Lost Province House Rules: Difference between revisions

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===Starting From Scratch===
===Starting From Scratch===
The ''Lost Province'' campaign assumes the PCs are starting their kingdom from scratch, without the benefit of a grant, a charter, or a wealthy sponsor.  With this in mind, the PCs' kingdom will initially enjoy a more beneficial exchange rate of gold to BP based on its size, as listed on ''Ultimate Campaign'' p. 205.
The ''Lost Province'' campaign assumes the PCs are starting their kingdom from scratch, without the benefit of a grant, a charter, or a wealthy sponsor.  With this in mind, the PCs' kingdom will initially enjoy a more beneficial exchange rate of gold to BP based on its size, as listed on ''Ultimate Campaign'' p. 205.
===NPCs in Kingdom Government===
When NPCs are recruited into leadership roles in a kingdom, the following house rules and considerations apply.
Most significantly, I'm using a modified version of ''Ultimate Campaign's'' '''Table 4-7: Event Type and Danger Level''' (p. 220) which now includes entries for, essentially, "NPC leader does something" and "NPC leader wants something," the ranges for which expand as the number of NPCs in your government grows.
====Kingdom Experience Points====
When a significant NPC agrees to join your kingdom and perform a leadership role, even if that NPC is not immediately placed into such a role, the party earns kingdom XP as though they had defeated that NPC in combat.  Named, unique NPCs are generally considered significant; the PCs cannot "farm" XP by continuously hiring and firing level 1 commoners to fill vacant leadership roles, for example.
====Preferred Roles====
NPCs typically do not have traits and, in particular, do not have access to campaign traits.  Instead, each NPC has a number of ''preferred roles'', based on their personal history and overall competence.  An NPC in one of his or her preferred roles grants a +1 bonus to the kingdom attribute that role modifies; for example, an NPC who prefers the Magister role grants adds their Intelligence or Charisma modifier +1 to the kingdom's Economy when placed in the Magister role.  If an NPC's role allows them to modify multiple kingdom attributes (for example, a Ruler in a larger kingdom) the preferred role bonus applies to only one such attribute.
====Discontent====
Just as the kingdom as a whole may suffer unrest, so too may an NPC in government become ''discontent'' with the way things are running.  Think of discontent as unrest specific to a particular NPC.  Discontent has the following effects on NPCs:
*A discontent NPC in one of his or her preferred roles no longer grants the +1 preferred role bonus.
*A discontent NPC ''outside'' of his or her preferred roles instead suffers a -1 penalty to the attribute bonus they provide.
*Subtract the total number of discontent NPCs (not the totalled discontent ''values'' of all discontent NPCs) in leadership roles from all Economy, Loyalty, and Stability checks.
*NPCs recruited to the kingdom but not placed in leadership roles may still become discontent, but these NPCs do not affect kingdom checks.
*An NPC whose discontent climbs too high will abandon his or her leadership role and leave the kingdom.
The threshold of discontent beyond which an NPC will quit his or her post varies from one NPC to the next, and is not known to the PCs, but can generally be assumed to be significantly lower than the threshold of 20 unrest before a kingdom descends into anarchy.  Gratuitous transgressions against an NPC or his or her interests may bypass the discontent rules entirely.  Discontent, like unrest, can never be reduced below zero.
====Likes and Goals====
Most NPCs have particular goals which they will attempt to influence the kingdom towards.  This might be claiming more territory, founding additional settlements, or something more unique.  An NPC's goals may be represented as events, rolled randomly during the Event phase, or as periodic or continuous behaviour.  An NPC whose attempts to advance his or her goals are frustrated may become ''discontent'' as detailed above.  Accommodating an NPC's likes and goals in the running of your kingdom is the primary means of reducing discontent.
====Dislikes====
Most NPCs have would prefer to avoid certain events or situations.  They might discourage the kingdom from doing certain things, or they might find particular events, rolled randomly during the Event phase, to be especially upsetting.  When something occurs that is called out as being especially disliked by an NPC, that NPC may become ''discontent'' as detailed above.  In some cases an NPC's dislikes may mirror their likes and goals; an NPC with the goal of claiming more territory, for example, may well dislike the kingdom going too long without expanding.
====Unique Traits and Benefits====
Certain NPCs may provide additional unique benefits.  For example, a studious wizard might research arcane spells or produce scrolls which are subsequently made available to PC spellcasters; a well-connected merchant might occasionally divert funds and resources to the PCs' kingdom.  Details of these traits and benefits will be provided as and when particular NPCs are recruited.


[[Category:Lost_Province]]
[[Category:Lost_Province]]

Revision as of 23:44, 18 March 2015

The Lost Province campaign makes use of rules for exploration and kingdom-building first laid out in Kingmaker and later updated in Ultimate Campaign and the online Pathfinder SRD. Deviations from those rules, and any other related house rules, are given here.

Material In Use

The Lost Province campaign uses some material beyond the Core Rulebook, but not everything in the Pathfinder SRD will be available. Consider this a 'master list' of material in use and allowed - I hope not to have to update this unless I've overlooked something significant and obvious. If in doubt, please ask!

Pathfinder Core Rulebook: It's the Core Rulebook; everything in here is okay for play.

Advanced Player's Guide: Most of the additional material in the APG will be in use and okay for play. Traits will be in use; hero points will not.

Advanced Race Guide: Additional races as noted in Races of the Phoenix Empire, and expanded options for core races. The exception to this is anything that references material from Ultimate Combat or Ultimate Magic - these books will not be in use, and character options that depend on material from these sources should be avoided.

Ultimate Campaign: As noted above, the exploration and kingdom-building rules. There probably won't be any call to use the other rules and subsystems and I would prefer to avoid making things any more complicated than is already the case.

Hex Size

Kingmaker describes each hex as measuring 12 miles between opposite corners and covering "just under 150 square miles of area," which doesn't quite add up. Ultimate Campaign and the SRD maintain the figure of 12 miles from corner to corner, and correct the area of each hex to just under 95 square miles.

The Lost Province campaign instead uses hexes that measure 12 miles from the centre of one edge to the centre of the opposite edge (or from the centre of one hex to the centre of any adjacent hex) and which cover an area just under 125 square miles each. There are a few reasons for this:

1) Edge-to-edge and centre-to-centre distances are more useful than corner-to-corner distances when handling exploration and travel;

2) The travel times listed in Ultimate Campaign and the SRD are more consistent with hexes of this size than those which are 12 miles corner-to-corner (closer to 10.5 miles edge-to-edge);

3) Many calculations involving area become easier with hexes of 125 square miles rather than 95 square miles.

Some approximate points of reference or comparison include:

8 hexes = 1,000 sq. miles: the size of Luxembourg.

77 hexes = 9,625 sq. miles: one Kingmaker wilderness map. The size of Macedonia.

241 hexes = 30,125 sq. miles: total area of the Lost Province campaign map. The size of the Czech Republic.

308 hexes = 38,500 sq. miles: all four Kingmaker wilderness maps. The size of South Korea.

Terrain Improvements

Kingmaker has only rudimentary rules for terrain improvements (roads and farmlands) but Ultimate Campaign and the SRD develop this aspect of the kingdom-building rules rather further.

The Ultimate Campaign terrain improvement rules indicate that mines, quarries, and sawmills cannot share hexes with other terrain improvements. I don't feel this entirely makes sense – while digging a quarry or open-cast mine into a hillside might prevent the use of that same hillside as farmland, it shouldn't prohibit the construction of forts, roads, watchtowers, or similar improvements nearby. Instead, the Lost Province campaign will treat these improvements as follows:

Farms, quarries, and mines should are considered mutually exclusive; you can only build one of these terrain improvements in any given hex. In addition, a fishery cannot be built in the same hex as a quarry or mine. Sawmills would also be considered mutually exclusive with farms, quarries, and mines, if not for the fact that they depend upon different terrain types and can't be built in the same hex anyway. A fishery can be built in the same hex as a farm or a sawmill, if the terrain would normally permit this.

Population

While the kingdom-building rules do not require PCs to track their kingdom's population, Kingmaker suggests a population of the kingdom's Size (in hexes) x 250, plus the total population of its settlements (250 per filled lot). In the Lost Province campaign, each terrain improvement in a hex is assumed to increase the kingdom's population by a further 250 people, as the wilderness is tamed and made steadily more habitable; assume that highways and forts, as upgraded roads and watchtowers respectively, count as 2 improvements each.

That 'Dance Hall' Business

Among the various buildings that Kingmaker PCs could include in their settlements was a brothel; at some point late in the production of Ultimate Campaign, it was decided to rename this to 'dance hall,' though its building icon and mechanical effects remained the same. Unfortunately, multiple references to 'brothel' still exist elsewhere in the settlement-building rules in Ultimate Campaign and the SRD. Assume the two are interchangeable; if you build one, it may be either, or some other, functionally equivalent establishment.

Starting From Scratch

The Lost Province campaign assumes the PCs are starting their kingdom from scratch, without the benefit of a grant, a charter, or a wealthy sponsor. With this in mind, the PCs' kingdom will initially enjoy a more beneficial exchange rate of gold to BP based on its size, as listed on Ultimate Campaign p. 205.

NPCs in Kingdom Government

When NPCs are recruited into leadership roles in a kingdom, the following house rules and considerations apply.

Most significantly, I'm using a modified version of Ultimate Campaign's Table 4-7: Event Type and Danger Level (p. 220) which now includes entries for, essentially, "NPC leader does something" and "NPC leader wants something," the ranges for which expand as the number of NPCs in your government grows.

Kingdom Experience Points

When a significant NPC agrees to join your kingdom and perform a leadership role, even if that NPC is not immediately placed into such a role, the party earns kingdom XP as though they had defeated that NPC in combat. Named, unique NPCs are generally considered significant; the PCs cannot "farm" XP by continuously hiring and firing level 1 commoners to fill vacant leadership roles, for example.

Preferred Roles

NPCs typically do not have traits and, in particular, do not have access to campaign traits. Instead, each NPC has a number of preferred roles, based on their personal history and overall competence. An NPC in one of his or her preferred roles grants a +1 bonus to the kingdom attribute that role modifies; for example, an NPC who prefers the Magister role grants adds their Intelligence or Charisma modifier +1 to the kingdom's Economy when placed in the Magister role. If an NPC's role allows them to modify multiple kingdom attributes (for example, a Ruler in a larger kingdom) the preferred role bonus applies to only one such attribute.

Discontent

Just as the kingdom as a whole may suffer unrest, so too may an NPC in government become discontent with the way things are running. Think of discontent as unrest specific to a particular NPC. Discontent has the following effects on NPCs:

  • A discontent NPC in one of his or her preferred roles no longer grants the +1 preferred role bonus.
  • A discontent NPC outside of his or her preferred roles instead suffers a -1 penalty to the attribute bonus they provide.
  • Subtract the total number of discontent NPCs (not the totalled discontent values of all discontent NPCs) in leadership roles from all Economy, Loyalty, and Stability checks.
  • NPCs recruited to the kingdom but not placed in leadership roles may still become discontent, but these NPCs do not affect kingdom checks.
  • An NPC whose discontent climbs too high will abandon his or her leadership role and leave the kingdom.

The threshold of discontent beyond which an NPC will quit his or her post varies from one NPC to the next, and is not known to the PCs, but can generally be assumed to be significantly lower than the threshold of 20 unrest before a kingdom descends into anarchy. Gratuitous transgressions against an NPC or his or her interests may bypass the discontent rules entirely. Discontent, like unrest, can never be reduced below zero.

Likes and Goals

Most NPCs have particular goals which they will attempt to influence the kingdom towards. This might be claiming more territory, founding additional settlements, or something more unique. An NPC's goals may be represented as events, rolled randomly during the Event phase, or as periodic or continuous behaviour. An NPC whose attempts to advance his or her goals are frustrated may become discontent as detailed above. Accommodating an NPC's likes and goals in the running of your kingdom is the primary means of reducing discontent.

Dislikes

Most NPCs have would prefer to avoid certain events or situations. They might discourage the kingdom from doing certain things, or they might find particular events, rolled randomly during the Event phase, to be especially upsetting. When something occurs that is called out as being especially disliked by an NPC, that NPC may become discontent as detailed above. In some cases an NPC's dislikes may mirror their likes and goals; an NPC with the goal of claiming more territory, for example, may well dislike the kingdom going too long without expanding.

Unique Traits and Benefits

Certain NPCs may provide additional unique benefits. For example, a studious wizard might research arcane spells or produce scrolls which are subsequently made available to PC spellcasters; a well-connected merchant might occasionally divert funds and resources to the PCs' kingdom. Details of these traits and benefits will be provided as and when particular NPCs are recruited.