Olwen's Kingmaker campaign

Game Master Olwen

I would also lean towards Lilac's suggestion, as I think Jhod does a good job as a high priest. I don't know the GM's view of that, but I wouldn't think that there are (m)any clerics of his level willing to come to our rather remote country.

A high priest you almost lost last session. If this Diplomacy check hadn't been that high… ;)

No, there aren't that many clerics in the country. The highest level ones would probably have to be one of Lilac's follower (so level 2?).

Also, while true that the high priest does not need to be a follower of Erastil, it's still the dominating religion in Gwendor (as we're still a rather rural country)...

And you won't have someone who follows the most conservative aspects of Erastil better than Jhod. :)

There are also arguments to be made for having some voices of conservatism on the Council, even if I personally vastly prefer the progressive stance. While I have nothing but admiration for the ideals of Andoran, I also have no wish for us to become Galt. Similarly, while there is much to respect about the River Freedoms, becoming Daggermark is not our goal. When Jhod says there are people in the Duchy who share his beliefs and concerns, I find no reason to doubt him, and shutting our ears entirely to such voices would be dangerous both for us and for them.

From the mine, you get an additional 3 minor items, and 2 medium items. Am I forgetting something else?

For Desnus 4713 AR (turn 26), the magic items are:
- minor item 1: oil of rope trick [300 gp]
- minor item 2: scroll of unseen servant [25 gp]
- minor item 3: scroll of true strike [25 gp]
- minor item 4: scroll of endure elements [25 gp]
- minor item 5: scroll of floating disk [25 gp]
- minor item 6: scroll of expeditious retreat [25 gp]
- minor item 7: scroll of daylight [375 gp]
- minor item 8: scroll of erase [25 gp]
- minor item 9: scroll of detection poison, bestow curse and glyph of warding [962.5 gp]
- medium item 1: sword of lifestealing [25,715 gp]
- medium item 2: ring of Maniacal Devices (APG) [5,000 gp]
- medium item 3: wand of daze monster (47 charges) [4,230 gp]
- medium item 4: wand of lesser restauration (50 charges) [4,500 gp]
- medium item 5: wand of warp wood (12 charges) [1,080 gp]
- major item 1: wand of confusion (50 charge) [21,000 gp]

Event phase
1d100 ⇒ 41 (1d100 ⇒ 70, 1d100 ⇒ 8)
No event. Your people are recovering from the gorgeous wedding celebration.

Around 15 from the MIE ... that should handily enable us to go forward with "Plan C" and still build our Academy the month following. Since that plan has been on the table and was effectively pre-approved, I'll wait a bit to see if there are any last-minute objections, and then go ahead with the rolls.

OK, going ahead with the rolls.

DESNUS 4713 AR (turn 26)

START:
Economy: +58
Loyalty: +48 (+6 until next event phase)
Stability: +52 (+2 until next event phase)
Consumption: 2

DC: 48
Unrest: 0
Treasury: 7 BP and 1215.5 gp

Population: 18,000

Special:
Missionaries explore Hex E:8 at +24
- Roll 14; Check 38 to escape potential Hazards
Missionaries explore Hex F:8 at +22
- Roll 19; Check 41 to escape potential Hazards
Lay Prostitutes at +53
- Roll 14; Success (+1 to Economy rolls for the month)

Upkeep phase
Stability check: Roll 5; Success (+1 BP)

Consumption: 2 (-2 BP)

Unrest: Loyalty check for presence of Kobolds -- Roll 10; Success (+0 Unrest)

Improvement phase
Changes in leadership: Loy Rezbin replaces Svetlana Leveton as Grand Diplomat (+1 Stability)
Claimed Hexes: Claim Hex C:3 (-1 BP, +1 DC, +250 population), Claim Hex C:6 (-1 BP, +1 DC, +1 Consumption, +250 population); Claim Hex C:8 (-1 BP, +1 DC, +1 Consumption, +250 population, +1 Loyalty - Landmark)
City improvement: Prep Hex C:3 as city site (-4 BP, +1 Consumption); Prep Hex C:8 as city site (-2 BP)
Roads: Build road in Hex C:3 (-1 BP with Sempor's help); Build road in Hex C:6 (-1 BP); Build road in Hex C:8 (-2 BP, includes bridge building)
Farmlands: None
Edicts: Set Promotions to Standard (+1 Stability, +1 Consumption); Set Festivals to 6/year (-2 Loyalty, -6 Consumption); Set Taxes to Heavy (-1 Economy, +4 Loyalty)

Income phase
Deposits/withdrawals: None

Magic items (Economy currently +57 at this point in turn; DC 50 for major items; DC 35 for medium items; DC 20 for minor items; 6 city districts)
- Sell major item 1: wand of confusion (50 charge) [21,000 gp]
Roll 10; Success
- Sell medium item 1: sword of lifestealing [25,715 gp]
Roll 17: Success
- Sell medium item 2: ring of Maniacal Devices (APG) [5,000 gp]
Roll 18; Success
- Sell medium item 4: wand of lesser restauration (50 charges) [4,500 gp]
Roll 8; Success
- Sell medium item 3: wand of daze monster (47 charges) [4,230 gp]
Roll 11; Success
- Sell medium item 5: wand of warp wood (12 charges) [1,080 gp]
Roll 10; Success
TOTAL: 61,525 gp + 1215.5 "leftover" gp = 62,720.5 gp = 15 BP and 2720.5 gp

Income (economy check): Roll 14; Success (+14 BP)

Event phase
1d100 ⇒ 41 (1d100 ⇒ 70, 1d100 ⇒ 8)
No event. Your people are recovering from the gorgeous wedding celebration.

END:
Economy: +57
Loyalty: +51
Stability: +54
Consumption: 0

DC: 51
Unrest: 0
Treasury: 22 BP and 2720.5 gp

Population: 18,750

NOTES:
- GM, would it be possible for an updated map to be sent out? I would find that useful, if so.
- Cities need not be named until they are built, so no decision need yet be made; see Look Ahead notes for possibilities
- Lilac's pregnancy is 2/7 complete at end of month

LOOKING AHEAD:

1) CITY SITES: Next turn, we should probably skip prepping a city site; ideally we want to time it so one city pops up every turn for the next 5 turns or so; we'll have the waterfall city popping up in Sarenith and the Temple city, happily enough, being founded in Erastus.

If we want the rest in hills, which seems sensible right now, we should skip Sarenith, and then prep a site in each of Erastus, Arodus, and Rova. I:5 is still a good site; the others will depend on where and how we've explored and chosen to claim hexes, most likely.

2) HEX CLAIMS: With so many cities popping up, more farms are going to be needed soon. I'd recommend a combination East/West expansion; next turn, claim two hexes West to build a farm in the plains, and one hill hex East. After that, I would like to grab at least one plains hex each turn for farming until they run out, but all other hex claims could be to the East, as far as I'm concerned; if we can keep up the three-hex pace, we could go 2 East/1 West each turn, building a combination of plains and hills farms to offset hex claims and city districts.

3) BUILDINGS: Obviously, next turn we want to build our Academy, which comes with Econ +2/Loyalty +2 along with its other benefits. We'll also get +1 Econ/+1 Stab from roads, and if we go with the above plan, +1 to +2 Loyalty from claiming Landmark hexes. So, even with another 3-hex turn we'd still be doing fine without small buildings, and we are still saving up for the Magic Shop, which even at half price is still a bundle.

When we do need to build small buildings again, I would personally lean towards finishing up the district in Stronghold. However, I'd certainly be willing to listen to any good arguments in favor of spiffing up another city such as Candlemere, giving more culture to the Kobolds, or plunking some buildings down in our new, presumably empty cities.

4) CITY NAMES: As I've said before, I think the Temple city should be named by Jhod. In fact, however, I also kind of thing think every council member should probably get city naming privileges at some point as well, as Loy already did with Thornford and Oleg (kinda sorta) did with Leveton. We're certainly starting to have enough cities to go around. I might, for example, hesitantly suggest that "Lilac Falls" might be a nice name for a city by a waterfall.

For Sarenith 4713 AR (turn 27), the magic items are:
- minor item 1: oil of rope trick [300 gp]
- minor item 2: scroll of unseen servant [25 gp]
- minor item 3: scroll of true strike [25 gp]
- minor item 4: scroll of endure elements [25 gp]
- minor item 5: scroll of floating disk [25 gp]
- minor item 6: scroll of expeditious retreat [25 gp]
- minor item 7: scroll of daylight [375 gp]
- minor item 8: scroll of erase [25 gp]
- minor item 9: scroll of detection poison, bestow curse and glyph of warding [962.5 gp]
- medium item 1: potion of align weapon [300 gp]
- medium item 2: Medium +3 padded armor [9,155 gp]
- medium item 3: 3 +2 anarchic sling bullets [9,618 gp]
- medium item 4: ring of water walking [15,000 gp]
- medium item 5: potion of status [300 gp]
- major item 1: staff of abjuration [82,000 gp]

Event phase
1d100 ⇒ 81 (1d100 ⇒ 100, 1d100 ⇒ 69)
Gwendor is calm, on the verge of being boring…

14 BP was rather crappy for last Turn's MIE, but it looks like at least this time we'll get some decent ka-ching. Almost 30 BP! Wheee! We could almost build both the Academy and the Magic Shop in one Turn... but that would probably be a bit redundant, given how we're lagging behind in districts right now. If we don't go for the Magic Shop next Turn, though, we have plenty of funds to splurge on improvements of the other cities.

If we want the rest in hills, which seems sensible right now, we should skip Sarenith, and then prep a site in each of Erastus, Arodus, and Rova. I:5 is still a good site; the others will depend on where and how we've explored and chosen to claim hexes, most likely.

Makes sense.

2) HEX CLAIMS: With so many cities popping up, more farms are going to be needed soon. I'd recommend a combination East/West expansion;

Fine by me.

When we do need to build small buildings again, I would personally lean towards finishing up the district in Stronghold. However, I'd certainly be willing to listen to any good arguments in favor of spiffing up another city such as Candlemere, giving more culture to the Kobolds, or plunking some buildings down in our new, presumably empty cities.

With one building slot being taken up by the Academy, we could spend the other 4 on a Wall in Sootscale, a Wall in Elkwood, a Temple in Elkwood, and that Monument in Candlemere whose blueprints are starting to grow mold by now. ;) I realize a Monument in Elkwood would be cheaper now, but I do hope that my trick of using summoned lantern archons to permanently fire up the obelisk will shave off a BP or two... and of course, we'll build another Monument in Elkwood anyway, sooner or later.

Actually ... counting in the "leftover" gp, we will have enough to build both the Academy and the Magic Shop safely, if we do nothing else but found our city by the waterfall. I am actually leaning towards this -- I don't think it's redundant at all.

Since we can only found cities one per turn, we're going to build them at the same rate no matter how many magic items we are actually producing. So the only net change that building the Magic Shop early will result in is that we get access to a second major item months early.

We'll play catch-up building enough cities to access the full array of medium items, *but* we wouldn't have had access to those medium items anyway. It's a huge net gain.

The real trade-off is that we spend a single turn not claiming any hexes. Since we claimed three last turn, I'm actually OK with that for once. Building the Magic Shop and getting the Major Item falls under "special circumstances" for me.

EDITED TO ADD: I realize the below is a little redundant with the previous post. I plead insomnia.

Anyway.

So, I ran the numbers (it was a headache), and we can definitely afford to build an Academy, House, and Magic Shop next turn with only a minimal chance of going into negatives -- the usual single digit percentage risk we've done before for Big Buildings.

And, for that matter, in the unlikely event that things happen to go extraordinarily badly with the rolls, we've never had stats better able to shrug off and immediately eliminate the resulting -2 unrest the month following. So I'll make my argument that it's a good idea.

The main argument against it seems to be that it overruns our available city districts and produces more magic items than we can currently sell. This is true, but I believe it is more than compensated by the immediate availability of the second major magic item.

We'll be building the same number of city districts in either case, so in the months the next building phase we'll be selling 8, then 9, then 10 items per turn. So the only question is, will we be selling two major items and six medium (etc.), or one major item and seven medium (etc.)? The "extra" medium items that persist for a couple of months in the first scenario aren't really relevant; even with them there the first scenario simply makes significantly more money at no real loss.

And we can, in fact, use that extra money to more easily enact all of our hex claim and building plans in the months that follow.

Eh, I'm waffling now. If we instead go with claim three hexes/build Academy/maybe build a city wall, we'd certainly be able to build the Magic Shop the month following, and we'd only lose out on the second Major Item for one turn ... and I really like the idea of continued expansion. Huh. What do y'all think?

Yeah ... I've changed my mind now. I am definitely leaning more towards the Approved Plan. If we're in expansionist mode, let's BE in expansionist mode.

Arg, I dunno. Either way looks good. Which do others prefer?

Arg, I dunno. Either way looks good. Which do others prefer?

I certainly see the benefit of getting a major rather than a medium item for one Turn. Then again, these benefits are most pronounced over the course of a year or more; a single major item might just be a 300 gp potion or so after all...

Personally, I am marginally more interested in conquering the East than in getting some 7 more BP. We'll have to discuss that in the Council.

As for personalizing cities: I'm fine with handing out cities to Council members as "playing grounds" for realizing one's visions of what a city should look like. Just as I claimed Candlemere, everybody could claim a city to be lord or lady of, and give it some personal "flavor". As Candlemere is the seat of magic, study, and contemplation, another could be aimed at Kurgess-themed pursuits (e.g. getting our second Arena, maybe close to Mivon?).

I'm not sure about blatanly using our names in the city names. Sure, real-life explorers often name landscape features after themselves, but cities are a bit different, since a lot of people will identify with them. I'm just not quite sure how well this new level of narcissism fits with the currently established "character" of our kingdom and its rulers.

That said, if we are going to assign "patrons" to every city (or at least every notable city) we're building, I'm fine with Lilac taking over the waterfall city, and I'd like to call dibs on the future lake peninsula city I've been blabbing about for a while now. ;) We already have the "magic" city, so that one could have more of an "elven" theme to it. Being close to the mountains, I'd imagine it might feel like home to elves of my old tribe.

I was actually only talking about letting people NAME cities ... giving them to people as "playing grounds" for civic experimentation is far beyond what I was discussing! I suppose we could discuss that, too, at some point, after all our cities have the basics, but what I was talking about is, hey, it's fun to get to name a city. We should all get a shot at it.

I'm also not talking about Baron Varn level narcissism here. We don't have to pick our names, and I'm only talking about one each. And, um, it's a little late to claim that's not in our nation's "character" *after* we have already named TWO cities after council members AND built a statue to the country's founders in the center of Stronghold. With that in mind, I'm gonna suggest Lilac Falls. :)

Anyway, on to more important matters --

If you have a preference for hex expansion, then I will simply go with that, since I am ambivalent myself (clearly), and certainly see the advantages of that plan. We'll get the magic shop next month, after all. I'll leave a bit of time for further commentary, and then do the rolls if there are no objections.

OK, going ahead with the rolls. As I understand it, the approved plan is another 3-hex expansion in both directions, plus building the Academy. Small buildings may be built, with the proviso that enough should be left in the Treasury for a Magic Shop + Expansion/city founding the following turn.

SARENITH 4713 AR (turn 27)

START:
Economy: +57
Loyalty: +51
Stability: +54
Consumption: 0

DC: 51
Unrest: 0
Treasury: 22 BP and 2720.5 gp

Population: 18,750

Special:
Missionaries explore Hex F:9 at +22
- Roll 18; check 40 to escape Hazards
Missionaries explore Hex F:a at +24
- Roll 17; check 41 to escape Hazards
Lay Prostitutes at +53
- Roll 14; Success (+1 to Economy rolls for the month)

Upkeep phase
Stability check: Roll 5; Success (+1 BP)

Consumption: 0

Unrest: Loyalty check for presence of Kobolds -- Roll 11; Success (+0 Unrest)

Improvement phase
Changes in leadership: None
Claimed Hexes: Claim Hex C:2 (-1 BP, +1 DC, +250 pop); Claim Hex B:2 (-1 BP, +1 DC, +1 Consumption, +250 pop); Claim Hex B:9 (-1 BP, +1 DC, +1 Consumption, +1 Loyalty - Landmark, +250 pop)
City improvement: Found city in Hex C:8 (+1 Consumption); Build Academy in Stronghold (-26 BP, +2 Economy, +2 Loyalty, +3 minor items, +2 medium items, +500 pop)
Roads: Build road in Hex C:2 (-1 BP with Sempor's help, +1 Econ, +1 Stab); Build road in Hex B:2 (-1 BP); Build road in Hex B:9 (-2 BP incl. bridge building)
Farmlands: Build farm in Hex B:2 (-2 BP, -2 Consumption)
Edicts: Set Promotions to Token (-1 Stability, -1 Consumption); Set Festivals to 1/year (-1 Loyalty, -1 Consumption)

Income phase
Deposits/withdrawals: None

Magic items (Economy currently +60 at this point in turn; DC 50 for major items; DC 35 for medium items; DC 20 for minor items; 7 city districts)
- Sell major item 1: staff of abjuration [82,000 gp]
Roll 6; Success
- Sell medium item 4: ring of water walking [15,000 gp]
Roll 15; Success
- Sell medium item 3: 3 +2 anarchic sling bullets [9,618 gp]
Roll 12; Success
- Sell medium item 2: Medium +3 padded armor [9,155 gp]
Roll 1; Failure
- Sell medium item 2 (ATTEMPT #2): Medium +3 padded armor [9,155 gp]
Roll 5; Success
- Sell medium item 1: potion of align weapon [300 gp]
Roll 17: Success
- Sell medium item 5: potion of status [300 gp]
Roll 15; Success
TOTAL: 116,373 gp + 2720.5 "leftover" gp = 119,093.5 gp = 29 BP and 3093.5 gp

Income (economy check): Roll 19; Success (+16 BP; 60+19+1 for prostitute activity = 80)

Event phase
1d100 ⇒ 81 (1d100 ⇒ 100, 1d100 ⇒ 69)
Gwendor is calm, on the verge of being boring…

END:
Economy: +60
Loyalty: +53
Stability: +54
Consumption: 0

DC: 54
Unrest: 0
Treasury: 33

Population: 20,000

NOTES:
- Academy in Stronghold should be placed according to current civic planning map
- Recommend that city in Hex C:8 be built with two water borders (+2 Defense); I think it'll be quite a while before we want to build more defense than can be gotten from two city walls there; by the time we do, we can plunk down other structures instead (Watchtower or even Castle at that point)
- Elected not to build small buildings this month as they were not needed to keep pace with DC, and to guarantee building of Magic Shop + Hex expansion next month, which will be pricy. Additional small buildings will likely be needed next month, will discuss possibilities in "Looking Ahead" post
- Lilac suggests that city in Hex C:8 be named "Lilac Falls", with the proviso that she shall not name another city until every other council member has either named a city or had a city named after them
- Lilac's pregnancy is 3/7 complete at the end of the month

LOOKING AHEAD:

As noted above, I elected to hold back a little in Sarenith just on the off chance of a bum MIE in Erastus. But ideally, here's what I, personally, would like to see for Erastus:

1) Claim Hexes A:2 (for farming), I:5 (to clear for a city), and F:8 (so that on the month following we can grab F:a to clear for a city); found city in C:3; build 3 roads and 2 farms, prep hex I:5. Cost: 16 BP

2) Build House and Magic Shop in Stronghold. Cost: 37 BP

3) Build small buildings to keep pace with DC. Under the above plan, after appropriate Edict adjustment we would be at Econ 61, Loyalty 55, and Stability 54, DC 57. We would need to increase Stability by at least 1. I would recommend building our Brewery in Stronghold. Cost: 6 BP.

TOTAL COST: 59 BP
AMOUNT IN TREASURY: 33 BP
LIKELY MINIMUM FROM ECON/STAB ROLLS: 13
NEEDED FROM MIE: 13 BP

ALTERNATIVES:

1) This plan could be reduced in cost several ways if the MIE is less than 13 BP.
- A Dump could be built in a newer town rather than a Brewery in Stronghold, reducing cost by 2 BP.
- Or, neither could be built and Hex I:6 could be claimed rather than F:8, as I:6 comes with +1 Stability. This would save 6 BP. And it would still be possible to claim Hex F:a the following turn, if we claim no plains hexes.
So, the true minimum for the most basic form of this plan is 7 BP from the MIE.

2) Additional buildings could also be built with a bountiful MIE.
- I might recommend the Library in Stronghold (only 3 BP now), or a city wall in one of our less well-defended cities.
- Simply saving for the Arena, with its extremely useful bonuses, would also be a good plan. Its +4 Stability bonus and effective +1 Loyalty bonus, coupled one or two other, cheaper economy/loyalty buildings, would allow for considerable further expansion right there, and the quicker it is built, the quicker we finish our 1st Stronghold district.

Regarding the Candlemere structures, a couple of comments:

I think there are a couple of reasons those have been being pushed back. One is simply that, even given long as you've been patiently waiting for those, there are other structures people have been waiting for as long or longer. Plans for the Arena have been around practically since Day 1, for example.

Frankly, right now, there's a laundry list of buildings that have been requested by someone or another at various times but haven't been built yet, which include at this point (but are not limited to):

Stronghold: Magic Shop, Arena, Library, Brewery, Graveyard, Theater
Stronghold District 2: Waterfront, Temple, Market, Black Market
Candlemere: Monument, Brothel
Sootscale: Library, Park, Shrine, City Wall
Upcoming Forest City: Temple, City Wall
New Waterfall City: City Wall

I've tended to be leaning towards the Stronghold structures for the immediate future, because they include all the big moneymakers which will help us build the rest of it, start to build up the base value which we will eventually need, etc. My preference would be to focus on those for now, throwing in desired structures from other cities when needed to keep up with DC's. Increasing our money base this way also seems to me like the best way to keep up with out current rapid expansion plans.

However, there should be a point, if we do decide to do it this way, where Stronghold-focused building winds down for a while and we spend a few turns just building everyone's small building structure requests outside of Stronghold. Perhaps we should plan on doing something like that before the end of 4713?

Building everything in Stronghold is probably the best solution in terms of sheer numbers, but I'm not so fond of this "Paris model". Not only does it make our kingdom's infrastructure more vulnerable to freak events that might attack entire city districts, but also I'd imagine the people living everywhere around our countryside might be miffed at Stronghold getting all the goodies.

I do think Stronghold should get the first Arena and the first Waterfront, but given that there's no stringent reason for that Brewery to be in Stronghold, why not put it somewhere else? Give every town something to be proud of. And I think a Dump somewhere is an excellent idea.

(The Brewery was part of our plan to complete the first Stronghold city district. If we're building elsewhere, it may make more sense to build a Dump. But, either way, we do now have plenty of cities to build one in ...)

Thinking about it, a compromise might be reasonable, as we did with the East/West expansion. I might suggest the following for a while as a rule of thumb:

1) If it makes any sense to do so, one building each turn shall be built in Stronghold (this is because I really would like to finish up that first district for a variety of reasons, and I do think there should be some focus on the capital.) However, in that case ...

2) If more than one building is built, at least one further building beyond the first should be built in another city, if it makes any sense to do so.

This would result, next turn, in exactly what you have suggested -- the Magic Shop in Stronghold and a Stability building elsewhere. When we build the Arena, we might build a Loyalty structure elsewhere, and so on.

That way, there's some focus on Stronghold, which I like as it's our capital and for other reasons, but we're not ignoring the rest of the country; given our rate of expansion, we should be building in other cities as well pretty much every turn if we keep it up, just to keep pace with the increasing DC's.

Yeah, I like that balanced approach. Stronghold will get its Magic Shop, Arena, and Waterfront, and the other cities won't feel neglected.

And while I do think naming a city after oneself is a higher level or narcissism than doing so after an esteemed but underrated couple of "grass root" council members, or a tiny little 15-foot statue of us as overlords, I think it's within bounds.

Just make sure the tourism pamphlets mention somewhere that the falls are in fact not lilac (a tiny asterisk and fine print is OK). ;)

Well, not YET they're not. Permanent Image is only a few levels away for you, isn't it?

Or we could, you know, just plant some lilacs. Send Sempor over with a few Plant Growth spells prepped, and it'll be accurately named and ready for the tourists by Tuesday.

Well, not YET they're not. Permanent Image is only a few levels away for you, isn't it?

Or we could, you know, just plant some lilacs. Send Sempor over with a few Plant Growth spells prepped, and it'll be accurately named and ready for the tourists by Tuesday.

Yeah, I prefer the second solution. The first is virtually guaranteed to produce a zero-star rating on TripAdvisor from every 20th tourist.

... an esteemed but underrated couple of "grass root" council members ...

Huh. I had no idea your respect for Chief Sootscale ran so deep. Looking past his scaly exterior like that is admirable, Iaurinn, it truly is.

Huh. I had no idea your respect for Chief Sootscale ran so deep. Looking past his scaly exterior like that is admirable, Iaurinn, it truly is.

Soot-who...? Is that one of the creepy crawlies in the East?

BTW, I updated the kingdom sheet. Numbers seem to work out, except that there's 20 gp more in my deposit than in yours (peanuts), I get +1 extra Loyalty (probably from the Thermal Springs in C:2?), and I end up with -1 Consumption. For the latter reason, I increased Promotions to Light. Tell me if I'm missing something.

Next turn, how about we grab C:1, C:9, and D:9, linking up with the Varnlings? We might also want to catch up with farming a bit. I'm assuming we can afford that, the Magic Shop is only a measly 34 BP at half price.

We have to keep city sites in mind when we claim hexes for the next few turns, or we'll have problems founding them where we want (or at all.) At the rate we're going, we'll hook up with the Varnlings soon enough.

My suggested plan for next month is: Claim Hexes A:2 (for farming, could switch it to C:1 if you want), I:5 (to clear for a city), and F:8 (so that on the month following we can grab F:a to clear for a city); found city in C:3; build 3 roads and 2 farms, prep hex I:5; Build House and Magic Shop in Stronghold.

I'll check over your #'s -- whether promotions are at token or light will matter next turn.

Your numbers for Loyalty and Consumption check out. I must have missed something somewhere. I will simply trust you on the 20 gp MIE difference rather than recalculating all of that *&*&^!

That puts our stats at the end of Sarenith at:

Economy: +60
Loyalty: +54
Stability: +55
Consumption: 0

DC: 54
Unrest: 0
Treasury: 33 BP and 3133.5 gp

We have to keep city sites in mind when we claim hexes for the next few turns, or we'll have problems founding them where we want (or at all.) At the rate we're going, we'll hook up with the Varnlings soon enough.

Here's a blasphemous thought: How about planting a city into A:1? I know it's prime farmland, and we lose 2 BP if we have to build that farm in the Hills instead. However, urbanization is also terrain-dependent: We gain 1 BP over a Hills city and 3 BP over a forest city. Finally, the site is instantly ready for settlement, which adds flexibility.

At any rate, I like the idea of having a city to fortify the borders of our new northwestern province, and at least geographically, A:1 would be the ideal position for that.

The only real drawback of doing that is that we permanently reduce the maximum number of farms we can ever build by 1, but the same is true whenever we build a Hills city.

DM: Are you sure the barbarian cairn in A:1 doesn't count as a Landmark...?

Claim Hexes A:2 (for farming, could switch it to C:1 if you want), I:5 (to clear for a city), and F:8 (so that on the month following we can grab F:a to clear for a city); found city in C:3; build 3 roads and 2 farms, prep hex I:5; Build House and Magic Shop in Stronghold.

OMG Varnling rush! ;D Seriously, racing towards F:a from the West rather than the North is a neat idea. Maybe it's in fact more advantageous to claim those wilderness hexes first before saying hi to the Varnlings. If they don't hear from us, maybe they think we're taking it slow. Then one day, we knock on the doors of Varnhold Pass and say, "O hai! All ur montens are belong to us, kekeke. Kthxbai"

(Minor detail: If we're building a second farm in the Northwest, I'd prefer C:1, just to keep things in a tighter formation.)

Actually, I'd already been thinking about the possibility of a far Northwestern city.

We definitely want to build four cities over the next four months. Our first one is already prepped and will appear next month (the Temple city in the woods.)

I figured the next two after that would be at I:5 (half-priced pier, route to Mivon), and then F:a (good defensive location, route to mountains and the unknown East/possibly southern Varnhold).

But we need at least one after that. Looking at the map, there are two locations where it would be good to build a city to expand our influence and trade routes -- the Northwest (A:1 or B:1) and the Southeast (around I:a or thereabouts.) It'd be good to eventually have both, but at least one is needed sooner rather than late.

Of those locations, it's a little easier to build the Northwestern one first, so I'd be good with that as our city founded in Lamashan. I'd prefer B:1 over A:1 -- we already have a better trade route to Brevoy at Leveton, so I'd rather locate it where it can serve a little bit better as a northern gateway to the further West (along with our southern one at Dancing Lady) if those swampy lands ever open up for us.

EDITED TO ADD -- C:1 it is, then, for next month's plains hex. Looks like our plan for the next month is set, then, surprises from the MIE (good or bad) aside!

Looks like our plan for the next month is set, then, surprises from the MIE (good or bad) aside!

Or from events.

"Embezzlement: Your architect takes your money and runs with it. You lose the cost of your last building but don't get the building for it. Oh, look, it's your Magic Shop." :)

Are we paying all 34 BP to the architect? We're hiring 67th level architects now?

DM: Are you sure the barbarian cairn in A:1 doesn't count as a Landmark...?

Yes, I am. :)

For Erastus 4713 AR (turn 28), the magic items are:
- minor item 1: oil of rope trick [300 gp]
- minor item 2: scroll of unseen servant [25 gp]
- minor item 3: scroll of true strike [25 gp]
- minor item 4: scroll of endure elements [25 gp]
- minor item 5: scroll of floating disk [25 gp]
- minor item 6: scroll of expeditious retreat [25 gp]
- minor item 7: scroll of daylight [375 gp]
- minor item 8: scroll of erase [25 gp]
- minor item 9: scroll of detection poison, bestow curse and glyph of warding [962.5 gp]
- medium item 1: Medium boneless leather (APG) [12,160 gp]
- medium item 2: scroll of wind wall and protection from energy
- medium item 3: wand of fireball (3 charges) [675 gp]
- medium item 4: metamagic rod of lesser dazing [14,000 gp]
- medium item 5: Medium +3 cold resistance studded leather armor [27,150 gp]
- major item 1: staff of vision (APG) [41,250 gp]

Event phase
1d100 ⇒ 15 (1d100 ⇒ 12, 1d100 ⇒ 34)

Quick comments --

1) We should get two more medium items and three more minor ones in Erastus from the Academy built the previous month.

2) Price on the scroll of wind wall and protection from energy?

Thanks!

Argh, doing things too quickly…

For Erastus 4713 AR (turn 28), the magic items are:
- minor item 1: oil of rope trick [300 gp]
- minor item 2: scroll of unseen servant [25 gp]
- minor item 3: scroll of true strike [25 gp]
- minor item 4: scroll of endure elements [25 gp]
- minor item 5: scroll of floating disk [25 gp]
- minor item 6: scroll of expeditious retreat [25 gp]
- minor item 7: scroll of daylight [375 gp]
- minor item 8: scroll of erase [25 gp]
- minor item 9: scroll of detection poison, bestow curse and glyph of warding [962.5 gp]
- minor item 10: +1 sickle [2306 gp]
- minor item 11: wand of fiery fire (6 charges) [90 gp]
- minor item 12: sovereign glue [2,400 gp]
- medium item 1: Medium boneless leather (APG) [12,160 gp]
- medium item 2: scroll of wind wall and protection from energy [750 gp]
- medium item 3: wand of fireball (3 charges) [675 gp]
- medium item 4: metamagic rod of lesser dazing [14,000 gp]
- medium item 5: +3 cold resistance studded leather armor [27,150 gp]
- medium item 6: belt of physical perfection +2 [16,000 gp]
- medium item 7: scroll of fireball, vampiric touch and invisibility [900 gp]
- major item 1: staff of vision (APG) [41,250 gp]

Event phase

Thanks muchly. :)

Since the plan for the month has been set for a while, I'll wait a bit to see if anyone wants to pick up the wand of fireballs or something, then do the rolls.

OK, going ahead with the rolls now.

ERASTIL 4713 AR (turn 28)

START
Economy: +60
Loyalty: +54
Stability: +55
Consumption: 0

DC: 54
Unrest: 0
Treasury: 33 BP and 3133.5 gp

Population: 20,000

Special:
Missionaries explore Hex G:7 at +22
- Roll 6; Check 28 to escape Hazards
Missionaries explore Hex G:9 at +24
- Roll 10; Check 34 to escape Hazards
Lay Prostitutes at +53
- Roll 7; Success (+1 to Economy rolls for the month)

Upkeep phase
Stability check: Roll 3; Success (+1 BP)

Consumption: 0

Unrest: Loyalty check for presence of Kobolds -- Roll 9; Success (+0 to Unrest)

Improvement phase
Changes in leadership: None
Claimed Hexes: Claim Hex C:1 (-1 BP, +1 DC, +1 Consumption, +250 pop); Claim Hex I:5 (-1 BP, +1 DC, +1 Consumption, +250 pop); Claim Hex F:8 (-1 BP, +1 DC, +1 Consumption, +250 pop)

build 3 roads and 2 farms,
City improvement: Found city in Hex C:3 (+1 Consumption); prep Hex I:5 for city (-2 BP); Build House in Stronghold (-3 BP, -1 Unrest, +250 pop); Build Magic Shop in Stronghold (-34 BP, +1 Economy, +2000 base value, +1 major item, +2 medium items, +4 minor items, +250 pop)
Roads: Build road in Hex C:1 (-1 BP); Build road in Hex I:5 (-1 BP, +1 Economy); Build road in Hex F:8 (-1 BP)
Farmlands: Build farm in Hex C:1 (-2 BP, -2 Consumption); Build farm in Hex C:6 (-4 BP, -2 Consumption)
Edicts: Set Taxes to Normal (-1 Economy, +2 Loyalty)

Income phase
Deposits/withdrawals: None

Magic items (Economy currently +61 at this point in turn; DC 50 for major items; DC 35 for medium items; DC 20 for minor items; 8 city districts)
- Sell major item 1: staff of vision (APG) [41,250 gp]
Roll 19; Success
- Sell medium item 5: +3 cold resistance studded leather armor [27,150 gp]
Roll 12; Success
- Sell medium item 6: belt of physical perfection +2 [16,000 gp]
Roll 19; Success
- Sell medium item 4: metamagic rod of lesser dazing [14,000 gp]
Roll 3; Success
- Sell medium item 1: Medium boneless leather (APG) [12,160 gp]
Roll 2; Success
- Sell medium item 7: scroll of fireball, vampiric touch and invisibility [900 gp]
Roll 6; Success
- Sell medium item 2: scroll of wind wall and protection from energy [750 gp]
Roll 15; Success
- Sell medium item 3: wand of fireball (3 charges) [675 gp]
Roll 13; Success
TOTAL: 112,885 gp + 3133.5 "leftover" gp = 116,081.5 gp = 29 BP and 18.5 gp

Income (economy check): Roll 6; Success (+13 BP)

Event phase
1d100 ⇒ 15 (1d100 ⇒ 12, 1d100 ⇒ 34)

END:
Economy: +61
Loyalty: +56
Stability: +55
Consumption: 0

DC: 57
Unrest: 0
Treasury: 25 BP and 18.5 gp

Population: 21,250

NOTES:
- House and Magic Shop should be placed according to current Civic Planning chart
- Lilac suggests that city name for C:3 be left to Jhod
- Lilac's pregnancy is 4/7 complete at the end of the month

LOOKING AHEAD:

Lilac's plan for the month following --

Continuing with the three hex claim/city/farm building plan would suggest claiming A:2, F:9, and F:a next month, and clearing F:a for a city.

Build farms in A:2 and one hill hex; build a city at I:5 (named by a council member who hasn't had a chance to name one yet?); build roads in all claimed hexes.

Build Arena in Stronghold (right when we need the Stability boost, too!); shoring up loyalty a little with a second building elsewhere wouldn't be a bad idea (there are many options, suggestions welcome)

LOOKING AHEAD:

Lilac's plan for the month following --

Continuing with the three hex claim/city/farm building plan would suggest claiming A:2, F:9, and F:a next month, and clearing F:a for a city.

Sounds good.

Build Arena in Stronghold (right when we need the Stability boost, too!); shoring up loyalty a little with a second building elsewhere wouldn't be a bad idea (there are many options, suggestions welcome)

Is it time to play the Rains of Candlemere again? ;)

A monument or brothel in Candlemere would be very appropriate.

Was thinking that, if there's any extra money on the turn, I'd like to start getting a few of our less well-defended cities up to +4 defense.

My account is still 20 gp short, so I end up with only 24 BP and an almost entirely full deposit account.

So, we start with the city between the lake and the mountains next Turn? That's exciting. :) I have to come up with a name...

OK, so that puts Treasury at:

Treasury: 24 BP and 3998.5 gp

The temptation to make a deposit into the Treasury has never been so strong.

Since the Unrest back during the wedding would have cost us 1 BP, we are at:

Treasury: 23 BP and 3998.5 gp

So, here is what I *THINK* things originally looked like at the start of Turn 26:

DESNUS 4713 AR (turn 26)

START:

Economy: +58
Loyalty: +48 (+6 until next event phase)
Stability: +52 (+2 until next event phase)

(Note that in this turn, Loy Rezbin will replace Svetlana as Grand Diplomat, which will add an additional +1 to Stability)

Consumption: 2
DC: 48
Unrest: 2 (from orc presence last turn – I think I was 2)
Treasury: 7 BP and 1215.5 gp

Population: 18,000

Promotions are at Token, Festivals are at 24/year, Taxes are at Overwhelming

Magic items:
- minor item 1: oil of rope trick [300 gp]
- minor item 2: scroll of unseen servant [25 gp]
- minor item 3: scroll of true strike [25 gp]
- minor item 4: scroll of endure elements [25 gp]
- minor item 5: scroll of floating disk [25 gp]
- minor item 6: scroll of expeditious retreat [25 gp]
- minor item 7: scroll of daylight [375 gp]
- minor item 8: scroll of erase [25 gp]
- minor item 9: scroll of detection poison, bestow curse and glyph of warding [962.5 gp]
- medium item 1: sword of lifestealing [25,715 gp]
- medium item 2: ring of Maniacal Devices (APG) [5,000 gp]
- medium item 3: wand of daze monster (47 charges) [4,230 gp]
- medium item 4: wand of lesser restauration (50 charges) [4,500 gp]
- medium item 5: wand of warp wood (12 charges) [1,080 gp]
- major item 1: wand of confusion (50 charge) [21,000 gp]

No event

Changes after getting Varnhold:

By my count, we have just claimed 17 hexes and 2 cities, meaning DC goes up by 17 and consumption goes up by 19

We have added, I believe, three(?) roads, and an unknown number of buildings and farmland

We get an additional +2 Stability from the deal with the Centaurs

That puts us at --

Economy: +58, plus unknown number from new buildings
Loyalty: +48 (+6 until next event phase), plus unknown number from new buildings
Stability: +54 (+2 until next event phase), plus unknown number from new buildings

(Note that in this turn, Loy Rezbin will replace Svetlana as Grand Diplomat, which will add an additional +1 to Stability)

Consumption: 21, minus unknown number from new farmlands
DC: 65
Unrest: 2 (from orc presence last turn – I think I was 2), minus unknown number from new buildings
Treasury: 7 BP and 1215.5 gp

Population: 22,250, plus unknown number from new buildings

Additonal notes:

With a kingdom size of 65, in one turn, we can:

Claim up to 4 hexes
Build up to 2 cities
Build up to 10 buildings
Build up to 4 roads
Build up to 2 farms

(We should also not to forget to deposit the presumably 3,000 gold from Grigori's cache, assuming the mission to retrieve it is successful.)