Lost Demiurge
2014-01-27, 03:59 PM
So, I've had a cunning plan, for a pathfinder game.
A few years back, I ran my tabletop through the Kingmaker adventure path. They got through five books of it, built their kindgom, conquered most of the rivals around them, stomped around and did epic stuff, and all in all had a blast. I decided not to run book 6 because the set up for it kind of came out of nowhere, and it didn't really mesh with the rest of the line, or the way we ended up playing. One of my players is sad, he was hoping to run through an arc involving the Brevic civil war. I agree, that would have been an awesome thing to do... Problem is that I didn't have the time to write it up, and the "further adventures" stub that they include in the back of Kingmaker 6 is kind of sparse for what I'd need to do it well.
Fast forward a few years. I'm more comfy with Pathfinder, and I've had a thought...
Why not do the Brevic civil war that my players wanted... From the perspective of BREVOY?
Really, reading over the writeup of Brevoy, it pretty much is mini-westeros. You've got oppressed peasants, a conqueror's line that ruled with DRAGONS deposed about a generation ago, multiple houses with different mottos and attitudes and rivalries... It's pretty much a minigame of thrones.
So.
Without giving them all the details until I'm finally ready, they're going to create wards of a noble house. (Surtova, the current regent's house.)
All of them are gonna get a free aristocrat level, that doesn't count toward their main level progression. All are going to get two bonus traits... One from a list dealing with their bloodlines, and one from a list dependent on which house they chose. Some starting wealth, to represent noble background, too, most likely. (2nd level character wealth, seems like a good fit)
Now, all I need to do is work on the general arc.
I know the rough part of it. The first level or two will be romping around court, dealing with courtly life and noble activities like hunting, tourneys, the like. A few small intrigues, maybe an assassination or two. Contacts, networking, all the good things in life.
Then Rostland EXPLODES. The PC's get called in by their houses to get some battlefield experience and cred and land for themselves, and they do just that, resolving a few battles against ill-equipped rebels, and slowly subduing the area...
...And then the river nation, Mivon, enters the fray, conquering all the land to the west of them in a matter of days. Mivon's had a grudge against Brevoy for years, and NOW's the time to exercise it... Turns out that buffer zone River Nation that Brevoy backed? Yeah, they let the Mivonese through without a fight. (Pretty much what my PC's figured they'd do in the LAST game if it came to it.)
Things go BAD. The young nobles are forced to flee to sanctuary, only to find monsters and monstrous races supporting the Mivonese and the suddenly-stronger rebels. New Stetven falls, and they're caught behind lines, and forced to withdraw to the Gronzi forest.
After that... Hard to say. The wards have to lose their pursuers or triumph against them, before the local House grabs them and shifts them to a relatively safe spot.
But then I've got more of a chain of events and stuff I want to see happen. Still needs hammering into shape.
Anyone got any thoughts or ideas of a plot structure from here? Critiques on the ideas so far? I've got ways to take this, but if anyone's got any notions, I'd be glad to hear them....
A few years back, I ran my tabletop through the Kingmaker adventure path. They got through five books of it, built their kindgom, conquered most of the rivals around them, stomped around and did epic stuff, and all in all had a blast. I decided not to run book 6 because the set up for it kind of came out of nowhere, and it didn't really mesh with the rest of the line, or the way we ended up playing. One of my players is sad, he was hoping to run through an arc involving the Brevic civil war. I agree, that would have been an awesome thing to do... Problem is that I didn't have the time to write it up, and the "further adventures" stub that they include in the back of Kingmaker 6 is kind of sparse for what I'd need to do it well.
Fast forward a few years. I'm more comfy with Pathfinder, and I've had a thought...
Why not do the Brevic civil war that my players wanted... From the perspective of BREVOY?
Really, reading over the writeup of Brevoy, it pretty much is mini-westeros. You've got oppressed peasants, a conqueror's line that ruled with DRAGONS deposed about a generation ago, multiple houses with different mottos and attitudes and rivalries... It's pretty much a minigame of thrones.
So.
Without giving them all the details until I'm finally ready, they're going to create wards of a noble house. (Surtova, the current regent's house.)
All of them are gonna get a free aristocrat level, that doesn't count toward their main level progression. All are going to get two bonus traits... One from a list dealing with their bloodlines, and one from a list dependent on which house they chose. Some starting wealth, to represent noble background, too, most likely. (2nd level character wealth, seems like a good fit)
Now, all I need to do is work on the general arc.
I know the rough part of it. The first level or two will be romping around court, dealing with courtly life and noble activities like hunting, tourneys, the like. A few small intrigues, maybe an assassination or two. Contacts, networking, all the good things in life.
Then Rostland EXPLODES. The PC's get called in by their houses to get some battlefield experience and cred and land for themselves, and they do just that, resolving a few battles against ill-equipped rebels, and slowly subduing the area...
...And then the river nation, Mivon, enters the fray, conquering all the land to the west of them in a matter of days. Mivon's had a grudge against Brevoy for years, and NOW's the time to exercise it... Turns out that buffer zone River Nation that Brevoy backed? Yeah, they let the Mivonese through without a fight. (Pretty much what my PC's figured they'd do in the LAST game if it came to it.)
Things go BAD. The young nobles are forced to flee to sanctuary, only to find monsters and monstrous races supporting the Mivonese and the suddenly-stronger rebels. New Stetven falls, and they're caught behind lines, and forced to withdraw to the Gronzi forest.
After that... Hard to say. The wards have to lose their pursuers or triumph against them, before the local House grabs them and shifts them to a relatively safe spot.
But then I've got more of a chain of events and stuff I want to see happen. Still needs hammering into shape.
Anyone got any thoughts or ideas of a plot structure from here? Critiques on the ideas so far? I've got ways to take this, but if anyone's got any notions, I'd be glad to hear them....