Undead PCs Variant

[QPAMBRDRK]

Hey folks,

Has anyone ever run or thought of running a variant on this campaign where the PCs are servants of an undead lord (vampire/lich/something or other) that come to the Greenbelt to secure lands for their Lord and Master?

I'm planning on coming up with a conversion for 3 players, once I figure out how to translate undead races well. I was thinking of building the undead races as classes and doing a gestalt campaign where one side of the gestalt was the undead race.

Thoughts?

~QP

[Jabberwonky]

Don't see why it wouldn't work, in fact an undead mastermind behind the charter could be a ton of fun. Perhaps the sword lords of Restov are actually a cabal of vampires?

[QPAMBRDRK]

Hrm, I hadn't thought of the swordlords being the undead. I had imagined the PCs coming from a completely different land and working against the four groups that the Swordlords had sent.

[Jabberwonky]

That could also work very well. One of the nice things about the River Kingdoms is that they are kinda loose, and the Stolen Lands could be as big as you want it to be. In my campaign, I made Oleg's 2 weeks from Restov, and added in a significant amount of land all around the green belt, to give the PCs a real sense of kingdom once they solidify their place. I also moved Loric Fels (a River Kingdom that is quasi haunted, full of trolls and hags and nasty things) to right between Pitax and Mivon to the south of the green belt. This served 2 purposes - it created an artificial no-mans land to keep Pitax and Mivon from coming to war themselves, and allowed a nasty land where monsters could originate from right to the south of the PCs borders.

Sort of in the regard, What's to say that a smaller undead kingdom perhaps bordering the Stolen Lands isn't making a land grab same as the Swordlords? In the end, changing the landscape, modifying the bad or good guys, swapping and moving things around are what makes your game individual and compelling for you and your players. Plus it gives us all cool ideas and new ways of looking at the world of Kingmaker. Have at it and make something legendary - just keep us posted on what you do because it's cool!

[QPAMBRDRK]

Thanks!

So far I've been looking at the encounters and been thinking about how I would alter each to a group of evil PCs sent to the Greenbelt.

I think their goal would be to prime the area for an offensive to expand the small undead kingdom. Corrupting sacred sites, raising undead for an army, gathering allies, defeating defenders of the forest, etc would all be their goals.

Oleg's could be their first step. Perhaps they would need to turn him and his wife into undead and the tradepost into the lich's first foothold in the area.

I'll keep working on it and see what happens.

[Jabberwonky]

What if their mission was to join forces with the Staglord, and sway him and his goons to the cause? They could be tasked with proving to Staggy that the PCs are worth hiring, maybe they have to go do missions for Staglord as opposed to Oleg and The Swordlords. Thus they could explore/expand his territory in the south of the Green Belt. Maybe their first job is to join Happs at the Thorn River camp to help him collect his tribute (A la the first encounter as written in the book - bandits at oleg's). They could be successful and pillage the goods, forcing Oleg to plea for a group of good guy adventurers to protect him.

This party of 'good guy' adventureres would be working out of Oleg's, exploring and hassling the evil PCs as they expolore the area, with the eventual culmination of the module taking out Oleg and his heroes as opposed to the Staglord and his bandits. Perhaps they also are told by their masters that the Staglord should be taken out in the final battle, so that the evil pcs can secure their hold on the region from the south.

Throughout, you could have missions claiming old barbarian cairns or graveyards to swell the ranks of their evil masters, basicly tip the first book on it's end and run it from the other side.

[pennywit]

Actually, Golarion has an undead kingdom already -- Geb. The kingdom's eponymous ruler is a ghost tied to this mortal plane because he is not certain that he defeated his ancient enemy, the archmage Nex. Next disappeared centuries ago during their great war. He is retreated into his citadel, and is rumored to have retreated into a private demiplane.

What if there are rumors that his demiplane has come back into contact with Golarion ... possibly in the Stolen Lands? Geb is a long, long way off from the Stolen Lands, but that's not a bad thing storywise. Geb can't personally manifest outside of his kingdom. So ... perhaps he sends the undead PCs to the Stolen Lands to pacify them? Instead of Nerissa and the First World, you can have Nex and his demiplane. Instead of Briar and a sword made of love, you have Nex's staff, repository of much of his power.

This game's climax could go one of two ways. You could have the PCs pacify the Stolen Lands in Geb's name, making the lands technically part of his kingdom so he can manifest there and battle Nex. Or ... perhaps the PCs will battle Nex themselves and claim his power so they can overthrow Geb?

Also of interest: Geb's consort is Arazni the Harlot Queen. She was created from a demigoddess who was the patron of the Knights of Ozem. If the PCs are trying to build a new Gebbite domain in the Stolen Lands, the Knights of Ozem (a faction headquartered in Lastwall) WILL take an interest.

Another possibility is to move the Stolen Lands to Ustalav. There, you can find Virlych. Virlych is a wasted land, but it's also the resting place of the Whispering Tyrant. Sounds like a great place for the undead to establish their new domain ..

[Mr. Grogg]

Seems it would be more in keeping with the original work to have the PCs be fae, working with Narissa, against the four groups sent south by Brevoy. Fae and undead could be very similar, power-wise.