Kingmaker: A Brave New World

Game Master GunMetalDrac

In addition to being diplomatic, I noticed that we're a pretty bunch of people. No one has a charisma score lower than 14 :P

In addition to being diplomatic, I noticed that we're a pretty bunch of people. No one has a charisma score lower than 14 :P

hm... maybe we could make that some kind of requirement for citizenship... ;)

Hehe, that would be amusing. Also before I risk drawing anyone's ire, I know charisma is much more than just a measure of physical attractiveness but since that's the first thing most people think of, that's what I went with :3

Post guards at the gate, "Sorry. By order of the Council, no one ugly is permitted to enter the city."

"You must be at least this pretty to pass."

How does it feel to be
One of the beautiful people?

Other fun facts because I'm bored and having trouble sleeping:

Both groups picked for this have a bard, a cleric, a sorcerer and a cavalier (of various archetypes of course).
Of the two other slots, Group #1 has one core class (wizard) and one new ACG class (warpriest).
Of the two other slots, our group has one core class (paladin) and one new ACG class (arcanist).
Both groups are also similar in that the arcanist and wizard are arcane casters and the paladin and warpriest are both holy warriors.

The more you know...

Lol. That will probably be the first and last time someone mistakes Arawn for a warrior. He's got a Str of 8. Not exactly bulging with muscle... :P

Re: our prettiness, we are also all members of classes with sound reasons for higher than average Charisma.
Entirely aside from the fact that over half of the Kingdom Leadership positions can or must use Charisma for the Kingdom modifier.

Curiosity for you, PM:

Suppose the party is preparing to defend Oleg's, or another such fortification. Would you allow Blessing of the Watch to count the fort as a "city" for the purposes of casting the spell? It seems to me like a flavorful way for Castor to prepare to help defend a place.

I don't even see what the purpose of Blessing of the Watch would be as a spell? Like, it's just Bless but with restrictions and no apparent benefits.

Also no it would not work, as there is no city watch to have a jurisdiction.

The benefits:

Hits more targets, hits a larger range, lasts a lot longer.

The idea behind Blessing of the Watch is that you cast it to help the entire guard of a city.

And fair enough, it was a stretch in the first place but anotehr DM had allowed it, so I figured it was worth a shot.

That being said, it was after we'd recruited some former bandits as guards for Oleg's, so there was that.

Actually, in Rufus' case, even with meta-knowledge, there is no reason for him to assume wolves rather than Bandits. The River Kingdoms are notorious for Banditry, particularly among those who aren't from them, and he spent the last seven years of his life here learning how to deal with them.

I know - Xelani's in a similar position, that's why she immediately thought about bandits

Oh, missed the duration bit, right. Such a weirdly written spell, though; it doesn't actually say it blesses defenders of the city. It just makes sense that it would. Bizarre.

Hope my last post doesn't rock too many people the wrong way... Alayi just feels strongly that those willing to submit to the law when it comes to an area should be given some measure of clemancy for their actions prior to the establishment of civilization and law and order.

Rufus' Order abilities specifically focus on non-lethal responses, encouraging peaceful agreements & accepting surrender. He has no problem with offering mercy to those who deserve it.

The first time I played him, he was intentionally pointing out that loophole to the other characters, some of whom happened to be former bandits, because he had no interest in being 'Noleski's bought-killer'.

The wolves were only an example, folks. The real point was that OOC knowledge was imposing on IC actions. That said, Xelani is completely correct, and it's not my place to police such actions. I apologize.

Incidentally, GM PM, having run a Kingmaker campaign before (that ended very near the beginning, unfortunately), I can definitely recommend this guide. Since Kingmaker is balanced around 4 characters, it ups the power of encounters to keep EXP progression the same, and provide the same challenge for 6 players as 4 would have (more or less).

Only if you're interested, of course. *shrug*

Unfortunately, it does contain a bunch of homebrew stuff that the writer added for his game, gotta ignore that crap...

(shrug) You are right, which is why I asked what was threatening their peace, and only responded to banditry in response to my IC knowledge of Xelani's backstory. For the most part you won't have to worry about OOC knowledge from me as this is my first playthrough.

Actually, no he isn't. Expecting Bandits when the writ we all received specifically names them and the first character we encounter mentions fearing the return of a nebulous 'them' is no more OOC knowledge impinging on IC play than 'finger pointing' about OOC knowledge impinging upon IC play.

Rufus asked the questions he asked because A) IC, he is a professional soldier & the first thing you do as a soldier when you are informed of a possible engagement is collect as much intelligence as possible, and B) OOC, because asking questions moved the game forward. If the questions were predicated upon incorrect assumptions, they still move the game forward. If the questions aren't based on incorrect assumptions, they still move the game forward.

Whoops, I'm pretty sure there's a sidebar in the player's guide that (roughly) says, "This is what you know about these four areas of the Stolen Lands and the groups that got sent there; PCs need to dig further in-game to learn more" which I may have mistaken for bare bones IC knowledge instead of OOC.

Stolen Land Explorers

Your group is but one of four groups chartered by the swordlords to explore and settle the Stolen Land. Here’s what you know about the four regions in the Stolen Lands and who Brevoy sent to explore them. If you wish to learn more, your characters will need to ask around once the campaign begins.
The Greenbelt: Dominated by the woodland known as the Narlmarches and the rolling hills of the Kamelands, this region is the one your group has been chartered to explore. Bandits are particularly rife in this area, and the rumors that they’ve organized under the banner of a bandit warlord who calls himself the Stag Lord are particularly troubling. You are to explore as much of the northern half of the Greenbelt as you can and, if possible, to find out more about this “Stag Lord” and remove the bandit threat from the region. Other rumored problems in the region include a tribe of mites, a tribe of kobolds, mischievous fey, and numerous dangerous monsters and wildlife.
Glenebon Uplands: The swordlords sent a relatively experienced band of adventurers into the westernmost reach of the Stolen Lands—an area that is supposedly under the rule of the bandit kingdom of Pitax (although that River Kingdom has done very little to prove its claims over this area).
The Slough: The East Sellen River runs through the swamps known as Hooktongue Slough. Rumor holds that the swordlords sent actual Brevic government agents into this swampy area.
Nomen Heights: The easternmost reaches of the Stolen Lands contain a low mountain range and border the long ruined realm of Iobaria. The swordlords sent a band of mercenaries into this region, rumors hold.

This implies that all of our characters would know this much going in.

I think we should just move on. Even if ooc knowledge has indeed managed to leak in (I might have been guilty of that), it can be safely retconned as a very safe (if hasty) deduction based on our characters' charters and backgrounds. For my part, I apologize for the snarky "flying wolves" reply.

By the way, I noticed I'm the only one usually posting during these hours - am I safe in assuming I'm the only one posting in a GMT-ish time zone (I'm in GMT+1, as i think I've already stated somewhere)?

Yeah, I'm on US central which is GMT -6 I believe. On the other hand, I keep odd hours sometimes when I'm not working.

-Posted with Wayfinder

I'm in EST here. (GMT -5)

I'm on US Central, as well, but I work a night shift.

Likewise GMT- 6. My hours are...
odd.

PST (-8), but depending on my work I do sometimes have nights... and I have insomnia a lot as well.

So, is anyone going to go get Rufus in on this conversation?

I'm sorry, really! I know you're presently outside the building, but truth be told I think we're all waiting for some input from Oleg or Svetlana (aka our PM) who are currently standing in the dining room with us. Xelani has already studied the structures, so it would make little sense for her to exit the room. Alas, the pace of these PBPs tends to be insufferably slow at times...

Yeah, sorta waiting on further information from Oleg and Svetlana but Korinne will go grab Rufus if someone else doesn't or if he doesn't wander back in on his own.

Also, OOC I'm pretty sure we'll have to stomp some bandits no matter what but IC we don't know what will happen unless we try :D

-Posted with Wayfinder

Outside of what building? Outside the outer walls? Where did Rufus go?

I think the map of Oleg's might help, here...

Yes it would. Right now all we have is, essentially, 'refurbished ruins of an old fortress'; which is an awfully broad range of possibilities. Narrowing them down to something more concrete is going to be imperative for anything like an accurate or effective strategy on our part.

Oleg's trading post.

With regards from your counterparts in Universe A to their colleagues in Universe 1. ;)

Much appreciated, Ansha. I see PM posted it on the other game already. We must be unloved, or something. :P Kidding.

Thank you!

I'm holding out on an IC post until PM turns up. I don't have much to add for now.

I know he mentioned that he keeps odd hours and that there was some sort of vet emergency yesterday, so I hope his pet(s) are okay! And thank you for the map Ansha :)

The perks of being group A, I suppose ^.^ Joking aside, I seriously hope all is well with his pets, and if not, that they'll get better soon!

So I take it we've been dining in area A7, and that Rufus is just outside in area A1. Given the scale, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume he was able to hear our full conversation, I think.

I will also refrain from posting anything more until Oleg or Svetlana interject, since I feel any points we wanted to make have already been eloquently expressed and any further dialogue on Xelani's part would just be idle repetition.

I will also refrain from posting anything more until Oleg or Svetlana interject, since I feel any points we wanted to make have already been eloquently expressed and any further dialogue on Xelani's part would just be idle repetition.

This is the best idea any of us have posted yet.

This is going to sound bad & I apologize, but we need to shut up and let GM PM post. Go back and read our gameplay posts again. As observers this time. We come off as incredibly rude and arrogant. Any time one of us asks a question of the NPCs, who actually have knowledge of what we are to face, someone else immediately talks over the NPC, generally several someone's. I recognize that it is a new Campaign and we are all excited and we all want to take part & I'm excited and want to take part as well...
but we need to allow our GM to establish a story before we demolish it with our actions.
At the very least, if we are going to have long PC-only conversations, we can have the courtesy to do so away from the NPCs.

edit: And for the record, no, these are not my normal hours of activity. I had insomnia tonight.

I feel the situation you described is one of this particular medium's necessary evils, Rufus. Due to posting habits rarely synching up, such occurrences (people trying to force the story ahead with their posting while still waiting for the GM to actually describe the results of their earlier actions) tend to be commonplace; though I think that unless you not only ascribe to the notion that role-playing is actually a form of cooperative writing (which I do, up to a point), but also that every single post must be taken at face-value rigidly in the order it was written, this might not be such a terrible thing.

I mean: in the other campaign I'm in, for example, I'm used to describing my actions in even two or three time frames in the same post. In our particular scenario, I like to think a similar thing's happening to us: instead of having us look like a bunch of insufferable wannabe statesmen monologuing about things we know little about while our hosts silently stare, unable to chime in, our GM might want to have Oleg and Svetlana interjecting at the appropriate times as he sees fit, each time quoting the particular post he's referring to.

I know, this might somewhat devalue the very concept of causality stemming from temporal consequentiality (while also making things a bit more confused), but sometimes I've found it preferable to having the game stall for a couple of days just because we're waiting for a single piece of critical feedback.

[...] you not only subcribe to the notion that role-playing is actually [...]

Sorry for the lapsus - the struggle between not being a native speaker and the 1-hour editing window is so very real.

I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, I do agree that any further in-game posting isn't going to do much until PM makes his next post and so Korinne's last post is all I'm doing until something else happens. But I honestly don't read our current in-game posts up to this point as being rude and arrogant. Overeager? Quite possibly, but in addition to OOC "shiny new game" excitement on behalf of the players, I'd like to think this is a result of the majority of the PCs being goody-goody go-getters. Our hosts have a problem? Well let's get to working on fixing it! If Svetlana and/or Oleg feel that we're being rude and react in a way that shows that, then we can respond in-game by shutting up and toning it down for a minute (or not). They could just as easily be thankful that we're all raring to do something about the bandits, who knows? *shrug*

I mean: in the other campaign I'm in, for example, I'm used to describing my actions in even two or three time frames in the same post. In our particular scenario, I like to think a similar thing's happening to us: instead of having us look like a bunch of insufferable wannabe statesmen monologuing about things we know little about while our hosts silently stare, unable to chime in, our GM might want to have Oleg and Svetlana interjecting at the appropriate times as he sees fit, each time quoting the particular post he's referring to.

I'm in a Shattered Star game that started maybe a week before this one did and our GM tends to do something similar; if there have been a bunch of player posts where everyone is talking to each other or maybe to the same NPC(s) but asking different things, he usually makes one big post and quotes each PC as the NPCs respond to them and what they're doing/saying and it's easy enough to read it as part of one big flowing scene instead of everyone talking over each other all the time.

In retrospect, 'arrogant' was harsh on my part. I was tired from the insomnia & also still aggravated from the events provoking the insomnia. Events that had nothing to do with the game itself, but in certain ways reflected it.
I'm having a number of family interpersonal issues at the moment that would likely be significantly less severe if all the parties involved (myself included) would take a few steps back and allow tempers to cool. I apologize for bringing them into the game, inadvertently or not.

So I take it we've been dining in area A7, and that Rufus is just outside in area A1. Given the scale, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume he was able to hear our full conversation, I think.

Actually, it would be those tables out in the yard. More space, easier than trying to stuff eight people into that tiny little dining room. Unless PM says differently, of course.

I'm of a similar opinion as Korinne, here. Any more posts at the moment are going to be mostly useless, but the conversations that are happening are not rude or arrogant. Multiple streams of conversation are happening at once, and when PM gets on again, Oleg and Svetlana can respond. It is one of the tools of the medium to tackle multiple timelines in a single post when dealing with conversation. Combat is another story, that has to go in turns, but conversation is MUCH more fluid, and it's not difficult to reconcile multiple timelines and conversation streams.

Edit: And I miss Rufus' post while making my own!

Hopefully everything clams down for you, mate. Clashing with family is never good. Family comes first...

Here's hoping things improve for you, Rufus.

For now, IC wise, Castor is applying the wise motto of "If you don't have anything useful to add, shut up."

Meanwhile, I've been entertaining myself with the Coat of Arms Designer.

Simplistic, but I like it.

Xelani Fyodorova wrote:

So I take it we've been dining in area A7, and that Rufus is just outside in area A1. Given the scale, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume he was able to hear our full conversation, I think.

Actually, it would be those tables out in the yard. More space, easier than trying to stuff eight people into that tiny little dining room. Unless PM says differently, of course.

Not that it has any tactical relevance, but I was basing my assumption on

As you talk, Svetlana urges you as polite into the house as she can, making a few gestures toward her husband as the last of you comes in.

a 20 m^2 room might feel a bit tight for 8 people to sit in, but I would probably take it over the option of dining in the open at the end of winter, given the choice.

BTW, nice work on the coat of arms, I like the color pattern very much!

Sorry to hear that Rufus. Rest assured, not only I took no offense at your statement, but I've also found it quite legitimate in the grievances it exposed. Hope things are going to get better!

Arawn Vasska wrote:

Xelani Fyodorova wrote:

So I take it we've been dining in area A7, and that Rufus is just outside in area A1. Given the scale, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume he was able to hear our full conversation, I think.

Actually, it would be those tables out in the yard. More space, easier than trying to stuff eight people into that tiny little dining room. Unless PM says differently, of course.

Not that it has any tactical relevance, but I was basing my assumption on

Pungeon Master wrote:

As you talk, Svetlana urges you as polite into the house as she can, making a few gestures toward her husband as the last of you comes in.

Hmm. You are correct. Probably my own OOC knowledge intruding a bit...

BTW, nice work on the coat of arms, I like the color pattern very much![/ooc]

Thank you! I've always really loved red on black.

Have been monitoring, just don't have any input... only posting this so you know I haven't gone AWOL.

ALSO! Rufus. Looking through the character sheets again, I notice you're the only other person trained in Knowledge (Nobility). Anyone who knows about Brevic nobility would most likely know about 'Arawn Surtova' and his disgrace and disownment by the Surtova family two years ago.

Even though he changed his surname, Arawn hasn't changed much else about himself, so it's entirely possible for Rufus to identify him pretty quickly, especially now that his magical ability, one of the reasons he was disowned, has been revealed...

ALSO! Rufus. Looking through the character sheets again, I notice you're the only other person trained in Knowledge (Nobility). Anyone who knows about Brevic nobility would most likely know about 'Arawn Surtova' and his disgrace and disownment by the Surtova family two years ago.

Even though he changed his surname, Arawn hasn't changed much else about himself, so it's entirely possible for Rufus to identify him pretty quickly, especially now that his magical ability, one of the reasons he was disowned, has been revealed...

.

Actually, on that note, looking at character sheets, I saw two traits I had never seen before. Where are Prince & Secret Knowledge from?

Arawn Vasska wrote:

ALSO! Rufus. Looking through the character sheets again, I notice you're the only other person trained in Knowledge (Nobility). Anyone who knows about Brevic nobility would most likely know about 'Arawn Surtova' and his disgrace and disownment by the Surtova family two years ago.

Even though he changed his surname, Arawn hasn't changed much else about himself, so it's entirely possible for Rufus to identify him pretty quickly, especially now that his magical ability, one of the reasons he was disowned, has been revealed...

.

Um, Yeah...
Rufus is perfectly willing to ignore that Arawn is a Surtova. If Arawn has any sense, he will pick up that reminding Rufus that he is a Surtova isn't the best idea possible...
Further, while Rufus was raised in Brevoy, he hasn't been there for much longer than a week or two at a time in over seven years. So anything which happened in the last seven years, he is likely to only know of via rumor.

Actually, on that note, looking at character sheets, I saw two traits I had never seen before. Where are Prince & Secret Knowledge from?

Oh, that won't be a problem. Arawn has nothing good to say about the ruling family, and if he is revealed, will have a few choice words about why exactly he abandoned the name entirely, rather than trying to regain his position as a Surtova.

Prince (or more correctly Prince/Princess) is from Qadira, Gateway to the East.
Secret Knowledge is from Inner Sea Gods.