|
*Coough* Snurf! *Cough*
So I am playing Kingmaker for the first time got a session down, we got the bandit female chick out of the way, never got her name as she wouldn't tell us after we captured her... but what the heck? turn her in and now we roam around randomly? I understand we are exploring for our future kingdom but our characters don't know that! WTH(eck)! I talked to a few of the other players their is little motivation to roam around unless you knew the plot before hand and made your character to want to randomly explore the woods.
Is there hope of a story happening before level2? Please no spoilers if possible. I always though Sandbox meant a series of small adventure paths that lead to a major plot...
You should voice this concern to your GM.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
|
I concur with Evil Lincoln.
Also: have you dowloaded the free Player's Guide to the Kingmaker campaign?
And a "sandbox" usually means an environment that player characters can explore on their own initiative, hopefully with some plot hooks to give you some direction. Was "the bandit chick" working for anyone else? Have any of your neighbors heard of her?
|
You’ve accepted the charter from Restov, yes? Your charter is to map out the upper portion of the Greenbelt. While doing this, keep an eye out for bandit activity and it *might* be a good idea to take care of other things you come across as needed.
If you choose to look at this as “roaming around randomly,” then that’s certainly your choice, but not very productive. You have accepted a charge to map out a certain territory. If nothing else, fulfilling that charge should be motivation enough (for now).
Now, all that being said, the real strength of a sandbox game is the player contribution. Look at the AP (in this installment, it’s the charter) as a skeleton of the adventure. Around that should be YOUR story. YOUR motivations, YOUR stories, YOUR interactions.
Yes, in the meta-game, you should leave room for the Kingdom-building to come, but for now, what are YOUR characters doing while fulfilling the charter? Is there romance brewing? Is someone looking for a certain type of business opportunities? Is someone caught up in their art? Or maybe someone is taking it upon themselves to not only map the area, but trying to take a census of the inhabitants?
There is tremendous freedom in a sandbox adventure to make the story YOUR story. There IS a story going on in Kingmaker, but one of the great things about it is that it can be there and allow yours to shine as well.
What WAS the setup?
Did you have any background info at all?
Why were you at Oleg's Trading Post?
If your DM didn't give you the mentioned charter, ask him to show the group page 6 of the first adventure. It is the first thing he should have done after you had made characters (in fact, even before you made characters).
If he actually did give you the charter, then I don't really see the problem. Do you just not want to explore?
|
|
If your DM didn't give you the mentioned charter, ask him to show the group page 6 of the first adventure. It is the first thing he should have done after you had made characters (in fact, even before you made characters).
If he actually did give you the charter, then I don't really see the problem. Do you just not want to explore?
...Or do you prefer your adventure paths with a big dose of Choo-Choo?
Please let us know whether or not you received the charter, from there we can better offer advice.
|
|
What WAS the setup?
Did you have any background info at all?
Why were you at Oleg's Trading Post?
Agreed - there's actually a pretty large amount of information the DM should have given at the beginning of the adventure that should hook you into the exploration, between the charter and the events that unfold at Oleg's trading post. There should also be a fair number of wanted posters at Oleg's - if the DM didn't mention them you should ask about it next time you're at the trading post - and these give much additional incentive to accomplish specific goals throughout the region.
There's a lot to be gleaned from little details, as well. You defeated the bandits that had been harassing Oleg, but did you recover his wife's stolen wedding ring? Did the DM fail to mention that it had even been stolen?
|
|
We got a charter from some city to the north to hunt down bandits for reward. We got to Oleg's and were mistaken as the re-enforcements. Tried telling some bandits to stop messing with oleg, went sour, destroyed them. Decided to track down their boss to let them know we were serious. got into an ambush, two of us dropped down oracles kept the group going (amen to me!) than we captures the bandit female. She told us of the staglord so we took her back to Oleg where we met the actual reenforcements. From their Svetlana told us to find her some radishes for her. we went out found some stoned kobold killed them and found the radishes. Then i suggested we scout out the staglord place but the group said no. That is funny because the pacifist oracle, me, is the one pushing the group to be productive. So we are wandering around frolicing.
I just met the Gm for the first time this weekend, so I don't want to be confrontational. Mainly to be polite.
We got a charter from some city to the north to hunt down bandits for reward. We got to Oleg's and were mistaken as the re-enforcements. Tried telling some bandits to stop messing with oleg, went sour, destroyed them. Decided to track down their boss to let them know we were serious. got into an ambush, two of us dropped down oracles kept the group going (amen to me!) than we captures the bandit female. She told us of the staglord so we took her back to Oleg where we met the actual reenforcements. From their Svetlana told us to find her some radishes for her. we went out found some stoned kobold killed them and found the radishes. Then i suggested we scout out the staglord place but the group said no. That is funny because the pacifist oracle, me, is the one pushing the group to be productive. So we are wandering around frolicing.
I just met the Gm for the first time this weekend, so I don't want to be confrontational. Mainly to be polite.
********************************
CHARTER: Be it so known that the bearer of this charter has been chargedby the Swordlords of Restov, acting upon the greater good and
authority vested within them by the office of the Regent of the
Dragonscale Throne, has granted the right of exploration and travel
within the wilderness region known as the Greenbelt. Exploration
should be limited to an area no further than thirty-six miles east and
west and sixty miles south of Oleg’s Trading Post. The carrier of
this charter should also strive against banditry and other unlawful
behavior to be encountered. The punishment for unrepentant banditry
remains, as always, execution by sword or rope. So witnessed on this
24th day of Calistril, under watchful eye of the Lordship of Restov
and authority granted by Lord Noleski Surtova, current Regent of
the Dragonscale Throne.
***********************
-So its too explore the place.
-If you havent built using the players guide you are missing a lot.
-Lot of political intrique in the background in Brevoy
-There is a very good overall plot
-Characters shouldnt just be randomly picked for this AP, they may have been trained for it, got onto the charter by noble birth, someone is paying for them to be involved, etc
There are also several sidequests available if you actually talk to some of the people you meet. (Actually, in the first adventure, pretty much everyone you meet you can assume has a giant glowing "!" above their heads.) One of them even takes you through most of the salient points of the first adventure, too.
But if sandbox and self-motivation aren't your thing... you really need to consider a different AP.
Kingmaker is awesome, but it is a balancing act that requires effort from both sides of the GM screen.
I would say that it has a real good chance of falling apart if the GM doesn't provide enough hooks, and if the players just want to be told where to go and who to kill.
Two ends of the game group spectrum are going to have a hard time with this adventure path:
In the former, the players are going to be left standing on stage going "line?...line?" In the latter GM's are going to be wondering why their group is heading off into the level 10 encounter areas right out of the gate just because they want to "prove" that the campaign isn't open enough.
I personally believe that the AP is good because it can be molded to fit any group without getting heavily bogged down in adjusting stat blocks. As a GM it is so much easier to increase or decrease story/fluff/hooks than it is to rebalance encounters and rebuild NPC's.
To the OP, I hope you guys have a bit more fun further down the line. Just keep in mind that sandboxes are for playing in. Not for standing in a corner asking when recess is going to be over.
I always though Sandbox meant a series of small adventure paths that lead to a major plot...
If I e're have a rule named after me, I'd like that rule to be something like "the RPG term 'sandbox' is one with an extraordinarily high number of personal definitions, so use it with care.'
Also, one of Kingmaker's half-flaws, half-genius points is that it's a bit of a cold open. That can cause problems if it's not recognized. But, if it's a DM to a group that he or she doesn't know, just run with it - things should work their way out.
Well, it's assumed that Oleg tells you he'll reward you if you find his wife's wedding ring. The sandbox players can just do whatever they want while exploring the Greenbelt, and pick it up if they find it; the players that want to follow a trail of breadcrumbs have a plot trail available for them to follow (as mine have, tenaciously, heading into all of the chapters areas sans the last fort while still at level one).
I'm currently GMing Kingmaker, and at the start I let the PCs learn (in various ways true to their backgrounds) that local gossip suggested that the Lord Mayor's exploration charter might lead on to something bigger and better, and the possible opportunity for being granted land and the Right to Rule it...
It's fairly easy to just slip that in without affecting anything.
Yeah. Either you or your GM has misunderstood something. The charter you got doesn't have anything to do with the bandits except as an incidental. Your PRIMARY goal is to explore your slice of the Stolen Lands and deal with any potential threats to Restov you find. The banditry is singled out only as a known example - should you find the severed skull of Ydersius, that is part of your charter as well.
sorry chris we already found the severed skull of ydersius, wasn't any where close to the stolen lands tho, are you sure you waterboarded the right goblin, he may have given you faulty intelligence
i was just having fun with the thread i need to emoticon more i guess:)
