Did anyone else's Kingmaker game go off on a happy tangent?

[SaintMac]

First, loved the AP and it was an awesome effort. Sandboxes can be a nightmare, but this wasn't.

Second, it was more than likely my brain, but after the second book, the game took a turn from the books. Maybe it was the extra NPC's I created or maybe the desire to add more meat, but we didn't go into book 3 and let the world the player's built become "the campaign world".

I give credit to this AP for many things, but it was very cool to see how players and GMs can take the first two books and make it it's own happy little world.

Did anyone else go this route?

Thanks!

[Erik Freund]

I want to bring my KM back on track eventually, but we've been between books 2 and 3 for about 6 months or more now. And it might be getting close to a year before Varnhold finally up and Vanishes.

And those are OOG times, just to be clear. :-)

I firmly believe the greatest strength of the Kingmaker campaign is to provide a framework for GMs to do their own thing. Running it like any of the other APs is a huge mistake. It's not just a "non-linear AP" or even a "sandbox." It's beyond that. It's a scaffolding or a campaign premise, waiting to be built upon, taking the events and locations in the books more as inspiration than things to be run.

It has unleashed some amazing things at my table. This is a campaign set up to last for years.

[DM Azure_Zero]

For me since I have taken over one that lost it's GM, I'll see how the players push or pull the campaign from the books as time goes on.

[rando1000]

Definitely off track! I didn't care for Varnhold Vanishing, so we didn't go with that adventure at all. The PCs just explored and build their kingdom and did quests for a while. We've just started Blood for Blood, and, while I've made some modifications, it's probably going to go mostly according to plot (I am starting to consider throwing in something to do with the Brevian Civil War here; we played the BforB Mass Combat using the full Mass Combat rules and the players are already talking about building armies).

I'm not planning to run War of the River Kings; we're going to have a war, but it will be totally different. I'm also not planning on running the final module. I've downplayed the Fey as villains plot completely, and don't plan to bring it back. Not sure what I'm going to do for a closing act, but it will probably focus more on the PCs than the kingdom.

[SaintMac]

Thanks guys! I felt the AP was solid enough that a GM could tweek here and there and have a great time. With my game, that "tangent" made the game so much more fun. Challenging as a GM, but so worth it.

I'm pretty impressed that with two books that a group can create a living world in their minds and have no sense of urgency to "move" on. I know it was stated in different words in the books, but they were right in stating that taking time-off or letting the party work within their new lands is a good idea.

Kudos to them. Are there things that can be broken easily? Sure. Does this give a GM a chance to introduce a house rule? yep. Does it empower players if a GM sits back a bit, amazingly so.

When running it, I felt as if I were running a city campaign. Not knowing where the action or direction would go from one play session to the next. It was hard, but exciting. A GM could read the first two books, re-balance the kingdom vs kingdom and have a campaign that lasts years.

This was well worth the money, and I can't recomend it enough.

[Talon Moonwalker]

The Kingmaker game I am running has been going on for several months now with little to no real issues. In 4 months we have completed book 1, and moved into about the first third of book 2.

The tangent came with the magic item economy. Just completed 3 years worth of it in one massive session (8 hours or so), and they have a Command DC of 50, with all but loyalty above that. Usually not too much of an issue, but when you roll a lot of major wonderous items such as the Tomes of X stat +4 or higher, and the players are able to take them without issue apart from a single unrest, then something is up. Because the kingdom is a legal one, I had little option really but to allow it I felt, but it does mean that I have 2 level 6 sorcerers in the group with about a 24 charisma.

Tangent wise, the ability to make the world your own, with the framework and the like is fantastic. I have been forshadowing the vanishing recently, and dropped hints about the trolls to the deep south. As soon as the part heard about that, they started looking into how best to protect themselves, analysed the mass combat rules and so on, and have come up with a reasonable way to protect the kingdom. Their standpoint seems to be very much about slow expansion of the kingdom, protecting it as best as they can.

They have allied themselves with a number of the small monster tribes in the region, the sootscales and the fey, dryad etc have all been dealt with in the most diplomatic of methods. Having done so much expansion, they are now looking forward to taking a back seat and expanding a little before moving on to exploring further and attempting to beat the various threats to the nation.

To be perfectly honest, I love the AP, its a wonderful one, and will keep on buying the PDF's as and when they are needed, so long as I actually can find them.

[roccojr]

Erik Freund wrote:

I want to bring my KM back on track eventually, but we've been between books 2 and 3 for about 6 months or more now. And it might be getting close to a year before Varnhold finally up and Vanishes.

And those are OOG times, just to be clear. :-)

I am in the same boat... and loving it. There's so much awesome going on that really doesn't involve the APs plotline that we're just spinning our own yarns at this point.

Erik Freund wrote:

I firmly believe the greatest strength of the Kingmaker campaign is to provide a framework for GMs to do their own thing. Running it like any of the other APs is a huge mistake. It's not just a "non-linear AP" or even a "sandbox." It's beyond that. It's a scaffolding or a campaign premise, waiting to be built upon, taking the events and locations in the books more as inspiration than things to be run.

It has unleashed some amazing things at my table. This is a campaign set up to last for years.

I could not agree more. The published plot is awesome all by itself but if I never really get back to it as anything more than a "also occurring" sort of thing, I'd be ok with that.

[PJ]

SaintMac wrote:

Thanks guys! I felt the AP was solid enough that a GM could tweek here and there and have a great time. With my game, that "tangent" made the game so much more fun. Challenging as a GM, but so worth it.

I'm pretty impressed that with two books that a group can create a living world in their minds and have no sense of urgency to "move" on. I know it was stated in different words in the books, but they were right in stating that taking time-off or letting the party work within their new lands is a good idea.

Kudos to them. Are there things that can be broken easily? Sure. Does this give a GM a chance to introduce a house rule? yep. Does it empower players if a GM sits back a bit, amazingly so.

When running it, I felt as if I were running a city campaign. Not knowing where the action or direction would go from one play session to the next. It was hard, but exciting. A GM could read the first two books, re-balance the kingdom vs kingdom and have a campaign that lasts years.

This was well worth the money, and I can't recomend it enough.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing1