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1) Some events decrease your kingdom's stats, for example:
Slavers (Settlement, Continuous): Criminals begin
kidnapping citizens and selling them into slavery. Attempt
a Loyalty check and a Stability check, each with a penalty
equal to the number of Brothels, Tenements, Waterfronts,
and lots with squatters in the settlement. If you succeed at
both checks, the slavers are caught before your kingdom takes
any penalties from the event. If you fail at one of the checks,
Loyalty, Stability, and Unrest decrease by 1, but the event is
not continuous. If you fail at both checks, Loyalty, Stability,
and Unrest decrease by 2, and the event is continuous.
Is the decrease to Loyalty and Stability permanent? Is there any way to ever get rid of it?
2) Are there mechanical incentives to found more settlements, rather than improving one settlement into a powerhouse?
3) Are there mechanical incentives to expand the kingdom in a "natural" shape? Since claiming a hex costs stuff, will people try only to claim the nice hexes? That could create weird tentacle-like kingdoms trying to "connect the special resource dots". Is there a mechanical reason not to do so?
1) Some events decrease your kingdom's stats.
Is the decrease to [stats] permanent? Is there any way to ever get rid of it?
If it doesn't say that there is, then there isn't.
2) Are there mechanical incentives to found more settlements, rather than improving one settlement into a powerhouse?
Yes. If a settlement is taken by an enemy force, you have others leftover. If you put all your eggs in one basket, you may lose your entire kingdom in one fell swoop.
3) Are there mechanical incentives to expand the kingdom in a "natural" shape? Since claiming a hex costs stuff, will people try only to claim the nice hexes? That could create weird tentacle-like kingdoms trying to "connect the special resource dots". Is there a mechanical reason not to do so?
Yes. Farmlands. They help you to keep consumption down and are perfect for those miscellaneous hexes on the board.
Pretty much what RD said. No time to go into more detail right now. Will do that a bit later.
On second thought, I'm not so certain about my initial statement.
What exactly would be the difference between continuous events and non-continuous events if the modifiers were permanent???
A continuous event can inflict the penalties more than once, since it carries over from turn to turn.
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It puzzles me though, because;
Loyalty (and Economy and Stability) is built out of things that continuously provide bonuses or penalties. If the leader providing Loyalty dies or gets better at the relevant ability, the Loyalty also changes. If you remove a Loyalty-increasing building, Loyalty goes down. If you remove a Loyalty-decreating building, Loyalty goes up.
But such an event seems to leave a permanent scar on the kingdom, that doesn't go away. So if you get hit by slavers once, even centuries later you'll have a penalty.
This just seems odd to me; the permanent modifiers to loyalty from a non-permanent event. If it was a penalty to loyalty for a certain amount of time (until the pain fades), that'd make more sense.
And if there are indeed such events that can cause a permanent penalty, doesn't that suggest that there could also be events that cause a permanent bonus?
I think it would've been neater to use the "conditions" concept we use for characters, and apply it to kingdoms as well.
Oh, I don't disagree.
Slavers is a good event to look at, for this (and so is Inquisition, which is a BEAST).
The description for Continuous Events says "A continuous event's effects continue each turn during the Event phase until you resolve the event (as explained in the event description, usually by succeeding at a kingdom check)."
This can be read that the effects (the benefits and penalties) cease once the event is resolved. I do not believe that to be the case, because if it were, it would be objectively better to allow Slavers to become continuous before squashing it, than to fail one of the checks, have it be non-continuous, and therefore permanently suffer the penalties (I just noticed a funny, though: slavers decreases unrest on failed checks. Heh.)
You're right that having a 2-month spate of slavers affecting your Kingdom's loyalty and stability forever seems odd, but it's vastly less odd than a 1-month spate affecting the kingdom forever and a 2-month one gets cleared up straight away.
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I suppose it's not that weird to compare PF Kingdom rules to a game such as Crusader Kings. Over there, a region (or a ruler) might gain an ongoing effect with a set duration, such as "Traumatized by slave raids: -1 loyalty for 120 months."
I like the idea of the kingdom rules, but they still feel rather rough around the edges to me.
In many respects they are, since they're an abstraction. I guess that it's mostly to help with bookkeeping, really. The rules seem to have two kinds of modifiers to kingdom statistics: permanent ones, and ones that last until the next event phase. It's much easier to deal with those two simple groupings than to have to remember "and this penalty lasts for 5 turns".
In my home game, the Event Phase has a "Step 0", which is simply "remove all temporary modifiers to kingdom and settlement statistics not added this turn". Makes it really easy to remember what does and doesn't need to be left on the sheet, and we don't have to remember where all the permanent modifiers came from: they're just there.
Since this is the rules forum, I would very much like to know which interpretation is the one followed by the designers themselves.
All modifiers are permanent unless explicitly stated as lasting for a limited time. The effect (modifiers to kingdom stats) hits the kingdom each turn of the event, but the modifiers remain after the event ends.
If you don't want to take my word for it, PM Jason Nelson for his intentions in design, but I'll be surprised if I'm wrong.
The effect (modifiers to kingdom stats) hits the kingdom each turn of the event...
I don't see that explicitly stated, or even really implied, anywhere.
As far as I can see if an event says that it decreases a stat and does not give a duration. Than it would seem to be permanent.
In that case they really should add some event that give permanent bonuses. Ah well I guess things are just going to be hard on the players.
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I suppose it's meant to represent the notion that a nation that does not grow will ultimately stagnate and die.
And if there are indeed such events that can cause a permanent penalty, doesn't that suggest that there could also be events that cause a permanent bonus?
There are events that do though, New Subjects increases stability, while Political Calm can increase both stability and loyalty. Justice Prevails also gives a permanent +1 to loyalty. If you run the numbers, on average stability goes down over time while loyalty goes up, though much more slowly, assuming you make all your control checks.