Saga of a New Land

Game Master vayelan

I was going through all the maps and resources links trying to get a handle on the adventure so far (I'm not terribly familiar with Kingmaker).

On the "Party Loot and NPCs" doc, it's probably worth noting which scrolls are Arcane or Divine (for spells that appear in both lists), unless you don't make that distinction.

I can take a swat at that - at least for the spells that are clearly in one category or the other, if you like.

I've read over your character profiles, including the backstories, and I like what I see. Good job!

We can discuss effective ways to introduce your characters into the party and the game.

Here are some ongoing plot points that might be related to why your characters have come to Charis:
-Taldor's invasion of Galt
-Hunting down the Whitehollow brothers, agents of Taldor
-Investigating the Redshield merchant coster, which is up to some shady dealings
-Redeeming a tarnished copper dragon
-Reuniting another copper dragon with her stolen egg
-Helping a silver dragon with her fey-related quest
-Researching and settling the cyclopean tunnels beneath Charis

Based on her backstory, Cenna has journeyed into Charis trying to stay ahead of her growing reputation in the River Kingdoms and hoping those stories won't follow her here. She'll also try to sell tattoos while in town.

However, as she is dragon-blooded, if she hears word about any of the dragon storylines (redeeming the Copper, reuniting Mom and egg, or helping out a Silver), she is extremely likely to investigate and stick her nose into the matter.

Maybe this one? Investigating the Redshield merchant coster, which is up to some shady dealings

She could have been coming to see about a job with them, but after hearing about the kingdom and the kingdom's investigation decided it would be better to be on the up and up.

Would you guys like to write Gameplay posts to introduce your characters?

If you need any more lore or plot details to flesh out your motivations, feel free to ask.

Happy to! Is there any particular location in Charis I should be in, anyone I'm specifically meeting or seeing, or any specific hook I should be tying into in the post?

@ Cenna, IMO Center of town seemed a good choice. I hope you don't mind Bydar 'hearing' of a new artist, but you kind of had him at 'she does holy symbols' :)

........
Now regarding Oleg and Syretia...
UP to our DM , of course, but as for reasons for Oleg and Syretia to step down might be as simple as Oleg running the Forge Shrine of Torag while working with incoming dwarves who want to set up homes in the area, while Syretia might be headmistress of the new Academy and focusing on that?

@ Cenna, IMO Center of town seemed a good choice. I hope you don't mind Bydar 'hearing' of a new artist, but you kind of had him at 'she does holy symbols' :)

LOL! Works for me. Besides, if Cenna wanted to go unnoticed, setting up shop on your doorstep in a Varisian tent was probably a poor choice. :P

Now regarding Oleg and Syretia...

UP to our DM , of course, but as for reasons for Oleg and Syretia to step down might be as simple as Oleg running the Forge Shrine of Torag while working with incoming dwarves who want to set up homes in the area, while Syretia might be headmistress of the new Academy and focusing on that?

I really like those ideas!

We'll have Orlog and Syretia retire to those posts, helping to further develop different parts of Charis, and if their players return, they'll be able to return to action.

Will Oleg and Svetlana be gone before my last post?
If so does this mean, we now have four open slots.
Councilor
Treasurer
Grand Diplomat
Magister.
With two new players to fill only two of those slots?
Or are Orlog and Syretia becoming NPCs that are filling the other two slots.

Do I need to adjust my last post to include a new Diplomat instead if Svetlana?

Will Oleg and Svetlana be gone before my last post?

If so does this mean, we now have four open slots.
Councilor
Treasurer
Grand Diplomat
Magister.
With two new players to fill only two of those slots?
Or are Orlog and Syretia becoming NPCs that are filling the other two slots.

Do I need to adjust my last post to include a new Diplomat instead if Svetlana?

If our NPC tracker is still up to date I think Oleg is our councilor and his wife Svetlana is our diplomat. Orlog stepping down for duties at the Shrine/smithy of Torag and dealing with new dwarves opens up Treasurer which I think Elenora was hoping to take up. And that would leave Syretia focusing on the Academy and opening up Magister for Cenna when we meet her. Unless our new Players prefer Diplomat or Councilor, of course.

Correct me if I'm wrong on that, folks. :)

I’m liking Magister!

I think shifting from treasurer at this point would be odd for Elenora :)

For the arrival of the Argent Dracos mercenary company, I was thinking we could mechanically count that as a Army (Large) military unit, amounting to 200 humans (fighter 2).

There would be no initial cost for the unit, treating it as a story reward, but costing 1 BP per month/Kingdom Phase to maintain.

I think we are ready for the next part as we have done our introductions.

I'm still here. I've just got nothing to add to this scene.

Apologies. I'll try to post tomorrow

As plans are made and letters are sent, did you guys want to resolve another kingdom turn as the month passes?

I was thinking that we do a few things, some of them are...
Claim the hex with the gold mine in it.
Build a mine there as it is a resource hex and we will get more benefits.
build a road there as well.
and I am thinking we start building some defenses...walls and such.

Well, I think by now the Academy is finalized.
I know that there's been a request for the various priesthoods to make Scrolls. Not sure what if anything that entails in a turn.

The suggestions regarding claiming and building mines seems smart, though if Brandt, Cenna or Elenora Player have ideas they'd like to prioritize instead I'd love to hear them as I don't want anyone left out.

There was mention of more houses to live in

Elenora mentioned a dance hall, but that is just fluff. If I remember correctly it was a good building to make if there was a moral problem (plus it added economy?), but it has been years since I looked at the kingdom building rules.

I'm not really familiar with the Kingdom building rules but I've been reading through them and the Charis facts. Also, Cenna is new in town and would probably need some time to put ideas together. That said, if we've got possible invasion problems, I guess I'd recommend a staggered approach to building project - a defense and then a mine or other resource project, then more defenses, etc.

Elenora P ,No worries if you don't remember the kingdom building rules. I've been playing this for while now and I still need to double check quite often :)

So that's one vote for a dancehall if we can swing it.

But Cenna and Christian are on the same page so that sounds like they're on the same if not very similar pages (Mine claim and defenses)

Extra note, need to have Bydar get that tattoo :)

Bydar's usual focus is shrines and things related to the arts, but with the Shrine/smithy to Torag up and running, more on the spiritual side is likely off in the future. He might be talked to a dancing hall... but probably would lean towards at least claiming the mine hex for sure.

I think it was discussed that we needed more housing as folks came in but not sure how much of that is a mechanical need or if it is more a flavor for the story situation?

A Dance Hall gives +1 Economy and +2 Loyalty, at the cost of +1 Unrest for the kingdom, as well as +1 Corruption and +1 Crime for the settlement.

In terms of fluff, you could also flavor it as something else. Heck, we could flavor it as a combination Shelynite shrine and body art parlor, similar to the combine Torag shrine and smithy.

Also, in regards to the houses, some buildings are required to be next to at least one house (the dance hall is one example). Apart from the flavor aspect, houses are required to facilitate other buildings are you expand your settlement(s). Fortunately, you can usually build at least one house each turn without it taking up any of the buildings you can construct each kingdom turn.

I do like the flavor but as it goes, we cannot afford to add to our problems...lol
Adding crime and corruption to our kingdom with war on the horizon is not a good thing to do. The unrest we can reduce over time at least.
What if???
We only have 15 BP
Claim the hex with the gold mine...1 BP
Build a terrain improvement: MINE...6 BP
Build a house in Charis (Does not count towards our set number)...3BP
Build a wall...1 BP
Total 11 BP

We gain
+1 Economy, earn +1 BP per turn for the mine
+1 Economy for the resource hex
+1 Economy, + 1 BP due to the mine being build there.
-1 Unrest due to the house
-2 unrest due to the city wall.
Total: +3 Economy, +2 BP, -3 Unrest

Building a wall when war is coming is an excellent idea.

Well, unless our ranger speaks up, looks like the majority is wanting defensive walls and gold mine

Dance hall (or better yet, Dance hall shrine) waits for another turn and the corruption risk is a concern

Elenora sees corruption as just another source of income :) (within reason of course)

Kingdom Turn 6: Kuthona 4718

Upkeep Phase
Stability Check DC 26: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (14) + 24 = 38 = Unrest already 0, so +1 BP => 16 BP in treasury

Pay Consumption: -4 BP => 12 BP in treasury

Result: Scabbard of Honing available for sale at the Academy

Edict Phase
Spymaster changes bonus to Economy (Just my suggestion; feel free to overrule)

Claim Hexes: Gold Ore Vein hex (1 BP)
Build Terrain Improvements: Mine (6 BP)

Improve Settlements: Tenement (1 BP), City Wall (2 BP)

Income Phase
I'll assume we're skipping depositing, withdrawing, or selling items for the treasury.

Collect Taxes: 1d20 + 32 ⇒ (16) + 32 = 48 /3 = +16 BP => 18 BP in treasury

.....

I've resolved this kingdom turn by incorporating a few suggestions, but we can change them before finalizing the turn.

During the Edict Phase, I've had Mr. Pink change his Spymaster bonus from Stability to Economy for a change at earning more BP.

I've also suggested building a Tenement rather than a House since it is cheaper by 2 BP, and its +2 Unrest is counteracted by the -2 Unrest from building the City Wall, leaving the final Unrest at 0. There is no other mechanical disadvantage to the Tenement, and it can be upgraded to a House for 2 BP, giving the -2 Unrest. In terms of fluff, this can be seen as tents and temporary shanties from new settlers being turned into proper homes.

Also, for the City Wall, you need to select one of the borders of the settlement district to be protected. This doesn't impede expanding Charis to additional districts in those directions. The southern border of the district is already protected by the lake, by the way.

I am fine with the way you did it.

Sounds good to me. I'm not sure how we get the clerical scrolls Christian hoped for

That works.

Elenora gives her thumbs up at cutting costs!

For the City Wall, do you want to place this first one along the northern border of Charis' current "city limits" or the western border? The south and east are currently protected by water.

Kingdom Turn 6, Continued

Event Phase

Event occurs on 1-25: 1d100 ⇒ 25 = Yes
Type of Event: 1d100 ⇒ 72 = Beneficial Settlement Event
Specific Event: 1d100 ⇒ 29 = Justice Prevails

Justice Prevails: Authorities shut down a major criminal operation or thwart a plot against the settlement. Law and Loyalty increase by 1 and Crime and Unrest decreases by 1.

Do you guys want to make a gameplay post that depicts this event? If not, I can write up something. Maybe it reflects integrating the kobolds and lizardfolk into the citizenry, and you defeat attempts to scam, defraud, or otherwise marginalize them.

I always did find the building of walls odd. Non-mechanically one complete wall on one side of a settlement helps nothing. Always thought it would have been better to say you built a small wall around the entire place. Building another 'wall' would increase in height or materials to make it stronger... so on until you built all the 'sides'

Just complaining about an oddity I remember I disliked in the system.

Elenora could find something disturbing in the books, leading to a further investigation by the spymaster or warden?

I am fine with you making a quick post on this and then we can move forward.

I hope Brand is doing well. He has not posted in any of his games since Jun 19th

work has been busy.
I will have a post up tomorrow.

Are we waiting on something?

Are we waiting on something?

I'm not sure. I'll get us rolling along again.

I will assume no one else will be posting and we can move on???

Cenna has nothing to really contribute to this sabre-rattling scene.

My apologies for my own slowness. I've been a bit confused by the mix of NPCs like Jasrella and others that I never saw before. Are they part of Christian's leadership feat? Which is cool if so just had me caught off guard as it seemed to come out of the blue.

Yes, they are from my characters leadership feat. Sorry for the confusion and I plan to limit them to just some flavor to the story.