Starting a Kingmaker Campaign, any advice?

[CaspianM]

So I'm starting a Kingmaker Campaign sometime in December and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the adventure path and the kingdom generation mini-game? It seems kind of odd regarding times to build things.

Also are there any pitfalls I should be looking out for?

Any ideas as to how to make the kingdom game more interactive?

[Egoish]

This will probably get moved to the kingmaker forum but...

My group just finished the first book, that was quiet easy to run with no real pitfalls. Some of the encounters are a bit weak if your players are opt'd you'll find they can breeze things, i used some crazy terrain and weather effects to make things a little more challenging. Also used a few extra npcs or some templates to bulk out the set piece encounters.

I found rolling up a few days of encounters in advance handy but some of the random encounters are a bit brutal, when they got trolls it happened in a rainstorm from a distance and they played evasion.

Other than that i ran the game with loads of free time and some character play with the npc's, overall it took my group about four months of game time to clear the whole book and get to just short of level four. As summer reaches its height they are just about to start kingdom building and we're taking a break for another game for a while.

[Abraham spalding]

Don't try to fry pudding after midnight with half a bottle of scotch in you.

Beyond that Get the players involved in making the story. For a GM you got a lot of useful stuff there but not much of a story or coherency -- so grab the stuff and switch it around as you need to make it work for your party.

Get the player's excited about their story -- you're part should be really easy -- you're simply the referee and occasional push to keep them from stalling.

[ProximaC]

I'm running a custom campaign with the Kingmaker rules (but about as loose an overarching plot), and I've found it helps to get your party involved in their capital city; I've introduced a lot of little mini games for that, like absconding with the business running rules out of 3.5's DMG2.

Also - it can be more interactive if you give all the NPC members of the party's ruling council their own agenda. My own party has implemented a sort of 'High Council' that votes on all decisions. To that end, I lifted the relationship rules straight out of the Jade Regent player's guide, to represent who had influence with who.

Another thing that I've found helps versimilitude is to make sure that the players are always the highest level citizens in the kingdom. Not necessarily by a lot, but it does help.

[Amuny]

Our group found an excel sheet that should be easy to find that resume EVERYTHING about building the city.

It has been REALLY helpfull, and we have been able to do MONTHS of building resumed in ten minutes.

It just basically setup every maths in there, you just need to keep your hex map around and make the decisions, then enter one or two number in the spreadsheet and see what it gives.

Also you didn't precise if you are DM or Player so I will avoid spoiler at all cost, but I can say that this campaign is really entertaining for experienced player, but I feel like it would be really tough for new players. It needs a lot of reflection and can brings a lot to the game, but may be too much for players learning the game.

And my advice for players; Keep your diplo/intimidate/bluff/sense motive high, it will be a precious help. Even more on the character that plans to be ruler.

[CaspianM]

Yeah, I will be GMing this game. We run on an alternating game cycle so I guess there will have to be some abbreviation of the exploration somehow.

[xebeche]

Look through the Kingmaker forum. It is probably a good idea to read the adventure paths and the GM Reference for each book that are stickied in the previously mentioned Kingmaker forum. The first is Stolen Land.

Gauge how interested your players will or will not be in the kingdom building process. It is likely that there are groups out there that want nothing to do with it. You could find a solution that would make everyone happy. If one or more people are expert micromanagers then understand that they will build a kingdom that will laugh off any of the DC the books try to hit the kingdom with.

Here is an excel spreadsheet that our group uses to manage the kingdom. It makes a world of difference if you have a computer at the table. You might also find these condensed kingdom building rules and building types useful. I put the last two PDFs together about a year ago and updated them with errata that was released at that time and before.

Best Wishes!

[Tinalles]

My group is about 80% through the second book. One problem we ran into was that it was hard to keep the GM's records of which hexes we explored in synch with the players' records.

We solved that by getting the Kingmaker Map Folio, and laminating the hex map of the Narlmarches region. Now when we've explored or claimed a hex, we mark it off in wet-erase markers. We can draw roads we build onto it, or scribble notes like a little skull and crossbones for places were PCs have died. When we're out exploring we stick one of the PC minis on it to represent the current location of the party.

It's cut back on misunderstandings substantially -- there's no confusion about which hex the party is in, is going to, or has visited, because there's only one map and everyone's looking at the same thing.

[Timothy Withem]

The kingdom building spreadsheet xebeche mentioned is awesome! I've used it for my group since the beginning to great effect.

If you are looking to add the anything from Jon Brazer Enterprises' Book of the River Nations into your game, I've updated Berhagen's original spreadsheet to include additional buildings and some other rules to the sheet. You can find it here

[Cheapy]

I also recommend JBE's Book of River Nations.

I mean, it has "Wall of Tentacles" as a spell. I'm not sure what that has to do with Kingdom making, but it's awesome.

Also, the book allows for far more interesting kingdoms and cities.

[ProximaC]

Timothy Withem wrote:

..I've updated Berhagen's original spreadsheet to include additional buildings and some other rules to the sheet. You can find it here

You are my new favourite person. I wasn't looking forwards to updating a spreadsheet for Book of the River Nations... ...and now I don't have to. Simply awesome.