Odin's Left Eye's page

Might be a bit too late for a response, but here we go:

My players made deals with the Swordlord Council, Lord Mayor Ioseph Sellemius, House Garess (of which they got the better end of the deal by far), House Medvyed, House Lebeda, the Church of Abadar, the Church of Erastil and the Church of Sarenrae (with whom one player became generous and promised not only a Shrine but a Temple!).

One of the players (the General) also went, months later, and made a deal with Lady Jerribeth behind the other players' back. There was quite the surprise when Lady Jerribeth rolled up into the nascent kingdom and demanded her personal hex! The Ruler almost had the General executed.

The Wedding Knight ended up being a lot of fun.
My reasons for running it were simple: foreshadowing. I really wanted the players to get the chance to learn about people and events they would be dealing with later on. The know who was attacking them and why beforehand rather than afterwards while the PCs loot the bodies.

The thing about putting Hannis Drelev in the role of Etan Hogg is to be prepared for events to go either way. With PCs, you can never really guess which way they'll end up going. They follow their own capricious whims.

If Hannis Drelev is playing the part of Etan Hogg, then that shifts the focus a little. Pavetta plays the part of bride-to-be Sylvie Hart, and someone new gets to play the role of oblivious groom Kevan Manning. Likewise, Hannis Drelev and Pavetta Stroon are likely younger than presented in Book 4. Likewise, making Pavetta the bride-to-be gives her a bit more agency. She gets to be a schemer and plotter and the power-behind-the-throne rather than the petulant society woman (though she can be that too! People are complex).

Because the marriage is between Sylvie Hart & Kevan Manning, why are the PCs invited? Is one of the players related to either party? Is Kevan Manning the knight to be given command of the Hooktongue Slough and Etan Hogg a knight in his service? If that is the case, then either Hannis gains power after joining the Manning household, or Kevan Manning holds a grudge against the PCs for revealing his fiance's infidelity.

If I wanted to use Hannis Drelev as Etan Hogg/Uthred, then I would play him as ambitious. Maybe a little obsessed with getting the finer things in life to match how he bungles up ruling Fort Drelev later on in life. And I would play Kevan Manning as deeply caring about prestige and decorum, so that if the players do reveal Pavetta's infidelity, then you have a justification both for why he would be upset not only at Pavetta, but at the PCs as well.

Whatever path the players take, you are good so long as you reach this end: a person who will rule the land to the west of the PCs and who holds a grudge against them.
Whichever person ends up playing that role, the Wedding Knight offers the PCs a chance to interact with them. To get a feel for them, learn some of their vices, and maybe even develop a bit of a rivalry.

I expected my players to either side with Nadya Surtova or side against her and inform her Hannis Drelev.

Instead, they allowed the marriage to happen, then implied the truth to Hannis Drelev without offering any evidence. After that, one of the players challenged Uthred to a duel and slew him.
This soured relations between my players and House Drelev right from the get-go, helping to foreshadow the hostilities that would happen later.

Eventually, in my campaign, Hannis Drelev died of mummy rot, Pavetta Stroon-Drelev was killed, her death framed as her "hanging herself out of grief" and Nadya Surtova-Drelev ruled with her weak-willed husband Damien Drelev at her side, and her newborn son, which she convinced her son to name Uthred in honour of Nadya's 'dear friend.'

Nadya Surtova-Drelev later joined the cult of Gyronna, becoming a high-level Veneficus Witch (able to both poison and hex a foe with a single glance - right up her alley). She also moved on. Uthred was dead, but there were other big burly warriors that caught her eye. One in specific interested her, one man with ambition to match her own - a barbarian calling himself Armag Twice-Born.

My players have since been through Book 4. Actually getting to meet Damien Drelev and Nadya Surtova-Drelev long before getting invaded by them immensly helped build up their rivalry. They immediately recognized that Damien Drelev was just a puppet - their real challenge was deciding who the puppetmaster was. Ultimately, they decided to blame Armag and Imeckus Stroon, allowing Nadya Surtova to escape the PC conquest of Fort Drelev unscathed. Maybe she'll return someday, to poison them with witch hexes once more.

My campaign is a bit more southern focused (one of my players has a kingdom in the Stolen Lands, another player rules the River Kingdom of Artume), so our focus has been more on the River Kingdoms.

Nonetheless, war in Brevoy draws near.

In Brevoy, the major Houses all have either Issian or Iobarian roots. Even the Lebedas trace their roots back to Issian stock - Choral the Conqueror was not going to assign Rostland land to one of the Aldori Swordlords that tried to stop his conquest! To distinguish Brevoy from other countries, and to add to the Russian/Polish influences in Brevoy, I have the main Brevish cavalry unit as being Winged Hussars.

All the main Houses have a large number of infantry trained with bow, spear or sword.
--- Fighters, basically.

House Orlovsky - something of a paradox, House Orlovsky is the most Iobarian of the noble houses, yet also home to Brevoy's major magical academy - Skywatch. Although Skywatch has sealed itself away from the world ever since the Vanishing, nevertheless House Orlovsky has the largest number of wizards of any of the major houses, old Baron Pol Orlovsky himself being a former student of Skywatch. Yet alongside these trained spellcasters are the rough hillfolk that make up the common citizenry of House Orlovsky lands.

House Orlovsky technically has no cavalry, but for a specific reason - their hussars ride griffons! And griffons love the taste of horses.
Despite the aerial advantage, House Orlovsky have not been able to fully escape their origins, and so typically engage in aerial charges with long lances, disapproving of attacking from the sky with ranged weapons.
Pol Orlovsky's granddaughter and favored scion Natasha Orlovsky may be changing this tactic though, as she prefers the crossbow to the lance.

--- So barbarians, wizards and cavaliers with griffon mounts

House Garess - once a major power, House Garess has fallen far ever since the Vanishing and their lost contact with the Golka dwarven clan. Once, they had legions of heavily armoured dwarves to call upon in times of war, but no more. Now their army is the most basic - mostly infantry, and not a lot of cavalry.

--- Basic infantry, with a few remaining units of heavy troops in dwarven-forged armour. Fighters, and higher level, better equipped fighters.

House Lodovka - largely a naval power, House Lodovka's land forces are small. Instead, they focus their large navy and marines/raiders on securing the Lake of Mists and Veils, then working their way down the River Sellen.

--- Ships and lightly-armoured marines. A mix of rogues and fighters.

House Medvyed - a House built upon the wood of the Gronzi Forest, house Medvyed favours rangers above all other type of soldier.

--- Rangers all the way. Also, some clerics/warpriests of Erastil.

House Lebeda - House Lebeda struggles with a split identity: an Issian House that has long ruled over Rostlandic land. Though the plains over which they rule has proven beneficial for cavalry, they also count some who ape the swordsmanship of the Aldori. There are even rumours that House Lebeda counts Aldori Swordlords in their numbers, a rumour that House Lebeda, since the recent marriage of Elanna Lebeda to King Noleski Surtova, has publicly tried to dissuade.

House Surtova - currently the ruling house, House Surtova has augmented their hussars and pikeman with the former sworn soldiers of House Rogarvia.

The quarreling between House Surtova and House Orlovsky has left House Surtova lacking in arcane spellcasters, a problem they try to compensate for by maintaining a strong friendship with the major temples of Brevoy.

--- House Surtova has the largest army of the major Houses.

The Red, Black and Gold (the temples of Gorum, Pharasma and Abadar) are the dominant faiths in Brevoy. They currently side with King Noleski.
--- Clerics and warpriests of three faiths.

The Dragon Wings - A legion of hussars sworn to serve the Dragonscale throne, the wings of their armour not feathered but bat-like, currently serve House Surtova.
--- Higher level cavaliers.

The Aldori Swordlords - Rostland Rises! This is the rallying cry of the former aristocracy of Rostland, the Aldori Swordlords, who have kept the swordpact despite the cowardice of the Mivonese deserters, the horrors of the Valley of Fire and two centuries of losing land and title to the hated Issians.

--- Aldori swashbucklers because parrying is fun (and a Dexterity-based warder, because I love third-party materials). They count some of the highest level soldiers on their side, but they are hugely outnumbered by the combined might of the Issian Houses.

House Khavortorov - from Knights of the Inner Sea - "We Won't be Saddled" - my version of this House is a sworn house to the Rogarvias. After the Vanishing, they found themselves somewhat adrift. Their holdings situated in eastern Rostland, they found themselves able to stand on their own. Though opposed to the Aldori, none of the major Houses can quite say with which of them House Khavortorov will side should the day war be declared. And House Kharvortorov is quite happy with that.

--- Very well-trained hussars (cavaliers), some of whom have dabbled in stolen Adlori secrets (daring champion cavaliers).

So, my players' kingdom is almost two years in and I will say this much:
GM Aest has the right idea by setting completion dates on the various factions, and by setting them 5 years down the line.

Most of the deals I offered didn't have timelines attached, meaning that for the most part, the players don't really feel pressure about the deals.

On the other hand, the one deal that did have a completion date attached was that the players build a marketplace within 1 year. Especially when they also decided to start building a castle. Now, my players are using the Ultimate Rulership rules put out by Legendary Games, which allows for buildings to be built over a period of months. But watching their BP swing down to almost-zero month after month, right up to the month where they went into negative BP one month, as the deadline loomed ever closer, gave them quite a fright.

The players ended up hunting down a Lyre of Building just so that the marketplace was completed exactly 1 year later. They scraped through, but just barely.

Lately, after another incident where they almost went bankrupt again training an army to battle Hargulka's trolls (using Dudemeister's excellent mod), the players seem quite happy to just build little things like inns & granaries.

So, in summation - give some of the requests deadlines, but make sure that they are far enough in the future that the players won't crash and burn their kingdom trying to fulfill them.
At least, not unless you plan on using that one Contract Devil from Hell Unleashed...

...when the PCs start giving quests and awards to the NPCs.

...when the PCs complain that things like "the plot" and "adventuring" are cutting down on the time they have available for more important things like crafting.

Or, upon encountering a hydra as a random encounter, they decide to leave it be for fear of disturbing the local ecology.

So my players ended up in a bit of a limbo between Book 1 and Book 2. They hadn’t finished exploring, but they had already killed the Stag Lord. So I decided to throw this mod into the mix.

I ran this in conjunction with a heavily-modified A Wedding Knight and it went pretty well. One player went full completionist and tried to talk with everyone to see what deals they would offer.

I stole a lot of ideas from this thread, and it ended up being a lot of fun. Now the party has a whole host of obligations and political ties to deal with!

The way I ran it, a faction would offer BP in exchange for the players accepting certain terms. They could refuse terms, but needed to either accept, bypass or compromise on a minimum number of terms or they would receive no deal.
There were two opportunities to make deals, albeit with some overlap: Receiving the Charter and The Wedding Knight

Receiving the Charter
The players went to Restov to receive their Charter. But as they entered the city they were intercepted by a representative of the Swordlords, who led them to Lady Jamandi Aldori. On behalf of the majority of the Swordlord Council, Lady Aldori extended the party the basic deal:

Offer: 20BP
Terms: (only 1 term)
1> Create a stable territory in the Stolen Lands to the South of Brevoy independent of the Dragonscale Throne

However, Lady Aldori informed the party that there were holdouts on the Council who would chip in more if they had greater certainty of the players’ loyalty.
Swordlord Council
Offer: 5BP
Terms: (minimum 4 terms)
1> No deals with Issian Houses [compromise: no deals with House Surtova].
2> House Surtova does not learn about Swordlord involvement.
3> Sow dissent between Surtova’s allies.
4> Develop an Aldori dueling school within 5 years.
5> No alliances with Mivon.

This business finished, the players were free to go to Restov’s Trade Hall, where they were met the other charterers, representatives of House Surtova and Lord Mayor Ioseph Sellemius and received their Charter of Rule. But with all these nobles around, scheming inevitably ensued.

House Surtova
Lord Suvarian Surtova and his younger siblings Radomir Surtova and bride-to-be Nadya Surtova (who takes the role of Sylvie Harte).
Offer: 15BP
Terms: [minimum 2 terms; must accept fealty to House Surtova]
1> Swear fealty to House Surtova
2> Two Council Positions
3> Build watchtowers at North & South borders
4> Trade with & build road to Drelev

House Lodovka
Uthred Lodovka, nominally here out of friendship for House Surtova, actually here because he’s sleeping with Nadya Surtova (takes the role of Ser Etan Hogg)
Offer: 5BP
Terms: (only 1 term)
1> Accept Surtova’s deal with no compromises, rejections or bypasses

Together, House Surtova and House Lodovka offer a significant chunk of BP, but doing so means accepting a lot of foreign control upon their burgeoning kingdom. The players politely decline both offers. The Charterers have their own kingdoms to build and so make no offers.
However, as the players chat with the nobles, one of them is confronted by a Swordlord: Vadim Rost-Aldori.
Vadim Rost-Aldori
a warrior at heart, Vadim doesn’t give a damn about the differences between Rostland and Mivonese Adlori. He just wants to see the Issians driven out.
Offer: 5BP
Terms: (minimum 3 terms)
1>connect waterways to Restov & grant Rost-Aldori exclusive shipping rights
2>ally with Mivon militarily
3>accept a deal from Gorum for Major Religion
4>High promotion edict
Vadim seeks to use the PCs’ kingdom as a diversion, directing northern aggression towards the fledgling kingdom and away from Restov long enough for the Swordlords to rally their strength. By discussing a deal with them in front of the Surtovas, he is trying to force the PCs’ hands: simply talking to Vadim reflects poorly on them in the eyes of the Surtovas and the Lodovkas.

Before they leave the party also gains the chance to speak with Jerribeth, Lord Mayor Ioseph Sellemius.
Lord Mayor Ioseph Sellemius
The Lord Mayor is a fat jovial man whose merry manner disguises a keen mind seeking to juggle the interests of a bustling city, powerful nobles and Swordlords prickly with pride. He sees in the party an opportunity to do some business and secure a safe border.
Offer: 5BP
Terms: (minimum 4 terms)
1> Build a road connecting PC’s capital to Restov (this can be upgraded by stealing Vadim’s idea and offering to build a lock system connecting the rivers and/or by offering to connect the capital by highways rather than roads; either of these increases the deal by +2BP)
2> Adopt trading post charter (now the players need to govern Oleg’s trading post)
3> Build a market within 1 year
4> Keep open communications with Restov (requires building an aviary or some other messaging system)
5> Establish a trade edict with Restov

Jerribeth
an elven patron of the arts, Jerribeth bores of the scene in Restov, so is looking for somewhere new and exciting to enjoy herself. Also, she’s not really and elf but a disguised Leannan Sidhe, eager for some new artists to “inspire,” as she’s drained most of the interesting ones in Restov dry.
Offer: 5BP
Terms: (Will grant 3BP if Term 1 is accepted; if Term 2 is also accepted, will increase by +2BP)
1> One hex of her choice to do with as she pleases
2> Clear and claim any elven sites for her

That evening, the PCs are sought out by Lord Walder Garess. Without the backing of the Golka Clan, House Garess has fallen on hard times and now Lord Garess seeks to make a deal.
House Garess
Lord Walder is shrewd, but a little desperate. Walder’s stonemason will send back word of the layouts, weakenesses and secrets of any buidligns he builds for the PCs. Also, Walder doesn’t know about the wedding. No one bothered to invite him. Walder is Kesten Garess’s father, and if the PCs accept Walder’s deal, Walder will offer to accept Kesten back into the folds of the family in exchange for seeing House Garess’s interests carried out in this new country.
Offer: 5BP
Terms: (minimum 4 terms)
1> Grant House Garess title to the Oaktop Silver Mine (The Garess’s will exterminate any kobolds they find, so this term is a problem for any parties that made nice with the Sootscales)
2> Allow House Garess to serve as broker for any future mines
3> Hire Garess’s Golka-trained stonemason
4> Build a smithy & refinery
5> Build mines in the Tors of Levenies

Over the next few days, the party has a chance to make deals with any of Restov’s religions.
Church of Gorum
Ratibor the Shatterer, a warrior dwarf looking forward to the coming conflict between Rostland and Issia
Offer: 5BP or 10BP
Terms: (minimum 4 terms or minimum 7 terms & must accept Official Religion)
1> Build a barracks within the first year
2> Build a temple to Gorum
3> Position on Council as General or Warden
4> Official religion & High Priest
5> Build Large-size army within 2 years
6> Defence must be your highest city-statistic
7> Confront foreign relations with strength rather than diplomacy
8> Kingdom alignment must be Chaotic
9> Destroy or Conquer monstrous races

Church of Abadar
First Banker Vidrim thinks expanding civilization into the Stolen Lands would be for the good of all, but investments requires compensation, even for ventures such as these.
Offer: 5BP or 10BP
Terms: (minimum 4 terms or minimum 7 terms & must accept Official Religion)
1> Build a temple to Abadar
2> Build a market or bank within the first year
3> Never let taxes be two lowest levels
4> Kingdom alignment must be Lawful
5> Positions on Council as Treasurer or Diplomat
6> Official religion & High Priest
7> Economy must be your highest Kingdom Score
8> Give rights to Lumber Consortium
9> Civilize or Eradicate monstrous races

Church of Pharasma
Intercessor Urban is a quiet man, almost demure. He had not considered the idea of sending out some young Sexton into these wayward lands, but then again, is not Pharasma’s influence everywhere?
Offer: 5BP
Terms: [minimum 3 terms]
1> Build a Graveyard within the first year
2> Build a Temple to Pharasma
3> Position on Council
4> Adopt policy of completely destroying any undead encountered

Church of Erastil
Orin and Fenna Nesterov worry that in the coming conflict it will be the common folk who suffer. They are eager to see that the interests of the common folk (and their chief Deity) are represented in the PCs new kingdom.
Offer: 5BP
Terms: [minimum 4 terms]
1> Build a temple to Erastil
2> Don’t abuse the common folk (don’t withdraw BP for your own profit & never let taxes go to highest level)
3> Position on Council
4> PCs married within 5 years
5> Keep festivals at least Quarterly level

Church of Hanspur
Mal is a prophet of freedom, a charismatic whose followers are reborn through drowning. He has a creed: find a crew, get a raft, keep floating.
Offer: 3BP
Terms: [minimum 2 terms]
1> Adhere to the Six River Freedoms
2> Allow Hanspur freedom of religion
3> Maintain freely flowing riverways

Church of Sarenrae
Tu-An, a tiefling, is a firebrand. A populist, she has wandered the land spreading the gospel of Sarenrae’s redeeming light. She has a small following, but worries that the lords and powers-that-be will try to chase her band of misfits, monsters, paupers and “troublemakers” out of Restov
Offer: 3BP
Terms: [minimum 2 terms]
1> Build a shrine to Sarenrae
2> Attempt redemption before punishment
3> Entreat with monstrous races

A few days later comes the Wedding!
Nadya Surtova (a distant relative of the Crown family) and Damien Drelev (son of Hannis Drelev and Pavetta Stroon-Drelev) are too be wed! Damien is just now meeting Nadya, but already he has fallen head over heels in love. Unfortunately for him, Nadya is pregnant by her lover Uthred Lodovka. Nadya plans to see the wedding through, see that both Hannis and Damien suffer “accidents” later on, and rule a kingdom of her own.

House Medvyed
Lord Garl Brezeki and his wife Genevieve Medvyed-Brezeki are here out of Genevieve’s friendship growing up in New Steven with Nadya, though she has not seen her in some years. Garl just wants to hunt, feast and dote on his two-year old daughter, but Genevieve has an eye for politics. The pair are accompanied by Genevieve’s sister Faelbrin Medvyed, who is frustrated at the constraints of patrilineal descent. Her parents have nine daughters and yet her father is still trying for a “true heir.”
Offer: 5BP
Terms: [minimum 4 terms]
1> Build 2 royal reserves
2> Appease & Respect the Fey
3> Align with each Spirit of the Land
4> Upgrade 4 farms to apiaries
5> Establish a village in the Narlmarches
Bonus: (+1 BP if Erastil becomes main religion)

House Lebeda
Old Sabine Lebeda is here with her granddaughter Saska Lebeda (newly returned from her studies at Absolom’s Arcanamirium). Saska is just here to party with old friends, but Sabine is all too aware of he daughter Sarronna Lebeda’s schemes.
Offer: 5BP
Terms: [only 2 terms]
1> Keep the peace
2> Remain independent
As offers go this one is easy. This is intentional. The PCs appreciate the easy win, the Lebedas get to make friends with their new neighbours.

House Orlovsky
Lord Aedan’s invitation to this party was meant as a sleight against him by Lord Suvarian Surtova, a chance to show off House Surtova’s ever-increasing influence. Still, Aeden is too proud to refuse such an invitation, even if he hates every minute of it.
Offer: 5BP
Terms: [minimum 4 terms]
1> No deals with Surtova or Lodovka (+1 BP if PCs ruin the wedding)
2> Build an observatory or an academy
3> Search for evidence of Iluthiak & other dragons; allow House Orlovsky to be primary purchaser of dragon parts/bones/scales
4> Build a black market
5> Restore any ruins

The PCs can also make deals with Jerribeth, the Surtovas or Uthred Lodovka if they failed to do so earlier but wish too now.
The Wedding plays out, offering the players a chance to ruin it (and so prevent House Surtova’s influence from further spreading across the land) or seeing it through (in which case, Lord Hannis Surtova drinks a flask of mumia-laced wine (which won’t register as poison to any paranoid spellcasters in the party with <i>detect poison</i> since it is a drug). Given Hannis’s high saves, it will kill him verrry slowly, but since it is a curse as well as a disease he won’t be able to shake it. He, and Damien, will eventually be replaced by levelled-up versions of Nadya Surtova and Uthred Lodovka.)