Kingmakers
Contents
Premise
This is a game about dynastic power, politics, and bloodlines. The players would be retainers of a young noble of distantly royal blood, charged with protecting him and maneuvering him through the treacherous political waters of the land. It's about the real power behind the throne. Intrigue, assassination, scheming, broken promises, rulership. Think Richelieu or Colbert.
The noble character, while central to the game, will be for the most part an NPC open to most or all the advice of the group. In extending his influence the group would extend their own.
The scheming would mostly be group vs world; I'd prefer it be a cooperative game than a competitive one.
Campaign Intro
Karl Franz, the reigning Emperor, and his son and presumptive successor have been assasinated. Rumors and speculation are buzzing as to the motivations: some suspect treachery, some suspect sorcery, some claim it was Sigmar himself, dissatisfied with the impiety of his people.
Regardless of the motives behind the assassination, the succession crisis promises to be severe. Boris Todbringer, Elector Count of Middenheim, is known to have desires upon the throne himself, but his enemies amongst the remaining Elector Counts are sure to put up a stiff fight. Furthermore, foreign states are sure to take an interest in the proceedings, and the everpresent threat of Chaos looms to the north.
Enter, into this milieu, a young noble and his loyal friends and retainers, whose course remains to be charted and is assured of being dangerous and rocky.
The Noble
The Noble the players are protecting is part of the venerable Reiklander Lowengeist family, specifically the Stadtler-Lowengeists, who spend the bulk of their time in Altdorf. Just as a succession crisis is brewing in the Empire with the death of Karl-Franz, there is a power struggle at hand between the more rural Landner-Lowengeists and the Stadler-Lowengeists. The country side of the family wishes greater influence and a higher profile, which could lead to Electorship. The city side of the family relies on the estates for income and soldiers, and seeks control over them.
The Noble is the youngest out of three sons by Gerhard, the patriarch of the Stadtler-Lowengeists. He is not viewed as a particularly good candidate for successorship - his older brothers, Karl and Wilhelm, have more favor and are more actively involved in family politics.
The Leonberg Summit
In light of the chaos certain to come with the death of Karl Franz, the disparate branches of House Lowengeist have decided to settle their differences. Leonberg, a mountain town in southeast Reikland, is considered the ancestral home of the Lowengeist family, and often plays host to such gatherings. This time is no different, and the Stadler-Lowengeists are making preparations to depart Altdorf.
As the pretense for the meeting is the baptism of baby Brunhilde, daughter of Johann Landner-Lowengeist, the whole family is coming along. This includes The Noble!
Of note: Nearby Castle Leonberg, at the summit of the mountain, lies an orrey often used by Celestial wizards in their studies. The Lowengeists - both branches - have long held good relations with the Blue Mages. Currently, Master Magnus Hochser runs the small school there.
System
We're using Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Armor uses the simplified model.
Everything will run by the book, basically. Your characters will be competent; I will spare no expense in trying to kill them.
Characters
Make characters using the WFRP rules, but if you'd rather not roll for stats, you can divvy up 85 points amongst your stats, added to your race's base. All races allowed, though if you make a halfling be prepared to pay the consequences. Just kidding! All races allowed! If you do the point-buy system, I'd appreciate it if you avoided egregious min-maxing, and you'd probably benefit anyways, as play will move between social, intellectual, and physical arenas pretty often and I'd like to keep everyone engaged regardless of whether their character's specialty is in focus.
You can choose your career as well. Roll for random talents, if any.
Progression through your first few careers will be brisk; after two sessions characters will have between 3500 and 4000 exp; I haven't settled on an exact number yet.
Please have an idea of your character's sphere of influence; if you're making a bad-ass fighter, is he a general? Does he inspire his troops through loyalty or fear? Does your wizard bind daemons to his service, ferret out his enemies' secrets through sorcery, or just blast people he doesn't agree with? Most importantly, what does your character bring to the table of your noble? This is a game about politics. That doesn't mean you can't play certain characters, but if you make a character with no interest in the political game, then your character is out of place and you should change it or make a new one.
Skill Swapping
This came up in the talk page: Yes, if you want skills outside of your chosen career, you can petition me for them. That means I need to approve all deviations from your career. I'll approve stuff like base-level dodge blow for most careers easily. Stuff like Strike Mighty Blow for a scholar is gonna require a good sales job.
Given that you can choose a career, I'm hoping people can create characters with strengths in their preferred styles of play, and that we don't need to change this stuff around too much.
