Touc's page

I'm also considering adding a few Campaign arcs as fighting "humanoids" from beginning to end is just bad design.

Arc 1 Cheliax plans to invade & the pirates need someone to take control and do something about it. That's the basic premise of the original: become awesome.

Arc 2 Cheliax researchers have a lead into the very secrets of the Eye of Abendego itself. If it can be removed, or controlled, as they now believe it can, the Shackles would be an easy take.

Arc 3 Harrigan

Arc 3 Mun-Toruun (new stuff, still working up the ideas). A sentient storm entity predating the gods, a mind within the hurricane, sealed away by the Ghol-Ghan and vaguely misunderstood by the Azlanti. Efforts to pry into secrets weakens the barrier. If fully free and empowered, it IS the storm, possessed of an eternal desire to rage and unleash its fury. It becomes a sentient hurricane, and with the size of the Eye, one capable of apocalyptic consequences.

This adds in cultists, strange alien deepwater beings, etc., that have some empathic connection to it all and want this to happen. The efforts of the Cheliax researchers, Harrigan, and probably the party, will likely speed this up as they dig into stuff meant to be hidden forever.

Salvage Operation is from Dungeon Magazine #123, probably only available in PDF form now. You could create your own version of it, in theory, if you just have a reason for PCs to search ship wreckage for something particular (then inserting a timer when a BBEG monster squid shows up and attacks the ship so they have to GTFO).

Dropbox doesn't have a preview for the file, but I think it can still be downloaded. If not, it's still on Reddit. Having tried it, it's more complicated and labor intensive than I preferred, but it's the only game in town. I did try Chatgpt (free) to see if I gave it raw data if it could random generate ships. It took a LONG time, with many errors, but I now have it coughing up ships I can (mostly) use (often with errors, for some reason it likes to ignore me and grab random crap off the internet rather than repeat the task).

Personally, I think S&S is going to be like Kingmaker (building your kingdom), except with raiding ships. It'll be awesome for a bit, then it will get repetitive and tedious. The ship encounters will have to become a bit more dynamic or unique.

P.S. 25-point builds??? That's virtually demi-gods! The AP was written for 15-point builds. No wonder they feel like taking over. While you've already started, I'm doing a prologue (with unique backgrounds) wherein most characters were rescued by Harrigan. Some of his minions might suck, but inherently there's less reason to want to mutiny right away against the guy who picked you out of the ocean and is offering to share his loot under the Pirate's Code.

I've got RP notes thanks to the NPC cards for something to be going on every day with some NPC drama, learning the ropes (literally), as well as epic sea events. Definitely right that a day of "you wake up, you make a few rolls, repeat" would get old quickly.

Am running Salvage Operation. I like the idea of a timer. That's solid. I also am borrowing the idea of Harrigan killing the squid, though it ends up being dinner. Waste not, want not.

Interesting squib options, I'll take a look at my adventures. Haven't figured out post-Wormwood options yet.

Same for Pieces of Eight. Anything superstitious like that fits well in a pirate campaign!

@drsparnum came up with the doldrums idea, and I'm borrowing off their idea:

Winds near the equator go up, rather than across. This phenomenon, called the doldrums, makes it very slow sailing through the equator. The Eye of Abendego creates frequent choppy cross winds preventing the doldrums from forming. This makes the Shackles the easiest place to go over the equator anywhere on Golarion. Hence a lot of intercontinental sailing is attracted to this region. Routes that might appear faster on a 2D map are actually slower because of the doldrums, hence some ships risk the pirates and Shackles, whether by desire for profit or simple logistics of being unable to carry so much extra food and water.

Combined with lucrative trade opportunities of rare artifacts from ancient ruins on your way through, including the Mwangi Expanse, a ship that makes the successful voyage stands to make a substantial profit. This also includes nations to the south.

I don't have the Mwangi Expanse supplement, but it's supposed to explain some of the trade issues.

Added a Vices section (from Runequest Pirates RPG), just fits the setting so well. Easily ported to Pathfinder as it's just a reroll of any die.

Pirate Vices

The Form is blocked, "no longer accepting responses."

Yes, plan on poking through those Dungeon adventures and plugging in as sandbox experiences. Salvage fits perfectly for the Wormwood! Curious on Last Baron, got a copy but never found a place to use it.

Any unusual ways the campaign has gone and any issues with players being motivated for anything?

This path has been around for awhile. I'm not sure anyone still checks these forums, but I sure have for the last few months. I've been scouring these forums, campaign logs (most fizzle out long before the end), and the brains of other DMs to come up with materials for a Skull and Shackles campaign. There's too much credit to go around for great ideas on this site, and a campaign ago I ran what I felt, after 30+ years of DMing, was the epitome of my gaming career with a Kingmaker campaign thanks to everyone here (in another post I gave credit to a ton of avatars, including Dudemeister, A++ thoughts). I only wish Dudemeister had been able to run his S&S campaign thru, but I took a few ideas for the prologue. While I'm using D&D rules, they're easily ported over (e.g. Advantage means roll the d20 twice, usually equivalent of +4), and if anyone is kicking off their campaign in the future, hopefully this stuff helps. I'm still working on what additional stuff to run (e.g. Dungeon Magazine stuff, Plunder & Peril) and their conversions, but that's for another day.

Campaign Guide. Pretty much borrowed Dudemeister's work. The Path really left it wide open to why you want to be a pirate. I get it, they can't figure out what each table wants, so "you all end up shanghaied" was easiest. But Besmara and pirates are about revenge, so linking a revenge and foreshadowing threat of Cheliax early is a solid idea. Campaign Guide 2.0, using D&D rules but ignore and use your own.

Pirate sayings and insults. You need your nautical terms, and by the way, no pirate ever said "arrrr..." That's from a Treasure Island movie.

Pirate songs sung at sea to pass the time, hand to your players, these are not my creation but from modified song lyrics from mostly modern bands that make pirate music and put on Spotify

Firearms, cause they need to be more interesting than having the same stats as crossbows but not game-breaking either.

NPC tracking. Not since the days of Sasserine have I had so many NPCs to track in so little time. I have zero skill with graphics, but I think NPC cards for players and NPC cards for the DM will make life aboard the Wormwood so much easier. DM version with roleplaying notes and reference to stats & Player version, graphic plus space to gossip about them .

Pirate Code of Conduct, maybe posted on the Wormwood's mast.

Daily Activities on the Ship, cause if you don't have a handout for your players, it's confusing as Besmara reaping wheat

Infamy & Disrepute & PLunder. Later Pathfinder came out with Fame and Prestige rules. It's a solid idea. The more cool pirate stuff you do, the more awesome your reputation and what you can do with it. But, it really needs to be tailored to the campaign. So, I completely redid the Infamy standards and Disrepute rewards while still keeping to the idea you can (self-servingly) boost your own reputation. Plunder, that's still fairly easy.

Infamy & Disrepute, a campaign-based approach

Plunder rules, pretty much the same thing

Ship Combat. I looked at a LOT of rules. The default rules stink, consensus. I believe Fire As She Bears looks like the best to give meaningful roles to characters in ship conflicts and meaningful upgrades. It's Pathfinder compatible and actually, after a thorough reading, fairly easy to implement. Downside, there's no support material, such as enemy ships. But, there's an excel document floating around Reddit that lets you type in a few basic stats and boom you've got an enemy ship. Other downside is that the rulebook needs a cheat sheet. Its rules aren't organized efficiently.

Ship Roles, giving this to my players in advance so they can argue who gets to wear the captain's hat

Ship Improvements, aka s&*~ to spend your gold on

Ship combat cheat sheet, aka what "Fire As She Bears" should've done

Naval tactics, aka more cheat sheet stuff you need

That Excel thing I mentioned

The Man's Promise sheet, I think

P.S. I'm ALWAYS on the lookout for better ideas. If you see a flaw in the material, or ideas on what worked or would've worked, lemme know!

Name: Halt
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Ranger 4
Adventure: WRK*
Location: Halt's home in capital city
Catalyst: Halt revealed a secret
The Gory Details: This gets complicated. At level 1, the backstory for one PC was that he believed he was of Choral's bloodline, the only one not taken, but as a noble bastard, he had to keep that secret. Others with far more power aspired to claim the Duchy of Rogarvia, and if he spoke up, he'd likely be killed. So, he confided in Halt. This became the impetus for the charter and forming a barony. Everyone believed this PC was deserving of the title and was earning it.

Halt was killed early on by a displacer beast. His friends, having pleased some fey, were given a tip to transcend worlds to the original location where reincarnation was invented. Skipping to the end result, Halt got a new body, but everything fey comes with a price. He had to hear a secret that he could never share, else the restoration of spirit would be taken back. He learned his buddy was not of Choral's bloodline. Everything the party had fought for thus far was a lie. But, he couldn't share it.

Fast forward to 11th(!!) level. Halt has retired but still lives in the barony. The PC Baron has just gained access to the Commune spell. He contacts the agents of the gods and asks: am I of Choral's bloodline? They say no. He goes to the only survivor of the original charter group (yeah, it's been a deadly campaign, and some opted not to be rezzed for roleplay reasons), Halt. He tells Halt. Halt takes a deep breath and says, "I know. I've always known." With that, Halt violates his fey deal and goes to his death. Coincidentally, Halt was having a bad time at this exact moment of the year. It was the anniversary of his death and subsequent marriage to Goody Niska, on the same day of the year. Goody turned out to be a hag cultist that sacrificed their son for power. So, Halt was considering ending it all anyways.

Yeah, our Kingmaker has gotten that complicated. And it's been a blast.

Hehe, my kingdom has had controversy concerning a graffiti artist who for years has been drawing pictures involving the Baron and the local 3-legged dog (who now has become a local legend, surviving a dragon attack thanks to a bad deal with fey, and defending the town against cultist assassins).

For boasting, I foreshadowed it all: the boaster for Pitax has visited (they met and interacted with her once) a few times, and she had plenty of material by the time the tournament rolled around. Nothing like seeing player faces when another player (I let them all choose a competitor without knowing the script in advance, with some short notes on style) talks about Stumpy the 3-legged dog and the real reason why the Baron isn't married.

Yes, that's the one!

Before he worked on that, Nelson had a draft he was willing to share with gamers by email of some original ideas and work that had to be cut from the module. Was glad later to see he got to expand things running through his head.

My only advice for tournaments is to give the other players scripts to play the other competitors. Otherwise, it's boring to watch someone do the entire archery part with the DM rolling 5 other competitors. I let everyone grab an NPC based off their intros (like professional wrestling intros, lots of buildup), and some had cheating scripts or tactics. For example, I changed Villamor Koth so that he would do absurd things like try to shoot the bow behind his back, take drinks during his turn, go kiss an adoring fan, etc. (It was considered poor taste for the Pitax champion to dominate on Pitax soil, so he's only competitive in the joust and in some other river kingdom's annual tournament, given they rotate it...and not all invite the PCs).

Redcelt32, also wanted to say thanks as I am currently doing a reboot of Kingmaker with a new group of players after starting a campaign 10(!) years ago. My reboot took a lot of your ideas and ran with it; glad we did!

While I'm not running on the "bones of old," I did create a prior kingdom that rested on the ruins of the current one as that seemed to make sense. I turned Candlemere into the Harrowstone Prison from Carrion Crown AP. The old kingdom's money-maker was getting BPs to make a prison for all neighboring kingdoms to send their worst and pay the old kingdom to maintain them. In the AP, the prison burns and the worst criminals become ghosts trapped by a ghostly warden. When the ghosts got loose (thanks to Nyrissa feeding the old kingdom's wizard a false ritual on how to deal with the ghosts, her way of bringing down yet again another kingdom on her way to uniquely toppling 1000 mortal kingdoms), the old kingdom was wiped out to a man.

Our players did research and discovered the flaw in the ritual, but it's a mystery why the wizard did what he did in the way he did it.

Similar to Banedon. Varn already had his land and was part of the ceremony for granting of the charter (wished them luck) as well as Venture Capital (where PCs roleplayed to get their BPs and made promises and deals).

The PCs have seen his daughter grow up over the years (she visits and talks about centaur lore and how "nomen" is a derogatory term), and Varn at one point took interest in one of our PCs as a possible fling.

So, have friendly visits (Maegar and company brought their famous beer). Have the PCs take a visit to Varnhold itself a few times.

As for Drelev, could do the same thing (he'll find excuses to not meet with them as he sees them as undeserving), reluctantly meeting and greeting when politics and royalty dictate it. In mine, he's never visited once and the PCs like it that way.

Also, I held the Tournament of Champions way early, and had Drelev and the PCs invited (but not Varn). Political messages were sent by the invitation (are you Brevoy or River Kingdom loyal), but it also gave a chance to interact early and make the Tournament a regular thing (it rotates River Kingdoms, not all are as elaborate or have such great prizes), using a variety of options from Nelson's Tournament book (he wrote lots of material for Pathfinder and writes supplements that fit Kingmaker for Legendary games).

In short, give them all plenty of chances to interact so that map of Varnhold means something more way down the road when their neighbor has problems.

Tiressia and Falchos (dryad, satyr).

In my campaign, she's as close to an Eldest as there could be, and no ordinary fey wants anything to do with that. Just saying her name, invoking a thought of her, could bring really bad things to them. That's why all my fey refer to her in descriptive terms (e.g. the Bride of Autumn). And generally at first they're fine with just letting her do her thing. After all, existence is pretty big and this is just a tiny part of the Second World.

However, fey are complicated. Even the seemingly benign ones don't exist on the same world as the PCs. In my game, these so-called harmless fey killed Breeg for hunting and trapping a few of them by seeing how he liked being crushed in one of his own traps. Because fey are somewhat eternal in the sense they can lose their body but not their essence, they see death differently (they don't want it, but it's just something different). They don't quite get how Second World creatures like humans don't work that way.

With all that in mind, Nyrissa killed their unicorn friend, who doesn't get a new body. That's a problem for some fey as the unicorn didn't make any deals (Contracts) or do anything to justify messing with his body. Nyrissa has done something taboo. They just don't know what to do about it because normally that's something the Eldest would handle. So at first, once they trust the "bigguns" aren't like the rest, they might let slip a few things that bother them, very indirectly (e.g. there's a dead champion of the forest you should see). They want to know how Second World creatures react.

Late campaign, friendly ones who don't want their Second World friends to lose who they are (aka die) might get more direct, and this might end up costing one of them their existence (e.g. introducing Zuddinger's Picnic book before Book 6, or relating there's bad things coming and the PCs are better off moving, or a hint not to trust so and so).

Who is the "big N"?

The Big Bad of the entire campaign, Nyrissa, common nickname for her used more often when players browsed the forums just as much as the GMs. Also can be a GM roleplay technique for friendly fey who may be aware there's something out there but won't mention a name, not even a nickname, for fear of drawing her attention.

I'm also of the opinion the Stag Lord worships no one. He has no shrine at his base (which is sorta a former place of worship that he despoiled), and the one person who exemplified the gawds in his life - his father - is a vile arse that he hates.

My experience is people tend to take combat-based traits when possible. If you hint at some benefits (e.g. a buyer might offer pre-adventure to purchase accurate maps contingent on their accuracy), or if they're story-based, all fine otherwise.

Mapping should be a big deal. The PCs don't have aerial photography and satellites.

The Wriggling Man keeps in motion, flying around the room invisibly as a move action after each time he casts an attack spell on the PCs each round so that it’s difficult to track his position.

I presume the Tactics section meant to include he casts his 8th level "Quickened Greater Invisibility" so this tactic would work. Otherwise, he'd have to active the Ring as a standard action each time.

Depending on how your game goes, my Hargulka monster kingdom built up from a small operation to expansion, eventually coming across an ancient castle that they used slave labor and their enhancements (in my game, if one were to eat a fey, they might have a chance of absorbing an aspect of that fey...my BBEG is supplying Hargulka with a constant supply of Boggles as they have a fire resistant trait).

The trolls didn't at the beginning have the numbers to maintain the castle, but gradually they add lizard folk, the frog people, and other allies (wherein the PCs have a chance to exploit the divisions between those allies if they didn't prevent the alliance in the first place).

Anyhoo, could Fort Feilong be something discovered and too large for their numbers but perfect for a restoration project?

Also, your mass combat could begin small, with Hargulka testing them with a slave levy of goblins or the like. He can't risk too much because his control over alliances is tentative and he has to constantly juggle things like trolls wanting to eat his allies.

I've run this through under 1E rules and am currently running a 5E conversion, so a lot will depend on how much the DM plays up Brevoy and Iobarian history. Regardless, the more immersion a character has, the more enjoyable the story can be.

Desna plays little role in the Greenbelt. Otherwise, Gorum and Erastil have heavy influences. There's nothing to keep you from wondering, for example, if Erastil's influence with animals contributes in some way to your mystery.

There are no known lycanthropic communities and as a minor spoiler only 1 known preset lycanthropic event in all 6 modules. Even so, the frontier attracts those who otherwise would be outcasts, who form their own settlements or hunt the land in a simple but harsh existence. So, a man might be possessed of strange powers that would be condemned in a city but come in handy to the farmers, hunters, and settlers in the Greenbelt. Such a man might be more valuable to those who obtained a charter to scout those lands and/or connect with its settlers.

As such, the setting really opens itself to any race, any background.

That all said, my players and I agreed on a more political "game of thrones" style game focusing heavily on Brevoy. Given Brevoy is a human nation, anyone who wanted to be a baron/ess and immerse in that story (e.g. alliances, marriages) would tend to be human.

First campaign? Whew, this one is a handful but worth it. These forums contain enough wisdom to take good modules and make them great. I'd venture it's one of the top forums about any module...ever.

That said, you can call a "kingdom" whatever you want. It's just a placeholder name for whatever you're building.

I'll also echo wisdom on these forums that kingdom-building will be fun...at first. It will become a chore very soon (so much so that you'll need a computer program to track the numbers, which not all players will enjoy) and consider simply abandoning the kingdom building rules in Pathfinder by the end of Rivers Run Red.

Beyond that, too much to cover, and you're already well on your way. I ran this one once, largely as written with a bit of help on these forums, and I'm running it 10 years later after spending dozens of hours taking the best I could find here. Totally worth it. Kingmaker can be a blast.

Name: Doro & Mako
Race: Human, Tiefling
Classes/Levels: Paladin 4, Warlock 4
Adventure: RRR
Location: wilderness hex near town
Catalyst: a bag of beans from randomly rolled loot
The Gory Details: A bag of beans is an old D&D and AD&D magic item where if you plant the magic bean, something comes out of the earth. It fits a setting with fey and wondrous events pretty well. The party was playing around with it in town and summoned pink toads that if touched turned into random monsters. So, safety first, they took their new item out of town, with a researcher to document results, in the hopes they might trigger a more fantastic bean, like Jack & the Beanstalk.

Instead, they summoned a small pyramid with a CR16 Mummy Lord that proceeded, when they explored, to slay two of them before the rest wisely fled.

The remaining beans then were summarily dumped over the side of a tower (they had identified the item enough to know if you dump all the beans out, they simply explode). And, now I have a nasty high-level mummy caster who animated a few bodies and left his tiny cage. He doesn't like forests. Maybe he'll find Vorkdakai...

...about half the attractions are intimately linked to those evil lumberjacks. Why is that?

Advertising pays the bills. The consortium is the primary sponsor of the event and gets prime real estate for public relations, to foster good will, and even hire workers.

These adventures are limited by word count, but I could totally see the Consortium PR folks handing out candy to kids, sponsoring drawings (win a free house), and so on. The PCs may know they're corrupt at the top, but no one else cares when they have a chance at at free house.

To further throw off suspicion ("gee, a carnival, I bet something bad happens because the GM is getting out that creepy module"), I've had the carnival pass through, setup business arrangements, meet with sponsors, etc. A couple years later, I drop a hint that Quinn's wife died but the show is still going on, just local tea-house gossip.

Name: Hilda
Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Paladin 1st
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: Sycamore Tree
Catalyst: insulting the gawd of xvarts (my replacement for mites)
The Gory Details: Taking the kobold side of things, the group was merrily marching through enemy territory and through knowledge checks knew a bit about xvart history (their god was a powerful demon that stole from Graz'zt and in order to avoid destruction split itself into the xvart race, which is possessed of his thieving nature to make itself stronger). When they reached the enemy center, a packed house, the group's bard insulted their gawd, leading to a "no enemy left alive" proclamation by their leader and a PC gruesome death in the carnage that ensued.

I'm way behind on these, so no I didn't have mass killing of named characters in one setting!

Name: Halt
Race: Half-Elf
Classes/Levels: Ranger 1st
Adventure: Stolen Lands
Location: random hex
Catalyst: random encounter with a "dirlagraun" (displacer beast)
The Gory Details: Dangerous things roam the lands, and the mythical predator that fey loathe got ahold of the party's scout. Usually the first to lead, he was the last to run and it got ahold of him, prompting the rest of the group to turn and pull off a miracle revenge killing. Later, fey would repay this feat by leading them to mythical Tir Gwydd (where the concept for fey reincarnation was had).

Sorry if this is thread necromancy.

It's never thread necromancy with the obit section! Makes me realize I owe the campaign a few.

"Undeal" is a term I use in my games when dealing with fey. It's like Rumplestiltskin - if you can guess his name, you can break the deal he has over you.

It's not in the adventure as written.

I have used this all over my game when dealing with fey, including a fey bazaar where the deals looked good, but eventually there's a catch.

With Syntira, in my game they've met her before through Tyg and Perlivash, who invite them to a wacky fey fair held by the Summer Court (who are opposed to the BBEG Nyrissa but won't speak of her and won't directly oppose her). She holds much anger about the "second world" humanoids breaking a prior deal of some kind, and this anger transfers to any current rulers. I used the text from Carnival of Tears to foreshadow around level 2 when she gives her angry speech.

I also dropped hints that all fey deals have an undeal, a way out. The players have found out fey deals are usually not good for them, and they are familiar with how hard it is to find the undeal.

This way, down the road, it makes more sense that Syntira is willing to help, if she sees them doing "good" deeds. It's part of the "undeal" (that those who broke the fey deal could avoid retribution if they did certain good deeds by the fey who brokered the deal). She and many fey are still angry, but this helps.

Yeah, a failing in many modules to have great backstory but never suggest a way to incorporate/foreshadow it.

I dropped hints at:

1. Nettle's Crossing. Davik kept a log of travelers. His early logs include passage for Nugrah and his son (no name), and he inserts a side note complaining about the abuse Nugrah commits on his "boy." Years later, he logs bandits, including the Stag Lord, and puts in a question mark "Nugrah's boy?"

2. The druid Oakbrown (from Felnight Queen module) who is an NPC in my game that lives in the Narlmarches and may interact with the party, perhaps warning them to keep an eye out for a man calling himself Nugrah. Nugrah is a druid who was part of a sect that didn't allow marriage. The druid did it anyways and his wife died in childbirth, making the druid's heart dark and twisted. He hasn't seen Nugrah for over a decade but knows Nugrah had a boy. Oakbrown doesn't trust the party enough to reveal the full story of how the druids handled Nugrah, but this may change if they find the unicorn and bring it to his attention, or handle a fey encounter (I inserted quite a few) positively. He won't just volunteer the additional info.

3. An abandoned hut in the woods that Nugrah used to live at and that local hunters avoid, good shelter for the party when exploring, especially if you use environment (e.g. if you're caught out in the rain, can't get a good night's rest). It still has an alcove shrine that no one disturbs with a faded drawing of a woman who died years ago (his wife) and a clear but ancient bloodstain in the center of the wooden hut floor. Local hunters can say its haunted and they don't disturb it. The old timers that sell at Oleg's say a crazy man killed a child after his wife died in childbirth believing he could bring his wife back. It's said the local druids handled it, because they didn't see the guy around these parts again.

4. Stag Lord Lieutenant (perhaps Akiros) reveals the Stag Lord was horribly scarred by his father with acid and likes to tell stories of his father's "love" when he's about to hand out discipline. "...He liked to bend one of my fingers back until it felt it was about to break...got my attention fast. Real fast...and I'm itching to figure out how to get your attention so this problem don't happen again..."

As long as players know they had an "undeal," or a fair shot at whatever you throw at them, should be good. Foreshadowing, makes you look like genius if it later comes into play when players remember (especially if you have a player who takes notes and you don't have to prompt them) something that saves the day.

I would keep Syntira as she foreshadows how scared the other fey are of N. introduced Syntira early during a random encounter where the PCs stumbled onto a fey party, thanks to their prior relationship with Tyg and Perlivash.

It was a trippy experience, but the Queen (thanks to Tyg and Perlivash) gave her word no misfortune would befall them. She however, didn't hold back her feelings during a non-sensical game of nonsense (a board game where the rules appeared made up, but all fey took it seriously).

I used some of the dialog from the adventure. She's angry. The Fey are angry. In my campaign, Syntira represents the Summer Court, a group more in sync with the Second World. She had a deal with a prior kingdom (long gone) that she considers binding with the current settlers. They hanged her dryads, the bandit lord turned one of Vinroot's friends into a table, they indiscriminately killed her kind where they found them.

She doesn't care or distinguish time, or that was another generation. She knows the Second World can't be trusted. Yet, for the generosity shown to her friends, she will say all deals have an "undeal." This foreshadows the point system the PCs can get during the Carnival.

Ultimately, like all fey in the area, N is off-limits. She is "she who cannot be named" or talked about. If they do, they draw her attention. The dead unicorn is just the one the PCs know about. She doesn't talk about it, and it's clear that's anathema to her.

As for Nyrissa as a counselor, absolutely!!!

In my campaign, she's been behind the scenes building up and then finding ways to destroy kingdoms (I'm using the 1000 grains of sand, and each one must be unique in order to entertain the Eldest). It's in her best interest to see Hargulka grow and fail, the PCs, the Sootscales, the Stag Lord, Pitax, and so on. It's up to the DM when the kingdom reaches a level that fits her needs.

Currently, one of my PCs has agreed to a wedding with Rhoswyn (Fellnight Queen adventure), in which she's modified to by N's daughter. She has her own agenda (getting free) but seduced the PC with promises of teaching him the ways of the First World and uniting the fey and 2nd world. She can only appear to him during the 3 days of the full moon and Samhain (fantasy Celtic holiday at end of year, 3 days). I'm waiting to see how this turns out...

Yes, not really, and no.

If you use the default rules, no. If you get Buhlman's Legendary Games accessory for kingdom building and warfare, then yes and not really. Your buildings increase population of the kingdom, which influences how many troops you can recruit at a given time. Otherwise, it's your call.

Not every gamer is going to prefer this level of micromanagement, so if the better answer is to make it whatever your group wants, then that's the best answer. For me, I am running heavy-fey influenced campaign currently. I have a 3rd party book with a city influenced by fey.

So, as the fledgling kingdom develops, when they build the Inn, I populate it with a specific Inn from that book, and I mix it into the adventure (e.g. making Lily Teskertin the new owner). My gamers like seeing the village grow from the ground up, to get to know the people taking a chance on them on the frontier.

Everything you do should make for cool adventure, not bookkeeping, which will exhaust your players. So, if you're concerned about population or who is in the Inn, think why. If your Inn has guests that lead to further adventure, fantastic.

*On one of our adventures, the party sent its wizard invisibly into the Inn to listen to gossip because someone(s) was riling up the craftsmen, drawing obscene graffiti about the ruler, and skimming taxes. He made the bad choice to try and pilfer Lily Teskertin's keys and missed, hitting her rear end in the process. This led to a debacle where he fled out the kitchen door, still invisible, and the village-wide search for the "invisible pervert." The PCs turned this to their advantage by having their Wizard go door-to-door casting pretend-security spells to ward off the "invisible pervert," and giving them an excuse to search houses. This paid off because he found one of their tax collectors dipped into some finances, at first for personal gain. Then he noticed poor people couldn't pay their taxes, cut them a break, and made up the difference of the theft and charity by overtaxing some of the craftsmen. Of course, the craftsmen wanted blood, and the wife and children of the tax guy wanted mercy for doing "right" versus what was "lawful."*

It challenged me, that's for sure. The story was well done with obvious inspiration from this forum (Dudemeister's monstrous kingdom anyone?!, foreshadow Nyrissa early), strategizing character building was time consuming but what I wanted for my difficulty setting, and while some complained the pace of "s$*$e that will destroy your kingdom" was a bit high, I didn't mind. I wasn't playing Civilization. I was playing "survive by the seat of my pants against all odds."

Truth!

This forum is the best resource on the net for Kingmaker and the creativity of the DMs here I directly credit to making me a better DM. I would never have ventured into the realms I am now without them.

Having run it 1x (Pathfinder rules) and currently (5E rules), one universal remains on hexploration that I cannot stress enough!

Abandon it, at worst, part-way through the 2nd module.

I had a table by terrain, largely from these forums, and I'd have something unique (might lead to adventure if the PCs make it an adventure) and mark where (e.g. North East of Hex Q).

However, after the PCs have a kingdom started, it will become more of a chore and less of an adventure to catalog hexes filled with meaningless flavor text about beautiful waterfalls. They should have hunters, Jubilost, and others doing that 1st level stuff for them.

I gave up on the release as well and am well into an awesome reboot of Kingmaker (last DM'd it 10 years ago and really was hoping for this anniversary special for a new group in a new town, but alas!)

Myrna Surtova (Nikos's daughter) marries Choral and begets a child. Choral vanishes and the Rogarvian line rules. I'm using Damir's timeline for my campaign and the twist that Nyrissa has the Rogarvian line in soul jars, leaving an end-of-campaign major decision for PCs that would likely decide if Brevoy descends into civil war, if it hasn't already.

Nice!

My players couldn't go that road as I changed the Roc into a "spirit of the land." If they can understand its nature and prove themselves, they can earn its gifts, opening a door into "Nomen" culture.

Update

Ran our session and had Nyrissa through a painting offer the services of a dragon (Ilthuliak) to the barony, playing on her religious creed (and some unique shops, with the affirmation some had an interest in seeing their land thrive). Player immediately accepted.

Next morning, Grigori was doing his thing, riling up the crowds, yet again. The PCs had just settled down to counter his growing influence by plying the crowd with free beer and not being goaded by his words. Then, Ilthuliak came, landed in the town commons, announced there would be no traitors, and sprayed Grigori's front row admirers with acid.

When the dust settled, the dragon circled the town for hours, then the countryside, attacking no more. Many were dead, Grigori had a leg burned off (saved by the PCs, who sent him back to whatever master they believed sent him), and over the next few days, fear settled upon the fledgling barony. Yet, not all were upset. Settlers from Brevoy clashed with River Kingdom folk in the belief you respect your lords, not draw obscene graffiti of them. Others praised the safety on the roads now that word was a dragon was patrolling.

Of course, not all will be well. Once word spreads a dragon is around, dragon hunters of the worst type may come as well as every idiot with a sword hoping to make a name.

Plus, the "shop" ended up being a First World bazaar where the fey offer special "deals" that appear fantastic at first, but always have hidden catches. Our PCs accepted many of these...including the Ruler who took a 24 year aging hit and up to 1 minute per day may be summoned away (like a summon monster spell) to serve the fey lord he made a deal with. Of course, the people went in too, and it's not good.

Probably the craziest session I've had in the last decade or more. I love Kingmaker.

And, I've still got the wedding offer in my pocket for another day!

Nice ideas! You're right on PC paranoia as they've grown up with local peasants voicing peasant wisdom about never making a deal with the fey. However, they've had some favorable encounters with fey. I think if presented with a Rumplestiltskin scenario, they'd just pass and hope for the best. But if something else...

Fey Bride

This one intrigues me. In our "Capital Venture" dealing, the PCs made a deal with the church that their ruler would marry within 5 years. Nyrissa already knows the PCs have had dealings with the fey, so there's some they trust. She can play on this - masquerade as a "queen of the Summer Court" and marry the PC to some minion - so the PCs believe they're uniting the First and Second World. Very "Excalibur" (movie) like tones. A "Lost Prince/ess" would open up a whole new storyline!

My other brainstorm was a private visit with our Paladin of Vengeance to offer up a dragon (Choral the Conqueror tones) to quell unrest (Ilthuliak?) Of course, the dragon does what's in the best interest of the kingdom, which is whatever Nyrissa wants (and that's to raise this one up, then dash it down in a unique way to entertain the Eldest).

True, precedent. We missed last week's session so expect this weekend to have Nyrissa in another guise present a deal. My PCs are extremely leery of taking deals with fey, so still looking at what she could do to "curb unrest" while still binding the PCs kingdom to one of her whims.

Question: Should Nyrissa help a fledgling kingdom?

Background:

If anyone is still out there, kingdom Unrest is a death spiral for a fledgling kingdom. My players through some unlucky rolls are trapped in this spiral. RAW, not many great options to get out of it, even with housing, as we used a "Capital Venture" and promises to build certain things that are no longer affordable.

I've gone with the BBEG option similar to what the CRPG ended up with:

In doing so, it's a complex dance. Our BBEG needs the kingdoms to rise, then fall, and fall in a particular way. Thus far, she has her hands in:

* Stag Lord (KIA before his kingdom got going)
* Hargulka
* Irrovetti (who is trying to find a way to thwart her)
* Sootscales (through Tartuk, plan failed mostly because he's so crazy his revenge overwhelmed her plots)

Brainstorming:

So, in a twisted way, Nyrissa needs kingdoms to succeed (to a predetermined point), then boom. Should I introduce her in an "offer they can't refuse" scenario? I also play a fey-heavy campaign, and one big theme for my fey is that every deal has an "undeal" (a way to get out of it that may not be obviously known, think Rumplestiltskin, etc.) If so, thoughts on how this all might play out?

I know it's a bit of a repeating topic, but here I am looking for advice for a Kingmaker campaign with an evil group.

I agree with @Spatula that there's very little you would need to change because the game envisioned good and evil kingdoms. The threats will come regardless of the party's alignment, and evil doesn't have to be about slaughtering anything good. It's about selfish gain of power, and that's easy to do. People will still flock to strength once the PCs take over.

How Brevoy reacts, however, should be considered. After all, it's the new neighbor to the north and could easily squash a pesky upstart kingdom (if it weren't so consumed by the threat of civil war and who will occupy the throne!)

Book 1: The Greenbelt is left blank in several places for you to add stuff. So, consider adding an evil temple. Who says all the prior kingdoms that may have been in this land were all good? Same with Jhod. The kingdom will have more leadership roles to fill than players. So, the PCs need to make friends they trust. Why not make Jhod a dark priest sympathetic to their cause, perhaps looking for his enemy's temple to desecrate and convert to his own?

Between Book 1 and Book 2: The "capital venture" was our last play session. I would do this a bit differently, however. I intended on roleplaying each offer, but that took way too much time. Instead, I would put a time limit to "work the room" and print out each offer along with a chart of each NPC (which I did eventually). This way, players have to split up to make deals, giving each player a chance to make decisions, instead of what happened at my table. The game slowed down as every deal had to be talked about and voted on.

Book 2: Hargulka is a great enemy. To him, the PCs are a food source, not allies simply because they both tend evil. Personally, I'd leave him as is.

Beyond that, really, everything works regardless of alignments. As to the Barbarians, they're just opportunistic thanks to their belief in Armag, so not evil. Drelev is a wimp, and Pitax might actually be the kingdom protecting everyone from the big threat (if you use some alternate versions others have).

I really like Sunderstones idea about a siege at Oleg's. Having some Guards inside that can't break the Siege is an awesome twist on the first Encounter at Olegs.

My current party had to save the post 2x. Since the AP provides no direct reason to speed things up, I had the Stag Lord send a band to retake the fort as the PCs were floating around, scouting his base. He's got the numbers (able to attract 1d6 a day).

I think I will go along with the Idea of a new Charter. Does by any chance someone now if there is a Part of the AP where to get more Information about the Current Situation in Restov and which Charakters should be there. The Current Swordlord etc.

The AP isn't too descriptive about Restov as it's not a place the PCs are supposed to visit (often). However, that didn't stop some amazing DMs from coming up with ideas. If you look at Redcelt32's posts, he turned the Swordlords and Houses into a Game of Thrones. I'm using that concept now, and it rocks. Because it spans dozens of posts, too much to summarize here. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but here's my DM Notes for Brevoy politics.

I could see another House convincing Surtova (the regency) to issue the charter to another party as clearly the Swordlords sponsor was a poor choice. Depending on how the players want to play it, perhaps they are secretly Swordlord agents, perhaps they are loyalists, perhaps they are black sheep who the House needs out of their way (but who knows, maybe they'll succeed, low risk to the House, chance for a big payoff), and so on.

The Swordlords benefit from an independent PC kingdom in the south because it secures their borders in the event of civil war. If House Surtova or one loyal to it were to get a garrisoned barony in place, it could end the movement. Could end up the Swordlords become a hostile political force to the new party!

That's the fun and brilliance of expanding Brevoy's politics.

Ouch on the wipe!

So a few options:

1. Not everyone died. An NPC (anyone you definitely want the party to meet) found one of the PCs in time to save them and nursed them back to health. The NPC does so because of what bandits did to their family, loved ones, their forest (e.g. druid or fey). Anytime you are opting to use a DM device to bring someone back, talk it over with all the players. You're doing this for story purposes, and they're the ones who make the story and should choose whether this happens, and if so, who survives. When using a plot device to circumvent death, use very sparingly as the game will lose its luster if players feel death isn't actually a risk.

2. Feywild. The Greenbelt has a heavy fey influence where worlds sometimes cross over. Perhaps Tuskgutter is no ordinary giant boar, and those mortals it slays are sent to a First World realm for the continued amusement of whatever denizens you see fit and however you see fit. Given the capricious nature of fey to ever seek new experiences, this might not be a combat-based encounter. The prize for circumventing whatever you put in their way might be new bodies (in my game, we ran an entire encounter where the origin of the "reincarnation" spell was traced to the fey, and a dead PC earned a new body this way, albeit at a cost...he had to listen to a secret given by the Witte Joffers - or whatever unique fey fits your mythology - and be bound never to reveal it lest his soul return. If you think learning the truth about something isn't a bad thing...

3. Dead is Dead. But the cause isn't lost. The dead party's actions of striking against the bandits inspires some locals, who for various reasons have retreated to live in the Greenbelt. They meet at Oleg's after one of them found the remains (allowing them to start with perhaps a valuable piece of equipment, as you see fit, as well as maps). Although they don't know if the charter will benefit them, they either pose as the PCs (interesting deceit) for the greater good, or they send word to Restov and hope for the best.

4. New Charter. A year has passed and the Greenbelt claims another. Kesten Garess, Oleg, Svetlana (and any other PCs they've met) gather in Restov to beseech the Swordlords (or other sponsors) to re-engage the charter with a new band. This could be heirs, family members, best friends, whatever ties PCs into the story.

Depending on how you handle XP, you could start them at level 2 given the encounters you've had already and probably some exploring would have most parties at this level.

Ran this almost 10 years ago and running it again. One of my gamers took me aside and said he thought his character would not be able to resist putting the eye into his own socket. He volunteered his character to become a PC to see where the story took us. Huge sacrifice.

While I wouldn't see fey searching for this (doesn't really fit their nature), FWCain's suggestion rocks. This is an epic evil artifact, and every bad guy worth their credentials will want it. You could run a simultaneous kingdom event (though by this time, it's likely become a chore) demoralizing loyalty or stability due to the talk and rumors, as well as bands of seedy bandits and various creatures hoping to make their career on this.

If the PCs can't do something about it (or won't), perhaps the item ends up in the...claws...of an entrepreneur night hag who runs her own criminal empire, dealing in artifacts and souls. Now, the fey (good or bad) are also in this game because items like this don't resonate well with them. Perhaps the PCs find some dark-fey nemesis is also working against the night hag enterprise.

I'm currently running KM (using D&D 5E rules) and the "15 minute" adventuring day encourages players to burn all their resources in the battles we have knowing, absent a dungeon crawl, there's little incentive to save up. It's making combats rather lop-sided and random encounters a chore. For me, it's not the treasure output, it's the monotony.

So, a good dungeon crawl or two would be a good idea. In return, I'd reduce the amount of "hexploration" to compensate, perhaps by finding old maps, 3-D models of some areas, a venerable elf/dwarf who knows the area, and so on.

I'm plugging in dungeons from stuff I never got around to running when I played Pathfinder, including Carrion Crown's Harrowstone Prison for Candlemere Island, Crimson Throne's "A History of Ashes" to supplement the Centaur region, and I've expanded the Lonely Warrior's story based on these forums.

So, that's my tactic as we go along: plug & play.

Nice! There's plenty of gems that have gotten lost over the years in these forums (e.g. dead links), good to see that one back.

I am however having Quentessa be hired to sing and entertain here and that is where Hannis will meet her and become acquainted which will be interesting if the remember her when its revealed later that she and him have an affair.

Foreshadowing is always awesome. I'm running an early Rushlight Tournament (where nothing bad happens) while the PCs are still appropriate levels to be doing such things, and I'm snatching that bit of foreshadowing for that event!

While not specifically session zero, it's super critical to foreshadow big N...

Absolutely. The idea (later used in the computer game) that she was cursed for her crimes against the fey originated on these forums. My linked DM notes have a history based on those ideas where, like the CRPG, she is tasked with toppling 1000 kingdoms (however you define those), and in mine, each manner of destruction must be unique (so as to artistically entertain the fey lords).

She ideally is behind virtually every rising and falling kingdom, including the Bandit Lord (he didn't get far enough to count), Hargulka (a must use idea), perhaps even Tartuk and the Sootscale Kobolds (raise them into a horde and conquer these lands), the fall of Varnhold (by awakening Vordekai), and she took aim at Pitax but Irovetti has deduced she's something ill and has taken steps to thwart her efforts against him.

Each agent should be "fey touched" in some way. This could be an item (e.g. a ring woven of her hair), a deformity, a power, or even allies (e.g. will o wisp advisors). They don't refer to N by name, but it'll become clear something is moving pieces in these regions. If you run the Forest Kingdom's Campaign adventures (an awesome supplement designed specifically for Kingmaker by a writer of a Kingmaker module), there's one about the Unicorn (they were going to tattle on N so she had them taken out). It's also possible if you run Fellnight Queen at all, they mistake the BBEG as the ultimate bad guy.

From there, I'd increase the fey presence in these lands, and give the party a chance to meet opposing Courts (not every fey is keen on N, but they all fear her). They can't say her name and can't speak of her quest, but they can let it be known to be careful.

Eventually, the PCs should be visited by an agent of N, designed to subvert their kingdom in some way. Like all fey deals, it appears awesome and impossible to resist, but like all fey deals, there's a hidden catch. Whatever form that may be, all fey deals have an "un-deal" where you can get out of the contract, but few mortals can figure out what it might be.

Here's a plug to my recent Campaign Notes post(we start this weekend actually), having run this 8 years ago and now rebooting with 8 years of amazing resources.

I'm using the Sword and Fire adventure "Wedding Knight" in Session 0, a prequel set 5 years before the start, allowing me to develop a patron to hand out the charter (after all, this is a big deal, the chance possibly to carve out a barony or even kingdom, why the 1st level PCs instead of any number of hundreds of more qualified and connected people?)

At this intro, the other adventuring parties will be there, having already earned their charters. This gives them all a head start to explain why they have developed towns, albeit limited (e.g. Maegar can't solve the Nomen Centaurs so his lands never expand, Drelev has the barbarians and Pitax keeping him from expanding, and the Iron Wraiths, who are not identified so you can make them up, should get some air time even if they later die off or come back seeking help for a failed venture in the Capital Venture part).

Also linked is my "Capital Venture" deals from this forum, replacing the "automatic 50 BP" and turning that into a night of wheeling and dealing. To help track all these NPCs, there's a visual of NPCs who offer aid.

In summary, I'd foreshadow:

* The other adventuring groups
* A future NPC such as Oleg or Svetlana. From redcelt32's notes, I'm having Oleg retire (injury) from the guard of the noble patron to retire with Svetlana (his future wife) on the border to live free from all the politics of Brevoy.
* Brevoy! This setup of noble houses and brewing civil war is too rich to not use, yet in the adventures as written, it is largely forgotten. The party should leave with some understanding that there's politics involved with the charter, and if Surtova and the other big Houses feel a hostile puppet nation is being set up to the south by the Aldori Swordlords, it could trigger war.

Thanks! Looking at my original notes, barebones and I could've done more. A buddy sold off a bunch of his old Pathfinder stuff, so have looked through the Shoanti and like what I see. Will probably keep it centaurs (the monster vs. man thing) and if the PCs want the trust and help of the centaurs, they're going to have to do a lot more than simply a Kankerata run. After all, the "Simbani" have had a pretty negative experience for many years with Varnhold.

Currently working on a Rushlight Festival (no invasion) for lower levels a year or two after the kingdom is going and Pitax takes notice. A chance for Irovetti to size up his neighbors, and perhaps even plant the idea of independence from being a barony of Brevoy.