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We have just completed the Kingmaker modules - although we are still playing out the last couple of weeks of the campaign – and I thought it would be good to add our voice to the ‘We’ve done it’ group. First off, my party and I liked the modules and we have had a great time playing through the scenario – so if any of the comments below appear negative – please remember we enjoyed Kingmaker and all had great fun playing it.
Note: From here onwards this post is littered with large scale plot points (but not too much detail). If you don’t want to know the broad plot – stop reading now.
Unlike some groups who have commented on here, we thought the overall story line flowed quite nicely. It started off with an objective to ‘clean up’ the greenbelt which moved on to ‘Establish a kingdom’. After that there was a threat from the west (Varnhold) a threat from the East (Fort Drelev), a threat from the south (Pitax) and a Threat from afar (Nyrissa). Each time the threat was more powerful and needed more thought, better skills, etc – to deal with.
For us, it flowed. I think it helps that I skimmed through all six books before we started and knew when an encounter was foreshadowing something. That (perhaps) meant that I could emphasise it a bit more in game. Having said that, the party followed plenty of Red Herrings as well - BUT they recognised links back to previous encounters.
We enjoyed the city and kingdom building rules for a while, but they can be a bit of a distraction as the party moves through the story. I think we moved to a semi kingdom in the background mode about halfway through book three. I asked the players how they would like to develop – and they left it to a group of NPCs (ie me, the GM) to oversee the detail. That worked really well. The players feel they own the cities / kingdom but it doesn’t take up a huge amount of game time.
We employed a similar technique for the mass combat – one of my players is a full on war gamer and would turn his nose up at the basic rules. Another finds the tactical combat rules tedious. So we finished up with PCs fighting their own fight with the generals of the opposing army - with a battle raging around them. The outcome of the fight between the principals (and a few dice rolls) decided what sort of damage the army had taken.
However, both the Kingdom Building and the Mass Combat elements added something positive to the game.
One thing that disappointed me was the way the Stolen Lands were designed originally. It is portrayed as a wild lawless place, with no roads or paths and nothing but a few hunters and woodsmen making a living there. However, there are two different groups of bandits making a living robbing traders that travel the Green Belt / Gnarlmarches, as well a man who made a living out of building and operating a bridge!
If I ran King Maker again I would draw in a few paths that mule trains could follow and I would add a few minor settlements along the way, probably at the various fords or crossing points. That gives the players a bit of structure to work with (but without making it too easy) and makes both the story and the economics work (after a fashion). It also gives some minor settlements to be incorporated into the new kingdom, and adds a bit to that side of play.
As I said at the start, we are now playing the campaign out. I used the potential civil war in Brevoy, with a stand off between Surtova and Restov to stabilise the Northern Border. Now that is coming to a head (almost) as per the guidance for civil war in book six. However …
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Well done! How did the final fight against Nyrissa go?
Bravo! Congratulations! Looking forward to more details. Can we get a full roster of your heroes? (Race/Class/Alignment/Position/etc?)
The fight against Nyrissa was amusing. I didn't like The Fable as it was written, so I converted it to a Permanent Bountiful Demi-Plane (as per the spell) with access between the four areas. We started off with Nyrissa bouncing about the demi-plane using the magic to drop in and out of the area - and to keep at distance. She managed to get individuals alone a few times ...
They tried to trap her with an Anti-magic sphere - and that nearly worked except she acrobaticed away and resumed bouncing. Eventually they trapped her and managed to block up the stairwell down to the next level. After that it was just a matter of time.
However, the party spent some time and reworked the entrances to The Fable (limited wish spells) to get themselves their own pocket dimension with four keyed access points :)
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We are a small, but fairly traditional, group of long in the tooth players. We have Rudy (a half-elf bard), Cassandra (a half elf sorceress) and Larran (an Elf Fighter) as the main characters. Each player had a secondary character - Robert (priest of Iomedae with the DMs unoptimised build), Ox (a warrior/fighter) and Hebrin (an Expert, Ranger,Rogue). The three secondary characters are deliberately underpowered compared to the three main characters.
You can find more details of the party (and their adventures) at http://new-haven.wikidot.com/start
Yeah I'm planning on doing something similar with my final fight. As well as the plane itself turning against the intruders, to help even out the action economy.
hehe - no Galine is still too young to get involved with Nyrissa. However, she did turn up again this weekend as a precocious young teen - along with the other two children they have rescued over the course of Kingmaker (Tig and a girl from Vordakai's tomb called Jenny) demanding to take part in the civil war with Brevoy.
The look on Rudy's players face was well worth it :)
Galine is now a L2 character (aristocrat/cavalier) after intensive training (her mum is marshal of the western lands) Tig is a L1 Druid and Jenny a L1 sorceress.
The three were assigned to the medical corps - but managed to make cassandra feel guilty enough that she sent them gifts. +3 leather for Tig and +2 rings of Prot for the two girls. :)
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I would love to hear a more detailed design of what you did to the fable. Ie how was she "bouncing" how did the players travel in. Was is multiple planes or a large connected dimi plane, etc.
This bit is all spoiler! Don't read if you are a player and haven't got this far yet :)
My party had forced everything back onto the prime Material - so the fable was limited to four 20ft diameter rooms. I just stacked them one on top of another and added connecting stair cases. Think of one big tree house, its tree and its garden all contained in a 20ft diameter cylinder.
This link leads to the notes / maps I used.
My party got to the fable by laying on the bed and one (Rudy) thought about his wife. Now Rudy is a lusty young man so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. And, it made my day because I now had a character with a dodgy will save alone with Nyrissa.
After a few shenanigans Rudy held hands and thought dirty, then the whole party went through to the fable. The party only had that one route in and out.
Nyrissa, on the other hand, knew the secrets of the fable and used that knowledge to her advantage - although I might have taken advantage of the descriptions slightly. *Evil DM Grin*
To leave the fable you touch the wall and think of the room you came from. I allowed Nyrissa to touch the wall and think about one of the teleport triggers and teleport to that room. So she could touch the wall in the bedroom and teleport to the pool room. That allowed her to use the pool trigger to come back into the garden.
Before the all managed to chase her all the way down stairs - she used the same trick in reverse - to come back to the bedroom