The Book of Guildcraft

[Andy]

Hey,
Awhile ago the idea of creating a Book of Guildcraft was proposed. Now that I am back in the online BR "town", I have begun a little work on this and I hope to join Arjan and others to make this a reality. Based on the three other Books of, I have come up with a tenative Table of Contents. If there's anything you think is missing from it or some area you think needs a specific point elaborated on, lemme kno.

Introduction
Races
Elves
Dwarves
Halflings
Humanoids
Humans
Anuire
Brechts
Khinasi
Rjurik
Vos
Anatomy of the Guild Holding
Trade Routes (Inc. New trade route rules from Brecht book)
Strategies and Tactics
Domain
Strategies
Tactics
Domain Actions
Footsteps of Others
Thief/Guilder Kits (Inc. a copy of the info on the guilder class)
Magical Items and Artifacts

[Andy]

the tabbing didnt come out quite right, but I'm sure you can figure out which are subtopics, Strat & Tac ends with Footsteps. also, if you've got any big images that would make good cover art, background art, or "break up lots of text and make it look pretty" art, email em to me. oh, they should be guild-themed (somehow) and id like "real" pictures, that is not computer-drawn ones. thanks.

[Perhelion]

As well as a section on races, I think a section on geography could be useful. I'm sure Dwarven and Elven guilds have little in common, but even guilds from different parts of the same ethnic background could be very different.

[Lord Eldred]

Perhaps include details of some of the major guilds in Cerilia!

[Arjan]

what i was thinking:

introduction on guilds
- races&trade
- anatomy of a guildholding
- 1st lvl guild
- 2-4 lvl guild
- 4-X lvl guild
Organizations
- Traditional Guild
- Piracy guild
- Smuggler cartel
- Spy network
- etc.
traderoutes
seafearing
Strategies and Tactics
new domain actions
skills and feats
prestige classes

[Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel]

I've been working on some prestige classes to place into various other books as well (New Magecraft Book, Priestcraft Book, etc.). I want to see how you guys are doing yours.

[Lord Eldred]

Arjan's plans look pretty good. Still wouldn't mind seeing some of the major guilds described in more detail or is that what you planned in the level guilds part?

[Arjan]

I want to include example guilds for each guild type.

description of the guilds wil linclude the following

Organiziation:
Guild rules:
Advanced Oppertunities:
Locations:
Assets:
Goals:
Conflicts:
Hooks:
Example Guild:

[morgramen]

What about resources and trade goods? Should there be an effort to detail what manner of wares certain guilds trade in, or should we leave that out and up to the DM/Players?

I wouldn't mind trying to come up with some resource rules, as "Optional" , or in 3E lingo "VARIANT" rules I suppose. ;)

[Strahd]

Orginally posted by arjan

I want to include example guilds for each guild type.

description of the guilds wil linclude the following ....

Maybe something in the lines of the BoM for example (Strategies of Kalien, Mheallie, Theofold ..... their strengths and their mistakes) would be nice :)

[Lord Eldred]

Also I am hoping this book will assume 3e rules and not 2e or would that upset people who have kept with 2e?

[Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel]

I was once anti-3E, now I'm starting to warm up to it. 3E is more versatile than 2nd and the only problems it has are minor.

[Lawgiver]

Orginally posted by Lord Eldred
Also I am hoping this book will assume 3e rules and not 2e or would that upset people who have kept with 2e?

Yes sir all "official" products for Birthright will now be in 3e format only.

[Arlen Blaede]

I vote 3E as well.

Also, someone might have mentioned this all ready. But I think you might want to add a section on the guilds like the Shadus magazine used to have. The "Hook, Line, and Sinker" section. Basic stuff revolving around how the Guilds would involve the players. Essentially they're just ideas for GM's to run with.

[Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel]

Is an optional rule system for commodities too much to ask?

[Temujin]

Before completing it, I suggest taking a look at all the pbem websites out there, some of them have very interesting rules that should be considered for inclusion.

As an example, I can easily think of the rules about ressources, trade center, trade caravans(which replaces those infamous trade routes) and embargos used in EBR:
http://enothril.topcities.com/EBR

I know other pbems are likely to use interesting rules as well, now all you have to do is collecting them :)

[Mark_Aurel]

There's been discussions on commodity type rules. The ideal remains to keep things as simple as possible, though.

That link didn't open anything BR-oriented for me - it did open a pop-up hell type site, though, Temujin. Is it down, or did you mistype your link?

[Temujin]

Nope, works fine with me. probably a temporary problem with the hosting server.

[Arch-Sorcerer Gargamel]

The site doesn't open on the link, but opened when I copied and pasted it.

Who wants a simple game? Oh, so I guess everyone but me then. Oh well, I guess I'll have to come up with my own system.

[Mark_Aurel]

Who wants a simple game? Oh, so I guess everyone but me then. Oh well, I guess I'll have to come up with my own system.

Simplicity should lie at the core of any game system. However, simplicity does not equal a simple emulation of the world. If you look at 3e, compared to 2e, the core mechanics of 3e are simpler and more streamlined. Yet they have a far greater ability to emulate or encompass various concepts.

To put it another way: Much more is outlined in clear rules in 3e than it was in 2e, yet those rules are far simpler to explain due to there being a simple core mechanic to it.

I suppose you could call it a more elegant rules system.

[Temujin]

You gained a new level Mark Aurel? How long did you train for it? :P