| Nique29 |
My players are gearing up for the actual kingdom building portion of the campaign and I have a few questions.
We've played it once before, and got to the 3rd book, before we had to stop for rl issues. That time, it felt like they were expanding far to quickly and their kingdom was growing at a rather quicker rate then it should have been.
I let them make the rolls before, for random events I mean, and then told them the results. This time, should I make the rolls myself? It might allow me to skew the odds in my favor should they be expanding to far too fast...
Also, is there anything in the rules about the alignment of the kingdom vs the alignment of the players? They want to make the kingdom chaotic evil for the bonuses. But they're all good aligned, one of them is even lawful good... Even if it's not in the rules, I just don't see how they could justify it to themselves as characters...
| pennywit |
A few random thoughts:
Kingdom Events. I think these ought to remain solidly the purview of the GM. Events are your way to goose the story and/or the kingdom in one direction or another. I suggest using a mix of random events and custom GM events. I've also started using Plot Twist cards with kingdom and/or PC events. That is, if there's a plot line or a situation, I will lay 3-4 Plot Twist cards face-down in front of the player. The player chooses a card, and that card influences how things play out.
Kingdom alignment. I would veto the CE kingdom/good PCs combo. I think it's possible under RAW, but Rule Zero should triumph.
| Nique29 |
I've also started using Plot Twist cards with kingdom and/or PC events. That is, if there's a plot line or a situation, I will lay 3-4 Plot Twist cards face-down in front of the player. The player chooses a card, and that card influences how things play out.
That's a really clever idea. Did you come up with those yourself or is a product you found somewhere?
I would veto the CE kingdom/good PCs combo. I think it's possible under RAW, but Rule Zero should triumph.
That's what I was thinking. Sometimes its just nice to get an outside opinion that backs your play though, you know?
| Philip Knowsley |
+1 to pennywit's comments...
Plot twist cards are a Paizo product. I don't use them, but as I understand
it they allow a little bit of a story telling opportunity to enter in the
player's arena. The player draws a card & can influence the story in an
interesting way.
Just don't let the players get too ambitious with them. I've read some posts
where the GM hasn't held the reigns tightly enough & this has allowed
players to control situations through 'creative' use of the cards.
Creative is good, but nerfing the story is not... ;-p
So - back to ye olde kingdom events. I pre-roll, usually years at a time,
& then use what I've rolled to build NPCs & events from the books into the
game. If an event is rolled which doesn't fit with what has gone before,
then I make one up, or I re-roll.
This allows me to put some real thought into the event, rather than it be
some random good or bad thing...
Lets face it, which is best? -
Oh, random dignitary - roll a d6 & you get that many BP...or
Baron Drelev asks for permission to pass through your kingdom with some
Mivonese mercenaries - he needs help to fight the residents of the Slough.
All that extra cash being spent is good for your kingdom - you get 4BP
That's just one of the simple ones I used. It added to the story, as they
then knew that Drelev was having issues & needed mercenaries...PLUS they
got some BP. Players were happy... (Plus in my game it got my players
worried about other realms having armies...heh heh heh...)
As for CE kingdom with Good PCs Nuh-uh. Just as pennywit said...
| Nique29 |
+1 to pennywit's comments...
Plot twist cards are a Paizo product. I don't use them, but as I understand
it they allow a little bit of a story telling opportunity to enter in the
player's arena. The player draws a card & can influence the story in an
interesting way.
... Maybe I'll just stick to not bothering with the plot twists...
So - back to ye olde kingdom events. I pre-roll, usually years at a time,
& then use what I've rolled to build NPCs & events from the books into the
game. If an event is rolled which doesn't fit with what has gone before,
then I make one up, or I re-roll.
This allows me to put some real thought into the event, rather than it be
some random good or bad thing...
I kinda like this idea. I think I may have to borrow it for my campaign. I know I made quite a few mistakes the last time, in letting the players have a little more free reign with the rolls and certainly in allowing them to over expand rather quickly.
This time around I think I'll reign it in a little, and I'm definitely going to be a little more heavy handed with the fudged rolls for major players. My dice do not like me when it comes to my npcs and making rolls...
| pennywit |
Philip Knowsley wrote:+1 to pennywit's comments...
Plot twist cards are a Paizo product. I don't use them, but as I understand
it they allow a little bit of a story telling opportunity to enter in the
player's arena. The player draws a card & can influence the story in an
interesting way.I use the Plot Twist cards two ways. I dole them out to my players, making it clear that the GM can veto any use of them if he deems the use inappropriate, and I also give small XP bonuses if one of my players uses the Plot Twist card in a memorable way.
(The most recent memorable use was when the party's barbarian, under the influence of a spell from Grigori, used a Plot Twist card to blackmail the Treasurer's assistant into embezzling 6 BP from the kingdom treasury).
The second way is that if there's a plotline or a situation in-game, and I don't necessarily have a solution for it (or if I'd like to introduce a random element) I drop the spread in front of a player as I said upstream.
In this case, the GM decides how the Plot Twist will come into play. Most recent example: My players' spies reported that the trolls were preparing to attack the lizardfolk settlement. So, my players sent an army to protect the lizardfolk. I did a four-card spread, and the card that came up was (IIRC) "Hidden Secret." I left that card in play while one of my players resolved the troll vs. kingdom army scrum ... and then....HIDDEN SECRET: The lizardfolk betrayed the players!! My players were alternately amused and horrified ... and they've now added "lizardfolk" (along with owlbears, evil faeries, trolls, and will o' wisps) to the official list of kingdom enemies.