Principality Development System

We are now hopefully only a few sessions of playtime before you are choosing where to found your
new Principality. Once you have properly established your expedition and founded your first
settlement, we will need to have a system for the development and management of your growing
principality. As such, I have attempted to hash out a system drawing from the Pathfinder Kingmaker
game that inspired this adventure while still trying to mirror the WFRP system.

1) Characteristics
Your principality is described by the characteristics set out below, each of which will consist of a
number between 1 and 100 much like your character’s characteristics. The first two of these are
effectively forms of “HP” and should they ever reach 0 your principality will cease to exist.

Population- An abstract figure representing the number of citizens. This characteristic also acts
as a limit on development, as none of your primary or secondary characteristics can
exceed your current Population Characteristic +10.

Loyalty- The level of obedience you can expect to command from your populace, whether
through fear, inspirational leadership, a sense of community or all the above. You
will also gain bonuses or penalties to Principality tests depending on your current
level of loyalty:

Current Loyalty Level % Effect

0 Rebellion!: Your Principality falls as

your government is deposed.

1-20 Hateful: Citizens spit after saying your

name and openly speak of you with
contempt. Suffer -20 to tests.

21-40 Resentful: Citizens mutter behind

closed doors as many question your
competence to lead.

Suffer a -10 to tests.

41-70 Average: Your citizens feel neutral

about you

71-89 Supportive: Even the most churlish of

citizens remark that your performance
is “Not bad…considering”. Gain +10 to
tests.

90-100 Fanatical: Citizens praise your name

and will not hear a word said against
you. Gain +20 to tests

Primary Characteristics:
Infrastructure This is a measure of the state of the roads, housing, and public facilities available to
your citizens, as well as your ability to feed and water your populace.

Religion- This measures both the piety of your citizens and the regard that the major cults of
the Old World have for your principality.

Military- The force of arms you can bring to bear both in defence of your lands and the
invasion of others.

Economy- An approximation of both the liquid wealth your government can hold and the
output of the various industries and businesses within your land. Importantly this is
also the characteristic you will use to fund the growth of your principality.

Relations- Your fame, standing and diplomatic relations both with other fiefdoms within the
Border Princes and with other nations in the Old World and beyond. Importantly this
is also the characteristic you will use to attract more people to your settlement and
increase your population.

Secondary Characteristics:
These stats will not initially be relevant to a small settlement struggling to survive. However, as you
develop your burgeoning principality more sophisticated tools will become available to you.

To represent this, while you will initially only have the primary characteristics available, the
Secondary Characteristics will “unlock” once the base primary characteristic reaches 40 or more.
Typically, each Primary Characteristic will unlock a specific secondary characteristic as set out below.

Expertise- A measure of the number of highly skilled, hard to find find experts, craftsmen and
professionals within your principality. Importantly this will also dictate whether you
can obtain scarce, rare or exotic equipment from within your own lands. Typically
derived from Infrastructure.

Arcane- A measure of both the power and amount of spellcasters within your principality,
whether college approved or not, and the amount of scholarly learning on the winds
of magic and their effects. Typically derived from Religion.

Culture- The amount of entertainment available to your citizens as well as the works of art
and academia produced by them. This will also measure the regard that artists and
philosophers and academics will have for your principality. Typically derived from
Economy.

Justice- The effectiveness of law enforcement within your lands; both in terms of watchmen
policing crimes, the effectiveness of the punishments available to criminals and the
legal system’s ability to resolve disputes between citizens. Typically derived from
Military.

Espionage- The ability of your government to uncover secrets, both among your own citizens
and from rival fiefdoms and nations. This also measures your effectiveness at
counterespionage. Typically derived from Relations.

OPTIONAL RULE: Should the players wish to develop an atypical society then, with GM approval,
they can choose to activate an alternative characteristic if the makeup of the Principality justifies it.
If this approach is taken then the typical Secondary Characteristic can either be unlocked once that
same Primary Characteristic reaches 80, or linked to another Primary Characteristic that reaches 40
if there is justification

Example: Von Mittledorfia has developed a devout populace and has now attained a Religion
Characteristic of 40. Generally, this would result in the Arcane Secondary Characteristic being
unlocked to represent the careful monitoring of magical study and practice by religious institutions.
However, the Players decide that they wish to develop an unusual society and instead choose to
unlock Justice, representing the founding of a Verenian inquisition that directly administers and
enforces the law throughout the Principality. If the players wish to unlock Arcane, they could wait
until they reach 80 Religion, or alternatively unlock it when another characteristic reaches 40.
Eventually the Principality’s Military Characteristic reaches 40 and the players decide to use this
unlock the Arcane Secondary Characteristic to represent that all magic practitioners within the
Principality are regulated by and part of the army.

2) Advisors
Each of your primary and secondary characteristics will be managed by an advisor, who can either be
an NPC or one of the PCs. When making a test against one of your principality’s characteristics your
advisor adds a bonus to the characteristic as follows:

(Relevant characteristic Bonus) + (Relevant skill bonus) + 2 per rank in a relevant talent.

Example: Luther Wolfenbaum has just been appointed Commander of the Principality’s Military
which is currently 23. Given he has a Weapon Skill of 55 and a Leadership Skill of 45 he adds an
additional 9 points for the purposes of tests. Furthermore, he has 1 rank in each of the Etiquette
(Soldiers), Unshakable and War Leader talents adding a further 6 points, for a total of a +15 bonus.
He therefore rolls against 38 (before any difficulty modifiers are applied) when testing against the
Principality’s Military score.

Principality Typical Position Title Relevant Relevant Skill

Characteristic Characteristic

Infrastructure Burgomeister Dexterity Lore (Engineer)

Religion High Priest Will Power Pray

Economy Treasurer Intelligence Haggle

Military Commander Weapon Skill Leadership

Relations Ambassador Fellowship Charm

Expertise Guildmaster Dexterity Trade (Any)

Arcane Magister Will Power Language (Magick)

Culture Curator Fellowship Art (Any)

Justice Warden Initiative Lore (Law)

Espionage “Minister” Intelligence Gossip

3) Principality Development
Principality Development occurs between adventures with each phase representing one month
passing in the game world.

This will run alongside the Endeavour system, to describe what the player characters are doing in
their downtime as individuals. Endeavours are generally assumed to take a week, but to make things
easier we will say that there are 3 endeavours for each month that passes.

Each Development phase is broken up into four stages:

Step 1: Determine Population growth

At the start of each phase, the Ambassador will roll against the Principality’s Relations characteristic.
The Population will then increase by the population bonus plus or minus the degrees of success or
failure on the Relations test.

Example 1: At the start of the phase the principality has a population of 28. As the current
Ambassador, Lady Brunhilde von Mittledorf rolls against the current Relations of the settlement of
44. She rolls a 39, obtaining one degree of success. The population therefore increases by 3 (2
Population bonus + 1 degree of success). The population is now 31.

Example 2: After another month it is once again time to roll to grow the settlement. The current
population is now 31 and the Lady von Mittledorf rolls once more against the relations of 44,
however this time disaster strikes as she rolls an 85, scoring 4 degrees of failure. As a result, the
population of the principality drops by 1 (3 Population Bonus-4 degrees of failure). It seems
advertising that “ill-washed, ill-mannered and uncouth individuals need not apply” may have
backfired…

Step 2: Determine Build Points

Next the players determine how many resources they have this month to develop the settlement. To
do this the Treasurer will roll against the Principality’s Economy Characteristic. The Principality will
then generate build points equal to the Economy Bonus plus or minus the degrees of success or
failure on the Economy test.

Example: As the current Treasurer, Bradni Forgehand rolls against the Principality’s current Economy
of 32. He rolls a 31, scoring zero degrees of success. For this phase the Principality therefore has 3
build points to spend (3 Economy Bonus + 0 degrees of success).

Step 3: Spend Build Points

The players may spend the principality’s build points as they wish. These may be used to increase
the Primary and Secondary characteristics of the Principality, to found new settlements and outposts
or to construct landmark buildings in existing settlements. For more details on these options refer to
Spending Build Points below.

Step 4: Deal with Events

Few plans go smoothly and without incident, particularly in the lawless and untamed lands of the
Border Princes. To represent this, each month there will be number of random events that occur
which affects the principality. These events can be positive, negative, or somewhere in between.

Either way, it will be for the players to determine how the principality is to approach the event and
the players must describe how the issue is to be resolved. The GM will then determine which
characteristic is the most appropriate to test given the suggested solution, and the relevant advisor
will test that characteristic. The GM will also assign a bonus or a penalty to the test based on how
effective or appropriate the plan appears to be. Should the roll succeed it is likely that the
principality will benefit, leading to increases in characteristics or possibly extra build points to spend.
Should the roll fail then usually the issue will still be dealt with, but it will lead to a drop in
Population and/or Loyalty and may lead to some of the Principality’s characteristics being reduced.

Note that each advisor is only able to address one event each phase.

Example: Disaster has come to the Principality as a chronic pie shortage in one of the villages cause
the halflings living there to seize the town hall and tar and feather the village Ealdorman in protest.
The players quickly decide that the best solution is one of force, sending in the Principality’s soldiers
to restore order. The GM decides that this will be an easy (+20) test as the Halflings are not really
looking for an outright fight. Luther Wolfenbaum, as the current Commander, therefore tests against
58 (being the current Military Characteristic of 38 accounting for the advisor bonus and a further +20
for the difficulty).

Unfortunately, disaster strikes again as Luther rolls a 74, scoring two degrees of failure. The halflings’
well-crafted insults goad the soldiers into violence and most of the halfling pie seekers are killed in
the ensuing melee. While the issue has been dealt with the Principality loses 2 Population to
represent both the slain halflings and others who choose to leave after witnessing the violence.

4) Spending Build Points

Build points can be used to develop the Principality in various ways:

1) Increasing Characteristics:
Build Points can be spent to directly increase the Principality’s primary characteristics on a point for
point basis. However, spending points in this way cannot increase the base characteristic above 50.
Furthermore, you cannot increase a base Characteristic to more than 10 above your Population
Characteristic.

Example: Having generated 3 Build Points at the start of the phase the players decide to invest in
improving the Religion of the Principality, currently at 27. They decide to spend all 3 points and so
increase it to 30.

2) Founding settlements
When founded, the Principality will only consist of 1 settlement (a village). After this, 3 Build Points
can be spent to establish a new village, allowing for the claiming of further resources. However, a
Principality is limited to a number of settlements equal to its Population bonus.

Example: Following a few good months of growth the population of the Principality has risen to 38.
Currently there are two villages within the Principality and the players therefore decide to establish a
third. They therefore spend 3 Build Points from those generated this month to establish the new
village of Schweindorf.

3) Upgrading Settlements
As a Principality develops, villages can be upgraded into towns at a cost of 5 Build Points and a town
can be upgraded into a city at a cost of 8 Build Points. This allows for the construction of more
sophisticated buildings and the claiming of more natural resources. However, in order to support a
town there must be two villages to support it, and similarly there must be two towns in place to
support a city.

Example: A further month has passed in the Principality after the founding of Schweindorf. Players
decide that it is time to upgrade their other village of Vonmittledorfia into a town to better serve as
their capital. They therefore spend 5 of their build points to upgrade the village into a town. The
Principality now has one town with two villages to support it.

4) Establishing outposts
As you explore and govern your Province, it is likely that you will find multiple resources within your
lands which you will wish to exploit. Doing so will grant your Principality an increase to Economy and
possibly other bonuses depending on the resource in question. To exploit such a resource an outpost
must be established at a cost of 1 Build Point. However, the number of outposts that your
Principality can support is dictated by the size and number of settlements you have founded:

Settlement Type Number of Outposts Supported

Village 1

Town 3

City 5

Example 1: Recently the players discovered an area of fertile meadows near Schweindorf perfect for
grazing animals. Currently the Principality has two outposts, an iron mine and a clay pit, but having
founded the third village of Schweindorf, up to 3 outposts can now be supported. The players
therefore spend 1 Build Point and establish a pig farm on the outskirts of Schweindorf. This causes
the Principality’s Economy to rise by 3, its Infrastructure to rise by 2 due to the additional food supply
and even increases the Principality’s Loyalty by 2 thanks to the ample supply of bacon.

5) Constructing Landmark Buildings

Build Points can also be spent in order to construct significant landmark buildings within the
Principality’s settlements. These buildings can increase the Primary and Secondary Characteristics of
the Province, and many will also provide other bonuses. More sophisticated buildings can only be
constructed in a Town or even a City.

Settlement Type Number of Landmark Buildings Supported

Village 3

Town 8

City 12

A full list of available Landmark Buildings is available for now here are two by way of example:

Building Build Point Cost Build Time Benefit

Shrine 2 1 week +2 Religion, +1 Economy if the

settlement is on a trade route, +10 to
all Religion Tests to resolve issues in
 the settlement involving the
dedicated deity.

Wooden Palisade 3 2 weeks +2 Military, +1 to Loyalty, gain +20 to

Military tests to defend this
settlement from external threats.