Treasury (back)

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The units of a kingdom's wealth and productivity are build points (BP). Build points are an abstraction representing the kingdom's expendable assets, not just gold in the treasury. Build points include raw materials (such as livestock, lumber, land, seed, and ore), tangible goods (such as wagons, weapons, and candles), and people (artisans, laborers, and colonists). Together, these assets represent the labor and productive output of your citizens.

You spend BP on tasks necessary to develop and protect your kingdom—planting farms, creating roads, constructing buildings, raising armies, and so on. These things are made at your command, but they are not yours. The cities, roads, farms, and buildings belong to the citizens who build them and use them to live and work every day, and those acts of living and working create more BP for the kingdom. As the leaders, you use your power and influence to direct the economic and constructive activity of your kingdom, deciding what gets built, when, and where.

Build points don't have a precise exchange rate to gold pieces because they don't represent exact amounts of specific resources. For example, you can't really equate the productivity of a blacksmith with that of a stable, as their goods are used for different things and aren't produced at the same rate, but both of them contribute to a kingdom's overall economy. In general, 1 BP is worth approximately 4,000 gp; use this value to get a sense of how costly various kingdom expenditures are. In practice, it is not a simple matter to convert one currency to the other, but there are certain ways for your PC to spend gp to increase the kingdom's BP or withdraw BP and turn them into gold for your character to spend.

Providing a seed amount of BP at the start of kingdom building means your kingdom isn't starving for resources in the initial months. Whether you acquire these funds on your own or with the help of an influential NPC is decided by the GM, and sets the tone for much of the campaign. The GM may also allow you to discover a cache of goods worth BP (instead of gp) as a reward for adventuring, giving you the seed money to found or support your kingdom.

Starting From Scratch
It's not easy to start a kingdom—probably the reason everyone doesn't have one. If you are founding a kingdom on your own, without an external sponsor or a fantastic windfall of resources, the initial financial costs can be crippling to PCs. Even building a new town with just a House and an Inn costs 13 BP—worth over 50,000 gp in terms of stone, timber, labor, food, and so on. To compensate for this (and encourage you to adventure in search of more gold that you can convert into BP), if you're running a small, self-starting kingdom, the GM may allow you to turn your gold into BP at a better rate. You may only take advantage of this if you don't have a sponsor; it represents your people seeing the hard work you're directly putting in and being inspired to do the same to get the kingdom off the ground. This improved rate depends on the Size of your kingdom, as shown in the following table.
Kingdom Size	1 BP	Withdrawal Rate
1-25	1,000	500
26-50	2,000	1,000
51-100	3,000	1,500
100+	4,000	2,000

Founding a Kingdom

Characters can found their new land in a variety of ways, whether entirely on their own or with the direct assistance of NPC patron, called a liege (described below). The following suggestions can help you incorporate the process of foundation into your campaign.

Fiefdom: A liege appoints a PC (or a group of PCs) as the ruler(s) of an existing territory within her own already-settled lands. This allows PCs to bypass the initial setup of their domain, as it already includes improved terrain and cities. The PCs are installed with the expectation that they will govern the region in the liege’s name and further improve the land and the cities within them.

Benefit: PCs receiving a fiefdom receive a grant of 10 BP to continue managing and improving their lands in exchange for vassalage to their liege (see Lieges below).

Land Grant: A liege appoints the PCs as with a fief, but places them charge of settling and improving an area that she has claimed but which has not been significantly improved or settled. Though there may be one settlement and/or a few improvements to use as their initial base of operations. PCs will need to clear and explore the land in the name of their liege and defend or expand the borders of the land while they improve it.

Benefit: PCs receiving a land grant receive 30 BP to further clear and settle their territory in exchange for vassalage to their liege (see Lieges below).

Charter: A liege sponsors the PCs to explore, clear, and settle a wilderness area along her border; while it is not technically part of her lands yet, she has some legitimate territorial claim, and the PCs are expected to enforce that claim and likely fend off other challengers for the land who may have their own conflicting claims, to say nothing of existing populations (whether monstrous or humanoid) that would prefer to be left alone and have no outside parties coming into their land.

Benefit: PCs receiving a charter receive 50 BP to explore, pacify, and develop their territory in exchange for vassalage to their liege (see below).

Conquest: PCs lead forces, either of their own or in the name of their liege, which defeat the military of an existing territory. The leaders of the opposing forces flee, surrender, or are killed, allowing PCs to take command at the head of their army.

Benefit: PCs conquering an existing kingdom can seize the surviving assets of the conquered kingdom, gaining BP equal to 10% of the former ruler’s treasury; the remainder is lost. If PCs led their own army, they can govern as they see fit. Those conquering on behalf of their liege receive 20 BP from their liege in exchange for vassalage (see Lieges below).

Coup: PCs personally attack and eliminate the leader(s) of an existing nation and install themselves as new leaders. They must make peace and establish their authority with existing factions, including the military commanders of the kingdom’s armed forces, in order to legitimize their authority.

Benefit: PCs staging a coup receive no grant of BP but also need acknowledge no authority but their own. They may seize the kingdom’s assets, gaining BP equal to 20% of the former ruler’s treasury; the remainder is lost. PCs may also raise additional BP by essentially auctioning seats on the leadership team to surviving faction leaders in the kingdom, raising pledges of 2d6 BP in assets and support in exchange for appointment to a leadership role, plus 1 BP per kingdom turn in ongoing support. These BP stack if multiple NPCs are allowed to bribe their way onto the leadership team. If PCs later dismiss (or kill) one of these leaders pledged to them, this creates 1d6 Unrest and a permanent -3 penalty to Loyalty.

Exploration: Operating on their own, PCs explore, clear, and settle a wilderness area unclaimed by any established or recognized government (though native creatures or peoples view this as conquest).

Benefit: PCs exploring on their own receive no grant of BP but also need acknowledge no authority but their own. Selecting Kingdom Leaders: However a kingdom is founded, it must always have a ruler from its very first turn of existence. However, other kingdom leaders are not needed immediately, and the PCs can wait to add any further leaders until they begin to expand their kingdom. Each time they add a new hex to their kingdom, they must add one additional leadership role, until all roles are filled. Until this time, as long as the kingdom has as many leaders as it has hexes, it gains no benefit and takes no vacancy penalty for any unfilled slots.

Lieges: A liege is a wealthy sponsor of the PCs’ new domain, using one of the above methods for sponsoring the PCs into their new role as leaders. Lieges may be members of the nobility, but they could just as easily take the form of a high religious official or religious organization, merchant consortium, or any other group that has enough resources at its disposal to control a territory in its own right. Working under a liege allows PCs to receive considerable support when they are just starting out, usually in the form of a grant of Building Points and/or a small army to help get their domain on its feet. The exact level of support the liege provides is determined by the GM, depending on how difficult the process of settlement is likely to be and how generous the liege is, but it should not exceed 50 Building Points, and this total should be reduced further if an army is provided, factoring the army’s Consumption into account.

The PCs’ domain is considered a vassal to their liege, and they automatically have an Embassy with their liege’s kingdom. Their liege may choose to impose a Treaty or an Alliance upon the PCs’ domain, or they may allow them greater independence and only maintain an embassy. One of the PCs’ kingdom leaders may serve as a viceroy from their liege’s kingdom; this may be the ruler but may be another character), or they may request an NPC viceroy to supervise their activities. Regardless of their diplomatic relationship with their liege, the PCs’ new domain must pay their liege a tithe equal to 10% of all income in both Building Points and gold pieces. Until the amount they have paid back in their tithe equals or exceeds the original grant of BP from their liege, the PCs’ domain gains no benefits to its Economy from a Treaty or Alliance with their liege.