I'm starting a Kingmaker campaign this weekend and I was wondering if anyone had some ideas on how to start it up besides going "Here's your Charters and now we start at Oleg's, oh and btw you have been working together for awhile now."
Ideas I've had so far have been that they were summoned to the Kingdom to receive their Charters, or summoned to compete in a Tournament and the winner(s) get to pick their groups. If more than one PC wins they do a mock fight to see which one gets to pick the group.
But i'm open to any other ideas as well, as i'm still trying to figure out how to begin with the Tournament idea.
Any help will be appreciated.
My players in group one all grew up together, so that was easy, they started out in town where they were received by the towns officials to receive their charter (and have a short meeting with 2 other groups: Varn and the wraiths). 3 of the group were of the same religion (inquisitor, cleric and paladin) and had been ordered to go their by the chuch of Iomedae, the other two were asked along by them because of their skills (druid and scout)
Group 2: a down on hs luck, completly broke noble and his ex-servant headed out there to try to find their fortune, get saved by the other player during a 'bandit ambush'
i had heard through the guys over at Chronicles: the pathfinder podcast that there were a lot of great handouts/visuals that you could get here. i am about to start up the first adventure in kingmaker and after going 1/2 way through the stickied stolen lands thread i still haven't seen anything...getting some good advice thought i don't have time at the moment to go through the rest of the thread (though i will later on tonight) i was just wondering if someone could point me in a direction of how to find some.
in the main forum: top right hand box says 'forum search'... type in handouts, press enter..... should be something there to spark your intrest ;-)
Her lesser minions carry a ring made of green hair embedded in amber (similar to what Bobson said), one of my players, a half elven rogue also has a similar (very ancient) ring which she got from her elven mother as a family heirloom, so in her family history there has been some dealings with Nyrissa too.
Secondly: I've stolen the briarhearts from Skyrim as a plot device: Her major allies have all had their hearts removed and replaced with a briar. In game, I use this as a hint that something related to nature is involved, and it binds the major villains together. For the vilains, it means getting some immunities (like no bleed damage, no critical hits or sneak attack damage). Basically, giving them undead immunities without actually making them undead.
Still thinking on more ways to forshadow, so I'll keep an eye on this tread, and add more if I come up with something more
Kingmaker AP, session 4: played on the 14th of Juli 2012
Characters:
Tristan, Human male paladin of Iomedae (played by Wim)
Oswold, Human male Inquisitor of Iomedae (played by Marc)
Ar'sein, Human male Cleric of Iomedae (played by Carlo)
Feoré, Half elven female Rogue (scout) (played by Flore)
Myste, Half elven female druid (played by Bert)
Session dates:
start: 8th of Pharast 4707
end: 19th of Pharas 4707
Lots of progress this time, they shifted into 'regular gear' and didn't waste time discussing too many things, so here goes:
Spoiler:
The group got back together at Oleg's, where they arrived at the same moments as Kesten Garess and his men ride up to the tradepost (did it like this, since there was one Pc camping there, and it would be easier to have all of them there while the introductions were made). The group talked about hiring him lateron, but for now they decided not to offer it just yet.
They went out and explored Bokken's hex, and got the moon radish quest from him, which they fulfilled quickly. Traded them for some potions, which might be in fact a bit 'tainted'. I played out Bokken as an excentric dementing guy, who doesn't seem all that worried in cleaning out his equipment, so I'm going to have my players roll a percentile die each time they use one of his potions, so there might be an unexpected 'side effect'. Since the 'soup reward' is too high in my opinion, I changed Svetlana's quest into a Bokken quest, so he can make a Viagra-like potion for Oleg and Svetlana (as a side beneficiary :p)
They also came across the trapdoor spider hex, which they quite easily defeated.... after the initial surprise, they retreated swiftly out of the immeadiate area, after which everybody stood at the ready with ranged weapons, while one of the group went into full defensive mode and lured out the spider. They searched the lair, and found the bandit's map about the treasure under the tree, so they should be able to find that easily enough later on.
Exploration in the forest yielded quite a bit of pranks from the fey (Tyg and Perlivas), who I 'let out of their hex' to make sure there were sufficient pranks to play before their nests might be uncovered.
So, there were ghost sounds, painted horses, items being switched round in backpacks, drugged half elves (due to their resistance to sleep - no fun those girls :p), and so on....
Most were good enough sports about it, the druid even left them gifts (such as a needle and tread, which will be put to good use in a future prank), but no friendship just yet. The paladin did however say things like "lame jokes", and "if it's fey we might have to clean them out", which in turn led him to be the only one NOT to receive 'shot to the head with an acorn' as a warning for the bear traps they were about to step into.... luckily, he survived that.
So this AP features plenty of random encounters and I find that I'm having a little difficulty getting them started smoothly.
First off, we know that the terrain information gives us "maximum distance" for a perception check: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/environment.html#mountain-terrain
We know that perception checks are opposed by stealth checks.
If the PCs are exploring, not moving at the half speed required by stealth, do they get a stealth check at all? Are they taking a 0 on stealth? Whose stealth check do we use - the best in the party? The worst? The worst and everybody else is aid another?
For the monsters being encountered - are they being stealthy? I assume the GM can randomly decide if the monsters are stealthy hunters the PCs have happened upon or just monsters traveling about without using stealth.
And then comes the modifiers for distance of -1 per 10 feet. Let's say the encounter is in medium forest where the maximum spotting distance is 90 feet. If the PCs & Monster make their spot check by 2, do you say that they spot each other at 20 feet? Do you start the combat at 90 feet and say that they didn't make the check? If neither side makes the perception check (and nobody is using stealth), do you start the combat with each group right next to each other?
And then surprise. Does the side that makes the perception check by the most always get surprise?
I take a somewhat more "on the fly" apporach for this. although the rules are in place like that, I tend to go for "what makes the best story" taking into account the stealth of the monsters and the party as a general guideline to make a DM's ruling about who spots who first. I usually give the PC's a perception check (rolled secretly by me) to notice the monsters. I don't usually take into account surprise, since if you're exploring a barren land filled with monsters, you kind of continuously expect to be attacked by something. So with me, surprise only comes into play if it's an unusual situation (like invisible attackers).
As for stealth checks for the party: I just give a % chance for them to encounters the creatures, based on number of party members present: 2% for 1, 4% for 2, 6% for 3, 8% for 4 and so on.
I feel the strikt rolling is too much of a hassle for a random encounter, and sometimes I even go for a pure narrative approach
I'm currently running book one of this AP, and now starting to introduce the recurring npc's like
Spoiler:
Oleg and Svetlana Leveton, Jhod Khavken,...
It seems to me it would make sense if, during the course of the adventure path, they would level up aswell, but there isn't really much xp for them to harvest. How did you guys handle it ?
I would rather not do it arbitrarily, and I would like the pc's to catch up with major npc's aswell, since they will be 'in the thick of it'. Already made the (non-)character sheets for the above mentioned npc's. I like to keep track of it mostly to have a guideline for what their skills are, should the PC's want to go to them for aid, training a new skill, improving an existing skill and so on.
Or, like in the latest session,
Spoiler:
require the healing skill of Svetlana to stabilize a dying character right after the bandit attack/ambush on Oleg's trade post
I'm looking at tweaking some of the kingdom building rules to achieve a few effects.
1) Selling magic items. It feels weird to me that the rulers can sell a shop owner's magic items at full value to raise BPs. I've been reading other DMs' advice that the math can get out of hand pretty quickly, so there's some rebalancing I'd like to do.
2) Taxation. The default implementation of taxation edicts leaves me feeling a bit underwhelmed. It also seems like that the heaviest tax brackets should cause some unrest.
Proposal: In addition to the Economy/Loyalty effects of the various taxation levels, they also impose a sales tax on magic item sales. At the higher levels, it can be a monthly source of unrest. Here's a possible tax table to accomplish this.
Taxation levels:
None. +0 Economy, +1 Loyalty, 0% of income from sale of magic items.
Light. +1 Economy, -1 Loyalty, 10% of magic items.
Normal. +2 Economy, -2 Loyalty, 20% of magic items.
Heavy. +3 Economy, -4 Loyalty, 30% of magic items, +1 Unrest per month.
Overwhelming. +4 Economy, -8 Loyalty, 40% of magic items, +2 Unrest per month.
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts about this idea!
-blarg
interesting idea, going to keep that in mind. I'm not yet at the kingdom building phase (still running book 1). My planned experiment for keeping the system in check: do not tell the players which building does what. I'm going to let them decide what they want in their town, without telling them the cost, benefits and drawbacks of each building. There's going to be an NPC advisor to keep things within limits, so the development of the town should be completely based on roleplay and campaign logic, not about min-maxing the system.
So, Kingmaker AP, session 3: played on the 30th of June 2012
Characters:
Tristan, Human male paladin of Iomedae (played by Wim)
Oswold, Human male Inquisitor of Iomedae (player absent)
Ar'sein, Human male Cleric of Iomedae (played by Carlo)
Feoré, Half elven female Rogue (scout) (played by Flore)
Myste, Half elven female druid (played by Bert)
Session dates:
start: 3rd of Pharast 4707
end: 7th of Pharas 4707
Spoiler:
Basically, a very short update, since the players spent most of their time debating if they should bring along the two bandits they captured during the last session to go out and 'explore and confront the bandits'. So, since one player was absent, the votes were: Tristan and Myste in favor, Feoré and Ar'sein against. And there was much debating :p
since they weren't getting anywere, finally, I made the call as a DM that Oswold would put in his vote as 'against'. 4 members of the group went out to explore the 'raddish patch' hex, Oswold stayed behind to guard the two prisoners. The kobolds were encountered, but since Feoré's stealthy approach hadn't alarmed them, the group allowed them to leave. They did however track them to the edge of the forest. So the group now has a basic idea of the direction of the kobold lair. They also "encountered" Tyg and Perlivash out of their square, so the first prank has been played. (throwing of acorns for that sweet 'tingggg' sound all those shiny armours make :p)
My peeps roleplayed well and got Jhod's story out of him. They talked him into going after this 'commoner' girl and coming back with her. Good story thus far. Keep it up.
You're lucky - mine have been really lazy...I ended up giving them the
Jhod story as part of a Kingdom Event I rolled. It was a Scandal event,
so I had an Inquisitor come looking for him & exposing the backstory as
part of that. (Also hence my 'idea' for Tarcandor! - not exactly new,
but at least I know it works as a device!) :)
Going to remember that one, jhod's story is one I expect them to miss without a major hint :-)
So, Kingmaker AP, session 2: played on the 28th of april 2012
Characters:
Tristan, Human male paladin of Iomedae (played by Wim)
Oswold, Human male Inquisitor of Iomedae (played by Marc)
Ar'sein, Human male Cleric of Iomedae (played by Carlo)
Feoré, Half elven female Rogue (scout) (played by Flore)
Myste, Half elven female druid (played by Bert)
Session dates:
start: 28th of Calistril 4707
end: 3rd of Pharast 4707
Spoiler:
So, the group once again went over the plans to defend Oleg's from the expected bandit raid. They devised an elaborate ambush, involving closing the gates to trap the bandits inside, 3 people on elevated positions to provide cover fire, the paladin and cleric on the ground level to engage in melee combat, hiding spears and javelins in snow-banks in case they tried to retreat over the snow banks to gain cover, and so on.....
Since there was a serious snow storm the day the group arrived at Oleg's, they had plenty of time to prepare, as the bandits were delayed by the heavy snow. I determined the HP of the bandits at random, and one came out very low, so I decided the bandit group had an encounter with Tuskgutter on their way, so the low-HP guy (Timothy) had the unfortunate priviledge to be gored by Tuskgutter.
Eventually one day later than expected, the bandits arrived at Oleg's and drove in very confidently, shouting sneers and insult to draw out Oleg and Svetlana,who had been told by the group to remain inside and barricade their door. So, the ambush got sprung, and Happs got cought in a crossfire by Féore and Oswold, and a few good rolls of the dice made sure he went down very quickly (round two: pierced by four arrows before he could get to cover thank you, snow reducing movement by half).
One other thugs (Timothy) got cut down as he tried to open the gate so they could make a run for it, the other three thugs all got wounded in some degree, and they surrendered quickly when they noticed there was no way out of the fortress.
After a lot of debates and interrogations, one of the thugs (Michael) was unrepentant of his crimes, and chose to remain silent after stating it wouldn't be much difference if he got killed by them for not talking, or by the staglord for talking.
The other two (Erik and Thomas) were (more or less) co-operative in giving out information, so the group now has a notion of the area in which the bandit camp can be found, and the existence of the Staglord and Tuskgutter. The group has given the two thugs the opportunity to redeem themselves by working at Oleg's thus repaying their debts. Of course, during the night, they will be locked up to ensure Oleg and Svetlana's safety. Michael was swiftly convicted of "unrepentant banditry" and executed by decapitation on the following morning. His head, together with those of Happs and Timothy were put on stakes on top of the gate to act as a deterrent for future bandits.
Keep us posted. I always enjoy reading how everyone else's campaign is going.
Will do... going to put each session's synopsis on here to keep track myself.
For future reference, a bit about the background story of the characters:
PLAYERS, DON'T READ THIS IF YOU STUMBLE ACROSS THIS !
Spoiler:
Tristan (paladin) and Oswold (inquisitor) are brothers.
Myste is their older half-sister, but she is the only one who knows about that at this point.
Ar'sein grew up in the same village as Tristan and Oswold.
Feoré has an ancient family heirloom (on the elven side) in her possession, of which she is very proud: a ring, woven in something that appears as green hair. Not quite sure yet as to what I'm going to do with that exactly, but it should become very interesting when they figure out that Nyrissa is handing out almost exact duplicates to her minions....
Oswold, since the player arrived late, had a private meeting with the temple's high priest. I'm thinking about him having received some orders there which will put him directly opposed to his brother and friend Ar'sein at some point in the story. Still figuring out how to put those orders in words though
Since I have to keep track of the events encountered by the group I'm running, I figured I might as well do it here, and maybe get some extra ideas and suggestions from you lot ;-)
So, Kingmaker AP, session 1: played on the 24th of march 2012
Characters:
Tristan, Human male paladin of Iomedae (played by Wim)
Oswold, Human male Inquisitor of Iomedae (played by Marc)
Ar'sein, Human male Cleric of Iomedae (played by Carlo)
Feoré, Half elven female Rogue (scout) (played by Flore)
Myste, Half elven female druid (played by Bert)
Session dates:
start: 20th of Calistril 4707
end: 28th of Calistril 4707
Spoiler:
First session was mostly about getting into character. We just finished playing a campaing that lasted about 15 years, so we could use some "get to know yourself"-time. That's why I decided to start the adventure path a bit earlier then written in the books: at the Swordlords citadel in Restov, for the official assignment of the first charter.
There, they met Maegar Varn while waiting for their audience, who gave them a bit of foreshadowing about the Stolen lands: mostly child's stories about fey, monsters, bandits, etc. They got along nicely, and the start of some territorial and mutual aid agreements were already made. Should prove to be interesting by the time we reach the VV. They also met the Iron Wraiths, played them out like arrogant bastards, so the relations there are non-existent :-)
After receiving their orders, being briefed and issued basic supplies, the group spent their last short night in comfort at the local temple of Iomedae, and set out at dawn (with the exception of Oswold - player was late for the session) travelling with a caravan from Brevoy to Oleg's. During the first day they also had the company of Varn and his group. Feoré did the scouting ahead, so no ambushes, and a quiet trip. They did notice a lone rider checking the group out, but no encounters during that night or the day after. During the last day of travel, they were hit by a serious snow-storm so they were happy to arrive at Oleg's and settled in so they could hook up with Oswold there.
The group was just informed about the situation at Oleg's, when Oswold arrived (he had been ambushed by two bandits on the way to Oleg's the day earlier, but drove off his assailants), so he was briefed aswell, and plans were made to confront the bandits.
Next session: the confrontation with the thugs, planned on the 28th of April 2012
1. a human inquisitor of Iomedae
2. a human paladin of Iomedae
3. a human cleric of Iomedae
4. a half-elf druid
5. a half-elf rogue (scout subclass for advanced player guide)
1 and 2 are brothers, 4 is halfsister to the two of them...
I'm guessing the 'kingdom' they will be building is going to be a theocracy :p
Yesterday my group assaulted the lair of the Stag Lord.
I used a different castle lay-out, more Skyrim castle-ruin like. It stretched the encounter out a bit --- from front to back it was a 24 round combat. By the end the Alchemist was out of bombs, the Cleric out of Channel Energy, and the Mage had exhausted a wand of Burning Hands and was beating on Giant ants with his staff. But Aid potions and Str Buffs carried the day.
** spoiler omitted **
I admit to being in a bit of a pickle. I mean it's not terrible, but the expectation is that they fight to their death. Thoughts?
Have them carted off to face trial, found guilty, have them executed and buried... Should be interesting to see if the party is going to do some grave-digging to solve the vengeange thingy ;-)
With me, it's always the same player who bites the dust. He has been a very good sport about it, and it's always a "good death", but it's becoming freakishly hilarious to see him always getting the crits (I roll open).
Paladin lvl 2 @ Stag Lord's Fort
Helm-ability (despite the smite Evil on him)
Summoner level 4 @ the grove.
I added a little effect that the tree quaked the ground coz he was getting annoyed of the fire arrows the party was shooting between his mates (I had it standing between 3 other, similar trees). Summoner was invisible (tremorsense) and was shouting out commands, and thereby forgetting to move *away* from the big tree.
Cleric level 5 @ troll lair.
Came in with light, saw two trolls charging him, and 1-2 rounds later (and receiving rend twice) he was kebab. The fighter/ruler now wears his armor (spiked black full-plate, Gorum-style) into combat.
Cavalier level 6 @ Owlbear lair.
Sadcakes about leaving the horse, he entered the first cave (when the rest waited), and found him to be surrounded by the Fungi. Six succesful attacks, and 2 failed Fort saves left him quite banged up, and when the Shambling Mound entered, he challenged it and wanted to get out, but was grabbed while passing it. One round later, the squeeshy parts emerged from between the vines...
...
...
Now he is making an evocation wizard ^^
which died.....
then a ranger/sorceror... which died becaues he HAD one level of sorceror
then it was another paladin (who died...)
and now it's a fighter.... who we expect to die any moment.... :p
