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One of the problems I have been wrestling with in my preparation for dungeonmastering this AP has been; How to make my party feel the decline Korvosa goes through during the AP? While the "boxed text" and my own descriptions of the events the party will witness, will set the mood and place the party in the story. I still want to evoke in the party the same frustrations that the citizens will feel. I found my answer last night in the Gamemastery Guide and thought I would share it here with the community.
The few short pages given to Urban adventures allow a dungeonmaster to establish a base line for Korvosa. Using the Guide to Korvosa I established what Korvosa looks like on the day of the king's death.
Korvosa
LN, Large City
Corruption - +4
Crime - -1
Economy - +4
Law - +6
Lore - +4
Society - +0
Qualities (5): Academic, Insular, Prosperous, Strategic Location, Racially Intolerant (Shoanti, Varisian)
Disadvantages: None
Government: Overlord
Population: 18,500
Danger: 10
Base Value: 11,200gp
Purchase Limit: 75,000gp
Spell Casting: 8th Level
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Emerging from their victory over Gaedren the party steps into a changed city. The death of her King has thrown her into a state of anarchy. Accurately reflected by adding the Anarchy disadvantage. This change should persist until the begining of Part VI when "things begin to get back to normal".
Korvosa
LN, Large City
Corruption - -2
Crime - +5
Economy - +0
Law - -2
Lore - +4
Society - -2
Qualities (5): Academic, Insular, Prosperous, Strategic Location, Racially Intolerant (Shoanti, Varisian)
Disadvantages: Anarchy
Government: Overlord
Population: 18,500
Danger: 30
Base Value: 11,200gp
Purchase Limit: 75,000gp
Spell Casting: 8th Level
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By the begining of Seven Day's the average citizen begins to see normalcy returned, however disaster once again looms unsuspectingly upon the horizon. From Part III of Seven Day's to the end of the installment Korvosa gains the Plagued disadvantage.
Korvosa
LN, Large City
Corruption - +2
Crime - -3
Economy - +2
Law - +4
Lore - +2
Society - -2
Qualities (5): Academic, Insular, Prosperous, Strategic Location, Racially Intolerant (Shoanti, Varisian)
Disadvantages: Plagued
Government: Overlord
Population: 18,500
Danger: 10
Base Value: 8,860gp
Purchase Limit: 75,000gp
Spell Casting: 8th Level
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Even though the party is instrumental in saving many lives, the plague still takes its toll on the citizenry of Korvosa. In addition the Queen has reached the zenith of her powers, the curse fully in effect, and divorces Old Korvosa from the city. Driving the city into its greatest state of decline. This has two major effects on the city's stat line. First, the population loss from the plague and the abatement of Old Korvosa lower's her base line from a large city to a small city. Secondly, she loses the prosperous quality. Finally, she gains the following disadvantages Cursed, Hunted, and Impovrished. Keeping these until the end of the AP
Korvosa
LN, Small City
Corruption - +4
Crime - -1
Economy - -7
Law - +1
Lore - +3
Society - -5
Qualities (5): Academic, Insular, Strategic Location, Racially Intolerant (Shoanti, Varisian)
Disadvantages: Hunted, Impoverished, Cursed
Government: Overlord
Population: less than 10,000
Danger: 10
Base Value: 2200gp
Purchase Limit: 12500gp
Spell Casting: 6th Level
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Once Old Korvosa is cut off she becomes an entity of her own so I developed her statistics as well, which she keeps from the end of 7 days to the end of the AP.
Old Korvosa
CE, Small Town
Corruption - +7
Crime - +8
Economy - -6
Law - -17
Lore - +0
Society - -8
Qualities (2): Notorious, Racial Intolerant
Disadvantages: Anarchy, Impoverished, Hunted
Government: Secret Syndicate
Population: 200 to 2000
Danger: 50
Base Value: 600gp
Purchase Limit: 5000gp
Spell Casting: 4th Level
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The real pay off for all of this to me is the fact that as a DM I now have a mechanic I can easily use to demonstrate directly to the players the change in their environment. The decline in the economic resources of Korvosa will most effectively demonstrate this as the buying and selling of treasure will be much more specific. Social skills inparticular benifit from these changes as citizens and officals become more difficult to manipulate.
*Excellent post*
I'm gearing up to run this AP myself, in fact our first game is Saturday. I haven't had the energy to tackle this particular mechanic yet. I'm very happy to see this post and you can consider it good and properly "yoinked" my be. :D
Very nice. Cut and Paste, I will use this!