Town advancement

There is a lot to like from the announcement of MCDM's new game, Crows. It seems to take the passion of Colville's team and the polish of Draw Steel into a more old-school direction. The default setting is compelling and framing adventurers as "Crows" is fun. It carries over some mechanics from DS that I don't think I'd enjoy, but one idea from the announcement video captured my imagination: town advancement.

There will be rules on how adventurers can advance their hometown through financing improvements. These new features give benefits to the town and party in a virtuous cycle. Building barracks leads to trained citizens who can defend the town or join the party. Building a library increases the number of spells that are available to the heroes.

As a player and GM, and I'm not particularly interested in mechanical advancement for players. I like it when seasoned adventurers are still real and vulnerable. But town advancement... that is compelling motivation.

Imagine you start as a farmhand from a village. A band of goblin raiders kill the farmer and steal the harvest before setting fire to the land. Homeless, unemployed, and desperate, you gather a group of foolhardy adventurers to track down the raiders and avenge the village. Against all odds, you are successful, reclaiming crops and looting treasure from the goblins. You're hailed as heroes, and use the money you restore the farm and build walls to defend against the next attack.

You continue adventuring, delving deeper into the dark of Wood and Cavern. With each successful return, you sponsor a project in the village: a house for a healer, a larger shop for the blacksmith, more equipment for the miners. Slowly but surely these improvements advance your home from a village to a town and even a city. You are famous for your patronage and are elected mayor. Eventually you retire and become an NPC ready to aid the next generation of adventurers. You are just one normal person, but you have helped create something wonderful for your neighbors.

That's the kind of fantasy that I want to explore: not super heroes, but super villages. I'm interested to see how MCDM designs that part of Crows. In the meantime, I'll take the idea and run with it in my own games.

Sean McPherson works as a software engineer at Khan Academy, and enjoys playing games and watching soccer. He lives with family in Pittsburgh, PA.