Hexcrawl Feudalism
I hit upon my gamable feudalism system a couple of years ago, and it's simple and good. Mainly inspired by On Downtime and Demesnes and Gazeteer #1 Karameikos.
Actual historical feudalim didn't have a very neat layout like this, and the titles of nobility seem very flexbile. But this is my simplification for a gameable system, and it works for me!
The basic rules are that a hex is (now famously) 6 miles across, which is about the range a small army can rush to in the case of emergency. It's defendable with one fortress, especially if they have horses. These are the levels of the pyramid scheme:
Kingdom - the entire country and its colonies, ruled by the King or Queen. They live in the biggest city in the kingdom, which is also the best defended. Contains the capital's hex, contiguous with 2d6 fiefs (directly belonging to the kingdom), and surrounded by 2d6 duchies.
Duchy - a county or colony, ruled by the Duke or Duchess. Contains a big town with a big castle, contiguous with 2d6 fiefs (directly belonging to the duchy) and loosely surrounded by 2d6 baronies.
Barony - a small castle, perhaps a town, contiguously surrounded by 2d6 fiefs. Ruled by a baron or baroness.
Fief - one populated hex. Ruled by any kind of landed noble or elected official - a knight, lord, lady, mayor, steward, or whatever. They live in a small fort or fancy house, surrounded by a village and farms. The fief is named after the current ruling noble's family, e.g. Fief Sudley.
The kingdom does not have to be contiguous - there can be long tracts of unpopulated land or ocean between baronies or duchies, but supply lines are vital. A barony and its surrounding fiefs, surrounded by wilderness, with a caravan road to civilisation, is an ideal starting point for a campaign.
A fief that is separated from the clump of other fiefs and baron's castle by even one wilderness hex would be considered isolated and vulnerable to attack.
Unlanded nobles would jump at the chance for a fiefdom. This is where domain play comes in for a noble PC.
Each layer is the layer below's boss. A kingdom going to war would command their duchies, who would command their baronies, who would command their fiefs to send their fighting mounted nobility (knights) and a peasant levy (cannon fodder).
A "hex" is terminology also used by NPCs. It's short for heraldic expanse. For estimating population sizes, treasuries, and standing armies for each barony, I'd refer to Sandbox Generator by Atelier Clandestin.








