| Lee Hanna |
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
We have just concluded our Kingmaker campaign, four years of fun. It’s taken us 46 sessions, nearly monthly, starting in December 2012 and wrapping up on New Year’s Eve, 2016.
It started with my friends buying Book 1 for my birthday in 2010. They all knew that the political-themed Birthright setting was my favorite, and thought Kingmaker might be right up my alley. By the time the AP was all in my hands, two players were concocting characters with me via email, and I was scribbling notes for conversion to that setting. I had plenty of time to work on it, as we were deep into Savage Tide. This gave me plenty of time to analyze the AP and its component sections, decide how and where to fit it into my campaign world, and discuss character backgrounds with my player group. Reading these discussion boards was very helpful, especially the development of the 6-play variant, as I usually had 6 players.
Weaknesses- Like others here, Nyrissa didn’t seem foreshadowed enough to me, nor the links from the First World to this one. On the other hand, given that my players wanted to go straight after the fairies right away, the lack of portals worked out. When I neared the end of Book 5, it occurred to me that I could make a good case that Pitax’s invasion could have been a very good campaign climax by itself—if one considers the kingdom as a player character, then the ultimate achievement of that state should be its winning a war for survival.
I was also very disappointed with the absence of contact with the neighboring realms; the player characters’ realm seemed to be in a vacuum most of the time. Varn and Drelev were barely named in the early books, and then they popped up only when it was time for them to disappear or be confronted. Likewise Irrovetti and his “famous” games, that only shows up years into the campaign. The incipient civil war in Brevoy dissolved from the background, and that seemed an especial fault to me.
Irrovetti’s Games were another thing that seemed to come out of the blue: if they were so famous, why wouldn’t the characters know about them before Book 5? It seemed a great place to play out some of that intrigue.
At various times, I toyed with the ideas of dropping books 3 and 6. The former as a “distraction“ from the main story, the latter as my group has an aversion to high-level play. This would be our third AP and high-level fatigue seems to set in for us after 12th level. This turned out not to be the case, as they wanted to play more.
Adjustments- I spent a lot of the nearly 2 years before we started playing by altering names and links between people and events in order to better fit my setting.
WIthin the Birthright setting, I needed a location on the map that seemed similar to the Stolen Lands: unclaimed space, adjacent to a country that was politically divided and a potential crossover point for a faerie kingdom. Within the Vos region, I found the Mistmoor (unclaimed space, believed to be haunted), near to both Rovninodensk (coming out of a civil war) and Tuar Annwn (elven realm that had magically sealed itself from humans centuries ago). To make the Stolen Lands maps match the Mistmoor, I rotated everything 90 degrees clockwise, so that their explorations were directed west instead of south. Pitax disappeared as a kingdom and city, becoming an outpost village of Drelev, rather than an already-developed city and country. The forests to the north were now Tuar Annwn, and Nyrissa became a mythical queen who had ruled the Mistmoor in the prehistoric past. The city map and the war plot were recycled later.
In the Birthright setting, the Vos are a human culture that resembles historical Slavic flavor, a tribal-warrior mentality, and the early medieval era. Vos culture celebrates martial power (embodied in the god Belinik) and animal cunning (embodied in goddess Karesha), holding them as distinctly male and female aspects. Arcane magic is practically forbidden, and relations with elves or other outsiders are typically hostile.
Nearly all of my players had become fans of “Game of Thrones”, books and/or HBO series, so I knew that had to play into that. I cast the Rovninodensk civil war in the recent past as similar to Robert’s Rebellion, and the PCs as young adults who had been children during that war. The daughter of the losing tsar had fled into the forests near the elven lands—she took over Irrovetti’s stats.
Shortly after starting, I bought the Campaign Starter book for the Song of Ice & Fire RPG, which presented personalities and details for a handful of noble families and retainers, which is what I craved. One family became the Marstenka house, placed on the “eastern” edge of the Hooktongue map; the Numesti family became her retainers. Another filled in faces and personalities for Nivatka’s Crossing (and picked up Lily Teskertin), and one for Varn’s family and retainers.
Technical things- We used one of the kingdom-tracking spreadsheets developed on the Paizo forums, which was a huge help. Our Councilor’s player saved a summary of each turn’s actions in a long Word document, so that we could look back on things. She and I would sit down before most sessions and play through however many campaign turns we needed; sometimes they would take the winters off. We briefly attempted to run Varnhold as a separate realm, but dropped it as unnecessary.
I kept a calendar for myself, pages with a series of columns: month, PC/realm activities, neighboring realm activities, random events for the kingdom, Tsar’s activities, NPC secret actions, and other events. One sheet of paper—12 fat lines—covered a campaign year. I like to roll out random events in advance, that way I could work them into plotted events as harbingers or add-ons, as needed. All my notes were kept in hanging folders in a plastic crate; important items were in a 3-ring binder. I kept track of NPCs on 4”x6” cards, often printed the pictures from the AP books on the backs. These could be updated as needed, and sorted by affiliation.
I used Epic Words as our campaign website. It tracked xps and treasure (and wealth by level), but the main feature was that I could post summaries of each game and teasers for the next one. The forum helped us plan future session dates as well as share jokes and notes about characters. Occasionally, in-character discussions happened, but my group wasn’t into that, it seems.
Combat Manager was a tremendous boon to me at running a session, as I could easily edit monsters and NPCs to fit my setting, as well as follow initiative easily. By keeping files for that on Dropbox, it didn’t matter if I was using my laptop or borrowing one from my sons, though I usually relied on keeping it on a flash drive.
Characters- My group varied from 5-6 players most of the time, with 5 characters playing all the way through, and only 5 (temporary) player character deaths. Only two of them wanted to take on the political aspects of Kingmaker, but one of them declined to have her character actually rule. Fortunately for me, one of these was my wife, and she took on the role of tracking all of the realm’s statistics. We could walk through her spreadsheet and notes on the campaign turns between sessions.
Countess Yulianna Sergeevna Lodovka- human female rogue. Her father was a younger brother of the Lodovka house, and her mother a half-elven sorcerer he met while adventuring in the Mistmoor. Mother later disappeared, presumably on a later round of adventuring into the Mistmoor. Father was a trusted ally of the new Tsar, and she grew up as a “guest” (read: noble hostage) in the castle of both old and new tsars. Her innate curiosity led her to uncover several palace secrets, but her loyalty to the new Tsar led to her placement in his colonization program.
Vitkor Kurganyev- human male cavalier. His family members were traditional mounted warriors, and he lost two brothers in the civil war while he was also a hostage in the old tsar’s castle. Viktor was always adamant in his dislike for any faerie elements, much less anyone not Vos.
Jana- human female ranger. Daughter of a peasant family, she became an apprentice to a caravan master as a teenager. She learned to make maps, and accompanied two successful roundtrips across the Mistmoor to the west, before it ended in massacre.
Vriska Araknisdottir- human female barbarian. From a tribal village, her family had a strong claim to the leadership of the Tiger Lord tribes, and descent from Armag the Terrible.
Petra- human female oracle. Also from a tribal village, Petra was raised by one of the winter witches of Karesha, living apart from the villages as nomads. Her “mother” was powerful and devout enough that she was able to have a winter wolf as a companion. When Petra felt Karesha’s call, she also received a winter wolf pup. I often had Karesha deliver warnings or foreshadowing through Petra, through forum postings before game sessions.
Yuri- human male Inquisitor. From the same tribe as Vriska, he felt the call to guide her as she took up her destiny.
Leif- human male ranger. Replacement character for Yuri.
Varin- centaur male skald. From the Nomen tribe, Varin joined the group after their alliance to the Nomens formed.
During encounters, the power of Viktor’s mounted charges was often matched by Vriska’s melee fighting. Yulianna and Jana became fast-shooting archers, peppering targets with arrows. Yuri’s player dropped out about 5th level and the character retired to the background. That player ran Leif for a while before dropping out again. Vriska’s player went off to college around 11th level. We discussed retiring her to an NPC and brought in Varin. Instead, Vriska stayed in as a partial PC, sometimes played by guest players, such as her brother or Leif/Yuri’s player.
Yulianna, Jana, and Viktor each took the Leadership feat, and so had a cohort each (2 fighters and a warpriest, respectively). Petra had a winter wolf for an animal companion. There got to be a lot of miniatures on the table after mid-levels!
Given the long-term aspects of this campaign, of the Birthright setting, and of the Game of Thrones feel that we wanted, marriages and dynasties were on option for all. Only two of the characters took advantage of this, Yulianna and Jana each married NPCs and had 2 children. The courting took up little time at the table, more by email. Most of it was more practical and political than romantic, which felt like it belonged in the game.
I usually placed the latter parts of pregnancy (when adventuring would seem risky) in winter when there wouldn’t be any adventuring, anyway. I think there was at least one session when Yulianna’s player was unable to attend, so I altered the timeline that her character was at home, just before or after giving birth. I didn’t dock her the xp for the session.
| Lee Hanna |
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As it happened- We started playing our monthly game in December 2012, and took 46 sessions to finish. The players enjoyed the many one-off encounters of the “hexploration” stages, although they wanted to beeline straight for the Stag Lord as soon as possible. Both Stag Lord and his father had been backers of the losing Tsar, and were now seeking to rebuild in the name of his daughter Danika. At my gentle prodding, the party instead took the time to overcome the mites and Tartuk, and ally with the kobolds. One of Viktor’s missing brothers (a.k.a. Akiros) was easily convinced to defect from the Stag Lord. With a temporary alliance with the kobolds, they all stormed the fort.
Yulianna took up the role of the new Baroness, centered on the former Stag Lord’s fort. Jana took over the Councilor role (played more like a prime minister in this group). We added things from Ultimate Campaign when it became available. Yulianna married a scion of the Papanovich merchant clan after she took over Tuskwater Keep, one that had been pioneers in the failed caravan trade. Consort Mikhail was played as a fighter cohort, with every feat that could be used as a bodyguard for his wife and baroness.
For the 2d book, I added the Hargulka’s Kingdom & War threads; the announcement of the first battles came at the new Baroness’ wedding feast. The early mass-combat battles were rather deadly for the realm’s armies at the small level, something that dogged us all campaign long. The group’s final assault on Hargulka’s caves led to the deaths of both Vriska and Petra’s winter-wolf companion. Having allies among the temples can be useful, though, as well as being a potential heir to the legacy of Armag the Terrible, and Vriska was raised, in theory making her a solid candidate for “Twice Born”.
Also here, I adjusted the Dancing Lady and companion as scouts for Nyrissa, and one of them thought Yulianna looked familiar—perhaps one had met her missing mother? Rigg gave the group fits in the combat, and a table argument about the Dancing Lady’s seemingly “invincible powers” left a bad taste around the table, despite the fact that she was defeated in 2 rounds. Vesket and his lizardmen (reskinned as gnolls to fit the climate better) went down like chumps.
One of the immediate goals of the Yulianna-Jana team was to re-open solid trade routes off the map to the west. Jana had been the lone survivor of the last of the (pre-game) caravans. They bent every effort to bring that part of the map under control. After driving their way along the Shrike River, the party worked on investigating the mysterious lights seen on Candelmere Island. This is where I swapped in Vordakai’s tomb, rather than later.
I started merging books with 3 & 4: Drelev was now the one who started the Rushlight Tournament (a.k.a. “Vos-Olympics”), hoping to celebrate his family’s success at colonizing. His brother-in-law—a foreign trained wizard—brought the concept from overseas, so it was a novelty at best, perhaps a dangerous foreign innovation. This was the best opportunity to have the PCs meet their neighboring Houses. Several of the non-competing PCs and NPCs were used to make Diplomacy contests with the neighbors: surprisingly, Lord Drelev and the Barthelski family (Restov) emerged as new allies to the PCs, while Lady Marstenka remained hostile. It was a fun session for all, even though they only won the joust. Varn’s team won the overall prize.
Soon, Lord Varn tried to take on the mantle of Armag the Terrible, seeking his lost tomb in the mountains. Some of his ogre mercenaries got restless and struck at Yulianna’s lands, thus the fight at Tatzylford (moved to the other side of the players’ realm). The hunt for Armag’s Tomb agitated the temple and tribal factions that wanted to back Vriska for the holder of the title, as well as the Tsar, who didn’t want anyone to hold such a powerful weapon in his not-so-stable realm. Varn’s potential coup ended with two battles and a dungeon-delve, and the sword recovered. The Tsar was so pleased, he let Vriska keep Ovnirbaane and Varnhold and raised Yulianna to Countess, with authority over Vriskagrad, Drelev, and the neighboring Marstenka and Teskertinov houses. Also in here, the goddess Karesha granted her oracle a new winter wolf companion.
Yulianna’s father, an old warrior, retired about this time to his youngest (and most successful!) daughter’s house. Dad became their General, displacing (Akiros) to another post. Yulianna was able to read the writings her missing mother had left behind. These included a copy of Zuddiger’s Picnic (one of the wonderful prints found on this board) and maps of parts of the area. Apparently, both her parents had been seeking a magical sword when they adventured decades ago—father thought it was only Ovnirbaane, mother was looking for Briar (more foreshadowing, of course).
Book 4 and 5 were also merged a bit. The centaurs were now up north of Drelevgrad, agitated about something, and the new vassals Drelev and Marstenka made it clear that they expected the Countess to Do Something About It. She made peaceful contact with the centaurs, though the games/contests here were less popular with the players than I imagined. Varin, a centaur skald, joined the party as something of an ambassador.
The centaurs were angry about humans messing about in the old elven abbey that they were trying to keep a secret. The abbey, of course, was Whiterose, IMC an ancient elven order dedicated to keeping the undead and other horrors of the Shadow World out of Cerilia. Evindra had been there before the elves built their abbey, and she had kept the secret of Briar even from them. The human invaders that had angered the centaurs turned out to be warriors with elven arms, loyal to the late Tsar and his daughter Danika, who now had Briar.
After this, the Countess and her retinue stopped over at Drelevgrad on their way home. Unknown to them, Drelev had begun secret negotiations with the former Tsar’s daughter Danika, plotting an invasion from the elven lands with Nyrissa’s backing. Neither Drelev nor I had been expecting the PCs to visit here as the invasion was approaching, but the moment seemed opportune: the fight at Drelev Keep was a midnight betrayal. This attempted assassination went poorly: Lord Drelev and his mistress (also in on the plot) were slain, and his wizard brother-in-law got away. Lady Drelev claimed to have been held prisoner by the ambitious trio and made it stick. She retained her life and her lands, though Petra remained VERY suspicious to the end.
The centaurs sent a message that the hostile giants at Drelev Keep were only the first part of a massed invasion. Since I knew my players were always up for some old-fashioned combat, I inserted here most of the old AD&D module G1 “Steading of the hill giant chieftain”. They marched out and merrily bashed their way through the giants. Lady Drelev’s brother the wizard was found here and killed, along with some bodyguards from Danika.
By now, Danika’s armies were marching out from the Thousandbreaths forest (having been armed by the secretive elves at the behest of the isolationist queen). An elite unit, flying ahead on wyverns, seized the castle, though not the Tsar—Yulianna’s warnings were not totally in vain. Our heroes had already mobilized their armies after the attempted coup at Drelevgrad, so several field battles took place north of there. The bulk of Danika’s army, however, bypassed the Stolen Lands and marched to the Tsar’s capital, perhaps aided by disloyal houses in the realm.
Once the battles had stabilized her own realm, Yulianna led her intrepid band straight to the Castle of a Hundred Doors. Both she and her husband had (separately) explored the castle in their teenage years, and knew of a secret exit, so they entered the castle from under the river. During a long skirmish (3 sessions) throughout the building, the monsters that were guarding Danika and her many loyal guards were defeated, and finally Viktor killed her in her underground hideout. The sword Briar was recovered and given to Yulianna’s consort Mikhail.
Not even a month later, the Blooms began. It didn’t take long at all for the group to decide on carrying the conflict straight to Nyrissa.
It took 3 sessions to enter the faerie realm, defeat the creatures outside, crash the Castle back into the real world, and crush Nyrissa’s allies. The appearance of the Jabberwock and the revelation of Briar’s Vorpal abilities was the happy surprise that I had hoped for all along. Years ago, my wife had memorized the poem, and often picked up our infant sons with “come to my arms, my beamish boy…”. The recitation that followed was an intended highlight of the whole campaign.
Bashing through Nyrissa’s Realm and House took a few sessions, including one when the Misbegotten Troll came looking for them. He didn’t put up much of a fight, but his tigers killed Varin (Breath of Life to the rescue) and nearly got Yulianna. One of his “lovelies” turned out to be Yulianna’s long-missing mother! Of course, she became a valuable source of information on Nyrissa and the power of Briar, as well as a sometime spellcaster.
Some memorable moments in the castle include a very long running chase of the Wriggling Man, the blinding of Viktor by a nymph at the same time as Phomandala petrified Yulianna during a long battle; and a big fight with the many shadowy beasts in the main hall.
The final fight with Nyrissa was also a long one, though her spells were less effective than one hoped, her high Armor Class kept the warriors from doing much damage. Petra was killed (and quickly raised) before she went down. By strange coincidence, Nyrissa was unable to Concentrate for ANY of her cure spells, nearly all of them rolled 1s.
All in all, this was really fun: a tale of war and blood, family, magic, betrayal, and intrigue. Thanks again to Paizo and the authors for writing and publishing Kingmaker.
Thanks also to all here on the forum for inspiration, discussion, and suggestions, especially Dudemeister, Pennywit, and RedCelt0.
| Gargs454 |
Excellent write up, I can only hope my campaign can be as successful. Session 4 is tomorrow!
