I've just got done listening to an episode of Blogs on Tape. Specifically episode 172 - Pleasures of the OSR: Emergent Story and Open Worlds, by Ben. L. This got the cogs turning in my brain thinking about "faction play" or "domain play". In particular I felt inspired to take a trip down the rabbit hole to explore what the original Dungeons & Dragons rule pamphlets says about these concepts. From memory, not much considering this original system was marketed as a "top-down" war game. However I have a suspicion that much can be extrapolated from what these pamphlets do say. So let's take a look... OD&D Domain & Faction Play In Men & Magic the character section provides details of high level character play, which is very applicable to domains or factions. In particular what income is available to high level characters: "Top-level fighters (Lords and above) who build castles are considered “Barons,” [...]. Base income for a Baron ...
Many players might not consider the bard as an official OD&D class. Case being that unlike the Ranger & Illusionist, which were also introduced outside of the official OD&D supplements (in Strategic Review or Dungeon magazine) - the bard never made it into the AD&D Player's Handbook. There are several other proposed classes like this, such as the alchemist (which I want to visit at a later date). I've been toying with the idea of how these "unofficial" classes would be well suited as been specialists that can be hired or consulted by players in an OD&D campaign. The alchemist is already listed as a specialist in Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, so why not expand the details provided to included some of the traits they have as a proposed class? Like, I said, I want to look into this later, but for now I am intrigued by the bard... OD&D Bards as NPCs NOT PC's! A new version of the Bard combining Michael Siemon's & Dan Pierson...