FKo Rules Guide

[VemuKhaham]

Introduction to FKo

[/u]

This is the rules guide to the game called Fantasy Kingdoms online (FKo). This game is entirely homebrewn, and is only playable here. In this thread, you will find all the rules of the game. If you need to find anything quickly, there is also an index on the next post.

FKo is a roleplaying-game with many strategy-game influences. As a player, you will find yourself in the responsible shoes of a leader of an entire nation, created from the ground up in your care. Whether you enforce this care with a tyrannical whip or with your benevolent wisdom is up to you.

However, you will not be the only one to rule the world unchallenged, for there are many other rulers of the world, also played by human players like you, that will wish to take dominance. Will you make friends and form alliances or will you betray trust and take up the sword against your opponents? Will you trade with them to become wealthy, or will you raze their civilisation to the ground? Will you be a force of goodness, or will you choose to be its foe? Will you rise to great heights and rule a vast empire, or will you feel the torn of your enemies' armies trampling over your lands and be annihilated?

You will never find out if you do not play...[/center]

[VemuKhaham]

Index

1.1--Introduction to FKo
1.2--Index
1.3--World and Campaign Introduction
1.4--Rules for Campaign/Campaignless Games
1.5--Time, turns and perspective
1.6--Racial Traits
1.7--Cultural Traits
1.8--King Creation and Rules
1.9--Kingdom Borders, squares and mapping
1.10-Resource Table
1.11-Primary Resources
1.12-Secondary Resources - Part I
1.13-Secondary Resources - Part II
1.14-Military Units, their creation and costs
1.15-The Rules of Warfare

2.1--Outside Influences on Combat
2.2--Magic - Part I
2.3--Magic - Part II
2.4--Science
2.5--Events and Triumphs - Part I
2.6--Events and Triumphs - Part II
2.7--Siege and Naval Battles
2.8--The Kingdom Sheet

The numbers you see in the titles of each post refer to it's location and will be used in the index as well: the first number refers to which page on this thread the topic is and the second number will give you it's post number, starting on each page at 1 and continuing to 15.

[VemuKhaham]

Campaign Introduction:

It was only before the beginning of time… the Children were all born out of an, as we mere mortals would call it, unimaginable source, best described as a non-existent It.

They found themselves in an empty place. They could not sense the source of which they had sprung forth. Even the stars that we today can see as numerous light bulbs hanging from the heavens they could not see. All that they could sense were sounds; the sounds of their own voices; the sounds that gave birth to their ideas and fantasies about what everything around them would look like. But despite their images, which slowly began to take form in their minds, growing to grand visions of what was to come, they had nothing with which they could compare their fantasies.

But It was aware. For It knew all thoughts, images and fantasies that Its children had brought forth, as a father that feels it when his child has been naughty again. But It was not angry at Its sons and daughters; on the contrary, It admired the fruits of Its own seed, and cherished them and gave them light to flourish in. And thus light came to be, from the stars, and light was the first resource for the Children to compare their dark images with.

The Children were excited, and they played with the images that they had grown in their minds, comparing them to the real world, carefully exploring the line between fantasy and reality. They now could see their brothers and sisters, and themselves, and they shared with each other the images that they had, now that they had found the words to describe them with. Thus, they learned of each other and turned to the outside instead of looking inward, searching for new images, either fantasy or reality.

But there was nothing left to search for anymore. They had already found each other, and it had brought many a discovery, and their visions had grown into serious attempts to resemble reality, but it was not enough, and the search for more led to nothing, but in that very nothingness, they found the answer.

It spoke: “Why dost thee search for more, where there is no more? Why dost thee turn to madness, when thou have found each other to lead thee? Because you are my Children, and you revere to me when all other ways have failed, I shall give you a new path. Follow it, and lead your peers to order in the mazes of your minds. I grant you, after light, the soil for your fruits that sprang forth from my seed, so that you may create roots in an orderly and good fashion. As you do this, the fruits of your minds will grow and thrive even more, blurring the line between fantasy and reality further, becoming ever more tangible for you to nourish.”

And It made the world, which the Children called Gent when they for the first time bowed down over it from behind the stars and witnessed the empty ball of earth. As Children they looked at it in awe but did not dare touch what they did not know yet felt so precious to them. But together they remembered the words of their Father and strewn about their images as seeds across the world.

And thus there grew tall mountains, and thus there were formed huge landmasses, and thus there streamed waters. The lands were colored by the woods, fields and hills, and all of the Children spread their images over the world that was imparted to them. The most lively of all the Children (whose name is unknown for his servants cannot speak) blessed the lands with the animals, of all sizes and shapes; the first form of life in the world besides the trees and plants that had their roots deep beneath the earth. And as such the Children could finally compare their ideas and fantasies with the real world, and relieve their burdened heads from carrying them.

But there was nothing left to place. The images of the Children were exhausted, and the world was filled with glorious things like towering mountain-peaks and immeasurable oceans. Sadly, the Children found no fulfillment in watching their seeds germinate for an eternity, despite the relieve it brought in their heads. They missed something, and went to search for it, and just when they thought their quest would lead to nothing, in the very nothingness they found the answer.

It spoke: “Again doth thee search for more, where there is no more. You have found leadership amongst each other, ‘tis true, but leadership alone did not satisfy you. You know that you should follow, as brothers and sisters alike, and offer support, but I, as your Father, do realize it is hard to follow the mind when the hearth desires too. And because you are my Children, I give you what I missed once, much like you do now, in a time before you were here. I give you something to appease the hearth with while the mind appeases. I give you seeds, after light and soil, so that you may now cherish the seeds as I once cherished you as seeds, and so that these new seeds will one day cherish their own like you will do now, and may this continue until the ending of time.”

And It gave them the seeds that It received himself once. The Children cherished the seeds with all their hearths, and supported each other with all their minds. All of them received their own unique seed from the Father, and in every seed there lay hidden a talent that the Children would impart to their own creations, the Grandchildren, so that the Grandchildren could use it to grow and learn, and one day secure themselves a position in their world between all their brothers and sisters.

And so, the Children created life on Gent, in the shape of the races of the world, and every Child formed its race unique from the others, with powers bestowed upon it by the talent hidden within their given seed.

…

However, the Seeds would soon be at danger, after the Treachery of the Children.

It happened after the Grandchildren, or the races of Gent, had been at war with each other for a long time already. The Children had become desperate for they could not bring their creations to peace, and soon the differences on Gent caused a gap to grow between the Children themselves, and a fight between brothers and sisters ensued. It would have been a futile war without an ending, for all Children were equal and therefore could not defeat each other, but instead it became a futile war in which the equality was horribly disturbed.

The disturbance was the result of a conspiracy between some of the Children, an alliance forged to bring forth inevitable doom upon the others. It was the biggest misstep of the Children ever, and they would’ve known it, if those involved wouldn’t have been beyond a point of redemption.

The Conspirers made plans to steal the Seeds of all the other Children, and thereby depleting the victim races of their given talent, only to bestow the races created by the Conspirers with another talent, not rightfully theirs. If they would succeed, the battle on Gent would soon become unfair and the world would be ruled by the now corrupted races of the Conspirers. Their plan was executed in the greatest secret, and under cover of night they robbed their sleeping brothers and sisters of their seeds. Their plan would have succeeded entirely if not for one of them, the clumsiest of the thieves, made a misstep which alerted the sleeping Children.

Immediately a dire battle ensued, and the Seeds were pulled back and forth, when suddenly it occurred that all the Seeds flew out of the hands of the combatants and were lost as they fell downward all across the world of Gent. It was then that the cowardice and evil Conspirers fled the battle and tried to catch their own Seeds in their fall, and they succeeded.

While the Conspirers managed to secure their own Seeds, the other Children had lost theirs, and if they wouldn’t act on it soon, the war on Gent would surely turn awry. Each of them decided it was necessary that a search for their own Seeds was to begin, especially when they saw that their evil brothers and sisters had still not given up their plans to gather the seeds of the other races, even though the Conspirers’ alliance had broken because of the nature of evil.

All of the Children, Conspirers and victims alike, appointed one of their race, who they considered the most cunning, strong, diplomatic or otherwise promising, to lead the Quest for the Seeds. These leaders were granted eternal life, unlike any other of the Grandchildren, to ensure that simple mortality would not interfere with the completion of the quest.

Some of these leaders were only after their own race’s seed; some wanted as many as they could find and conquer. Some would collaborate to stand stronger; some were too untrusting or arrogant to believe in alliances.

But besides their differences, they had one thing in common: they would do everything within their power to appease the father of their species.

It is up to you, oh great leader of your people, Blessed One by the Children,
to decide what alliances, conspiracies, victories and defeats will abound from this intrigue!

[VemuKhaham]

Rules Campaign:

- Every race may only be chosen once. If multiple players want the same race, it is up to the dies who will be the lucky one.
- The Seeds grant special boosts for your people, and are therefore worthy of paying attention to. How much attention you will pay to the Quest for the Seeds however is entirely up to you. Each Seed is unique in its power, resembling the strengths of its original race.
- All Seeds can be (ab)used by all races. If player A conquers the Seed of player B, he will receive the boost and B will lose it.
- Only the evil races will start the game with their own Seed, and are therefore at an advantage. The other races’ Seeds lie scattered across the world, and in order to find them, you will have to explore, but also sometimes certain tips as to their whereabouts will be given through the performing of quests and such, presented by the GM.
- Despite the description above, the players may create their own religion, and whether they wish to worship a pantheon of humanoid figures, nature spirits, holy trees or whatever, it makes no difference to the storyline because the Children themselves I have left totally undefined. You may also wish to create multiple gods, so that there were multiple gods that were responsible for your creation. It is sort of like religion in the real world: Christians said the world was created by God, while the Romans said it was created by the Olympian pantheon. That means; there is no one true religion, although your people may state that theirs is the only true one.
- All players may decide for themselves if they are races representing one of the Conspiring Children or one of the victims. Conspirers start the game with their seed, but the trade-off is probably that if they do not keep their motives secret, there reputation might quickly tumble among other players. Therefore, it is recommended that you keep secret whether you are an evil conspirer with a seed or not. Of course, keeping it secret is only one tactic though.
- Besides this, the rules will be by the standard system of rules. It is my intention that if you people vote for a campaign, it will still not be forced upon you, because you can still play as you see fit.

Rules Campaignless:

- This type of game adheres entirely to the standard rules of FKo, with no over-arching story presented by the GM, only the story that the players make with each other.
- If we vote for this type of game, still the introduction above the three dots followed by the story of the treachery will apply. The text underneath the three dots is only meant for a campaign-game.

[VemuKhaham]

Time, turns and perspective:

FKo strives to be a game in which many different aspects of different types of games are brought together. In order to achieve this, a line has been made between two different but inter-connecting sides of the game: Kingdom-governing and King-roleplaying. Both of these sides of the game take place at the same time in the same game, and constantly affect each other. However, it is necessary to understand how separations have been made when both sides overlap. This will be explained here. Besides this, the system of turns and in-game time are explained.

Turns and time:
It is important that both in-game a healthy time pace is kept as well as out-game, and this has to be done in an orderly fashion. Therefore, the game is divided into turns, and each turn encompasses one month in the game world itself. This means that at times, when King-roleplaying is going on over multiple turns (such as with quests), it might be stretched out in in-game time far too much to remain realistic, but this had to be done in order to achieve the higher priority of mixing large- and small-scale roleplay into one game. How many turns there will be each week (and therefore updates by GM and players) depends on the decision of the group. Therefore, this will be voted upon when the game begins.

Perspective:
As a player, you will take up the role of a ruler of your nation, and therefore have great power and influence. However, kings are people too, and therefore only have a certain amount of influence on the world around them. In general, you may assume that you can directly influence the spending of resources, the building of cities, infrastructure, military units and researching techs, as well as diplomacy with other kings. These are the large-scale affairs of Kingdom-governing. For the more detailed affairs of kings, or the King-roleplaying affairs, such as battles, quests, events and such, you will need to be present as the king’s character himself in order to have direct influence. If you can’t achieve this, you could choose to send followers to handle it for you, but all followers are NPC’s, and therefore you may not directly control them, for this is up to the GM. This is the general rule of what you may do as a player in the role of a king.

There is another difference between King-roleplaying parts of the game and Kingdom-governing parts. If you are Kingdom-governing, things such as battle are almost always Large-scale, and therefore, the rules that are given in this FKo Rules Guide will apply. These are simplified versions, sometimes adapted, to suite the Large-scale style of this aspect of the game. The King-roleplaying parts of the games (such as duels) however will almost always be Small-scale, and therefore be entirely handled by standard D&D3.5 rules. Thus, the player will need to build his character just as a D&D character. They may be of any class, including classes with divine magic, unlike other people in the world.

There are, as always, some grey areas though. One of these, battle, will be discussed here, while others shall have to be ruled on the spot by the GM.

Battle situations:
- If the king/PC is at the battlefield, he may command all of his army as he sees fit. He will also be the best way to improve morale. As long as he is around and morale is well, his soldiers will do as he says. There should be given no bonuses just because you are present, except for the fact that you have the ability to try and gain advantages because of commanding them. For example, if you effectively manage to command your troops to attack the enemy from both sides, a flanking bonus will be given.
- If a general/NPC has been given command of the troops and the king/PC is not around, the player may not command his forces. However, generals do give morale besides military guidance. To make up for not being able to command your forces yourself, you will receive a standard bonus depending on the experience of the general in question, like a +1AC to the troops. This is because the GM will decide troop's actions when the king/PC is not around (as happens with all NPC's) and the GM will not be able to play on different levels of tactical experience like different generals with different experience would, and this bonus will make up for that difference. The bonus is based on the level of the general.
- When there is neither king/PC nor a general/NPC to lead a given army and it is in battle, the GM will again take command of the troops but there will be no bonuses given to the troops. Also, morale will be decreased at a normal rate. Soldiers will fight to the best of their ability, but due to the lack of experienced leadership they will not quickly fight in formation.
- If both a general/NPC and a king/PC is at the battle scene, the player may command his troops, morale will decrease as little as possible, but the bonuses for the general will only apply if the king gives command of a certain force to the general, and then only to that particular part of the army he is given command of. The soldiers the general commands will be played by the GM.
- When both sides of the battle have no king with them to give the players command of their forces, the GM will not play out the entire battle against himself. He will instead allow the players to command their forces as if their kings would have been there. If there are generals at the scene, then refer to the rules above about both a king and a general being present. Their kings are not really there, and as such meta-gaming because of this situation is discouraged. Players are asked to play their part as if they wouldn’t have been there and seen the situation themselves. They are to act on other sources of information, if applicable, such as messenger briefing them of the battle later.

At all times the GM will try to be fair. He will not fight differently for different kingdoms’ troops. He will of course try to get the best possible outcome, like troops normally would. He will think as the troops would like a GM should think as NPC's would.

[VemuKhaham]

Racial Traits:

Across the realm of Gent, there are a multitude of varying peoples walking the lands. Some are civilized and have humanoid features, some are barbaric in nature and strange in appearance. Many of these different peoples have grown a reputation over the course of history. People all over the continent, elves and men alike, can’t help but praise the dwarven craftsmanship when it comes down to metalworking. Orcs, though hated, are feared in all the lands of the free for their ferociousness in battle. The human kingdom near the sea is known to build the strongest, fastest and most beautiful ships that traverse the oceans, reaching new lands that others will never reach. Some of these famous skills are simply in the blood of the race that possesses them, like the great muscle orcs are born with, and some come through learning over the ages and the passing of the skill from generation to generation, like the sailors do when they tell their children of the seas and their travels.

Both of these type of special talents, or traits, will be featured separately in FKo: the Racial and the Cultural Traits. The difference between the two is that the Racial Traits are dependant of the race chosen by the player, and the Cultural Traits are free to choose by the player.

Currently, the world is inhabited by six promising tribes, who might one day become fledgling civilizations. These are the humans, elves, dwarves, half-orcs, goblins and gnolls. They are not the only ones present, for there live many gnomes, halflings, giants, kobolds, even undead amidst these prominent six, but none of them shows the same promising future. Therefore, here are the Racial Traits of these six:

Humans:
Size: Medium
Adaptability: In contrary to many other races, humans are known to live everywhere, from the cold tundra’s to the wet swamps. Therefore, morale loss doesn’t vary in different terrains: it is simply 100% everywhere.
Expansionistic: Cynical members of other races have often described humans as parasites of the world. Humans take land, settle it, and go further, or at least they have the natural tendency to do so. The cost for Potential Land Mass is therefore not 200, but 150.

Elves:
Size: Medium
Woodland Stride: Elves are known as masters of the woodlands, in which they often dwell. Their natural affinity with nature grants them the ability to travel through forests and jungles unhindered, so with a 100% speed.
The Gifted Folk: Elves have a natural advantage when it comes down to arcane magic. They get 15spell points instead of 10 for 1material component when creating wizards.

Dwarves:
Size: Medium (speed 20ft/2squares – dwarves aren’t small, though their legs are)
Darkvision: In the dark, an enemy army gains no concealment against dwarves.
Lords of the Mountain: As natural inhabitants of the mountains, dwarves’ morale loss and speed remain 100%.
Engineering: Dwarves build marvelous structures, like the halls in the mountains where they dwell. Infrastructure prices (for roads, bridges etc) are only 75% for dwarves, rounded down.
The Earth’s Riches: Dwarves have keen eyes when they are working with gems and gold. Therefore, these natural resources have double the Economy Bonus when they are mined by dwarves: +6 instead of +3.

Half-orcs:
Size: Medium (DMG +10% - Half-orcs border on being large, but the bulk of their muscles surely match those of the large category)
Darkvision: In the dark, an enemy army gains no concealment against half-orcs.
Greater Frenzy: It is what makes the orcs so feared: the way they fight. Orcs can attempt an intimidation of the enemy like anyone else, but when they succeed, the enemy takes a -20 to morale instead of -10.

Goblins:
Size: Small
Darkvision: In the dark, an enemy army gains no concealment against goblins.
Quick Breeding: Goblins are known for their overwhelming numbers. They reproduce like rats, simply because they don’t care as much about the quality of living: they can live with much less food then other races. Therefore, Population Upkeep for goblins is 1food/125population, instead of 1/100population.
The Stealthy Warrior: Lacking the strength to fight in the open, goblins have developed a natural affinity for sneaking and ambushing. Whenever a goblin unit carries out a successful sneak, its attack roll gets a +8 instead of +4, and they get a +25% to damage instead of +10%.

Gnolls:
Size: Medium
Darkvision: In the dark, an enemy army gains no concealment against gnolls.
Natural Hunters: The hyena-like creatures are known to excel in their hunting skills. Therefore, bonus goods like game, cattle and fish give double Economy Bonus.
Animal Empathy: The blood of animal kind coursing through their vain, touched with the spark of intelligence, makes gnolls particularly familiar with the animals of the world, especially the stranger sorts. Science costs to tame exotic animal types are only 25xHD instead of 35xHD.
Knowledge of Nature: Gnolls are well-versed in the arts of survival, and as a result they can travel through nearly every type of terrain with minimum trouble. To every terrain type that normally has a speed lower then 100%, gnolls add 25% to speed.

Satyrs:
Size: Medium (speed 40ft/3squares – the satyr is fast and dexterous which allows him to maneuver the battlefield quickly)
Woodland Stride: Satyrs are known as masters of the woodlands, in which they often dwell. Their natural affinity with nature grants them the ability to travel through forests and jungles unhindered, so with a 100% speed.
Bull Rush: The horns of the goat-like people are as fierce a weapon as any, and whenever a unit of satyrs charges, they get twice the damage bonus. (rules on charging and the like are yet to come under chapter 2.1; therefore, this rule’s exact bonus is still subject to change)
Natural Hedonists: Because of their amusing and joyous nature, satyrs know how to amuse themselves. Playing as satyrs, you need only pay 1resource in happiness upkeep for every 1500people, instead of for every 1000people.

[VemuKhaham]

Cultural Traits:

Races however can be divided into many different kinds of people. Though the general assumption might be correct that most orcs are evil, there will be exceptions. Dwarves are renowned for their metalworking, but some dwarven kingdoms might desire to specialize on something completely against their nature: mastery of the seas, or the Arcane Art. This way, even among members of the same race, great differences can exist. These differences can be illustrated and reinforced greatly by choosing your cultural traits.

At the start and after every next twenty-five turns of gaming, players get the possibility to choose 1 new cultural trait, and may, if they wish, change 1 of their current cultural traits into something else. You start the game with 2cultural traits, and so after twenty-five turns you will have 3 cultural traits, and after fifty turns 4.

There are many types of cultural traits, and they are divided into branches. You can’t choose the second step in a branch if you haven’t got the first one yet. Also, you can’t change step 1 into something else if you also have step 2 of the same branch for example. The type of branch you choose to invest in says something of the type of people you have.

The first step in every one of these branches are free, but for the second and every next step in the branches, there will be certain requirements of the kingdom in order to take it. If it happens that a player can’t meet a requirement and the time for selecting traits has come, he must choose something else (one can always choose a Focus). These are each given in the description of the branches and their steps following here:

Agricultural: Your people have greatly developed their agricultural system.
1. Wheat, cattle, spices, wine and tobacco are more productive: they give double the bonus.
2. The population costs for a new city is now only 900. Requirements: must have at least 4 cities in the kingdom.
3. You may select one type of terrain that will from now on give you 0.5 extra Economy Income. Requirements: Must have at least twenty squares of terrain of chosen terrain type, must have 6cities.

Industrial: Your people have knowledge of architecture, and are very productive.
1. Gold, gems and coal now give double the bonus.
2. Subtract 10% from prices for Infrastructural projects under Standard Production. Requirements: Must have a total cost of all infrastructure equal to or above 500.
3. You may select one type of strategic resource (but no (exotic) mounts or spell components) in which you will get a 10% increase of income/turn. Requirements: Must have at least an income of 5/turn already of the chosen strategic resource, and must have 100 of this resource in storage.

Seafaring: Your people have learned to master the seas, and your fleet is among the best.
1. Your ships receive +10ft/+1square to movement, and gain +10% carrying capacity and HP.
2. Harbors cost only 50resources, and ships are 10% cheaper to build. Requirements: fleet of at least 50ships, and at least 4harbors.
3. Your ships receive another +10ft/+1square to movement, gain a +1 bonus to AC and another +10% to carrying capacity and HP. Requirements: Fleet of 200, at least 6 harbors.

Militaristic: Your people are known to be conquerors, and invest much in their military.
1. You get 3 extra MI/turn, as a result of the people’s willingness to be recruited etc. This bonus increases to 4 if you also have the second step of this branch and to 5 when you get to step 3 of this branch.
2. You gain advanced tactics as a bonus research. Requirements: standing army of 500soldiers and at least 2 fortresses.
3. You get an extraordinary edge in the creation of military equipment, as you can move all the numbers of allowed AB/AC by strategic resource up by 1, including adamantine, up to +11. One exception though: the range of copper increases from +2 to +4, instead of moving up with 1. Requirements: standing army of 1000soldiers and at least 4 fortresses.

Diplomatic: Your people are of the opinion that in cooperation and peace lays the key to success.
1. NPC powers in the world will be noticeably friendlier towards you. (1step higher then normal on diplomacy table in DMG)
2. People from all over the world flock to your bastion of civilization, or so they’ve heard. You get +5population every turn as a result of migration. Requirements: must have had peace with at least 4 out of 5 other kingdoms uninterruptedly for the last 30turns before this trait is chosen, and the leader must have 13 ranks in diplomacy.
3. Due to your great reputation across the lands, NPC powers will become even friendlier towards you (another step on diplomacy skill table in DMG), and the people do not only flock to your kingdom: they have started to give tribute: 5Economy/turn. Requirements: Must have had peace with at least 4 out of 5 kingdoms uninterruptedly for 60turns, and the leader must have 17 ranks in diplomacy.

Commercial: Your people are great traders and bankers.
1. Each turn, you receive a 3% rent on the amount of Wealth you have stored.
2. Roads and stone roads cost only 40, bridges cost only 15 and harbors only 75. Requirements: must have at least 4 cities, 4 harbors and stone roads connecting these 4 cities and 4 harbors to each other.
3. The 3% rent from 1 increases to 5%, roads only cost 30 and you receive NPC’s trading with you give a 15% price cut, or pay 15% more for your exports, if they of course are interested in trading at all. Requirements: must have stone road connection to at least 3 other players’ capitols and at least 6 cities connected with stone roads to each other and 6harbours, also all of them connected by stone roads to the cities.

Scientific: Your people are innovative and great scientists arise due to a rationalistic nature and good funding.
1. May put 75 bonus resources into Science. These must be spent immediately, and the player can do so freely.
2. Same as first, but now another 150 resources. Requirements: must have an Economy Income of 75/turn.
3. Same as first, but now another 200. Also, you receive 5culture/turn for having reached great scientific achievements. Requirements: must have an Economy Income of 125/turn.

Expansionistic: Your people are explorers, and practice great influence across the world.
1. Settlers can travel 5squares/turn. The cost for a settler is 950 instead of 1000.
2. The cost for a settler is reduced to 875. You may explore 20 unexplored squares, but each such square must border at least 2 explored squares. Those explored during the selecting itself may be considered as explored in this matter. Requirement: 50squares within kingdom territory.
3. The cost for a settler reaches 800. You may explore another 20 unexplored squares like above. Watch posts cost only 50resources.

Religious: Your people are pious either through praise or fear for the gods, and as a result unity and obedience to the rulers in your country is strengthened.
1. Divine magic now goes with unique accuracy: you now have the option to actually request specific miracles from the gods at all times. If you have enough manna, the chance that the request is actually fulfilled is 5%. Otherwise, nothing happens.
2. The 5% reaches 15%.
3. The 15% reaches 30%. Also, you receive 5culture/turn for having a strong, wide-spread religion and faithful populace.

Artistic: Your people are free-spirited and are known for their great cultural artistic achievements, like building great monuments or painting the best paintings.
1. The gaining of squares through Cultural Assimilation doesn’t cost 200culture points, but only 175. The percentage that determines your culture income rises to 3%.
2. The 3% becomes 4%. Cultural Assimilation costs only 150. Requirements: Cultural Value of at least 250.
3. 4% rises to 6%. Cultural Assimilation costs only 125. Requirements: Cultural Value of 500.

Arcanistic: Your people are devout practitioners of the Arcane Art.
1. You get a free 0.2 Spell component each turn.
2. The 0.2/turn becomes 0.4/turn. Cost to research new spell concepts lessens from 25 to 20. Requirements: Must be able to cast spells of 35SP, and must now at least 10spell concepts.
3. The 0.4/turn becomes 0.7/turn. Cost to research new spell concepts lowers to 15. Requirements: Must be able to cast spells of 50SP, and must now at least 20spell concepts.
4. !BONUS! but a surprise that will only uncover once taken…

Nationalistic: There is a great general sense of greatness, unity and sometimes superiority among your people, often achieved through propaganda of the person in power, to increase loyalty, unity and willingness to fight.
1. Morale bonuses on battlefield increase with +1, penalties stay the same. Desertion only happens at -80.
2. 1% Extra Happiness now increases Economy Income not with 1%, but 1.3%. Desertion only happens at -90. Requirements: Must have cultural value of at least 200, an army of at least 500 and at least 1Triumph.
3. 1.3% now becomes 1.8%. Desertion only happens at -100. Morale bonuses increase another +1, penalties stay the same, but the 0 also increases to +1. Requirements: cultural value of at least 500, Army of 1000 and at least 3Triumphs in the past.

Focus: Your people are skilled in the manufacturing of particular goods, and these goods are known the world over to be of the greatest quality.
If you choose focus, you may choose one Bonus Good and add 15% to your income out of it or one Strategic Good and add 5% to your income of it. You may choose the same focus endlessly. There are no requirements for Focus.

[VemuKhaham]

King Creation and Rules

Even the greatest leaders of the world are bound to rules. These rules will be discussed in this chapter, where we will first create a king prepared to go on adventures and fight in small-scale battles if necessary, and after that we will learn to create a king but now with rules for large-scale battles. These kings will be what you are as a player in the world, namely the Player Character (PC).

Also note that, despite in this guide the PC is nearly always called king, he may of course be a queen, chieftain, emperor or whatever you wish.

Create a King Character for Small-Scale Adventures
Small-scale adventures are all situations that are handled during the adventures of your king, and which are not great battles fought with units. Adventures could be dungeon crawls, journeys or such, but just as likely they will be meetings at the palace hall, or speeches to mobs rioting in the city streets.

To prepare your king for small-scale adventures, you must build a character with the same rules applying to normal D&D3.5 character creation. When creating your king, you may make him at a level agreed upon by the DM and players. A king doesn’t necessarily have to be of the same race as his followers. At creation, he may have any equipment he can carry with his carrying capacity, even MW, but he may not have any magical equipment, meaning no potions, rings, enchanted weapons, wondrous items etc. and no equipment of a special material like mithral or darkwood.

Each king gains the Leadership Feat for free. However, the leadership feat is adapted to the FKo system. This feat is only used to determine the amount of cohorts a king may have when in an adventure. These cohorts will be the ones to serve and protect him if necessary. Armies can’t protect a king: it would be madness in an adventure.

Besides being your personal bodyguards, your cohorts will also be the generals leading your armies if you don't. For each army in the field, no matter it's size, you will need to appoint 1 of your cohorts if you are to have the benefits granted by a general. These cohorts can then not be anywhere else, so they won't be able to join up on an adventure with you. They are just like kings in this matter, except that they are played by the GM as NPC's and follow the king's orders in most cases.

Leadership Feat
A king has a Leadership Score, determined by his level + charisma modifier, and this is multiplied by 2. Whenever the king is in a civilized place, such as at his own estate or on his own city’s streets, he may add 10 to this score because of the proximity of the garrison and such protectors. If the king is outside of such terrain, he must use the cohorts he brought with him on this adventure.
The amount of cohorts is determined by levels. A king may have a group of cohorts with a total level of his leadership score, and none of the cohorts may be of higher level then the king himself. So if a king is 12th level, has 16cha, he has a 30leadership score. He may now have 3cohorts of 10th level with him, or 30 cohorts of 1st level, but no one cohort may be of 13th level or higher.
Treat cohorts well when they are with you, for if you mistreat them they might become disobedient or even hostile.

Create a King Character for Large-Scale Battles
Large-scale battles are those fights that take place in units, when armies of two hostile forces enter the same square. Sometimes, kings might be present at such encounters, accidentally or purposefully, and decide to partake in the battle. If they do, they put themselves at great risk, but they might also be of tremendous influence on the battle’s outcome, not only through leadership qualities by boasting morale, but also through the sheer power they themselves possess. To create your king, follow the next steps carefully:

Paths: Every time you level and choose a class, both large-scale and small-scale benefits must be of the same kind: Magical or Martial. A class in small-scale leveling is seen as Magical when you can cast any spell for taking it, and it is considered Martial if it can’t. If you have a class that can cast spells and has at least a HD of 6 and average BAB progression he may choose a benefit of either category. The categories have many branches in which you can grow, and you may divide 10 points over the branches every time you level up. You may save up on points to spend at later levels. In every branch is also listed which value you have in it if you spend your first level in that class category. If your first level is martial and later on in the leveling process you choose a magical path, you will receive the same amount of Max SP and Spell Range as when you’d start with the magical path as soon as you take your first magical level; before that you have no Spell Range or Max SP.

Martial:
HP: When you spend 1point in this, you gain 10hp. Start: 75
Melee AB: When you spend 4points in this, you gain 1melee AB. Start: +2
Ranged AB: When you spend 4points in this, you gain 1ranged AB. Start: +2
Range: When you spend 5points on this, your range increases by 5ft. Start: 70ft.
AC: When you spend 8points in this, you gain 1AC. Start: 15
DMG: When you spend 1point in this, you gain +2 on your damage roll. Start: 1d12+0
Speed: When you spend 10points in this, you gain +5ft on speed. Start: See size and speed
Mount*: When you spend 10points in this, your mount gains +5ft on speed. Start: See mount
Feats from PhB: Cleave (4), Greater Cleave (4), Combat Expertise (6), Deflect Arrows (5), Diehard (5), Improved Precise Shot (4), Mobility (5), Power Attack (6), Precise Shot (5), Ride-by Attack (5), Shot on the Run (5), Spirited Charge (5), Spring Attack (6), Trample (5), Whirlwind Attack (6). No prerequisites. Point cost between brackets.
Special: You may, in order to create a unique feel to your King, create your own special abilities, but these must be in line with the class you’ve chosen for this level. Just like is the case with normal soldiers, this special ability will have a price to be agreed upon by DM and player. Examples could be: Wildshape for druids, rage for barbarians, a warlock’s Eldritch Blast etc.

Magical:
HP: You can take this step endlessly. When you take it, you gain 5hp. Start: 50
Melee AB: When you spend 6points in this, you gain 1melee AB. Start: +0
Ranged AB: When you spend 6points in this, you gain 1ranged AB. Start: +0
Range: When you spend 7points on this, your range increases by 5ft. Start: 60ft.
AC: When you spend 12points in this, you gain 1AC. Start: 12
DMG: When you spend 1point in this, your attacks gain +1 on damage roll. Start: 1d6+0.
Speed: When you spend 10points in this, you gain +5ft on speed. Start: See size and speed
Mount*: When you spend 10points in this, your mount gains +5ft on speed. Start: See mount
Max SP: When you spend 1point in this, you gain +1SP max. Start: 75
Spell Range: When you spend 5points on this, your range increases by 5ft. Start: 70ft.
Special: Like described under Martial.

* A leader that is mounted receives the speed of the mount, and gains +1AC/AB. It costs 1mount to mount him, or 1 exotic mount if that's the case.

Leveling up and King Death
Kings will, just like normal adventurers, rise in power if they take on adventures and win battles. There are two ways for a king to level up. First one is called Experience (XP), working just like normal D&D. This XP can only be gained through small-scale adventures. Whenever a king reaches the XP needed to level up, he may do so.
The second way to level up is to win a Triumph. An awarded Triumph allows the king to level up 1 level.

If a king falls in battle, the player needn’t worry about his right to remain playing the game. If his body is brought to the player’s capitol he will be resurrected there. However, the kingdom will automatically loose 1 Triumph and the king will loose another level out of XP Loss. His XP will drop to the beginning of his previous level. So in total, the king will loose 2levels: one for the lost Triumph and one for lost XP.
If the king is captured by enemies or if the capitol is otherwise unreachable, the player may choose a temporary replacement for his king. This replacement can then strive to retrieve the king or his lifeless body and still bring it to the Capitol. He may also opt to remain being the replacement of course.
To get a king to the Capitol to be resurrected, a unit must enter the square in which the king fell. If the enemy gets there first, he may take the king. From then on, the king is part of the army, and can only be taken away from the army should the army be entirely defeated.
Once a king reaches 0levels or less, he can’t be revived anymore, and the player will need to take another king.

[VemuKhaham]

Kingdom borders, squares and mapping:

All of the players will found their own kingdom in the world of Gent, which will require space so that they can expand. Luckily, the world of Gent offers enough space for all to do so, but how is it determined what space will belong to you?

To establish an answer to this question the map that will be given to the players will be divided into squares, which are placed in the same way as on a chess-board. All of these squares contain certain features. The features a given square may contain are divided into Terrain Types, Bonus Goods, Strategic Goods and Infrastructure. Of these, only infrastructure is added by the player, and is therefore discussed more in the chapter: ‘Secondary Resources’, under Standard Production. Here is a table containing all Terrain Types, Bonus Goods and Strategic Goods you may find, along with their specifics.

Terrain Types:
This is the basis of each square. Different terrain types also represent climate and other geographical features. When a battle takes place, the battlefield will represent the terrain type. Besides this, certain terrain types influence the speed of units. Only ships may pass water squares (if this is the case, 'Sh' in the table shows it) , and certain terrain types don’t allow siege weaponry to move across it if there is no road in the square (if this is so, 'Si' in the table shows it). In some areas, morale might decrease faster then in others. Between the brackets you can see how quickly morale will decrease when in such terrain types. Terrain types determine your Economy Income (EI) and Military Income (MI).

Terrain Type	EI	MI	Speed	Morale
Grasslands	+2.5	+1	100%	100%
Plains	+2	+1	100%	100%
Hills	+2	+2	75%	100%
Mountains	+1	+3	25% (Si)	125%
Forests	+1.5	+1.5	50% (Si)	100%
Jungle	+0.5	+0.5	25% (Si)	125%
Marshlands	+0.5	+0.5	25% (Si)	125%
Desert	+0.5	+0.5	100%	150%
Tundra	+0.5	+0.5	100%	150%
Lake/river/shore	+2	+1	100% (Sh)	100%
Ocean	+0.5	+0.5	100% (sh)	125%

Here follows a brief summary of each terrain type:
Grasslands: Lush areas that are abundant with game, greenery, and used primarily for grazing and game.
Plains: Massive areas of fertile land used primarily for farming.
Hills: Rolling hills, not as dangerous as mountains, but still strategic for various reasons. Favored more for their tendencies to yield resources like coal and iron.
Mountains: Large areas of rock and cliffs, yielding various resources for mining potential, yet has a higher chance for danger from game and various risks associated with such land.
Forests: Wooded areas offering shade as well as game, stealth, and various resources like fruits and spices.
Jungle: Rare areas that may offer spices, the more rare game, and various gems and minerals. Another dangerous area due to the wild animals within its borders.
Marshland: Areas of various spots of water, offering a small supply of fish. Again, dangerous at times due to the wild animals lurking within.
Desert: Barren lands devoid of most life. Sands are slow to traverse, offering at times a small defense. Some desert hide an oasis, with possible treasures.
Tundra: Frozen wastelands, mostly coveted for the various game that can be found there. Dangerous for the low temperatures.
Lakes/Rivers/Shore: Offering their paths for ships, this area is good for fishing, as well as various gold deposits sometimes found. The water also serves as a staple for wild game, using it as a water source as well.
Ocean: Open water that yields an abundant amount of fish, yet dangerous deep water menaces if ventured too far. Tidal waves can also be a danger to towns on its shores.

Bonus Goods:
Bonus goods give additions to Terrain Type bonuses, and can be found on certain terrain types. Some of these can only be found after you have researched certain techs. Besides giving these bonuses they have no game effects. It is possible that some of them get exhausted though, after much use.

Bonus Goods	Economy Bonus	Terrain Types
Wheat	+1	Grassland, plains
Fish	+1	Lake/River/Shore, Marshlands, Ocean
Fruits	+0.5	Forests, jungles
Game	+0.5	Grasslands, plains, forests, jungles, marshlands, tundra, hills, mountains
Cattle	+1.5	Grasslands, plains, hills
Oasis	+1.5	Desert
Gold	+3	Hills, mountains, rivers
Gems	+3	Mountains, jungles
Coal	+4	Hills, mountains, jungles
Spices	+3	Forests, jungles
Wines	+2	Grasslands, plains, hills
Tobacco	+2	Grasslands, hills

Strategic Goods:
Strategic goods offer only the ability to build certain units, they do not give bonuses on themselves. They can be found only in certain squares, and have no further game effects besides that. In every square where there is a strategic good, you can see how much of its goods you acquire each turn. You can trade surpluses if you wish to. Be aware though, that these goods might be depleted after much use.

Strategic Resource	Function	Terrain Types
Copper	Allows tech from +2 to +3 AB/AC	Hills, mountains
Iron	Allows tech from +4 to +6 AB/AC	Hills, mountains
Mithral	Allows tech from +7 to +9 AB/AC	Mountains
Adamantine	Allows tech +10 AB/AC	Mountains
Mounts	Allows creation normal mounted units, such as horses and camels	Grasslands, hills, plains for horses, other mounts have varying terrain types
Exotic Mounts*	Allows creation exotic mounted units, such as elephants, griffons, dolphins etc.	Depends on type of exotic mount
Material Components	Allows creation arcane magic units	Everywhere

* You must first learn to tame exotic animals before you may use them. This requires certain scientific advancements. If anything enters a square occupied by untamed exotic mounts it may get attacked.

City Placement:
Between all these terrain types and goods, you will build yourself a kingdom.
To build a city, you must first pay 1000population, sort of like a cost. Then, you get a unit, called a settler, representing these thousand men, that you may move at a speed of 3squares/turn. Move it to the square where you wish to build the city. Once this is done, a city may be placed there and the settler is lost. Cities can’t be build upon lake/river/shore and ocean terrain types. You can’t build a city in enemy territory either. Every city takes up one square when build on. A square’s Economy Income, including the bonus for possible Bonus Goods a city gets build upon gets thrice the income. Strategic Goods are gathered thrice as fast if a city is build upon it. If your settler is attacked before city placement, he is lost. Therefore, guarding a settler with armies might be wise. A settler may also enter a boat to be transported.

Kingdom Borders:
Once a city is placed, you may select 10 squares around the new city that you may add to the kingdom. It is however a requirement that these 10squares are somehow attached to the new city or to other squares you have selected while taking these 10squares. You may select any square, no matter what the terrain type, except for squares already taken by other kingdoms.

Besides the 10squares/city you also receive 5 Potential Land Mass. You do not need to place the 5 Potential Land Mass immediately, as these are not yours yet. You need to culturally earn land mass (see Secondary Resources, Cultural Production), and if you have earned 1 square, you may choose one square not yours yet which touches the existing borders of your kingdoms, given that you have extra Potential Land Mass to spare. For each 1square taken you must give up 1 Potential Land Mass too. If you run out of Potential Land Mass, you may try to build new cities or try to grow the capacity of your cities (see Secondary Resources, Standard Production) to earn more.

Within your borders, you can do more then outside your borders. You can use Bonus and Strategic Goods there and you can take the Economy Bonuses of squares there. Others may not build cities within your borders. Morale is better for allied units within their borders, and worse for enemies.

[VemuKhaham]

Primary Resources and their effects:

Economy
- Food
- Standard Production
- Wealth

Military
- Military Production

Culture
- Cultural Production
- Happiness

Secondary Resources and their effects:

Food:
- Population Growth
- Population Upkeep

Standard Production:
- Infrastructure
- City Capacity Growth

Wealth:
- Scientific Funding
- Military Upkeep
- Espionage

Military Production:
- Unit Training

Cultural Production:
- Land Mass
- Cultural Value
- Divine Manna Gathering

Happiness:
- Happiness Upkeep

[VemuKhaham]

Primary resources:

Every kingdom should make sure he builds up a steady income of the primary resources, namely economy, military and culture. After all, once this is achieved, the secondary resources will flow in as well, and the doorway to prosperity will be open. Keep in mind that primary resources cannot be stored, as they are immediately divided into secondary resources. The only way to value your primary resources is to look at their income. But in order to gain a steady income, you will have to make sure you do the following:

Economy:
Economy represents the entire process of production and trade within the borders of your kingdom. If you have a steady Economy income, you can divide its benefits into three sub-categories, or secondary resources, in this case food, standard production and wealth.
To decide how much economy you earn each turn, you will need to add all the given Economy bonuses of all the terrain that you have within your borders. These Economy Bonuses on the terrain represent the farms, fishing grounds, mines and so on that are automatically considered to be there once it is within your borders. For example, if you have a kingdom of ten squares, you must add all the Economy bonuses of these squares together and this will be your income/turn in Economy. It is possible however that you will receive bonuses on this income due to various Bonus Goods that your terrain may feature.

Military:
Military represents your ability to build weaponry and gather troops in your kingdom to aid in a war. The income of Military cannot be divided into different sub-categories, as this primary resource affects only one secondary resource, and this is Military Production. Therefore, you may safely conclude that your Military is equal to your Military Production.
Military income is determined by adding all the Military Bonuses on the terrain squares you own, which will then be your income/turn. These Military Bonuses on the terrain squares represent the populace (people to recruit) and the stables, mines and such to make weapons for them. Therefore, this goes in the same way as described for Economy. There are no Bonus Goods to increase your Military income however, as these are replaced with the Strategic Goods, like iron or horses, that will be needed in order to reach higher levels of weaponry.

Culture:
Culture represents the overall greatness of your nation; the people’s general education, strength of faith and pride in their king and country, the scientific and cultural achievements that are remarkable and the admiration that foreigners will feel when they enter your kingdom and deal with its people. If you have an income in culture, you may decide to divvy it up in three secondary resources: Cultural Production, Science and Happiness.
The Culture income/turn is calculated by adding 2.5% of your Cultural Value total each turn to Culture. For example, when you start the game, you must decide how much of your starting Culture you will place in Cultural Production, and of that you must give something to Cultural Value. If you decide to put 80 in Cultural Value, you will receive 2 Culture each turn from then on. Once you have played for four turns, and you have put another 2 Culture into Cultural Value, you will get 2.5% of 88, which is 4,2/turn. This number is always rounded down, so you still receive 4/turn by now, but after enough investment you will receive more and more. This is handled like this because Cultural Value means you spend money on developing culture (building monuments, developing a literature, supporting a religion), and the more such testaments of your cultural achievements you have in your history, the more your culture will grow. There are no Bonus elements to this, as it is not terrain that provides Culture income.

[VemuKhaham]

Secondary resources:

So now that you know how much of each primary resource you earn each turn, it is important to adjudicate where the cash flow is spent. As explained above under each primary resource, you will have to divide the primary resource income into the secondary resource incomes. For example, say you would earn 20 economy resources each turn, then you should decide each turn (you can of course leave it the same for multiple turns) the percentage of the income that goes to food, standard production and wealth. So, you decide to spend 40% on food, 40% on standard production and 20% on wealth. In this case your income of these secondary resources would be food=8/turn, standard production=8/turn and wealth=4/turn.
Following is a description on each secondary resource with the primary resource it belongs to between brackets. In it, you will see how you can spend your secondary resources. Keep in mind that besides the options given below, you can also always store any surpluses of secondary resources. These resources can then, for example, be used for trade with other nations, or stored for the future. Happiness is the only exception. At all times, you may spend these stored resources.

Food (Economy):
All of the food production in your kingdom is included within this secondary resource. It is of vital importance to your people’s health and happiness that you are at all times able to support your population’s size with enough food, and in order to expand your nation you will need surpluses to grow your population’s size.
All the food income here is again divided among two categories. One of them, Population Upkeep, is always detracted from the total. This represents that which is eaten by the populace. The upkeep costs equal 1food/100people. If it happens that you can’t finance the population upkeep, as many people will die as are not provided with food.
That which remains goes to Population Growth. For each 1food that goes to this category, your population will grow with 10people. Keep in mind though, that once your population has grown, the upkeep will grow as well. To grow your population allows you to create soldiers as well as new cities.

Standard Production (Economy):
This secondary resource includes the production of all usual buildings and infrastructure, like housing, roads, workshops, bridges and more. If you spend much on this, you will be able to raise the capacity of a city’s growth and increase its general production and the area’s cultivation. This process reflects the need for more houses and workshops in order to increase population and production in a city, as well as the building of infrastructure on the countryside. You can choose between spending on Infrastructure and City Capacity Growth.
If you spend resources on Infrastructure, you may take any of the following list, spend the resources that are its price and choose a square on the map that will gain its effects:
- Normal Roads (50Resources): The speed of traveling military units through squares with roads are granted a +1bonus.
- Stone Roads (50Resources): You must first build Normal Roads in a square before you can build Stone Roads. Stone Roads enhance the +1speed bonus into a +2bonus.
- Bridge (25Resources): Bridges allow you to cross rivers.
- Watch Post (75Resources): You will always be sure that someone will try to inform you as a messenger something remarkable within the square of the watch post happens. Enemy attackers have a 25% chance to apprehend such a messenger.
- Harbor (125Resources): You can place a harbor on a river or a coast to build ships.
- Fortress (250Resources): You can now station troops on the square where the fortress is build. Doing this will grant great defensive advantages and will not ruin morale after extended periods of time. (See military chapters for more information)
If you instead spend resources on City Capacity Growth, you will be able to get your city to grow bigger, and therefore have greater influence on the surroundings, along with the assumption that larger cities will be able to project greater influence on places further away.
Normally, each city you own will add 10squares to your Land Mass, and an extra 5 Potential Land Mass. Potential Land Mass is not yours yet, but it indicates how many squares you may actually take through cultural means (so without building extra cities).
For every 200resources, you may add one square to the Potential Land Mass amount you have.

Wealth (Economy):
This secondary resource represents the financial welfare of your kingdom’s treasury, the economic strength of your inhabitants and the overall strength of the monetary economy. You, as a king, can use it in many ways, as you may always store anything, as well as wealth, and if you store wealth this means the gold in your treasury will increase. Wealth is therefore the most commonly known and accepted trading resource.
But you must also use your wealth to make sure your soldiers are well paid, the Military Upkeep. For every 75soldiers, you will need to spend 1wealth/turn on Military Upkeep to keep the soldiers loyal. If for some reason you lack the ability to reach this minimum, the soldiers you cannot pay for will desert the next turn, which means they will no longer be yours to control, and sometimes they will even resort to pillaging the nearby areas or worse, all depending on the situation.
Scientific funding is the next thing you will need to do with wealth. It is very important to pay attention to the race between kingdoms for scientific supremacy, as it will be a futile battle to fight armored knights with wooden clubs, as well as it will bring you other additional benefits. The aspect of science is elaborate enough that it will receive its own chapter later in the manual. Needless to say, the amount of wealth put into this will determine how quickly you will advance.
Last, wealth can be invested in intelligence. If you do this, it means you either spend wealth to protect your kingdom from enemy espionage missions, or you engage in espionage missions yourself. Every turn, you must decide the amount of wealth you invest in Protection. This amount will be reduced from your wealth income like upkeep. Whenever someone begins a spying mission on your kingdom, you will receive double the wealth you invest in Protection as a bonus to your roll to counter the attack.
If you wish to spy on other kingdoms, you may do so, but every time you do so, you must spend wealth, beginning at a base 10wealth, but if you wish to have a bonus to your success roll, you will need to invest more wealth. For every wealth you invest more then 10, you gain +1 on your success roll.
Now, espionage can be anything: from trying to steal another kingdom’s resources, to assassinating someone, to steal information from his kingdom thread. Basically anything you see as possible, you may try. However, some things will be much harder, and the one who does the mission might receive substantial penalties to his roll. For every mission you undertake you must make one success roll: a d100 will be rolled by the aggressor and the defender. They take the bonuses like explained above. Possible penalties will be applied for the difficulty of the mission, and then the results will be compared. If the aggressor beats the defender by 11 or higher, he succeeds and remains unnoticed. If he beats him by 5 to 10, he will succeed, but the spy attempt will be noticed. If he beats him by less then 5, the spy succeeds but gets caught during the escape, and is now at the mercy of the opponent. If the spy fails by 5 or less, he isn’t caught or noticed, but he doesn’t succeed in his job either. If the spy fails by 5 to 10, he fails his mission, escapes but is noticed. If he fails by more then 10, he is caught, at the enemy’s mercy, and also fails his mission.

Military Production (Military):
Military Production includes the creation of any military units, whether they are infantrymen, cavalry or ships. The creation process of military units (Military Production) has no sub-categories, and therefore all resources put into Military Production will be used to create more military units. Note that military structures are already covered by Standard Production (Infrastructure). When creating military units, keep in mind that all produced units will cost you upkeep in wealth each turn.
The various units you can build will mostly be designed by the player himself, using the rules on warfare as a basis. You can also only build units for which you have the required Strategic Goods, like horses for cavalry etc. The rules on warfare are discussed in another chapter. Refer to there to build your military.

[VemuKhaham]

Cultural Production (Culture):
Cultural Production symbolizes the achievements you have made as a civilization on cultural areas (monuments, literature, religion and so on). However, these achievements have not only an aesthetic value; they also greatly increase your domination over the surrounding lands. Religion will also have beneficial effects if you practice it devoutly. The three options to fund are Land Mass, Cultural Value and Divine Manna Gathering.
Land Mass funding gives you the ability to expand your borders and influence without having to resort to armed conflicts. It is expensive, however, to gain one square through cultural assimilation, and you can only perform this action if you have extra Potential Land Mass. Every square will require you to spare up 200Cultural Production in order to take it, but it will be a good investment.
Cultural Value is the true indicator of the true civilization, some would claim. Indeed, the amount of Cultural Value you have garnered through the ages represents that you have been able to fund not only life-supporting matters like food, but also more refined arts like architecture, philosophy and many more. Cultural Value is a collection consisting of a number that will grow as much as you put Culture resources into it (1 Culture resource is 1 Cultural Value point). Cultural Value determines the entire Cultural Income. Your Cultural Income is 2.5% of the total Cultural Value number that you have gathered through the ages. For example, if you have 200Cultural Value points at one time, you receive 5Culture/turn.
Besides giving culture income, Cultural Value provides RP-aspects. As your cultural value increases, you may design your own achievements, referring to the table below (with real world examples) to see how much culture you need to do certain things. Negotiate with your GM to make sure the cost of a certain plan you wish to achieve. Every cultural value point can only be used once, but if you spend 100Cultural Value points these points still exist to determine your Culture Income.
- Cathedral or other large temple = 50 Cultural Value points
- Shakespeare’s literature = 100 Cultural Value Points
- Eiffel tower = 125 Cultural Value Points
- Democracy = 200 Cultural Value Points
- The Great Wall = 225 Cultural Value Points
- Bible = 275 Cultural Value Points
- Pyramids of Egypt = 300 Cultural Value Points
(Please note that this table is rather difficult to create objectively, so don’t start arguing that the Eiffel Tower is worth more then the Pyramids; these are just examples picked from real world because they provide a good picture. The game will not feature real-world cultural achievements like this. (Though democracy or something like that could of course be used in the game) I hope that this will not prove too troublesome, especially because besides the cost it has no actual effect on the game rules)
Divine Manna Gathering is the replacement of Divine Magic as we know it in D&D. It represents the worshipping of a greater being or an otherwise spiritual force, in hopes of being blessed or spared the wrath of those worshipped. Manna (the indicator of how actively you have prayed to the gods) is produced easily: for every 1Culture resource you put into it, you get 1manna point back. This manna is then stored, until the worshipped ones decide that it is time to reward you for the homage you paid them.
This reward is very random and depending on the amount of manna you gathered, its boon can be enormous. Therefore, manna gathering represents a very risky but potentially lucrative enterprise. It can be anything, from a divine hand sweeping across the battlefields in your favor, a pestilence in your enemy’s city or a very good harvest. Their actions will however be according to their nature, so if you worship a good god it is unlikely that he will ‘bless’ you by sweeping decease across other kings’ lands. They will also regard your most direct needs often, but not always, so if you are attacked you would more likely receive a helping hand instead of a good harvest. You can pray for a particular blessing, but it is up to the gods if they will fulfill it. When a blessing occurs is also random. Sometimes they remain inactive for a long time and you gather large amounts of manna, and then suddenly make an all the more impressive blessing.

Happiness (Culture):
Happiness is the general collective term for your population’s pride, loyalty and happiness while living in your kingdom, as well as the reputation you have in foreign lands. When you spend money on this, it either means you are being generous to the people by granting them the proverbial food and plays in abundance, or you are being more totalitarian and you enforce obedience through military police, propaganda or simple fear. There are of course many more variants thinkable, and it is really up to you. All of these ways are represented by funding Happiness Upkeep, the only category within Happiness.
Happiness Upkeep is a variant on the other upkeeps, as you must keep Happiness Upkeep at a minimum or otherwise you will risk riots and general discontent. However, unlike other upkeeps, you may choose to spend more then the minimum and doing this will result in more happiness and reputation. Generally, if you keep funding on minimum upkeep, your people will be indifferent towards you. Raise it, and they are happy, lower it, and they will grow angry.
The minimum of the funding is determined by your population. For every 1000 people you will need to spend 1resource on Happiness Upkeep to maintain the minimum. For every 1% you go lower then this, your Happiness Rating will increase with 1%. Raise it 1%, and happiness will increase 1%.
For every 1% difference on the Happiness Rating, your people will work 1% harder or slower, thereby granting a 1% bonus on your total Economy Income. It is assumed that minimum Happiness Upkeep provides a Happiness Rating of 50%, and you can only raise or lower it from 1-100%.
For example, should you have a population of 20000 people, and a total Economy Income of 40/turn. Your minimum Happiness Upkeep will be at 20/turn. You decide that you will raise your Happiness Upkeep from 50% (Minimum) to 60%, raising the Upkeep with 10% to 22/turn. It also raises your Economy Income with 10% though, as it will now be 44/turn.
Besides this, some events may be triggered easier if your happiness is higher/lower, such as riots or festivals. More on events later.

[VemuKhaham]

Military units, their creation and costs:

You will not find a list here of all the possible units you may build during the game. Instead, what you will find here is a guideline for you as a player on how to create your own units, and make them playable in the game. This means, that if you would wish to build a basic spearman, you can create it yourself with the options given to you here. The flavor of the units (like their appearance and such) is entirely up to you, and you will need no rules for this besides the fact that if your kingdom doesn’t have iron you will not be able to say that a given unit has an iron armor or such. Most of this is self-explanatory. You will also need to establish a price for the units you develop, and this is also made possible here.

Here follows a step-by-step creation process of an example unit, namely a gnome iron sword-wielding, leather-armor wearing warrior riding a pony. First, I will need to translate these flavor-descriptions into game rules, so that I can determine the price. The following things I will need to determine, some are of my own choice while some were already chosen for me because of my race for example.

Size: by race. If your size is small, take 1 from the cost. If your size is large, add 1. For every other step, add or take away another 1.
My gnome is of small size, I can’t just decide I want him to be medium. Nevertheless, I do get a nice deduction from the price.

Speed: this is decided by size. Therefore, you don’t get any price differences for faster or slower speeds. This works mostly like D&D: 30ft. for medium characters (except for dwarves, who get 20ft.), 20ft. for small, 40ft. for large people. Overland travel also works with these speeds, only then you will have to divide the speed by 10 and the result is the amount of squares your armies may move each turn.
My gnome was small, and therefore has 20ft. combat speed and may move up to 2squares each round in overland travel.

BAB: This is decided by you. You may take any AB bonus as you want, provided that you have the resources to back it up (see chapter: Kingdoms borders, squares and mapping; strategic resources). If you have, decide how high the AB will be. The cost will be equal to the BAB, which can range from +0 to +10. Besides this, it also costs 1strategic good for each unit if it includes a strategic good.
For my gnome, I chose to give it an iron sword, and I assume I have iron. The choice of iron would give me a choice from +0 to +6, and I wish to have a +5BAB. Therefore, the cost will be +5 too. My gnome will now also cost me 1 iron, because of its sword.

AC: This works much like BAB. The same rules apply here for price as well as options dependant on materials. If I wish to have an armor that uses a strategic good, it costs me 1strategic good to do so. Once you've decided the AC bonus, add a standard 10 to these.
For my gnome I took a leather armor, which is inferior to all strategic goods and, though free, will give me only the option of an AC of +0 or +1. I choose +1, and therefore the price goes up with another 1, and my gnome's AC will be 11.

HP: It is a rule of thumb that all normal warriors, no matter what their strength, have 1HP. There is no way to change this. Therefore, AC doesn’t only mean you avoid a blow or your armor does it for you, but it also represents ones ability to shrug of a blow like nothing happened. If you wished to make tough warriors, invest in AC. This way, armies are easier to keep track of: HP=number.
So simply put, my gnome guy has 1HP, like anyone else.

DMG: This varies, but will not be determined during creation of the unit, as the amount of damage one unit can do is so small relative to large-scale battle standards, that it is not a stat that single units have, but instead it is determined by a combined stat of all units in the same formation. Therefore, check in the rules on warfare further in this guide for DMG.
Needless to say, my gnome is no exception to this rule.

Mount: It is possible that you wish to make your unit a mounted one. Mounted units have greater speed (the same as their mounts have – check the MM for specifics) and they give a +1bonus to AC and melee BAB, but a -2penalty to ranged BAB. To make a unit a mounted one, simply use 1 strategic good of ‘standard mount’ or ‘exotic mount’ (depending on the type of mount) and you are done. Rules on mounted units can be found elsewhere.
My gnome rides a pony (standard mount) and therefore costs 1strategic good (standard mount) extra. His speed is now 40ft/4squares and his AC12, melee BAB+6, ranged BAB +1.

Range: It is also a possibility to make your unit wield a ranged weapon. If a unit has a ranged weapon, its BAB with this weapon is determined in the same way as with a melee weapon. The costs are also determined the same way. It is possible for units to have both ranged and melee weapons. One thing you need to determine is the range of your ranged weapon. The max of your ranged weapons is determined by science (See chapter: Science). For each 10ft above 60ft. add +1 to the cost. You can’t go lower then 60ft to receive lower costs.
Assuming I have the tech to get this, I give my gnome a bow to give it more functionality. As it’s a second weapon, I only take a +3BAB, and the range is 60ft. This means this bow will cost me an additional +3, +1iron resource (these resources also apply to ranged weapons for simplicity, even though sometimes it seems weird) and 0costs for range.

Special: You may wish to add certain special abilities to a unit. For example, a Minotaur might wish to have an extra powerful charge. To avoid too much micro-management, special abilities such as this powerful charge may only be executed in battle by groups, and in such groups all members must have the ability. Therefore it is recommended that you install certain ‘special ability-troops’ that are considerable enough in number, if you wish to make use of a special ability in battle. Special abilities make a very abstract category and making rules on these is impossible. The rule is: you as a player may design your own special abilities, and the GM will decide whether it is allowed and what the cost will be. Design these special abilities in accordance with the FKo-battle rules please.
My gnome has no special abilities that I wanted, so I’m done quickly.

Final Price: To determine the price of one such unit, add 5 to the cumulative of all the above. Also, each soldier will cost you 1population.
Now I add the standard +5 to the costs and the total cost of 1 such gnome is14military production points, 2iron, 1standard mount and 1population.

That is all there is to it. I now have created a concept for a unit. It is recommended that you as a player make some of these concepts that you are comfortable with, so that you may produce many of these, and as such comprise your army of the different unit concepts.

In summary, my gnome now has the following concept:
Size: Small – cost: -1
Speed: 40ft/4squares – cost: 0
BAB: melee +6 – cost: +6 (1iron strategic good), ranged +3 – cost: +3(1iron strategic good)
AC: 10+1+1=12 – cost: +1
HP: 1 – cost: 0
DMG: depends on collective – cost: 0
Mount: pony – cost: 0 (1 mount strategic good)
Range: 60ft – cost: 0
Special: none – cost: 0
Costs: 14 (+1 mount, +2iron, 1population)

Don’t forget the flavor text!

As you might’ve noticed, this concept is not entirely ready for battle yet. In the next chapter, we will make sure that it will be.

[VemuKhaham]

The Rules of Warfare:[/u]

We have already discussed most of the stats that are involved in Large-scale battle, and in this chapter will be explained how they will interact.

Like in the previous chapter, I will use an example to explain things better. This will be based on a military force of my design, with a force of a 100 gnome warriors exactly like the example in the chapter above on one side, and on the other side a group of Minotaurs, comprised of multiple concepts of soldiers. The gnomes decide to split up their 100-size force into two forces of each 50 men. These are the following: (Note that the following concepts now represent a group of warriors, so that they can be used easier in battle. Concepts of a group are known as ‘units’. Also, cost is not included anymore because it is irrelevant in battle.)

20 Minotaur axe warriors
Size: large
Speed: 40ft/4squares
BAB: melee +6, range -
AC: 10+3=13
HP: 20
DMG: 1d4+1
Mount: none
Range: none
Special: powerful charge
Unit Bonus: Infantry

20 Minotaur axe throwers
Size: large
Speed: 40ft/4squares
BAB: melee +1, range +5
AC:10+1=11
HP: 20
DMG: 1d4+1
Mount: none
Range: 80ft
Special: none
Unit Bonus: Infantry

50 mounted gnome sword fighters
Size: Small
Speed: 40ft/4squares
BAB: melee +6, ranged +3
AC: 10+1+1=12
HP: 50
DMG: 1d10-1
Mount: pony
Range: 60ft
Special: none
Unit Bonus: Infantry

50 mounted gnome sword fighters
Size: Small
Speed: 40ft/4squares
BAB: melee +6, ranged +3
AC: 10+1+1=12
HP: 50
DMG: 1d10-1
Mount: pony
Range: 60ft
Special: none
Unit Bonus: Infantry

Now that we know the basic stats of each unit, including their number, we can determine things such as DMG and certain bonuses that come with their basic stats. Let’s begin with the unit of 50 gnomes. We’re going to take each of its already determined stats, and consider what it will mean to my own exemplary military force.

Number: the number of soldiers in a unit determines the size of the unit. For every soldier in it, a unit grows in size with at least one 5-foot square. The formation itself however is up to you. You may choose to give your unit a square-formation, or give it a line formation, or anything else you can think of. Also, you may decide to take a tight formation, which means two units may stand together in the same square, granting the entire unit +1 to AC, but a -1 to BAB. You may also choose a loose formation, which means all soldiers are at least 2 squares apart from each other. It grants a -1 to AC, and a +1 to BAB. Against siege weapons, tight formations grant a -1 to AC, instead of a +1, and loose formations grant a +1 to AC instead of a -1.
Number determines HP. As a rule, number = HP.
Number also determines damage, along with size and certain other factors. The dice of your damage roll is equal to the size of your unit divided by 5.
For our brave gnome riders this means one unit of 50 of them is 50 5-feet squares, which could be in any formation (later, under size, we’ll learn that in this case the size of the unit isn’t entirely true though). Their DMG is now 1d10, as they are with 50, and 50/5=10.

Size: Size is an important factor, both in formation and DMG. Small soldiers take up half the space of medium ones, so two soldiers make up one 5-foot square. Tight formation is 4 soldiers in one square, while loose formation is 1 soldier each square. Large soldiers take up four times the space of medium ones: one soldier takes up 4squares just like in D&D, and a tight formation means 2 soldiers in 4 squares. A loose formation means that there is at least 1 square between all of the soldiers unoccupied.
Size determines DMG. For every size category away from medium, you may add a bonus of +10% or -10% of the DMG dice to the DMG roll.
Our gnomes are small. This means they don’t take up 50 squares like said before, but 25, with two gnomes in each square. This means I could have a formation of 5 by 5 (five rows of five men).
Their DMG now gets a penalty of 10% of d10, which is 1. Our DMG is now 1d10-1.

Unit bonus: When you design your soldier concept, you also design its weapon/special training. While you do this, you may choose one type of unit against which it receives a +2 to damage. You may choose a soldier type from this list: infantry, mounted, mounted (exotic), archery, siege, magicians, monsters and kings. This resembles the training certain units receive against certain foes, as well as the advantage you get against a charging group of mounted knights when you have a spear. For example, it might also allow you to build wizard hunters, or dragon slayers. Whenever you do this, keep in mind that the GM will demand a reasonable explanation why your unit gains his bonus against the designated foe. Siege weapons don’t get to take this bonus, as they already have something like this against buildings.
The gnome riders are mounted, and therefore I decided that it would be reasonable to give them their bonus against infantry. They now receive +2 damage whenever fighting these.

[VemuKhaham]

Outside influences on combat and some other notes[/u]

Now that we have designed two armies in the two previous chapters (minotaurs and gnomes) we are ready to begin a fight. We know all we need to know to run a fight on its own, but every fight is influenced greatly by factors beyond the opposing forces themselves. In this chapter, we shall run through the most common outside influences, such as terrain, weather, and morale. Besides this, some advantages come through tactical maneuvering, and these will be handled here also. Of course, to include all possibilities on these areas would be impossible, and when it occurs that a situation provides an influence not handled within these rules, the GM shall make decisions on the spot.

Elevation: There are up to four levels of elevation in any given battle. These levels are ‘low elevation’, ‘medium elevation’, ‘high elevation’ and ‘cliff-like elevation’. These are relative terms, and might vary in height from map to map. The important thing to remember though is what happens when a unit fights with another unit and they stand on two different elevations. A unit is considered to be on the elevation level on which it has most of its squares. The effects are like this: for every 1 elevation you stand higher then your enemy, you gain +1 on your BAB and +1 on your AC. This also means that if you are on high elevation and your enemy on low elevation, you receive a +2 bonus on both. Cliff-like elevation works in the same way, but it isn’t possible to pass over the edges of such elevation (it’s a cliff), so melee combat isn’t a possibility from this elevation to another. Therefore, if you are on cliff-like elevation this bonus can only apply to the ranged attacks you make, and this bonus is also doubled to +2 per elevation you are higher then the enemy. So archers shooting from cliff-like elevation to medium elevation gain a +4 to their AC and ranged attack rolls.
Cover and concealment: It is often the case that the area a unit occupies is somehow less visible to the enemy. Some examples would be a forested area, a misty area, a corn field or an enemy in a building shooting through the windows. In these cases, the one inside the covered or concealed area will gain a bonus to AC, and have the opportunity to sneak. The amount of AC bonus depends on the amount of cover or concealment. Some examples would be: a thick forest +4AC, firing from the walls of a fortress +6AC, inside dense mist +2 AC, etc.
Sneaking is like move silently and hide as skills in D&D combined. If a unit is in a concealed or covered area, relative to the enemy, it can opt to sneak. No roll is needed to win the sneak (like was the case in D&D with spot vs. hide etc), as the sneaker always wins. If, during its sneak, the unit is caught by an enemy moving in line of sight with it, then the sneak will end automatically. If a unit attacks another unit within one turn after its sneaking, it gains a +4 attack roll against it, and adds 10% bonus to the damage it does.
Darkness grants concealment, so at night, any sneaking is possible almost at all times. Elevation can grant cover as long as you are behind a higher type of concealment and your enemy is on the other side of it. Undergrowth and such, as well as hiding underwater, work as concealment, not as cover.
Not a single concealment sneaking works within 20ft. of an enemy, even if you are still within the concealment.
Obstructions: Sometimes terrain, or a wall, or a body of water, or anything that hampers movement, can cross the path a unit wishes to take. Depending on the type of obstruction, it will then take a penalty to its movement, decided upon by the GM.
Wind: to infantry or cavalry, it is of no concern, but to every archery unit, the greatest ally or foe might be the wind. Every battle, the direction and fierceness of the wind will be decided by the DM. The wind can blow north, east, south and west. Its fierceness ranges from 0 to 50. If a unit of archers fires its objectiles into a direction that is opposite to the wind, its range increment lowers with the same number as the fierceness of the wind.
Morale: Every army has a shared morale score during battle or during peace-time, such as while traveling or being camped. This score is at its max 100, when all is well and spirits are well up. It can, however, drop to a minimal of -100, when terror strikes in the hearths of even the bravest souls. An army newly created starts with a full 100morale score.
Each turn, whether in battle or during monthly play, changes morale, for better or for worse. For every turn an army spends traveling in or outside its nation’s territory, or simply spends abroad (meaning outside of your territory) resting, its morale lowers with 4. This might be influenced by the type of terrain (see 1.7, terrain types). If a unit rests within comfortable lodgings, such as castles or other places with enough accommodation, outside the nation’s territory, this decrease is only 2 each turn. If a unit rests within its own nation’s territory and inside such comfortable lodgings, it does not decrease in morale; instead it recovers 10 morale each turn, up to the max of 100.

Whenever an army fights a battle, its units start the battle with the same number of morale the army had while not being in battle. Every turn during the battle, the army automatically looses 6morale score, because of the sheer terror of the battlefield. Besides this, whenever there is a single unit that falls during battle, add an extra 2 decrease on the morale score.
It is also possible to try and assault the enemy’s morale itself, by attempting an intimidation. To do this, the entire army must spend its entire turn shouting, taunting and showing their muscles or doing whatever is deemed nice to achieve the desired effect. Then, a roll is made, with a die as large in number as the total number of soldiers on the battlefield, and the one being intimidated must make one roll like this as well. Larger units count as four times their actual number, while huge creatures count as nine soldiers. Small units count only half as much. If the intimidation attempt is a success, the intimidated army takes a -10 to its morale.
Leaders present on the battlefield dramatically hamper the decrease in morale of their units. A king (PC) present among his forces decreases the automatic decrease of 6 during battle to a mere 2, as well as half the decrease in morale during travel and encampment.
A general (NPC) during battle lowers the decrease of morale to 4, as well as make the decrease during encampment and travel three-quarters of its original speed, rounded down.

But what happens if morale changes? For this, check the following table:

Morale score	Effect
100 to 75	+2AB/AC
74 to 50	+1AB/AC
49 to 25	+1AC
24 to -25	0
-26 to -50	-1AB
-51 to -75	-1AB/AC
-76 to 100	Desertion

Desertion can mean two things: one results from anger and the other from fear.
If morale lowers to -76 or less during battle, the army will flee the battle, towards your territory, or, if it’s already there, it will flee to the closest city that is still safe.
If it lowers so far while it is encamped or traveling, the army will disobey all further commands given by you or its current leader, looses all loyalty to its king, and possibly also to its nation, and will leave its current orders. It is very likely that you will never hear from these men again, if not through war cries from the other side of the battlefield.

Some last notes on battle[/u]

This is the way a battle map will look. The units of both sides are displayed through a square in their color, which at the same time indicates its size and formation. Note that every unit has in it a number and a letter. The number is the units ‘name’, going from 1 and up, making it possible to recognize the different types of units on the battlefield. The letter is either an ‘A’, meaning tight formation, ‘B’ meaning normal formation or ‘C’ meaning loose formation.


Next to the map, you can also see a description of all the different tiles and their meaning, as well as the wind rating (flag symbol). The wind direction given is the way the wind blows towards, not from.

It isn’t always possible to maintain the same scale. This map contains 42x44=1848squares, but sometimes, their will be simply too many soldiers running across the battlefield to house on a map of this size. Therefore, refer to the following table to decide what scale any given battle will be in:

Number of soldiers	Scale
<500	1square is 5ft.
501-5000	1square is 50ft.
5001-50000	1square is 500ft.

Etc. In this table, a large creature accounts for 4times as many soldiers, while a small creature is only 0.5 times this. The battle map given above is a normal 5ft-scale battle map, because the total amount of soldiers is (100x0.5)+(40x4)=210soldiers.

[VemuKhaham]

Magic

The world of Fantasy Kingdoms online would hardly be a Fantasy world if there was no magic in it. Not all kings will decide that magic will be a priority to invest in, but nevertheless all kings will have to be prepared to stand up to a foe armed to the teeth with scorching rays, magic armors and magic missiles, fireballs and spells directly drawn from the evil of the world. Therefore, here are the rules of magic, divided into the two main categories Divine and Arcane, just like magic itself. Finally, it will also discuss magic items.

P.S.: Psionic magic is not a part of FKo, for the simple fact that I do not own the books or know the rules, as well as that I do not think it would be a very good addition to a large-scale game as this.

Divine
Divine magic is already explained fully in chapter 1.11, under cultural production. However, it is important for the player to design something to which his prayers are directed, whatever that may be. The player is free in doing this, and of course it’s highly encouraged to make this as memorable as possible. Just brainstorm away with questions as: what will I pray to? Do I rule my country with high regards to religion? Do I enforce one particular religion or do I allow freedom of faith? What are the rituals, codes and traditions? Are there any interesting points in early history that define the religion? Etc.

Remember, religion very often has great impact on the way a kingdom is regarded by others. Wars have been fought over religion probably more often then over anything else. The way you make your religion (if you have one of course) might be of tremendous effect, and most likely in the end it will be more then just flavor text.

Arcane
It might not be as great a factor in world politics as divine magic might be (though that doesn’t necessarily need to apply), but Arcane Magic can be the decisive factor on the battlefield, where politics are put into practice.

The arcane magic is magic gained through study of the Art, one that is ancient and sophisticated. That does not mean that barbaric people are oblivious to arcane magic, as shamans are often found in between tribes of cannibalistic orcs. No, the Art has been spread worldwide, and anyone can learn it, if only he takes the time to do so.

Arcane magic is divided into the five schools of
- Fortification, which enhances ally’s military properties
- Corruption, which damages enemy’s military properties
- Protection, which wards off hostile magical attacks and has healing capabilities
- Infliction, which damages enemies physically
- Necromancy, the special art of the undead, which deals with life and death
These schools form the basic structure of arcane magic and its researching. For more on researching arcane magic, see the chapter on science.

You will be able to create your own spells in these schools. The strength of these spells might have a limit depending on scientific achievements, but besides this you are bound only by the rules you see here concerning spell creation in the six schools. However, know that every concept you create for a spell will have to be researched first.
The following parts must be considered when creating a spell in the six different schools. Each time when you choose a value to effect, the cost in spell points (SP) to use the spell once for wizards can be determined more closely if you take these steps:

Fortification: The following unit stats can be heightened through use of this school’s spells:
Size: You can increase the size of allied soldiers. SP: 20/1size category
Speed: You can enhance the speed of allied soldiers by 5, 10, 15ft. and so on. SP: 10/+5ft.
BAB: You boost the offensive power of allies by an amount specified by you. SP: 10/+1BAB
AC: You magically shield allies from physical harm. SP: 10/+1AC
Range: You bless missiles fired by allies with a safe flight. SP: 5/+5ft.

Corruption: See the effects of fortification on stats, but now make all the effects negative and the target of the spells hostile troops. E.g.: size can be decreased, speed slowed etc.

Protection: The following things can be achieved and affected by the school of Protection:
Heal: You can’t increase the maximum amount of HP, but you can heal lost HP of a unit. It costs 1SP/5HP healed.
Dispel: You try to remove any spell effects in place currently. In this case, you will have to adjudicate an amount of SP yourself, such as 15, and then use this number to add to your d20 roll to beat the DC of the spell in place, which is 10+SP used to cast it.
Magic Ward: The only way to prevent spells from succeeding is to protect the targets with a magic ward spell in advance. If soldiers are protected by a magic ward and a spell is cast upon them by an enemy force, he must roll a d20 and add to his roll the amount of SP he used for his spell, and beat the DC of 10+the adjudicated amount of SP used by the wizard who made the ward to enforce it. This amount the caster of the magic ward must decide while he casts this spell. You can’t dispel a magic ward, but the ward is broken forever once it is breached once.
Inspire: A leader can be greatly supported by wizards when keeping up morale. Especially as during battle, wizards are the only force to raise it. It affects the entire army. Costs are 2SP/1morale boost.

Infliction: This school can inflict damage of all kinds upon enemies:
Damage: Wizards can deal tremendous HP damage to foes. It costs 1SP/5HP damage he wishes to deal to an enemy unit.
Turn undead: Wizards who use the powers of the school of Infliction to battle the undead can do so. This type of spell damages undead more then other enemies at a cheaper cost. 1SP/10HP taken from undead unit.
Disease: A wizard may try and bring nausea upon his enemies. If he does so, the targeted enemies can’t take any further actions for some rounds. 5SP/1round.
Fear: A wizard may manipulate the powers of magic to bring fear upon his enemies. If cast, the wizard tries to frighten the entire army of the opponent at once. 2SP/1morale penalty.

Necromancy: This school is basically a single spell; a corruption of magical energy designed by the undead, and may only be cast by members of their evil kin. It is a new school because it fits under none of the others and the mechanics of casting are vastly different due to its black nature.
Unholy Blight: Necromancers bring death upon their living enemies. However, those who die under these effects rise again in the capital of the undead and serve the undead purposes. 2SP/5HP killed. Remember: 1HP=1soldier that rises. The cost of the concept of these undead followers may not exceed 5/soldier, but is otherwise to be designed by the player.

When you have decided what type of effect you wish your new spell to have, you must then decide the two other important factors: duration and number of targets. The spells Heal, Dispel, Inspire, Damage, Turn Undead, Fear, and Unholy Blight don’t have a duration, and disease already has its duration determined by now. The spells Heal, Damage, Turn Undead and Unholy Blight already have the amount of targets determined by now, as well as Fear and inspire, which affects the entire army.

Max Number of Targets: The max amount of targets must be determined while creating a new spell concept. Note that this amount will be a max. If you wish to cast a spell with Max number of targets 1000 upon a group of 300soldiers, you may do so, but at the same cost. If you, however, wish to cast the same spell on a group of 1200, you may not do so with this spell concept. Also, note that you can’t cast a spell on a part of a single unit, and therefore, when the amount of soldiers in a unit is too high, you must either split the unit or not cast the spell. You may, on the other hand, cast a single spell on multiple separate units, if the total number of soldiers doesn’t exceed the spells max.

The cost in SP to cast the spell once is changed by the max number of targets. For every extra 100 soldiers added to the max above a standard 100, increase the SP cost with 1.

Duration: As you make the concept for a spell, you must determine the amount of turns it remains active. Doing so affects the spell’s effectiveness greatly, but it also affects the SP cost. For every extra turn above 1, add another 3SP to the cost.

Summary: This is all you need to do when creating spell concepts. For clarity, here is an example of creating a spell concept that I will call haste (like the spell in the PhB):
Because I want my spell to speed up my allies, my spell is from the school of Fortification. Because my scientific research is capable of researching my new spell concept idea, I have my spell hasten allies with 15ft. Therefore, the SP cost is now 30. Now, I need to determine the max number of targets my spell can affect, and I wish this to be 500. The first 100 are free, so now I need to increase the SP cost with 4, because I pay 1 for every 100 soldiers over 100. Last, I need to determine duration. I want the duration to be 3turns, so I add another 3x3=9 cost to my SP. Total it up (30+4+9) and my spell haste will cost a wizard 43SP whenever he wishes to cast it.

[VemuKhaham]

Creating wizards: First things first: wizards are extremely rare. Arcane magic is, at the same time, not something many people have ever laid their eyes upon. However, do not fear that you will therefore never have a wizard or something like that. Instead, they will be present, but in a battle do not expect there to be entire units of wizards (unless this is really a BIG battle). Wizards will be individual units, each on his own, but perhaps standing besides each other. A wizard is always a unit on himself. Because they are rare, you will need to be careful with them. You might consider giving them sufficient rewarding, or at least prevent them from turning away from you. Whatever you do with them, remember they can be very powerful.

Wizards are ‘created’ with material components, a rare resource. Every wizard has a base price of 25material components, and this can only go up according to your extra wishes. To train a single wizard, do the following, step by step:

Determine HP: wizards are somewhat an exception to the rule of HP=number. A wizard starts with 50hp, at least, and for every 10extra HP you wish to give him, the cost to create him will rise with 1material component.
Determine AC: a wizard needs an AC. They automatically have an AC of 10, and for every +1 you wish to add to this, add 1material component to the cost. Because wizards often have other means to protect themselves, you need not pay with ordinary armor.
Determine Max Spell Points Amount: One of the most important stats to a wizard. A wizard has a Max SP amount of 50 as basis, but you may add 10 to this for every 1material component you pay extra. Spell points recover to full at every new battle.
Speed and mounts: A wizard’s speed is determined by his size like any soldier. A wizard may have a mount, which costs 1 standard or exotic mount, depending on what it rides. A wizard gains no advantages out of being mounted, except for his speed.
Determine spell range: a spell’s range depends on its caster. Standard range of a wizard is 50ft, but for every 1extra spell component, this increases 5ft.

That’s it. You now know how to create a wizard, and you have learned how to create your wizard’s spell repertoire. Once a wizard is created, he may use any of the spell concepts you have created at any given time in the battlefield, provided that he has the SP.

Magic Items

In the world of Gent, many rumors abound of powerful and enchanted items hidden in the darkest corners of the deepest dungeons. Where they come from is unknown, but in many regions people have their own legends and myths to explain such obscurities. Some of these items are swords, some are crowns, some are rods, but none look the same. However, their rarity often makes people unaware of their existence, and when they do appear, after being found by a fortunate and lost soul, it is a very strange occurrence indeed. Some of these items even become famous on themselves, after being past on from father to son for centuries. None of them have the same tale or the same power, and therefore it is impossible to give detailed explanations of them. All that can be said is that they exist, and that they are powerful.

[VemuKhaham]

Science

There are many ways to improve your nation’s greatness. Some nations seek to expand their military might, so that others must recognize their superiority by force. Others are known the world over for their great artistic achievements, and through their reputation they express their society’s greatness. Even others seek wealth above all, believing that gold and trade can purchase fame and glory.

However, all of them would be foolish to deny that within science lays the ultimate decisive factor for development; regardless of whether scientists seek to create machines of war, new ways to construct greater buildings of pride, or ways to increase the productivity of the people. In this chapter, you will find many ways to improve your civilization through scientific research, as well as the rules on how to do it.

Wealth Input
The most important factor on how fast scientific research will go in your kingdom is the amount of Wealth you put into it. Every type of development has a cost in wealth, and as soon as this wealth is paid for, the development is done and you, from then on, can gain the profits required through researching it. However, it is impossible to put more then 25% of your total Economy income each turn in science. This rule ensures that, the larger your kingdom becomes and the more wealth it earns each turn, the more science it can fund and the amount of scientists and scientific facilities there can be. E.g. when you earn 100Economy each turn, you could choose to put 0-25 into science. Every turn, this value then gets subtracted from your wealth, but gets added to the already paid for part of the current research.

It is possible to research more then one research at a time, but it will then of course go much slower, because the input limit still applies, and you will have to divide the input between multiple researches.

Researches
Here follows a list of all the researches available, along with their costs and effects.

Military Researches
Weaponsmithing: research this to increase the knowledge of crafting weapons, both ranged and melee. It affects the attack value of your soldiers, and therefore it affects AB. You start the game at 0AB as max bonus. Every time you complete this research, you gain 1extra AB as max bonus. This can be repeated until you reach 10. At this time, if you have the proper material, you may build units with a 10AB. The cost goes up each time you research this, beginning at 50 to reach 1AB and from then on increasing with steps of 10, so 60, 70 etc.

Armorsmithing: this research goes much like weaponsmithing, only it increases AC instead of AB. The costs are the same, as well as the steps you may research.

Speed: you may choose to increase the speed of your military units, which can be achieved by e.g. creating lighter equipment, better traveling gear etc. However, this research does NOT affect overland traveling speed, only combat traveling speed. You may research this by steps of 5ft. speed increase, and the limit is 20ft., reached after researching this four times. Every time you research, the cost goes up with 25, starting at 75.

Range: It is possible to invent better ways to create your bows, balance your thrown weaponry etc. If you research this, you increase the range of all your ranged weapons by 5ft. at a time. The costs are 30 at first, but grow every time you research it again with 10. You start the game with a range of 60ft, but the limit of this research is 120ft.

Unit Bonus: as explained in chapter 1.13, some units excel against other units. You have the option to increase their expertise, through more advanced training or through more specialist equipment, for example. The bonus starts at +2, but can be researched up to +5. Research costs are 30 at first, but increase with 10 every time thereafter. This bonus applies to only one type of soldier, chosen from the same list as given on chapter 1.13: infantry, mounted, mounted (exotic), archery, siege, magicians, monsters and kings. This means that you must specify beforehand which of these units the increased bonus will be against. Once researched, the new increased bonus applies only to the soldiers who have that particular bonus.

Advanced Formations: In researching this, you increase the overall level of training, and therefore the effectiveness at which formations are carried out. The research affects the bonus you receive from particular formations, i.e. tight or loose formations. First time you research this, you will increase both the +1AC and the +1AB bonus you gain through tight/loose formation to +2, and the penalty stays the same, -1. If you research it again, the bonus becomes +3, and the penalty stays -1. If you research it a final time, your bonus will become +4, but your penalty rises to -2 as well. Normal formation always remains the same. The modifiers against siege weapons aren’t changed through researching this. The costs are steep though, for the first time you research this it costs 100, the second time 200 and the third time 250.

Exotic Mounts: Everyone can ride a horse, pony or a camel and such, but when it comes to riding elephants, griffons, dolphins, wolves and even dragons, things become much harder at a sudden. However, all of these animals and monsters can be tamed and learned to ride, with the proper skill and profession. For every sort of exotic mount you wish to be able to use as such, you must research this research again. The costs are 35xHD, as given in the MM3.5. Once you know how to ride an exotic mount, you may forever use that creature type as mount, with the special advantages (or possible disadvantages) that come with them.

Architectural and Infrastructural Researches
Roads: it is possible to increase the effectiveness of your roads, but only the stone ones. You can increase the movement bonus of +2 of stone roads with 1 at a time. However, you can only increase the stone roads bonus to +5. The first time you research this it costs 200, and every research thereafter costs an additional 100. Normal roads can’t be upgraded, because they represent paths created by much traffic, not through real construction.

Bridges: one of the most representative aspects of development in architecture is the length bridges can be. Some rivers, ravines, or other incrossable areas are simply too wide to build a bridge across. However, each time you research this, you may cross 5ft more then before. You start able to cross only 30ft, and there is no limit on this research. The broadness of rivers and such you can ask to the GM. The cost to research this once is 50, and this stays the same.

Cultural production: Chapter 1.11 shows players a way to express their greatness through all kinds of cultural achievements. However, despite the size of the labour force, the years spend in production or the materials provided, some works are simply too complicated to be done. (Note that, despite the sub-title above, this also applies to non-architectural achievements) The amount of Cultural Value Points you may invest in one such miracle work is dependant on this research. You start at 50, and each time you research this you may add 25 to that. The costs are 50, and do not increase, nor do they have a limit.

Divine and Arcane Magic
Religion: This research represents how sophisticated you are in your religious ways, and therefore the effectiveness of your prayer. Normally, for every Cultural Production point you put into Divine Manna Gathering, you receive one manna point. However, this ratio can be improved with steps of 1 through research. There is no limit to this research. The costs are 100 for every time you increase with 1.

Inventing Arcane Spell Concepts: It is the Art of the Arcane to try and create more ways to use magical energy, which is done through much experimenting. Each time you create a new concept for a spell, you must research this once before being allowed to use it. The cost is always 25.

The Arcane Art: This arcane research doesn’t deal with inventing the spells, but rather it deals with expanding the potential of your spells. Right at the beginning you can’t just cast every spell possible: instead you are limited to spells that aren’t higher then 20SP in total. If you wish to increase this, you can do so, with steps of 1. Every time you research this, it costs 35. There is no limit to the amount of times you research this.

Shipwrighting, Siegecraft and Engineering
[Yet to come, but currently rules on these are not done yet]

---

This chapter’s research list might expand further as I think of new things.

[VemuKhaham]

Events

	Grass	Plain	Hill	Mount	Forest	Jungle	Marsh	Desert	Tundra	L/R/S	Ocean
Special	01-05	01-05	01-05	01-05	01-05	01-05	01-05	01-05	01-05	01-05	01-05
Festivals	06-15	06-15	06-15	06-10	06-10	06-10	06-10	06-10	06-10	06-15	X
Riots	16-25	16-25	16-25	11-20	11-25	11-25	11-25	11-25	11-25	16-25	X
Hunts	26-30	26-30	26-35	21-35	26-30	26-30	26-30	26-30	26-30	X	06-20
Plagues	X	X	X	X	31-40	31-45	31-50	X	X	26-35	X
Fires	31-35	31-35	X	X	41-45	X	X	X	X	X	X
Floods	X	X	X	X	X	46-55	51-60	X	31-40	36-50	21-40
Droughts	36-40	36-45	X	X	X	X	61-70	31-60	X	51-55	X
Landslides	X	X	36-45	36-45	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Locusts	41-50	46-55	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Bandits	X	X	46-55	46-55	46-55	X	X	61-70	X	56-65	41-50
Unique	51-55	51-55	56-60	56-60	56-60	56-60	71-75	71-75	41-45	66-70	51-55

Random Event/Encounters Table:

Use this table when determining whether or not an event takes place. Rather than rolling for each square occupied by a kingdom, the rolls are limited to those squares that are being used by the kingdom. “Being used” means either that a city is on the square, an army is travelling through it, squares that have been annexed one turn ago, or any such occurrence that the GM deems worthy of having a chance that an event takes place.

To determine if an event takes place in each used square, you must first roll a D20 per used square per month. On a roll of 1, an event takes place. There are things that would increase this chance per month: when you have 20squares in your kingdom, the chance increases to 2/20; when you have 40squares, it becomes 3/20, and every time you double the size of your kingdom this way, add 1/20 to the chance of an event taking place. Once a die roll confirms an event, roll a D100 and consult the above table, choosing the type of terrain of the square in which the event took place. That will reflect which event takes place. For rolls not appearing on the table, nothing of note occurred.
As for determining the effects and descriptions, here is a rough idea of what each event results in. Special events will be noted at the end.

Festivals: In every kingdom, there exists the potential for the populace to gather and rejoice in the booming economy or to celebrate their happiness. Most festivals are brought about by the citizens, but there are some that depend on the influence of the kingdom’s leader to aid. When this event is rolled, the player has the chance of donating a small sum of goods towards the celebration. While this does allow for some resources to be lost, it may come back with interest. The player may choose to donate no more than 5 Economy Points towards the celebration. Once done, the gathering takes place, and another roll is made to determine the effects of your donation. Roll one D20. You may add your donation modifier to this roll as well. The outcome shows your return on your donation, as others from around the kingdom have flocked to your festival, and spent money. Rolls of 1-8 yield no return. Rolls 9-13 yield a full return. Rolls 14-18 yield a 200% return on your donation. Rolls 19-24 yield a 300% return on your donation. A roll of 25 will yield a special circumstance, with a 300% return on your donation, one Resource Point to use as you wish, and a potential future employee, who comes to you with a rumour of a nearby kingdom. The GM will determine the rumour and its contents.
Regardless of all this, when an event takes place in a given turn, that turn has no costs for happiness upkeep if it stays the same as it was before. The benefit may be spent freely.

Riots: Even though all may be well in your kingdom, there are still chances of uprisings throughout your kingdom. These are usually bitter individuals, who have gathered enough followers to wreck havoc on your people. They run the streets, pilfering, destroying and damaging all that lies in their path. When this occurs, you must deal with it quickly. Dispersing troops to capture the individuals is one such way. Dispersing troops deals with allotting a certain amount of troops to the town, as a sort of guard. You may send 100 troops into the town. They will then seek out the individuals in charge and deal with them swiftly. Once troops are sent into town, you will lose their services should battle ensue this month. After all, they are dealing with the riots and seeking out the leader to make sure it does not happen again. After the month is over, you regain their service but still pay their upkeep for the month. The riots will continue until you have sent these troops.
Besides this, for every turn a riot continues unhindered, you suffer a -10 Economy Income penalty.

Riots and Festivals are each other’s opposites. When your people are happy, they will celebrate, when they’re upset, they will riot. Therefore, chances of festivals and riots can change. For every 2% above 50% happiness upkeep you have, you may add 1% to the chance of a festival occurring, and subtract this point from riot chances. For every 2% lower then 50%, the opposite occurs.

Hunts: These are the more suitable events for a kingdom such as this. There are plenty of wild game, monsters, and various encounters that are sure to draw most kingdoms to pick up arms and deal with them. On rare occasions, these hunts may prove worthy. You have been asked by some hunters to aid in capturing a wild beast nearby your Kingdom. The success of the hunt brings various rewards. This is a game of chance. Roll one D20, and add any modifiers for BAB. On a roll of 1-9, you have fought well, but in vain. The beast was on its own ground, and was able to fend you off easily. During the hunt, your King Character got wounded and is unable to get out of his capitol city for 1d6 turns. On a roll of 10-15, you have managed to fell the beast, and gain a new hide as a trophy. Keep track of these trophies, for if you have assembled 10trophies you may trade them for 1triumph. On a roll of 16-19, you have had a great hunt. You gain the trophy of the beast, as well as a boost in morale of 5% for all troops for 1d4 months, should battle come into play. On a roll of 20 and higher, you have shown your great tactics and battle prowess. You have gained the trophy as a hide, as well as found the beast’s lair. Inside the lair, you have found a place that you may use strategically in battle, gaining a very advantageous strategic environment, should you use it. This only applies for one square.
Plagues: With medicine being in short supply, and minds not attuned to dealing with large scale epidemics, plagues are not in short supply. With the climates changing, terrain of various animals, and the nutrition of these times, plagues seem to be around when you least expect them. If you should happen to contract a plague in your kingdom, do not despair. There is still hope. With a high enough Cultivation, you may come out with minimal losses. If you have reached a high enough level of technology, you may reduce your losses to your population. When a plague hits, you lose ten people per square you own. This shows the rapid spread through a greater population. For every technological advance you have acquired, you may reduce that loss by 10. This shows that you have the knowledge to seek out a cure at a quicker pace than normal.