Introduction

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming (yes, I'm still working on Your kingdom awaits; about halfway done with Armies now!) to bring you another topic I was going to write a post about.

Occasionally there's topics on the main forum about using guns in D&D. Usually the answer to this is to simply reflavor a ranged weapon into a gun. That works just fine if your character is a gunslinger that shoots people all the time. However, this article is about a different kind of gun.

The flavor I'm hoping to capture by introducing these flintlock style weapons is that of pirate movies and musketeers films; where you launch one or two devastating shots from your primitive rifle or pistols before closing in the melee.

Basically, move along Rangers. This is not for you. Unless you're two-blades. This one's for the Melee characters, who like to pack the occasional ranged punch.

Primitive guns

The basic idea behind all primitive guns is simple. You only get one shot, because they take forever to reload. You can't stunt with them, because they're unreliable. Their range is short before they lose accuracy. But for all their downsides, they pack a wallop. Being hit with a gun is no joke.

And what better way to capture that feeling in D&D then making them magical items? It makes them rare on the battlefield, it makes them special, and you don't have to balance them against the longbow.

These pistols and rifles are a step or two above a normal one. When a kingdom fields an entire army of musketeers, they're not armed with these weapons. Those mass produced rifles are a step below even the lowest of these PC-approved rifles. They have a good chance of blowing up in your hand, often fail to fire at all and are in many other ways inferior. The items described below are expertly crafted guns that have the reliability an adventurer needs.

Flintlock pistol ( lvl 1+ Wondrous Item ) Show

Flintlock rifle ( lvl 2+ Wondrous Item ) Show

Blunderbuss( lvl 3+ Wondrous Item ) Show

Marksmanrifle ( lvl 4+ Wondrous Item ) Show

This post belongs to a series on letting the party rule a kingdom in Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. The main post can be found here.

In the previous entry I laid out the sample kingdom of Skogen, a small logging community in the wilderness of the lands. This entry will give some sample challenges to present to the community, along with ideas for resolving them.

In the chapter "The DM and the Kingdom", I set as a guideline that a kingdom can more or less stagnate when it hits 2/3ds of its level in challenges. Since Skogen is a 6th level kingdom, this means that it'll stagnate at about 4 points of challenge.

As we saw, Skogen produces a total of 4 points of resources every ATU, which means it can indeed surpress 4 points of challenge without issue. It can also sustain up to 11 points of Challenge (level+5) before being destroyed.

From reading through the description of Skogen, we can see a bunch of plot hooks already. For example:

- Goblins will be trouble, as their raids will interrupt supply lines

- 50 miles of wilderness lie between Skogen and the vital tradelines with Karas that bring in most of the kingdom's food

- The feygrove might cause trouble as either the Elves come back and protest what's going on, or fey-energy might unleash dangerous magical effects

- The farming community of Desken is far removed from the main city, leaving it vulnerable

- Casport is getting overcrowded, which might put people on edge. As slums continue to grow on the edges of the riverbank, criminality will rise. Without bridges, guardsmen will have a hard time getting to the crime scene on time.

In addition, many other issues might crop up.

Starting situation

Lets set up a starting situation for the players. For some reason or other (maybe because they already saved Casport from some threat or other? Lets go with them having fended off a rather extra-vicious Goblin raid for now) the adventuring party "The Generics" have been given the keys to the kingdom by Dachi Skogen, who is now happy that he has more time to fell trees.

They survey their new lands, and will quickly note the following issues. Since we intend to get the PCs involved in saving the kingdom, we'll need enough Events that it looks like the kingdom will be in dire straits without them.

So, as we start there are 4 events going on, 3 minor ones and a serious issue.

Size 3 challenge: The goblin raiders

Although the Generics fought off the main Goblin raid, they've set up another warcamp in the area. This time leaving the more protected Casport for what it is, they've set their sights on Desken.

Size 1 challenge: Crime rising

On the outskirts of Casport, various new buildings have been erected. While some are decent homes for people that just didn't enjoy the city anymore, there's a rather troublesome patch of shacks and slums on one edge. Criminals gathered in this area, and the guard has trouble dealing with it, as the area is hard to patrol without a bridge.

Size 1 challenge: The missing loggers

While for a while logging in the Feygrove went along nicely, news of a logger gone missing arrived just yesterday. A superstitious lot, the loggers are scared and refusing to get back to work.

Size 1 challenge: The price of iron

As a nearby kingdom recently went to war with another kingdom, Skogen has received word from Karas that prices on weapons are going up, and while they value their trading partners, this means that Weapons will be more expensive. They'll need more wood to supply weapons.

Getting involved

Now, The Generics will have to decide what to do. We're counting ATU 0 and they have to give orders. Deciding that the current production of resources is just fine, they mainly try to deal with the active challenges.

They decide that for the time being, trade is not the most important thing. The supress the challenge "The price of Iron" by giving Karas what they want for their weapons. As a size 1 Challenge, they pay one extra point of Materials to keep the trade route operational.

Next, despite opposition from Cashir, they send one of the local guild leaders to chat with the loggers and convince them go back to work. Skogen makes a Diplomacy check, but unfortunately rolls low. The workers are initially convinced to get back to work, only to have another few turn up missing. All work is put down.

An investigation is started by the city watch to look into what is happening. Skogen rolls Streetwise, succesfully. A guardsmen comes upon the corpses of the missing woodcutters, who appear to have been slain by a Fey creature of sorts. Knowing roughly where the creature resides, the loggers go back to work, avoiding the direct area around the creature's lair. Skogen is down 2 of its 3 checks this ATU, and the challenge is surpressed.

The Generics also attempt to reduce crime in the slums by putting up a temporary guard post in the slums that they staff with a few permanent guardsmen. This will temporarily stop crime, even though they can't really miss these guards. Paying a building material for the temporary building, the challenge is supressed.

Lastly, the Generics decide to tackle the issue of the Goblin raiders themselves. They decide to head out and defeat the Goblin chief in combat themselves. As the DM prepares an adventure for them they head out, leaving behind their kingdom for a bit.

END RESULTS:

-2 building materials

2 skill checks used

Return to Skogen

A few days after their initial foray into the Goblin warcamp, the Generics return victoriously to their new capital city. The goblins are vanquished and threaten the kingdom no more, at least until they've managed to regroup under a new chief.

However, more issues have cropped up, they learn. Not only have the prices of weapons risen, a caravan has also gone missing. It seems that with the now higher prices of weaponry, the caravan has become a great target for bandits.

Also, the guard post the players put up to deal with rising crime has been destroyed by local thugs, and crime is again on the rise.

In addition to the three existing and remaining challenges, a new one has cropped up:

Size 2 challenge: The ambushers

With the high prices of iron and weapons, a band of brigands have decided to raid the incoming weapon carts from Karas. These weapons are needed by the people of Skogen to keep their militia and guards supplied.

Now counting in ATU 1, the players have added their new resources from last turn to their stocks (gaining +1 food and +1 weapons, but no materials as these were used to surpress challenges) and now have 4/4/0/3 stocked. They also get 3 new skill checks for this turn.

The Generics decide to send out Dachi to deal with the crime issue once and for all, by building a bridge to the slums. This will let guards get there faster and make the area more connected to the kingdom. The bridge will be simple and made of wood, and will end in a gate to better protect Casport from attack.

Dachi will oversee construction of this bridge, although he doesn't have much knowledge about making such things. Skogen rolls a Dungeoneering check to place the bridge, but fails the first roll by 2 points. While Dachi is not threatened, it turns out criminals on the far side of the bridge are blocking progress by threatening the workers and stealing the beams.

Determined to deal with this issue, the Generics also send out Eskor. The big Half Orc makes an Intimidate check (rolling Skogen's bonus with a +5 bonus for him being trained) and manages to scare off the thugs. The bridge is finished, dealing with the challenge permanently.

Now happy that their notable underlings are getting their jobs done, they decide to send out Cashir as well, to the Feygrove. They hope that she'll be able to find out why the Fey creature was attacking the loggers. However... a terrible roll on their behalf ends them with Cashir gone missing, and the Fey creature ever remains. Now out of skill checks, the Fey Grove challenge runs rampant.

The Generics decide to keep paying the higher prices for now, and to deal with the brigands first. They set out for the woods in their quest to kill some brigands...

At the end of ATU 1, they have paid 1 building materials to Karas for the trade, and their logging camp is once again tormented by an angry Fey creature. The workers abandon it, and another 2 points of Building materials are lost. With their limited production and higher prices, 1 point of building materials must be paid from their stocks. They are now at 5/3/0/4.

Bandits are not Goblins

Two weeks after leaving for the caravan, the Generics return with sad news. Multiple caravans were raided, but they never found the bandits. Unfortunately their heavy armor and lack of sneakyness caused the bandits to avoid them.

Yet another challenge ran rampant in their lands...

Two dice are rolled, and the first is failed. The Feygrove challenge rises to level 2 as the Fey creature becomes bolder and bolder, now actively destroying equipment when nobody is looking. Still nobody is aware what exactly is causing all of this.

The other roll is a success, and the bandit issue doesn't get any worse.

The generics look at the current state of their kingdom again, noting 3 active challenges, two of which are now at size 2. They decide to leave the bandits be for a while, and simply discourage them by increasing the size of their escort. Using some of their excess weaponry to arm some capable soldiers, they spend 2 Weapons to surpress the challenge for the time being.

They also send out a local merchant to Karas to negotiate prices. They roll Diplomacy, and after long negotiations succesfully bring down the prices somewhat. After failing 1 check before succeeding on the second, this leaves Skogen with 1 more skill check this ATU.

As they notice that there is no real active production of luxury goods beyond the city's own needs, the Generics see an opening... they decide to build a furniture factory to increase their production. They look around town for a bit, and find a businessman willing to take on the venture with a bit of their support. Labelling the new factory "The Generic Furniture Company", they start construction immediately. Being low on area on the island, it's planted in the slums, to hopefully give jobs to the people there.

An Athletics check is rolled to get the building done as fast as possible, only to realise that errors were made in the selection of wood... the check is failed due to rotten wood and part of the building comes down upon the main overseer, who is wounded in the progress. Without checks remaining, it appears that the Generic Furniture Company is going to be something for a later ATU, until Sir Healic of the Generics steps in and brings down some Divine Healing upon the poor overseer.

After succeeding at a Heal check, the overseer can get back to business, and the company is done in time.

With their factory churning out beautiful furniture, the Generics set their sight on whatever is terrorising the Feygrove, as well as expanding the kingdom further... their newfound wealth should help them increase Skogen's level to 7, and they can deal with those bandits at a later time...

At the end of ATU 2, Skogen has spent 2 weapons to supress a challenge, 2 materials to build a new important structure and used all its skills. Assuming the Generics manage to save the logging camp in the feygrove, they end up with 6/3/2/2, which gives them an opportunity to start upgrading the city.

But, hopefully this is enough of a start for people to get an idea of how to run a kingdom in D&D 4e. From here, the Generics can set out to make Skogen into the biggest logging city in the world. Or even expand their borders by conquering Karas... once I get that far into it. Or maybe run the kingdom into the ground... every campaign settings needs its ruins, after all. Who knows? That's what this whole thing was about, after all.

 

This post belongs to a series on letting the party rule a kingdom in Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. The main post can be found here.

I've had some requests to post some sample kingdoms and challenges to help people understand the workings of my kingdom system, so this shall be the first in the list. Skogen is a small area located somewhere on the frontiers and thrives on the export of woods across the river Agahs.

Introduction to Skogen

Located some hundred and fifty miles from the nearest true kingdom, Skogen is a small zone of land named after the first to claim it; the woodcutter Ivys Skogen and his family. Ivys and his extensive half-orc family settled themselves near the river Agahs after the city of Karas fell on a wood shortage and started paying a premium for good wood.

The largest collection of people within Skogen are found in the small town of Casport, which is located on an island in the middle of the river. This site was originally claimed because it offered a better defense from the roaming bands of Goblins that inhabitated the woods and took less then kindly to the woodcutter enchroaching on their land.

Casport has grown into a nice little town, with two harbors (on one each side of the island). It features no bridges to the mainland and all transportation to and from the city is done by boat. Slowly but surely Casport is growing too large for the island, and the first few buildings have been erected on the shores of the river already.

In addition to Casport there are two other notable villages within Skogen. One is Desken, which is a farming community some fifteen miles to the south of Casport. It is the main supply for food for Casport, which has trouble relying on others due to distance. The other is Gillain, which is a fairly recent addition to Skogen and collects trees of a different kind; feygrove trees from what appears to be an old Elven community has long left the area.

Basic sheet for Skogen

Main sheet

Skogen, level 6 Kingdom

Race: Human. Skogen contains 70% Humans from the city of Karas. +4 Strength, +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom

Skills: As chief exporters of wood and builders of ships, Skogen gets a +2 bonus to Athletics and Dungeoneering checks.

Associated resources: Building Materials, Luxury Goods. Located in a lush forest, Skogen thrives on the production of building materials and good quality wood, ships, furniture, and other wooden products.

Final skills: (include buildings, an X marks a Notable Person available to boost the skill)

Buildings

Skogen features a few interesting and noteworthy buildings, which are described below.

Ivys' Logging Company

The Ivys' Logging Company is the same one that Ivys Skogen started when he first moved into the area around the Agahs river. Currently it employs most of the Half-Orcs in the area as well as a lot of the humans. Although many people are prejudiced against Half Orcs and envy their prominent position in the logging company, issues are few and far between.

Level 2 structure. Produces Building Materials, Bonus to Nature

The Wharf

The wharf produces mostly the small ships that Skogen uses to transport its produced timbers to other cities. However, it is large and capable enough to build larger vessels as well and has on more then one occassion built ships of war on request of nearby cities and kingdoms.

Level 1 structure. Bonus to Dungeoneering

Notable people

While Humans make up most of the population of Skogen, some of its most notable people are others. These people are the ones that allow Skogen to operate, and are worth keeping contact with.

Dachi Skogen: Half-Orc grandson of Ivys Skogen, Dachi was mayor of sorts for Skogen before the kingdom was given over to the party. Now, he is happy with just running the Ivys' Logging Company instead. 

Logging has always been more of a passion for him anyway, and although he is respected, listened to and smart enough to lead, he prefers a tree and his axe over sitting in a building talking to people all day.

Associated skills: Athletics, Diplomacy

Cashir Deron: Cashir is a young half-elf girl who was originally raised by an Elf tribe in the area that later left for deeper woods. At the time, Cashir was wildly in love with a human from the area and refused to go with them. Although that love eventually died, Cashir was so used to living in Skogen that she stayed.

Having received a formal training from the Elves as a druid, she is somewhat capable at primal magics and an expert when it comes to treating diseases and injuries. She is also fiercely outspoken against logging in the fey-grove, which she says "upsets the spirits", but most people think that's just Elven hippy-speak.

Associated skills: Nature, Heal

Eskor Skogen: A far nephew from Ivys Skogen, Eskor is a tall and broad figure. He was appointed by Dachi to serve as a bit of a police officer for the town. Although there isn't much need for it, many people feel a bit safer knowing that a 7 foot Half-Orc is there to keep the peace when required.

Eskor has a growl that will make most grown men wet their pants, but he is ultimately a kind spirit and a lot smarter then he lets on.

Associated skills: Intimidate, Insight

Production and stores

Skogen thrives on the production of good quality wood, and has an agreement with the city of Karas to trade excess wood for additional food as well as weapons, which the kingdom does not produce, but needs to fend off goblins and other threats.

Population available: 6

Food upkeep: 3

Building upkeep: 3

Luxury upkeep: 2

Food production: 2 (2 pop)

Building Materials production: 6 (3 pop)

Luxury production: 2 (1 pop)

Weapons production: 0 (0 pop)

Trade agreements: Trading 2 Building Materials for 2 Food with Karas. Trading 1 Building Materials for 1 Weapons with Karas.

---

Food income: +1 (+2 prod, +2 trade, -3 upkeep)

Building Materials income: +2 (+6 prod, +2 building, -3 trade, -3 upkeep)

Luxury income: +0 (+2 prod, -2 upkeep)

Weapons income: +1 (+1 trade)

---

Stores:

3 Food stored

4 Building Materials stored

0 Luxury Materials stored

2 Weapons stored

This post belongs to a series on letting the party rule a kingdom in Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. The main post can be found here.

This chapter is specifically meant for the DM in a campaign where the party is given a kingdom and lists some helpful suggestions on how to go about running the kingdom.

It also gives some advice and examples regarding the various challenges that a DM can toss at a kingdom. I intend to do more of these articles on how to run a proper kingdom-style game, but we all know how much intentions are worth so don't break out the pitch forks and torhces if it takes a while 

About Challenges

It is important for a kingdom (and for this system) that a Kingdom is always challenged on all sides. As a kingdom grows it becomes more and more capable at protecting itself and players will have to decide which Challenges they tackle themselves and which they let solve by the kingdom and their Notables.

Fortunately you have a good guide on which they are most likely to deal with in the form of Size. Since they can only fix one problem per ATU they are likely to go after major things first.

When it comes to numbers, keep this golden rule in mind: "If all Challenge Sizes added up equal 2/3ds of the kingdom level, it attains equilibrium".

It's roughly true. If you have less then this, then the kingdom will start to grow. If you have more, then the kingdom will start getting into trouble and will need remaining stores to stave off collapse.

The actions of the party can shift this state, as can a bit of luck of the dice, but it's a good number to strive for. If players simply stop interacting with the Challenges themselves and devote all spare resources to supressing all the Challenges then there will be no income, and none of the Challenges will grow.

Introducing Challenges

Try to avoid introducing more Challenges then 1/3d the kingdom level. You'll start getting pressed for good ideas anyway so don't make it too hard on yourself; you'll also might give the feeling that the kingdom is doomed anyway considering the crapstorm it's in.

When it comes to introducing new Challenges there's a few things to keep in mind. When the number of Challenges drops below 3, try to introduce a few new ones. You'll always want to have at least 3 things threatening the kingdom. Also try to introduce at least one Size 2 or greater Challenge at all times so the party has something to focus on.

When you have a few Challenges, try to introduce about 1 Challenge every two ATU. You could roll a d20 and add a challenge on a 10 or less, for example. Or flip a coin.

If a Challenge is allowed to run rampant, make a saving throw for the kingdom. If it fails the throw, that Challenge's size increases by 1 (unless it's at 5 already) Roll for each Challenge, so that players are quickly forced into action or see their kingdom ruined.

When the party leaves the kingdom to its own devices to pursue a different storyline, you should use that time to make some updates to the kingdom. When the party comes back, remove some of the current Notables and Buildings, maybe upgrade the kingdom level, and remove some old Challenges that proved boring and replace them with some new ones. You should always make the party come back to slightly more trouble then they left the Kingdom with to give them the feeling that they could've done it better themselves (and so they have something interesting to do on their return)

Destroying the Kingdom

Kingdoms are fairly resiliënt, but they can be overcome and destroyed or fall apart competely. It's happened before, and it'll happen again (and probably make for an awesome campaign setting for your next party!)

When you add up all the Sizes of the Challenges and this comes out to more then Kingdom level + 5, the Kingdom is considered destroyed. The party can no longer control it, and depending on the Challenges about, it will collapse.

When a kingdom is unable to supply its populace with Food (stores are at 0 and the production is negative) a new Challenge will arise (it's size depedant on the size of the Food shortage; if there's 1 Food missing it's size 1, if there's 3 Food missing it's size 3, etc, but up to size 5)

This Famine Challenge will need to be fixed as well. If it's left to run rampant to Size 5, then start adding more Challenges, like Uprising, Looting, Revolt, things like that. After the Famine Challenge is fixed it'll just keep coming back while there is no Food.

If the kingdom is unable to supply it's populace with Luxuries (stores at 0 and production negative) then a the same thing happens, except the Challenge isn't Famine, but it's more like Uprising, or perhaps Exodus (with all the nobles leaving for wealthier areas).

A shortage in Materials isn't neccesarily an issue except Buildings will shut down, but this will generally not trigger a Challenge. Unless you needed one anyway. A Building that is shut down will not generate its skill bonus or production. The party can decide which bonusses to shut down.

A shortage in Weapons likewise isn't neccesarily an issue except it might force an Army to disband. Again; this only triggers a Challenge if you needed a new one anyway.

Example Challenges

Here's a list of example challenges. They're mostly just keywords with some hints on how to supress them. Remember that you can come up with whatever you like, and players can do the same thing, so it's very open. You don't even need to design the specifics and the adventure until the players decide they'll deal with one personally.

Creatures:

A roving warband has set up camp in the kingdom, threatening to loot border towns. (Supress; Bribe with luxuries, increase patrols, threaten, assasinate leader, intercept and stop scouts. Defeat: Destroy camp, Assasinate entire chain of command, poison food supply, bribe to go away, recruit into army, wipe out with ritual. Rampant: lose random resources)

A criminal syndicate has come down on your capital, slowly taking over business. (Supress; increase watch, use snitches to predicts missions, use stricter laws. Defeat: capture leader, set up rival (but kingdom operated) network, recruit network to work for kingdom. Rampant: lose Luxuries, Weapons)

Masses of refugees from a neighbouring land have settled on your land and are hunting down local wildlife and stealing food from farms. (Supress: send food caravans, scare them away (temporarily) Defeat: massacre the lot of them, divide them over the kingdom, give them a small section of land in your kingdom. Rampant: lose Food)

Natural disasters:

Earthquake strikes a minor village (Supress: send emergency rations, build shelters, evacuate locals. Defeat: magically seal gap; rebuild village elsewhere, abandon area and move people away. Rampant: lose Materials, if bigger Size then lose access to a Building)

Crops refuse to grow due to plague/bugs/curse (Supress: replant crops elsewhere, treat plague with temporary cure, use superstitious rituals Defeat: undo curse, vanquish plague with magic, order druid to make bugs into swarm and use to defend elsewhere, Rampant: lose Food)

Treerot strikes down the forest, lumber mills stop working (Supress: send workers elsewhere, treat boards with ritual to make them somewhat harder, trade with neighbours for a short while. Defeat: deal with the cause of the rot, move lumber mill to a different forest, Rampant: lose materials)

Manmade disasters:

Magical explosion blows up part of a city (Supress: send mages to contain energies, seal off the building Defeat: clean up mess, send building to another dimension, reverse effects of spell. Rampant: lose access to Building, lose Luxuries)

Workers go on Strike (Supress; whip them back to work, hire immigrants to pick up work, increase wages temporarily Defeat: figure out why the strike, build an army of Golems to do the work instead, kill the strike leaders, Rampant: lose Materials, Luxuries)

 

 

Ok this is the last post for now. I will try to update these series occasionally with ideas, tips, and additional rules. Like for Armies. Which don't really do anything right now.

This post belongs to a series on letting the party rule a kingdom in Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. The main post can be found here.

Alright now that we have a basic grasp on how we can keep a kingdom from going to hell by tackling challenges and have a basic idea of how we can use our kingdom's skills and production to help with these challenges, lets learn about expanding our kingdom.

After all; being boss over a little village is fun for a while, but at some point you want to have a real palace and then at some point you'll even want to add that neighbouring kingdom as well, and maybe the Feywild as well.

Ways to expand your kingdom

There are a few important things you can do with your kingdom. Although the ultimate goal is most likely to increase the overall level of the kingdom, it is also possible to increase the level of Buildings, or construct new ones, open and close trade routes with neighbouring countries and train armies.

All of these things require a number of skill checks to perform, supplied by the kingdom's skill limit and the party's own skill checks per ATU, as discussed in the previous chapter.

Buildings

When a kingdom has enough spare Materials, it can upgrade or produce buildings. Keep in mind that the city is limited to one building per two levels of the city, and that a building cannot be upgraded above Size 5.

When the party order the construction of a new building or the upgrade of an existing one, they must first describe the structure (name, new function, anything else they want to share) and the new bonus it will give.

Next, they need to make a number of skill checks to produce the structure. These skill checks are determined by story needs and can be anything that makes for an interesting bit of story (dealing with stone shortages, convincing an important architect to help, dealing with strikes, whatever you can come up with).

Whenever a skill check is attempted (succesful or not) one unit of Materials is removed from the kingdom's stores. If there are no Materials left, then work cannot continue.

Buildings only require Materials in upkeep after they're fully completed.

The number of checks required to produce a Building are equal to twice the new  Size. That means that a new Building requires 2 checks while a Size 5 building would need 10.

The Check DC is equal to the Medium DC for the level of the kingdom.

Upgrading the kingdom

It is possible to upgrade the entire kingdom to the next level. This can be an increase in size, population, means, wealth, whatever the players desire. To do this, a kingdom needs a lot of Materials and Luxuries.

The number of checks required equal half the kingdom's new level +5. (That's 6 checks for level 2 and 20 checks for level 30)

Each check, succesful or not, removes one unit of Materials and one unit of Luxuries from the kingdom's stores. If either is not available, work cannot continue.

The check DC is equal to the Medium DC for the current level of the kingdom.

When the upgrading is complete, the Population of the kingdom rises by 1. The upkeep required in Food or Luxuries might also increase.

If the kingdom reached an even level, all its skills increase by 1 (to account for the new half level bonus) and another Notable Person rises in the kingdom. There will also be a new slot for a Building.

Trading

Since each kingdom produces only 2 of the 4 resources at double speed, it might be beneficial for kingdoms to trade. The party can set up a trade route with another kingdom.

This takes 4 skill checks at Medium DC for the kingdom's level to establish and each trade route can trade up to two resources of one type for an equal number of resources of another type.

Once a trade route is activated, it remains active until either a Challenge arises that threatens it, or the kingdom takes an effort to end (or change) the trade route.

Changing the trade route requires 2 succesful skillchecks, and allows you to do one of the following:

- Cancel the trade route
- Increase or decrease the number of resources traded by 1 (can go above the starting limit of 2)
- Offer an equal number of a different resource instead
- Receive an equal number of a different resource instead 

Raising armies

To raise an army, the kingdom must make 4 Medium DC skill checks at a level as set by the person who ordered construction of the army. This level also determines the eventual strength of the army when it is done. The level cannot be higher than the level of the city.

Regardless of the level of the army, once it is completed it costs 1 Population (which cannot produce anymore resources while it is in the army) and 1 Weapons per turn.

For purposes of XP in combat with the player party, an army is worth as much XP as a Solo of its level, although it is generally made up of many different monsters.

When armies take damage, it is also possible to restore them while they are in the kingdom. For each succesful skill check, the army restores 1 HP. The skill DC is the same as when the army was produced.

A later chapter will deal with how to use armies for your kingdom.

With all this done, the last chapter for the time being is for the DM and explains how to deal with Challenges.

This post belongs to a series on letting the party rule a kingdom in Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. The main post can be found here.

So, here we are again, and this time we're going to deal with the passing of time and using of Skills. As you know from the second chapter, each Kingdom has certain skills that it can use. Each kingdom is good at different things and as a ruler, your party can put all that knowledge and expertise to very good use.

However, any kingdom can only supply a limited number of expert sages and great diplomats at a given time. I've mentioned turns before, and I'll talk a bit more about them now.

The ATU

The passing of time in this kingdom system is measured in ATU. It stands for Arbitrary Time Unit and was chosen very specifically because we don't want to make the time passing in the kingdom more important then the time passing for the players.

As many people already know; vehicles in a movie travel at the speed of plot and kingdoms in a Dungeons and Dragons game are no different.

So the ATU merely serves as a way to deal with kingdom and party resources and isn't an actual time measurement. One ATU could take a year, while the next only takes a week, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is what you can do within an ATU, and what resources you have available.

When an ATU ends, all skill uses are reset. Then, the current production is added to the stores (or removed from it, if negative) After that, players are allowed to change the production of resources within the city for the next turn.

It generally makes sense to spend all the Skill uses as leftovers are simply lost, but sometimes there's just nothing to spend them on.

Also, players are only allowed to personally tackle one Challenge per ATU. They can have side adventures (as many as the DM allows) but when they deal with a Challenge they have to pass the ATU before the next one.

Players can give orders to the kingdom at any time as long as they have a way to relay their orders (like being in the palace, or sending a messenger, or using telepathy, or whatever they can do to get their order across to someone important)

Making skill checks

As I said, the number of experts and sages a kingdom can put to use is limited. In fact, it's limited to one half the level of the city in uses per ATU. That means that during any given ATU, a level 8 city can make 4 skill checks, while a level 19 city could make 9 skill checks.

In addition to these checks, during each ATU, a player can also make a single skill check that benefits the kingdom. In addition, he can make as many skill checks as he damn well pleases during any adventures he has, but these can't be used to command the kingdom.

This means that making a check to surpress or defeat a Challenge counts against this limit, as does the upgrading of Buildings, trading with neighbours, increasing the size of the kingdom and raising armies. But more on that later.

For now it is merely important to keep in mind that the number of checks you have available are limited.

Also, we spoke of the Notable Persons before. Each of these can be used once per ATU, but it's not an extra skill check. You can send a Notable Person along whenever you use a skill that the Notable Person has. The Notable Person grants a +5 bonus to that skill check.

So for example, when you want to supress a challenge like a plague descending on your crops, you could make a regular Heal check with the kingdom's bonus, or you could send Davarius the Druid to surpress it, and get a +5 bonus.

As long as you're not using them to defeat a Challenge there's no real risk in using Notable Persons, so try to put them to use as much as you can. If you give them no orders, their talents will just go to waste for that ATU.

Using skill checks for your own gain

As the ruler of a kingdom, you are in no way required to use all of your skill checks for the good of the kingdom. You can also use them yourself during adventures you have.

Whenever you are on an adventure, you can call in help from your kingdom whenever it would make sense to do so, and let the kingdom roll a skill check for you.

For example; you could let one of your diplomats write you a letter to persuade a king you are dealing with, order for a surgeon to help you deal with a wounded victim or get a guide to help you traverse a dangerous mountain slope.

These checks generally take some more time then a regular skill check would and are mostly useful during skill challenges, although you might sometimes be able to sneak one into combat if you make sure you have quick lines. A sending stone connected directly to your main library could be a great way to get some quick boosted Knowledge checks, for example.

When you are on a Challenge, you can also call in the help of a Notable Person during the mission. If the Notable Person succeeds at his check, then this will reduce the Size of the Challenge by one (and the adventure should change accordingly) but if the check fails, the Notable Person will be place in great peril by the DM and might die (although as a party of heroes you should at least get a chance to save them)

Both types of checks count against the kingdoms' Skill limit per ATU, so spend these checks wisely.

With this out of the way; lets find out how we can use these skills to expand our kingdom!

This post belongs to a series on letting the party rule a kingdom in Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. The main post can be found here.

So, now that we've done the basic setup for a kingdom, it's time to put the party in charge. Fortunately that's the easy part; just hand over the keys and you're good to go.

But, as the party is handed the keys, they'll also quickly learn just why the people of this kingdom were so eager to put them in charge...

Challenges

Kingdoms are constantly challenged. A challenge come in many forms; it could be hostile creatures, a hostile kingdom, a plague, a natural disaster, a bad harvest, intrigue, trade issues, magical calamities... anything really.

They just all have a few things in common: you don't want them in your kingdom, and they're going to cost you a lot to get rid of.

The basics

Lets start with the basics. Every challenge needs a Size. This Size determines just how big an effect letting the Challenge go or failing it has on the kingdom. Size can range anywhere between 1 and 5.

Letting challenges go unchecked might increase their Size, making them harder and harder to get rid of.

There are two basic ways to deal with a challenge: you can supress a challenge, or you can defeat it.

When you supress a challenge, you don't expend as many resources or run as much risk, but the challenge remains for later. This is a good way to deal with issues that you can't deal with immediately but are too dangerous you let run unchecked.

When you defeat a challenge, it is removed completely, not to threaten your kingdom again. Well, at least not for the time being.

To supress a challenge, you can either spend Resources on it or roll a check.

To defeat the challenge, you can either send Notable Persons, or let the party handle it themselves.

Supressing a Challenge

You spend one point of Resource per Size of the challenge per turn. So a Size 3 Challenge would cost 3 Resources per turn to supress. The resource used must make sense (as per Roleplay)

Bribing an Orc Warcamp with Food makes little sense for example, but you could pay Luxuries to bribe them. Alternatively, you could spend Weapons to get more patrols out to persuade the Orcs not to attack anything, but not get them to leave.

If you wish to roll a check, then you must roll a number of skill checks. The exact details of how checks work for a city are explained in the next chapter. The number of checks you must make is one succesful check per Size of the Challenge. If you fail, you can roll again, as long as you haven't hit the limit yet.

These checks must make sense story wise, but can be pretty much anything. For example; it is possible to use Intimidate on the Orc camp to convince them not to attack, or you could use Stealth to sneak in an kill the chief to throw the camp into temporary disarray, at least until a new chief is found (in the next turn)

Supression skill checks are always Medium DC checks with a level equal to the level of the city.

Supression deals with the challenge until the next turn comes up. A supressed challenge cannot grow in size, but it must be supressed again each turn.

Defeating a challenge

The other option is to actually deal with a Challenge. This can be done in two ways.

One option is to let the kingdom deal with the issue. This is dangerous, but allows the party to place thier attention elsewhere. To let a kingdom deal with a Challenge, they must send a Notable Person. This Notable Person must make a Hard DC check against the Challenge. A success reduces the Size of the Challenge by 1 point, and the Challenge cannot increase in size the next turn.

It is possible to send multiple Notable Persons in rapid succession during the same turn; each success reduces the challenge Size by 1.

However; if the check fails by 5 points or more, the Notable Person is removed from play. This could be because the Orcs found him, or because he succumbed to the Plague he was supposed to stop, or because he was swept away in the flood, or whatever the Challenge was.

Only after another two turns have passed will a new Notable Person rise in the kingdom to take the place of the old one.

The other option is for the party to deal with the issue personally. This is not handled by these mechanics. Instead, this triggers an actual D&D adventure to the site of the Challenge which the DM will have to prepare, with (partial) success or failure determined by the normal rules of encounters.

It should be kept in mind that the Size of the Challenge should also factor into the adventure to be had. A Size 1 adventure could be one or two encounters, while a Size 5 adventure could easily be 6 or 7 adventures. When the party arrives on the scene, they should really feel that they are indeed dealing with that Size 5 Challenge to their kingdom is not just a few Orcs raiding the country, it's an entire Horde! And that earthquake isn't just a bit of shaking and a gap across the road, it's an entire city that vanished into the Underdark and all the nasties crawling up to tear the kingdom down!

Rampant Challenges

If you are unable to supress a Challenge and also fail to defeat it, a Challenge will run rampant. This has nasty effects on your kingdom, but sometimes it can't really be avoided.

A rampant Challenge will reduce production of your resources by a total of 2 points per Size category (so 2 production for a Size 1 Challenge and 8 points for a Size 4 challenge)

Since these come from your production for this turn, this could end you up with a negative stock, which means your kingdom could be in trouble.

What resource is taken depends on the type of challenge, but should make some sense and be explained beforehand. A famine would destroy Food production for example, while a strike in the Artisan District could destory Luxury production and a collapse in the Iron mines could destroy Weapons production.

In addition, rampant Challenges could grow into even bigger problems if left unchecked.

Now that we know how to deal with Challenges, lets find out about turns and dive deeper into that "making skill checks" idea and see what that's all about!

This post belongs to a series on letting the party rule a kingdom in Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. The main post can be found here.

Now that you should be familiar with the basic terms, lets talk mechanics. As with players, the most important part of a kingdom and the fastest way to gauge its strength, is looking at the level.

Yep, all kingdoms have a level. A small hamlet with some farmlands around it might be a level 3 Kingdom (using the term loosely) while at level 30 your Kingdom might span 3 different continents on 2 planes and be inhabited by millions upon millions of people. The level of a city increases if the players put enough work into it.

Skills

Kingdoms also provide skills. While a small woodrealm of Elves might be your best bet for knowledge on how to grow plants and herd animals, the neighbouring Dwarf country might be your best bet for information on building a new castle. These skills can be put to good use by its rulers, either to improve the kingdom or to further their own agenda.

These basic skills are the same as the ones characters have, and they have a bonus like normal. Kingdoms get a half level bonus, like characters. In addition, they get a few basic bonusses based on the kind of people that inhabit the kingdom and the basic concept of it. For example, a magocracy full of universities might get a bonus to Int based skills, with an extra bump to Arcana. On the other hand, a fortress in perpetual war with its neighbours might get a bonus to Intimidate and Strength skills.

Buildings also provide bonusses to skills. The Guild of Architects might grant a bonus to Dungeoneering, while the Crime Syndicate could give a bonus to Thievery and Stealth.

Lastly, Notable People can be used to give another bump to specific applications of skills. Sending Valoren the Bard on a diplomatic mission might yield better successes then sending Fresh Diplomat #3.

Determining basic setup

To determine the basic skills for a fresh kingdom, follow these simple steps. First, assign a level to the kingdom. It makes sense to take a level close to the level of the players, but it's not a requirement.

Once you picked a level, you'll know the kingdom's basic bonus to skills (since it's one half level)

Next, think about what kind of kingdom this is and what kind of people live there. Based on this, assign basic ability scores to the kingdom. A kingdom has one 14, two 12s and three 10s. These scores aren't really important beyond the skill bonusses, but should reflect the generic capabilities of the kingdom. If it's a huge swamp, a 14 in Con might make sense because of the lack of food and diseases. If the kingdom focusses on gathering knowledge, the 14 would be Int.

Once you assign the ability scores, add those bonusses to the appropriate skills.

Next, you need to determine the primary skills for a kingdom. How many you pick exactly doesn't really matter, but 2 or 3 is probably enough. The kingdom gets a +2 bonus to these skills.

When this is done, you have the basic skill bonusses set. How you add the bonus for Buildings and Notable People will be handled later.

The last thing we need to do is determine the resource focus of the kingdom. Kingdoms can't have a bonus to Population, but should have a bonus to 2 of the other 4 resources. For example; a kingdom of plains and forests could get a bonus to Food and Materials, while a kingdom centered around a mining complex full of Iron and Silver could get a bonus to Luxuries and Weapons.

Buildings

Now, lets look at the primary buildings that already exist in the kingdom. We'll handle building new ones later, but most kingdoms already have a few when the players are put in charge.

The kingdom can have a maximum number of important Buildings equal to half the kingdom's level (a 6th level kingdom can have up to 3, a 30th level kingdom could have 15)

Each of these buildings has a Size ranging from 1 to 5. Larger buildings require more Materials to support, but also provide more bonusses. Each building needs a number of Materials equal to its Size each "turn" (more on turns later) to function. When not enough Materials are available, then a number of bonusses shut down. For example, if a Size 4 Building is only given 2 Materials to maintain it, 2 of its bonusses would shut down until it receives Materials.

When building a new kingdom, try to keep the size somewhat low. This gives players more opportunities to expand these buildings. If you include a Size 4 or 5 Building, make sure that it's something they've known about; at those Sizes you should be talking about the best known Colleges and Guilds in the world (at least)

For each Size of a building, assign one bonus to the building. A bonus is either a +3 bonus to a skill, or a +2 bonus to the production of a resource (Food, Materials, Luxuries, Weapons)

Production bonusses can stack, skill bonusses do not. Different buildings could provide a bonus to the same skill, but a building can not provide a bonus to the same skill twice.

Some example buildings are listed below. Once you have determined the buildings for the kingdom, continue to the next step.

College of Burning Magic [ Size 2 building ]

This college provides some of the finest fire mages in the kingdom. In addition to being a repository of knowledge on the Arcane Arts, it also provides the kingdom with large numbers of wands and staves of fiery power.

Bonus: +3 bonus to Arcana, +2 production of Weapons

Aegran's Lumbermill [ Size 1 building ]

This lumbermill is run by the prospector Aegran, a young half-elf. It's well known for its production of fine lumber that has aided the construction of many buildings around the kingdom.

Bonus: +2 production of Materials

The Apothecary [ Size 1 building ]

This apothecary is staffed by two friendly Druids who spend lots of their time hunting for herbs and spices that help aid the sick.

Bonus: +3 bonus to Heal

Silver Hand Headquarters [ Size 5 building ]

This legendary headquarters belongs to the Silver Hand guild. While a large trade association on the outside, it is in actuality a crime ring run by an ancient cabal of vampires that have taken to the lush and luxurious life provided by your kingdom.

Bonus: +3 bonus to Thievery, +3 bonus to Intimidate, +2 production of Luxuries, +2 production of Weapons, +3 bonus to Streetwise

Notable people

Next, we need to determine what notable people hang around in the kingdom. Like buildings, the number of capped to one half the level of the kingdom, but Notable people have no Size or Level.

Instead, they have two associated skills. These skills should fit their persona (a Diplomat could have Diplomacy and Perception for example, while a Druid might have Nature and Heal)

They should also have at least a name, and could have as much background, history and character as you are willing to give them.

We'll handle how to use them later, for now just write down their key information.

Avarian the Watcher

Avarian is an Elven Ranger who joined the kingdom when it was still young. He is an explorer and has more then once been the first to arrive with news of invading hordes of Goblins or Orcs.

Skills: Stealth, Perception

Obus the Grim

Obus is a Half-Orc, though smarter then most. He serves the kingdom as a constable, leading the militia of its capital. Obus is slowly getting old, but he can read criminals like a map and is terrifying, both to his men and the general populace.

Skills: Insight, Intimidate

Production

Alright, with the final bonusses to skills determined, the notable people jotted down and the buildings known and leveled, it's time to determine the cities' production. As we already know, there's 5 resources.

The first of those is very easy to determine. Population (the resource) in a kingdom is equal to the level of the kingdom. So a level 6 kingdom has 6 Population and a level 23 one has 23 Population. Note that these are (obviously) not actual people, just an abstract representation of them.

These people can be put to work and produce the other 4 resources. Any unit of Population can be used to produce either 2 units of a favored resource, or 1 unit of a normal resource.

For example; if you selected Food and Materials as your favored resources for your plains and forest kingdom, then a unit of Population could produce 2 Food or Materials, or 1 Luxuries or Weapons.

You can move Population around the various resources between turns, but Buildings produce a fixed resource.

When assigning the Production, keep in mind that the kingdom has an upkeep it needs to pay to prevent bad things from happening. This upkeep equal 1/2 of the kingdom's level in Food and 1/3 of the kingdom's level in Luxuries (round down).

So lets say our 5th level kingdom is good at producing Food and Luxuries and has a single building that increases Food production and the Heal skill.

We could arrange Production as follows:

Food (favored) = 1x2 (Population) +2 (Building) - 2 (upkeep) = +2 per turn

Materials = 3 (Population) - 2 (upkeep) = +1 per turn

Luxuries = 2x2 (Population) - 1 (upkeep) = +3 per turn

Weapons = +0 per turn

That means we'll be producing some good food, and lots of luxuries, but the kingdom will have no weapons to defend itself, which might hurt it later.

These extra resource we produces are neccesary to fend off Challenges and upgrade the kingdom. Keep track of excess goods; these are gathered in a store and can be spent from there. Each turn, the Food store would rise by 2 points, giving the city extra Food in case they'd be unable to produce at some point, or for it the population rises, or they need it for a Challenge, or want to trade it.

 

Now that we handled this, it's time to move on. Lets start by getting this Kingdom on track and learning how to deal with Challenges!

This post belongs to a series on letting the party rule a kingdom in Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. The main post can be found here.

So lets get started! The first thing I will deal with is the basic concepts behind running a kingdom. To make things clear, I'm using "Kingdoms" as a generic term for all player controlled areas. Maybe what your players control is only a small village with some surrounding farmlands and a quarry, but we'll still use the generic term. Likewise, an epic kingdom might span several continents, but it's still a kingdom.

Lets start with the basics. Kingdoms contain 3 things that are very important to keep them running. Those are: Resources, Buildings and Notable people.

There is also a fourth thing, that mostly try to stop a kingdom from running. These are called Challenges and will also be touched on briefly.

Resources

All kingdoms use 5 basic resources to keep themselves functional. These resources are very abstract, but that's mainly to keep it manageble. They are, in no particular order:

Population: The most important resource for any kingdom are the people that live in it. Without people, it wouldn't be a kingdom, it'd just be an undiscovered wilderness. Nobody wants to rule one of those, so Population is a very important resource.

Food: Having people is great, but unless they're undead or something, you're going to need food. Large plots land in your kingdom are likely devoted to farmlands and what you can't grow, you'll have to trade. If you have enough food, your people will be well fed and happy. If you don't have enough food, your people will become hungry or maybe even starve.

Materials: Everything from lumber and stone to hammers and nails belongs in this category. Materials is all the stuff you need to build and maintain key structures in your kingdom. Without materials, your infrastructure breaks down and your kingdom will be unable to produce whatever it is that it normally produces. 

Luxuries: Nobody wants to live in a kingdom where they only get water and bread and have to sleep on a stack of hay. Luxuries are what differentiate commoners from nobles and cityfolk from dirty peasants. The more luxury a kingdom has to offer, the more people will come to admire it's splendor. If you don't have enough luxuries, people get angry.

Weapons: All those people packed close together make for prime targets as far as Orcs and Goblins and other pests are concerned. Fortunately, people can arm themselves to defend themselves and the rest of your lands. Weapons are required to field full scale armies, and are also pretty useful to deal with local bandits, marauding goblins and other minor threats.

And that's it. These 5 resources are all you have to worry about as a new ruler. Everything else your people can handle themselves and we're not going to worry about it. Just make sure you produce enough of these basic resources and your people will be happy and your kingdom will prosper.

Buildings

Kingdoms are full of buildings. It's what makes them kingdoms. However, there's regular buildings where people live, small time shops, the little market, and there's the real buildings, like the Temple of the Eldar and the Grand Barracks and the University of the Undying.

We'll assume that the common folk are more then capable of building places to live and work in and focus on the big structures. Each kingdom has a number of defining structures. Those structures that give an entire city its name, or are known throughout the world.

Each kingdom can possess a limited number of these special buildings, and they provide special bonusses to the kingdom and its rulers. Each of these special buildings has a level to determine just how awesome it is and provides a number of bonusses. These can either be bonusses to production or bonusses to skills available in the kingdom. More on skills later.

Buildings require Materials to function; if you don't have enough to keep them maintained then they stop working. So make sure you have plenty.

New buildings can be produced and building levels can be upgraded if you have lots of spare materials. This can be a worthy endeauvor, since each level adds another bonus to the building.

Notable people

As a player character it should be a fairly common idea that some people are more important then other, but when you look at it clearly, there's really 3 categories. There's the big ones, the main attractions, the ones the world revolves around, those played by the people at the table, and then there's the little ones, the faceless minions of evil and good, the poor farmers and lesser nobles.

But in between them in a third class of people. They're not big enough to be stars of the show, but they're big enough to be important to the kingdom. These are the Notable People and they are a valuable resource to your would-be-rulers.

Each kingdom has a limited number of them, and they provide invaluable skills, knowledge and general expertise to your kingdom. Use them wisely, they might be the difference between your kingdoms fall and its success.

Notable people can occasionally change, when one dies, falls from grace or otherwise stops being of great importance to your kingdom. These are NPCs the players can interact with and that have a name, a history and a personality. They are the face of the kingdom, in a way.

Challenges

No kingdom ever exists without rival kings trying to invade it, marauding orcs trying to destroy it, cunning cultists trying to subvert it and greedy merchants trying to sell it. Why, without challenges like these, running a kingdom would be a very boring thing!

Fortuntely, in Dungeons & Dragons each kingdom comes with an infinite supply of things that want to stop it from being succesful and this is no different.

Challenges are wide and varied, but ultimately are things that need to be dealt with to ensure a kingdom's survival. Although a kingdom has some ability to deal with its own issues, it never hurts to have the capable skills of a group of powerful adventuring heroes behind it.

Yep, the players can personally get involved and solve Challenges to the kingdom. Or they can just make the kingdom deal with its own issues as best it can; whatever they prefer. You don't get to be a kingdom if you can't deal with some goblins, a drought, a flood and a few plagues.

These challenges are provided by the DM and are an endless stream of quest inspiration. The better they are handled, the faster you can make your kingdom grow.

Ok, that's it for now. You should be familiar with the basic terms and concepts. Now lets dive into what makes a kingdom tick. Lets do some mechanics, and see how we go about setting up a new kingdom!

Onwards, to chapter 2!

Many times I've heard people ask about rules for letting their party manage a kingdom. Many times I told myself "That would be cool. I should do that some time."

Today, I finally decided to take some good advice to heart and "stop saying you'll do it sometime and just #$#@$%$#ing do it".

However after getting to work I quickly noted that this would be one hell of a post, so I intend to split it up over multiple posts. This page shall serve as the mainpage and link to all the chapters that I may (or may not) write on ruling your own kingdom!

My intentions are to make these rules (fairly) lightweight, easy to follow and fun to use. Your kingdom will do more then just sit there; it will help your party by providing experts on many topics and agents of many kinds, it will provide plot hooks by the dozens, and give players many opportunities to quest in the lands they own and interact with the people who call them "Liege".

In addition, this allows the players to guide the adventure when you put their kingdom on the foreground and gives the DM lots of inspiration for things that could be happening.

So, if this sounds interesting and you've always wanted to run a kingdom, or you've always wanted to have your party run a kingdom, jump right into it!

Chapter 1: Basic Concepts

Chapter 2: Setup

Chapter 3: Challenges

Chapter 4: ATU and skills

Chapter 5: Expanding the kingdom

Chapter 6: The DM and the Kingdom

Chapter 7: Skogen, a heroic tier sample kingdom

Chapter 8: Skogen under threat: example of Heroic Tier kingdom play

Also, if you have any feedback, a question, suggestion or tried the system and want to tell me how it went, please do. You can put a message in any of the  Blog posts, or you could PM me, whichever you prefer.

I'll try to write the occasional update to this whole system when I have time.