Explore The Background

Alright, you have your character. You've got your character sheet. You're excited to play!
But... just what is Kingmaker? With a quick google, you might have discovered a number of conflicting answers - is this a video game? Chris promised me roleplaying! Let me talk a little bit about this adventure path's history before I dive into the setting.
When Pathfinder first edition come out, it built its reputation on a series of modules known as Adventure Paths. Each one would tell a story from level 1 all the way up to some of the highest levels of play (not many made it to 20, but that's another story). Kingmaker was one such Adventure Path, but with a twist. You see, telling a story from level 1 to the higher levels does require a bit of, well, GM supervision. It's hard to stray from the path set before you. Many players were feeling constrained by the stories, especially if they made a character that didn't want to be the big hero or who didn't agree with the premise. What happened to the old days of wandering the countryside, hunting down adventure, rather than following along the road before you?
Enter Kingmaker.
When Kingmaker released, it was one of the most ambitious projects for a roleplaying company. The linear nature of the adventure was gone, instead replaced with a vast, untamed wild teeming with mystery, danger, and... well, adventure! The players would find that their stories differed wildly from one group to the next - moreso than the typical Adventure Path. It quickly became a bit of a legendary story, with players clamoring to get into a game. It introduced rules for building your own kingdom and running it your own way, whether you're good heroes or dastardly villains - it let you play exactly as your group wanted to. Of course, this was more than a decade ago in 2010. Time went by and more Adventure Paths came out, but none quite scratched the itch that Kingmaker did.
In 2018, a studio created a cRPG based on the Kingmaker Adventure Path - letting anyone play through the story of the rise of a powerful kingdom in the wild. It was amazingly successful and even lead to another game getting released in the same engine (again, another story for another time). Not only was the computer game a faithful recreation of the Adventure Path, but it added new characters, new stories, and new challenges that the tabletop game lacked. It polished and boxed up an experience that you could only have at the table and made it possible to play at home.
Flash forward to today. Pathfinder celebrated its ten year anniversary with a second edition of the game and a brand new, robust ruleset. Everyone is exctied for the newest Adventure Paths and to explore new stories with new characters. On top of that, Paizo announced that they would recreate Kingmaker for the second edition ruleset and add in many of the new features and stories from the cRPG. Given that Kingmaker was already one of the largest adventures written, this was a tall order. The game shipped with over 800 pages of material for the GMs and a massive Players' Guide for the players. The adventure promises a land packed with excitement and stories to keep you all entertained for years to come and I hope that you'll join me for the story that we're about to tell.
All that said... what is the story?
The Stolen Lands are a large stretch of land that have been left unclaimed by any nation for centuries. Many attempts have been made, but all have met with failure. The call has gone out for would-be kings, barons, and rulers to lay claim to the site themselves. You are a part of this group. For whatever reason, you have gone to meet with Jamandi Aldori in the town of Restov to accept her offer to build your kingdom. First, however, you must fight your way through the Stolen Lands.
This site will function as a repository for all of the information in the game and should be a useful resource for you all. It's also going to be a necessary one for myself so that I can keep track of which portions of the land you have uncovered, laid claim to, or even settled. There will be a timeline of events as well as a map of the places you have seen and travelled through. I warn you, it's quite large!
Without giving away any spoilers, your adventures will take you from simple mercenaries to lords to generals of armies and beyond! Be prepared for an ever changing adventure that tests your mettle as well as your diplomatic cunning!