Trevelian
2014-02-22, 11:53 AM
Soon, I'm going to be running a game with two major concepts.
1) The campaign is set in the capital of the lands founded by the same players during the Kingmaker Adventure Path.
2) The focus of the campaign is political intrigue, diplomacy, and alliance building. Combat will be scarce and dungeon crawls will be all but non-existent.
Details as I shared them with the group:
Premise
The PC’s are Aspirants, hoping to establish themselves in power and influence in the Kingdom. You have 12 levels, and a year-and-a-half to achieve the following:
1. Establishment Phase: Establish yourselves in the mid- or upper-tier of the social hierarchy (9 months)
2. Diplomacy Phase: Push the kingdom towards war with one (or more) of three nearby kingdoms (3 months)
3. Preparation Phase: Build up the offensive, defensive, diplomatic, domestic, and intelligence resources to win the war (6 months)
4. War Phase: The capital city must survive the war, along with the Archon and at least 6 members of the Ruling Council (Magister, Warden, etc.)
It is important to note that the timeframes above are approximate. Due to the actions (or inaction) of the PCs, war may start early, before the PC’s are solidified in their social positions. This will make it harder to prepare the kingdom for war. Likewise, if the PC’s are established earlier than 9 months, they may declare that they are taking the extra time to prepare for war. You cannot simultaneously climb the social ladder and prepare for war (although promotions may happen during the preparation phase, for instance due to the death of a superior officer or important office holder).
Along the path to glory, combat will generally be less important than social skills and subterfuge. The court is all about intrigue and subtlety, not naked displays of power. However, one path to greatness is military success (or success in the arena), and combat skills are valuable in the End Game.
Achievement Paths
While most of your social climbing will be done narratively, the campaign will use a modified version of the Honor and Fame rules from the Ultimate Campaign as an objective measure of success.
Social standing can be increased through many types of achievements, especially:
--Accumulating Wealth (via Investment, Owning a Business, Trade, or Craft)
--Achieving a Title/Rank – including military and religious advancement
--Acquiring Fame for impressive deeds
--Establishing important Contacts
A set number of Honor points is required to qualify for the mid-tier aristocracy (Equites) and upper-tier aristocracy (Nobles). Players may also ascend to positions in the Ruling Council of the kingdom (Magister, Councilor, Grand Diplomat, etc.), although this is not an easily achievable goal. Note that you must spend your honor points to achieve your social tier, which makes those points unavailable for other uses.
The players can decide whether it is better to get all characters up to a certain level, or focus on a particularly important path for one or two characters. The players may also decide that subverting or removing a kingdom official is more important to the war effort or health of the kingdom than promoting their own social status.
Help me please, Playground, to prepare for 'broken' spells and abilities in a non-combat setting.
Those of you who have run diplomacy based campaigns, what are the 'gotchas'? What standard defenses would nobles, the ruling council, and the royal court put in place to limit things like scrying, Charm Person, etc. Those things shouldn't be eliminated (where's the fun in that??) but it also shouldn't be possible to waltz up to the Archon, charm her, and start navigating the ship of state.
To be clear, this is not a Tippyverse world. It's something like the standard Pathfinder campaign setting in a democratic-republic court of nobles and 'new money'.
Any advice is appreciated!
1) The campaign is set in the capital of the lands founded by the same players during the Kingmaker Adventure Path.
2) The focus of the campaign is political intrigue, diplomacy, and alliance building. Combat will be scarce and dungeon crawls will be all but non-existent.
Details as I shared them with the group:
Premise
The PC’s are Aspirants, hoping to establish themselves in power and influence in the Kingdom. You have 12 levels, and a year-and-a-half to achieve the following:
1. Establishment Phase: Establish yourselves in the mid- or upper-tier of the social hierarchy (9 months)
2. Diplomacy Phase: Push the kingdom towards war with one (or more) of three nearby kingdoms (3 months)
3. Preparation Phase: Build up the offensive, defensive, diplomatic, domestic, and intelligence resources to win the war (6 months)
4. War Phase: The capital city must survive the war, along with the Archon and at least 6 members of the Ruling Council (Magister, Warden, etc.)
It is important to note that the timeframes above are approximate. Due to the actions (or inaction) of the PCs, war may start early, before the PC’s are solidified in their social positions. This will make it harder to prepare the kingdom for war. Likewise, if the PC’s are established earlier than 9 months, they may declare that they are taking the extra time to prepare for war. You cannot simultaneously climb the social ladder and prepare for war (although promotions may happen during the preparation phase, for instance due to the death of a superior officer or important office holder).
Along the path to glory, combat will generally be less important than social skills and subterfuge. The court is all about intrigue and subtlety, not naked displays of power. However, one path to greatness is military success (or success in the arena), and combat skills are valuable in the End Game.
Achievement Paths
While most of your social climbing will be done narratively, the campaign will use a modified version of the Honor and Fame rules from the Ultimate Campaign as an objective measure of success.
Social standing can be increased through many types of achievements, especially:
--Accumulating Wealth (via Investment, Owning a Business, Trade, or Craft)
--Achieving a Title/Rank – including military and religious advancement
--Acquiring Fame for impressive deeds
--Establishing important Contacts
A set number of Honor points is required to qualify for the mid-tier aristocracy (Equites) and upper-tier aristocracy (Nobles). Players may also ascend to positions in the Ruling Council of the kingdom (Magister, Councilor, Grand Diplomat, etc.), although this is not an easily achievable goal. Note that you must spend your honor points to achieve your social tier, which makes those points unavailable for other uses.
The players can decide whether it is better to get all characters up to a certain level, or focus on a particularly important path for one or two characters. The players may also decide that subverting or removing a kingdom official is more important to the war effort or health of the kingdom than promoting their own social status.
Help me please, Playground, to prepare for 'broken' spells and abilities in a non-combat setting.
Those of you who have run diplomacy based campaigns, what are the 'gotchas'? What standard defenses would nobles, the ruling council, and the royal court put in place to limit things like scrying, Charm Person, etc. Those things shouldn't be eliminated (where's the fun in that??) but it also shouldn't be possible to waltz up to the Archon, charm her, and start navigating the ship of state.
To be clear, this is not a Tippyverse world. It's something like the standard Pathfinder campaign setting in a democratic-republic court of nobles and 'new money'.
Any advice is appreciated!