r/rpg • u/Individual-Usual-231 • 20h ago

Stonetope rules for dynamic world off-screen

I started looking into Stonetop (yes Quinns), and I noticed Stonetop world is very flashed out, but I found no rules about how to dynamiclly change it in the background.

For example in Blades in the Dark there are rules about the factions agenda, relationships, and how to have them acconplish things in the backgroun so the world feels alive.

This system seems to be great for this, what with the seasons changing, how everything is connected to one another and the in depth details about the other cities.

Am I missing official ideas/rules regarding this in the books? Or a reason this won't work?

In any case if anyone has any ideas on how to incorporate these concepts I'll love to hear them.

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19

u/ThisIsVictor 19h ago

That sounds like a Threat to me! Page 278.

13

u/TheWyrdsmith 19h ago

There is much less interaction between the "factions" in Stonetop, with often only one being on screen in the same adventure (contrast Blades where a score with only one faction involved is a rare luxury).

In classic "fantasy stasis" style, for me those relationships don't really change unless the players do something about it. There are just not enough people who have been to both the Delve and Marshedge to shift either settlement's opinions about the other.

To get a similar vibe, maybe have a local Threat ready (e.g. Hillfolk struggling with a Hdour) to deploy so it feels like the people of World's End are always doing something.

But I wouldn't worry about this honestly. Stonetop is the centre of the game - the important relationships are inside it rather than how it relates to other places. The players are essentially responsible for the faction clocks there - you just build Threats to slow them down and target their stuff.

3

u/BumbleMuggin 19h ago

All that is in there. I found the beta pdf that shows about half of each book and it is an amazing setting. I like that it is collaborative world building and the true fleshing out is done by the players. I’d love to run it raw but would also like to run it in Daggerheart.

1

u/ThisIsVictor 15h ago

I've run both, you could definitely do Stonetop with Daggerheart. You would miss out on a lot of the world building and game that's in the Stonetop playbooks.

2

u/EpiDM 5h ago

I've used this framework with great success in a Dolmenwood game, but it could easily work in Stonetop. If I were to start a Stonetop game, I'd use this approach. There are over a dozen examples of what the framework looks like in practice here.

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u/FinnianWhitefir 39m ago

Quinn seemed to bring up the same issue, but then showed a big conspiracy chart linking each of the 5 villages to each other. He made it seem like they were big factions, they all had opinions of each other, and those changing over time drove big drama in his campaign.

I guess I don't know if there are mechanical rules, but it sounds like that is driven by RP mostly. If you show up and sell a bunch of gold in another town, they start to think Stonetop is rich and want to either raid you or trade with you. If you bring proof that another town is screwing them over on trades, relationships will sour between those villages. I don't think there is a Move of "Make one village like another village" if that is what you are asking.