Multiple parties, different players

[Shieldknight]

I’ve searched the boards and only found posts to the effect of the same people playing different characters for multiple parties in Kingmaker.

What I’m wondering, has anyone tried Kingmaker with different groups of players? They would consist of two standard groups of 4-6 players.

I would like to try this. Keeping both groups in the dark as to there being another group involved in the campaign. There would be hints; maybe the ‘other’ group is sitting in the tavern enjoying a mug of ale. Maybe they pass them on the road. Or when they go to collect a reward/bounty, they are told that another group just collected that bounty and the description given is the ‘other’ group. Character descriptions would be given every time the group sees or hears of the ‘other’ group. Other things would be the removal of bounties or rewards off the board as one group collects before the ‘other’ gets the chance.
Eventually the two groups would meet. I figure I could pull this off by having a room with a divider and eventually they would meet. After that they would play 5 or 6 players at a time with any combination of players or keep their own groups, depending on how the initial meeting ended. They may even decide to continue competing for the kingdom.

I haven’t read all of the series, only the first chapter of the AP. Is this a possibility or just a pipe dream?

[Erik Freund]

The big thorny question of course is: one kingdom or two kingdoms, right?

If one kingdom, gravy! Game on. The only weird issue is that the game issumes you take a lot of time off. So what happens when one group wants to take 2 years off, but the other only wants to take 1 year off? This would be easy enough to handle on some sort of meta level though. (Unless they are directly competative.)

If two kingdoms... they'll be squabbling over resources and the good hexes. There's mass combat rules to support this, but it likely means one group will crush the other somewhat early on. (Or even if friendly, one will starve out the other without trying to.) Then you just have one group.

Also,

Spoiler:

in each of books 3-5 you get a "free city" as the reward for beating that book. It's kinda hard to divvy up that reward across the two kingdoms, and they come too far apart to make alternating really viable.

Again, it comes down to one group will pull ahead and crush the other. I don't see how you can keep them in parity without some heavy-handed GM-fiat.

I'm sad, because I wanted to do this too!

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

I'm running 12 players through Kingmaker. I think you'll find it's a better experience if all the characters know each other and split off to take on the various quests (changing groups each time). Occasionally teaming up for the big group game.

It's been working great so far for my Kingmaker game.

[Baratuk]

I'm currently running the KMAP and having a blast. One of my players is wanting to dm some and we had a excellent idea.

When the kingdom is starting, I'm going to put in missions/quests that will be to trivial for the main group so....Me and the other players will make new characters and those characters will work for the kingdom that the main group is running. It sounds fun.

Yea I know its not exactly what you were talking about but I had to tell our idea and it seemed like a good place to put it.

[Shieldknight]

Thanks for the information.

A little more info on my groups:
The first group (We'll call them Huron) would consist of 5 players, all of whom live in the same town as myself. They would be able to get together on a regular basis, about every other week.
The second group (We'll call them Sioux) would consist of 6 or 7 players and would probably only be able to get together once every two months.

So...
I like the idea put forth by Baratuk. Would it be better to have the Huron group handle all the "little" stuff and work for the Sioux group or vice versa?

Now I'm thinking it would be best to start the campaign with the whole group meeting for the first scenario/adventure and then splitting up from there.

Or...
In addition to the above information. The Huron group has characters that are already level 3 or 4, but are at a point in their campaign that I could transplant them to the Kingmaker AP. Would it work to have the Sioux group go through the first chapter and establish their kingdom and have the Huron group come in as a mercenary group that is hired by the Sioux group?

I would really like to try this and I hope I can get my players to go along with it.

[Grendel Todd]

I've been running it with two competing teams of players/characters from the get go and not been having much trouble. Each group has their own night, their own goals, and yes, that means they are also competing over resources. Game has gotten through about a year-year & a half, and no war yet (theirs is a friendly rivalry). The hard part has been keeping their perspective calendars in line - one group is holding a 6 month lead on the other. I'm thinking of speeding up the clock for the behind group & then holding them to either a month or a season per session.

I will say, the paperwork for the two kingdoms gets a little labor-intensive.