Looking for advice/ideas on running Kingmaker

[blargney the second]

I ordered the Kingmaker series from Amazon and I have the map folio already. A friend told me about a cool thing another DM did with the maps: she laminated them all together, then blacked everything out with erasable marker. She used a qtip to delineate the hexes, and wiped the fog of war as the campaign progressed. Apparently the players loved it.

Do you have any comparable ideas, advice, or resources for running a Kingmaker game?

 

[Derfmancher]

Thats a really cool method. I just gave my players a blank hex map. They where in charge of creating their own awareness. I told them what was in the area, and the terrain type. I love your friends idea. I would have done something similar if I had the mapfolieo.

 

[blargney the second]

I'm also trying to make a list of all the books I'm going to need or that would help to run this game. Here's what I know of so far:
1. The six modules
2. Map folio
3. Core rulebook
4. Bestiary
5. Golarion campaign setting

What's missing?

 

[Crothian]

If you want to add more details of the area and have NPCs from neighbor countries then the River Kingdoms book will be useful. How much more then the AP are you willing to do? There is a lot of things a DM could add to the AP to make it better but it is also a bit of extra work. We finished up Kingmaker a couple of months ago and while we stuck close to the books I think I would have expanded on some of the politics and more NPCs if I ever had the opportunity to be involved in the campaign again.

 

[blargney the second]

Those are good questions, Crothian. I'd guess many of the answers will depend on what the players choose to do. If they restrict themselves to the area, how much extra work are we talking about here?

Btw which River Kingdoms book do you suggest? There appear to be two different ones.

 

[Crothian]

Those are good questions, Crothian. I'd guess many of the answers will depend on what the players choose to do. If they restrict themselves to the area, how much extra work are we talking about here?

When the Kingdom is founded there are roles in the government that need filled. It is assumed PCs fill some of them and NPC fill the rest. There are just enough NPCs in the books to fill the roles. One thing I'd do is develop other NPCs in the area that the PCs can use. I'd also then make those NPC voices be heard when it comes to what the PCs do, what buildings are built, and the direction the Kingdom goes in.

Btw which River Kingdoms book do you suggest? There appear to be two different ones.

Pathfinder Chronicles: Guide to the River Kingdoms

I'm not aware of another one

 

[blargney the second]

This is the other one I'd heard of: http://paizo.com/products/btpy8kgr?...mplete-Players-Reference-for-Kingdom-Building

 

[blargney the second]

I think I get what you mean about the NPCs and the roles. There ought to be at least a couple candidates for each slot. That way there's a meaningful choice the players get to make. Even the ones who don't get chosen should stick around and contribute voices to future discussions.

 

[Crothian]

I think I get what you mean about the NPCs and the roles. There ought to be at least a couple candidates for each slot. That way there's a meaningful choice the players get to make. Even the ones who don't get chosen should stick around and contribute voices to future discussions.

Yes, exactly. But it is a challenge to come up with that many additional NPCs and make them matter. With the River Kingdom book you can use it to enhance some of the NPCs backgrounds by having them come from different areas. It can also help the players get a feel for the politics and geography of the area.

 

[blargney the second]

Cool, that's a neat idea I'd likely not have thought of until too late. Thank you!