JohnB's page

My party killed him in combat - but had I changed his spells a bit, levelled him slightly, played him a bit differently and made him a bit more of a challenge. There were six of them in the party :)

TBH He was never a great threat to them, although they didn't know that. He had the party pinned by the stairs, frightened to walk into the room and extremely irritated by swarms, monkeys and such like.

And don't forget to have people turn up in dribs and drabs with offers - Don't make all of the offers at once, let some of them come in later :) It keeps the players on their toes.

My game is set up slightly differently - with each player getting a share of the initial BP to spend as they wish. It has been interesting to watch loans between players develop. There has been at least one interest-free loan to seal a political agreement, and interest and payment rates vary between the other loans. I have also had one player approach the bank in Restov for a loan :)

If I remember correctly (either from the AP or one of the guides) Most rostlanders as fairly proud farmers - who bristle at the slightest insults. Their leaders will likely be fighters with e Sword Scion trait - with a few real Aldori (fairly Low level) thrown i for good measure.

Your PCs had better be polite, or you (as GM) had better be prepared for some fights. :)

Personally, I would have the Owlbear start trashing things on the way. Or of there is a closer town - pick on that one first :) Which means that the word is sent out and the owlbear chased away before it does too much damage.

As to why the didn't see the lair while they were exploring that hex? They weren't paying proper attention!

That said - This time around quite a few of my players have played or run kingmaker previously - so I have to change things around - just to keep them on their toes.

If you want to be mean, give it a Troll Guardian (a last survivor from Hargulka's) who has been help guide/goad it to where ever you want it to be

Have you considered a variant of the Centaur Raav - it certainly fits with the campaign setting. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/undead/centaur-raav/

Although I would probably go with something like a reskinned Exiled Shade. I prefer the idea of incorporeal summoned undead, rather than something physical, like the centaur - it is more like he is calling on some sort of necromantic power to send him a spirit-servant - and means you don't have to rework some of the other areas quite so much :)

Nice :)

While it isn't quite polished yet, I am using a home brew set of Kingdom Building rules that might help. My payers soon got bored with the full on kingdom rules, and the Downtime rules are even worse for player management. So I rolled the two together and simplified ...

http://rp.baileymail.net/doku.php?id=pathfinder:campaign_systems:start

With an empire that spanned a quarter of the globe and gave us the Beatles?

But that only happened because we were the best sword fighters by a long way! DOh, and we didn't play close to home and made sure that we had a much bigger Army and many more gunboats, than anyone we did play with :)

Mivon still has to truly decide that they are the best swordsmen - and when they do, they will be able to conquer anything that is half a world away from them.

All I can see are the secret doors in the lagoon.

"Both of these incredibly well-hidden doors are
underwater and can be found with a DC 40 Perception
check. The northernmost door leads to a 3-foot-wide
submerged tunnel that winds for nearly a thousand feet
before ending at a second secret door (also DC 40 to notice)
that opens into the Pitax River."

I have a completely different understanding of the Aldori than you do :}

I have come across three ‘Aldori’ centres - Restov, Mivon and House Khavortorov (from ‘Knights of the Inner Sea’). House Khavortorov could be anywhere (I have them based just outside New Stetven) but I certainly don’t see anything that says the Aldori are ‘everywhere in Brevoy’.

There are, however, Rondolero duelling schools in Restov as well as Aldori as a well – and that has been around since the original Taldan colonisation. My own theory is that the Original Sword baron was a Taldan Rondelero duelist who (when he was beaten) travelled over the crown of the world to learn eastern fighting techniques. When he combined the two he was the best :}

The only other ‘Noble House’ that is said to like fine sword Play are the Lebeda, although there is nothing specific to link them with the Aldori style. While (in my world) there may be a an Aldori School in Silverhall - most are Rondolero. Somewhere, it implies (if not says directly) that the Northern noble houses are much less interested in fine sword play and still hark back to their barbarous roots.

For me, duelling in Brevoy is strongest in Rostland with duelling Schools in Restov, New Steven and Silverhall. And I treat Duelling Styles a bit like Martial Arts - with schools as Dojos and and Sword Lords as Black Belt equivalents. The First sword lord is head of her style. ‘Knights of the Inner Sea’ classifies the Aldori style as equivalent to a Knightly Order, I I give Sword Lords (ie masters of any of the styles) the same status as a knight.

Because there is such a love of duelling in Rostland, I have added a few ‘Modern Duelling Schools’ based on the Duellist prestige class in the CRB that teaches duelling etiquette along with Rapier and Dagger - or Short Sword and Dagger. While that school is picked up by some members of noble houses as ‘The type of thing a gentleman should understand’ it is still the least prestigious style.

"WBL kinda goes out the window in Kingmaker in any case."

I think that depends on quite how you run Kingmaker :)

Have one of Varn's relatives turn up to see what is going on :) That should nudge them a bit.

In the worst case scenario, they can buy him off with the sword, when he expresses an intention to take the holding over in the name on his dead relative.

If you have a 'standard' party you probably need to keep them somewhere near the WBL recommendations if they are to overcome challenges in the next part of the AP.

So if they miss out on both Skybolt and the sword - you might want to consider dropping something else for them.

Personally - I probably wouldn't penalise them for keeping the sword - UNLESS I could see a way to make that enjoyable. I tend to reward my players for good RP / decisions rather than penalise them for decisions that I don't approve of :) Lots of carrots, few sticks!

My current group haven't got this far yet, but my previous group returned the sword when Maegar Varn's adopted daughter turned up and claimed her 'heritage'. Then I was able to reward them for good RP. In that sort of case, I would probably find a cash reward from Jamandi Aldori for helping her out.

Personally, I assume a 'take ten' search roll for my players when they enter a hex to decide whether they will find something on a general search. If they do find it, I can RP the approach with them.

Even if they fail, I throw out a few clues for them to follow up, if they want to, or they can ignore if it doesn't interest them. It might generate a more traditional roll later, or might just mean that I give them bonuses to another Take Ten :)

I also throw out a number of 'false' clues as well, so they don't obsessively follow every hint that I give them :)

In my game, there are a number of NPCs that are used to support the party and I let them find the locations (and keep any treasure) later in the game - once the party have stopped showing an interest in an area.

In my game I have a Cleric of Erastil who took on the role of 'freeing' the Elkwall shrine. Almost immediately, he went on to multi-class as a Ranger (Warden) and started talking about Erastil as a nature god and the patron of hunters and trappers, rather than Erastil as patron of farmers, small traders and villages. Which, in my mind, is a perfectly acceptable interpretation of an older, slightly less well recognised, aspect of the Old Dead Eye.

The broad intention is that the Northern Gnarlmarch (down to where Tatzleford's influence starts) should support a community of Hunter / Trappers, who will integrate into the countryside rather than try and change it to suit themselves.

It might be fun to let Jhod drift to NG and have his commune make an alliance with the Fey and the Boggard. That makes the whole of the Northern Gnarlmarch 'interesting' :)

ooooh! We have a bot :)

Jhod and co don't need to be LG - they can slip to LN and still be Erastil's favour :)

I like pennywit's first idea - but to some extent it depends on the class of the player given the quest. If he or she were a divine class depending on Erastil for their spells - then everything changes. In fact, it any of the party are dependent on Erastil for anything - that is your lever :)

It depends on your style - I am a bit like pennywit, I chuck out loads of hooks and see which ones the party bite on.

For example, my group (just towards the end of the first book) have found a 'treasure map' (it is a long story, but they asked for one in the middle of a joke) so I gave them one. It is a lot less of a treasure map than they think it is, it actually marks danger spots on a halfling Bellflower trail from Mivon to Brevoy. But they should find treasure at the various danger spots.

IF they go for it, I'll build some extra story or pull in some extra modules that build on it. If not - they might bite at what ever else I throw them next :) If they don't take and interest, I'll try something else later.

If there is something I really want to explore, I'll throw out half-a-dozen different hooks for the same thing - just to see if I can get the party to bite :)

Well done. It is a great feeling to finish it, isn't it?

I enjoyed it so much that I'm on my second time around :)

Sounds like fun :)

I always fancied a post-apocalypse fantasy/supers crossover. One day, maybe :)

Better still - make the maths interesting and give them a reason to do it. Lets face it, the maths isn't difficult or complicated just a bit tedious.

Kissandra is by far the more interesting character, Satinder is just a tart :) although she is a very professional and active tart.

It is Svetlana who always shows up in my searches.

Oh there are more bandits knocking around - it even says so in the module.

If Staggy comes back, I would have him fetch some of those extra bandits with him - And I would have them all at L2 or 3 to provide more of a challenge :)

Personally, I would just miss out the random encounters and Hexploration events and leave the key scenario's in.

Book 4 - Have the Slough area cleared by Drelev's men. It gives you four distincnt (and more traditional) scenarios - Tatzlford, Fort Drelev, The Barbarians, Boggards. None of which are very long.

Book 5 - Reduce all the armies to one big battle and scrap the tourney. Trim the 'Ranger Ally' bit and it leaves you White Rose and Pitax - two mid-length 'tradional' scenrios.

Book 6 - Reduce the Blooms and just go straight for the boss - it becomes one very big (and nasty) traditional story line. Or perhaps even drop it all together and mave Ivoretti the BBEG.

The Stag Lord knows all about the secret tunnel into the fort :)

From the sounds of your characters, I would probably give the Stag Lord a extra couple of levels and I would probably start out with L3 bandits - then tweak them on the fly :) Oh and a couple of rogues in there for some sneaky backstabbing.

For me, I have done my job as a DM well, if the party think they are going to lose and 'just' win at the last moment - with one (or more) of them unconscious and close to death :)

Pennywit - "Ultimate Campaign updated the kingdom-building rules, and the Downtime/Capital rules with a little tweaking can represent the PCs' personal power and political capital within their kingdom."

I tried that as my game revolves quite heavily around personal holdings and investments. The Downtime-Capital rules don't work well with the Kingdom Building rules at all, and I had to rework them both quite hard to make them compatible. In the end, I dumped the downtime rules altogether and reworked the Kingdom Building rules to incorporate Investment and Business elements. It is quite a big rework.

They aren't properly polished or play tested yet, but (if anyone is interested) my Campaign 'House Rules' can be found here

http://rp.baileymail.net/doku.php?id=pathfinder:campaign_systems:start

Be warned though - there is a load of stuff there and some of the boundaries where the various rule sets meet need refining. (and wording / structure needs some polish)

Thanks. I use these events to foreshadow and introduce PCs to NPCs as well.

I hadn't thought of this event being BEFORE the Drelev marriage. I'll have to think on that one. Terrion Numesti and his daughters will be there though - last time I ran this I managed to get one of the PCs 'courting' Tamary by sending letters back and forth. It made Kisandra's quest an absolute necessity for them. :) Tamary became our rulers spouse/consort.

In my world, Varnhold is much more a colony of Restov and part of their plan for greater influence - so Maegar Varn is more of an administrator than competition (although he will be at the event, along with his adoptive half-orc daughter). My game plays up Building a Noble House and leaving an inheritance type thing, rather than the Fey - so no-one from the any extra Fey based modules in my game :)

I think a number of the others might well appear as part of the background cast though :) I'll make them just interesting enough that the PCs might interact with them, and get caught up in their stories.

Pennywit - Small is no fun :) It started out as the almost obligatory 'social event' to allow the PCs to meet Drelev and Varn etc. Then as the In-game story developed (partly driven by the PCs) it grew and grew ...

I have the factions. Loads of them, with some tailored to individual player back histories. I have a streamlined (house ruled) version of both the Kingdom Rules and the Influence Systems, as well as some Investor rules for Characters who are not interested in building their own stronghold / domain.

I will be going back to trawl the Venture Capital thread for descriptions and personalities then tweaking them for my game - the game stats aren't important as it will all be played in a more free-form way at a formal party.

BTW - I am still grateful for the suggestions you made the first time I ram Kingmaker. A 12yr old L1 Aristo you suggested morphed into Galine - who became a recurring (minor pain in the neck) NPC for that group. She became great friends with Tig (another recurring pain in the neck) - and they eventually settled down together to run Whiterose :)

Mondragon - I have never watched or read GoT - to busy doing my own stuff now-a-days. But I have customised The Brevoy Noble families, developed a political system for Brevoy and populated it with primary nobles and minor families. I also have a slightly customised version of Mivon and quite a few, lower ranking, New Stetven families (in various depths of development)

Isabelle Lee - Dragonscale Loyalists don't fit my game well :) I do, however, have a number of minor factions made up from the remains of House Rogarvia after everyone "of the Blood" disappeared. All those wives, a few husbands, adopted members, A bunch of villages whose leaders are descended from Iobarian Barbarians who came with Choral. And House Khavortorov, who were added after the AP was written.

I have all of the factions, politics, groups etc in place. I just need enough descriptions to that I can flesh out a lot of nobles who will be in attendance at one of the social gathering of the year.

*grin* However, seeing as it is in Restov, miles away from anywhere and organised at fairly short notice, many of the attendees will be junior house members etc etc.

I want to have enough Nobles that the PCs don't know which ones have good deals for them - which ones are just trying to get into the pants of the good looking ones (boy and girls) and which ones are just there for the Free Booze :)

(The groom very kindly decided his brother was a priest of Cayden, for a laugh. So the family member who gets drunk and really boisterous in front of all the important guests was 'gifted' to me :)

We are just coming to the end of Stolen Land, and I am about to drag every one back to Restov for a social event. It started out as a ball, but now has a Noble investiture, awards ceremonies for the PCs and a wedding between a PC and an NPC (who started off as a PC)

I have a dozen PC's split across two groups and each of them will receive a few BP personally.

In a few weeks time I will need to describe 30 or 40 individual nobles - who may (or may not) have some sort of Venture Capital type offer to make to the PCs.

That is an awful lot of descriptions I need to come up with. And I know I get repetitive and stale. If anyone has any Noble / Courtier / Celebrity descriptions knocking around - I would appreciate it if you would share :)

I know there are some in earlier threads, and I will go back and collect them later - but I would still be grateful if anyone has anything they can share.

Thanks.

Dot.

When we were playing table-top - I bought a length of 'gingham' pattern plastic table cloth on ebay. If you choose the right one the 'squares' in the pattern are just the right size for 25mm / 28mm bases.

I could draw huge maps in dry-wipe marker - so we could add / extend the game area easily. At the end of the session I used to complete the clean up with some washing-up liquid and a wet cloth.

Don't forget House Khavortorov as a Noble House in Brevoy - probably with a Rostlandic leaning. (I made them a barony).
http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/House_Khavortorov

In my game I have another minor house around Skywatch (probably about Baron level) who were beholden to the Rogarvia but now have no strong allegiance.

I have also had First Sword-Lord Jamandi Aldori start to claim her great, great, great (etc) grandfather's title of Sword Baron and have a number of Aldori to support her.

I think Maegar Varn is also listed as the 'Third son of a Noble' somewhere as well.

As for Mivon - the Noble houses have been there for about 200 years - the same time that the majority of the Brevoy Noble Houses have been 'Noble' rather than Local Warlords dominated by the Surtova (the bigger warlord)

Duma the Sly :)

Which is where it starts to get clunky.

In the king-maker rules you buy jails for 14 bp. If we use a equivalence value of 4,000gp per BP that makes 56,000gp and equates to about 35 jails under the down time rules. If you do the same calculations with Inns - a Kingdom Rules Lot of Inns costs 10bp, or the equivalent of 40,000gp - under the down time rules that buys you between 18 and 19 inns.

Nothing that can't be managed if you are aware of it, and less important than 'Possible incomes' from optimised businesses at low levels.

-----

*grin* Yeah. I know I am picky about money / values etc. Don't ever get me started on Incomes and the money you can earn from Skill Rolls :) And never ask me to compare those with the Down Time system.

Be careful :) While the Down Time rules appear to match up with the Kingdom Building rules, it starts to fall apart when you dig more deeply.

The two systems overlap on properties - and when you start to compare costs/valued between the two it starts getting clunky. Secondly, the income generation rules in Down Time can skew things. Incomes are not well balanced across the various businesses and some businesses can make a massive income per month. I played an NPC caster with a wizard's tower and made a reasonable income. The NPC running the stables generated a massive income, significantly more than my Caster's Tower (which really surprised me).

In Kingmaker you are advised to leave long gaps between some parts of the game - and the income from an optimised Down Time business could become significant (certainly at lower levels)

If I were going to try and run both systems - I would make the PC take cash out of the kingdom treasury or cash in some of his treasure. That way he can build his vineyard up slowly.

As for a Vineyard, you might want to have a look at White Rose (I think is in book 5?)

I always been lowish-magic in the way I write and run things - although nowhere near as low magic as you are aiming for.

However, with PathFinder APs I found it easier to change my style rather than change the APs. Mind you, most of my players still think I am a very niggardly DM. You will have to rework an awful lot of material (book 3 onwards) as the concepts are quite magic-dependent, although it is god magic most of the time. They drop some incredibly powerful, artefact level, items - which technically are usable by PCs - although you probably won't want the PC to use them :) n a Low Magic world they would likely finish up as Evil Despots!

Books 1 and 2 should work well enough though - which gives you time to work on the rest of the material.

We all get them eventually - and the trick is to use them to your advantage.

We had a rules 'specialist' in the last face to face group I ran - and while I have been playing (and DMing) for years he had a much better deep understanding of the rules than I did. Every so often, I would be challenged on a ruling - and (BH) he was generally right.

If it was at a time when I wanted the game to flow, I would say 'Perhaps - BUT this is how it happens this time.' implying that something mysterious was going on the player / Character didn't understand (and was never going to understand). My rules man knew that I had made a GM ruling and that was that.

At other times, when there wasn't a flow issue, we would all look it up in various books at the same time - and come to a group understanding of the rules. hen everyone sticks with the common interpretation - DM and players. After all, it is a group game where everyone has to be happy and enjoy the sessions.

I would probably still have a chat with the guy so that he knows it is an issue for you. You can also lay out YOUR basic plan to deal with the issue - but be prepared to negotiate for something you can both live with. Be a DM as a leader, rather than a DM as a dictator :)

No matter what anyone says, every 'social' RPG group develops its own table / house rules, and it doesn't matter whether they are exactly as it says in the book or not. It said that in AD&D1 - and I have stuck with it as a core concept of RPG ever since. he most important thing is that everyone has fun.

I would be tempted to give them 'some' of the bandits as a reward - but leave the fort as a weakened challenge.

Let Akiros lead a few bandits out and try to escape. The party have a chance to spot the escapees and talk / negotiate / accept surrender etc. If they negotiate an arrangement with Akiros, they gain an ally, with a unit of light infantry and a lot of specific detail about the fort and the people left behind.

The fort is still a challenge - but a significantly easier challenge now that two key antagonists have been neutralised.

Initially the party have to deal with an Owlbear, Dovan, Auchs and a few bandits (the L1 bandits are just cannon fodder so you can leave a few in there as well) - but (if they talked to Akiros) they know lots of details of their enemy - such as base abilities, preferred tactics and that the the owl bear WILL be used.

They also know that the basement has the real loot and that is protected by some sort of creepy cleric ...

So their reward for the excellent scouting trip is a weakened fort, really good intelligence on the fort and its occupants and the potential of a longer term ally.

Ahh. It would have worked brilliantly as a NWN persistent world. :)

Here is my take on the Houses and their favoured Units. (along with a brief explanation from my wiki page that describes all of the political players. However, I have other units in play as well.

HOUSE SURTOVA - “Intent on defending themselves both at sea and on land, the Surtova train both heavy-blade and light-blade warriors.” (marines to defend ships and heavy infantry to defend the city)

HOUSE LEBEDA - “They are considered to be the Brevic noble family that epitomizes Rostland; they have a significant amount of Taldan blood, an appreciation for fine things, and a love of sword fighting. There are Rondello and Light Blade duelling schools in their stronghold of Silverhall, while it is seen as desirable for aristocrats to know Rondello, most of their combatants are taught light blade skills suitable for use on their trade.” (Or Marines and Rondello Duellists)

HOUSE MEDVYED – “Their people are farmers, hunters, trappers and woodsmen – good solid stay at home folk with with simple tastes and few pretentions. Their patron deity is Erastil, and their warriors tend to be archers or axe-men.” (ie . Rangers and lightly armoured woodsmen)

HOUSE LODKOVA – “Like most of the other ‘Issian’ houses, the Lodkova revere both Gorum and Abadar, which helps maintain the tradition of skirmishing & raiding (particularly with the Surtova across the Lake) whilst helping them to maintain the fishing and trading concerns around their islands. They prefer light combat styles that are suitable for shipboard fighting.” (or marines and other light fighters)

HOUSE GARRESS – “They still value those who can fight to defend themselves or their interests, but they were one of the least aggressive of the houses. Their military strengths are based on heavy armour and the heavy-blade fighting techniques that work so well in defence.” (So heavy infantry – good heavy armour, big shields, and hand weapon)

HOUSE ORLOVSKY –“ Because of the mountainous terrain of their home territory, they tend to favour skirmishers rather than other types of combatant - although there is a tradition of training most of their nobles in some elements of fencing and pretty sword play.” (So duellists, and skirmishers with light armour, short bow and light weapon).

RESTOV – Clearly their army is lead by Duellists of all types, Aldori, Rondello and even Rapier & dagger. However, they (in my world) also have fairly traditional mounted Knights (mainly because Knights are much more effective on plains that any other type of terrain – and Rostland has all of the plains)

-

Last time I ran the Civil War there were some other troops at the decisive battles as well.

BRUNDERSTON can certainly turn out a company of traditional Dwarf infantry in Heavy armour, shield and battleaxe / hammer.

DUMA THE SLY came out of the woods with a company or two of ‘Robin Hood Like’ archers.

NEW STETVEN – a metropolis that size must have its own military – and for me that was companies of well organised Medium Infantry with Light Armour, spears, Halberds, and other pole arms. But can Surtova trust them? (In my game there was some politicking going on behind the scenes and New Stetven changed sides at the last minute :P)

HOUSE KHAVORTOROV – who were an Aldori off shoot who made their fortune turning coat and working for the Rogarvia. They have companies of Aldori Mercenaries and Guards. (although the grunts are just Warriors with Aldori Duelling Swords)

-

In my current game, I have all of the same players plus the left overs of House Rogarvia. (while everyone ‘of the blood’ disappeared – there were husbands, wives, adopted children etc left behind. Most lost their lands and titles - but there are a few who have held on to some vestiges of influence.

And there will be other units - they won't change the outcome - bit they will add flavour. People like ..

The New Stetven Dock gang.
The Temple of Iomedae (on the side of the Law? or on the side of least evil?)
The Priests of Gurum - bloodshed during every attempt at a parley or truce.

and I am sure there will be others as I think of them :)

Like many people running King Maker, I 'group level' the PCs to ensure they are the right level for the next part of the AP. It means I can remove encounters I don't like (exploration sucks after a few levels) and drop in new encounters (that suit my campaign) into the game fairly easily.

So seeing as I have done away with the individual XP tracking for PCs already - it was quite easy to do the same for NPCs.

Most of the key NPCs in my game advance at about half the rate of of the PCs. Key NPCs are those who are doing something for the kingdom and could be seen to pick up relevant 'story line' experience to feed their progression.

Being a mean DM, I restrict the NPCs to NPC classes. Experts and Aristocrats have plenty of Skill Points to provide good, level appropriate mundane support. Warriors provide a decent back up defence for places and people (set up the melee warriors for defence and then build a few as missile specialists with the right feats to fire over their heads). Adepts provide basic magical cover.

This leaves the PC as The Heroes - something special. The NPCs might be able to survive for a while on their own - but the PC's are needed to really keep things safe and make things work. Without the PCs this new colony would eventually whither away ....

However, I also follow the same philosophy as Pennywit - the NPCs meet the needs of the game. For example, I have an NPC Magus (Her player left the game) who is keeping pace with the party (currently L3, soon to be 4) because I want her to become their source of magic Weapon weapons and armour at L5 - after that she will probably revert to the standard NPC class and speed progression.

All that said, my game has many extra NPCs, some of which are played/voiced by players with non-adventuring motives. Captured bandits have 'turned coat' and have become squires, tailors, blacksmiths (etc) one of them became an secondary PC for one of the players and knocks about with a second (lower level) group of PCs.

It all adds to the growing Campaign Tapestry, adds extra RP opportunity and still gives the PCs a fall back position when they need it.

Even the most evil and Chaotic baddies need to get together with their mates to boast, plot and scheme. I tend to think of clerics of Gyrona as the worst 'write up' that medieval / historic witches ever got. For me, Fort Stag was (at one time) a casual shrine-site crossed with a Coven meeting place - a bit like Shakespeare's Witches meeting on the Blasted Heath :)

Well before Gyrona got there - Fort Stag was (in my head) some sort of Motte and Bailey castle, that had grown into a tower on an artificially enhanced hill - and then abandoned along with any surrounding settlements. Which gives you a nice excuse to drop other small ancient dungeons into the setting if you want to. It certainly matches up with the history of the sign by the Kobold's Silver Mine and the back story for Erastil's shrine in the woods.

As part of their ceremonies, the Clerics of Gyrona animated the bodies of the soldiers who were buried in the mound, and probably danced naked and cavorted (at the very least!) with demons. If you get some of that imagery embedded into the PCs' minds now - it will come back nicely when the cultists show up during the Kingdom building phase and make that a more memorable encounter.

In my last run through of Kingmaker, each PC built up a personal entourage of followers and assistants - which helped give the campaign a real sense of depth and continuity. That was tabletop with three players - However, I have been struggling to make that work in my RPoL game that has 15 players. But the 'Recruits' feat from the Intrigue rules caught my eye - so herewith my take on it :)

Excuse the funky formatting, but it works nicely on my wiki.

It sounds like you will both be learning at the same time. My advice would be to find a pre-written game to run - at least for the first time out - That will make it easier for both of you.

Some of these links might be useful.

http://paizo.com/pathfinder/adventureFinder/soloAdventures

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/64278/One-on-One-Adventures-Compendium

Indeed :) There is loads of good stuff on these boards. But I would settle for a 'collected' version as a PDF.

To go with that, I would like to see is a 'quick play' version of all the various rule sets.

In my previous game we found the Kingdom rules became a pain after a while, the same happens with the Down Time rules (try running a business for a while) and I suspect that these influence rules will be the same. While the 'Fame' rules are uber simplistic ... :)

Mind you, I am biased, my current project is rewriting all the campaign systems so they actually work together without constant admin work. As it is, the anomalies between Down Time and Kingdom Building were quite an eye opener.

It does sound like it worked well for you.

My first group of players are just about to deal with the Staglord and will get their introduction to politics shortly afterwards. And I have been looking for a mechanic I can use :)

There will A big shindig in Restov where their NPC leader gets a Noble Title and a new Charter (the players are building personal holdings within a March, rather than building a new kingdom). Followed by a marriage between two Noble PCs.

Restov is going to be teeming with nobles and faction who all want investment opportunities - so I will use a very slimmed down version with some of the ideas from the Venture Capital thread.

There are other options. Search for 'Tournament' in the Kingmaker board. I got ...

"Another suggestion- look through the early parts of "War of the River Kings" for inspiration from the Rushlight Tournament."

Or this resource from two different sources.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/16544/Tournaments%2C-Fairs%2C-and-Taverns?it= %201

http://paizo.com/products/btpy8ev8?Tournaments-Fairs-and-Taverns

Or Google D20 Tournaments

*Grin* The game has been running for just over a year, with two groups exploring all the time. We still haven't done the Mites and Kobolds, but I want to get on with some Kingdom building - like I promised them when the game advert first came out :)