Heya good folk!
I am currently running a Kingmaker campaign with heavy focus on the RP bit.
We are three players, a Bard, a Ranger and a Witch. They have lived in their own little slice of land about 1.5 years now. We're on the second module, and we're coming up on a gallaevent they are hosting for the Swordlords, and some of the local nobles.
I figured it would be fun to make this a bit fun, and also "make it count" a bit. So here's what I came up with:
A series of checks which give a bonus or a penalty to their economics. I figured I'd start with 25BPs and add or subtract to that total, depending on whether or not the PCs manage to "win" or lose the encounters.
I have a ceiling of max 50bp gained, and a floor of 0. I don't want to go into the negatives.
What I need help with:
- I need 2-3 viable checks for each character (6-9 total)
- 2-3 checks where the PCs can cooperate to impress/fail.
Im thinking: diplomacy for sure, knowledge(arcana) perhaps for the witch? Knowledge(nature) for the ranger etc..
- Names of the swordlords, are there any in the AP? I don't want to make up names, only to find they are named later. If they are not, help me generate a few of them with names and short descriptions.
Thoughts and/or help is appriciated :)
Hrm...I'm int the same boat. I have a Baronial wedding that I want to spice up, and have been struggling with how to handle it.
I'm not sure I'll have time to implement it, but this morning it occurred to me that a series of Socal 'chases' may be a good mechanic.
As far as checks....
Knowledge (Local), Knowledge (Law), Knowledge (Nobility) all make sense in a Social context.
To dance well at the grand ball: Perform (Dance), which defaults to DEX (or you can be nice and let Knowledge (Local) cover that as having learned the dances).
Senso Motive and/or Bluff are good for various social interactions in addition to Diplomacy.
Is there a pre-ball Fair/Joust? That allows for Ride and/or weapon skills to be addided into the mix (use Melee or Ranged to hit mod as a 'skill')
For the Bard, any sort of appropriate Perform might be good (don't think 'entertainer', think of the guy who sits down at the grand piano and becomes the life of the party)
Perform (Oratory) is appropriate for holding a crowd mesmerized with your tale-telling
just some thoughts.
Good ideas! Here's what I have so far:
The guy playing the Ranger, has expressed interest in holding an archery-competition.
So before the ball, there will be just that.
I reckon there will be about 150 entering, rich and poor. I'll just paraphrase the initial rounds, and we end up with two "heats" in the end with 10 archers in each.
The plan is to have my rangerfriend (Devon) in one of these, along with one of his friends, a ranger named Harrison who is part of a group of rangers Devon has organized into a sort of law-group.
The two best in each "heat" goes to the finals. Where the final four square off with 3 arrows each.
The target is divided into 5 sections and each section gives a diffrent amount of points.
ac 5 to hit at all => 1 point
ac 10 => 2 points
ac 15 => 3 points
ac 20 => 5 points
ac 25 => 8 points
As said, 3 arrows each, combined sum determines winner.
What is needed: Names of the two other finalists. Harrison and Devon will be the two first ones.
Reward: If devon places in the competition he gets a boost in their kingdoms BP, as a result of better relations etc..
1st: 7 BP
2nd: 4 BP
3rd: 1 BP
4th: 0 BP
Now for the ball itsself:
In attendence:
My 3 players, and their servants, among them Nariel, Kyra and Harrison, my players 3 closest "servants"
3 of the sword-lords (Still need names)
3 of the wealthiest merchants from Restov. (Need 2, already have Ezekiel, a gnome who runs a magic-shop in Restov. My players have asked him if he don't want to expand into Akiros' Salvation (the name of their main City)
Their hanger-ons, I reckon 3-4 each, plus servants.
Svetlana, Oleg, Akiros, and the other NPCs mentioned in the books.
As for events / checks:
1) Diplomacy DC 15 to get Ezekiel to start a magic-shop. Reward: 3BP AND half cost in building a Magic-shop.
2) A series of checks to determine their overall good-will with the swordlords:
- 3x DC 15 Diplomacy (1 each) To improve trade-relations between Restov and Olegston (2 points each check)
- 3x DC 18 Diplomacy (1 each) To improve trade-relations between Restov and Akiros' Salvation (4 points each)
- 2x DC 15 Bluff (Witch and Bard) To convince the Sword-lords they will never be a threat (1pt each)
- 3x DC 15 Knowledge(Nobility) (1 each) To blend in and talk about current events (2 points each)
- 1x DC 15 Knowledge(Engineering) (the Witch) To speak of the buildings in the kingdom etc. (2 points)
- 1x DC 15 Knowledge(Nature) (The Ranger) To speak of the natural resources in and around the kingdom (2 points)
Rewards: if they make all the checks they get 30 points. How many they DO get, determines a bonus to their BP.
Points => BP
30 => 40
27 => 36
24 => 32
21 => 28
18 => 22
15 => 18
12 => 12
09 => 8
06 => 4
03 => 0
With the archery contest and the diplomacy-check for Ezekiel that adds up to a potential 50 BPs gained.
So... Thoughts ?
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So... Thoughts ?
The idea of making the gala have possible effects on the kingdom's position is good. A few thoughts:
1) Will you allow the players to, e.g., change the DCs/types of rolls based on their actions? If they're all static DCs, it doesn't seem as if the PCs can influence the results by good play. If I were a PC at the gala, it'd be more satisfying if my choices (as well as my great rolls) could make the gala more successful, or if I could sometimes choose which of two tactics to pursue (cf. chases, which usually have two alternative possibilities per card).
2) Do you have any mutually antagonistic countries/groups/factions that may change their attitude to the PCs based on the PC's relations with their enemies? For example, if the PCs are best buddies with Restov/Rostland, that may make it harder to convince House Surtova to make deals with them (and vice versa). Is it possible to keep everyone happy, or do the PCs have to pick a side?
3) Are flat BPs the best/only way to reward success? I might consider giving less BPs, but then follow up with related good or bad events depending on what happens. (Maybe you were planning to add these anyway.)
Alternatively, they could get some of the BPs as aid for a particular type of activity. For example, if they impress the Swordlords, they get a discount on the next Arena (or some other similar fighter-related building) because their contacts refer them good people.
Good luck!
Nice!! I like it !!
The idea of making the gala have possible effects on the kingdom's position is good. A few thoughts:
1) Will you allow the players to, e.g., change the DCs/types of rolls based on their actions? If they're all static DCs, it doesn't seem as if the PCs can influence the results by good play. If I were a PC at the gala, it'd be more satisfying if my choices (as well as my great rolls) could make the gala more successful, or if I could sometimes choose which of two tactics to pursue (cf. chases, which usually have two alternative possibilities per card).
Very good point!
I think I'll just leave the DC as is, and instead give a bonus or panalty on the rolls. But you're right one way or another, you should be able to influence it by making smart choices/plays.
2) Do you have any mutually antagonistic countries/groups/factions that may change their attitude to the PCs based on the PC's relations with their enemies? For example, if the PCs are best buddies with Restov/Rostland, that may make it harder to convince House Surtova to make deals with them (and vice versa). Is it possible to keep everyone happy, or do the PCs have to pick a side?
I was initially going to include representatives from all the grat houses in Brevoy. But I figured my players kingdom just isn't big enough for that yet.
The bard is a baroness for the time beeing, and this ball is meant to showcase to the swordlords, who gave them the charter in the first place, that they are doing ok.So I won't be involving any hard political decicions at the moment. Though I probably will later, for now their relations are focused on Restov, and not so much the rest of Brevoy.
3) Are flat BPs the best/only way to reward success? I might consider giving less BPs, but then follow up with related good or bad events depending on what happens. (Maybe you were planning to add these anyway.)
Also a good point. I did it with flat BPs for two reasons:
- It is simple :)- They are a bit short on BPs, since they made some bad decicions in the beginning. This is a way of giving them a bit of a second chance :)
Alternatively, they could get some of the BPs as aid for a particular type of activity. For example, if they impress the Swordlords, they get a discount on the next Arena (or some other similar fighter-related building) because their contacts refer them good people.
Good idea! I think I'll incoorporate that somehow.
Good luck!
Thanks, and thanks for taking time to offer your thoughts :)
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we're coming up on a gallaevent they are hosting for the Swordlords, and some of the local nobles.
We recently had a party in my own Kingmaker campaign... I used it to tie in events from future books.
Check out book 3. There are Varnholders beyond them thar hills. So I had the Varnling Host at this party. The Sworlords (the PC's main contact is a Sword Lord named Anton Aldori... my pic for him is a well-painted headshot of Grand Moff Tarkin. Spooked my players appropriately) didn't want to leave the colonies with no hope so they arranged for the party to be the site of the first diplomatic relations between the two fledgling nations.
From an overall campaign arc standpoint, I used the party to create a launch pad so that when Varnhold does his vanishing act in book 3, the PC's actually feel a loss. They're not a "Oh yeah... there was another kingdom sponsored byt he Sword Lords... and... umm... they just disappeared."
In fact, I'd planted the seeds for this relationship in my preamble for book 1. The party's bard had something of a relationship with the Varnling Host's rogue. So when she showed up as the Grand Diplomat of Varnhold, they rekindled their relationship in a closed-door diplomatic session...
AND... despite kicking the new kingdoms to the curb for Brevoy's stability's sake, the PC's druid (drunk from drinking with the Varnling Host's dwarven cleric) volunteered that the PC's would be happy to do ANYTHING for the Sword Lords. Everyone else groaned as Jamandi Aldori's eyes lit up.
The druid just signed the PC's up to babysit Brinian (from the NPC guide) for a while. I'd decided Brinian had one too many controversial relationships going on and the Sword Lords needed a break from him... What better way to teach the lazy fop some humility than to make him work on the frontier for a while!
I planted the warnings of an upcoming assassination plot. I'm generally about 2+ years ahead of the actual calendar with regards to generating kingdom events so I can weave them into the storyline and not have them just pop up as a series of rolls. There's an assassination plot coming...
As it turned out, this was the right time for the Owlbear to attack their capitol city so when they got back, they had that to contend with. Rather than let them repair those buildings for half cost, I told them that the buildings were completely destroyed. THey groaned, of course. Timing was everything... they had to stay in their capitol for a week in order to apply their bonuses to the kingdom's stat rolls... so a whole week passed and then they went hunting down the owlbear. By the time they returned to the city, the Varnholders had shown up with half the cost of repairs in BP (so the PC's only ended up needing to spend half of their own).
So the party loves their new neighbors... just in time for them to disappear.
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- Names of the swordlords, are there any in the AP? I don't want to make up names, only to find they are named later. If they are not, help me generate a few of them with names and short descriptions.
IMC, the party is fulfilling a charter not for the swordlords (per the AP), but rather for a Baron in Brevoy. I used this to create a tempestuous situation between the local Brevic nobility and the swordlords (one of my players is the daughter of a swordlord). While some of the description may only make sense in my convoluted political setting, the description of the swordlord council in my game is posted *Here*
My players have to balance politics in their own kingdom, the swordlords, and a barony in Brevoy that assigned them their charter if they want to keep the peace.
They are not all aldori swordlord build characters, since most of that info was not available when I created the council, but feel free to borrow names, personalities, etc. if you like. I also have info about tourneys in Brevoy and other background info on my campaign website, so feel free to poke around and borrow if you like.
By AP RAW, there is a swordlord character in Book 3, a woman named Jamandi Aldori, which I didnt use because most of my background was created once I received Book 2 and I didn't retro fit when Book 3 came out.