Town guards

[electriccatnd]

So I'm getting ready to run the AP and looking especially some of the early parts of the cities and kingdom. How has everyone handled the town guard and their interactions with the part from a numbers standpoint? Did you run them as like a smaller discounted militia?

There are the buildings like barracks and garrisons and the like that talk about being able to train and house these kinds of units but nothing else. Ideas?

[Andostre]

Unless you have something specific in mind, it's usually not something that comes up. As far as your government structure goes, the Kingdom Building rules only define the Leadership roles. You can safely assume that everything beneath that level (guards, tax collectors, magistrates, heralds, random administrators, etc.) is taken care of when needed, and in the quantity needed.

Getting into minutiae such as town guard rosters is a recipe for burnout, in my opinion.

[Queen Moragan]

IOC generic castle guards, city guards, town watch, shire sheriffs & deputies as well as all the other minor officials needed are not detailed. They are assumed to be included in the Consumption cost for that location.

Though specific sheriffs or guards or minor officials might be named or stated out as needed or if they frequently come into play.

Such as the Western Gate guards, who are all a John Wayne/Clint Eastwood blend capable of stopping flocks of owlbears trying to sneak into town.

Or, Lord Marnock, Sheriff of Wolfshire, a powerful warrior who enjoys hunting wolves not only in his shire but in neighboring ones as well.

Certain buildings are listed as being needed to train or house units, those are ARMY units and are covered in the army rules. They are much, much more expensive than the intrinsic castle guards you get when you build a castle.

[redcelt32]

I made all Captain of the Guard for each settlement a discernible NPC, and their individual personality influences the guards under their command. Otherwise, they are red shirts, at least until they prove themselves.

There was one incident in their capitol where sea serpents attacked the ships at the piers and the town guard fought them off. After they killed the serpents, the PCs made its skin into suits of scale mail and awarded all of those who stood their ground and fought (a fair number ran). They are now recognized as the elite guards of the capitol.

As far as town or city guards, I just told the party there were X number of them for free, and we don't count them as mass combat units. They never leave the city and are typically of only mediocre fighting skill.

[KenderKin]

Generally I just scaled the men stationed at Olegs. Starts out with one leader and 3 mooks. see KM book one arrivals very early on.

Those same stats should cover the "town guards" anywhere in the kingdom from book 1 to the final conclusion!

or you can cheat the other way and use the bandit stats for a posse...

[Oxades Moronacus]

In my game the guards are managed by the Kingdom rulers. The Marshal is a PC and he has decided to have 4 guards working with him to patrol the road and farms. The General is also a PC and is currently “The one man army” but is working on recruiting some noblemen’s sons and daughters looking to make a name for themselves. Too bad for me the town guard is run by the Warden who is a NPC, so I have to manage them. At the moment it is 20 level 1 fighters.

This goes for all the kingdom roles. My thought is that my players will be more connected to the kingdom if they create there on staff. It’s working so far, but we have just started. For now these NPC are just names and personalities, no statblocks. This probable won’t change because I don’t want my players to use this as a way to make second or backup characters. If I need a statblocks for one of them, I use a class that work for the NPC that is level 3 or under. As the PC's level up I’ll raise the NPC's level too but not much. I never want a NPC to out shine a PC.

[shadowkras]

Town guards are covered by the Stability attribute. Buildings that help increasing the military forces of a kingdom will increase the kingdom's stability. Events that rely on security ask for stability rolls (ie: assassination attempt).

Though, you could use the army rules and set a stationary troop in each town, so they can be defended when attacked (otherwise they are helpless against armies), the consumption cost is reduced to 1/4 the value (being paid monthly instead of weekly), but the troop cannot leave the settlement or the costs will increase again.
I believe a 200-man unit costs 1 BP per week/month, and should be strong enough to easily repel any goblin/kobold/bandit group that attacks the settlement.