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Hmm, but Diplomats need to be highly intelligent to be able to diddle everybody else.
'Just sign here. Now here. And yes, we will now trade you 50 barges of sugarbeans, but because of this clause and this clause, you will now declare war on Vudra for us, we own the entire ore production of your iron mines for the next century and a half, and you have agreed to the worship of Nethys as the state religion.'
I like the cut of your jib, sir! Although, EVERY upstart country needs the blessings of Abadar! This Nethys thing, no, no, no. This will not do...."
Uh, what??? What the blazes am I doing here?
Terribly sorry...I seem to be in the wrong thread! Carry on.....
I was wondering what Merisiel was up to when she sent me on that long "diplomatic mission" to Daggermark. She didn't tell me that that kingdom was full of assassins! I almost lost my life getting back here. I guess that she was just trying to get me out of the way. I have half a mind to commit regicide. Or is that queenicide? Well, whatever it is, she better have those knives very sharp and hope she gets the jump on me. Cause I am flaming mad!
[runs out the door with murder on the mind]
-Amiri
Framing in plate armour. Nice.
If your unrest gets high enough, your kingdom starts to fall apart and you start losing control of parts of it, and it starts shrinking in size. And if you hit the maximum Unrest score of 20, your kingdom falls into anarchy. This is basically the same endgame event as a character death; once your kingdom falls into anarchy, you basically have to start a new kingdom.
Boy, I'd sure love seeing a bunch of peasants storm the castle of 4 high-level PCs.
DM: "Okay Ezren, Peasants #1-#48 attack you with their pitchforks and... either miss, or can't get past your stoneskin. It's your turn."
PC: "Meteor swarm."
DM: "Alright, Peasants #1-#48 are dead. Upon seeing the charred and shattered remains of their fellows, Peasants #49-#3,726 decide that maybe the taxes weren't as bad as they originally thought, and go back to their dirt farms."
Who said anything about storming the castle? All the peasants have to do is get up and leave. Or become bandits and raid merchant caravans. The PCs can't be everywhere.
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I've already put Merisiel in the role of Queen. This is a TERRIBLE choice, since the ruler needs to have a good Charisma, and adds her Charisma modifier to several kingdom-based rolls. Merisiel's Charisma is only 10 (even though she's so lovable and cute, go figure!), and thus she doesn't add any bonus to those rolls.
What I'm saying is that I might well put Harsk in the Magister role and Ezren up as the Grand Diplomat just to be a pill. :-P
Hmm, but Diplomats need to be highly intelligent to be able to diddle everybody else.
'Just sign here. Now here. And yes, we will now trade you 50 barges of sugarbeans, but because of this clause and this clause, you will now declare war on Vudra for us, we own the entire ore production of your iron mines for the next century and a half, and you have agreed to the worship of Nethys as the state religion.'
I am Nethys and I approve of this message.
Lawful evil is the perfect alignment for running a 'police-state' type nation - the ideal of the alignment is essentially the ruthless enforcement of order, after all. Order at the expense of individual freedom, of draconian punishments for even minor infractions of the law: this is the LE state.
Erastus: Well, that was fun! And refreshing! As nice as it is to lie back in the old hammock and watch your minions build stuff for you, it's always good to get back to your roots. By stabbing some bandits. They were pretty tough, I must admit. Their boss was some sort of hardcase who'd made an alliance or something with a manticore and he was riding around on it like some sort of spiky knight. Things ended up going pretty poorly for him once Lem worked one of his tricksy tricks on the manticore and magicked it into attacking its rider. Guy fell thirty feet onto one of his own spiked walls after getting manticored off his seat, and that STILL didn't kill him. I had to sneak up behind him and tickle the old kidney before he finally gave it up. That was enough for the rest of the bandits. They all ran off into the hills.
OH! Almost forgot to mention! We had a little help getting rid of the bandits. We ran into Amiri and Sajan and Lini just before we hit the bandits. Turns out, they and Harsk were out east poking around in the Tors of Levenies when a giant bird attacked them. Picked up Harsk and dropped him from 100 feet onto some sharp rocks. So he's kinda dead. They'd heard we were building up a city or something and were heading out to see about getting Harsk put back together. I suggested that Lini just reincarnate him and she rolled her eyes and said she'd already offered that, but Sajan said something about Harsk having some sort of strict "NO REINCARNATION" policy or something. Whatever. They DID help us kill the bandits. Amiri actually threw a part of the spiky fence wall at the manticore and killed it once Lem's magic wore off! Note to self: Don't make Amiri angry if she can see where you're standing!
So we got back home and the folks seemed to take the news of the dead bandits pretty well! There was a bit of grumbling still on account that some folks apparently went hungry on account of us not being able to pay for all the food imports because of the banditry, but those peasants were kinda getting fat anyway.
Got Harsk patched up with a handy scroll (thanks, Kyra!) and the four of them have agreed to stay on to help build up Owlbearton! I've assigned Lini to the role of Marshal, since she seems pretty content not living in town and patrolling the woods. Harsk gets to be Warden; basically, he's in charge of the city guard. Sajan seems like a perfect fit for Spymaster, so I reassigned Lem to the role of Grand Diplomat. He'd been whining for that change for a while anyway. And Amiri seems pretty pleased as the royal assassin and executioner. That, and I've already heard that the local criminal element is afraid of her, so that should help keep folks in line too.
Let's see... what else?
OH! Right! That bandit? He was wearing this shiny gold circlet. Made him more commanding and impressive to his minions, I guess. I snagged it, even though Lem made some sort of whiny comment that it would help his magic more than it'd help my personality. I'm not sure if that was a compliment or an insult, but he can't hardly reach my head anyway to snatch the circlet back. Plus, I'm the queen! Lem seems a bit more happy about his situation now that I've made him the Grand Diplomat, though, and I promised to find him a magic flute or something and he seemed to believe me. My new magic circlet is helping me be more convincing already!
OH! Also! We managed to get back a fair amount of what the bandits took from us. Put it right back into the treasury, which is good because we didn't really have a good month making money otherwise. At least now those cranky starving peasants will get their monthly supply of grits and goats or whatever it is they eat on a farm.
But the best part of all of this? Turns out that manticore had a mate. A big, bulky, mean, cranky boyfriend who found out what we did to his girl and sort of kind of started killing farmers and traveling merchants out by the silver mine. I swear, if it's not one thing it's another. Amiri got a good look at it; she says the thing's nearly as big as a wyvern, with tail spikes the size of her sword. That's not a good sign. Folks are starting to get a bit panicked about that manticore, too. Everyone's trying to crowd into the castle for protection, but we can't hardly fit all of them. We might have to head right back out in a few days to take care of it as a result.
Hopefully this weird manticore family tree stops with this latest situation. I'd hate to think of an angry mom out there shrugging herself awake to avenge her little kids!
So I went to give Her Majesty a piece of my mind. When I found her, she and the rest of the guys were heading out to beat on some bandits. How could I stay mad at her? I mean, she let me beat on bandits to my heart's content and even throw fences at them! Then she gave me a job where I get to kill people in an official capacity. How sweet is that? Now when I stride down Owlbearton's streets (can you call muddy lanes streets?), people treat me with respect. Which is very cool. So me and Merisiel have made up. How can you not like a Queen that is also amazing with the daggers?
-Amiri
DM: "Alright, Peasants #1-#48 are dead. Upon seeing the charred and shattered remains of their fellows, Peasants #49-#3,726 decide that maybe the taxes weren't as bad as they originally thought, and go back to their dirt farms."
Or they all atempt to skim taxes the following month and hire a band a small (4 person) band of mercinaries to take you out. Or worse, some of the childern of pesents 1-48 delare vengance and run off to Sandpoint or Korvosa, where they go through a series of events spanning a year or two where they save the world... and then decide to come back home and liberate it. A Villians job is never safe, everyone can be out to get you.
Argh, the wait is killing me. Any chance you guys are going to reveal the 12 positions any time soon? Pahweeeeeeeese?The search function is your friend.
*Sigh* I can't believe I missed that for a month. Thank you.
Well we all know that Merisiel's CHA 10 is a function of her bloodthirsty personality.
But yes it would be like her to put the completely wrong people into the wrong posts. I see Seelah or Kyra leading a palace revolt sooner or Later..
The rogue in my table top group is determined to be treasurer..
A Rogue makes a perfect treasurer, just be sure to include the "treasurers tax" (how much he's going to skim) in the budget.
A Rogue makes a perfect treasurer, just be sure to include the "treasurers tax" (how much he's going to skim) in the budget.Well we all know that Merisiel's CHA 10 is a function of her bloodthirsty personality.
But yes it would be like her to put the completely wrong people into the wrong posts. I see Seelah or Kyra leading a palace revolt sooner or Later..
The rogue in my table top group is determined to be treasurer..
My feelings exactly..the player is a 30 year veteran..with much experience in pulling the wool over players eyes.
I love this blog so much.
Framing in plate armour. Nice.
That was my first thought too when I saw the picture....
He must know Kate (A Knight's Tale) - "I could make sure armor you wouldn't even know you wore it." I guess she was right :)
i'm sad there's no royal torturer
As if Queen Merisiel would delegate that duty?
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i'm sad there's no royal torturer
Because torture is better left to be a hobby. Making it your job would just take all the joy out of it.
(in evil mind set)
It also adds a layer of paperwork and bureaucracey, after all we want goverment to be small and responsive. It means someone is now *responsable* for it and it can't be denided. Aside from sucking the joy out if it also reduces the terror effect. With an offical office people know that it is a very realy possibility and will harden themselves against before performing seditious acts.
(out of evil mind)
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Arodus 1: Okay. Operation Manticore is in effect. I've asked Sajan to switch from monitoring the nation's loyalty to its stability and to keep an eye on our militia to make sure they're trained right and are taking the manticore threat seriously. The citizens are a bit nervous about the monster; Amiri's glowering presence is helping a bit to keep them from getting too freaked out but that manticore threat... still looming. If we weren't still more or less cleaned out from those damn bandits I'd build a few houses to make the locals feel safer... maybe I'll get that done next month.
No money for houses also means no money to expand the kingdom or build more farms or roads too. Which means I get more relaxing time at home, so I guess that's okay. And despite manticore fear, business seems to be picking up so that's good too. Wait... there's a commotion downstairs...
GOOD NEWS! Just got back from the throneroom, and the latest group of guards we sent out, led by Lini and with Harsk to help managed to KILL THE MANTICORE! It had actually tried to move in to the silver mine and kill all the miners, but they managed to drop a few tons of rock on the monster, sealing it into an unused wing of the mine. So I guess it's not technically dead yet... but it'll starve soon enough. At which point I guess we might end up with a manticore ghost haunting part of the mine, at which point it becomes Kyra's problem to fix, not mine.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
The last great set of rules for rulership were OD&D's dominion rule set. It was amazingly detailed and left some great hooks for adventuring. It seems this AP might be just as awesome.
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This humble servant of Sarenrae would point out that such a 'service' would require a....tithe of a generous amount to cleanse the mine of tainted evil spirits.
That is, if this humble servant of Sarenrae is not busy stemming off an uprising of unhappy citizens.
Your "highness" will understand, of course.....
Creative Director
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The last great set of rules for rulership were OD&D's dominion rule set. It was amazingly detailed and left some great hooks for adventuring. It seems this AP might be just as awesome.
These rules aren't as detailed as you might think. A lot of these blog posts by Merisiel are me adding flavor... but in theory, that's nothing different than what a Kingmaker GM will be doing.
For example... the whole episode with the bandits arose because I rolled up "Bandit Activity" as a random kingdom event. The article itself presents the event something like this:
Bandit Activity (continuous): Bandits are preying upon those who travel through your kingdom. Make a Stability check. If you succeed, your kingdom’s defenses stop the banditry before it causes problems. If you fail, the bandits reduce your kingdom’s Treasury total by 1d6 BP (each time you roll a 6, reroll that die and add its results to the total).
I embellished the bandit scene quite a bit from there in the post, including the addition of the manticore mount (basically, after 2 months of not making the Stability check to end the bandits, Merisiel & Co. went on an adventure to go out and deal with the bandits themselves, so the GM in this case whipped up the bandit adventure and gave the boss a pet manticore to spice things up).
Then, a few months later, I rolled up "Monster Attack," (a similar kingdom event to the bandit activity one, save that this one increases your kingdom's Unrest rather than depletes its treasures) and decided to tie that in to the previous set by introducing Mr. Manticore.
So yeah... the kingdom building rules are relatively robust, but they absolutely SHOULD be embellished upon by the GM once things get going in play. Where possible, I tried to keep things simple; once a kingdom really gets going it's only really a matter of 3 or 4 die rolls to work through a month of stuff.
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This humble servant of Sarenrae would point out that such a 'service' would require a....tithe of a generous amount to cleanse the mine of tainted evil spirits.
That is, if this humble servant of Sarenrae is not busy stemming off an uprising of unhappy citizens.
Your "highness" will understand, of course.....
If by "understand" you mean "enjoy being called highness," you're absolutely right!
The last great set of rules for rulership were OD&D's dominion rule set. It was amazingly detailed and left some great hooks for adventuring. It seems this AP might be just as awesome.These rules aren't as detailed as you might think. A lot of these blog posts by Merisiel are me adding flavor... but in theory, that's nothing different than what a Kingmaker GM will be doing.
For example... the whole episode with the bandits arose because I rolled up "Bandit Activity" as a random kingdom event. The article itself presents the event something like this:
Bandit Activity (continuous): Bandits are preying upon those who travel through your kingdom. Make a Stability check. If you succeed, your kingdom’s defenses stop the banditry before it causes problems. If you fail, the bandits reduce your kingdom’s Treasury total by 1d6 BP (each time you roll a 6, reroll that die and add its results to the total).I embellished the bandit scene quite a bit from there in the post, including the addition of the manticore mount (basically, after 2 months of not making the Stability check to end the bandits, Merisiel & Co. went on an adventure to go out and deal with the bandits themselves, so the GM in this case whipped up the bandit adventure and gave the boss a pet manticore to spice things up).
Then, a few months later, I rolled up "Monster Attack," (a similar kingdom event to the bandit activity one, save that this one increases your kingdom's Unrest rather than depletes its treasures) and decided to tie that in to the previous set by introducing Mr. Manticore.
So yeah... the kingdom building rules are relatively robust, but they absolutely SHOULD be embellished upon by the GM once things get going in play. Where possible, I tried to keep things simple; once a kingdom really gets going it's only really a matter of 3 or 4 die rolls to work through a month of stuff.
Awesome, this article has become a great example of how a pro embelishes the rules. Really looking forward to #32!
Aquuires a distinctly evil grin as he realises how much pain and suffering he is going to be able to inflict on his players
Now I am steaming mad at "Her Highness" again. There was a manticore to kill and she didn't send me? I thought that I was the one who got to kill things around here? Grrrrrr. I bet she is sitting on that hammock of hers, with her queenly airs, looking all bored. I think I might go and liven up her day a little bit.
[muttering]leaving me out of killing a manticore, I'll show her, stupid rogue...[end muttering]
-Amiri
*ROTFLMAO* OMG these are awesome. James/Lisa, awesome posts.
Having visions of Lisa storming into James' office in character.
Now I am steaming mad at "Her Highness" again. There was a manticore to kill and she didn't send me? I thought that I was the one who got to kill things around here? Grrrrrr. I bet she is sitting on that hammock of hers, with her queenly airs, looking all bored. I think I might go and liven up her day a little bit.
[muttering]leaving me out of killing a manticore, I'll show her, stupid rogue...[end muttering]
-Amiri
Actually, I'm kind of reclining or laying down on that hammock. It's too hard to sit in it and not spill my wine.
Actually, I'm kind of reclining or laying down on that hammock. It's too hard to sit in it and not spill my wine.
That is why you have servents to hold your wine for you. A Queen can hardly be expected to run an entire kingdom (queendom?) and keep her drink upright, can she?
Having visions of Lisa storming into James' office in character.I am having visions of James dressed like Merisiel in a hammock when she does burst in.
That would totally be blogworthy.
I am having visions of James dressed like Merisiel in a hammock when she does burst in.
Yeah, that's just Merisiel's stunt double.
Having visions of Lisa storming into James' office in character.I am having visions of James dressed like Merisiel in a hammock when she does burst in.
[valley girl]EWWWWWWWWWWW!!!![/valley girl]
Having visions of Lisa storming into James' office in character.I am having visions of James dressed like Merisiel in a hammock when she does burst in.
Wooooo! Wait.. uh >_>
Framing in plate armour. Nice.That was my first thought too when I saw the picture....
He must know Kate (A Knight's Tale) - "I could make sure armor you wouldn't even know you wore it." I guess she was right :)
It is mithral plate. Probably a bit easier to work in.
Even better it's Mithral Full Plate of speed so she can work faster