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So how's Kingmaker working out?
- Thread starter Psychotic Jim
- Start date
IronWolf
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As I work on preparing to run it, it definitely seems to be a bit more work to get the foundation set due to the sandbox nature of it. I still like the idea of running it and from what it seems on Paizo's boards the DMs that have put some time into bringing the first couple of modules alive seem to be having a good time with it.
Likely not for everyone though. I like the blend that it appears it will bring to the table - we will see as it plays out.
Azmyth
First Post
King Maker has been a wonderful experience for my group, so far...
I'm running a KM campaign with both home table and online elements.
Three of my players are in the room with me (Northern CA), one is in Toronto and the last is in Southern California. I use an HD web-cam on a microphone boom over the game board, a camera on my monitor (faces toward the players in the room) and a third in the proper perspective so all players see me the same as I'm doing character work or descriptions of the setting. This is managed by a piece of camera software that allows multiple inputs and PiP functionality and finally sent out over Skype Beta w/ Video Conferencing. Nothing Virtual as far as the game and it's mechanics are concerned. The technology is only being employed for the communication.
Here are some of my thoughts on the AP:
We just completed our fourth session of play. It was marvelous!
My party had a collective butt-pucker with the Shambling Mound encounter, with two of the five PC's in negative hp land, more than once.
King Maker is not an AP for aspiring GMs to cut their teeth on.
You keep hearing about the non-linear approach to KM's writing. This fact alone requires a GM to do a bit more preparation than a stand alone module or something off the top of you head. You need to have a good understanding of the overall story, both of the book you're in and the next to follow. This will insure that you don't allow players to break of the story arch.
The method of story telling a GM uses during the exploration phase is critical to it working well. Avoid obvious narrative patterns in your descriptions of the settings. For example, if you only use colorful explanations just following a 'random' die roll and just prior to 'random' combat, your players will know your every move.
Filling the hex doesn't necessarily mean placing an encounter.
Use descriptive tools that make them think something is coming, but it never does. Have them make Perception checks to see things too far away to directly interact with, but foreshadow things to come. Scare the piss out of them and they will respect the wild nature of this frontier and the general sense of unknown. Create an encounter for an attack during the camp/rest phase of the evening. When a random encounter roll occurs, wait until that evening to spring it on them. Perhaps the creature in question, started to track the party during the day and waits for the cover of darkness to attack. Let them overlook elements in some hexes, so they have things to find on the return trip(s) to Oleg's. Don't feel obligated to force discovery, just because something is in the hex. That's why they call it exploring!
If you control the flow of exploration (information) and don't feel like you need to fill each hex, your KM game won't feel like you're playing CIV III on the computer.
All of my player have been diligently posting journals on our campaign webpage if anyone is interested in checking it out:
Azmyth's KM Campaign
[SPOILER WARNINGS FOR PLAYERS WHO ARE GOING TO PLAY KM! DON'T RUIN YOUR GAME ON MINE!]
I'm running a KM campaign with both home table and online elements.
Three of my players are in the room with me (Northern CA), one is in Toronto and the last is in Southern California. I use an HD web-cam on a microphone boom over the game board, a camera on my monitor (faces toward the players in the room) and a third in the proper perspective so all players see me the same as I'm doing character work or descriptions of the setting. This is managed by a piece of camera software that allows multiple inputs and PiP functionality and finally sent out over Skype Beta w/ Video Conferencing. Nothing Virtual as far as the game and it's mechanics are concerned. The technology is only being employed for the communication.
Here are some of my thoughts on the AP:
We just completed our fourth session of play. It was marvelous!
My party had a collective butt-pucker with the Shambling Mound encounter, with two of the five PC's in negative hp land, more than once.
King Maker is not an AP for aspiring GMs to cut their teeth on.
You keep hearing about the non-linear approach to KM's writing. This fact alone requires a GM to do a bit more preparation than a stand alone module or something off the top of you head. You need to have a good understanding of the overall story, both of the book you're in and the next to follow. This will insure that you don't allow players to break of the story arch.
The method of story telling a GM uses during the exploration phase is critical to it working well. Avoid obvious narrative patterns in your descriptions of the settings. For example, if you only use colorful explanations just following a 'random' die roll and just prior to 'random' combat, your players will know your every move.
Filling the hex doesn't necessarily mean placing an encounter.
Use descriptive tools that make them think something is coming, but it never does. Have them make Perception checks to see things too far away to directly interact with, but foreshadow things to come. Scare the piss out of them and they will respect the wild nature of this frontier and the general sense of unknown. Create an encounter for an attack during the camp/rest phase of the evening. When a random encounter roll occurs, wait until that evening to spring it on them. Perhaps the creature in question, started to track the party during the day and waits for the cover of darkness to attack. Let them overlook elements in some hexes, so they have things to find on the return trip(s) to Oleg's. Don't feel obligated to force discovery, just because something is in the hex. That's why they call it exploring!
If you control the flow of exploration (information) and don't feel like you need to fill each hex, your KM game won't feel like you're playing CIV III on the computer.
All of my player have been diligently posting journals on our campaign webpage if anyone is interested in checking it out:
Azmyth's KM Campaign
[SPOILER WARNINGS FOR PLAYERS WHO ARE GOING TO PLAY KM! DON'T RUIN YOUR GAME ON MINE!]
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IronWolf
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Thanks for posting.
The Kingmaker game I thought was going to be online looks to be turning into me running for my current group. Though I have not run a session yet I agree with many of the things you said. More prep seems to be required, but judging by the posts on the Paizo forums and here it really seems to pay off for DMs that prepare for it.
I ran my first session recently, and I got into the individual NPC's personalities, which helped with the RP experience. I will do it more so in the sessions to come. I played a lot of the bandits as having rough child hoods where they had to steal or kill to get their way. The PC's are now trying to make it so they know that is not the way to live. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.
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