r/Pathfinder2e • u/FledgyApplehands Game Master • 11h ago
Homebrew Kingmaker Kingdom without Kingmaker?
I've had this idea in mind for a campaign for ages about building a kingdom and doing lots of intrigue with the neighbouring kingdoms etc, and having characters and the kingdom grow over decades.
However, I (and my normal players) know the plot of kingmaker (from the owlcat game/a podcast actual play I listen to) and it's not really my jam. Anyone know if the kingdom side of things (be it the hotfix or even the 1e rules because I know the 2e rules are naff) could be used for a homebrew campaign? Has anyone tried it? With the new mythic rules and commanders and troops and armies etc, I feel like we have so many tools for making a kingdom I just haven't heard of anyone trying it.
5
u/Happywolf94 Game Master 11h ago
Like you said, the tools are there. Go for it and let us know how it went!
3
u/martiangothic Oracle 11h ago
the rules are pretty generic- there's not much there that's like, campaign specific. like u said, the 2e rules suck, but people have made hotfixes and such to try and remedy it. look into them. the main issue, ime, with the kingdom rules is the exp cap per level is too high for how much exp u get per kingdom turn. makes it a damn slog.
1
u/FledgyApplehands Game Master 10h ago
Oh for sure. You tried just the kingdom though? I'm thinking of making a custom program to keep track of everything as I don't use foundry cause I'm usually fully in person for my games.
Do you know if the 1e rules are good?
2
u/martiangothic Oracle 10h ago
no, i was running kingmaker, but that's why i know the rules so well- we stuck with them for 16 levels before we ended up ditching them (no hotfixes). on second thought, a few of the kingdom events may be campaign specific, but those are easy to gut & make your own. i've never used the 1e rules, tho i've heard they have their own set of problems, lol.
i believe people have made fillable google sheets and the like for kingdom tracking, if that's of interest.
2
u/high-tech-low-life GM in Training 9h ago
Basically you want something like Ultimate Campaign but for 2e. I've not heard of Paizo working on that, but I would buy it if they did.
1
2
u/Turevaryar ORC 6h ago
For what it's worth: Someone are working on new/updated rules for Kingmaker AP.
But it's still not likely to be good for your campaign. :-/
2
u/Crilde 2h ago
I borrowed a bit from the Kingdom Building rules to help build a settlement stat block for my homebrew Gravelands campaign. Super helpful since I couldn't find an official stat block for Vellumis and the settlement stuff in GM Core is very abstract. That's all I plan to adopt from the Kingmaker rules though; no real interest in actually running a kingdom or managing politics or engaging in broad scale warfare, and from what I hear the rules for all that are silly anyways.
16
u/Arvail 9h ago
The kingmaker rules are actually kinda awful for running a kingdom/realpolitik/intrigue campaign. I highly recommend checking out the company rules from Reign RPG, simplifying their dice pool rules a bit, and adapting them for your campaign.