Halvagor's page

1e version was really easy to game mechanically to have zero consumption and by the end of Book 3 to have only a 5% chance of failing any important check.

2e Kingdom rules are trying to be slightly more realistic in depicting a developing land by gatekeeping some buildings and abilities behind the Trained skills or the Level of the kingdom. What this is trying to depict is the fact that cities don't grow overnight, and that towns don't grow immediately from villages. If not for the artificial Level requirements on moving from 1 block of 4 lots to a second block, the PC's capital would probably fill two entire blocks within the first year - and that's a bit unrealistic for growth, to go from an empty site in the wilderness to a developing Town in less than 12 months. So to expand from 1-block village to 2-block (small) town, the rules requires the Party to spend probably 2-3 years of Kingdom-running just to get to a Level 3 kingdom.

The artificiality / game-balance requirement to not hit a second 4-building block until Level 3 is clearly frustrating, but it is more realistic in timelines of how long it can take a village to expand - even one located in as potentially useful a spot as on the site of the Stag Lord's fort - than was the 1e Kingdom rules where by the 20th turn the kingdom might have 15 hexes and multiple settlements.

Rome, after all, wasn't built in a day.

I solved this problem by house-ruling a partial return to the 1e system - the hex holding a Settlement can have one other terrain enhancement (other than roads) - so a Settlement can have any type of Work Site and roads, but not both Farmland (a work-site equivalent) and a Quarry and a Settlement. And that Villages can have up to 2 blocks of buildings, not hitting Town status until the settlement builds up its ninth lot.

My Players have a habit of being nice to every enemy who might be a potential friend, whether that is the Frost Giant in Part 1 or Howl-of-the-North-Wind in Part 2 - they will even try to heal recently-defeated enemies to see if clemency changes opinions. Tuskgutter? Someone made friends with it, because the idea of kobolds (also befriended) riding into battle on a Daeodon (as I upgraded Tuskgutter to being) as if they were humans on the back of an elephant appealed to their sense of Awesome.

These players would rather burn the Stag Lord's "fort" down around him in the dead of night and shoot those running out with bows from the darkness than be Big Darn Heroes and charge into a fort where they are certain to be outnumbered.

I'm assuming you're talking about when the Players complete Chapter 3 and are presented with their new charter to found a kingdom in the Stolen Lands.

Who else might want to meet the Characters depends in part on the backgrounds of the characters, and what plot threads you, the GM, want to introduce.

If you have any characters featuring the Brevic Noble background, it would be natural for someone from their parent House to want to meet with that character (or the whole group), but probably not at the same meeting at which the Party receives their second charter (in which I used only Jamandi and Mayor Sellimus again). The Great House from which that character began will likely want to remind the character that they have obligations to their Family - and may not offer any support to justify this.

The Church of Abadar in Restov is likely to want to meet with the Party, too, no matter what - though a Party might blow them off. But the economic opportunities of a stable government in the Stolen Lands are potentially huge - not least because there are two potential precious metal mines in the region. What other religious organizations might want to talk to the Party is up to you - the Church of Erastil could simply express thanks for rediscovering and clearing the Temple of the Elk in the Narlmarches. The Church of Pharasma might be happy that the Party appeased Davik Nettles' spirit.

IF you have a Sword Scion background, other Swordlords might want to spar with him or her to see how their skills improved while punishing the Stag Lord. The Pathfinder Society might express interest in either sending some explorers (possibly presaging Jubilost, though he isn't a Pathfinder) to see what is in the area, or offering to the Party to join their organization. A sage (possibly a Shape Changed Dragon) might be excited about the chance to do archeology in the new kingdom, and ask the Party to keep an eye out for old ruins, whether of Elvish outposts (the Forgotten Keep), Kellid barbarian barrows (the Lonely Warrior and the Tiger Lord barrow), or other, older structures (Candlemere).

Later, in their kingdom, it wouldn't be unreasonable for Mivon, which is quite close, and dealing with many of the same monster troubles as the PCs, is likely to want to size up the PC kingdom at an early point - if only to determine if they are a potential threat or ally in Mivon's long competition with Pitax, or possibly to offer some of the mercenary troops that are Mivon's major export.