House Rules
There are a few variances in my rules for running Isla Mogrova, and the way it is detailed in the pathfinder rules for Running a Kingdom
- Heroes for Hire - Described Below
- Consumption and Farmland - A Farmland hex reduces consumption by 2 per hex. If it reduces consumption past 0, then it provides extra BP at the rate of 1 BP per farmland.
- Magic Items Produced - Magic Items are produced each month to fill item vacancies as described, at which point the leadership has to decide what to do with them. They have the following options; 1 Buy the Magic item for 3/4 the market price, which then goes into the Isla Mogrova Palace Treasury. In the treasury it can then be distributed to any of the heroes on the island, whether it's A Team, B Team, or whomever. 2 It can be sold at Half the Market Price and the cash goes into the Palace Treasury, rules for selling magic items remain the same regarding economy checks. 3 Keep the slot filled until it is decided what they wish to do with it.
Heroes for Hire
Shino, Gino Molochai, Meepo Melonson, and Dextro Magrone have been attracted to the Island and hired on by the palace as Royal Contracted Adventurer's. These are "The C Team" if you will. Where Koven, Zardoz, Michael Baie and Valliance were contracted to be a specific party of kingdom sponsored adventurers, these heroes were hired individually.
They can be used to do any number of tasks, they can be sent to deal with problems that beset the kingdom which are too small for the B Team to handle, they can be sent out to explore hexes to minimize the risk of doing so, they can be placed in positions of leadership in the kingdom, or whatever else may arise. If they are employed in a number of meaningful tasks, they will level accordingly, with them gaining levels in classes approriate to their station or tasks. Alternatively, hero points can be spent on them to artificially level them, buy them specialized gear, or otherwise beef them up. As they accomplish difficult tasks they will earn Hero Points for the kingdom's hero point pool which will be described below.
Island Heroes for Hire - Contains the current pool of Heroes available for hire. It will also be updated with Hero Point costs for character advancement in time.
Hero Point Pool
The current Hero Point Pool sits at 6 points. Hero Points are an abstract way to represent the prestige that is associated with being in the Kingdom's service. This prestige attracts heroes, or gains the kingdom's current defenders a deal of power or personal fame. A low level adventurer, or perhaps undesirable one, costs just 1 point to attract to the island, with more desirable employees costing more.
Earning Hero Points
Hero points can be earned in a number of ways
1. Building structures which could potentially attract adventurer's, Arenas, Guildhalls etc. The building list in Running a Kingdom will be updated to reflect this as we go.
2. Reknown-worthy achievements; Slaying a rampaging magical beast, defending an attack, discovering a treasure
3. Spectacular deeds performed by the key players of the island, The A Team or B Team both.
Losing Hero Points
1. If a Hero, which cost Hero Points to attract, is killed in the line of duty, those hero points are subtracted from the overall pool, they can be partially returned if the Hero is returned to service, and he will not be as powerful as before due to level loss.
2. Spectacular failure, the destruction of a town for instance, or failure to avert a disaster
3. Poor treatment of adventurers. (If the ruler constantly confiscates all treasure gained by adventurer's then resentment will grow, forcing loyalty checks which may cause unrest, hero point loss and perhaps even the hero leaving town.)
Current Hero Employment
I am working on the stat blocks for the four heroes which the kingdom has attracted, and when finished it is up to the current leadership of the island to determine how they will be employed. If a character is chosen to fill in a leadership role; putting Shino as Marshal, for example, he is no longer available to undertake other tasks while employed due to the in-depth nature of his post.
If it is desired to leave a character open for future contracts on the island and not assume a leadership position, he will be referred to as a free agent, and he can be drawn upon to deal with any situations that arise or tasks that you may desire to be done.
For Example
Shino is chosen to be marshal, with his +4 Strength he removes the -4 to economy checks due to vacancy and adds +4 to economy checks.
Gino, Meepo and Dextro are told to remain Free Agents
When the month of Olarune rolls around during the Improvement Phase Torion decides he wants to explore Hex:0810 and puts Dextro in charge of the expedition for protection. If he hadn't there was a chance that the hostile terrain could have killed the explorer's and imposed a -2 penalty to stability for a couple months.
Thrash has a problem with the jail, and so he decides to task Gino with infiltrating it undercover, since he is relatively new and has a decent chance at success with his skill scores. Gino succeeds and the kingdom enjoys a +2 loyalty buff for 3 months as the jail comes under control.
This leaves Meepo, who remains a Free Agent in case the city is attacked by rampaging ghoul dinosaurs or something, and he is placed on guard duty in Cliffton on notice to move. He gains +100gp on salary and breaks up a couple of street scuffles in the slums, gaining some respect there.
The use of the Heroes on the island is entirely up to the Ruling Leadership's discretion, be as creative as you want with it, just try to keep them alive.
So in the following replies to this post, just write the four heroes names, and how you want to emply them, whether you have a specific task, a leadership position, or if you want them stationed somewhere on the island as a free agent.
Hero Tasks
When a hero undertakes a task, his successs, or degree of success, will be determined by a roll or series of rolls. This will play out something similar to the Facebook Application D&D Adventures. Some tasks will be determined by one roll, others will take place over a series of rolls with different challenges arising.
Example Task; Explore a Cave (Short-Medium Length)
- Combat Encounter: Attacked by Ghouls guarding cave, resolved with an Attack Roll DC 15; Win = 100xp and Pass, Fail = 50xp, pass but lose 8 hp, fort save DC 14 or get Ghoul Fever
- Strength Check: A large boulder blocks a side passage, Strength Roll DC 18; Win = 100xp, Minor Treasure, Fail = Nothing
- Skill Challenge: Swim Check DC 15 to get across underground river; Win = Pass through, Fail = Pass through but lose 5hp from bashing into rocks.
- Boss Battle: Large Cave Bear, play out an actual battle; Win = 500xp, Minor Treasure and Cave Bear Pelt and Trophy, Loyalty +1 for 2 months, Fail = Escape barely alive, -1 loyalty, 200xp; Do a Stabilization check DC 20, Win = reduced to 1 hp and return home, Fail = Return Home with injury and Ability Loss, Fail by 5 or more = Death
Example Task; Patrol Cliffton (Short Monthly Task)
Skill Challenge: Spot Check
Combat Encounter: If Pass Spot Check, fight a group of small time Thieves. 4 Thieves, Attack Roll DC 12, 10 HP each; Each Thief has an Attack of +6 and deals 1d4 damage on each hit.