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Concept 5/5
Mechanics 4/5
Cartography 0/5
I've been anticipating Kingmaker 2E eagerly and looking for a group to play it with, so when I got my hands on the Player's Guide, I devoured it, twice, and then some more. Here's how it looks.
Concept 5/5
First, Paizo whiffed on a great opportunity to modernize while separating the P2 version from P1: Queenmaker. Really, it's time we let gendered titles loosen up, and people would have still recognized the product lineage.
As for the concept, it's super cool. Paizo isn't the first to expand the game's ruleset into dominion management, but they hit the sweet spot for a campaign that provides rules for the play style. Carve out my own kingdom with my friends? Run it the way we want? Politics, resource management, AND monster bashing? Awesomeness!
Mechanics 4/5
I'll start upfront with why this is not a 5. It's not a dominion management system first. It's Pathfinder, a d20 tactical 5x5' RPG with the queendom mechanics tacked on. Now that said, it's a pretty darn sweet system. There is tons to do. In true Paizo fashion, it's all about options, options, options. It looks fun without being too clunky. I still expect the mechanics to require some GM handwavium to smooth them out. The system isn't as thoroughly balanced and considerate as the core P2 mechanics
- Suggested Character Options: This is a bit of a head scratcher. I get the idea: here's what will or won't work in this campaign, or put another way, here's what's easiest to run. I don't think it succeeds very well. Why is there an Alignments column if you recommend "Any" and don't recommend "-"? Why is there a Not Recommended Row if nothing isn't recommended against except Cleric of a deity that isn't specified or hinted at? The format is poor.
- Prominent Citizens: I'm torn on these. They are information on an NPC but specifically a quest NPC. The details can be deep, and then the quest is described, sometimes in detail along with motivations, triggers, and reactions. If they are presented as, "Here's what you know about these NPCs based on rumor, but it may not be true," then that's a cool angle. I like the idea of my character recognizing people and having a prejudged opinion formed about them. I don't understand why any quest information would be shared here though other than the basic hook. I can see that being offputting to GMs or wading into spoiler info for players. I'm also open to the idea of it being a bit gamier than usual in some ways, so again torn on these.
- Backgrounds: There could have been more effort put into these. It's a player's campaign guide, and there are only 7.
Cartography 0/5
I'm stunned by the poor quality of the cartography. I can't imagine playing on the included hex maps. The scale is not mentioned in the book or noted on the maps. North is not up. That's not unheard of, but it's awkward, especially on disconnected maps. The maps look like someone's first attempt at using old cartography software. Landscape elements are poorly merged together like trees with shadows mixed crudely with splotches of flattened green forest texture. Scattered rocks from the tactical dungeon artpack incongruously dot blurry plain-esque textures. The mountains are hard to make out and some of the more poorly drawn I've seen. You can kind of tell ridges and higher altitudes, but then the rivers run haphazardly up and down the slopes. Lakes and rivers are unrealistic (on a map trying to breach the artistic side of mapping with realistic textures). They are thick, clunky, and poorly drawn. Their borders merge poorly with the landscape. Looking at satellite maps, you can see how real rivers and bodies of water interact and flow. These maps show no understanding of basic water flow. You have rivers going every direction on the same map. At this scale, that's implausible. It looks awful. The road-paths are similarly crude and thick.
The maps are so bad, I had to write this review. I can't see myself playing the AP until someone in the community releases their own decent version. Paizo!? Dang, girl.
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Well, thousands and thousands of players played this AP over the last decade or so with these exact same maps, enough players to make it an adventure path successful enough to be remade into a new 2E version.
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I feel like the point of putting the hex maps in the player's guide is not "this is what you're going to play on" (since that's the GM's job to figure out) it's "here's where you keep notes about what's on the map for your own use".
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A top tier RPG company producing a version upgrade to a proven AP with "thousands and thousands of players" who played the 1e version should have high quality maps. There's no excuse for what went into the player's guide.
Dozens of high-end maps by amateurs can be discovered with a quick google search for "fantasy hex map." One of the stand outs near the top is The Mule Abides' map for interestingly enough Adventurer Conquerer King. Paizo could have hired one any one of these cartographers for a few hundred dollars to produce something nice to play on without rivers that flow up mountain ridges.
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Well, I disagree. The map you linked, to my eye, is particularly ugly and much too crowded.