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Evil vizier!
That's like saying "short dwarf". The evil part is in the job description.
A list (all starting with "royal"):
There definitely is NO Royal Assassin. Because there are no murderers sanctioned by the Crown. Oh no.
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We've sort of been talking about this already - as my gaming group started with Birthright. Very few monarchs consolidated enough power to be absolute rulers.. so there's a number of positions that could be potentially as powerful or have significant control over thier own domain. Here's some ideas we had:
In addition to the King, the following looks attractive:
1. Marshall -- Head of a Royal Order of Knights and Calavary. Liason to landed nobles and gentry (as they would provide horses and troops. Holding: Manor and Hall of the Order
2. General - In charge of army, armories- holding: Manor / War College
3. Vizier: Wizard or Sorcerer in charge of arcane Holding: University or State-sponsored arcane guild
4. Treasurer / Guild Master: In charge of guilds /taxes / intelligence. Holding: Royal Guild / Bank
5. Arch Bishop / Champlain -- Head of state church Temple Holdings - perhaps a Cathedral / Temple holding.
6. Lord Ranger -- In charge of forests, forestry, ranger units - relations with elves / fey. This one doesn't sound that exciting - but maybe there could be an irregular unit to build - griffon guard, maybe?
7. Chamberlain / Castellon / Archvist / Ambassador- Similiar to the Hand of the King - the chief advisor.
My players will want to continue this game if they all have portfolios that have actual power and the opportunity to develop a holding /stronghold and not just 'head of ther royal guard.' type of responsibility.
Chief Executioner: I think this one is self-explanatory. Good for a barbarian that likes to use big weapons as well as fighters and even the occasional cleric or paladin.
High/Court Wizard: When the king needs magic done or supernatural events explained/investigated/dealt with, he looks to his Court Wizard. Can have more than one, complete with the intrigue of a pecking order or membership in different schools/colleges. Suitable for wizards and sorcerers, also an option for mystic theurges.
Court Seer/Diviner: When kings make decisions, they need all the information they can get. Spies are great, but sometimes asking the gods is the way to go. So the court diviner asks for insight from higher powers (augury, diviniation) as well as spies on goings-on both within the castle (clairaudience/voyance) and abroad (scrying). Also useful to have around for helping with security (detect magic, detect evil/good/law/chaos, detect undead, detect thoughts). Great for some clerics, some sorcerers, bards, and of course divination-specialist wizards.
Chief Architect/Siege Engineer: This person does the repair work on the castle or other important state buildings and is sworn to secrecy regarding all those fun secret doors, hidden dungeons, and escape tunnels that paranoid/cautious rulers have their homes filled with. This person also maintains the catapults, ballistae, trebuchets, and other assorted implements of large-scale havoc. Some fighters and some wizards will tend to excel in this field.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Don't forget the King's personal staff!
Bodyguard Not necessarily Captain of the Guard, but the one responsible for personally protecting the King's safety. Probably also has contacts and henchmen to track down threats to the King and nip any potential assassinations in the bud.
Steward Sort of a combination valet/cook/manservant to take care of the King's things, serve meals, and ensure that the King is appropriately attired and presentable whenever he leaves his chambers. Can also serve as a confidante.
Lady-in-Waiting Similar to the above, but for the Queen.
Champion Basically a knight, but this person would personally represent the King for various tournaments, processions, etc. Could probably be combined with one of the military or "secret" roles that have been mentioned previously.
I'm champing at the bit to play a Paladin or Cavalier in service to the King personally (as opposed to the Kingdom in general). I'd probably pick Bodyguard as my favourite role.
I would probably look to other roles of authority within a city/kingdom for roles for my character. For example:
- Being in charge of a local church or faith in the country.
- Leading the Merchant guild (or whatever)
I guess the point is that you are not just riding some other characters coat tails but are powerful in your own right, at least in your own arena.
The real fun would come in when these interests were in conflict with those of the king.
Sean Mahoney
•Leadership missions: assigning tasks, protecting the weak, planning defenses, sacrificing some for the good of many, rallying and inspiring the crestfallen.
-Lead and protect a band of settlers in their efforts to establish a village/township in an area of wilderness featuring both opportunity and danger.
-Lead an elite team of soldiers against a specific threat (monstrous or magical foe)
-Found and train a military unit, priestly sect or scholarly order. Write a charter, recruit members, plan missions to prove and improve your organization's worth and power.
•Diplomatic missions: Influencing the powerful with gifts, threats, and promises, uncovering hidden agendas, negotiating deals.
-Find out who's behind the string of attacks threatening to upend the fragile peace between the kingdom and its neighbor. Buy yourself time to do so with diplomatic moves.
-Establish/improve relations with dangerous semi-allies like lizardfolk or neutral outsiders.
-Convince inter-planar traders to make your kingdom's capitol a regular stop on their circuit.
Hm.
Head of Military Forces... Could merge with "Foreign Relations", or not.
One or the other would make sense to over-see whatever "External Intelligence" the kingdom has. Magical support forces could of course be a part of any Military force.
Emissary/ Diplomat (see above) If the PCs are all (or mainly) coming from one specific country, and the dynamic is that their new fief is a close ally/ friends with said country, "Ally Relations" would have a special role here. Alternatively, they could be exiles and have relations with an underground/minority power faction in said country. Especially if the Kingdom isn't 'committed' to one Religion/Diety over others, relations with different Relgions (inc. Druids) could fall under this purview.
Chief Warden... I could see this person being in charge of Rangers/Sherrifs whose role is policing and patrolling the ways in-between signifigant settlements of the kingdom (and/or passages out of the kingdom to major trade markets. Perhaps also over-seeing any 'police forces' in settled towns, as well as a Judicial system. Internal intelligence operations could be a discrete side-job as well. This would over-lap some-what with Head of Military Forces/ but would have less of a stratified mobile force, and more just the persisitent low-level force to stop small stuff as it happens and have an eye out for anything bigger...
Chief of Economy... Liasing with major trade partners, but also with the major Guilds of the area once trade and economy starts developing further (may overlap with Natives, below). THe Kingdom itself probably owns/operates some signifigant resources (mines, mills, etc) which would also fall under this doman.
This depends on the social composition (if there are only settlers it wouldn't matter), but if there are pre-existing 'natives' they would have their own pre-existing customs, institutions, and interests. Liasing with their semi-autonomous power structure would make sense at many levels... (The King/Queen themself may have a specific role in the native tribes, and could be in charge of this aspect themself) Autonomous military forces (with magic support) "between" the full Army and the Ranger/Wardens, could be a role for native tribes. The native group probably has it's own religion, wherther a Diety or Druidism, and this may be another unique parallel to "relations with churches".
"Events Coordinator" :-) Life cannot be all work, so organizing festivals and dealing with travelling carnivals and the like would make sense. This could play a diplomatic role, of course, cutting the ice with natives or potentially antagonistic neighbors. Also, general relations with "travelling folk" like Varisians and Halfling caravans could be part of this...
...Probably all but the Head of Wardens could have some role in recruiting further volunteers and settlers. Head of Military in finding loyal, expert forces, Emissary/Diplomat in general Foreign Relations and assessing the intent of Factions which may want to join the new upstart Kingdom, Chief of Economy in recruiting laborers, tradesman, and farmers to feed everybody, as well as dealing with Companies who may want to establish their own operations. "Native Liason" could well spread the word that this is a fair Kingdom if they are successful in their job, which may motivate related tribesman to migrate to the Kingdom. "Events Coordinator"'s Festivals and Carnivals would spread the word amongst neighboring lands, and establishing good relations with travelling caravans and the like would spread good word further, as well as bringing in less "productive" sorts who nonetheless make life nicer for all the residents (singers, artists, etc).
I think it depends just how the story is set up - does it play mainly within the court? Then, you need court roles, like jester, ambassador, herald, councelor, bodyguard, royal wizard etc. Is it more set in a war campaign? Then military and intelligence roles are more important.
One big problem could be to make this work as a group story - with all those roles mentioned above, do they really work as a group? Or do you get a lot of one-on-one scenes contributing to a greater whole? This could be the really tricky part to pull off, and could easily lead to an entirely different game than usual. This isn´t necessarily bad, but tricky. But then, I guess you know that already.
Stefan
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Captain of the Gate/Bridge
If you've never read the poem Horatius, now is the time to do so.
Edit: I forgot to figure in my reasoning, though it should be self-evident, there is nothing quite as heroic as a hero defending his home.
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Head of Royal Intelligence /checks his ring of clairaudience :)
+1 to this. I think of Geoffrey Rush in "Elizabeth" as Walsingham... the power behind the throne that makes sure the King/Queen never has to dirty their hands directly, and makes the tough judgment calls. Ideal for several character classes -- rogue, bard, or wizard could all do well in this role (me, I'd be a wizard with a rogue cohort).
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I would have to voice support to a lot of what Neil stated. Having a position in the royal court is all well and good, but to be a land holding royal yourself (Duke/Duchess, Baron/Baroness, etc) would be like running your own kingdom on a smaller scale.
And it really depends on the character type as well. If it was a wizard PC I was running, I would definitely focus on the Tower/Academy concept, either in the capital city or in a less populated area (Title: "Headmaster", "Royal Mage", etc).
A Rogue would definitely shoot for taking over the underworld organizations of the kingdom (which could put him or her at odds with the king Title: "Don", "King of Thieves", etc. ), or set up an intelligence network to get the dirt on everyone, with the royal blessing of course (Title: "Agent of the Crown", "Seeker", etc. ).
A fighter would fall into the General or Marshall (either term referring to a person charged with commanding royal armies or other forces) or opening a Combat Academy, training warriors who may or may not be under the direct control of the king (Title: "Arms Master", etc.).
A cleric would aim for establishing a church or temple to their chosen deity to spread the influence of said deity. Again, this could lead to conflict with the king if the deity is not one who is accepted by the people of the area (Title: "High Priest", "Her Most Holiness", etc.).
The various affiliate classes would be along the same lines. A Ranger or Druid taking up the protection of the kingdom's woodlands ... which could also be a point of conflict with the king if the concept of protection differed, a Barbarian following close to the fighter's concepts, a Paladin perhaps establishing a "holy order" of warriors within the kingdom, etc.
The power behind the throne.
Whatever that maybe called ussally some sort of advisor but a little darker think disney villian.
Someone whom knows whats really going on, you maybe openly supporting this faction while really what your doing is this.
Good version of being the 'friendly' GM where the king is "I AM GOING TO-" "Are you sure?"
More sinster version one that keeps the kingdom strong but trys to keep as much power for themself away from the king.
There are some dream roles for stereotypical player archetypes. In general, I notice players want full control over (or recognition from) the popular fantasy or mythology associated with their class and essentially be ruler over their own domain of interest.
Combatants will want the supreme position responsible for the army.
Most wizards will want a reclusive tower, with an absence of responsibilities (and possibly accountability).
Most rogues will want a position able to shape the underground, such as a guild master (possibly outside of publicly known rulership).
Nature themed classes often want control over the ungoverned wilds or more specifically recognition from it, such as the mythological creatures in a large forest.
Religious classes want to design a significant temple to their diety from the ground up, and not reform an existing building.
There may be some that do not want to be associated or recognised at all, but have unbreakable ties to the rulership regardless. Assassins or spies for example.
There may be players that just want to be in the center of the social spotlight (being a prince, princess or a consort, having servants or handmaidens).
There are those that just want to own and live in a significant landmark building. (Providing the location for a pathfinder lodge might be thematically appropriate)
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My ideas are already up there posted by everyone reading my mind (since clearly they couldn't have come up with any of them without doing so!)
My only request is that you make sure you include at least 8 or 10 of them for the larger groups. Our AP group is 6-7 players, and it was a bit frustrating doing the trials of larazod (though thankfully we only have 5 players in that game)
About the King themself, many 'royalty' often end up with multiple over-lapping titles.
If the concept is the PCs come to this land and find themself thrust into power, they may very well end up with a specific role in the native power structure that doesn't necessarily correspond to "King that everybody follows for everything". They could "King of Fantasia", "General-Prince of the Crusader Army", and "Warrior Protector of the Hallit Clans" all at the same time... Some conforming more to "everybody just does what I say", some more to "I implement the details of a certail role that's already spelled out", some more to "I am honored amongst a council that makes decisions itself".
Also, I don't think it's necessary for the AP to spell out 10 or 12 different roles just because some play in large groups. For one, many roles can be split into sub-roles, and second, some players may well just NOT want to take on a fixed role, but just go where the action is and support their friends with more specific responsibilities while being "friends of the King".
What about the Court Chronicler, who has to write and do a spin on the king's deeds to make sure they cement their place in history and across the regions.
I think the most difficult portion is the scale. Without knowing the scale of the domain, it is difficult to decide what supporting titles are welcome or needed.
A large kingdom with semi-independent or allied smaller realms leaves room for the other PCs to be the "Baron of Westbridge" or the "Lord Chancellor of the Royal Academy".
A smaller domain, in which the other PCs are clearly subject to the one ruling PC, leaves open offices like "Lord Chief Justice" (head of the judiciary, responsible for monitoring the execution of the laws), or the "Keeper of the Green Forest" (a groundskeeper for the small wooeded areas within the domain).
Birthright used a model in which there were landed and non-landed domains. It was possible to form domains (political entities, not Cleric spell groups :) ) based on armed forces (Law), religion (Temple), money (Guild), and magic (Source). Each was a political force in its own right, but could only have a foothold in a certain area. Interactions with the ruler, and rivals, framed the basis of the political elements to the game.
I think the Birthright model of giving PCs of every class "political leadership" roles (if they want them) is the right model.. the details would need to be worked out.
"Cry Havoc" offers some similar aspects for building up and ruling an area. I had issues with the map scale, and the effects it had on the costs of ruling the area, but I liked it otherwise.
"Book of Castles" also offers a system for administering such domains from a startup colony of shipwrecked castaways to a vast empire. Its drawback is that the rules "break down" when you get to Large City settlements .. it is fine for smaller.
"Empire" is also a good treatment, though the book is missing some elements. One thing it did well that the other books missed out on is scaling. I think this is the key to "what went wrong" with the others. Rules that work well for a small domain do not always translate well to a larger one.. some adjustments are needed.
Of course, the AP is going to focus on the area the PCs control, and that one scale will likely influence the content of the rules. No one has said these are rules for creating your own domains. Although, if they go well, who knows? Perhaps they will show up again as such "generic" rules in a future Pathfinder rules product?
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My suggestions here entirely depend on the adventure's level range. Quoting the salespage: "A Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for 1st-level characters, this volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path kicks off the highly anticipated Kingmaker Adventure Path, in which the heroes win and defend a small kingdom from threats foreign and domestic. "
So:
1) it's for 1st level PC;
2) heroes must "win" the kingdom (meaning they don't start off with it); and
3) heroes must "defend" the kingdom.
So with these facts, my suggestions are thus, and based on heroes "defending" a kingdom (i.e. and not focusing on "owning/taxing/warcraf2ing" resources and such)
A) Keep defense (preparing for a siege by improving walls, roads, clearing brush surrounding the keep, catapults, trenches, making tons of arrows, catapult pitch loads, etc. People with engineering skills and various Profession/Craft skills will shine; e.g. knowledge engineering, profession siege weapon; i.e. whichever skill is necessary to fire a catapult; see PRPG Core siege weapon section).
B) Scouting and woods/natural land defense (building a networks of far field agents and a message/warning system to warn of incoming invaders, rangers and druids will shine here).
C) Spies located in enemy kingdom (rogues/bards will shine here, or wizards, especially if they have spells/magic items allowing the sending of messages back to the keep).
D) Priests (a soldier that rises again the next day is worth two, three, four, etc. soldiers; especially characters with brew potion or craft wand will shine here; leadership skill to build a small army of low level clerics and you got a kickass hospital...)
The worthless layabout... the kings advisor/ friend who generally does nothing other than hang out, drink beer, womanize (or just sleep their way around the court), and get into trouble... but the king won't get rid of him because he's an old friend and occasionally goes adventuring.
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Head of Royal Intelligence /checks his ring of clairaudience :)
"So loitering in the shadows...might RI6 interest you in our latest Technomancy?"...slips through a narrow door and enters what looks suspiciously like the inside of one of those glass fishbowls peddled down Glassery Row..."Its called a camera obscura"
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So:1) it's for 1st level PC;
2) heroes must "win" the kingdom (meaning they don't start off with it); and
3) heroes must "defend" the kingdom.
So with these facts, my suggestions are thus, and based on heroes "defending" a kingdom (i.e. and not focusing on "owning/taxing/warcraf2ing" resources and such)
James also said that tis was for Pathfiner 32 in which the PCs are level 4. To quote the description:
"The heroes of the Kingmaker Adventure Path have claimed their kingdom, and the first shipment of supplies and gold has arrived from the distant north. While the heroes further explore their new home, they must at the same time help manage and rule their nascent kingdom, establish towns and roads and resources, and keep their realm's growing population happy. These tasks are made much more difficult by regular attacks by marauding monsters, encroaching tribes of barbaric trolls, and a mysterious but legendary monster roused from ancient slumber by this expansion into its wilderness territory. And perhaps worse of all, the bandit lords of the River Kingdoms themselves have taken notice of this expansion, and when they turn their retribution north, the rivers will run red with blood."So they are doing the both the So with these facts, "defending" a kingdom and the focusing on "owning/taxing/warcrafting" resources.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Hmm,
Ok, going by class:
Fighter/Ranger/Barbarian/Paladin:
Ranger/Barbarian/Drud:
Cleric/Paladin/Monk:
Rogue/Bard:
Wizard/Sorcerer:
Here's several positions I'd certainly be interested in playing a role in Kingmaker:
-Captain of the Knight's Errant: The head of an expeditionary force for the Kingdom, aiding other kingdoms in defense/peacekeeping, etc. Definitely would be a Paladin for this role.
-High Cleric/High Priest
-Head Physician/Doctor
-General of the King's Army (or a Captain of the Guard for a minor role)
-Royal Advisor (Vying for the power behind the throne)
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I think in most cases, PC's are going to want to have glorious titles and responsibilities, not being the jester or stable cleaner as I saw some people mention (sorry if it was a joke and I missed it).
Also, for Rogue characters, master of a thieves' guild was mentioned. I was thinking that perhaps in this case (depending on the personality and level of cooperation between the PC's), perhaps the Rogue could form his thieves' guild in a rival King's realm, rather than in the same realm as the other PC's, since the goal of a thieves' guild is (in normal cases) opposed to the legitimate authority.
That way, the Rogue could undermine the economy of a neighboring realm, and also set up a spy network there. His thieves' guild might actually serve as a hideout for PC's if they choose to secretly travel to their enemies' realm and cause some mayhem.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I'm trying to think of roles that (a) allow a PC to interact with the Sovreign on a regular basis (so, no Royal Washer wench) and (b) allow the PC both an area of authority and opportunity to ask the rest of the party for assistance at times.
Mayor of the Capital City - Responsible for everything that happens near, but not in, the castle, from trade up and down the river to security.
Castellian - The mayor's analogue inside the castle gates.
Planar Reeve - This is the mage responsible for maintaining the kingdom's borders against invasions from the outer planes. She and her team are responsible for tracking down illegal gates, dismissing unwanted demons, maintaining the wards around the throne room, and foiling the plans of enemy kingdoms who might invade with the powers of Hell at their side.
Grand Master of the Knights of the Dawn - The analogue of the Planar Reeve, only dealing with necromancers and the unliving.
Those two departments, natural rivals, have been tasks with coordinating the kingdom's defense against golems and any mechanical threats coming from nearby super-science realms.
Ambassador to the Pathfinder Society - As with every other land, this kingdom is rife with lost tombs, forboding ancient ruins, and potentially lucrative forgotten cities. This person keeps track of all the "dungeons" in the kingdom and contracts out with the Pathfinder Society, the Aspis Consortium, and other organizations, and negotiates exploration and reclamation rights.
The worthless layabout... the kings advisor/ friend who generally does nothing other than hang out, drink beer, womanize (or just sleep their way around the court), and get into trouble... but the king won't get rid of him because he's an old friend and occasionally goes adventuring.
Ah...like Sir William of Carter or Lord Roger of Clinton. ;-)
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Castle I.T. Guy Usually kept chained in the darkest dungeon, he is spoken to only via the message spell. He usually responds only with cryptic questions like: "Is it plugged in?" or "Have you tried turning it off and on?" Has maximum ranks in Disable Device and Use Magic Device.
Lord Captain of the Fashion PoliceWanders the kingdom issuing tickets for "Crimes against fashion", is willing to put to death anyone wearing White after Aroden Day or in a chainmail bikini.
One thing I haven't seen explicity mentioned is someone to raise/teach/train and generally keep-from-underfoot the king's heirs, brats and bastards.
Not that I'd sign my PC up for that task! But it could be a very interesting job if the GM was evil enough.
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1. Being in charge of the kingdoms navy (if they have one)
2. Leading the kingdoms knights (or other special forces) would be cool.
3. Leaders of armies are cool.
4. Lead the countries academia and wizardly institutes.
5. Leader of the thieves/assassins guild.
6. Being in charge of the church of the most popular religion in the region. Nobody would expect that!
7. Being given a noble title and a small sub kingdom could work as well (Dukes, Barons, etc)
love,
malkav
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The best fun I ever had with resource management was playing Harnmaster, when one of the PC's (a landless knight) was granted a run down, abandoned manor in Chybissa for helping the baron deal with a troublesome giant.
We had to recruit freeholders and serfs to work the land, and make arrangements with the various guilds to set up some of the essential services like a smith and miller.
The soil quality was very high, but overgrown and we lacked manpower, so we had to juggle what kind of crops to grow to get maximum yield to feed everyone and generate capital. My character (a water elemement specialst) even invented a spell to regulate the moisture in the soil to enhance our productivity.
The third challenge was our manor was on the border of the highlands; where wild tribesmen and worse roamed. We had a bloody raid in the dead of winter and had to defend what we had worked so hard to build. I tell ya, we fought extra hard for that win!
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The best fun I ever had with resource management was playing Harnmaster, when one of the PC's (a landless knight) was granted a run down, abandoned manor in Chybissa for helping the baron deal with a troublesome giant.
We had to recruit freeholders and serfs to work the land, and make arrangements with the various guilds to set up some of the essential services like a smith and miller.
The soil quality was very high, but overgrown and we lacked manpower, so we had to juggle what kind of crops to grow to get maximum yield to feed everyone and generate capital. My character (a water elemement specialst) even invented a spell to regulate the moisture in the soil to enhance our productivity.
The third challenge was our manor was on the border of the highlands; where wild tribesmen and worse roamed. We had a bloody raid in the dead of winter and had to defend what we had worked so hard to build. I tell ya, we fought extra hard for that win!
hehe, I remember one of the many campaigns I was in that incorporated running a country as part of it. My wizard rerouted some of the rivers in our kingdom to better supply it and give the princesses a larger number of waterfalls to see.
Totally honked off the Druid in our group. After that a kingdom of dwarfs went to war with our kingdom, they also cut off our supply of metal and high quality metalsmithing.So I made a trip to the City of Brass to negotiate with Salamanders for metalsmithing and weapon forging. In return for helping in battle, I offered a portion of the soon to be defeated dwarf warriors as slaves to the githyanki dragon warriors residing there. While I very soon had an order of red dragon riding githyanki knights standing beside me, I got a very unpleasant visit from the parties paladin shortly thereafter. Who knew? ;)
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I really don't like most of the suggestions made here.
As I see it, Partymembers should be equal, and work together. Yes, one of them shall be king, but that doesn't mean the other PCs should serve him. There should be a form of respect between the PCs.
I'd guess an ''Arthur and the knights of the round table'' approach would work best. Arthur is the king, but he takes advice from Merlin. Lancelot follows Arthur, and Arthur is kept on a short leash by Guinevere, who in turn has the hots for Lancelot and would do anything for him.
Please, no jesters. I'm serious, that could potentially screw up a great game.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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As I see it, Party members should be equal, and work together. Yes, one of them shall be king, but that doesn't mean the other PCs should serve him. There should be a form of respect between the PCs.
I agree with some of that, David: As I see it, Party members should ... work together. Yes, one of them shall be king, but ...there should be a form of respect between the PCs.
All that makes sense. But imagine a Star Trek RPG where one of the players plays the capatain of the ship. Certainly, all the chracters have to respect one another. Certainly, they have to work together. But one character is definitely in charge of the ship and the superior officer of the other characters. They do serve him.
If the other PCs don't serve the sovereign, then his impact as the sovereign is abated.
Does that make sense?
Oh, and I agree about the court jester thing. Not because the jester is comedic in a campaign that ought to be more serious, but because the jester isn't under the command structure of the royal court. I'd also throw out the washing wenches and, curiously, simple royal guards or city watchmen, because, again, they're not under the command of the sovereign. Kings don't routinely give orders to city watchmen, any more than generals spend a lot of time directing sergeants.
Expanding the colony into a full, if small, political entity seems the key. Bleeding, even dying, to defend the characters' hard-won turf should be pretty motivating. This campaign should not happen 'fast', perhaps anywhere from a decade to as long as two generations could pass over the course of the campaign. (Much longer is the purview of the 'continuing Kingmaker advice' part of #6 of 6.)
One thing that should be kept in mind is that the player characters may not elect to found a country / city-state based on the feudal model. Meritocracy, Oligarchy and any number of spin-offs from ancient history such as ancient Greece and Rome, the Iroquois Confederacy or a Theocratic state such as the Papal States are all possible models of government that the player characters could elect to initiate. Not even counting arrangements from other cultures than the ones mentioned.
I know I would like to have my own player characters in Kingmaker able to get involved in the minutiae.
I want my character to acquire an intimate familiarity with the colony my companions-at-arms are carving out of the eastern frontier in the bowels of the River Kingdoms. I intend to conquer by might, economics, assimilation, even diplomacy and arranged marriages.
I want to know that due to our efforts BFE, River Kingdoms has risen from the mud-caked poverty of subsistence farming and groveling in a smoky hovel during the first winter, fearing the Golarion equivalent of "Croatan", to 'retirement' and seeing the heir(s) to the throne(s) come of age.
In an area the size of Indiana ... that's quite a few medieval European 'countries' ripe for conquest and rivalry.
Titles are well covered already I think. ^_^
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I am in agreement with most of what has been said and I am definitely also looking forward to this. Very much so in fact, like many here.
The minor jobs mentioned will likely be dumped by the ones who requested it in game(not in the post), when they get bored out of their skulls and when they see the others having meaningful fun and advancement.
Having more than one King will work for a few, however I see most trying to keep it at one.
If I played, my character would likely go for an Arcana focused leader in support of the king, or vying to found a Pathfinder lodge as was brought up earlier, in this thread, as an idea.
What an awesome idea from DM_aka_Dudemeister.
Maybe my character would get to do both. Delusions of Grandeur are not foreign to my characters.:)
Having more than one "King",most likely, will result in a quickening of the bloodshed only civil war can truly bring.
In the campaign I mentioned upthread, half of the party eventually tried to drop the king from the throne or at least marginalize his power.
It started with the druid, boy that was a pain to deal with, and ended with the Paladin, who was easily manipulated in game and out.
In the end-only the rouge, who had started no less than a dozen wars and major regional conflicts, and my wizard had remained loyal at all times.
Not to say that we never used our power for personal gain.....
How was it that the two evil partymembers(both NE) were the ones who stayed true?
I should mention that despite the conflict in game, the entire group of players were cool with each other and the ingame events in real life. How awesome is that!?
Most proberly been brought up but the kings champion, not general or anything like that just literally the best fighter in the kingdom
I have to voice some VERY strong support for the role of ambassador. My favorite character of all time fulfilled that role in a game. Because he was from a strongly allied kingdom and had many useful skills it made sense for him to be involved in party adventures, but he had enough independent authority to not just be a lackey of the king and to deal with his own plot lines. It also works well for the winning-the-kingdom phase because the foreign nation might want someone friendlier to be in power. And it's a good option because it can be played well by ALL of the base classes in completely different ways.
Hm.
Chief of Economy... Liasing with major trade partners, but also with the major Guilds of the area once trade and economy starts developing further (may overlap with Natives, below). THe Kingdom itself probably owns/operates some signifigant resources (mines, mills, etc) which would also fall under this doman.
Negotiate and oversee collection of taxes. In gold or goods. Negotiate special deals with the guilds. Diplomacy, knowledge kingdom and umm.. concentrate (everyone yelling!)
Trade controlled by a central commandeconomist tends to go awfully, leave it to the traders to manage.
Rather traders and such may know of places that need just a bit of work..
Or perhaps set up a wholly new royal traders company and manage that? (and use military force to harass competitors & plain outlaw competition)
*neighb king wants witches head, turned his uncle into a newt, then trade can happen. Too bad that witch is critical in the castlebuilding project, having those dozen+ stonewalls spells a day..
*dwarven mine overrun by kobolds. sendf in troops, trained in landbattle against those fiendish kobold traps... ultimate slaughter? Zombies, yeah will use monsters in the future, but for now we need people.. Get dirty and do it yourself? (absence from job, ridiculed for not letting the people trained do their job)
etc etc
I really don't like most of the suggestions made here.
As I see it, Partymembers should be equal, and work together. Yes, one of them shall be king, but that doesn't mean the other PCs should serve him. There should be a form of respect between the PCs.
I'd guess an ''Arthur and the knights of the round table'' approach would work best. Arthur is the king, but he takes advice from Merlin. Lancelot follows Arthur, and Arthur is kept on a short leash by Guinevere, who in turn has the hots for Lancelot and would do anything for him.Please, no jesters. I'm serious, that could potentially screw up a great game.
ahem.. that lil story ended in interparty fullblown warfare... and ultimately the whole kingdom was wiped out from that...
ambassador/governor.. no end of those.. both to neighbours as to various tribes and other settlements.
general, organising troops, ordering weapons and castles the taxation master & guild coordination would have to come up with. Never forget the food..
assessors office, figuring out what the kingdom is worth in production and labor.. possible labor that could be freed up for projects elsewhwre.
Agricultural office, Innefficient farms? Possibly setting up granaries before the laborers will volontarily begin breaking up new land and leave the old overcrowded ones.. need 1000, 10gp each, cows for new statefarms? (mr master economist! or wait.. lets find mice, and the mages guild.. theyll polymorph them!)
Granaries also to protect from problems and to establish trust in the system.
State enterprise manager, polymorphed cows, sheep etc.. new mines broken up & operated by zombies.. or that one sole legal trading cartel? (many sellers, but just one buyer..) ;)
Spymaster, operating with the assessor in finding out what the farmers are really worth right now, hidden taxes.. or to take some lessons from Kautilya. Basically selling shoddy goods to the people, setup pyramid schemes to scheat the population... and at the same time make sure noone else is allowed to do such things..
Making sure everyone is reasonably happy, and that those planning something dissapear, etc character evaluations and figuring out what is going on in the neighburing countries.
Land and peoples.
Making sure there are early marriages and extra taxes for staying non-pregnant.. breaking up new land and handing it over to new couples. (john 15, mary 14 & preggo), 35 acres of land (10 farm, 10 brush, 15 woods), materials for small house, 2 cows and a bull, a few pigs etc.. as a wedding gift from the state :p
Fishing boats too, maybe collected as special taxes from smallboat builders, well maybe some special deal to squeeze prices,... (wealth of nations, 1933 version, speaks of the wealth from fishing.. as such needs not just boats, but tar and sails aswell, sparking many industries)
Cityplanning & architecture.
Well, atleast overseeing such things as cleanliness and that the roads stay straight. The more is meddled with what people are allowed to do with their houses.. the less productivity..
Could include organising mages to cast walls of stone -> instant hovel
Oh, I forgot another important government job.
Troubleshooter: Shoots trouble.