Taking A Kingdom Turn
Kingdom Turn Sequence
A kingdom's growth occurs during four phases, which together make up 1 kingdom turn (1 week of game time). Due to the play by email nature of this game, all the decisions that are made for a turn are sent out simultaneously. Those decisions still take effect in the order listed below. For example: If your kingdom decides to construct buildings that add to, or subtract from, unrest, then those modifiers will take effect before your Economy check to generate income, as well as before your Stability check to general kingdom stability.
The four phases are as follows:
Phase 1—Event: Check whether any unusual events occur that require attention. Some are beneficial, such as an economic boom, good weather, or the discovery of remarkable treasure. Others are detrimental, such as foul weather, a plague, or a rampaging monster.
Phase 2—Edict: Declare official proclamations about taxes, diplomacy, and other kingdom-wide decisions as well as constructing buildings, settlements, terrain improvements and units.
Phase 3—Income: Gain BP income from taxes.
Phase 4—Upkeep: Check your kingdom's stability, pay costs, and deal with Unrest.
These phases are always undertaken in the above order.
Event Phase
In the Event phase, a random event may affect your kingdom as a whole or a single settlement or hex. Some events can be negated, ended, or compensated for with some kind of kingdom check. Others, such as a rampaging monster, may require more direct measures in order to put them down. At the beginning of every turn, you will be informed of any event that took place during the interim between turns, as well as any actions that may need to be taken in order to deal with the event.
Ongoing events: In some cases, events will last for more than a single turn (such as rampaging monsters, evil (or good) cultists, the celebration of a famous individual emerging in your kingdom or any number of other such happenings.) In such cases, you will be informed of what the particular effects of the event are, as well as the method of ending the event or when the event will be most likely to end on its own.
Edict Phase
The Edict phase is when you make proclamations on expansion, improvements, taxation, holidays, and so on.
Step 1-Assign Leadership Bonus: Assign a +3 bonus to a primary kingdom attribute of your choice. This represents your personal leadership, guiding the outcome of your people. As your kingdom grows, this bonus applies to an additional attribute. At kingdom size 25 it applies to 2 kingdom attributes of your choice. At kingdom size 50, all three primary attributes gain a +3 bonus. For every additional 25 points beyond 50, the bonus to each attribute increases by 1 (+4 at 75, +5 at 100, etc.).
Step 2—Claim and Abandon Hexes: For your kingdom to grow, you must claim additional hexes. You can only claim a hex that is adjacent to at least 1 other hex in your kingdom. First, to claim the hex, spend 1 BP; this establishes the hex as part of your kingdom and increases your kingdom's Size by 1. After you claim a hex, any un-revealed secrets of the hex become revealed (such as hidden resources, unexpected hazards, or unknown monster lairs). Potentially, your kingdom may have to deal with the revealed issues before being able to take full advantage of the hex. The Improvement Edicts table tells you the maximum number of hexes you can claim per turn.
You may abandon any number of hexes to reduce your kingdom's Size (which you may wish to do to manage Consumption, as well as Control DC). Doing so increases Unrest by 1 for each hex abandoned (or by 4 if the hex contained a settlement). This otherwise functions like losing a hex due to unrest (see Step 4 of the Upkeep phase).
Step 3—Build Terrain Improvements: You may spend BP to build terrain improvements like Farms, Forts, Roads, Mines, and Quarries (see Terrain Improvements).
You may also prepare a hex for constructing a settlement. Depending on the site, this may involve clearing trees, moving boulders, digging sanitation trenches, and so on. See the Preparation Cost column on the Terrain and Terrain Improvements table to determine how many BP this requires.
The Improvement Edicts table tells you the maximum number of terrain improvements you can make per turn.
Step 4—Create and Improve Settlements: You may create a settlement in a claimed hex (see Founding a Settlement). The Improvement Edicts table tells you the maximum number of settlements you can establish per turn.
You may construct a building in any settlement in your kingdom. When a building is completed, its modifiers will be applied to your kingdom sheet. The Improvement Edicts table tells you the maximum number of buildings you can construct in your kingdom per turn. The first House you build each turn does not count against this limit. In addition, your kingdom may build any number of Tenements each turn, albeit this is not necessarily the most effective of plans.
Step 6—Create Army Units: You may create, expand, equip, or repair army units (see Army Rules for details).
Step 7—Issue Edicts: Select or adjust your edict levels, as well as issuing special edicts (see Edicts, below).
Income Phase
Step 1 (A.K.A. The-Only-One)-Gain Build Points from Taxes: Make an Economy check. If the check is successful then divide the result by three (round down) and add that amount of BP to your treasury.
Upkeep Phase
During the Upkeep phase, you adjust your kingdom's scores based on what's happened in the past turn, how happy the people are, how much they've consumed and are taxed, and so on.
Step 1—Modify Unrest: Unrest increases by 1 for each kingdom attribute (Economy, Loyalty, or Stability) that is a negative number. If the kingdom's Unrest is 11 or higher, it loses 1 hex (you choose which hex at the beginning of your next turn). If your kingdom's Unrest ever reaches 20, the kingdom falls into anarchy. While in anarchy, your kingdom can take no action and treats all Economy, Loyalty, and Stability check results as 0. After a turn of anarchy your kingdom loses half its hexes (round down) and resets its unrest to 0 as your kingdoms ruler goes out and does something totally epic to regain the trust of the people.
Step 2—Determine Kingdom Stability: Attempt a Stability check. If you succeed, Unrest decreases by 1 (if this would reduce Unrest below 0, add 1 BP to your Treasury instead, as per the rules). If you fail by 4 or less, Unrest increases by 1; if you fail by 5 or more, Unrest increases by 1d6. You may also attempt a Loyalty check to Change Minds by Breaking Heads or Rouse the People during this step. See the primary attribute rules for more details.
Step 3—Pay Consumption: Subtract your kingdom's Consumption from the kingdom's Treasury. If your Treasury is negative after paying Consumption, Unrest increases by 2.
Losing Hexes
If you lose control of a hex—whether because of Unrest, monster attacks, assaults from a hostile kingdom, you decide to get rid of it because it makes your kingdom look lopsided, and so on—you lose all the benefits of any terrain improvements in that hex (such as Farms and Roads). All settlements in that hex become free cities with no loyalty to you or any other kingdom. Potentially, monsters may move into the abandoned hex, requiring you to clear it again if you want to claim it later, and terrain improvements may decay over time.
Losing a hex may break your connection to other kingdom hexes. For example, losing the only hex that bridges two sides of a mountain range creates two separate territories. If this happens, the primary territory is the part of the kingdom with your capital city, and the rest of the kingdom is the secondary territory. You retain control of the secondary territory, but kingdom checks regarding its hexes treat Unrest as 1 higher, increasing by 1 each turn after the split. If this modifier ever reaches 10 then you lose all the secondary hexes. This modifier goes away if you claim a hex that reconnects the secondary territory to the primary territory.
If your kingdom is reduced to 0 hexes—whether through Unrest, a natural disaster, an attack by another kingdom, or other circumstances—you are at risk of losing the kingdom. On your next turn, you must claim a new hex and found or claim a new settlement, or your kingdom is destroyed and you must start over if you want to found a new kingdom.
General Edicts
General Edicts are the official pronouncements by your government about how you are running the kingdom that turn. For example, you may decide to have low or high taxes, to have more or fewer holidays, and how much effort to put into improving the kingdom's infrastructure. Edicts fall into two types: Maintenance and Improvement.
Holiday, Promotion, and Taxation Edicts are all used to maintain the general order and day to day life of your citizens. Improvement Edicts, on the other hand, are the method by which your orders are carried out throughout your kingdom.
Maintenance Edicts
Each kingdom turn, you may set the Holiday, Promotion, and Taxation edict categories to whatever level you want and, dutifully, your people will carry out their day to day lives by the decrees that you have set forth. For example, you may decide that this turn holidays are quarterly, promotions are aggressive, taxation is minimal. Each turn, the decisions you make will modify your kingdoms primary abilities as explained below.
Holiday Edicts
Holidays are a measure of how much of a given individuals time is expected to be spent in the betterment of the kingdom as a whole. Depending on how much or little your people work in a given turn, their loyalty may be effected positively or negatively. The BP expenditure is in direct relation to lost revenue from citizens not working during certain portions of the day. This is not, however, a measure of the number of festivals that a given population has. It is still entirely possible for a kingdom with a very long work week to have a festival every now and again.
| Work Week | Loyalty Modifier | Consumption |
|---|---|---|
| Very Long | -1 | 0 |
| Long | +1 | 1 |
| Average | +2 | 2 |
| Short | +3 | 4 |
| Very Short | +4 | 8 |
Promotion Edicts
Promotion edicts are events and actions the kingdom uses to attract new citizens and increase the well-being of the kingdom, such as recruitment campaigns, advertisements about services and goods, and propaganda to improve the perception of your kingdom at home and abroad. Promotions increase Consumption, but also increase Stability.
| Promotion Level | Stability | Consumption |
|---|---|---|
| None | -1 | 0 |
| Token | +1 | 1 |
| Standard | +2 | 2 |
| Aggressive | +3 | 4 |
| Expansionist | +4 | 8 |
Taxation Edicts
Setting the tax level determines how much revenue you collect from taxes in the Income phase. Higher taxes increase your kingdom's Economy (making it easier for you to succeed at Economy checks to generate revenue) but make your citizens unhappy (reducing Loyalty).
| Taxation Level | Economy | Loyalty |
|---|---|---|
| Minimalist | 0 | +1 |
| Light | +1 | -1 |
| Normal | +2 | -2 |
| Heavy | +3 | -4 |
| Overwhelming | +4 | -8 |
Improvement Edicts
Improvements are physical improvements you can make to your kingdom: founding new settlements, adding buildings to a settlement, building roads, creating facilities such as mines to tap natural resources, and claiming more hexes for your kingdom. This also includes creating army units, as raising armies taxes the same sets of manpower as construction does. Your kingdom's Size limits how many improvements you can make each turn; see the Improvement Edicts table below. You can make all of the improvements listed on the appropriate row of the table. For example, if your kingdom's Size is 5, on each turn you can create 1 new settlement, 1 new building, 2 terrain improvements, and claim 1 more hex.
| Kingdom Size | New Settlements or Armies | New Buildings | Terrain Improvements | Hex Claims |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 to 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 11 to 25 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 26 to 50 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 51 to 100 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 4 |
| 101+ | 16 | 20 | 9 | 8 |
Recruiting Armies
Instead of creating a new settlement, your kingdom has the option of creating a new army unit of size medium or smaller. This counts as constructing a single settlement, for purposes of number of construction Edicts used. Alternatively, a kingdom may choose to recruit an army of a larger size by using up multiple construction Edicts, as outlined below.
| Number of Settlement Edicts Used | Size of Army Created |
|---|---|
| 1 | Medium or smaller |
| 2 | Large |
| 4 | Huge |
| 8 | Gargantuan |
| 16 | Colossal |
Special Edicts
In addition to the Maintenance and Improvement edicts that a kingdom takes, each kingdom is entitled to one special edict each turn. Special edicts are proclamations that directly affect the area surrounding your kingdom, or, in some cases, kingdoms other than your own.
Exploration Edict
Exploration edicts are special edicts that allow you to commission explorers to map unclaimed hexes and prepare them for your kingdom.
When commissioning an expedition, you must determine the length of time and plan the route in advance. Financing explorers costs 4 BP per week (game turn) of the expedition, paid in advance. The explorers start at one of your settlements (your choice), and spend the agreed-on time traveling to, exploring, and mapping unclaimed hexes. At the end of the contracted period, they return to your settlement. Each expedition requires a separate exploration edict, but already active edicts from previous turns do not count against the number of special edicts that your kingdom can make each turn.
Each expedition has a movement of 8 and moves using the army rules for kingdoms. An expedition must be given instructions as to what area it is being sent to explore. These instructions can be as generalized as going in a certain direction until it encounters water or mountains, or they may be as specific as naming a specific hex that should be sought out and explored. Expeditions note obvious terrain features and resources in each hex they pass through. Additionally, a Stability check is made for each unclaimed hex that the expedition passes through. If successful, any random monsters or hidden resources are discovered by the expedition. If the Stability check is failed then something may have been overlooked.
If the expedition encounters monsters while exploring, your kingdom makes 2 Loyalty checks. Success on both of these checks means that the expedition was able to evade the monsters and continues exploring as normal. Success on only 1 of these checks means that the expedition was delayed and will take a turn regrouping before returning to give its report. Failure on both of these checks means the expedition was destroyed and all invested build points are lost.
Alternatively, an army may be sent to accompany the explorers in order to protect them and allow them to perform their given task unmolested. In such a case, any monsters that are encountered or discovered by the expedition are confronted by the accompanying army as per the Army rules. If the army repels the monsters then the expedition proceeds normally. If the army is routed or destroyed then the expedition makes loyalty checks as normal. All normal costs for an active army are still payed separately from the cost of hiring explorers.
After the allotted amount of turns has passed, provided the expedition was a success, the kingdom receives the updated information concerning the mapped out areas. Any terrain that was discovered is fully revealed, as are any newly found resources, landmarks, etc.
In place of an army for protection, the exploration edict may be combined with the Hired Adventurers edict (see below). This counts as one edict for purposes of number of special edicts per turn.
Hired Adventurers
It is the nature of kingdoms to be beset by all manner of unpleasant monsters and hazards. While many such difficulties can be handled by the kingdoms armies, this is usually a costly endeavor. For this reason many kingdoms hire adventurers to deal with the unruly indigenous creatures of the world.
The first step in hiring adventurers is determining how powerful you want the hired adventurers to be. The adventurers have an effective ACR equal to half the build points spent to hire them. In addition, all hired adventurers have an assortment of special abilities randomly generated for them. Adventurers engage monsters as though they were a normal size army. Adventurers never engage enemy armies and flee if confronted. The specialization that allows them to fend off hoards of skeletons or best a dragon leaves them ill equipped to deal with a regimented force.
The real advantage of a group of adventurers, tragically, lies in the fact that they are expendable. As opposed to the negative effects that an army being defeated has on a society, a group of adventurers being destroyed by the dangers of the cruel and unforgiving world has very little effect on a people as a whole. Thus, there is no penalty for a group of adventurers that fail to complete a given task, regardless of how much was spent on hiring them.
Adventurers, when hired, are hired for a specific task and follow through on this task to its completion. All adventurers are payed up front for their services and pursue their given task with single minded abandon. It is unheard of for an adventuring group to give up on a task, only accepting failure when death has claimed the entire group. This is due, in no small part, to the Adventurers Guild, which has secured the payment up front policy since time immemorial by killing any individual that dared claim to be an adventurer and then did not follow through with the commissioned task. In the rare cases wherein an individual has been commissioned and fled, the guild has restored the public faith in its members by sending out the greatest adventurers to deal with the situation.
When hired as part of an exploration edict, adventurers are hired for the full duration that the expedition will be exploring for. The initial cost of hiring adventurers (effective ACR x 2 Build points) is payed in full at the same time that the full cost of the expedition is payed. The cost of the adventurers is not multiplied by the number of weeks that will be spent exploring, as had previously been established.
Trade Route
Sometimes kingdoms from lands far distant from one another still wish to do business and allow their peoples to trade. When a kingdoms ruler is so inclined, an expedition will be sent forth to establish a trade route.
When attempting to establish a trade route you select a hex that is directly adjacent to a hex controlled by another kingdom. The hex that you are sending the trade route to must have a clear path of revealed hexes running from your kingdom to it that is uninterrupted by monsters or other kingdoms borders. These hexes need not have been fully explored by an exploration edict, they only need to be visible in order for the expedition to go through (such as with a high vigilance or if the hexes were part of your kingdom that you then abandoned). 2 BP are then paid each turn that the trade route is active, regardless of whether the trade route has been established yet or not (a trade route edict only counts as your special edict the turn you send it out and the cost may not be reduced until the trade route is established, see below). Starting from your settlement that is closest to its destination, the trade route measures its progress towards its destination as if it were an army with a movement of 8. Once the trade route reaches its destination, the other kingdom is given the option to accept the foreign traders or reject them. If the other kingdom rejects your trade route then all build points that have been invested so far are lost and the trade route is a failure.
If the trade route is accepted by the other kingdom then trade commences between the two kingdoms as though they had an adjacent border. In addition, the kingdom that established the trade route continues to pay 2 BP per turn (this cost is added into the kingdoms consumption and may be reduced through terrain advancements as normal) so long as the trade route is maintained but gains 4 extra BP in any turn in which either kingdom that is part of the trade route gains BP from trading with the other kingdom. Kingdoms may not smuggle using a trade route.
So long as the initial trade route is accepted, the trade route may be maintained indefinitely provided the kingdom that sent out the expedition in the first place is willing to pay the upkeep every turn. This payment is made each turn even if the other kingdom closes its doors to trade from the initiating kingdom. The primary kingdom may at any point choose to stop paying for the trade route and close the route, ending its benefits for both kingdoms. There is no penalty or check involved when closing a trade route.
Blockading a Trade Route
A trade route is a visible path on the map and may be blockaded by a kingdoms army or wandering monsters. A trade route is blockaded when an army or monster is placed in any one of the hexes that contains the path of the trade route with the express purpose of stopping trade (an army may, at the behest of its ruler, simply allow the trade route to pass, while monsters will almost certainly be less inclined to do so.) During any turn that a trade route is blockaded, neither kingdom gains any benefit from the trade route.
Unless a kingdoms vigilance is high enough to uncover the offending forces, a kingdom is not automatically aware of the exact location of an army that is blockading their trade route. The effective vigilance score of any space along the trade route is increased by 2 each turn for purposes of locating the opposing army (or monsters).
Raiding a Trade Route
Nefarious forces may also be inclined to raid a trade route in an attempt to plunder the valuables that are constantly being transported via the established route. All that is required for a trade route to be raided is for an army that is so inclined to move into any of the hexes that the trade route occupies. An unguarded trade route is easy picking for any army or monster that is so inclined to attack it. On the turn that a trade route is raided, each of the kingdoms makes a roll for trade as normal. The total BP that would be gained by both players is then added together and added to the 4 automatic BP that the initiating kingdom would have gotten. The raiding armies kingdom is then awarded this number of BP as their ill gotten gains. Neither kingdom that is a part of the trade route gains any BP from it this turn (unless one of those kingdoms army happened to be the raiding party).
In any turn that a trade route is raided, the army that raided it is made visible to any kingdoms that are part of the trade route. The army is made visible before it successfully initiates the raid so there is a possibility that they may be thwarted in the attempt if one of the kingdoms has an army on the lookout (see below).
Protecting a Trade Route
Being as substantial an investment as it is, it is in the best interest of a kingdom to protect any trade routes it has established. For this reason a kingdom may build a watchtower in any unclaimed hex that has a trade route passing through it. This works as a watchtower under the control of the kingdom that established the trade route for purposes of garrisoning an army and for determining vigilance, but not for any other benefits. If the garrisoned unit is given orders to patrol the trade route then they may attack any army that is detected on the trade route so long as it is no distance greater than their full movement away from the watchtower (calculating movement costs as normal). An army that is specifically watching a trade route ignores any opposing forces not specifically attacking or blockading the trade route.
Sharing a Trade Route
The costs of maintaining a trade route are comparatively small when considering the monetary compensations if the trade route is successful. While normally both the risks and rewards are shouldered by only one of the kingdoms involved, the situation may arise wherein a kingdom wishes to take on a portion of these risks and rewards for themselves.
Sharing a trade route is exactly the same process as establishing a trade route. A caravan is sent out to a kingdom that already has a trade route with your kingdom and BP are spent as normal. As soon as the trade route reaches its destination, the kingdom receiving the trade route has the option to either allow the shared trade route to be established or to turn them away and maintain their monopoly. If the trade route is turned away then the effort was wasted and all spent BP are lost. (It is generally a poor decision to turn away an attempt at a shared trade route as the kingdom that has sent out the caravan has invested at least some small amount of effort into establishing a mutually beneficial trade route and has the power to stop trading with your kingdom should they wish to. It is ultimately up to you if you wish to bite the hand that feeds you as it reaches for the food dish.)
If the trade route is accepted and allowed to coexist then the cost and benefits are split evenly between the two kingdoms. Thus the cost in consumption would be reduced to one for each kingdom and the BP gained by each kingdom if trade is successful is reduced to two.
Sending Aid
Even the most impressive kingdom can fall on hard times every now and again and the helping hands of another kingdom are an invaluable asset in these times of need. When another kingdom calls for aid, it is not the inherent virtues or abilities of the people that come to the aid of their neighboring kingdoms people but, rather, the depth of the kingdoms pocket book. This in turn translates into a tangible benefit to one of the other kingdoms primary stats, be it Economy, Loyalty or Stability.
Sending Aid to another kingdom costs a number of build points equal to your kingdoms size divided by 5, then rounded up. This represents the people of your kingdom gathering wealth and resources to send to aid the other kingdom. After this cost is paid, you select a primary attribute that you would like to send the aid for. A single edict may aid only one attribute per turn but multiple edicts, be they from different or same kingdom (if that kingdom has a palace) may aid the same attribute or a different attribute. your kingdoms Kingdom Wealth is rolled against the size of the other kingdom. A +1 bonus is added to this roll by every five points that your kingdom exceeds the size of the other kingdom and takes a -1 penalty for every five points by which the aided kingdom exceeds your kingdoms size.
If the check is successful, the amount that the difficulty was succeeded by is then divided by 2, rounded up, and added as a bonus to the attribute that was selected with a minimum of a plus 1 bonus for a check that exceeds exactly. If the check fails then the effort was wasted as poor planning or petty squabbling saw the money that was sent vanish before any real good could be done.
Aid can only be sent to a kingdom that is either adjacent to your kingdoms borders, or has an established trade route with your kingdom. It is difficult to send even liquid assets a great distance and some form of logistics is still required in order to facilitate assisting other kingdoms.
Example: The kingdom of Examplia is suffering some hardship and calls on their neighbor NotSoEvilButKindOf to lend them aid, specifically in stability. NotSoEvilButKindOf has a total kingdom size of 22 and so spends 5 BP. on sending aid to Examplia. NotSoEvilButKindOf has a substantial number of inns and shops spread throughout their kingdom and, as such, has an impressive kingdom wealth of 18. NotSoEvilButKindOf rolls a 16 for their check and adds it to their kingdom wealth for a total of 34. The check takes a -1 penalty however, as Examplia has a kingdom size of 30. The result of 33 still exceeds the DC by 3 so Examplia gains a bonus of +2 to their stability for their next turn.