I require some assistance in starting off a Kingmaker game in 5e, set along the Sword Coast. I'd like to set them up a place near Phandelver, perhaps in the ruins of that small village nearby (Greenvale, I think it is?). My issue is that I have no idea on how to present the idea to them as such, how to set them out on that path. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Do you mean something like, "they build themselves up to mighty power, defeat the evil overlord, and place the exiled rightful king back on the throne?"
That could start off with the "we gotta defeat this bad guy," and along the way they find the exiled king to replace him. Maybe they have to protect the rightful king and his family, cause said evil overlord is hunting him and his allies. (Basically, the Beyonders trilogy by Brandon Mull.)
- several more or less unstable nations bordering on war
- a region that formally belongs to one of those nations, but is unclaimed because it's dangerous and the nation cannot afford to send military there.
The nation with the "unused" land hires adventurers to clean out that land. Since the nation is constantly preparing for war, they don't want to pay the adventurers in the normal way and instead offer the cleaned region itself as a barony and a minor noble title to the adventurers. That barony has of course to pay taxes, so this pays off three times: no investment, no risk, a new tax-paying barony.
I'm not sure the Sword Coast has any fitting region that would qualify for this kind of scenario. Wildemount has Uthodurn, the Svalich Woods and the war between the Kryn Dynasty and the Dwendalian Empire, which is an almost perfect fit both geographically and politically.
That said, in any setting (even the Sword Coast) you can probably replace the pressing need to get more resources to protect yourself with simple greed. You don't need an ongoing or beginning war to justify a greedy king who wants a new barony to rule over without paying a single piece of copper for it, only a really dangerous region. For Neverwinter (where Phandalin is), the region between the Lurkwood and the Evermoors looks good, since it also has all the major geographic elements Kingmaker uses (wood, swamp, mountain).
I would probably sent them an invitation to a tournament organized by the Alliance of Lords. The price money would be reasonably high, maybe 1000 gold per group member. After the tournament one of the lords contacts them and offers them a noble title and a barony if they help him / her with a little bandit problem in said barony.
Chapter 2 is pretty simple, you only need a troll hideout somewhere in that region. Chapter 3 is even easier, that could happen anywhere. For Varnhold Vamishing I'd replace the Cyclops Lich with a normal Lich, and have one of their own cities vanish instead of a neighbouring barony. Pitax can be replaced by any nation in the region (even a newly founded one).
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Hail and well met, fellow DM's
I require some assistance in starting off a Kingmaker game in 5e, set along the Sword Coast. I'd like to set them up a place near Phandelver, perhaps in the ruins of that small village nearby (Greenvale, I think it is?). My issue is that I have no idea on how to present the idea to them as such, how to set them out on that path. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Do you mean something like, "they build themselves up to mighty power, defeat the evil overlord, and place the exiled rightful king back on the throne?"
That could start off with the "we gotta defeat this bad guy," and along the way they find the exiled king to replace him. Maybe they have to protect the rightful king and his family, cause said evil overlord is hunting him and his allies. (Basically, the Beyonders trilogy by Brandon Mull.)
Kingmaker's main premise is that you have
- several more or less unstable nations bordering on war
- a region that formally belongs to one of those nations, but is unclaimed because it's dangerous and the nation cannot afford to send military there.
The nation with the "unused" land hires adventurers to clean out that land. Since the nation is constantly preparing for war, they don't want to pay the adventurers in the normal way and instead offer the cleaned region itself as a barony and a minor noble title to the adventurers. That barony has of course to pay taxes, so this pays off three times: no investment, no risk, a new tax-paying barony.
I'm not sure the Sword Coast has any fitting region that would qualify for this kind of scenario. Wildemount has Uthodurn, the Svalich Woods and the war between the Kryn Dynasty and the Dwendalian Empire, which is an almost perfect fit both geographically and politically.
That said, in any setting (even the Sword Coast) you can probably replace the pressing need to get more resources to protect yourself with simple greed. You don't need an ongoing or beginning war to justify a greedy king who wants a new barony to rule over without paying a single piece of copper for it, only a really dangerous region. For Neverwinter (where Phandalin is), the region between the Lurkwood and the Evermoors looks good, since it also has all the major geographic elements Kingmaker uses (wood, swamp, mountain).
I would probably sent them an invitation to a tournament organized by the Alliance of Lords. The price money would be reasonably high, maybe 1000 gold per group member. After the tournament one of the lords contacts them and offers them a noble title and a barony if they help him / her with a little bandit problem in said barony.
Chapter 2 is pretty simple, you only need a troll hideout somewhere in that region. Chapter 3 is even easier, that could happen anywhere. For Varnhold Vamishing I'd replace the Cyclops Lich with a normal Lich, and have one of their own cities vanish instead of a neighbouring barony. Pitax can be replaced by any nation in the region (even a newly founded one).