Courts Are for Kings, and Kingdoms Are for Your PCs!

Thursday, November 29, 2018

I'm a huge fan of the Kingmaker Adventure Path. I have been ever since the first session of the Kingmaker campaign I GMed, which ran for almost four years. My players made good use of the sandbox nature of the AP to explore every nook and cranny of the adventure, as well as many areas outside of its original scope. Writing additional content for them was my first foray into designing my own adventures, and I learned so much about being a good GM from that experience. So of course, when the opportunity came up to write sanctioning documents for Kingmaker, I was excited to take on the project. And then other tasks cropped up that had to be done right away. The project got trapped in an endless cycle "nice to have, but not nearly as urgent as these ten other things." And in the end, the notes remained at the front of my to-do folder for two whole years, waiting for something to shake loose so I could work on them without neglecting my other responsibilities. Then the Pathfinder Kingmaker computer RPG launched, and everyone was excited about the Adventure Path once again. I knew that it was time to pick up my old notes and finally finish this project. If you're a fan of the adventure path who hasn't checked out the computer game, or a fan of the computer game who hasn't tried the tabletop version of the adventure path, I highly recommend them both.

As those of you reading this blog may already know, there are two ways to run an Adventure Path for Pathfinder Society credit: Campaign Mode and Event Mode. Campaign Mode allows the GM freedom to run the entire Adventure Path with whatever rules she chooses. It's worth pointing out that while you can't use the Pathfinder Kingmaker computer RPG to earn credit for your Pathfinder Society character, you can earn credit while playing your favorite class from one of Pathfinder's many talented third-party publishers, or when playing in any other tabletop RPG system of your choice (see the latest update to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Guild Guide for more information). Meanwhile Event Mode, originally designed for events like conventions and scheduled tables at gaming stores, uses standard Pathfinder Society rules and characters. It's more approachable for GMs who aren't looking to run a full campaign, who have limited time, or who only want to run a portion of the Adventure Path. In Event Mode, GMs only run some of the encounters in the Adventure Path, in a package that is more comparable to the number of encounters that PCs would typically need to complete to gain one level. Subsystems and other mechanics that cover an entire adventure volume are generally represented only on Chronicle sheets.

Kingmaker presents some unique challenges for Event Mode. It has quite a few load-bearing subsystems, and it's a sandbox. To address the subsystems, I created two bonus Chronicle sheets. The first bonus Chronicle sheet represents internal factors, like Economy, Loyalty, and Stability, and Military strength. It lets you choose a kingdom role for your character, shape your character's priorities, and benefit from your kingdom's successes. Meanwhile, the second bonus Chronicle sheet features a territorial expansion minigame. The sandbox feel is harder to capture that the subsystems. Since the sense of wandering and discovery is so central to the first volume of the Adventure Path, Stolen Lands, the sanctioned portions of that are more flexible. GMs can choose several encounters from a long list to throw at PCs while they explore.

But what if you've already started your Kingmaker campaign? In keeping with our policy for the last several Adventure Paths, including Serpent's Skull, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Giantslayer, and Iron Gods, if you are still in the middle of playing one of these Adventure Paths but have not yet concluded it, you can receive retroactive credit for all of that Adventure Path's earlier volumes the next time you earn a Chronicle sheet for that campaign. For example, let's say you were partway through Kingmaker's Adventure Path's fifth volume, War of the River Kings. Once you complete it, you'll receive retroactive Chronicle sheets for the first four volumes of the Adventure Path.

I hope you all have as much fun with Kingmaker as I have!

Kingmaker Sanctioning Document

Linda Zayas-Palmer

Developer