Kingmaker [PbP] (Inactive)

Game Master Jeff Przybylo

That is correct for Magna, in that order...

Kaalib's ambitions are greater than his ability. Ideally he'd like to rule the kobolds as a vassal state, but reasonably he would be an excellent treasurer. No one keeps track of gold like a dragon.

By stat and common sense Edric will be good at the same things as Magna - it's almost like they are the same class or something!

Taking fluff into account Magna would be the better general - what with being a tactician and all. Edric might end up being the compromise candidate for ruler if Magna and Talia can't agree on it. He'd probably spend more time as a referee than anything else. I imagine mediating between the general and the high diplomat (or whatever Talia's second role would be) would take more time than actually running the kingdom!

I suppose he could be the Royal Assassin - although I think I'd have to refluff it as 'Royal Champion' i.e. the one who fights single combats etc on behalf of the ruler... an LG assassin...

Magna will try (we have discussed it before), but probably fail to - and she won't do any "shenanigans" (she is lawful good after all!). The price of being a minority.

That would make for some awesome roleplay!

Edric might end up being the compromise candidate for ruler if Magna and Talia can't agree on it.

I'm now having trouble suppressing the thought of him setting up a ruthless Desnan theocracy, where - among other injustices - dancing in the starlight is compulsory...

Kaalib's ambitions are greater than his ability. Ideally he'd like to rule the kobolds as a vassal state, but reasonably he would be an excellent treasurer. No one keeps track of gold like a dragon.

Ah, but a man's kobold's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a heaven for?

The idea of Edric becoming a "compromise" ruler between Talia and Magna sounds... interesting...

What about a king consort? ;)

Edric 'Godly' wrote:

Edric might end up being the compromise candidate for ruler if Magna and Talia can't agree on it.

I'm now having trouble suppressing the thought of him setting up a ruthless Desnan theocracy, where - among other injustices - dancing in the starlight is compulsory...

The new national anthem and you WILL dance to it!

Besides Vosil shouldn't worry - he'd get put in charge of the gambling dens!

The idea of Edric becoming a "compromise" ruler between Talia and Magna sounds... interesting...

What about a king consort? ;)

Who does that mean he has to sleep with? Both of them....?

Besides Vosil shouldn't worry - he'd get put in charge of the gambling dens!

... And how would our new leader like to be addressed? Your Majesty? Sire? Your Imperial Excellency?

(Throw in the brothels and we have a deal!)

Magnitofera Skeller wrote:

What about a king consort? ;)

Who does that mean he has to sleep with? Both of them....?

Gives a new meaning to "Affairs of state." But put them in separate rooms buildings cities, is my advice.

Nice use of "has to" BTW - like it's a chore. Imma leave that one well alone.

Then the brothels are yours! It is clearly Desna's will!

The affairs of state will no doubt require constant attention. I suspect that his time will be most 'royally engages' for some time to come.

Ideally he'd like to rule the kobolds as a vassal state, but reasonably he would be an excellent treasurer. No one keeps track of gold like a dragon.

Talia almost brought this up in the last post I made. She's half convinced that at some point Chief Sootscale is going to need to be removed, so she's already thinking in terms of putting Kaalib into that position...

Kaalib Coaltongue wrote:

Ideally he'd like to rule the kobolds as a vassal state, but reasonably he would be an excellent treasurer. No one keeps track of gold like a dragon.

Talia almost brought this up in the last post I made. She's half convinced that at some point Chief Sootscale is going to need to be removed, so she's already thinking in terms of putting Kaalib into that position...

I would agree: if we take the fight to the bandits in whatever lair they might have in the South, having a force of trappers and scouts who can see in the dark might be useful...

How about it, Magna? You get what you want - attack the bandits - and Talia gets what she wants - kobold allies.

I suspect action against the kobolds might have to wait until the kingdom is better settled. Edric isnt going to be onboard with unprovoked aggression, even against kobolds...

BTW: Vosil - help! Please....

Even as you command, my liege.

Oh, and that's a +1 from me for the exploring option, BTW. I realise that "Lore Warden seeks further information before engaging enemies" isn't exactly headline news, but between his own past and Edric's catching up with them, the morning has had enough excitement already.

And it's barely past breakfast. What larks.

So Edric "volunteers" to bed Talia and Magna, while Vosil wants to sacrifice as keeper of all of the "dirty" business.
The things guys do for their country :P

So Edric "volunteers" to bed Talia and Magna, while Vosil wants to sacrifice as keeper of all of the "dirty" business.

The things guys do for their country :P

We're just trying to do our bit for the good of the kingdom as a whole :D

Kaalib Coaltongue wrote:

Ideally he'd like to rule the kobolds as a vassal state, but reasonably he would be an excellent treasurer. No one keeps track of gold like a dragon.

Talia almost brought this up in the last post I made. She's half convinced that at some point Chief Sootscale is going to need to be removed, so she's already thinking in terms of putting Kaalib into that position...

Kaalib almost challenged the Chief for control of the tribe the last time he was there, but a combination of a desire to develop relations with you guys and a lack of confidence that he'd be able to win kept him from doing so. In other words, he's planning to take the job on his own terms, and he inferred it when he talked to her like he was or would be in charge of the kobolds.

Ugh, forgot about that. Now I've got to come up with a reason why I'm making mistakes that my smart PC wouldn't. Thanks, Vosil ;)

A Lore Warden lives to point out and correct your mistakes serve, Lady ;-)

Given my general state of being is absent-mindedness, I look forward to it!

OK, so how do we want to do this? Start at B4 (I think) and then all the way West to (a)4 (again, I think - still getting the hang of reading Hex co-ordinates!) before going down to the West-most hex of row 5 and going due East to finish in D5?

We can then come back to Oleg's if needed, or press on, depending on how badly mauled we get in our moseyings.

Seems like a sensible plan - with horses it should take about 6 days of exploring. Allow 2 days for there and back - 8 days total. So an attack on the Stag Lord could reasonably take place in about 2 weeks, assuming all goes well. (I'm assuming we dont explore further west than A4...) Add another 3 days if we explore a4, b5 and a5 as well.

Also - is someone going to tell Vosil and Edric about the various side quests? Be a shame if they killed the bounty target without knowing.

I remember they are in the campaign tab...

I remember they are in the campaign tab...

But Edric can't see the campaign tab!

OK, so how do we want to do this? Start at B4 (I think) and then all the way West to (a)4 (again, I think - still getting the hang of reading Hex co-ordinates!) before going down to the West-most hex of row 5 and going due East to finish in D5?

We can then come back to Oleg's if needed, or press on, depending on how badly mauled we get in our moseyings.

Numbers read straight across, letters to the southeast. Lower-case letters are for columns that head off the map to the northwest. So a1 isn't on the map at all (it is a little to the northwest of the current map), and A1 is the first hex in Greenbelt territory to the northwest. Oleg's is in F1, the Temple of Erastil in the woods is C3, and so on.

We could even go to b4, the farthest-most hex on the map in row 4 to the west. We've been exploring the half-hexes.

Also - is someone going to tell Vosil and Edric about the various side quests? Be a shame if they killed the bounty target without knowing.

There's a bulletin board at the trading post with the quests on them. I'd assume that Edric and Vosil would come across it just in getting acquainted with their surroundings.

EDIT: I think Edric was suggesting something along the lines of B4 and then covering the forest and heading south?

Exploring as much as we can makes sense - I'd certainly go up to a4. He doesn't know exactly where the forest begins and ends so being thorough makes sense.

We could even go to b4, the farthest-most hex on the map in row 4 to the west. We've been exploring the half-hexes.

Ah, hadn't realised that - thanks.

Starting at B4 seems to be the consensus view - shall we proceed?

For the new player: the map is hex-based, making it hard to talk North, South, East, West. The actual North is the upper left corner of the map. To travel due south, you walk along the lettered row - so if you went down the B line from 1 to 4, you would be going due south. For my descriptions I use N, S, E, W, as general directions. You'll figure it out.

To make things more difficult, I (the player) and Talia are both hopelessly directionless*. The top of the map is always north to me, and I continue to thing of it that way.

Regarding the rolls, OGGM likes to have three or so days' worth of rolls for the following skills:

survival
knowledge (nature)
perception

One person takes the lead (usually Dregan for survival and perception, but since he still hasn't checked in from vacation, perhaps someone else with outdoorsy skills should?). The others roll aid another checks.

*True story: when I was a child, I got really lost in my own neighborhood. It was the height of summer, horribly hot out, I wandered around for what seemed like hours, and I ended up drinking out of a birdbath in someone's yard.

Oh yeah, and my childhood neighborhood was essentially a square, with a park in the middle and my street running right off the street that bordered the park, so...

There's a reason why Talia will never take a rank in survival.

I can pretty much match Dregan for perception if need be.

Survival and Knw Nature - not so much...

I'm back from holidays. Sorry didn't have internet for the last bit (and health issues with family members) meant I haven't been keeping up. I'll take a moment to catch up and post soon. I might also have to disappear for a couple of days with little notice, sorry.

Nice to see you back, Dregan. Sorry to hear about the health issues.

Glad to have you back... and I am back myself.

Thanks Talia and good to see you Magna

Hey Dregan, good to 'meet' you. Looking forward to gaming with you.

Likewise it's a pleasure to 'meet' you Dregan. Should be fun!

I take it this hex with the stone ruins is swamp, then...

...which raises the question: who'd be daft enough to build a castle in a swamp?

I take it this hex with the stone ruins is swamp, then...

...which raises the question: who'd be daft enough to build a castle in a swamp?

Lol! It isn't a swamp hex actually, but funny nonetheless.

Post lost.

It is very clear you've heard about as much Common from him as he knows.

Is this an appropriate moment to point out that Share Language is a First level Bard spell...?

*looks meaningfully at Talia*

:P

EDIT - Also, too: what counts as "exploring" a hex? For example, if we leave this encounter but stay in the hex, will that be enough? Or do we have to 'resolve' the encounter, one way or another?

Yeah, share language is a good spell, but pretty situational. I've thought about it, especially since so many of Talia's abilities are language-based, but it doesn't help with her satire ability, so I decided to just sink a lot of points into linguistics upon leveling. I'm also trying to base it off of IC knowledge, so next level will be undercommon (since we encountered the mites) and boggard (since we encountered this guy).

Taking into account that she needs to spend so many skill points on languages, I've decided to go into other directions with her spell selection, but share language still might be worth investing in, as a precursor casting for when I just really need to land that SoS enchantment spell.

Actually, scratch that - it's a touch spell. Never gonna be useful in that sort of scenario.

My bad.

Yeah, that and Will negates are the other downsides. If it was an AoE spell, you betcha Talia'd already have it. It would save a lot of skill ranks.

If it's 'territory' isn't too big I'd assume we can explore the hex without resolving the encounter per say.

Exploring and encounters are generally separate...unless it's 'big' like the kobold caverns, or the mite cave. Big isn't necessarily about size, it can be story related. In this case, you could leave this hex, count it as explored (with a note about a boggard here, of course) and move on.

B4 is a forest hex, despite the marshy conditions of the encounter. The river comes in from B3, obviously, and exits into B5. On to A4...

BTW, OGGM: what do our knowledge/survival etc rolls actually do?

Vosil: As you explore there are 3 types of things you can find in a hex. Landmarks, monsters, and Hidden sites. The rolls, and how well you make them, determine how much information and/or forewarning you have to find these things. Also, resources (like the hidden gold mine) can be found with a good roll.

In this case, I use the rules RAI, allowing everyone to assist and add all the bonuses together.

Approaching 1600 posts!

Approaching 1600 posts!

Well then, let's make it official. Nicely done, everyone! I'm looking forward to seeing where we're at when we hit 2k!

And over 200 since I went on holiday. Sorry still catching up.

I am going to be at a convention over the weekend and won't be able to check the thread or post frequently. You can roll knowledge and perception checks for me if you need, or bot Naralesh if combat breaks out. (He likes to glitterdust people and summon things, I'm sure you've all noticed. :P)

Nicely done, everyone! I'm looking forward to seeing where we're at when we hit 2k!

With the Stag Lord dead, his followers scattered and his body dumped in the river...

...a 3-way struggle for the throne ensues between Magna, Edric and Talia... Which Magna wins by virtue of her dwarven racial bonus vs poison...

...Magna proclaims the establishmentof a new dwarven realm, and in the name of "living space" (which sounds better in the original Dwarvish) declares war on the Sootscale tribe.

Did I miss anything?