Welcome to the world of kingdom management, where your leadership shapes the future of your realm. As rulers and strategists, you’ll oversee the growth, prosperity, and security of your kingdom, making decisions that impact every aspect of life within your borders.

Balancing resources is key to a thriving kingdom. You’ll manage finances, allocate funds to essential projects, and ensure that your people have what they need to prosper. Whether building infrastructure, supporting agriculture, or investing in defense, each choice you make will influence your kingdom’s stability and growth.

Diplomacy and alliances are crucial for maintaining your kingdom’s standing in the wider world. Forge treaties, negotiate trade agreements, and build relationships with neighboring realms to enhance your influence and protect your interests. Strong alliances can provide support in times of conflict and open doors to new opportunities.

Maintaining a loyal and capable military ensures your kingdom’s safety against external threats and internal unrest. Recruit and train your forces, develop strategic defenses, and lead your army to protect your people and expand your territory when necessary.

Your decisions will also affect the well-being of your citizens. Promote education, healthcare, and cultural initiatives to create a happy and prosperous society. Addressing the needs of your people builds trust and loyalty, laying the foundation for a lasting legacy.

Embark on the journey of kingdom management and lead your realm to greatness. Explore the detailed mechanics below to master the art of ruling and create a kingdom that stands the test of time.

Kingdom Ability Scores

A kingdom has four ability scores: Culture, Economy, Loyalty, and Stability. These function like the ability scores of a character, providing modifiers on die rolls and checks. As the kingdom prospers and grows, these scores can increase. And if the nation falls on hard times or goes through corruption, scandal, defeat, or disaster, Ruin will accrue that degrades these abilities.

Culture

Culture measures the interest and dedication of your nation and its people to the arts and sciences, to religion and reason, and to the subjects that your society chooses to learn about and to teach. Are your people well-versed in rhetoric and philosophy? Do they value learning and research, music and dance? Do they embrace society in all its diverse splendor? If they do, your kingdom likely has a robust Culture score.

Economy

Economy measures the practical day-to-day workings of your society as it comes together to do the work of making and building, buying and selling. How industrious are your citizenry? Are they devoted to building more, higher, and better, trading in goods, services, and ideas? If so, your kingdom likely has a robust Economy score.

Loyalty

Loyalty measures the collective will, spirit, and sense of camaraderie the citizens of your nation possess. How much do they trust and depend on one another? How do they respond when you sound the call to arms or enact new laws? How do they react when other nations send spies or provocateurs into your lands to make trouble? If they support the kingdom’s leadership, the kingdom itself has a robust Loyalty score.

Stability

Stability measures the physical health and wellbeing of your nation. This includes its infrastructure and buildings, the welfare of its people, and how well things are protected and maintained under your rule. How carefully do you maintain your stores and reserves, repair things that are broken, and provide for the necessities of life? How quickly can you mobilize to shield your citizens from harm? A kingdom that can handle both prosperity and disaster efficiently and effectively has a robust Stability score.

Kingdom Ability Score Overview

Each Kingdom ability score starts at 10, representing the average, but as kingdom creation choices are made, these scores will change. Apply ability boosts (which increase a score by 2) or ability flaws (which decrease a score by 2). Kingdom ability scores give the same ability modifiers as character ability scores.

Leveling Up The Kingdom

Kingdoms increase in level by gaining kingdom experience points (XP). At each new level, a kingdom improves attributes and focus areas beyond those provided by its basic background and the specific choices made at the time of its founding.

At the end of a Kingdom turn, if the kingdom has at least 1,000 XP and has not yet reached its maximum level (20), increase the kingdom’s level by 1 and deduct 1,000 from its current XP total. (The kingdom’s level can’t increase by more than 1 on a single Kingdom turn.) Note the kingdom’s new level on the kingdom sheet. If the kingdom has any leftover XP, they are retained and count toward gaining the next level.

When a kingdom gains a level, each army it has gains a level as well.

As the kingdom advances, it gains the abilities described below. Abilities gained at levels higher than first list the level at which they are gained next to their name.

Level	DC	Kingdom Features
1	14	Charter, government, heartland, initial proficiencies, favored land, settlement construction (village)
2	15	Kingdom feat
3	16	Settlement construction (town), skill increase
4	18	Expansion expert, fine living, Kingdom feat
5	20	Ability boosts, ruin resistance, skill increase
6	22	Kingdom feat
7	23	Skill increase
8	24	Experienced leadership +2, Kingdom feat, ruin resistance
9	26	Expansion expert (Claim Hex 3 times/turn), settlement construction (city), skill increase
10	27	Ability boosts, Kingdom feat, life of luxury
11	28	Ruin resistance, skill increase
12	30	Civic planning, Kingdom feat
13	31	Skill increase
14	32	Kingdom feat, ruin resistance
15	34	Ability boosts, settlement construction (metropolis), skill increase
16	35	Experienced leadership +3, Kingdom feat
17	36	Ruin resistance, skill increase
18	38	Kingdom feat
19	39	Skill increase
20	40	Ability boosts, envy of the world, Kingdom feat, ruin resistance

Control DC

The more powerful a kingdom grows, the more difficult it becomes to control it. The base Control DC for your kingdom is set by the kingdom’s level—fortunately, as you increase in level, your ability to successfully utilize your skills grows as well.

Leadership Roles

All kingdoms have leaders who fill roles tending to the economy, defense, and health of its citizens. Each role grants the kingdom different benefits, provided a character—be it a PC or an NPC—takes up the mantle of serving in that role. A character can only fill one leadership role at a time, but it’s important to have all eight roles filled, for when a kingdom goes without a leader, problems arise

Each character in a leadership role (whether PC or NPC) must spend a week of downtime activity (40 hours) each month attending to their duties. NPCs assigned to leadership roles are presumed to meet the downtime requirement automatically. If a character does not spend this downtime, at the start of the month, they either incur their role’s vacancy penalty (see below) or lose one of their leadership activities for that turn.

Statistics for leadership roles are presented in the following format.

Perks of Leadership

Leaders

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Kingdom Rules

Size	Kingdom Type	Resource Die	Control DC Mod	Commodity Storage
1 – 9	Territory	1d4	+0	4
10 – 24	Province	1d6	+1	8
25 – 49	State	1d8	+2	12
50 – 99	Country	1d10	+3	16
100+	Dominion	1d12	+4	20

A kingdom’s Size reflects the complexity of its governance, its influence on other nations, and its access to resources. A kingdom’s Size also determines its Resource Die and other statistics. The actual total population of a kingdom is a function of its Size as well, but population numbers do not have a direct effect on these rules.

• Size: The total number of hexes in the kingdom. When a kingdom’s Size reaches 10, 25, 50, and 100, it gains kingdom XP as a milestone award.
• Type of Nation: Level of prominence of a kingdom.
• Resource Die: The type of Resource Die a kingdom rolls.
• Control DC Modifier: As a kingdom increases in Size, it grows more difficult to control. This modifier increases a kingdom’s base Control DC.
• Commodity Storage: This number indicates the maximum units of a specific Commodity that can be stored in a kingdom. Building specialized structures can increase this number on a per-Commodity basis.

Resource Die

A kingdom’s economy is based on the sum of the productive activity of its citizens, and that activity is reflected in a quantity of resources that the kingdom can tap into each month. These resources are represented by Resource Points (see below) which are determined by Resource Dice, with the number of dice being equal to the nation’s level + 4. When a kingdom is first founded, each Resource Die is a d4, but as the kingdom advances in Size, its Resource Die increases to d6, d8, d10, or d12 (see the Kingdom Size table).

Resource Points

A kingdom’s Resource Points (RP) represent a combination of the work of a kingdom’s citizens and the time spent on jobs, talent, labor, tools, and funds to handle this toil. Resource points do not directly represent amounts of coins in a treasury, but rather an abstraction of the nation’s total amount of available funds to handle tasks. Since luck and demand play a part in a kingdom’s resources, the exact total of RP a kingdom will have each turn varies; a new total of RP is rolled at the start of each Kingdom turn using Resource Dice. Any RP not spent by the end of that turn convert to kingdom XP at a rate of 1 RP to 1 XP.

Whenever the kingdom is forced to spend RP that would drop it below 0, spend all the RP the kingdom has and then increase a Ruin of the PCs’ choice by 1.

Ruin

As bad luck, natural disasters, unexpected shortages, or even warfare damage a kingdom, it becomes Ruined in one of four categories opposing the kingdom’s four ability scores. Ruin rises and falls as Kingdom turns progress, but if it rises too high, it can cause lasting or even permanent harm to the kingdom.

• Culture is opposed by Corruption, which represents citizens falling to debauchery, delving into forbidden lore, pursuing unethical research practices, or destroying their own heritage and history.
• Economy is opposed by Crime, which includes theft, smuggling, and enterprises that suffocate prosperity.
• Stability is opposed by Decay, representing physical harm, neglect, or degradation of the kingdom, its people, and its infrastructure.
• Loyalty is opposed by Strife, which includes acts of treachery, subterfuge, bribery, violence, abuse of power, and infighting between groups.

Accruing Ruin: As Ruin accumulates, the categories gain points. These point totals are persistent, decreasing only in specific circumstances, but most often when a Ruin’s point total exceeds that Ruin’s threshold. Other events can reduce or increase a Ruin’s point total as well—typically as the result of kingdom activities or events.

Ruin Threshold: Each Ruin has a threshold; a point at which the penalties associated with that

Ruin increase. A Ruin’s initial threshold is 10, but each threshold increases as the kingdom levels up and becomes more able to withstand Ruin in all its forms. Whenever a Ruin exceeds its threshold, reduce that Ruin’s total points by an amount equal to its threshold, and increase the Ruin’s penalty by 1.

Ruin Penalty: A Ruin penalty applies to all checks using that Ruin’s associated ability score. For example, if your kingdom has a Corruption penalty of –4, it takes a –4 item penalty on all Culture checks.

Reducing Ruin Penalties: When a kingdom reaches 5th level, and then again every 3 levels thereafter, it gains Ruin resistance; each time it does so, it has the opportunity to reduce an existing Ruin penalty to 0. This is an extremely effective way to manage a Ruin penalty that’s crept particularly high, but it’s also an extremely limited resource, as a kingdom will only get, at most, 6 opportunities to adjust a Ruin penalty in this way over the course of a campaign. The Repair Reputation activity can reduce existing Ruin penalties (see above), although at a much slower rate. Other activities or events can reduce Ruin penalties as well, as detailed in the text for each. Finally, if circumstances ever allow for a Ruin’s points to be reduced and that particular Ruin is already at 0 points, instead of reducing Ruin to a negative value you can instead attempt a DC 16 flat check; on a success, reduce that Ruin’s penalty by 1 to a minimum of 0.

Unrest

Unrest represents unhappiness among the kingdom’s citizens, who show their lack of confidence in the leadership by balking at decrees, refusing to follow commands, and disrupting local economies through boycotts, walkouts, and refusal to talk to emissaries. Unrest is a persistent value that remains from turn to turn and can be adjusted during Kingdom turns as events play out.

• Unrest 1: If a kingdom has at least 1 point of Unrest, take a –1 status penalty to all kingdom checks.
• Unrest 5: If a kingdom has 5 or more points of Unrest, take a –2 status penalty to all kingdom checks.
• Unrest 10: If a kingdom has 10 or more points of Unrest, take a –3 status penalty to all kingdom checks.
• Unrest 15: If a kingdom has 15 or more points of Unrest, take a –4 status penalty to all kingdom checks
• Unrest 20+: If your kingdom’s Unrest is 20 or higher, the entire nation also falls into anarchy. While in anarchy, you can only attempt Quell Unrest activities, and the results of all kingdom checks are worsened one degree

Expanding a Kingdom

A kingdom grows one square at a time on the Wraith Coast map, via Region activities like Claim Square and Clear Square. The PCs can pursue these activities during the Activity phase of each Kingdom turn.

Losing Squares

It’s possible to lose control of a hex. When this happens, the kingdom immediately loses any benefits from terrain improvements in that hex, and all settlements in that hex become Freeholds. Monsters may move into an abandoned hex, increasing the chance for random encounters, and if you wish to reclaim the hex, you may need to clear it first of hostile creatures. Each hex lost decreases a kingdom’s Size by 1. This affects the kingdom’s statistics, such as the type of its Resource Die.

If one or more hexes are lost in such a way that it breaks the connection between parts of a kingdom, so that all of the hexes are no longer contiguous with other hexes of the kingdom, whatever portion of the territory contains the capital becomes the primary territory and the rest of the kingdom becomes its secondary territory. All Kingdom skill checks made to resolve issues associated with secondary territories take a –4 circumstance penalty. When a kingdom starts a turn with any number of secondary territories, increase Unrest by 1. Once a secondary territory is connected to the primary territory via at least one hex, it becomes part of the primary territory.

If a kingdom is reduced to 0 hexes, whether through Unrest, a disaster, war with another kingdom, or any other effect, the kingdom is at risk of having its rule end. On their next Kingdom turn, they must claim at least one new hex and establish or claim at least one settlement, or their kingdom is considered totally destroyed, and they must start over.

Diplomatic Relations

Diplomatic relations refers to acts of leadership that engage with other nations. In order to begin diplomatic relations with another group, PCs must first successfully Send a Diplomatic Envoy to the target group. When they establish diplomatic relations with a group, record the name of that group on the kingdom sheet. Once the PCs have established diplomatic relations with a group, they can use the Establish Trade Agreement and Request Foreign Aid Leadership activities.

Trade Agreements

The PCs can bolster their kingdom’s economy by Establishing Trade Agreements with other groups with whom they have diplomatic relations. To do so, they must first successfully perform the Establish Trade Agreement activity. There is no need to record the actual physical route of the Trade Agreement on the map, nor does distance play a significant factor.

Commodities

As a kingdom grows, it stockpiles resources beyond those required for day-to-day life. These resources are known as Commodities and are used to build structures in settlements, to trade for RP using the Trade Commodities activity, or to expend during kingdom events.

The types of Commodities that are available include Food, Lumber, Luxuries, Ore, and Stone. As kingdoms accumulate or expend these Commodities, track the numbers on the kingdom sheet. Unless specialized storage improvements have been built in its settlements, a kingdom is limited to a maximum number of stored Commodities in each category as determined by its Size. Commodities gathered in excess of this storage limit are lost.

Each type of Commodity can be gathered by special activities as detailed below, but Commodities can also be discovered via kingdom events or while exploring the Stolen Lands, earned as rewards for quests, purchased from allies via Purchase Commodities, or acquired via Establishing Trade Agreements.

• Food stockpiles are expended to pay for Consumption during the Upkeep phase of a Kingdom turn, but also when faced with famines or other disasters, and to keep armies fed during times of war (as described in those events). Food is gathered with Harvest Crops, Go Fishing, or Gather Livestock.
• Lumber is used to build structures during the Civic Activities step of the Activity phase of a Kingdom turn, and it is gathered from lumber camps built by Establish Work Site.
• Luxuries are used to build specialized structures or are expended during certain encounters, generally those with high stakes or magical effects. Luxuries can be found during adventuring, created via Craft Luxuries, or earned during certain events.
• Ore is used to build structures. Ore is gathered from mines built by Establish Work Site.
• Stone is used to build structures and is gathered from quarries built by Establish Work Site.

Fame & Infamy

Fame and Infamy represent a kingdom’s reputation as it’s regarded by its neighbors. When a kingdom is created, it is decided if the kingdom aims to become famous or infamous—the choice is largely cosmetic but does impact where and how you gain points in either.

Kingdoms initially have a maximum of 3 Fame/Infamy points at any one time. These can be used in one of two ways. Neither of these is an action, but the entire party must agree to spend the point. All Fame/Infamy points left unspent at the end of a Kingdom turn are lost.

• Spend 1 Fame/Infamy Point to reroll a Kingdom skill check. You must use the second result. This is a fortune effect (which means you can’t use more than 1 Fame/Infamy point on a check).
• Spend all your Fame/Infamy Points to stave off the effects of anarchy or ruination. You can do this if a kingdom’s Unrest would result in anarchy (in which case your Unrest is instead set at 1 point below the value at which anarchy occurs), or if an increase to a Ruin would increase the ruin penalty (in which case the Ruin is instead set at one point below the value at which a ruin penalty would accrue).

Earning Fame or Infamy Points

You earn 1 Fame or Infamy point (as appropriate) automatically at the start of each Kingdom turn. You can earn additional points in the following ways.

• Achieve a Critical Success: Whenever you roll a critical success on a Kingdom skill check, gain 1 Fame/Infamy point.
• Build a Famous/Infamous Structure: Certain settlement structures grant 1 Fame or Infamy point when they are built. If your kingdom builds a structure that opposes your Fame or Infamy, you lose 1 point.
• Create a Masterpiece: Once per Kingdom turn, you can attempt to Create a Masterpiece to potentially gain points, at the risk of losing points.

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Running a Kingdom

Step 2: Adjust Unrest

On your first Kingdom turn, your kingdom’s Unrest score is 0; skip to the next step.

On all other turns, adjust your Unrest score: Increase it by 1 for every settlement in your kingdom that’s Overcrowded. If you are at war, increase it by 1. Other ongoing events may have ongoing Unrest adjustments as well; make them at this time.

After making all adjustments, if your kingdom’s Unrest is 10 or higher, the kingdom gains 1d10 points to its Ruins. Distribute these points in any way you wish among the four Ruins. In addition, attempt a DC 11 flat check. On a failure, one hex of your kingdom is lost; the PCs choose which hex. See Losing Hexes for more information.

If your kingdom’s Unrest is 20 or higher, the entire nation also falls into anarchy. While in anarchy, you can only attempt Quell Unrest activities, and the results of all kingdom checks are worsened one degree.

Step 3: Resource Collection

The exact amount of resources you have to draw upon each Kingdom turn varies, as each month there are countless unexpected boons and setbacks throughout each citizen’s life that can impact how they can bolster your national plans.

First, determine the number of Resource Dice you are entitled to roll for the current Kingdom turn by adding your kingdom level + 4 to any bonus dice or penalty dice you gained from the previous turn. You cannot have fewer than 0 Resource Dice.

Resource Dice = kingdom level + 4 + bonus dice – penalty dice

Next, roll your Resource Dice to determine how many Resource Points (RP) you have available during this turn. Your RP is equal to the roll result. (RP remaining at the end of your turn can be converted into kingdom Experience Points.)

Finally, if you have any Work Sites established in your kingdom, gather Commodities. You gain 1 Commodity from each Work Site, or double that if the Work Site is in a Resource hex. Any Commodities gathered in excess of your storage capacity (page 40) are lost.

Step 4: Pay Consumption

Your settlements and armies require a certain amount of provisions, supplies, and funding, as well as all the basic necessities of life.

On your first Kingdom turn, your kingdom’s Consumption score is 0; skip to the next step.

On all other turns, calculate your kingdom’s Consumption score. This is the total of your settlements’ Consumption scores plus your armies’ Consumption scores minus the number of Farmland hexes you have within influence range of your settlements, plus any modifiers from kingdom events.

Kingdom Consumption = settlement Consumption total +
army Consumption total – Farmland hexes influenced by settlements + modifiers from kingdom events

Spend Food Commodities equal to your kingdom’s Consumption. If you can’t or choose not to spend this Commodity cost, you can either spend 5 RP per point of unpaid Consumption or increase Unrest by 1d4.

Commerce Phase

The Commerce phase is when the kingdom generates revenue or makes trade agreements.

Step 1: Collect Taxes

You can Collect Taxes once per Kingdom turn to attempt to bolster your Economy-based checks for the remainder of the Kingdom turn. If you don’t attempt to Collect Taxes, you can instead attempt a DC 11 flat check; on a success, reduce Unrest by 1.

Step 2: Approve Expenses

You can draw upon the kingdom’s funds to enhance the standard of living for its citizens by attempting the Improve Lifestyle activity (page 32) or you can attempt a withdrawal from the kingdom’s funds using the Tap Treasury activity.

Step 3: Tap Commodities

If your kingdom has any stockpiles of Commodities, you can attempt the Trade Commodities activity to bolster your RP for the turn.

Step 4: Manage Trade Agreements

If you’ve established trade agreements, you can use the Manage Trade Agreements activity.

Activity Phase

The Activity phase is when you make proclamations on expanding your kingdom, declare holidays, and manage your territory and settlements. It’s during this phase that the bulk of your kingdom’s growth occurs.

Step 1: Leadership Activities

If your kingdom’s capital has a Castle, Palace, or Town Hall, each PC in a leadership role may attempt up to three Leadership activities. If your capital has one of these structures, each PC can take no more than two Leadership activities during this step.

Your party chooses the order you go in when taking Leadership activities. Unless an activity states otherwise, a leader cannot attempt the same Leadership activity more than once per Kingdom turn.

Step 2: Region Activities

The PC leaders may now collectively attempt up to three Region activities. The players decide who rolls any skill checks needed to resolve these activities.

Step 3: Civic Activities

Your party may now attempt one Civic activity for each of the kingdom’s settlements.

You determine the order in which these activities are attempted and who rolls any skill checks.

Event Phase

Events affect entire kingdom, single hexes, or a settlement. Some are harmful, while some are beneficial. Certain events continue for multiple turns, and only come to an end once they’ve been properly handled by the PCs or their kingdom.

Step 1: Check for a Random Event

Attempt a DC 16 flat check. On success, a random kingdom event occurs. If no random event occurs, the DC for this check in the next Kingdom turn is reduced by 5. Once an event occurs, the DC resets to 16.

Step 2: Event Resolution

Random events present opportunities to go forth in exploration or encounter mode to deal with a rampaging monster or the like; these are handled now.

Step 3: Apply Kingdom XP

The GM now awards any kingdom XP earned during that turn.

If the kingdom experienced a random event, it receives 30 XP. The first Kingdom turn that your kingdom spent 100 RP, gain 80 kingdom XP as a milestone award.

In addition, any RP that remains unspent is now converted to kingdom XP on a 1 to 1 ration, to a maximum of 120 XP per Kingdom turn.

Step 4: Increase Kingdom Level

If your kingdom’s XP total is above 1,000, and your kingdom isn’t at its maximum level, increase your kingdom level by 1 and subtract 1,000 from your XP total. See Leveling Up Your Kingdom on page 16 for the full rules for leveling up.

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Kingdom Decrees & Actions

Buildings & Structures

Military Units

Leadership Feats

In order to take a Feat you must meet the Level requirement and have completed a term as described above. In addition, some feats require that you hold a certain position in order to use it. Rulers can use any feat.