Kingdom Turn

Each turn represents one month in game, and consists of four phases:

1. Leadership: assign leaders, adjust laws, alter alignment, change capital
2. Improvement: settle new hexes, build improvements
3. Resolution: check the kingdom’s stability and economy, adjust the treasury and unrest
4. Events: in which a variety of interesting things may occur

1. Leadership Phase

Assign Leaders

If you have any vacant leadership roles, they can be filled by PCs or closely allied NPCs. Each character can hold one role at a time, and they can move between roles (though frequency reshuffles may increase unrest). Not all roles have to be filled, but there may be penalties if key roles are left absent. See the Leaders section for details on the roles, and the benefits they offer.

Adjust Laws

You may adjust the kingdom’s laws regarding taxation, festivals and military recruitment. Taxation laws increase economy but decrease loyalty, while festival and military recruitment laws both increase upkeep while increasing loyalty or stability. You can enact martial law, which reduces unrest but prevents expansion and reduces loyalty.

Martial Law

Reduce Unrest by 1, but you cannot settle new hexes or build new improvements. Your loyalty is reduced by 4 while you are in martial law, and does not recover until you have spent as much time out of martial law as in it (e.g. if you are in martial law for 3 months, your loyalty remains at -4 for 3 months after stopping martial law).

Adjust Alignment

You can adjust your kingdom's alignment (see here for the effects of alignment). If you change your alignment by one step, increase Unrest by 1. If you change your alignment by more than one step, increase Unrest by 1d6. If you change alignment more than once in a year, each subsequent change increases Unrest by an additional 1d6 points.

Change Capital

You can move your capital to any other settlement in your kingdom. If you re-assign your capital to a new town that’s larger than the current capital, increase Unrest by 1. If you re-assign your capital to a smaller or similarly sized settlement, increase Unrest by 1d4.

2. Settlement Phase

In this phase, you can add new hexes to your kingdom and build improvements in settled hexes and towns.

Settling Hexes

It costs 1 BP to settle a new hex. The hex must be mapped, and must be adjacent to a hex that’s already part of your kingdom. When you settle a new hex, it increases your kingdom’s Size by 1, which also increases its Upkeep and Control DC by 1. The number of new hexes you can settle each month is limited by the size of your kingdom; small kingdoms can only grow slowly.

Abandoning Hexes

You can abandon a hex to decrease your kingdom’s Size (and hence Upkeep and Control DC). Increase Unrest by 1 per abandoned hex, or by 4 if the hex continued a town.

Building Roads, Improvements and Founding Towns

You can build roads, rural improvements (e.g. farms, mines, logging camps), and found new towns on settled hexes. You can also build town upgrades in your towns.

Your kingdom’s Size determines how many of these improvements you can add per month, and each improvement also has an associated BP cost (and in some cases, a prerequisite, e.g. you need a quarry in order to construct a stone wall). Completed improvement give various benefits. See the improvement section for the full details.

3. Resolution Phase

A) Adjust Unrest

Make a loyalty check and a stability check against your Control DC to see how happy your populace are, and how secure your lands are. For each check:

• Critical success: Reduce Unrest by 2; if Unrest was already 0, gain 1 BP instead
• Success: Reduce Unrest by 1
• Failure: No effect
• Critical failure: Increase Unrest by 1

B) Treasury Deposits & Withdrawals

You can add money into your kingdom’s treasury. For every 200 gp you deposit, the kingdom gains 1 BP. If you donate a large amount of money, you may reduce Unrest or increase Loyalty.

You can withdraw cash from your kingdom’s treasury. You gain 100 gp for every 1 BP you withdraw. Each withdrawal increases Unrest by 1d4, and you must make a Loyalty check (the DC is your Control DC, plus the number of BP withdrawn). On a failure, increase Unrest by 1 per withdrawn BP.

C) Earn Income

Add the income from your hex and town improvements to your treasury. Then make an Economy check.

• Critical success: Gain BP equal to the result divided by 5, round up
• Success: Gain BP equal to the result divided by 5, round down
• Failure: Gain BP equal to the result divided by 10, round down
• Critical failure: No effect

D) Pay Upkeep

You must spend 1 BP per point of Upkeep. If you cannot, increase Unrest by 2

E) Check Unrest

If the kingdom’s unrest is 11 or higher, you lose control of 1 hex. If unrest is 21 or higher, the kingdom disintegrates entirely.

4. Event Phase

Every month, an event will occur in your kingdom. Some events will be positive, some negative, and some will have a mixture of effects. They will often require attention from the PCs to resolve. Most events will require the kingdom to make a check, e.g. a stability check to find the bandit encampment, or a loyalty check to keep morale up in the face of a poor harvest.