Kingdom in Anarchy!!! [SPOILERS]

[k3ndawg]

After a glorious beginning, the city of Three Rivers descended into anarchy on a bitterly cold Calistril (February) night. Angry rioting mobs sacked the castle, burned the town hall and chased the few remaining nobles and militia into the icy darkness.

Distraught with the failure of his dream, Vitali Vladomirovich Medvyed, bastard son of Vladomir Medvyed, who had hoped to one day earn himself a title and become a true noble, skulked off to live out his life as a recluse, occasionally trading potions and alchemical wares.

So, has anyone else failed? Our group started out really well and then went down in flames after a horribly bad string of Stability rolls, and having so few BP, that we couldn't recover. Of four characters, only one remains, who has since returned to Oleg's seeking new companions to forge on.

This time, perhaps building the city in a different location is a good idea. Obviously the Stag Lord's keep is cursed... ;)

[zafirah]

The sounds of the mob echoed in the night, waking Issara from her restless sleep. The flames of the torches and the screams of the dying sent her to her knees in prayer, she gloried in the hand of her radiant Goddess as the she heard the sound of the castle gates falling. She was at peace when the door to her room broke open, soon she would be at Milani's side...

-Issara, Three Rivers High Priestess and Adventurer

[Robert Cameron]

This came dangerously close to happening in the game I run. We had a similar string of failed stability checks and low BP right at the beginning of kingdom building that pretty came pretty close to ruining the kingdom, but a lucky event roll gave them 11 BP. If it hadn't been for that visiting Arch-Bishop of Iomedae and all the tourism that followed in his wake, the kingdom of Grunwald would no longer exist. Did this happen at the beginning of the kingdom building for you as well? Perhaps there is a goblin or mite "mini-invasion" to these Re-Stolen Lands and by clearing them out the new PCs will have proven their worth and be given the chance to rule once more. History provides many examples of failed rulers getting second chances.

[k3ndawg]

Robert Cameron wrote:

Did this happen at the beginning of the kingdom building for you as well?

First month we had the visiting celebrity, second was nothing, but we spent nearly all our BP, and then in the third month, it started going downhill.

[k3ndawg]

It all went downhill at month 3 and within 5 months, it was over.

[Arnwyn]

As an aside, this thread is already incredibly fun to read.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

I think this thread should follow the format of the Obituaries thread :)

[Drejk]

What you managed to do before the kingdom fell?

[Orannis]

zafirah wrote:

The sounds of the mob echoed in the night, waking Issara from her restless sleep. The flames of the torches and the screams of the dying sent her to her knees in prayer, she gloried in the hand of her radiant Goddess as the she heard the sound of the castle gates falling. She was at peace when the door to her room broke open, soon she would be at Milani's side...

-Issara, Three Rivers High Priestess and Adventurer

A priestess of Milani killed in an uprising? Rather poetical, that.

[zafirah]

@Orannis...

I can help thinking that Milani wasn't in favor of Issara settling down and ruling ;)

[Benet]

These humans. He was sick of Humans. No care for the land, just build, build, build, gold, gold, gold. He'd seen this revolt coming for months as the people grew unrestful and the leaders did naught to ease their fears but instead continued to build and claim in their great greed. He saw no need to remain to die. Gathering his weapons and his supplies, he stealthily made his way around the castle walls, avoiding the mob and head west into the forest. Perhaps he would head south to the Elven lands in Kyonin and renew his spirit...

Benet, Elven Ranger and former Warden of Three Rivers

[Caradoc]

How could this have happened? Caradoc's mind was spinning. He had tried to reason with the mob only to find himself fighting his own people, the settlers he had chosen and worked side by side with to build Three Rivers. Where is Vitali? Issara? Benet? He fought his way to the road, surprised to find himself with his life. The mob of townsfolk were thankfully more interested in looting the castle. He shook his fist to the Gods and swore to return, to rebuild, to rule himself rather than relying on some nameless noble bastard. Trusty sword and shield in hand, he started down the road toward Brevoy. He may have been defeated tonight, but he would be back...

-Caradoc, Spymaster of Three Rivers

[k3ndawg]

Dudemeister has a great idea. I'll start a kingdom obituary thread a little later today.

[thenovalord]

k3ndawg wrote:

Dudemeister has a great idea. I'll start a kingdom obituary thread a little later today.

came very close, due to bad event rolls around month 8 or 9.

[Bionavar]

thenovalord wrote:

k3ndawg wrote:

Dudemeister has a great idea. I'll start a kingdom obituary thread a little later today.

came very close, due to bad event rolls around month 8 or 9.

So what happened after anarchy befell the Kingdom? I have the PC's adventuring trying to reclaim the citizen's faith in the them to rule. They lost the kingdom at 10 months. They rolled an unlucky event early. Inquisitors came in and wreaked havoc. They couldn't make stability rolls and loyalty kept decreasing.

I will try and find a way to give them bp in treasure hoards and increase loyalty for killing trolls etc. to help rebuild it. Was wondering what other DM's did. Or is it really over?

[Lee Hanna]

As a GM, I tried to learn the spreadsheets and kingdom-building at the same time as my players. I started Tatzylgrad and the kobold land off as NPC realms. Both crashed and burned on Unrest within 3 months, likely a result of not having enough NPC council members.

[Orthos]

Unholy Necromancy, Batman.

My own group never came close. They figured out pretty quickly what they needed to get ahead and stay ahead, and managed to avoid the unlucky event rolls until after they were quite stable.

It probably helps that two of my players are big Civ fans.

[CommandoDude]

We had chars with very good stats, so initial Stab. checks were always favorable. A few months in and we were auto rolling those checks, our kingdom exploded into a powerhouse and towards the end of the campaign I was struggling to spend faster than we got in revenue.

[Craig Frankum]

Wow... I've played civ a good bit but that was ages ago. I now see the resemblance. We just finished book 2 & are about 2 turns from anarchy. Current Unrest is 10 with an automatic 5+ by the end of the first Upkeep phase. Outside of a major boost from a fortunate event, any advice on how to recover from anarchy?

[Philip Knowsley]

You've probably already figured to dump everything you can into stability, but
without knowing which ruleset you're using, the replies here will likely only
be generic.

However - that said, if you're that close, there's not a lot you can do 'in-game'.
Not nothing, but not a lot.

What you need to do is prepare for the worst & what you'll do AFTER your kingdom
falls into anarchy. i.e. what will you do to clean up the mess you caused. :(
Of course, preparing for the worst isn't the same as giving up! So: -

It may also pay to speak out of game to your GM & see what can be arranged.
They have no stake in seeing you fail - unless it falls into some evil GM scheme
they have going...
You could ask for outside assistance, which will likely come at a cost. e.g.
Brevoy, or a church of something or other might like to step in & help...

[Craig Frankum]

We are running the rule set from the module itself. Our GM is pretty good at helping us out, but I have a feeling none of really know how to fix our problem. Pumping Stability is a going to be a great start.

[Philip Knowsley]

Okay - see if you can get access to the Ultimate Campaign book - I think that's
what it's called. (You can access online - I forget where.)
They have a way better set of rules - something in there may help.

[OldManJim]

Ultimate Campaign Kingdoms and War chapter: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCampaign/kingdomsAndWar.html