Considering a new Kingmaker

[pennywit]

I may be running Kingmaker under PF1 rules for a gaming group sometime in the next year or so. The problem, though, is that at least one person in the group has played the CRPG, and most of the rest of the group already knows some of the things I did with the game previously. Wanted to get some folks' thoughts on a changed-up campaign I'm considering.

The Big Boss. I'm thinking of swapping out Nyrissa and the Fable with The Colony of the Immortal Arts, something I dreamed up a couple years ago. I would run the Colony as a city-sized demiplane that occasionally intersects with the Prime Plane. The Mistress of Beauty would be an immortal, undead "forgotten patron" who wants to be remembered again. Her citadel would show up on the site of the Castle of Knives at the appointed time, and then her agents would disperse across the Stolen Lands to find artists and singers. She wants to find somebody worthy to depict her in song or in art, which she believes will stabilize her citadel and make her happy again. (Not to mention it might give her a taste of divine/mythic power again).

Other things:

Stolen Lands would run mostly as-is. However, the Stag Lord would be having an affair with a rusalka named Kareen ... and I would turn his physical death at the end of Stolen Lands into a segue to a variant of Hargulka's Monster Kingdom, but with the undead Stag Lord as the Bloody Huntsman off a scenario I tried for a PbP that died a couple years back.

I would replace Vanhold Vanishing with something involving politics w/ settlers from Brevoy coming into the Stolen Lands, mainly to gauge player interest in a Game of Thrones in Brevoy.

Haven't thought much beyond that. Any thoughts from the crowd here?

[Gargs454]

I like it! These are some good mash ups so to speak of the original material that still stays true to the AP. I'll admit that I really like VV, but I can see where running it for a group that is already somewhat familiar with it could be problematic.

The only thing I might caution you about is essentially waiting until Book 3 to find out if the group is interested in a Game of Thrones style game. I say that only because that might be a little late to really start twisting the narratives of the houses around each other. I would probably start teasing it earlier, maybe even incorporate it a bit into a prologue session (i.e. have the PCs interact with the Swordlords or one of the houses in order to get their initial charter rather than just starting out as the AP suggests). It could be something as simple as "As you know, House Lebeda never fails to repay a favor . . ." or something along those lines. (Overly obvious example but you get the idea).

Just out of curiosity. Do you have any plans for Skywatch? Personally I thought that was one of the most interesting mysteries of the AP . . . only to never have it mentioned again. Sadly, I've hinted at things being tied to Skywatch, but my players haven't taken the bait, or even considered it really, as of yet. (which of course is perfectly fine, but I digress). That certainly seems like an area that could be expanded upon in order to make the game a bit different from previous campaigns.

[Spatula]

Sounds interesting! (I initially read that as the Colony of Immortal Ants which was also interesting but much more weird) I do agree with Gargs454 that if you're going to add in a major political element, ideally it would start sooner than book 3. I mean, ideally the players would be invested and bought into it from the get-go.

[Andostre]

Pennywit, that sounds interesting. I've often thought about how I would switch things up if I ran this AP again. I want to suggest that you allow Background skills to encourage PCs to be artists of some sort, but it sounds like that wouldn't really come into play until late game.

Will you be running the beginning of the campaign as per the AP, in that the PCs are... either on the road to Oleg's or at Oleg's (I forget)?

[pennywit]

Spatula wrote:

Sounds interesting! (I initially read that as the Colony of Immortal Ants which was also interesting but much more weird) I do agree with Gargs454 that if you're going to add in a major political element, ideally it would start sooner than book 3. I mean, ideally the players would be invested and bought into it from the get-go.

Good point. Going earlier might be a good idea. I'm thinking "Venture Capital" would be a good place to start right before Book 2. Basically, I'd want to gauge the players' interest in Brevoy politics. If they're interested, then I use Redcelt's notes. If they're not, then I build things up elsewhere and the Brevic civil war is a background event.

[Canarr]

While I like the basic premise of your ideas - have you considered simply asking your players how deep they want to delve into the politics of Brevoy and the Stolen Lands? I mean, why put in that level of subterfuge to gauge their interest, when you can simply discuss it?