Realmwright

Your realm, your way

Grow a camp of settlers into a realm of thousands. Build a human town where thieves hang at the gate, dig a dwarf fortress into the mountain and turn every stranger away, or raise an orc warband that brawls in the arena and marches on every bandit camp in reach. There's no path to follow and no right way to play.

What will you build?

Six towns from the same game. Paint each building's shape, furnish it piece by piece and lay out the streets however you like.

A walled town Stone walls on a river, under a moated keep.

A dwarf hold Halls cut into the mountain, with forges and farms at its foot.

A greenskin stockade Clans of orcs and goblins in round huts around their fires, ringed by a palisade.

A forum town Dressed stone and colonnades, with a temple, baths and an arena.

A village A hundred settlers around a green by the river.

A port An old walled town with ships in its harbour.

Every settler has a story

Take Frank. He joined your realm with nothing to his name, led your army to its first victory and struck down the troll in the hills. The town has called him Frank Trollbane ever since, and half your soldiers would follow him anywhere.

III

Love, marriage and betrayal

Frank walked out with Maud for a season before he finally proposed, and his soldiers came to the temple to see them wed. Their daughter has her mother's face. But while he was away at war, Maud found someone else. A friend told him, and Frank beat the man to death in the street.

Write your own laws

Now the town's hero is a murderer, and everyone saw it. Do you hang the man who killed the troll, or strip his honours and banish him? And what will the soldiers who swore by him do? Every crime has a punishment, and you choose it, from the thief the watch runs down in the square to the hero with blood on his hands. Whatever you choose, someone will think you got it wrong.

Defend your people

Gloamhound packs come at dusk to run down whoever is caught alone in the fields and drag off your herds. Raiders smash your gate with a ram, a necromancer raises your own dead against you, and a realm you push too far sends its army. Ring the bell and everyone goes indoors while your soldiers take up arms.

Lead the armies

A bandit chief sets up camp nearby and demands a share of your goods. Pay up, or march out? Train professional soldiers at the barracks or call up the levy. Spearmen brace for the charge, a lance knocks a man flat and stray arrows hit your own side.

VII

Rule the waves

Your shipwrights build everything from longships to galleons at the boatyard. Sail them out against the pirates who raid your harbour. Trade broadsides, ram them or send your crew across to board, and a ship that surrenders joins your navy.

VIII

Explore a living world

Your realm isn't alone. Its neighbours trade with you, send envoys and remember how you treated them. Out in the wild, trolls and great spiders make their dens. Kill one and its trophy hangs in your town hall, and the soldier who killed it earns a name for it.

Trade by road and river

Fishing boats row out from your wharf. Ox wagons run the routes you set, coaches carry anyone with a coin to spare and merchant ships sail off to trade. Caravans come from neighbouring realms to trade on your terms.

Master magic

A few of your settlers are born with the gift. After years at the mage's tower they can throw a firestorm into the enemy's ranks, lay a wall of fire across a charge or heal a soldier who should have died. Dwarf runesmiths cut their magic into steel, and greenskin shamans drive a warband into a bloodrage. Or hunt the gifted down as heretics.