Kingdom Building
Kingdom Building is the glory of clearing the land, founding cities, and growing those cities into a mighty empire. Below is some general information on Kingdoms. Also of interest would be the Kingdom Turn and the Kingdom Buildings.
Kingdoms
"Kingdom" refers to everything from a one-horse town up to a full-fledged empire. A kingdom has a "character sheet" that details:
Alignment
Size: Number of hexes controlled
Control DC: 20 + the number hexes controlled. Various rolls are required against this DC for the kingdom to do various things.
Population: Size x 250
Unrest: How unhappy the people are in regards to one thing or another. This affects the Control DC.
Consumption: How much the city "consumes" each "turn". Equal to Size + City Districts - 2 Per Farmland.
Treasury: BP (build points) on hand.
Defense: How well defended a city is
Special Resources: Special stuff a kingdom can own - Roads, caves, landmarks, ruins, etc.
Kingdoms have three stats, listed below. These stats are used to roll against the Control DC to do various things. Stats are modified by the city alignment, the people in power within the kingdom, buildings in the various cities, and events that are taking place.
Stability: How stable the city is, how content the populace is, how well they handle bad news
Loyalty: How loyal the populace is to the kingdom
Economy: How profitable the city is.
Edicts
There are three edicts the rulers of a kingdom can make. The level of each edict affects things that happen in the kingdom.
Promotion Type: How aggressive the kingdom promotes itself - None, token, standard, aggressive, expansionist.
Taxation Level: None, Light, Normal, Heavy, Overwhelming
Festivals Per Year: None, 1, 6, 12, 24. Festivals make people happy but cost plenty of BP.
Tips & Tricks
If Unrest gets too high, it can start a death spiral with the whole kingdom collapsing.
A good way to get Unrest is to have more Consumption than your Kingdom can handle. At the beginning, a kingdom needs to keep consumption at 0.
The best way to keep consumption low is to have enough farms to offset the consumption from your cities & such.
Leadership Roles
Every kingdom, regardless of size, has 10 rulership positions that can be filled by PCs or NPCs. The ability scores of the PC/NPC holding a position can affect kingdom rolls. The positions are:
Ruler
Councilor: Responsible for representing the people
General: Commands all military and is a public hero
Grand Diplomat
High Priest
Magister: Responsible for higher learning and magic
Marshal: Defense of the outlying areas
Royal Assasin: This position does not have to be filled
Spymaster
Treasurer
Warden: Reponsible for defense within the cities
A PC/NPC must spend one week a month fulfilling their duties rulership duties to provide a bonus.
Kingdom "Money"
A kingdom's money is measured in Build Points ("BP"). A kingdom earns BP with an economy check. A kingdom spends BP to build buildings, claim hexes, hold festivals, etc. One BP is roughly 4000gp.