Pathfinder: Kingmaker Update #10, AMA Recap

With 23 more days to go, Pathfinder: Kingmaker has accumulated a total of $460,692 on Kickstarter, which means the campaign’s success is all but assured. Hence, getting to know more about what kind of game Kingmaker will be is quite nice. The 10th Kickstarter update helps with that by introducing one of the possible companions – Ekundayo, the Grim Ranger. Here’s what he’s all about:

Ekundayo, or Ekun for friends, isn’t too talkative. Even after earning his trust, one would need a lot of patience to learn something about his past. An experienced Ranger, a former mercenary, a devout worshipper of the dwarven god Torag… A soul on the verge of despair. When you meet him, he has nothing left to lose and only hopes to live long enough for a bloody revenge. Will you let his hatred consume him — or will you give him a new hope, a new place in life, a new home to fight for?

Ekun’s family came from the South, from the hot deserts of Thuvia, but he’s never seen the land of his ancestors. His true motherland is Absolom — the great city in the center of the world, where one can meet people of every known nation, every religion, and every creed. After the death of his parents, he went to seek his fortune in the northern continent of Avistan, where he traveled back and forth before ending up in the turbulent Stolen Lands.

In battle, Ekundayo relies on his trusty bow, sending death from afar, but he also can protect himself in close combat, armed with a sword. He has no need for heavy armor but handles shields well. A faithful hound accompanies him, always ready to help.

Ekun is a man of action, not a scheming diplomat. Should you decide to rely on his help in ruling the kingdom, you will benefit from his physical abilities and combat skills. He can do well protecting you and your people – or enforcing your orders, even the unpopular ones.

Apart from that, the official Paizo forums gather all the answers from the recent Reddit AMA with the Owlcat team in one place. If you have limited knowledge of the original Adventure Path, some things may leave you confused, but there’s a lot of good info there. An excerpt:

Regarding the Base Game:

• The game is Single Player only. Multiplayer and DM tools are being looked at as late game stretch Goals.
• The base game (un-kickstarted) is both mostly complete and includes all 6 AP Modules. The whole story is there with details being Fleshed out by Chris Avellone.
• A capstone is planned possibly taking characters to level 20. We do not know if this is a kickstarter plan, or a base game plan.
• You can build and develop a kingdom of our own, this is in the base game. The Kickstarter will make this better. From people who played the Demo, There are already some cool kingdom events.
• The game will include diplomats from neighbors, including Brevoy and Irrisen (and possibly Mendev?). If you make alliances, that could unlock different buildings for your kingdom. There will be allies available for every alignment.
• The game is run on an engine developed using the Unity engine. It is Isometric in look and feel.
• There will be plenty of side-quests.
• You will be able to be evil, but it will be a cruel and cunning “smart evil” such as talking two enemies into killing each other, rather than just asking for more money as a quest reward. The Creative Director once suggested how much easier it would be to rule a kingdom of undead, than living, breathing citizens; because living citizens have all sorts of complaints about life, and hunger, and os on. The undead just obey. And are (usually) quiet. Except the zombies. Also, the design policy is not to have being Evil cut you off from content to punish them, but to balance content across all alignments.
• The base game includes a forty hour main storyline, and forty to eighty to forty hours of fun side content.
• There will be a lot of new content unique to this version of the Stolen Lands — just like it would be in any DM’s version.
• The game “will have a certain degree of linearity: just like in the table-top game, some challenges will arise, and it would be up to you how you’ll tackle them. You can’t avoid being the baron(ess), then the king/queen, since it’s the premise of the game. However, you’ll be free to explore the Stolen Lands, find lots of events unrelated to the main course of events, and choose how to act there. So, you’re guaranteed to meet the persons you can see on the covers of the Adventure Path books, but you’ll meet them inside a large sandbox.”
• Game spans Levels 1 – 20.
• All 20 Core Deities are in. Groetus is in and players will be able to worhip him. Arshea is not in.
• The Physical version of teh Game will be DRM-free. The digital version will have a choice of distribution platforms.
• “We’re planning to carry the adventure to places the Adventure Path doesn’t go (but it’s a natural extension), so veteran players have something new to experience.” This likely means the First World.
• “Even enemies you would normally regard as beasts and threats could find a home in your kingdom and provide new opportunities for your kingdom’s growth.”
• The game is a blend of Narrative and Combat, and neither one trumps the other.
• There are some pretty long dungeons in the game, and you will have to fight for your survival there. You can complete one level of the dungeon in approximately 1 hour.
• You can fail or ignore quests and they’ll have big repercussions (not always negative). There are absolutely moral dilemma quests, which become more complicated once your companions weigh in and suddenly you have two moral dilemma layers to deal with.
• Foreshadowing will definitely be added for “The Big Bad.” So states Chris Avellone. It will be threaded into each chapter.
• They have also taken pains to forshadow Jhod in module 1’s arc.
• The end game is consequent with the player decisions, and furthermore, even if your decisions were “bad,” they were your decisions, and even evil has its day.