LIEGE - A Domain Governance Expansion for Sam Sorensen's CATAPHRACT

Very much a rough first draft, not yet tested at all. Designed with the Tower Lands in mind, but should be pretty generic.

Original CATAPHRACT rules by Sam Sorensen.

Domain play proceeds by season, with seasonal events occurring in fall, winter, spring, and summer. Players are free to act as they wish throughout the year--sending messages, issuing orders to vassals, working on personal projects, etc. NPC rulers will typically perform certain actions at certain times of year based on the season; players may do likewise or break with tradition.

Fall: Planting season. If domain play first begins in fall, the first fall is assumed to pass uneventfully. Each fall thereafter, food supplies from the end of the last year are tallied; population growth or decline is determined for inhabited regions; and unrest is checked to determine whether any revolts occur.

Winter: Growing season. At the start of winter, roll for weather conditions for the season. These will influence the coming harvest; based on winter weather, rulers can make predictions about the coming year, and use these to strategize. Traditionally, diplomacy is conducted during winter, with marriages arranged, alliances and bargains struck, and campaigns planned. Winter is also when plagues tend to break out, due to the cold, damp conditions.

Spring: Harvest season. The results of the harvest are rolled for, influenced by the winter's weather, to determine food production for the year. Traditionally, spring is also campaign season, with rulers sending their armies to disrupt their enemies' harvests. Houses sending their scions to marry or representatives to seal agreements will send the parties to their destinations accompanied by their retinues; the waiting period while retinues visit until summer, when pacts are sealed, serves as a trust-building exercise for both sides, the host demonstrating their good intentions by treating the guests well and the guests showing theirs by not moving against the hosts.

Summer: Winnowing season. By tradition, marriages and pacts arranged during the winter are carried out in summer. Because of the risk of revolts during fall, warriors will usually expect to be home from campaign by the end of the summer, to keep their peasantry in line.

Weather

Roll 2d6 at the start of winter and announce the result.

2: Severe drought. Roll 1d6 for harvest.
3-5: Drought. Roll 1d6+1 for harvest.
6-8: Average winter. Roll 2d6 for harvest.
9-11: Good rainfall. Roll 2d6+2 for harvest.
12: Excellent rainfall. Roll 2d6+4 for harvest.

Keep in mind that players and NPC rulers are aware of weather conditions and should plan for the year ahead accordingly.

Plagues

After rolling for weather at the start of each winter, roll 1d6 for each region. On a 6, a plague breaks out; place a plague marker on that region. Roll 1d6 again; on another 6, add another plague marker and the plague spreads to another random region nearby, which also takes a plague marker. Keep rolling again for each region infected until it does not roll another 6; each time a 6 is rolled, add a plague marker and spread the plague to another nearby region.

Harvest

Roll at the start of spring based on winter weather.

1-2: Famine. Roll 1d6 for population.
3-5: Poor harvest. Roll 1d6+2 for population.
6-8: Average harvest. Roll 2d6 for population.
9-11: Good harvest. Roll 2d6+4 for population.
12+: Bountiful harvest. Roll 2d6+6 for population.

Population

Roll 2d6 at the start of fall, applying modifiers from the harvest, with a further penalty for each of the following.

• Each time the region was foraged this year, -1
• Each time the region was recruited from this year, -1
• If the region was torched, -4

1-2: Catastrophic decline. -5% population for each hex.
3-5: Decline. -1% population for each hex.
6-8: Stable. No change.
9-11: Growth. +1% population for each hex.
12+: Major growth. +2% population for each hex.

Then reduce population by 2% for each plague marker on the region and roll 1d6. Remove plague markers equal to the roll from the region. When all plague markers are removed, the plague abates.

Unrest

Each time you forage or recruit from a region, add 1 unrest to it. In regions you hold securely, you may forage and recruit once each per year without causing unrest. When you torch a region, add 2 unrest to it. (This replaces the chance of triggering revolts for these actions in the base CATAPHRACT rules.)

When a region's population declines, add unrest equal to the percent of decline. When a region's population grows, reduce its unrest by the percentage of growth.

You may impose a quarantine on a plague-afflicted region you hold securely. This increases unrest by 1 every year it continues, but prevents the plague from spreading.

Each fall, after resolving population changes, roll 1d10. On a roll equal to or under the region's unrest, a revolt occurs. (In the Tower Lands, revolts will probably produce smaller armies than in base CATAPHRACT given the overall lower assumed population; figure this out later.)

When a revolt is suppressed, reduce unrest in the region by half, rounding down.

Policy

The above procedures all assume an agrarian feudal mode of governance. Players are free to implement other systems of government in lands they control; how these affect the procedures described, if at all, is left to the ref's discretion. For example, if a player wants their government to not have the right to conscript soldiers from local households or appropriate food supplies for military use, they might make it a law that they have to pay soldiers wages and purchase supplies with treasure. This might allow them to avoid creating unrest by recruiting and foraging. Of course, assuming the player currently holds their territory by having a monopoly on violence within it, it's up to them to enforce those rules upon themselves.