Domain for a group of newbies

[rabindranath72]

Hi all,
after so long, I am finally running a new Birthright campaign! I will have a group of 4 people, each of them a newbie to Birthright, though not to rping in general.
I want to keep things simple, so I am only using the core 2e books, plus the boxed set. It seems at least one of them will want to play a regent, but I think I will enforce that just one of them control an actual Realm. Now, my question is: what's in your experience a good Realm to start? Ideally, I want to easily adapt ALL the published modules; I want the Realm to be close to an Awnshegh Realm; I want a small number of provinces so that things flow reasonably smooth.
I was thinking Roesone, but I am having second thoughts after seeing Medoere with only three provinces; Ilien and Endier seem good candidates, also.

Thanks!
Antonio

[Zendrolion]

It seems at least one of them will want to play a regent, but I think I will enforce that just one of them control an actual Realm.

You could make them open their road to rulership later in the campaign, if that is going to appeal them. BTW, with only one PC regent, the risk is that you've to dedicate a lot of time to him alone.

Now, my question is: what's in your experience a good Realm to start? Ideally, I want to easily adapt ALL the published modules; I want the Realm to be close to an Awnshegh Realm; I want a small number of provinces so that things flow reasonably smooth.
I was thinking Roesone, but I am having second thoughts after seeing Medoere with only three provinces; Ilien and Endier seem good candidates, also.

Roesone is the most plain realm: the ruler only controls provinces and law holdings; perhaps it could even be the most simple to manage. The problem with the other three (Endier, Medoere, and Ilien) is that, while small, their regents also control extensive (respectively) guild, temple, and source holdings; if you want a simpler game, I'd choose one of those four for sure, but I don't think which one makes a great difference. While Roesone will mostly be involved in political and military plots, in addition Moedoere will have to cope with rival churches, Endier with other guilds, and Ilien with other source-controlling wizards. All in all, if the regent PC is a warrior-type, I'd choose Roesone.

In fact, remember to also take into account what character class the regent PC belongs to. If he belongs to a warrior-type class, he'd be at disadvantage to rule Medoere, becouse he wouldn't gain any regency from his temple holdiongs, for example; the same is true for non-wizards in Ilien, and for non-rogues in Endier.

[rabindranath72]

Thanks for the insight. I had actually settled for Roesone, each of the three players a minor regent of a holding in the Ghoried province: a fighter (law 1), a thief (guild 1) and a mage (source 1). But in the end, the game fizzled since the players found 2e "wonky" and the setting too complex

[Marco Fossati]

But in the end, the game fizzled since the players found 2e "wonky" and the setting too complex

Many players find BR rules too complex. If you go to birthright.net you can find a 3ed version, maybe it will be more appealing for your players

[Zendrolion]

But in the end, the game fizzled since the players found 2e "wonky" and the setting too complex

Well, indeed there are some additional rules regarding rulership, but I don't think they're all that complex (at least from a PC's point of view). Often it's just that BR offers a game experience that is different from the "traditional" D&D adventure or setting. The rulers are indeed complex for the DM, which has to handle all the NPC regents!

One should keep in mind that BR is a setting about PC regents; if one isn't interested in this aspect, he could play BR as a traditional game (i.e. ignoring rules for rulership, and having no PC regents) or (I'd suggest) play in a wholly different setting altogether.

In fact, from my rather small experience in BR as player, I can say that half-way solutions are somewhat doomed to be unappealing to PC. For example, giving them only minimal holdings in one province has the advantage to introduce them slowly to new rules, but cuts them off from most of the choices (and excitement) of domain actions, ruling, etc., as they'll have only a few GB and RP, and would be unable to play with far-reaching political decisions - which in turn is seen as a disadvantage, becouse you're going to introduce a new set of rules (those concerning rulership) which the PCs are not going to exploit to become more powerful and influent.

Our DM made the same choice of yours in our BR campaign years ago, and indeed we quitted after one adventure...

[rabindranath72]

The problem is we quit after char gen

[Hugin]

The problem is we quit after char gen

Ah, that really sucks. I can't imagine quitting any game after only the character generation!

[Marco Fossati]

Our DM made the same choice of yours in our BR campaign years ago, and indeed we quitted after one adventure...

I hope you won't do the same in our pbem

[Marco Fossati]

One another choice could be to give to one PC an average-big realm and the others as his lieutnants. and after some turns, to split the realm in some vassals realms as they've become more skillful with the rules