Zor D'Lan's page

Here are a few suggestions;

First, we roll the EVENTs at the start of a kingdom month so players can focus some efforts to better resolve them.

Second, I also "pre load" a building into each settlement for the CIVIC phase ... saying its what their locals and/or advisors are asking for. This gives me a chance to help them make a viable kingdom. Plus its just a suggestion, so they can always build whatever they want.

Advice on skill usage for players;

(phases)
COMMERCE
- collect taxes (this can provide a +1 or +2 bonus to all ECONOMY checks for this and possibly next turn!)
- improve lifestyle (as above, but for any CULTURE checks ... which includes a lot of magic related checks)
... and if they do skip collecting taxes, they get a "free" DC:11 roll and if successful, can reduce Unrest by (1).

LEADERSHIP
- Celebrate Holiday (this can provide a +1 or +2 bonus to all LOYALTY checks for this and possibly next turn!)
- Focused Attention (the DC is 20 and never goes up. Players should be using this if nothing better to at least aid in resolving events)
- Prognostication (chance to choose which Event occurs and bonus to resolve events)
- Hire Adventurers (gives a chance/bonus to resolve events)

REGION
- Claim Hex (this might be obvious, but more hexes means more resource dice each turn but a higher DC)
- Establish Farmland (its the only way to counter consumption)
- Go Fishing (RAW; its the only way to earn FOOD commodities since farms merely reduce consumption)

CIVIC
- always be constructing (there is a limit on completed constructions per month, but no limit on buildings under construction and some take months to get enough resources.)

thanks all for the interesting things to consider while running this AP ... as GM, im the only one of my group with actual military background

And I feel the need for a solid grounding in logic and tactics ... so I had to take upon myself to draw up actual maps the region from the start

so the players being sent out on their first mission can understand the lay of the land ... and encouraged them to try resisting the cold without armor protection at first, so they get a feel for it

as for the rank structure, the players squad included;
an outlaw who enlisted to get a pardon
a mercenary grunt who has survivor guilt
a phentomite scout/mechanic the excels at tracking
and lastly, a wild warden technomancer "plant creature"

so ... we role played up their "2 weeks of basic training" prior to the start of the story ... and each was provided a "score" (based on arbitrary things I added up, but players dont know that)

And the mercenary scored highest ... and was promoted to Squad Leader ... aka PRIVATE FIRST CLASS ... enlisted rank 2

and the other (2) were close behind in points and promoted to PRIVATE (each) ... enlisted rank 1 ... and each given a few special items for their class role (which works out best anyhow, since they are new to star finder and the real life youngest of the group)

finally, the "convict" was singled out as "beneath" them on rank structure ... rank 0 ... with no chance for promotion, just a full pardon ... and other team members were warned to "watch out that he doesnt turn on you or try to run off" (which fits his Lawful Evil alignment very well)

so far, has made for some interesting inter-party gossip ... and added to the realism and "internal conflict" for the players

I'm working on creating maps / handouts for the players before they head off on their overnight Patrol ... and another for the Long Slog

thinking of letting them move across the map in (1 hour) increments or something relative ... so they can choose to stick to the roads (reduced to 75% movement due to clogged roads) or risk following their wild warden or scouts advice, and venturing off the roads on trails to try and get better speed and avoid the random swarm patrols harassing those on the road ways

.. all the while doing cold weather checks each hour ... survival checks to avoid loosing their way in the blizzard(s) ... and trying to manage their fatigue before they are all exhausted.

We're playing through the Kingmaker series of adventures and were looking for ways to track our progress over time. And to simplify the math involved with managing a kingdom.

NOTE: Rather than use the stock kingmaker rules, we are using the updated Ultimate Campaign rules.
These tools are all available on the internet for free - but to use them, you would need to host it locally or on the cloud somewhere.

I have setup a "hosted" version of each on the cloud so you can see easily how it works.

Thought I'd share this info in case others find it useful as well.

-- Kingdom HEX Map --
Rob's map tool was perfect for this - and already includes base maps of the Green belt. This made it easy to mark the cleared hexes and track anything of interest.

You can

• tap/click a hex to remove it to reveal the map underneath
• drag icons onto the map from the panel on the left
• move around the pawn icon to represent the current party location
• make other customization's from the drop-down menu.

My example S3 hosted - Kingmaker Map URL

original source

-- Kingdom manager --
Rob already some great work on this tool - but I found it incomplete and so made these changes;

• now displays/calculates the attributes for each Settlement.
• removed the requirement of farms <= roads (nothing in rules say you HAVE to have roads).
• Also added/updated the list of improvements to account for the updates Kingdom Building rules in Pathfinder Ultimate Campaign. (from Paizo site)
• working on adding Government types (currently has no impact)
  

My example S3 hosted - Kingdom Manager URL

original source

NOTE
I'm happy to share the hosted versions of these apps ... but keep in mind it costs $ based on usage in AWS - so I can't guarantee that I'll be hosting it forever. But so long as its not abused, I'll keep hosting it for all to use.

Credits:
Rob Rendell started all of this work. He gets all the credit. I just updated the resources a bit to fit our needs.