearest window, I'm quite a fan of the warfare system right now and it fits right in with birthright.

Anyway, that is the end of the update.

Below is a brief description that I feel comfortable with revealing without giving anything away. I'm pretty sure Matt has covered all of this in several different places but thought I'd do a quick once over.

Castles - You get bonuses to defending them and some extra rolls for followers but they are expensive to have as they are made up of a combination of the other strongholds.

Keeps - Probably built by marshal classes. Gives minor combat bonuses.

Temples - Probably built by divine casters. Allows summoning of entities (specially made for this product) if you've been a good boy or girl. And some of these... things... summon an army to aid you... and they are nasty!

Towers - Probably built by arcane casters. Allows for faster spell research and even some personalized spells. Really excited for this and to plug it into Birthright! Want Ray of Frost to also remove all armor and clothing for one round? You can do it? Cast a buff on your ally and watch as they leave a fire trail behind them when they move? Sure!

Establishments - Makes money. Gives some good spy info. Allows some special actions in social and knowledge situations.

All of the above can be upgraded to give you more cool stuff including free units, abilities, and followers.

Followers - if you own a stronghold, you'll get armies and followers. Followers and artisans do everything from making you money, to reducing the cost of doing stuff on your land, to making you magical items... if you bring in a few things.

Armies/units - They work a lot like Birthright. Roll a d20, add their attack, if it beats the enemy's defense you hit. Roll a d20, add their power and try to overcome the enemy's toughness. If it succeeds, they take damage (it is like rolling attack and damage). If their casualty dice (read: hp) is half their max dice, the damaged unit is "diminished" and must make morale rolls to stay in. You can have a small unit with a lot of power (like a dragon or three would be a unit) but not a lot of casualty dice. You could have a large unit like 400 levies (with a lot of casualty dice (casualty dice max out at a d20)) but not a lot of attack or power or defense or toughness.

There are also three important keyword indicators that affect their stats: how experienced they are (Irregular to Super-Elite), what is their equipment (Light - Super-Heavy), and what type of unit they are (levies, infantry, archers, cavalry, airborne, fortification, and seige). Each one is given a cool name and every unit has something special they can like automatically making a morale check or shrugging off a casualty loss. Each type has certain rules like archers cannot be attacked by enemy infantry while your infantry is still on the field. (Another reason I'd toss that rule where you don't field your army).

Here is a couple of units that have previously been shown outside the playtest.

https://i.imgur.com/uxOTe29.png


https://i.imgur.com/i6CV4Lb.png

[JakobLiar]

Sounds and looks pretty solid. As soon as I can afford it, I'll pre-order.

[nickgreyden]

I can say this thing was really put through the ringer by playtesters. I think it was something along the lines of 1,500 signed up for it (don't quote me on that) but, as with anything like this, you only get a few that actually do anything or engage with the playtest. All-in-all, there were probably about 100-300 really active people over the course of the playtest that read through the packets and attempted to deconstruct, break, and poke them. My hat is off to all of them.

This book was designed for 5th edition, and as someone who plays mostly 3.5/Pathfinder I had to do a lot of looking stuff up to make sure I knew how it worked... and to my surprise, there wasn't a lot of change (unlike that other edition that shall not be named). As such, it is really really REALLY easy to just plug this into those systems. I only played 2ed for a year or so before 3.0 came out, so as a n00b with that system (especially in the rules department), I'm not sure how well it would translate. From what I recall, not that well. But then again, I didn't even know what the hell I was rolling and whether I was trying to roll low or high so that was a thing... :rolleyes:

[nickgreyden]

So the PDF is officially out! I'm about halfway through it (should have finished it by now but fighting a abscessed tooth :( ) So far it looks pretty good. The physical book is predicted to be out in late Q1 or early Q2. The PDF is currently $20 and you can find it at https://shop.mcdmproductions.com/products/test-strongholds-followers-pdf

Can't wait to use this!!!