Kingdom issues (after Darro ir'Lain's visit)

We'll use this thread to handle the kingdom development and related issues which came up between Darro ir'Lain's visit and the PCs' departure to investigate the Varnhold situation.

Incidentally, Darro's visit actually led to a bit of a windfall for Khatovar, since it certainly gives the appearance of your kingdom being in good standing with Aundair and leads to a little more trade and movement of settlers, and the new treaties and trade with Varnhold didn't hurt either. That netted you +7 BP, which leaves you sitting on 24 BP of resources at the start of the month of Lharvion, which is the 12th month of the existence of your kingdom. Happy anniversary!

Someone please roll me a Stability check to start off (you're rolling with +26 vs. a DC of 31).

A dc even Mike could make.

The member 'Leonis' has done the following action : Dice roller

'd20' : 13

Leonis wrote:

A dc even Mike could make.

Actually, since it needed at least a 5 to succeed, he probably had something like a 40% failure chance.

Since you have no unrest, the successful check nets you another 1 BP. You also have a Consumption rate of 0 right now, so you don't need to pay out any BP either, which means you have 25 BP when you come to the Improvement phase. With the size that the kingdom has increased to, you can claim 2 hexes per month now. There are a few different possibilities you have:

1 - Claim the hex with the hot springs where you fought the giant frogs (in-game a year ago!). Being a landmark, it gives you +1 to Loyalty.

2 - Claim the hex with the overgrown statue of Balinor. It's also a landmark, giving you the +1 to Loyalty. To reach this one, you'd have to take the hex with the hot springs too.

3 - Claim the hex with the barrow (where Kara got her feybane weapon). It's also a landmark, giving you the +1 to Loyalty. Being a hill hex, you can have farmland there.

4 - Claim the hex where Melianse's pool is. There's enough valuable timber in the area that it'll give you a +1 to Economy (without bothering her). The hex is two away from Lakeshore, so you'll have to take the intervening hex too.

Besides these, there are a number of forest, hill and plain hexes available too. The forest ones don't benefit you much beyond increasing the kingdom's size, but the hill and plain ones can have farmland in them (costs 2 BP on plains and 4 BP on hills), building one of which which will remove the +2 to Consumption that claiming the two new hexes will give you.

Let me know what you think.

What kind of hex is between us and Melianse's pool? If it's plains we should take that. We need to continue growing our BPs as much as possible, to grow our military. Our farmland (and resulting "free" BPs/month) is our greatest advantage against our rival to the North.)

If it's not plains, then we should take the Barrow and a hex of plains.

How is our letter writing campaign to encourage settlement by former soldiers working? Doesn't one of the dragonmark houses have a service for almost instantaneous letter delivery? Maybe we should invite them in.

I agree with mike. Let's go for what will give us more/bp. We should slso look to invest in some defenses.

Rowan wrote:

What kind of hex is between us and Melianse's pool? If it's plains we should take that. We need to continue growing our BPs as much as possible, to grow our military. Our farmland (and resulting "free" BPs/month) is our greatest advantage against our rival to the North.)

If it's not plains, then we should take the Barrow and a hex of plains.

Leonis wrote:

I agree with mike. Let's go for what will give us more/bp. We should slso look to invest in some defenses.

It's forest in between, so I'll go with the barrow and another plains hex then. As for the defense, you can focus on that when you select your buildings for the month.

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How is our letter writing campaign to encourage settlement by former soldiers working?

Good. That's the sort of thing which gives slow dividends, but you have a good enough economic base and reputation now to have people responding to it, particularly with Rowan (and to some degree Grabthar) able to attract former comrades and contacts. Also, building things like a garrison will certainly help you in that area, but that's a big construction and might take you a while.

I'll have more details on that for you later.

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Doesn't one of the dragonmark houses have a service for almost instantaneous letter delivery? Maybe we should invite them in.

House Sivis. The fun house

A few more choices:

On the farmland front, I presume you'll be converting the new grassland hex into farmland (costs 2 BP but lowers Consumption by 2, so definitely worth it).

Are you building roads in both new hexes? It costs 3 BP (1 BP for the grassland, 2 BP for the hills). It'll increase Economy by +1 and also obviously makes it much easier and faster to travel to them, in case of war or other emergencies.

What buildings do you construct this turn? If you do the farmland and roads, you have 16 BP left (a little of which you might want to save for promotion, trade, etc). The following are probably your best options:

Brewery (6 BP): A building for beermaking, winemaking, or similar use. Loyalty +1, Stability +1.
Brothel (4 BP; must be adjacent to 1 house): A place to pay for companionship of any sort. Economy +1, Loyalty +1; Unrest +1.
City Wall (8 BP): City walls do not occupy a city block—rather, purchasing a city wall fortifies one of a district’s four outer borders. A city wall cannot be built on a water border. Defense Modifier +4; Unrest –2.
Dump (3 BP, due to Town Hall): A centralized place to dispose of refuse. Loyalty +1, Stability +1.
Granary (6 BP): A place to store grain and food. Loyalty +1, Stability +1.
Graveyard (4 BP): A plot of land to honor and bury the dead. Loyalty +1.
Inn (10 BP; must be adjacent to 1 house): A place for visitors to spend the night. City base value +500 gp; Economy +1, Loyalty +1.
Jail (14 BP): A fortified structure for housing criminals. Loyalty +2, Stability +2; Unrest –2.
Library (6 BP): A large building containing books, often presided over by a sage or other scholar. Economy +1, Loyalty +1.
Mill (6 BP; must be next to a water border): A building used to cut lumber or grind grain. Economy +1, Stability +1.
Monument (6 BP): A monument can be a statue of a city founder, a bell tower, a large tomb, or a public display of art. Loyalty +3; Unrest –1.
Park (4 BP): A plot of land set aside for its natural beauty. Loyalty +1.
Piers (16 BP; must be adjacent to a water border): Warehouses and workshops for docking ships and handling cargo and passengers. City base value +1,000 gp; +1 Economy, +1 Stability.
Shop (8 BP; must be adjacent to 1 house): A general store. City base value +500 gp; Economy +1.
Smith (6 BP): An armor smith, blacksmith, or weapon smith. Economy +1, Stability +1.
Stable (10 BP; must be adjacent to 1 house): A structure for housing or selling horses and other mounts. City base value +500 gp; Economy +1, Loyalty +1.
Tannery (6 BP; cannot be adjacent to a house): A structure that prepares hides and leather. Economy +1, Stability +1.
Tavern (10 BP; must be adjacent to 1 house): An eatery or drinking establishment. City base value +500 gp; Economy +1, Loyalty +1.
Tradesman (10 BP; must be adjacent to 1 house): A shopfront for a tradesman, such as a baker, butcher, candle maker, cooper, or rope maker. City base value +500 gp; +1 Economy, +1 Stability.
Watchtower (6 BP, due to Town Hall): A tall structure that serves as a guard post and landmark. +1 Stability; +2 Defense Modifier; Unrest –1.

Your councilors would suggest doing the Inn (to replace the one which was destroyed in Lakeshore during the bralani attack) and maybe a Dump. That would leave you 3 BP to use on promotions and risk on trade. Alternatively, you could do a couple of smaller ones, like a Dump and a Graveyard or a Dump and a Park, leaving you 9 BP for promotions, trade, and/or saving for next month.

So is what you are proposing:
Convert Grassland hex (2bp)
Trade Road (3bp)
Giving us 16 BP to play with
Inn (10BP)


I think Park may be good, we can call it a Druid grove. That way we can muster those allies as well.

Leonis wrote:

So is what you are proposing:
Convert Grassland hex (2bp)
Trade Road (3bp)
Giving us 16 BP to play with
Inn (10BP)

Right.

Quote :

I think Park may be good, we can call it a Druid grove. That way we can muster those allies as well.

Noted. I'll give Mike and anyone else a chance to chime in.

What would happen if we only built a road to the new farmland, not to the hills? That would save us 2 BPs this month.

What direction are we expanding in? I'd prefer to expand toward Varnhold, not toward Drelev, so the city will serve as a bulwark against pillaging troops if we go to war with Drelev.

What do we need to do to build a garrison? Are there any buildings that would make it easier or less expensive to build one later?

I wouldn't normally put BPs toward a park at this stage, but if that'll help us significantly in our relations with the Druids, we should do it. Maybe we can get some buy-in from them by asking them to choose the spot and dedicate it.

Rowan wrote:

What would happen if we only built a road to the new farmland, not to the hills? That would save us 2 BPs this month.

No real problem, actually. You'll gain your +1 to Economy anyway, since every fourth hex of road increases Economy by 1 (and every eighth hex of road increases Stability by 1, along with the +1 to Economy) and building a road to the new farmland gives you your 12th hex. And the hill hex is only a couple of hexes from Lakeshore, so you could get there reasonably quick even without roads.

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What direction are we expanding in?

Both of the hexes are on the Varnhold border, actually.

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I'd prefer to expand toward Varnhold, not toward Drelev, so the city will serve as a bulwark against pillaging troops if we go to war with Drelev.

The one downside to the capital being smack in the center of your country is that there's a fair space between the border and it, so if Drelev did invade they could hit a few places before your capital. But since you still have a buffer of 25+ miles between your border with Drelev and the closest hex claimed by you (right now it is the one where the temple is being developed), and you have roads connecting all those hexes, you can get aid there pretty quickly.

Quote :

What do we need to do to build a garrison? Are there any buildings that would make it easier or less expensive to build one later?

28 BP. The building which would halve its cost is an Arena, but that costs 40 BP.

Quote :

I wouldn't normally put BPs toward a park at this stage, but if that'll help us significantly in our relations with the Druids, we should do it. Maybe we can get some buy-in from them by asking them to choose the spot and dedicate it.

That's a nice way to blend the two aims (city development and negotiation with the druids), I think, so we can say you construct the park and ask the druids to dedicate it.

So if we buy one road, convert the new plains to farmland, and build the Inn and the Park, that leaves us with 4 BP left over.

How much does promotion cost, and what's it's mechanical benefit?

If it's only one or two points, we could "gamble" 2 points on trade. We'd have a 25% chance of getting only 1 BP back, 25% of breaking even, and 50% of making a small profit. From a RP perspective it would be nice to reward our new Lyrandar allies with some trade.

Rowan wrote:

So if we buy one road, convert the new plains to farmland, and build the Inn and the Park, that leaves us with 4 BP left over.

Actually, I was a little wrong above, so you'd have more, as follows:

You have 25 BP to start.
The two new hexes cost 2 BP.
The farmland costs 2 BP.
The road costs 1 BP.
The Inn costs 10 BP
The Park costs 4 BP.

So you'd have 6 BP left over.

Quote :

How much does promotion cost, and what's it's mechanical benefit?

Mechanically, promotion increases your Stability score, but only for the month rather than permanently. You can spend 1 or 2 BP for a +1 or +2 boost, 3 BP for a +4 boost and 4 BP for a +8 boost. Since you are actively promoting Khatovar right now, I'll say you have to spend at least 1 BP. But just 1 BP will do if you don't want to go higher.

Quote :

If it's only one or two points, we could "gamble" 2 points on trade. We'd have a 25% chance of getting only 1 BP back, 25% of breaking even, and 50% of making a small profit. From a RP perspective it would be nice to reward our new Lyrandar allies with some trade.

Makes sense. If you spend 1 BP on promotion, you'll have 5 BP left over, so you can trade up to that much. But starting with a low gamble probably makes sense, esp. since having a little BP in reserve never hurts.

So, presuming that you're going with the farmland, 1 road, Inn, Park and 1 BP on promotion, how much of the remaining 5 BP do you want to risk on trade?

Admin wrote:

So, presuming that you're going with the farmland, 1 road, Inn, Park and 1 BP on promotion, how much of the remaining 5 BP do you want to risk on trade?

No more than 2 or 3. With 2, the risk of loss is at it's lowest (25%), and the relative rate of return is at it's highest. With 3 points, the risk of loss is 33%. As we risk more, the risk of loss approaches 50%.

I am ok with mike taking the reigns on this one.

Rowan wrote:

No more than 2 or 3. With 2, the risk of loss is at it's lowest (25%), and the relative rate of return is at it's highest. With 3 points, the risk of loss is 33%. As we risk more, the risk of loss approaches 50%.

Leonis wrote:

I am ok with mike taking the reigns on this one.

Let's go with 2 then, to be on the safe side. Roll 1d4 to see how much you make.

Mike, you should roll this, so we can see if you can beat the odds even here

Fine, I'll bite the bullet.

no wammies!

The member 'Rowan' has done the following action : Dice roller

'd4' : 3

Rowan wrote:

Fine, I'll bite the bullet.

no wammies!

Hey - no 1! Excellent!

Now, in the interests of saving time, let's have a bunch of rolls:

1 - Three Economy checks to sell items and to generate revenue.

2 - A Loyalty check to see what the public response is to the appearance of Leonis' potential kid.

3 - A d4 roll to see how much of Olegton is affected when the fire happens and as many Stability checks as you roll on the d4.

And that would wrap things up for this month. I'll post a synopsis accordingly and then we can handle the next month, which is the one in which you'll be heading to Varnhold to investigate.

I'm probably tempting fate by rolling, but:

no wammies!

The member 'Rowan' has done the following action : Dice roller

#1 'd20' : 14, 3, 5

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#2 'd20' : 17

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#3 'd4' : 1

Well that's about what I should have expected.

The member 'Rowan' has done the following action : Dice roller

'd20' : 8