Project Management in games - THIS SHIT JUST GOT REAL

[clockworkjoe]

Cody picked the wrong session of D&D to miss. Long story short: the party found out that a crazy bastard, Cortez, rules over a bunch of tribes near the mountains. He is a tyrant. Think Kurtz from the Heart of Darkness who uses a bag of devouring to execute dissidents.

So the party finds out this session that the spirit Ant granted Cortez power because he promised to use it to build civilization even if it means slavery and oppression. The players argue with Ant that mortals have free will and slavery is wrong. Ant doesn't give a fuck. Players say that mortals build more efficiently  if they are free. Ant is intrigued and decides to hold a contest. The players and Cortez are both told of ruins near their respective settlement. Whoever can rebuild these ruins first wins Ant's favor. NO OTHER RULES. The players find out that the ruins near Bordertown are a system of canals similar to the Venetian Arsenal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_Arsenal

I divided the project into 6 major tasks. Each task can be done by NPCs off screen or by the players through an adventure. 

1. Scout the ruins - the Lemurian Arsenal has been buried and is now a dungeon basically.
2. Map the ruins - a cartographer has to take precise measurements after the general layout is known.
3. Unearth the ruins - gotta dig it up.
4. Plan the renovation - engineers gotta figure out how to rebuild it.
5. Acquire materials for renovation - a lot of stone and lumber will be needed
6. Construction - they need a whole load of manpower to do this.

There are 3 meta tasks/duties that affect all 6 major tasks. If the players have time or wish to get more help next session they can get help in these areas

1. Transportation - getting shit moved faster either by mundane or magical means
2. Security  - both physical security and information security
3. Logistics  - Coordinating this shit together to maximize efficiency


The players made deals with 6 of the 7 merchant lords of the colony (except Axgore the slave trader of course) both the Black Raven and Gray Fang tribes and Governor Wyatt to do 5 of the 6 tasks. The players will complete one of the tasks by doing a crazy balls to the walls pulp action Indiana Jones style adventure I will plan next week.

I ASK YOU OF THE RPPR FORUMS

What kind of complications, additional tasks or meta-tasks, adventure hooks and so on come to mind?  What curveballs can I throw at them, what steps have I ignored? I don't want to turn this into a corporate managerial task but I want the players to feel like real movers and shakers. Have you ever run a game with this kind of idea?

[Tadanori Oyama]

I've done stuff in a much lesser sense, nothing this big a deal.

I love the idea of an Ant spirit farthering civilization without regards to conditions of citizens.

I'd say the big moral question for the heroes is "do they sabotage Cortez"? A lose means taking on a spirit backed psyco while winning by sabotage kind of undercuts their ideals. Also, Cortez is virtually assured to assault them. Strike first or focus on defense? They have to play rock, paper, scissors with lives and resources on the line.

Farther more, they need that bag. But it's high profile item, it'd be like trying to steal the town's gallows.

I am amazed with the intigration of so many social NPCs allies/contractors in the storyline, both by you, Ross, and the players. It's a style of DnD I don't see often.

Give me sometime to brainstorm, I'll have plenty to add soon.

[dragonshaos]

Ha
I'm trying to do something similar to this in my campaign with he whole town building.  Not going to be as complex, and I've drastically changed the majority of things from it's original idea, but it's very similar, getting resources and building, working together with the other people etc.
If I see any good ideas (Which I know I will, you guys are awesome) I may incorporate them into mine too.

[wrotenbe]

Remember, manpower that isn't enslaved will demand food, rest breaks, and timely payment of wages. If they don't get it, then they'll employ the time honored traditions of labor; work stoppages, walk outs, work-to-rule, etc. Put the PCs in the unenviable position of having to side with labor or management. Test to see how far they're willing to go with the idea of 'free men' working when you're on a strict deadline.

[dragonshaos]

But what if there isn't any money, what if food supply is dwindling down, what if their is no shelter, no source of clean water?  Say a storm is going to hit, and your only means of staying safe is inside whatever you have done?

I had an idea to allow players to kind of separate themselves and take control of different resources and thus different problems, free to get help from another player or even switch after time.  This way although most players may get all their work done or all problems solved, unless everyone gets it done there could be unforeseeable problems.  For example, food wise, supplies is getting low and there is no way to restock other than hunting or finding some source.  I have a den of wolves who are able to be killed and their meat eaten, skins skinned, and thus now they have a den, meat, and furs.  Or they could go to some native camp (In my case a small kobold camp, building a dungeon themselves or something) and steal the food.

What if maybe a fire erupts and burns up precious supplies, or one or more of the merchants has been assassinated, and work from their end has stopped?  Perhaps while inside the ruins the players find a shrine to another Spirit, such as a Spirit Termite who was imprisoned by the Ant.  What if the conditions are too hard for the workers and their endurance isn't up to it, collapsing in the middle of the day due to heat exhaustion, causing accidents to happen.

With the resources being done by NPC's, what if Cortez has hired some of your workers and is paying them to sabotage your ruins?  What if the ruins are inhabited by a native species, can the players befriend them or must they uproot them?  What if under the ruins is another beast like Pinchy (the lobster monster, i forget its name), and starts killing everyone during a critical time?

I'm just rambling ideas.  Hope some sound good.  I like he idea of a Spirit Termite though, seems kinda funny.

[Setherick]

Holy shit! Have the players not read Machiavelli's Discourses lately? That task is nearly impossible. Free will over forced labor? Never. Won't happen.

[clockworkjoe]

But what if there isn't any money, what if food supply is dwindling down, what if their is no shelter, no source of clean water?  Say a storm is going to hit, and your only means of staying safe is inside whatever you have done?

I had an idea to allow players to kind of separate themselves and take control of different resources and thus different problems, free to get help from another player or even switch after time.  This way although most players may get all their work done or all problems solved, unless everyone gets it done there could be unforeseeable problems.  For example, food wise, supplies is getting low and there is no way to restock other than hunting or finding some source.  I have a den of wolves who are able to be killed and their meat eaten, skins skinned, and thus now they have a den, meat, and furs.  Or they could go to some native camp (In my case a small kobold camp, building a dungeon themselves or something) and steal the food.

What if maybe a fire erupts and burns up precious supplies, or one or more of the merchants has been assassinated, and work from their end has stopped?  Perhaps while inside the ruins the players find a shrine to another Spirit, such as a Spirit Termite who was imprisoned by the Ant.  What if the conditions are too hard for the workers and their endurance isn't up to it, collapsing in the middle of the day due to heat exhaustion, causing accidents to happen.

With the resources being done by NPC's, what if Cortez has hired some of your workers and is paying them to sabotage your ruins?  What if the ruins are inhabited by a native species, can the players befriend them or must they uproot them?  What if under the ruins is another beast like Pinchy (the lobster monster, i forget its name), and starts killing everyone during a critical time?

I'm just rambling ideas.  Hope some sound good.  I like he idea of a Spirit Termite though, seems kinda funny.

Pinchy is still in the harbor of the colony. Water spirit treats him like a pet. Gonna use some of these ideas though. I think the key to projects is to make each task a potential adventure and let the players decide how they want to use their resources.

[wrotenbe]

Another thing, remember that this should be a competition in every way. Not just for the ruins, but also for the nearest resources. So, while it's great to have the ruins themselves mapped out, it should be equally important to scout out the nearest rock quarries, forests, fresh water sources, etc. There should be battles for the prime real estate, but since both sides have to make the most of available manpower, make it a gamble - the choicest supplies of resources for building at the cost of some of your labor force. Is it worth the trade off?

[clockworkjoe]

They're very far apart and once the ruins are rebuilt, they will serve as a world class shipyard. I do see the trade off though. I'll frame it differently though.

[wrotenbe]

They're very far apart and once the ruins are rebuilt, they will serve as a world class shipyard. I do see the trade off though. I'll frame it differently though.

Oh, I figured since it was like an artificial peninsula they'd be bottle-necked together at some points during construction, but I may have just gotten the wrong idea about the whole thing and if so I apologize.

[dragonshaos]

They're very far apart and once the ruins are rebuilt, they will serve as a world class shipyard. I do see the trade off though. I'll frame it differently though.

Oh, I figured since it was like an artificial peninsula they'd be bottle-necked together at some points during construction, but I may have just gotten the wrong idea about the whole thing and if so I apologize.

Ah, me too.  Although I don't think any of my previous ideas really change anything.

Oh, and yeah make everything adventuresome (right word?) and the possibilities will be exponential (again right word?).  Imagine working on thie huge project, and little by little through sweat blood and tears you see it all coming together...only to look and see that the other guy is ahead of you!  Oh noes!

[clockworkjoe]

A not to scale map of the area done in 5 minutes in photoshop.

[dragonshaos]

And here I thought Grippli Island was to the south...

IT ALL MAKES SENSE!

[Setherick]

Something also to consider is the expertise of the labor both the PCs and Cortez have access to. The objective is to rebuild a shipyard ruined by decades of neglect. It's not like either group can come in with my all time favorite NPC group - "a herd of dwarves" - and throw some spackle up and call it a day. The project will require engineers and other very skilled laborers, most of whom will be being utilized by the colony building things like forts and buildings. And this is if there are even any engineers that could take on the project. Also, both groups will need tens of skilled carpenters, masons, and blacksmiths. And again how many are available in the colony.

[clockworkjoe]

Update:

Players fought off a monster attack that tried to raid the work camp (medusa and briar dryad) improving worker morale and security (word of failed attack will cause the local monster population to back off)

Players raised a Lemurian as an undead to get its help. They triggered an ancient spell that instead raised an adventurer (who happened to worship Orcus) as a free willed undead named Castilla. Castilla tells them how to get in touch with the original architect of the shipyards, a modron named nodrom. (from planescape torment). The players go to Mechanus (through a portal cast by Castilla) and recruit Nodrom. He's all too happy to get out of Mechanus. The players realize that this will piss off the inhabitants of Mechanus but whatever.

Bright Eyes the gnome rogue warns the of an impeding invasion by Cortez's horde. Next session they will have to face down an army of bad guys.

The project is underway!