Is there a need for a modification of the rebellion mechanics? Do the static DCs work or do they undermine the system? Should they be scaling DCs, perhaps based on rank?
Would the system be better if it was skill checks rather than organization checks that determined outcomes?
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I've found that the static DCs are a bit difficult at the early stages, but trivial at the late stages. My PCs focused on Secrecy, and they're easily able to hit a DC 30 at the beginning of Book 4. Security and Loyalty are a bit lower, but they're not too far off.
I'm not on board with sliding DCs based upon Rank. The way I see it, certain actions are harder than others because you don't have the manpower or organization in order to achieve them. As your rebellion grows, you are able to tackle actions that were once impossible. What a sliding DC does is make the difficulty relatively flat throughout the growth of the rebellion. I'd prefer actions like Reduce Danger that grant extra bonuses the better you succeed - you have a flat DC to Reduce Danger, and every 5 points you beat that DC by reduces the Danger further. This rewards the players that take this action at high levels, but doesn't punish players at low levels.
I also wouldn't do skill checks. The PCs aren't directly involved in these actions; hence the abstraction. Plus, it's easier to cheese skills than this subsystem, so I'd be wary of moving it off this subsystem.
Looking through the mechanic, Loyalty seems to play little role, and thus Charisma is a very unimportant stat. Loyalty has nothing to do with team recruiting, despite it being described as being about political clout and popularity. You use it for recruiting supporters and dealing with 4 events: diabolic infiltration, traitors, snitches, and donations.
Did others find CHA-based characters non-plussed by this?
Note that Loyalty is characterized as representing popularity and political clout. Gather info isn't the charisma-based Loyalty, but rather the dexterity and intelligence-based Secrecy. Manipulate Events? Cabalists, roll twice as a charisma check, not Loyalty. Urban Influence? Money, not the org stat devoted to influence.
Looking through the mechanic, Loyalty seems to play little role, and thus Charisma is a very unimportant stat. Loyalty has nothing to do with team recruiting, despite it being described as being about political clout and popularity. You use it for recruiting supporters and dealing with 4 events: diabolic infiltration, traitors, snitches, and donations.
Did others find CHA-based characters non-plussed by this?
Note that Loyalty is characterized as representing popularity and political clout. Gather info isn't the charisma-based Loyalty, but rather the dexterity and intelligence-based Secrecy. Manipulate Events? Cabalists, roll twice as a charisma check, not Loyalty. Urban Influence? Money, not the org stat devoted to influence.
With the disclaimer that we have only got so far as the session 0 (medical issues getting in the way of getting started), I found myself modifying the Rebellion mechanics a bit. Okay, a lot.
I am keeping it as a "Numbers by GM / Decisions by Players" system, where the players do not get or need to see the mechanics and numbers. Leadership decisions are roleplayed out and rebellion actions are essentially PC downtime activities with the odd die roll. As part of this:
- I removed Organisation checks (Loyalty, Security and Secrecy) as a mechanic (and thus Focus). Checks are resolved as skill or ability checks on the part of the individual or group involved.
- I removed Rebellion Action limits. You can perform as many actions as you have teams (or officers, in the case of PCs and key NPCs).
- I removed Officer roles (Partisan, Recruiter etc). Officers—PCs and key NPCs such as Rexus—then lead the rebellion from the front; either performing Officer actions (e.g. Recruit Supporters) or by joining a team and leading it for a rebellion action.
- I removed the Recruit Team activity. All teams are gained through on-camera roleplay, such as the Fushi Sisters or Forvian Crow (who I renamed "Crewe"). I also removed the cap on the number of teams.
- I removed Minimum Treasury as a concept, as well as (From Upkeep) Supporter Attrition and Treasury Shortage. The numbers seemed fiddly and over-complicated at lower ranks, and inconsequential at higher ranks.
- I removed the following Activities: Activate Black Market, Change Officer Role, Guarantee Event, Manipulate Events, Recruit Team, Refresh Marketplace, Restore Character, Secure Cache, Special Order and Urban Influence. I felt they were either clutter, stepping on the PCs turf (e.g. Restore Character) or redundant when using the Automatic Bonus Progression. The remaining actions then use skills (with a few options) instead of Organization checks.
- I removed the various team "Paths". Teams are instead represented by a team leader (typically with PC class levels) and a number of teammates (typically with NPC class levels - and usually all the same).
- Team rank is equal to their average class level. Each team has one type of mission/activity they can undertake per rank (assigned by me). Undertaking missions gains them experience, levels and thus extra mission types they can perform.
- Caches were removed as a mechanic, given they do little except provide a safeguard for the Wasp Nest / Lucky Bones being taken over by the dottari.
- I altered safe houses to work very differently. Safe houses are typically claimed by the PCs during the course of the game, and have a capacity (in teams, where 5 officers = 1 team, rounding down) of how many rebels they can house. Teams based in a safe house gain a +2 circumstance bonus on rebel actions in the same district. If a safe house is left empty for a week or more, it needs to be "reactivated" using the Activate Safe House activity. For Book 1 possible claimable safe houses include: Wasp Nest (3), Tooth & Nail* (1) and Humbright House (2)
There were other tweaks - such to activities and events to account for the altered mechanics - but that's the summary. Overall it feels a lot lighter in terms of nonstandard mechanics, and instead just means having a half-page stat-block per team.
*I also ditched Clenjaw's Tavern in favour of introducing Setrona and the Tooth & Nail in book 1, so she's less out-of-the-blue. And turned Vendalfek into a house drake abducted from Korvosa and smuggled into town by "exotic pet merchants" (whom he is decidedly unhappy with, both for the abduction and the ignominy of being considered a "pet")
One thing that I plan on doing... (We just cleared the Fair Fortune Livery so this will come up sooner than later) is allowing the PCs to activate a team almost immediately.
My group strongly disliked the way the Kingdom Building mechanic halted Kingmaker. Some players found it fun and interesting but I also had some players leave the table when the book keeping came up. All players felt like there were two separate games going on and I really didn't like that at all.
So here is how I plan to have this bog down time a bit less and keep things three dimensional: (Everything NEW is in parenthesis)
Upkeep:
At the (START) of the week:
This will run very much the same.
1.Supporter Attrition
2. Notoriety Maximum
3. Treasury Shortage
4. Increase Rank
5. Deposits and Withdrawals
6. (NEW) Receive all Team Sheets spent in previous week
7. (NEW) Upgrade Teams: see below.
Activity:
(NEW: Through the course of the coming week, when the PCs want to activate a team, the players will simply hand the Team Sheet to the GM. At the end of the week, before the Upkeep Phase begins again, any number of Actions that weren't used during the week can be spent on actions that do not require a team.
New Action Rules:
Upgrade Team. At the beginning of the week, any team can immediately be turned in to the GM to use the Upgrade Team action.
Lie Low. At the end of the week remaining Actions can be used to Lie Low. For each action spent Lying Low, reduce the Silver Ravens Notoriety Score by 1.)
Event:
This is rolled in secret and determines the event for the (NEW: upcoming) week. (As the GM, I can describe this Event the moment it happens, over the course of the week, or as a result of the PCs actions.)
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Previous Stuffs I Said:One thing that I plan on doing... (We just cleared the Fair Fortune Livery so this will come up sooner than later) is allowing the PCs to activate a team almost immediately.My group strongly disliked the way the Kingdom Building mechanic halted Kingmaker. Some players found it fun and interesting but I also had some players leave the table when the book keeping came up. All players felt like there were two separate games going on and I really didn't like that at all.
So here is how I plan to have this bog down time a bit less and keep things three dimensional: (Everything NEW is in parenthesis)
Upkeep:
At the (START) of the week:
This will run very much the same.
1.Supporter Attrition
2. Notoriety Maximum
3. Treasury Shortage
4. Increase Rank
5. Deposits and Withdrawals
6. (NEW) Receive all Team Sheets spent in previous week
7. (NEW) Upgrade Teams: see below.Activity:
(NEW: Through the course of the coming week, when the PCs want to activate a team, the players will simply hand the Team Sheet to the GM. At the end of the week, before the Upkeep Phase begins again, any number of Actions that weren't used during the week can be spent on actions that do not require a team.
New Action Rules:
Upgrade Team. At the beginning of the week, any team can immediately be turned in to the GM to use the Upgrade Team action.
Lie Low. At the end of the week remaining Actions can be used to Lie Low. For each action spent Lying Low, reduce the Silver Ravens Notoriety Score by 1.)Event:
This is rolled in secret and determines the event for the (NEW: upcoming) week. (As the GM, I can describe this Event the moment it happens, over the course of the week, or as a result of the PCs actions.)
After writing it out, it looks better like this:
Upkeep:
At the (START) of the week:
This will run very much the same.
1.Supporter Attrition
2. Notoriety Maximum
3. Treasury Shortage
4. Increase Rank
5. Deposits and Withdrawals
6. (NEW) Receive all Team Sheets spent in previous week
7. (NEW) Upgrade Teams: see below.
Event:
This is rolled in secret and determines the event for the (NEW: upcoming) week. (As the GM, I can describe this Event the moment it happens, over the course of the week, or as a result of the PCs actions.)
Activity:
(NEW: This phase lasts for the remainder of the week. When the PCs want to activate a team, the players will simply hand the Team Sheet to the GM. At the end of the week, before the Upkeep Phase begins again, any number of Actions that weren't used during the week can be spent on actions that do not require a team.
This allows for the players and their rebellion to respond in real time without having to wait a week to have more Rebellion Actions.
New Action Rules:
Upgrade Team. At the beginning of the week, any team can immediately be turned in to the GM to use the Upgrade Team action.
Lie Low. At the end of the week remaining Actions can be used to Lie Low. For each action spent Lying Low, reduce the Silver Ravens Notoriety Score by 1.)