Wolfgang Volos's page

I've been working on making my encounters suck less. To that end I've developed some Encounter Seeds. The bare mote of an idea for a scene or event for the players to stumble upon, or for that scene/event to stumble upon them. My list so far is rather extensive but I feel there is still room for improvement. They are very simple but set the tone for a random encounter that may or may not develop into a fight, roleplay scene, or series of skill checks. So, here is my Encounter Seeds as they are so far. If anyone else has some ideas for some, especially non-combat encounters, I'd love to see them.

...and the Greenbelt, the Nomen Heights, the Slough, and the Glenebon Uplands.

I'm curious as to what terrains you determined existed within your Kingmaker run in the varrious Stolen Lands. The rules for Kingdom Building include Cavern, Coastline, Desert, Forest, Hills, Jungle, Marsh, Mountains, Plains, and Water. As best as I can tell running Kingmaker will only call for the use of a handful of these. I'd like to use Jungle but I'm not sure if there is any locations that would qualify. Perhaps the forests closest to the marshes of the Hooktongue Slough? Desert is right out, as there isn't anywhere that should be that barren of water in these River Kingdoms. I could see an argument for the lands bordering Numeria or just north of the Tors of Levenies. Thoughts?

As a GM I really enjoy the roleplaying aspect of tabletop gaming. Becoming different characters comes easily for me and I know my players love seeing me go from gruff old man one minute to tiny cute fey the next. Something I've used in other campaigns to aid in this endeavor is the Face Cards product from Paizo. Unfortunately there wasn't such a product for Kingmaker. I'm guessing this adventure path came out well before all those kinds of accessories became commonplace for later campaigns. I have, however, gotten somewhat lucky and I wish to share this luck with you.

I found an online campaign journal thrown up by another GM with very interesting face art for all the major nobles and other important NPCs. Example of such face art here. The circular borders around the faces are very detailed but I can't seem to find them anywhere online. If anyone recognizes these borders, let me know so I can collect the rest. For now I'm planning on using these to represent the heads of each noble house as the players reach Rivers Run Red.

We're using
Erik Freund's Venture Capital and Redcelt's Game of Thrones in Brevoy, so knowing who they are talking to as well as what they look like and which noble house they belong to will be very useful.

Has anyone else used face cards or similar representations other than miniatures to represent characters during roleplay for Kingmaker? My group has a tendency to ask questions first and fight later so we end up roleplaying a lot and running combat only when necessary.

My players have done a goof. We intended to have a 'Law and Order' style game set in Cheliax with a group of Lawful Evil Characters. What we got was some trigger happy Asmodeans burning an outdoor play stage and assaulting actors for insulting their god. It was a right mess. So now my players are arrested by the Hellknights and await trial. So I guess I had to come up with a system for holding a trial in game. Here's what I came up with so far. Please, please, please be critical and give me any advice or ideas you have to make this better. Next session is on the 8th of April, where we will see just how well this all works.

The Player Characters, or their Lawyer(s), will use skill checks at crucial points of the Trial to argue their case. These will be opposed by the skill checks of the Prosecution. I've come up with the following uses for skill checks for defendants, but they are by no means the only interpretation. Still haven't worked out how these skill checks work for the prosecution.
Bluff - Arguing Innocence from Accusation
Diplomacy - Arguing Justification of Actions
Intimidate - Attempt to Discredit Opposition
Knowledge (Local or Nobility) or Profession (Barrister) - Use obscure law to prove actions were not illegal

The opposed skill checks will happen during the following crucial points of the Trial. I've basically just pulled these from watching alot of Law and Order, not sure if they are general enough.
Structure of Trial Proceedings
1) Opening Statements
2) Allegations of Crime
3) Witness(es) to Alleged Crime(s)
4) Evidence of Alleged Crime(s)
5) Testimony of The Accused
6) Closing Statements

Winning the opposed skill checks with the opposition's lawyer will grant Victory Points. The number of points is determined by the difference between the final results of the skill checks. Defeating the opposition by 1 to 5 points grants 1 VP. 6 to 10 is 2 VP. 11 to 15 is 4 VP. And more than 16 is 6VP.

There will be opportunities to use superior legal knowledge or a keen eye to launch an Objection against the opposition. These may only be attempted during the Witness, Evidence, and Testimony portions of the Trial. Using Sense Motive, Knowledge(Local/Nobility), or Profession(Barrister) the PCs or their Lawyers can detect violation of the rules of evidence or other procedural law. This is opposed by Bluff, Knowledge(Local/Nobility), or Profession(Barrister). Success means the opposition loses 2 VP. Further successful Objections only loses the opposition 1 VP.

If the Prosecution has more VP at the end of the trial, then the accused are convicted of their crimes. If the difference between Prosecution and Defendant is profound (5 or more) they may be sentenced harshly or charged with additional crimes. If the Defendants have more VP at the end of the trial, then they are acquitted of their alleged crimes. If the difference between Defendant and Prosecution is profound (5 or more) then they are vindicated and may be in a position to launch a counter suit for defamation.

(( I've been playing around with the idea of moving away from the opposed skill checks. Perhaps there would be a DC each side rolls against, based on country, settlement, and Judge. Success means each side earns VP based on Skill check and how far over the DC they go. Perhaps extra VP for rolling much higher than the opposition. And still having an Objection system for taking VP away from the opposition. ))

I have a player who wants to play a Sorcerer with a bloodline power that says it deals 1d6+1 per two sorcerer levels. Before he hits higher levels, I want to know if it is (1d6) plus 1 per two levels or if it is (1d6 plus 1) per two levels. Basically would a second level sorcerer deal 1d6+2 or would they deal 2d6+2? The power is the Elemental Spit ability of the Draconic Bloodline alternative first level power through the Linnorm Bloodline, but this would also apply to the elemental bloodline as well. I tried my google-fu and my paizo-fu but it failed me horribly, my apologies.

I've been running Pathfinder for a long while, and in all of that time I have felt something was missing. Why it is that any spell-caster gets to control the battlefield or take advantage of environmental situations but a melee guy or skill monkey can't seem to keep up? Was there something fundamentally wrong with the game balance? Or was there something that could be done? This is when I came up with the idea of a Skill Maneuver.

Let me know what you think, good or bad. I have run through several versions of this and this is the one I think I want to start playtesting before my new campaign starts up in a few weeks. Any feedback would be great, questions can only help, and your ideas are probably better than mine.

tldr: A Skill Maneuver is like a Combat Maneuver but you roll a Skill check vs Combat Maneuver Defense plus your target's Wisdom and Intelligence Bonuses. You declare if you want to deal damage, inflict and condition, or replicate a Combat Maneuver before you roll. At each multiple of 5 above their Skill Maneuver Defense you exceed, you either upgrade damage, add weapon damage, add environmental damage, inflict another condition, or replicate a combat maneuver. This new house-rule makes for a more cinematic exciting game.

I have recently moved to Ridgway PA, about six months ago, and begun running a Kingmaker AP campaign. My group could use another couple of players. We have completed the first book, but I am willing to change the story or flow of the campaign to encompass new characters. As of right now we are playing at 6th level, but that is likely to change as the story progresses. I tend to bend the rules to allow players to play interesting builds or concepts that are outside of the norm. Case in point, my wife is playing a Harrowed Magus who wields a 'Black-Blade' type of Harrow deck as her main weapon, and another player is playing a gun wielding investigator Kitsune from Tian Xai. The third player is just your typical Half-Orc Hunter, nothing really strange or interesting there.

If you have fun build or want to mix a couple of archetypes that normally can't mix, I like to bend or change things to make them as fun and flavorful as possible. Usually this gives more options rather than making a min-maxed crazy powerful character. A good example of this is the gun wielding Investigator Kitsune in my group. He can shape-change into any human visage he's seen due to a feat, and he has two different guns with more ammunition types than I can count. He doesn't really deal alot of damage or do anything crazy, but he has fun and always has an option regardless of what curve balls I throw at him. Those are the kind of characters I like to run with.

I focus on Roleplay first and stats second, and have employed a few interesting house-rules to make combat faster and more fun. Instead of the standard, and in my opinion boring, initiative system I have employed initiative cards. Everyone rolls for Initiative at the beginning of combat, chase, or other turn-based event. The highest roll goes first and is handed a deck of cards with everyone's name or designation (in the case of NPC/Foes) listed on them. After taking their own turn the person will choose a card and allow that person to go next. The very last card in the deck takes the first turn in the next round when the deck is regrouped. Essentially they get two turns in a row. This allows for more strategic play and has seemed to keep everyone interested in combat, chases, or interrogation situations.

A few of my other house rules are in regards to dice rolling, the skill system, and other minor details. Basically if you roll dice they have to be on the table, your sheet, or some over flat surface of the play area. Floor rolls never count, and I may allow or call for re-rolls of cocked dice. With the skill system I will ask you WHAT you are trying to do and HOW you plan to do it. Once I know your INTENT and APPROACH for your proposed action I may or may not call for a skill or ability check. I'm very into team play so if you describe how you want to help even if you aren't trained in the skill, I'll probably allow an aid-another bonus. And for minor details, I tend to make rulings on the fly to keep the game flowing but will look up things later to make sure I was right or close enough. If this changes the interpretation of your character's mechanics in an unfavorable way I will allow retraining or I may just make something up for you. I'd rather have fun than to be 100% RAW and RAI approved in my game play.

Respond here or PM me if you are interesting in joining our group. I have played with all manner of gamers in the past; guys, girls, shy people, outgoing people, and even the non-geeks. If you are interested, I have a spot for you at my table.

I have recently moved to Ridgway PA and begun running a Kingmaker AP campaign. My group could use another couple of players. We are only about halfway through the first book. I tend to bend the rules to allow players to play interesting builds or concepts that are outside of the norm. Case in point, my wife is playing a Harrowed Magus who wields a 'Black-Blade' type of Harrow deck as her main weapon, and another player is playing a gun wielding investigator Kitsune. The third player is just your typical Half-Orc Hunter, nothing really strange or interesting there. I focus on Roleplay first and stats second, and have employed a few interesting houserules to make combat faster and more fun. Respond here or PM me if you are interesting in joining our group.

I've been trying to think of different ways to make Kingmaker more player accessible without breaking my budget. I'm still in Stolen Lands, only two sessions in and my players are already exploring a whole swath of the map. I have printed out two copies of the Hex-ploration map in the Player's Guide to keep track of where they've been, seen, and done. One copy for may players, and one for myself. The problem is that the only person who really gets to see the map is the player who is drawing and dealing with the player's map. At first I thought of making more copies for the other players, but then I realized any discrepancies between the individual maps would cause a lot of confusion at the table.

For now I've come up with a solution that I hope will work. I've taken the images from my digital copy of the Kingmaker Map Folio and cut them into the individual Hexes. I've uploaded these images into my tablet and will present them to the players during the game. I know this is probably just a temporary solution, as the tablet's battery won't likely last the entire session and/or the players will have difficulty viewing it at the same-ish time. Not to mention I'd have to have multiple versions of each map hex; with and without encounter locations listed. I have been able to rip the maps out of the Map Folio without any of the text or labels.

I am looking for a way to bring the exploration map to my players in a way that presents the images in a readily accessible format without costing a lot of money to produce. As of now I have access to... Kingmaker Map Folio, Gimp (free version of Photoshop), Ink-Jet printer, freshly refilled ink for said printer, some 100 odd sheets of Card-stock, and anything else I can find at a craft/hobby store for less that $15. Any ideas for making the maps player accessible? I was toying with the idea of printing and cutting out the hexes but I'm not sure how to attach them to the map during game without the messiness of glue or the ineffectiveness of tacks or something. If I come up with something or if the tablet works my next session I will let you guys know.

I have recently moved from the Poconos to Ridgway, leaving my play group behind in the process. The move has gone well, but there is still something missing. I need to get my gaming on. So I am looking for a group in the Ridgway, Johnsonburg, St. Mary's area of Elk County PA. I am only looking to be a player at this time but six months to a year after I have settled into Ridgway I may start GameMastering again.

I've tried running through Council of Thieves two times now, and I haven't been able run the full adventure either time. The first run was cut short due to players outright quitting and moving away. This, the second run, is being cut short by my sudden moving four hours away. I intended to have enough time to run through all six books, but the time for my departure has been pushed up quite a bit and I've had to adjust accordingly.