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Kingmaker Second Edition

Lantern Lodge

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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Just wrote this for one of my PCs, who was trying to gather rumors in Nivakta's Crossing early in Chapter 3.

Although most of what you hear is just more burbling about the Varnlings' passage, an old fisherman tells a spine-chilling tale. "A bridge old Davik once had made, down south on the Shrike below the cascade. He charged the toll for shepherd or knave, but the bandits said they wouldn't pay. They burned his house and killed his hounds, they cut the bridge and left Davik to drown. But no thief could build the bridge once more: for in the dark of night, old Davik crawls back on the shore. From the bandits that him they slew, old Davik now demands his due. Of old Davik's bridge, just one rope yet stands. But the toll is no coin struck by mortal hands. Heed my tale and listen well, or Davik's spear shall be your knell." As the fisherman finishes his story, the shadows that have gathered around him fall back, and the torches seem to light him properly once more.

All the other GMs out there, any fun experiences to share?


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I've had a pretty good time DMing this adventure. It's one of those adventures that inspires a DM to create and improvise. The narrative fun. The enemies are interesting and good reasons are given to oppose them. The PCs are more invested than usual because they are protecting their kingdom rather than serving the interests of others.

My PCs are evil. So I tossed in a competing group of good NPCs led by Talon Brightfire, a champion of Iomedate, and his wife Nadia, a cleric of Iomedae. Tartuccio convinced them that the PCs were trying to use the kobolds as an army to take over the Stolen Lands, so Talon and his group wanted to bring the PCs before Jamandi for justice. The PCs tried to negotiate, but failed. They ended up killing Talon, his wife, and other supporter, then killing Taruccio and allying with the kobolds who are part of their kingdom.

I also tossed in a shadow demon serial from a sensationalistic crime event that is plaguing the kingdom moving from person to person like the movie Fallen spreading fear amongst the citizens. They don't quite have the magic to catch the shadow demon yet, so he taunts them before he kills more citizens. The Warden is tasked with tracking it down.

Kingmaker is fun adventure to DM.

Liberty's Edge

Had my first session last night. We're still in the Aldori Manor, but we're having a blast, from our Barbarian having a push-up contest with Amiri and our Investigator being incredibly down bad for Jaethal. I'm so excited for next week.


My Players have a habit of being nice to every enemy who might be a potential friend, whether that is the Frost Giant in Part 1 or Howl-of-the-North-Wind in Part 2 - they will even try to heal recently-defeated enemies to see if clemency changes opinions. Tuskgutter? Someone made friends with it, because the idea of kobolds (also befriended) riding into battle on a Daeodon (as I upgraded Tuskgutter to being) as if they were humans on the back of an elephant appealed to their sense of Awesome.

These players would rather burn the Stag Lord's "fort" down around him in the dead of night and shoot those running out with bows from the darkness than be Big Darn Heroes and charge into a fort where they are certain to be outnumbered.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I ran our first session last night. It went well, but the Influence portion of the feast... could have gone better. The players just ended up with abysmal rolls, round after round. All of them even used their initial Hero Point and either got the same result or worse. They ended up with no more than two points with a couple of NPCs.

I'm not sure (off the top of my head) if there are any other situations designated to give them another chance at Influencing the companion characters, but if not, I'll probably find a way to let them do that at some point.


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aett wrote:

I ran our first session last night. It went well, but the Influence portion of the feast... could have gone better. The players just ended up with abysmal rolls, round after round. All of them even used their initial Hero Point and either got the same result or worse. They ended up with no more than two points with a couple of NPCs.

I'm not sure (off the top of my head) if there are any other situations designated to give them another chance at Influencing the companion characters, but if not, I'll probably find a way to let them do that at some point.

There is plenty of time for them to influence the other NPCs. What I did was have the NPCs form their own adventuring party and every now and then they cross paths with the party in the wilderness and share a campsite. Then the PCs can talk and swap stories and get more opportunities to influence them. They also meet up at Olegs every now and then and swap information about things they've seen while exploring.

Sovereign Court

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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Without getting into spoilers, saving an NPC's life ought to be worth an Influence Point or 2. (I'd go with 2.)

Lantern Lodge

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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I also granted an extra 2 influence points for saving each of the NPCs during the next scene. My players did a GREAT job at the feast though, so this was enough to max them out with a few of the NPCs, and I had them ride with Maegar Varn on the way to Nivakta's Crossing so they could get the last point they needed with him. For the others, they'll show up here and there. Having them meet up at Oleg's or out among the Stolen Lands is the best idea. Having an adventuring party with all five of the feast companions strains belief a little (I just can't see any way that Linzi and Jaethal will get along), but I'm going to have Amiri, Harrim, and Linzi show up at Oleg's the next time my players get back there, while Valerie and Jaethal will show up at some point later.

Sovereign Court

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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Having the NPCs form their own group is actually a cool idea but I agree they wouldn't really all get along.

In my game they have enough to recruit Amiri, Linzi, and Harrim. If they choose not to they'll form their own group.

I'm going to have Jaethal go with Tartuccio and have Maegar Varn invite Valerie to join him.

I'm also impressed your group managed to get close to full Influence with Maegar Varn, he had really high DCs for first level characters to hit.

Lantern Lodge

Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

My bard got a lucky critical success early during the party, and Linzi aided him for another (somewhat lucky) success later, so they only needed one more after that. (I ruled that any NPC made "helpful" would be willing to Aid Influence attempts on other NPCs, and Linzi's "helpful" threshold is super-low.) I also had 5 PCs for that scene, so they had slightly more chances than expected. The bard's dice were just amazingly hot for most of that scene though.

The investigator, meanwhile, got a lucky critical success observing Jaethal, which completely gave away the game as far as her backstory goes.... and then decided not to denounce her or otherwise give her away, although she made it quite clear to Jaethal that she knew what was up. My PCs aren't evil, but they're certainly willing to embrace some amount of pragmatism!


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions regarding future influence sessions!

While I'm here, I'm curious if anyone has given their party a generous gift of horses (enough for each PC) early on, like from Lady Aldori as a reward. It would be really useful for adding an extra hexploration action from the start, but I don't know if it would be too much that early on.

Lantern Lodge

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Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

Lady Aldori's reward for saving the manor is huge, more than enough for everyone to buy their own horses before they leave. I strongly recommended to my players that they do so, although I changed the date of the party so that if they decided not to, they would still get to Oleg's just in time if they force-marched on the last day.

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