When You War for the Crown, You Win or You Die

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

As the Ruins of Azlant sink below the waves, a new age dawns across the Inner Sea. Discord is coming to Taldor. More accurately: the discord that has simmered quietly just beneath the staid surface of Taldor is ready to boil over, and consume the remnants of the once-great empire. Taldor's end is in sight, and has been for a thousand years. The end may be a generation away, or a century, or an age, but always it closes. The nations passengers know they plod steadily toward to edge of the world, and yet the captains at the wheel refuse to see, refuse to change the course. Most Adventure Paths aim to save the world from a new and immediate threat to emerge on the scene, but the villain threatening to destroy Taldor is entropy and tradition. And victory means changing how a whole nation thinks. Victory means winning the War for the Crown.

War for the Crown began two years ago, as an idea I pitched as part of the meetings that eventually led to Ironfang Invasion Adventure Path. I wanted players to feel like they had some real stake in the future of the Inner Sea region, but the worry at the time was that my first AP should be something more traditional while I learned the ropes. I put my notes in a drawer and a year later I brought them back out, and this time I dug my feet in. This time I wanted to tackle one of my first loves of the Inner Sea: Taldor! And I wanted the PCs to help flesh out this maligned and oversimplified nation—seen as little more than laughable aristocracy stereotypes—into a complex nation on par with Andoran and Cheliax. I wanted Taldor to have a future and I wanted the PCs to help guide it there.

And that's what we got.

The final War for the Crown evolved a lot from those first notes. In my first draft, the PCs chose one of three inheritors to back, and the adventure text itself would abstract the adventure a little more, referring to the major NPCs as the Patron, the Ally, and the Adversary. As much as I loved this idea, the problem is that it means about 1/3 of each volume would be useless to any given group (and no I couldn't make the books any longer; I asked). It also caused problems in not being able to flesh out specific NPCs very well, since any given NPC would need to serve one of three masters. Eventually we started asking which of the three candidates would be the "canon" inheritor of the Primogen Crown, and opted to focus the entire AP around working for them.

That "canon" inheritor, who now ends up your patron, was Princess Eutropia. Not exactly shocking, given that we've teased her revolutionary leanings and political goals since the original Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting back in 2008. The lady's worked hard and wants try steering Taldor away from its 600-year status quo of slow ruin, and there are more than a few traditionalists who think she hasn't earned it, or that she has sinister motives, or just that a woman needs to know her place. Grand princess Eutropia going into the second decade of Golarion's existence doesn't just move the timeline forward, it means Taldor becomes a nation of tradition vs. progress and old vs. new, a nation of backroom political intrigue where fortunes and family fates hang in the balance. Not just a stagnant world of laughable, foppish nobles.

And if your group doesn't particularly want to back Eutropia for the throne? If they want to select their own candidate or make their own grab for power? The core plot of War for the Crown is (hopefully) designed to still be flexible enough that a GM can adapt to a different inheritor taking center stage for their campaign. The foreword for #127: Crownfall has a few notes and suggestions for adapting the campaign to your own table.

Interchangeable Pieces

One of the big goals for War for the Crown was a campaign with a lot of fun player options for tables to use or ignore depending on their own preferences. Several adventures use the various social combat and influence rules from Pathfinder: Ultimate Intrigue, but GMs should feel free takes the NPC personality notes and goals and let their tables simply play out dramatic scenes. Volume 2 introduces two special subsystems to capture two different aspects of Taldor: The Cults of Personality—so PCs can feel like movers and shakers all on their own—and the Relics system—which introduces magic items that grow stronger as their wielder accomplished great things on behalf of their people. Social, scheming tables will find the first system a delightful little distraction between game sessions, directing their psychophants and hangers-on to spy, spread word of their awesomeness, or rob the public blind. More combat-oriented tables will love the second, as your favorite sword or armor or ring grows cooler and more powerful just like your character does. Neither is central to the AP plot. Both suit the mood.

Humanity and NPCs

One of the challenges in a campaign built around intrigue and politics is finding motivation and personality for everyone involved, as almost anyone can serve as a friend, an ally of convenience, or an enemy, depending on a given table. Everyone needs a little personality and motivation, because hey, who isn't above a bribe? I had wanted to get rid of alignment altogether, because the nine-alignment system seemed overly simplistic for the complex moralities that lie at the heart of good political dramas, but apparently the alignments are "traditional" and "integral to several spells, class features, and monsters."

I tried guys.

Instead I've opted for showcasing little bits of NPC motivations and personality. Maxillar Pythareus might be a distant asshole who thinks women should be at home bearing kids, but his face brightens up if you want to talk war history and miniature wargames. Kalbio of Breezy Creek might be kind of an annoying hick, but dammit if he isn't just SO INVESTED in everything, because Oppara is SO BIG you guys. And Eutropia, the sophisticated dilettante, the respectable princess-come-social reformer? She is exactly the kind of nerd who would name her dog a pun.

As part of humanizing the characters, the running theme for this AP's foreword illustrations is showing where they came from: A major NPC's childhood illustrated, largely without comment, in each volume. Here are the first three.

Illustrations by Miguel Regodon Harkness

War for the Crown is an Adventure Path with very human opponents and very human consequences. Failure doesn't mean the apocalypse, just a continuation of Taldor's current course and slow decline. Someone may change things in the future, but those who suffer in the current system won't stop suffering until someone changes Taldor's course.

War for the Crown kicks off in just a couple weeks with Pathfinder Adventure Path #127: Crownfall, and you can still preorder or subscribe now!

And I'm going to close out this blog with the motivational poster that's been watching over my desk since I started the earliest outlining stages of War for the Crown, guiding and encouraging me along the way. If you ever think you're not doing good enough, always remember:

Crystal Frasier
Developer

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Tags: Miguel Regodon Harkness Pathfinder Adventure Path War for the Crown
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FallenDabus wrote:
Crystal Frasier wrote:


Stavian and Eutropia's birth years are mentioned in the timeline for Taldor: The First Empire.

Are they? I just stuck all of the dates from T:tFE into the timeline I'm working on for Pathfinder and I didn't see them. Last four dates in the timeline are the Eighth Army of Exploration, the Red Revolution, naval campaigns against Qadira, and the present day. I'd be happy to be proven wrong or have missed something mind you, I'm just surprised because I specifically went looking for those dates.

Fixed birth years for important NPCs are a bad idea because they just keep getting chronologically older without aging in concept as things get published. Abrogail Thrune is always cast as a young queen in art and temperament because the Golarion plot and metastate doesn't advance until you run something, but she's always getting older chronologically because there's a fixed, published date for her birth and ascension. If you publish an NPC birth date and then take 8-10 years to publish anything dealing with that NPC, it can cause problems.


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^Although for really high level NPCs, especially ones with a lot of political power in a world that has even minuscule but non-zero amounts of Sun Orchid Elixir, staying young is not an impossibility even for those who are not 20th level in a class that has an immortality option.


UnArcaneElection wrote:

^Although for really high level NPCs, especially ones with a lot of political power in a world that has even minuscule but non-zero amounts of Sun Orchid Elixir, staying young is not an impossibility even for those who are not 20th level in a class that has an immortality option.

It's more an issue of mindset and life stage than appearance. Is Abrogail Thrune 23, childless, and new to the throne? Or is she 32, childless, and been on the throne for more than a decade? The first leads to one set of political realities and reactions to events, the second another. If you don't publish a birthdate you can freeze one of these realities no matter when you Paizo writes an adventure dealing with her or when you run it. If you do publish dates, you have to take this into account, ruining the lost backstory and original personality, or have to retcon or otherwise break verisimilitude.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Xenocrat wrote:
FallenDabus wrote:
Crystal Frasier wrote:


Stavian and Eutropia's birth years are mentioned in the timeline for Taldor: The First Empire.

Are they? I just stuck all of the dates from T:tFE into the timeline I'm working on for Pathfinder and I didn't see them. Last four dates in the timeline are the Eighth Army of Exploration, the Red Revolution, naval campaigns against Qadira, and the present day. I'd be happy to be proven wrong or have missed something mind you, I'm just surprised because I specifically went looking for those dates.

Fixed birth years for important NPCs are a bad idea because they just keep getting chronologically older without aging in concept as things get published. Abrogail Thrune is always cast as a young queen in art and temperament because the Golarion plot and metastate doesn't advance until you run something, but she's always getting older chronologically because there's a fixed, published date for her birth and ascension. If you publish an NPC birth date and then take 8-10 years to publish anything dealing with that NPC, it can cause problems.

Hence why I'm making (and sharing) a timeline. It gives me context so that I can tweak Paizo's baseline setting as I desire. I get why most NPCs don't have birthdates tied to them, but if they exist, I definitely want you o track them down. The challeng s you point out have validity to them, but they can also be a source of inspiration for new stories and adventures!


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I'm really looking forward to reading this AP, even if I don't get to run it in the near future (stupid finite hours in a day), partially because a couple of years back I ran my group through a homebrew adventure connected to Taldor's political situation that sounds like it would have made a good prequel for this one.


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
FallenDabus wrote:
Xenocrat wrote:
FallenDabus wrote:
Crystal Frasier wrote:


Stavian and Eutropia's birth years are mentioned in the timeline for Taldor: The First Empire.

Are they? I just stuck all of the dates from T:tFE into the timeline I'm working on for Pathfinder and I didn't see them. Last four dates in the timeline are the Eighth Army of Exploration, the Red Revolution, naval campaigns against Qadira, and the present day. I'd be happy to be proven wrong or have missed something mind you, I'm just surprised because I specifically went looking for those dates.

Fixed birth years for important NPCs are a bad idea because they just keep getting chronologically older without aging in concept as things get published. Abrogail Thrune is always cast as a young queen in art and temperament because the Golarion plot and metastate doesn't advance until you run something, but she's always getting older chronologically because there's a fixed, published date for her birth and ascension. If you publish an NPC birth date and then take 8-10 years to publish anything dealing with that NPC, it can cause problems.
Hence why I'm making (and sharing) a timeline. It gives me context so that I can tweak Paizo's baseline setting as I desire. I get why most NPCs don't have birthdates tied to them, but if they exist, I definitely want you o track them down. The challeng s you point out have validity to them, but they can also be a source of inspiration for new stories and adventures!

**looks at grammar and rogue auto-corrects**

Ugh, note to self: no more posting right before bed.

Translation: I get the method to Paizo's madness with dates, but if they exist and I missed them, I'd like to find them and use them.

Liberty's Edge Developer

5 people marked this as a favorite.
FallenDabus wrote:


Are they? I just stuck all of the dates from T:tFE into the timeline I'm working on for Pathfinder and I didn't see them. Last four dates in the timeline are the Eighth Army of Exploration, the Red Revolution, naval campaigns against Qadira, and the present day. I'd be happy to be proven wrong or have missed something mind you, I'm just surprised because I specifically went looking for those dates.

No, my mistake. They were in the original timeline text, but got cut for space (and also because it's almost always a canon traps to say exactly when major NPCs were born; it's usually best to leave that to individual tables' needs)


Ooooh, secret lore for devious players to ferret out... :)


Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Crystal Frasier wrote:
FallenDabus wrote:


Are they? I just stuck all of the dates from T:tFE into the timeline I'm working on for Pathfinder and I didn't see them. Last four dates in the timeline are the Eighth Army of Exploration, the Red Revolution, naval campaigns against Qadira, and the present day. I'd be happy to be proven wrong or have missed something mind you, I'm just surprised because I specifically went looking for those dates.
No, my mistake. They were in the original timeline text, but got cut for space (and also because it's almost always a canon traps to say exactly when major NPCs were born; it's usually best to leave that to individual tables' needs)

Nuts! Thanks for checking Crystal! Still looking forward to this one and the historical hints in the back matter though!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Crystal Frasier wrote:
FallenDabus wrote:


Are they? I just stuck all of the dates from T:tFE into the timeline I'm working on for Pathfinder and I didn't see them. Last four dates in the timeline are the Eighth Army of Exploration, the Red Revolution, naval campaigns against Qadira, and the present day. I'd be happy to be proven wrong or have missed something mind you, I'm just surprised because I specifically went looking for those dates.
No, my mistake. They were in the original timeline text, but got cut for space (and also because it's almost always a canon traps to say exactly when major NPCs were born; it's usually best to leave that to individual tables' needs)

Could it be possible for you to suggest those birth dates here or in a future blog post? Nothing canon, just the ideas what you suggested but didn't get published (so no canon).


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Rogar Valertis wrote:
Crystal Frasier wrote:
FallenDabus wrote:


Are they? I just stuck all of the dates from T:tFE into the timeline I'm working on for Pathfinder and I didn't see them. Last four dates in the timeline are the Eighth Army of Exploration, the Red Revolution, naval campaigns against Qadira, and the present day. I'd be happy to be proven wrong or have missed something mind you, I'm just surprised because I specifically went looking for those dates.
No, my mistake. They were in the original timeline text, but got cut for space (and also because it's almost always a canon traps to say exactly when major NPCs were born; it's usually best to leave that to individual tables' needs)
Could it be possible for you to suggest those birth dates here or in a future blog post? Nothing canon, just the ideas what you suggested but didn't get published (so no canon).

I agree. I really wish to know the birthyears of the three inheritors, at least. If Paizo does not want to make a canon trap, then just say how old Stavian is, how old Eutropia is and so on. Thornkeep avoided this canon trap by saying Baron Tervin is a man of 40 years of age. We can infer that he was born in 4672 AR because 4712 AR is the current year of Thornkeep. But Paizo never said he was born in 4672 aR, thus successfully avoided making a canon trap.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

Sounding awesome! Great blog, Crystal!


Hail Taldor!


Xenocrat wrote:
UnArcaneElection wrote:

^Although for really high level NPCs, especially ones with a lot of political power in a world that has even minuscule but non-zero amounts of Sun Orchid Elixir, staying young is not an impossibility even for those who are not 20th level in a class that has an immortality option.

It's more an issue of mindset and life stage than appearance. Is Abrogail Thrune 23, childless, and new to the throne? Or is she 32, childless, and been on the throne for more than a decade? The first leads to one set of political realities and reactions to events, the second another. If you don't publish a birthdate you can freeze one of these realities no matter when you Paizo writes an adventure dealing with her or when you run it. If you do publish dates, you have to take this into account, ruining the lost backstory and original personality, or have to retcon or otherwise break verisimilitude.

No law of physics says that leaders have to mature as the years go by.

Although I have to say your post has inspired me to think of the Hellknight Order of the Rack including muddying the waters about their glorious leader's birthdate in their quarterly revision of history . . . .


Awesome stuff. Do we know when the Player Guide will be released for this?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Woo Hoo, just got my pre-auth e-mail! Now all I need is that sweet Player's Guide.


Well, could be quite amusing. Third picture reminds me of home in it's own way, wouldn't surprise me if the young lady threw her brother off the balcony. They are human after all, I expect a little delay in there .... ability to cause events to transpire for power.

Yes indeed young Eutropia, you would do Drow proud in charge of such a kingdom I imagine.....perhaps with a bit of Drow assistance.

{heh. Drow point of views can be interesting, shame my wife already said no to playing Veldrin in this AP}


Played PFS#9-13, and based on what I've seen Stavian do, I can say with confidence that he's the worst rat-b****rd that I've ever seen. It wouldn't surprise me at all if a mob of Commoners parade his head through Oparra's streets in the first module.

Paizo Employee Managing Developer

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Hey folks, I just wanted to pop in here and address the Player's Guide question that's been floating around. Due to illnesses and other production-related issues, the Player's Guide for this Adventure Path is going to be delayed longer than normal. While we try to have them out by the time subscribers start getting their PDFs, that isn't going to happen this time around. I still endeavor to have it out as soon as possible, but I have no firm estimates at this time.

Thanks for your patience.


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^Bad flu season this year, or otherwise -- either way, keep health first.


No more potions of Delay Disease left lying around the office.


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Crystal Frasier wrote:
FallenDabus wrote:


Are they? I just stuck all of the dates from T:tFE into the timeline I'm working on for Pathfinder and I didn't see them. Last four dates in the timeline are the Eighth Army of Exploration, the Red Revolution, naval campaigns against Qadira, and the present day. I'd be happy to be proven wrong or have missed something mind you, I'm just surprised because I specifically went looking for those dates.
No, my mistake. They were in the original timeline text, but got cut for space (and also because it's almost always a canon traps to say exactly when major NPCs were born; it's usually best to leave that to individual tables' needs)

I just downloaded the first book of the AP, and Stavian's birthdate is listed in the NPC Gallery (p. 56).


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Hmmm... third image.

"Death is not your destiny today, Little Sparrow."


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Cuup wrote:
UnArcaneElection wrote:
^Bad flu season this year, or otherwise -- either way, keep health first.
No more potions of Delay Disease left lying around the office.

The crew of the Protwampeus volunteered to be miniaturized and injected into the infected Paizo developers so we could laser the virus... but we were denied.

A 'wampi who didn't dump WIS might suspect the hoo-mahns may not entirely trust well-armed gremlin medtechs running amok in patients' bodies. Oh well. MP is going to be so disappointed; he really works the Raquel Welch crossplay.


Xerres wrote:

Hmmm... third image.

"Death is not your destiny today, Little Sparrow."

Looks like the other kid will break his fall.


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Reading Crownfall... wow... just wow...

Dark Archive

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Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Crownfall is first time ap's first part makes me this hyped to run ._.; Seriously, that was fricking awesome thing to read

Now i have to wait five more months to get all parts D: Nuuuuu

Ahem, anyway, I take it original three inheritors were essentially good, neutral and evil paths?

The Exchange

Beautiful... evocative art! Wonderful AP opener!

Sovereign Court

I, General Goldfrapp, the Naked Taldoran Trebuchet of the Taldoran Trebuchet Army in Absalom, do hearby decree the following:

The people of the Inner Sea, you are thereon notified that your subjugation to the Throne of Taldor was not absolved just because you ceded, created, joined or otherwise declared yourself independent of the Greater Taldoran Empire. An illegal act, is still an illegal act.Simply writing, stating or otherwise declaring independance does not absolve your governments loyalty to the greater Empire of Taldor. As such, I insist that you petition your government to ask for mercy upon your heads and join the greatest nation on Golarion. Our coffers are still full from the first time we ravaged your fields and plundered your women.

As the swinger of my great personal Trebuchet, wielded cumbersome-ly, in my halfling sized hands, I call forth all those true to the Empire to join me in my Trebuchet Tower, in Absalom, where I hold great sway over my trebuchet, to form the leaders of the legions of the Trebuchet Army. We shall cross the Inner Sea with like sized, like minded and the rightly, enlarged Trebuchet Army to establish the Taldoran Dominance of the past and to fully express to the world citizens that the Naked Taldoran Trebuchet General has called the bannermen and they are answering. Together, we shall stomp out the naysayers and fully express our views louder.
The Inner Sea trembles at the Nation that has heroes and in return we offer our pitty.
----- General Goldffrapp of the Taldoran Trebuchet Army of the Trebuchet Army station in Absalom. Noted this date CY 3/13/4713.


Any news on the Player’s Guide or have I just missed the link somewhere?


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Gerald wrote:
Any news on the Player’s Guide or have I just missed the link somewhere?

You missed the link somewhere. :)


Thanks, Joana!

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