Bastions can make player characters feel like they really have a home in the gaming world. But what exactly can your Bastion be?
Bastions are a great addition to D&D if you’re playing with them. They give PCs some real estate in the game, and that can do absolute wonders for the campaign, increasing both player buy-in and immersion, because now you have a home that you’re thinking about. Even if the system is a little clunky (and I’d personally homebrew it to be a little more fluid/free to pick stuff from), the benefits of using Bastions can be manifold.
And a big part of that fun comes when you decide what your Bastion is going to be. Honestly, you can use this even if you don’t use the Bastion system. All you have to do is decide what your party’s home base is and the rest is gravy.
Tavern
It’s a bit of a meme these days that adventuring parties spend more time trying to run an inn than they do having actual adventures. But there’s something iconic about the adventurers that have their own tavern. It works with a bunch of the different Bastion Facilities (including the one where you get to brew your own ale) and gives you a place in the heart of any town. You don’t have to be a retired adventurer to open up your own tavern anymore.
Magic School
A magic school is another fun option for a party looking to make a mark on the world. Why let well-established arcane colleges be the only players in the game. You could run the Faerun equivalent of Greendale and be the center of a weird, quirky arcane community. It’s great for any party that features spellcasters who might have an interest in attracting followers, students, disciples, or just people with questions.
Country Estate
If you like your fantasy a little more pastoral, why not go for a nice little manor out in the country. Build the kind of house near picturesque farmland that 18th century poets dreamed of. In all seriousness, though, this is a great way to have a home base near whatever the sleepy little village your campaign likely begins in. And unless it gets terribly destroyed in some mystic conjunction of planes and/or stars, it’s not a bad way to keep a thread running throughout the campaign.
Fort
Sometimes you have to plant your flag. And then defend that flag, because your enemies want to take your flag. So you build fortified walls around it and raise it up high just to spite them. But that’s where having a Bastion that also serves as a fort can come in handy. This is a great boon in any campaign where the world is a little more on the hostile side, because it could allow players to have NPCs and even a town taking shelter within the walls, creating a metaphorical and literal bastion of safety in a dangerous realm.
Adventurer’s Guild
Finally, for sandbox campaigns, consider letting the PCs’ Bastion be the adventuring guild. This especially works in West Marches style campaigns where adventures are more episodic – then the players’ in-game home becomes the central hub for the world. And as you add Bastion special features you feel the improvements your characters have brought back from their expeditions out into the wilderness.
How do you like to flavor your Bastions?
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Source: Bell of Lost Souls
