I'm running Kingmaker in the 1e system but taking several elements from the 2e update like the companions and some story parts, including the Aldori feast. I let my players do gestalt and monster templates, their characters are evil and disguised as humanoids so people outside the party don't know that. This is important because during the feast my players met Hannis Drelev and they did not like the guy. Not. One. Bit.
Probably didn't help that I made Hannis even call them peasants at one point.
In some kingdom phases they even gathered info on where Drelev was and who the government members of fort Drelev were
Well, we reached book 2 and I know that they are an RP enjoyer group, I knew that it would be really annoying if I did not let them negotiate at all with Hargulka and just forced them into fighting him, like the books obviously pushes you to do. So I allowed them to do some RP, bring gifts and do diplomacy checks to try and earn the favor of the trolls as they met them trying to recruit the Sootscales for their cause. They passed the checks, the diplomat is really good at it, so they managed to secure an audience with Hargulka and through some successful bluffs and diplomacy checks managed to convince the troll king of something I did not expect: That Hannis Drelev is the real threat to the trolls ambitions. They sold him as some crazy anti-monster maniac, one even them can't reason with, which wasn't hard considering Drelev was fighting against the boggards and driving them out of Hooktongue. Hargulka wasn't fully convinced however, Drelev had never done anything to him after all. So afterwards the party even disguised themselves with magic to look like actual emissaries from Drelev and hired a group of mercenaries to scout troll territory, except the party also followed the mercenaries and used magic to expose them, causing the mercenaries to get caught, two of them alive, with a contract with Fort Drelev's symbol and revealed who sent them.
Hargulka is now pissed and the players promised to give him supplies if he goes to war, Hargulka (just like in the book) still did not compromise to leave the players in peace afterwards. I made sure to have Hargulka say that he considers all the territory his by right, so even if they help him get rid of Drelev he will not abandon his objectives of conquering the entire land, even the PCs kingdom. The players (bluffing ofc) said they understood, but to them, Drelev is a bigger threat, so they agreed on a temporary truce until Drelev is defeated. Hargulka and his monsters will march to Drelev and the PCs will provide them with provisions and weapons (under the table, they can't really let their population find out what they are doing)
Now Hargulka's army is marching to fight Drelev (who is supposed to currently be scuffling with the Tiger Lords) and honestly, it really surprised me they managed to pull it off.
Here's what will happen on the route they are going:
- Drelev and the Tiger Lords will be attacked by the monster army, Hargulka's troops will make no distinction and the players never mentioned the Tiger Lords to them.
- They both lose a lot of troops during this battle, forcing them into a truce, Armag is forced to call help from Pitax, Drelev calls reinforcements from his noble contacts.
- Maegar Varn will visit and talk with the PCs about Drelev calling for reinforcements from other nobles, so they have an idea of what is going on, maybe even ask them if he should try to help him
- The combined forces of Pitax's mercenaries, the tiger lords and Drelev manage to push Hargulka's army away
- Drelev is still significantly weakened, which Irovetti uses in order to take over Drelev (pretty much hastening the events of Blood for Blood, so Drelev gives the daughters and sons of his noble allies to the tiger lords)
- The players are successful in turning Drelev into a criminal who is now forced to obey Irovetti and Brevoy takes his titles due to his unhonorable behavior to fellow nobles. BUT now Irovetti has more influence than ever before.
- Hargulka lost many soldiers and he'll demand that the players actually join the war with troops and not only supplies. What will the players do is up to them, take advantage of the weakened troll nation to force them to bend the knee or just terminate Hargulka and his generals? Up to them.
Now I come to ask: Am I forgetting something? Is there a good idea here I'm not using?