Hey all!
Recently, I have been enthralled by George R. R. Martin's gritty, political world of Westeros. I then scrambled to convert Kingmaker, one of my favorite APs, into a low magic setting (read: none of the players can cast spells). Foolishly, I alerted my players that we would be trying the campaign this Saturday before I completed the conversion.
Here are some subsystems I'm using:
Wound and Vigor Points: Personally, this is one of my favorites. It nails down and helps me visualize what actually happens in combat, and helps add to the more gritty feel of a low magic campaign.
Armor as DR: I also tacked this on, because again, it helps represent what armor actually does. Note that the DR only applies to Wound Points.
And here's the campaign info available to the players:
The player characters are all noble scions of some standing in one of the following three noble houses: House Forrester, House Winterhavyn, and House Whitehill. The three houses have been in alliance for as long as anyone can remember, standing against the wild frostkin from the north and acting as the first line of defense from the foreign legions of the mysterious and sinister realm of Thikas from across the Virden sea. All of the houses are fiercely loyal to the old line of the Sunborn kings, who have lead the kingdom of Wyrd for two thousand years. Seven years ago, however, a rebellious, powerful noble family called the Saerkasen (Old Speech for "the Proud and Mighty) staged a coup against the Sunborn with the support of two of the other noble houses, Ithara and Othasdin. They slaughtered nearly every member of the family, and have been hunting fervently for the few that survived.
Ever since then, the assaults from Thikas and the frostkin have ceased, with only a few scouts sighted now and then. This coupled with the Saerkasen's brutally efficient scare tactics against the barbarians which have made them all but cease their raids, the northern houses of Forrester, Winterhavyn, and Whitehill have been made redundant. In addition, the new King Lithiras knows of the northern houses loyalty to the Sunborn, and is rather suspicious of them. On the verge of being merged with Ithara, Othasdin, and Pnumi (a house that stayed neutral in the coup, but has since allied itself with the Saerkasen), the northern houses are making a dangerous gambit. Their resources stretched thin due to Lithiras' ridiculous demands, they are sending their most promising scions (ages 16-20) north of their territory, in a bid to scout out the fuzzy region between frostkin lands and Wyrd under the pretense of searching for more darkwood that the Forresters have a talent for shaping. In reality, they are scouting out the Frostlands in an attempt to discover whether they are suitable for settlement. The northern houses hope to establish a power base up there on the pretense of logging darkwood that they know is up there and then have it "unexpectedly" declare sovereignty a month before the date for the the northern houses are to be merged with those that are loyal to the king.
-House Forrester: One of the oldest houses, it primarily exists for its lumber industry. Its craftsmen are legendary, able to create the finest shields out of the darkwood that is found primarily in their lands. However, their supply is dwindling, and they are desperate to get more.
-House Winterhavyn: A house of almost entirely soldiers, it has been in existence ever since Wyrd was founded by the Sunborn to protect its borders from the frostkin up north. Legendary for its warriors, not so much for its political savvy.
-House Whitehill: When a young Winterhavyn noble was exiled for having an affair with a minor Pnumi, she gathered her most loyal followers and set up a fort on top of an ancient cairn. The stones of the cairn were bleached white by some unknown force, and proved unusually strong. After many generations of building and expanding, the Whitehills were finally recognized as a house of their own, and are now on amicable terms with the Winterhavyns. The Whitehills have discovered the secret to "stonebleaching," as they call it, and are the best masons in Wyrd.
Some basic information that I have so far:
-The frostkin are not one cohesive creature, rather, they are various fae (some monsters from the Beastiary have different types, but they are all fae for my purposes) who all belong to the Winter Court. However, due to the small amount of survivors from their raids on northern villages, and the fact that those under siege in forts want to fight them at a distance, they all view the frostkin as one species.
-Oleg's trading post is now an unnamed fort that primarily exists to guard the only crossing across a broad, wild river from the barbarians. Although the soldiers there have been growing complacent in recent years due to the lack of raids, on the day the PCs arrive the barbarians will return in force to assault the fort. Oleg is the captain of the fort, and Svetlana is his young daughter.
-The attacks from Thikas and the frostkin have ceased due to a profane pact between the Saerkasen and Thikas. In return for a guaranteed success for the coup, the Saerkasen would act as puppets for the Thikans and the Thikans would bind the portal leading to the Winter Court to a frozen pool in an ancient temple to the Norns (the primary religion in Wyrd), thus preventing the frostkin from entering Wyrd.
-The frostkin only enter Wyrd to make assaults on the Sunborn, whose ancestry to the Summer Court gives the sun fae a foothold in the Prime Material Plane.
-The barbarian's new activity is because they were drawn together by one woman, Okatha Saerkasen, an exiled princess who, bitter from her family abuse and exile, is determined to strike a blow against them. This makes the barbarians a valid ally, if the players choose to think. This is my replacement for the Stag Lord and his bandits, although the Stag Lord is a lieutenant of her's.
-The Frostlands have been a prison for an exiled Winter Court king, the central glacier serving as a binding point. With the recent buzz of activity in the Frostlands, he connives to break free.
Now, even though I have lots of things fleshed out, I still need some help. How am I going to convert the Kobolds and Mites to humans? I want at least two more factions the players can side with, as well. What to do with the pseudodragon and grig? What about the Stag Lord's lieutenants? How should I flesh out the political back-and-forth between the Summer and Winter Courts of fae once the binding is shattered, and how will it relate to the PC's new nation?
Any ideas are welcome!
Kobolds and Mites convert fairly well actually, just treat it more like a minor house or Hatfield and McCoy type of situation. Little bit of backwoods to it and they will work just fine.
With Fey involved still and humans are humans, most of that should just dovetail in. No reason a pseudodragon can't be an odd fey creature.
I have had success using 5th ed's Healing system. Part heal on a short rest and full hp back on a long rest. Its nice.
Yeah, I did. It's all classes who have no access to spells, excluding stuff like rogue talents. Archetypes that get rid of spells or unarmed strike (like Sleuth and Exemplar) are also allowed.
Nope. Not even those.
Anybody have any more advice?
I remember an old thread in this forum for an E6 (or E8) Kingmaker campaign (not able to find and post the url now, sorry).
That could be very useful for an ASOIAF campaign.
And if you want to find inspiration for a politics and intrigue in a GOT game, Redcelt's thread is surely what you are looking for, maybe adding something from the "A deal with the devil" about gathering BP at the beginning of the 2nd module. (again, sorry for not currently being able to post the urls here)
Honestly, if you want something Game of Thrones inspired, instead of running through Kingmaker, I would take the info on Brevoy and run a game set in their ensuing civil war. Kingmaker doesn't get into it at all, and Kingdom politics are minimal. It is more about battling against the wilderness in a fantasy setting. Set the game in a timeframe when Pitax has conquered much of the Stolen Lands but it is still mostly unsettled, and get the players involved with dealing with Mivon and Pitax at the southern border of Brevoy as Brevoy is about to erupt.
Being home now,
here are the various url(s) I can post now:
Kingmaker as E6, or E8 here or here or here.
Not a complete conversion, but a lot of useful ideas.
The awesome Redcelt's Game of Thrones in Brevoy.
And last but not least Venture Capital aka A Deal with the Devil.
I've had my eye on Venture Capital for a little while now, but the Redcelt thing is completely new! Sadly, however, I'm going to have to heavily modify VC, and not use Redcelt's thing, simply because I'm using a homebrew setting.
Anyways, I think I've figured out what to do with the kobolds and mites:
The Lakara and Fintas tribes, although well within Okatha's domain, have largely been left alone. Most likely because when scouts were sent into their strange forests, none of them returned.
In truth, the forest of Lakara and Fintas are the legendary lost grove of darkwood the party is allegedly looking for. The Lakara are the equivalent of the kobolds, and act like a tribe of Loraxes: they keep the trees happy and healthy, tending to their needs. Their leader, an adept named Ulana, is somewhat troubled by a newcomer who lives on the fringes of the tribe's territory. Named Tiniri, he has been leading some of Ulana's tribe to the worship of a strange creature named Sharptooth. Having seen the terrible effects of "Sharptooth's curse," (in reality just a particularly nasty poison), now the Lakara tribe is an even split between those who worship Sharptooth out of fear and those who still venerate the Wild Court of fae.
Ulana's troubles are doubled by the fact that the neighboring tribe, the Fintas, have started desecrating the corpse of a massive darkwood tree, which used to be a portal to the Wild Court. Ever since Wyrd's ties to the courts have been cut off, the tree has been withering. Recently, however, it started growing again, while still maintaining that strange withered look. The Fintas have recently turned to the worship of the vile, exiled Void Court (the equivalent of the Cthulhu Mythos), and are releasing and corrupting the trapped energy within the ancient tree to summon a portal to their domain.
What do you think?
I've had my eye on Venture Capital for a little while now, but the Redcelt thing is completely new! Sadly, however, I'm going to have to heavily modify VC, and not use Redcelt's thing, simply because I'm using a homebrew setting.
Anyways, I think I've figured out what to do with the kobolds and mites:
The Lakara and Fintas tribes, although well within Okatha's domain, have largely been left alone. Most likely because when scouts were sent into their strange forests, none of them returned.
In truth, the forest of Lakara and Fintas are the legendary lost grove of darkwood the party is allegedly looking for. The Lakara are the equivalent of the kobolds, and act like a tribe of Loraxes: they keep the trees happy and healthy, tending to their needs. Their leader, an adept named Ulana, is somewhat troubled by a newcomer who lives on the fringes of the tribe's territory. Named Tiniri, he has been leading some of Ulana's tribe to the worship of a strange creature named Sharptooth. Having seen the terrible effects of "Sharptooth's curse," (in reality just a particularly nasty poison), now the Lakara tribe is an even split between those who worship Sharptooth out of fear and those who still venerate the Wild Court of fae.
Ulana's troubles are doubled by the fact that the neighboring tribe, the Fintas, have started desecrating the corpse of a massive darkwood tree, which used to be a portal to the Wild Court. Ever since Wyrd's ties to the courts have been cut off, the tree has been withering. Recently, however, it started growing again, while still maintaining that strange withered look. The Fintas have recently turned to the worship of the vile, exiled Void Court (the equivalent of the Cthulhu Mythos), and are releasing and corrupting the trapped energy within the ancient tree to summon a portal to their domain.
What do you think?
This sounds pretty good to me. Are the mites still mites out of curiosity? Being fey creatures it kind of seems weird to change them into humans.
Is this campaign going to have a journal? I'd be interested in reading it.
Well, I was going to change them into humans (the Fintas), but now I have an idea...
Another problem in the darkwood grove (I guess forest would be more accurate) is that mites, sensing the arrival of their masters, the Winter Court, imminent, has been setting their insectile army on the roots of the darkwood tree in the hopes of presenting a gift of a despoiled place of beauty to the court. These insects have been empowered with the spare magical energies from the ritual the Fintas are performing, allowing their jaws to become powerful enough to actually be harmful to the trees.
And yeah, I'll hopefully make a journal.
Well, I was going to change them into humans (the Fintas), but now I have an idea...
Another problem in the darkwood grove (I guess forest would be more accurate) is that mites, sensing the arrival of their masters, the Winter Court, imminent, has been setting their insectile army on the roots of the darkwood tree in the hopes of presenting a gift of a despoiled place of beauty to the court. These insects have been empowered with the spare magical energies from the ritual the Fintas are performing, allowing their jaws to become powerful enough to actually be harmful to the trees.
And yeah, I'll hopefully make a journal.
That sounds better and more ominous.
And please do post a journal! This campaign sounds pretty interesting!