Kingmaker / Riverlands Question

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Is anyone here familiar with the kingdom management rules present in the Kingmaker adventure path, and expanded upon in the Book of the River Nations from Brazer Enterprises?

If so, I have a question about how city districts work.

Is there a limit of 1 city district per hex? If not, what is the limit?

I note that you cannot include a city district in a hex that is otherwise developed, so that part, at least, is covered.

 

[Crothian]

There is no limit it seems on the number of districts per city. Each district does add to the Consumption though. We have a city with 3 district, 4 with 2, and 2 with 1.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

There is no limit it seems on the number of districts per city. Each district does add to the Consumption though. We have a city with 3 district, 4 with 2, and 2 with 1.

So, essentially, the number of districts you can have in a given hex is unlimited / undefined, but you have to pay the district preparation cost each time you want to expand your city (and eat the increased Consumption, obviously)?

That seems to make sense.

I'm not sure I 100% understand the point of houses / tenements. Are they there only to fulfill prereqs for other buildings, or are there rules for how much housing you need to support your population?

I think the rules seem to be saying that "housing plus something else meaningful" is what you normally get when you build a specific improvement:

Additional residential structures commonly surround most one- and two-block structures.

... and that specific housing improvements are good for increasing the city's population (at 250 people per block) cheaply and for fulfilling specific housing requirements (e.g., a shop must be placed next to 1 unit of housing).

Is that right?

 

[Crothian]

That seems to make sense.

Don't think about the rules too much; they seem to work but aren't necessarily realistic.

I'm not sure I 100% understand the point of houses / tenements. Are they there only to fulfill prereqs for other buildings, or are there rules for how much housing you need to support your population?

Mechanically they are just needed to support other buildings. Our DM though did have the people complain when he felt there were not enough houses. Since one gets a extra house building in addition to other buildings each month we have always built at least one house each month.

and that specific housing improvements are good for increasing the city's population (at 250 people per block) cheaply and for fulfilling specific housing requirements (e.g., a shop must be placed next to 1 unit of housing).

Is that right?

Ya, that is right. Your populations will get high if the players build, build, and build like we have. I think we are the largest country in the River Kingdoms according to population size and we are just entering the 4th book and our kingdom is not yet 100 hexes.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Don't think about the rules too much; they seem to work but aren't necessarily realistic.

Heh heh - don't worry about that. I just wanted to make sure I was reading them correctly.

I'm actually cribbing the rules for use in my Forgotten Realms game; as a reward at the end of their last adventure, the PCs were officially recognized as a chartered adventuring company and the company was named Baron of a small holding in the Great Dale.

Since the land is still pretty much empty as a result of the Tuigan Horde's depradations, it has basically reverted to "unexplored" status.

Mechanically they are just needed to support other buildings. [...]

Ya, that is right. Your populations will get high if the players build, build, and build like we have.

Awesome - thanks for the help, Crothian!

 

[IronWolf]

Mechanically they are just needed to support other buildings. Our DM though did have the people complain when he felt there were not enough houses.

Your DM sounds mean....

 

[Naadia]

we use the warpath rules for cities in the kingmaker campaign. we were getting to large to fast and making so much money it was getting crazy, the warpath rules really slowed that down and dropped the populations down from around 9000 per city and 30,000 in our capital to 22,000 in the capital and less then 1000 to 3000 in the other towns with a hex producing no population unless you started something there like hamlets pop 20 to 100 and Thorpe pop 101 to 400.
Our dm also added other things to try to make it more realistic such as trade routes and a couple other small kingdoms that sprung up as ours did. he also let us bend the rules a bit when it came to time to select roles. i became the baroness and the others filled the other roles until we grew to sufficient size to break the kingdom up into baronies giving each player a plot of land to rule but still one country they pay a tax to me in the capital every month think its about 1/6th of the income and i use it to try to offset some of the cost for the army and small navy.

 

[Crothian]

I can the benefit of that. Our game is a bit Monty haul as we can easily pull out about 100,000gp or more a month. We are just starting the 5th book so it is too late to change things. It's been really fun though so that's all that matters.