Welcome my fledgeling tyrants to the not so nice version of Kingmaker.
Checking in. I'll have a longer post later but for now:
I look forward to playing with you all!
Aloha!!
I am checking in as well!!!
Doink
Good day all
Hey all. So, Radomir isn't leadership material. He sees himself more as the king's weapon (or dog, really). So, whoever ends up taking the leadership role, is it OK if Radomir pledges himself to that person's service?
A quick one word acknowledgement is all that I ask for right now. Just want to make sure everyone accepts the invitations. :)
Feel free to go ahead and ask any questions that you may have about the campaign or any rules. We will be using the DownTime Rules instead of what is in the actual Kingmaker book.
Well, Alexander is definitely aiming for the Ruler position. With that said, he's much more of an inclusive type of guy. I intend, both in and out of character, for the other characters in the group to be full partners (whether openly or not) in this endeavor rather than him being the "party ruler". I aiming for a good "old adventuring comrades" vibe by the time we end up having to actually run anything. So even if Alexander eventually becomes "King" it wouldn't be as a Tyrant over other players. I like the idea of politics and governance being complicated and sometimes a little tense. And all the characters will be in very important and powerful positions. With the King being the thing that ties them together more than something that rules them. (Sort of like how in actual politics, rulers have much less power than people attribute to them, but are still important in keeping things functioning.)
I have some ideas for how I'd like to see the kingdom evolve, though that's rather far down the road and I think as our characters grow with each other, those ideas may change. My initial broad ideas are a strong law and order kingdom less concerned with morality than with order. The Free City of ..., along those lines. Something like all religions are free to worship in these lands as long as they follow the law. And trying to form a trading hub where anything can be found for the right price. And encouraging the area to be used as a trade route by harshly punishing banditry and theft. But, as I said, that's just an overview and subject to mixing all our ideas together and the characters growing into the roles ahead of us.
We have a really diverse set of characters here, which I think bodes well. I did notice that five out of six of the characters have Knowledge (local) though. I'm planning on switching my Knowledge skills around to try to fit the group (while staying true to the character's background). It seems we don't have any Knowledge (Engineering), Knowledge (Planes) or Knowledge (Dungeoneering). Alexander could certainly do Engineering and Dungeoneering, as those both fit him well. As a bard, I do intend to put a rank into every Knowledge at one point or another. I think his spell choices are fine? (Grease and Cure Light Wounds) I'm happy to change them to suit the party, but I can't think of better spells that would fit this group that Bards have access to.
I'm open to any other suggestions for changes before we start. Also, background connections would be fine by me. I'm open to just about anything. Though meeting on the way after we have our charters is also a possibility. As for, swearing loyalty, I have no objections and neither would Alexander. I think more than one character doing that would start to make things awkward, but one, especially one who I expect will quickly earn Alexander's respect would be fine. He's used to having soldiers serve under him and I think their relationship would be akin to an officer and his sergeant. How's that sound for a plan?
Thaliar has no clear leadership ambition whatsoever, he's more the guy behind the scenes. Basically he's like the advisor whispering in the king's ear or the puppet master pulling the strings from behind the curtain.
That said, Radomir would be a great tool for Thaliar as he does not like getting his hands dirty. The only possible issue is that animosity Kuthites generally have towards Thaliar's goddess, Sivanah.
As for future plans, do note that Thaliar has very little respect for the law. To him laws have their uses but he sees them more as guidelines than as strict rules. That said, he's all for a strong trading nation as that means more opportunities for him to make money.
When it comes to knowledge, Engineering is actually also on my list for future investment as is Religion (though that's already covered). Both Planes and Dungeoneering could eventually be added if he finds a reason to study those subjects.
Where intertwined pasts are concerned, Thaliar has been a valued part of the household of House Medvyed for a very, very long time. He could easily have encountered anyone of you with a claim to nobility when the houses met for some reason. Anyone with a possible tier to smuggling and/or shipping lanes could also know him.
@Thaliar: Oh, I was thinking of swapping out ZonKuthon for a weird Irori-Abadar hybrid.
@alexander: sounds perfect. I think Alexander would really fit Radomir's personality. He cares more about e rule of law, and the spread of civilization over personal rights and liberties. But, of course, he will assist Thaliar in the running of the kingdom, so long Asia doesn't betray Alexander. :)
I'm thinking he's going to be similar to Kael from Willow.
If he betrays anyone it's not like Thaliar will tell anyone, nor will the victim know until the blade is buried deep in his back. Then again, Thaliar will rarely need to betray people. He's an Elf, he can just wait for the humans to die of old age.
Any betrayal that will occur is likely aimed at NPCs as we will probably get furthest if we don't stab each other in the back.
Checking in and saying hello.
Eduard is in favor of law and order and generally happy to support the whole while being left to his own devices. He is likely to create state secrets for the purpose of keeping them if there aren't state secrets otherwise.
It sounds like people are stepping up for skills, but I also have lots of skill points and can potentially drop a point or two into another Knowledge as necessary.
Ha Radomir doesn't have any skills
I'm thinking Knowledge (Dungeoneering) and Knowledge (Nobility) make the most sense for now. I'll start branching out immediately though, since it's worth it to put a rank in each knowledge for a Bard. We shouldn't be short on Knowledge skills (or skills at all) in this group.
Hitting things is a skill. Radomir seems like he'll do that fine.
Andrea can make a good paper-pusher for getting the boring paperwork done and can also bolster forces with undead(Preferably from the corpses of our foes) A good Belt of Charisma can help her Negative Channeling while not harming party members.
I'm thinking Knowledge (Dungeoneering) and Knowledge (Nobility) make the most sense for now. I'll start branching out immediately though, since it's worth it to put a rank in each knowledge for a Bard. We shouldn't be short on Knowledge skills (or skills at all) in this group.
Hitting things is a skill. Radomir seems like he'll do that fine.
Coolios. Will keep him. I plan on taking a more versatile mount in the future.. Not sure what's available... Probably some kind of wolf but haven't invested any kinds of discussion yet
Andrea can make a good paper-pusher for getting the boring paperwork done and can also bolster forces with undead(Preferably from the corpses of our foes) A good Belt of Charisma can help her Negative Channeling while not harming party members.
Radomir would love to work out a way to bolster the knights of the wolf (or whatever he decides to call the knights sworn to our King/secret police) with undead... or pursue that path himself (GM willing, and only slightly not joking)
Thaliar doesn't mind undead, as long as they don't stink.
As far as skills go, let's just say that I'm playing an Investigator. I'll be kicking ass when it comes to skills and they are sort of all I do until 4th level when my combat skills suddenly kick in.
Checking in.
For Merryn's background, anyone involved in law enforcement may know of Merryn as a bounty hunter who has no particular care for whether he claims bounties alive or dead.
It is unlikely that anyone knows of Merryn's past before he was a bounty hunter outside of possibly having heard of him being associated with a now-dead group of bandits, which included his parents. Certainly no one will know it was Merryn who murdered the band through what appeared to be a gruesome set of accidents, and unless anyone else is a follower of Norgorber it won't be obvious he's an acolyte either.
What does Merryn bring to the group? Essential survival skills including knowledge (geography) and tracking as well as a penchant for ranged combat (he has both PBS and Rapid Shot which should mean for a decent damage output at range). For most of his past, Merryn has been a lone wolf but he now recognises that any further rise in prestige and power is going to be largely down to his ability to assist the team.
Certainly in the first book, Merryn is liable to act as the scout. As he grows, I think it would be apt that he would gravitate towards Spymaster or a similar role where he can take care of law enforcement both within the nation and making tactical strikes outside of our borders.
With regards his following Norgorber, that tends to be more towards the hoarding of information that Merryn then uses to his advantage. Although he has been known to set up killings as apparent accidents, for the moment his main method of killing is at range. He's not adverse to using special arrows (he carries 3 tangleshot arrows at the moment) in order to harass his foes.
Merryn is au fait with the Stolen Lands. He was raised here and although he won't know Oleg and Svetlana (assuming they are being used in this version of KM) he'll certainly have the lie of the land and may even know of, if not know, the Stag Lord.
Anyway, this looks to be shaping up as an excellent game. I'm looking forward to it!
DM, are we going to have some time to do last minute shopping before departing for the Stolen Lands? I think it likely that Merryn would want to invest in some incendiary arrows as he's aware there are trolls in the Stolen Lands.
Good to see all six have checked in. :)
We can have the rest of this day for anymore character discussions and questions. Then I should have the introduction up in the gameplay thread tomorrow.
To answer Merryn's question:
Yes, you will have time for last minute shopping. Incendiary arrows are fine.
Oleg and Svetlana will be used.
@merryn: Radomir used to work with a band of brigands... I see potential for connections. Or not, if you don't want to.
I see no problem with Radomir having worked with Merryn's parents and their band of ne'er-do-wells although he will have had to part ways before Merryn's conversion to Norgorber and his murderous rampage through the band that he felt were holding him back.
Or alternatively you may have associated with brigands that Merryn has hunted down in the past. You'd then be aware of his lethality and willingness to step over the boundaries of the law to complete his objectives.
I'll also point out that I've shifted Merryn's alignment prior to the game starting from Neutral Evil to Lawful Evil. He sees the usefulness of laws, after all he's more successful now than he was in his parents' bandit group but he's perfectly willing to bend and even break the laws to his own benefit.
I see no problem with Radomir having worked with Merryn's parents and their band of ne'er-do-wells although he will have had to part ways before Merryn's conversion to Norgorber and his murderous rampage through the band that he felt were holding him back.
Or alternatively you may have associated with brigands that Merryn has hunted down in the past. You'd then be aware of his lethality and willingness to step over the boundaries of the law to complete his objectives.
I think the second option works best. He enjoyed working for the bandit lord, and would want to avenge his death.
Dotting to watch how this goes :)
Introductory post is now up in the Gameplay thread.
really liking things so far!
Very enthusiastic for the first day Radomir. :)
Now, for a quick addressing of the other charter groups. It always seemed a bit silly me to only send out one small group to tame a huge bandit filled land. So there are a few other groups out there with slightly different charters than yours. They will be directed to other trading posts. Which way you go in the future will determine which one you may run into if I don't roll for their deaths on my table. In which case they will just be more bodies to loot.
*shrug* I'm easy to please. :). I'm a big fan of making people corpses to loot. :)
Good to be starting, this should be fun.
Let's see if Thaliar can secure some personal friends for later (ab)use.
The idea was for Thaliar to indeed first talk with one of the other groups, either before or after you guys talked to them. Basically he wants to talk to them when it's just him there, less threatening and things like that.
I'm not quite sure how we'll realize that Thaliar is in our group and not one of the others, but I guess we'll figure it out. :)
Quite simple, he'll approach you next, show you his charter and that's it. Each group is sent in a different direction so has a slightly different charter I assume.
hey, is there any way i can make my posts "default" to Radomir in the gameplay thread? I keep trying to update on my phone, but the drop-down menu hates me and it's annoying that my posts are my DM avatar, and not Radomir. (I'm sure it's annoying for you guys, too).
You can have all of your posts default to one of your aliases, but I don't believe there's a way to make your posts default to an alias in a specific thread. Though, if there were, I'd be happy to hear it.
dang, alright. I'll just scowl at my phone more, and hope that works :) sorry about posting as the other alias. Is annoying, i know.
EDIT
also, totally digging the other characters! They're so much fun!
@Thalliar: thanks for the reminder about the 2x damage from the lance.
No problem
I'm not that fond of rules lawyering but if it helps us I'd be an idiot not to mention it :)
I'm not sure "rules-lawyering" includes helping people remember rules. Though opinions differ. :) There are a lot of rules and we all need help once in a while.
On a separate note: It'll be helpful for the GM (and other players) if we post what round our actions are on and at what initiative. It can get kind of confusing, especially with so many people acting.
There does seem to be some confusion. Here's how the "current" situation seems to look:
We're still waiting on Eduard for a surprise and first round action.
The two mounted bandits are dead. One is in melee with Alexander right outside the door to the guest house (there's a map link on the first page of the thread). The other unmounted bandit was staggered by Alexander and is now probably dead from a stabbing from Thaliar (assuming a 14 hits, which is probably likely?).
Which leaves the leader and the one attacking Alexander as the only two standing at the top of round 2 (not counting whatever actions Eduard takes).
Either way, it was much appreciated :)
So, as of Initiative 24 at the top of Round 2, only the bandit leader remains standing. I believe Merryn and Radomir go before him. I'm guessing that Merryn wouldn't want to shoot him? But hopefully he'll return soon and post his action. My suggestion, ready to shoot the leader if he takes a shot at someone or runs.
Also, if Radomir can change his action (because there are no more non-leader bandits) he can charge the leader. With a -4 attack he can do nonlethal damage with a melee weapon as well. Charging someone with a lance is an oddly effective way of knocking them out. ;)
So, as of Initiative 24 at the top of Round 2, only the bandit leader remains standing. I believe Merryn and Radomir go before him. I'm guessing that Merryn wouldn't want to shoot him? But hopefully he'll return soon and post his action. My suggestion, ready to shoot the leader if he takes a shot at someone or runs.
Also, if Radomir can change his action (because there are no more non-leader bandits) he can charge the leader. With a -4 attack he can do nonlethal damage with a melee weapon as well. Charging someone with a lance is an oddly effective way of knocking them out. ;)
heh, was wondring if iwanted to try to do intimidate instead?
[gah... i keep posting the wrong character! Sorry guys.]
Oh, well, give it a shot! We have a bunch of options at this point. :)
I will go ahead and announce that my time limit of no posting is a week with no advance explanation. After that I begin to look for a replacement. This is now day 4 for Merryn.
Remember for the Aid Another action you need to succeed on a DC 10 check (and can't take 10 on it). But yeah, it does seem really appropriate for Czernabog to be aiding you on those. :)
Remember for the Aid Another action you need to succeed on a DC 10 check (and can't take 10 on it). But yeah, it does seem really appropriate for Czernabog to be aiding you on those. :)
Fixed! thanks!
and the danged horse rolled better than Radomir!
Hah, isn't that always the way?
Is it just me or is Andrea trying to save people so they can be executed later?
We could try and win him over. It might be nice to have a bandit on our side. We could use him to track down the others and get an in.
'course, we could also try and win the bandits over, too. Y'know, maybe work a double-life a bit. We would be all friendly with Oleg and Svetlana--they are nice people, after all; and then we could use the bandits for fun and profit. They could be the start of our own army/enforcers.
*Whistles innocently*