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I've started this message then aborted it about... oh... 20 times. Maybe THIS TIME, I will actually send it.
I'm interested in learning about the subplots GM's have added to their Kingmaker campaigns. I'll share a few that I've had going...
1. I had the luxury of starting Kingmaker after all 6 books were out. Reading ahead, I saw that Varnhold would be significant. The PC's included a bard who was quite the womanizer. Before the Aldori charter to explore the Stolen Lands was issued, we played a couple of sessions to get the PC's all used to one another (and get us used to Pathfinder... its our first campaign under these rules). During this preamble, I set the philandering bard up with a dangerous beauty who would, one day, be Varnhold's grand diplomat. In our campaign, the issuing Swordlord is Anton Aldori... an middle-aged man who is to marry a young woman that, of course, the bard was also involved with.
2. The young woman is far more dangerous than anyone let on. Seeing the Gyronna cult was active in the first book, I decided to make them a much more insidious threat to far more than just the fledgling kingdom. Seeing as two of the PC's were Orlovsky nobles, it didn't sit right to me that this would somehow be stabilizing on Rostland's southern border. In our campaign, this woman had manipulated Anton Aldori (who used his own pull with Jamandi Aldori) to perform the events that led to the issuing of the charter to form the PC's kingdom. While the idea was to stabilize the southern border, in reality, it was to irk Rostland. Both Varnhold and the PC's kingdom, after all, are ruled by Issian nobles (even if in name only)! Destabilizing some rinky-dink newcomer to the untamed frontier is child's play. In my campaign, the Gyronna cult wants nothing more than destabilizing Brevoy and plunging the entire nation into the chaos of a bloody civil war. The PC's will, at some point learn, that their kingdom is a major reason that the civil war in Brevoy begins. Having been contacted by their families in Issia and asked, repeatedly, which side they would choose, they've stated their desire for neutrality... but will soon figure out that they won't have the luxury of that choice.
3. One of the PC's is a Iomedaean paladin. He was supposed to serve at the Worldwound but was suddenly diverted to his homeland to take part in winning the charter to form the PC's kingdom. Mendev wants the pilgrim trail from the south protected. If the PC's are so stubborn that they're going to stay neutral in Brevoy's civil war, Mendev will certainly tell him that the war will have lasting repercussions at the Worldwound.
4. Little does this paladin also know that he carries a sword that has a small piece of a soul trapped in it. Long ago, the sword was used by a paladin at the Worldwound against a major demon. The exact details have been lost to time but the sword struck a succubus when it was intended to strike that demon. When the Paladin has the sword enchanted to +4 or better (including special abilities), the soul will awaken making his weapon intelligent and Holy.
5. If the PC's haven't figured it out by then, the sorceress currently serving as the Magister is a succubus. They liked her because she was harassing the Stag Lord while they were dealing with him. She's been looking for... the Paladin's sword (even if she doesn't know it yet). She knows something happened to her that made her, in game terms, change alignment (to CG). She's very afraid that this change may not be permanent (knowing that, if it isn't, what she becomes if the change is removed will not care to be Good). She could feel the paladin's soul pass through her at the battle that ultimately killed him. From that, she knows that some portion of the soul remained in the sword that struck the blow that caused her dramatic change. She doesn't know how or why that happened... and hopes that finding the sword may give her the answer she needs. Instinctively, she had come to the Stolen Lands. She does not recognize the sword because it had been broken and reforged... but in her presence, it has begin to awaken. The paladin has seen it shift colors but the change is so slow that he doesn't know the cause. It shifts slowly to red around the sorceress, green around fey, etc. A fey woman touched the sword and changed it to a lustrous green just recently.
6. The bard always said that he would stop philandering when he found true love. The player decided that his bard had fallen in love with the sorceress. She resisted for a while but he persisted... so love was finally starting to develop. By then, Restov had cut the PC's kingdom (and Varn's) off. Varnhold made contact with the PC's and was making some nice inroads toward a friendly relationship. Naturally, seeing the PC baron had no wife, Varn suggested a wedding between the bard and his Grand Diplomat. The bard told the paladin (his cousin, the other Orlovsky noble) who said he had to marry the Varnhold diplomat. As the ruler of a kingdom, it was his duty. The bard dumpstatted Wisdom and he is played very impressionable, particularly by his cousin. He agreed... and broke it off with the Sorceress. She thinks she's playing hurt... but she actually is. It won't come out until the day before the wedding, though. He'll have one last chance to choose love...
7. Speaking of choosing love... The party's stuffy Erastil worshiping
Marshal had been betrothed to marry an upstanding woman... the Treasurer's sister-in-law, in fact. He met a vibrant, beauty traveling in a fancy coach to the PC's kingdom. They had a wheel problem so the Marshal offered his assistance. We had this "Heart wants what it wants" moment. Long story short... a Pretty Woman plot developed as she was a prized dancer (well... in modern days, she'd be on a pole wearing clear heels) who worked for a Calistrian priest who was opening a brothel in the PC's capitol city. I was quite surprised when he chose her over his proper wife! Now, he's facing a lot of backlash as the populace, who'd come to respect him as a respectable man who upheld the virtues of Erastil, is pretty much saying he will marry the girl (whom everyone assumes is more than just a dancer...).
8. The Gyronna cult includes a doppleganger... who has impersonated the Treasurer (a druid worshiper of Erastil) visiting the brothel and hiring the services of a particular woman. Naturally, this was pretty bad... but her body just recently turned up. The doppleganger, having been in the druid's shape, left plenty of evidence behind (without making it look like he was trying to leave evidence behind... I dunno... fly casual) that the druid was responsible... right before Archerfeast.... where the baron (now duke) is supposed to announce the impending nuptials between himself and Varnhold's Grand Diplomat.
9. The PC rogue was made the Spy Master. The player has ALWAYS wanted to run a rogue's guild... going back to 1986!!!! Finally, this campaign would give him the chance. He's carefully balancing his responsibilities... but has found that there's another organization that seems to be forming simultaneously.
10. We aren't using hero points or plot twist cards... so I made Tig a "greater fairy" rather than the grig she was. Basically, she's a Tinkerbell sort of fairy that can grant wishes though she never revealed this until very recently. She'd land on the Paladin's shoulder and sigh... so smitten with him. It was pretty obvious she was in love. When a party member (none other than the Baron!) was reincarnated as a Bugbear, everyone was quite depressed. Tig finally revealed her ability and granted the Paladin three wishes. He used his first to revert the Baron back to his original form. *POOF*. He used his second, with her permission (after she'd mentioned that she can't grant herself wishes), to make her the appropriate size for them to be together! This is fairly recent... and somewhat of a surprise. I'm not sure how to have the most fun with it...
There are others... but I think I've passed the tl/dr threshold and its time to put my son to bed. I suppose I'll actually post this now. Thanks for reading and please share any subplots you've got going on.