The Battle for Korvosa

Despite the actions of a stalwart band of heroes, Queen Ileosa’s plans for Korvosa have met, in large part, with grisly success. The military is scattered, replaced by her loyal and cruel Gray Maidens. The city government is in shambles, with the magistrates and arbiters who still live cowering in their homes while they hope for things to get better. And the people of Korvosa are shattered--the victims of riots, plagues, and oppression. A resistance movement struggles to gain a foothold against the queen, but with the introduction of devils and dragons to her legions, Korvosa slips further and further from salvation. As it does, Queen Ileosa draws closer to her goal--immortality…

Below are the rules for the Battle for Korvosa game-within-the-game. This is intended as an addition to the relatively straightforward Assault on Castle Korvosa section of the Crown of Fangs module. This game’s goal is to simulate the trials, tribulations, and battles of the PCs and their allies as they attempt to wrest control of the city out of Queen Ileosa’s grasp. Ideally, this will occur between part one (where the heroes re-enter the city and contact the Resistance) and part two (in which the heroes launch their attack on the castle itself) of the module’s storyline.

During the Battle for Korvosa players may gain and lose allies, slay Ileosa’s monstrous and powerful lieutenants, save the city’s districts and oppressed citizens, and roleplay as normal; the game can be as self-contained as the players and GM see fit. It is created under the assumption that no role-play is necessary, and all actions within the game are taken as part of a larger and more abstract revolution. Characters do not take damage, use spells, gain experience (unless the GM sees fit to reward them for victories), lose or gain magical items, or otherwise change their characters or character sheets in any way while playing the game. Put simply, the PCs are leaders--heroes in the war between Ileosa and the Resistance, and their leadership as well as the influence of powerful NPCs and allies made during the course of the campaign is represented by the game’s mechanics.

That said, by no means is this meant to restrict any group’s inclinations towards more or less actual character involvement. The abstract nature of the battle leaves plenty of room for quests, skill challenges, combat with good old dice and pencils, and any other normal Pathfinder gameplay the players and GM want. Additionally, many cards presented here are customized for my (Puna’chong’s) own campaign and group; feel free to add any cards and effects to the game, but note that the effects and mechanics are designed to be balanced around a game that is difficult for the PCs to win. As such, if renaming and re-imagining a card fits your campaign, go for it! But be careful with changing what the cards do too much, as changes may have unintended consequences and drastically change the nature and flow of the game.

If anything on a card contradicts something in the rules, treat the card as overwriting the rules for that situation. Also, card effects stack and resolve in an easy manner: Last In, First Out (LIFO, for you MTG players). New effects replace old effects. Unless otherwise noted, all card effects from the Hero, Edict, and City decks end at the end of the turn in the Cleanup phase.

And remember Rule Zero: the game is about fun. Add in whatever is necessary to make fun happen. If anything impedes that fun, throw it out! And if something doesn’t make sense, use your best judgment.

Getting Started

The Battle for Korvosa has begun! To start, each player chooses a Role Card made to fit their character’s abilities and skillset; the PCs are referred to as “heroes”. The GM always gets The Queen, and will be referred to as “The Queen” or “Ileosa”. Next, place the map of Korvosa on the table, placing tokens on each district’s landmark. Shuffle up the Edicts deck, the Hero deck, and the City deck. Then place the cards on the table face-down and be sure to leave room for discarded (often referred to as “destroyed”) cards.

Each hero begins play with:

• 10 units in their reinforcement pool
• 1 card drawn from the Hero deck
• 1 Role card

Ileosa begins play with:

• 50 units in her reinforcement pool
• 1 unit in every empty quarter except for breaches
• Each of her Ally cards active in their districts
• The Queen Role card
• Full control of every district (even if she doesn’t have a unit in every quarter)

After players have their units, their Role cards, and their Hero cards or Ally cards, each player rolls for initiative using their character sheet’s initiative bonus while Ileosa rolls initiative with a +12 bonus. This is the turn order for the first turn as well as unit placement before the game begins; note, however, that for unit placement Queen Ileosa always goes last, though retains her place in initiative for the first turn. After all, she’s sending her forces to respond to the heroes who have breached her city!

Finally, each hero chooses a “breach” quarter on the map (indicated by the map’s flaming dice) and places as many of their starting units on this space as they wish. The breach represents that player’s link to outside military forces, allies, resources, and other things necessary for laying siege to or otherwise gaining control of the city. Should forces be separated from the breach, they are cut off and reinforcements, supplies, and support are unable to reach them. Once the heroes have chosen their breaches and placed their units, Ileosa places one unit on each empty space and then places her own starting reinforcements.

Turn Overview

First, when the final player to act in initiative has ended their turn, each player rolls for initiative once more to determine turn order for the next round. Each round is treated as a week of game time, with each turn representing about one day’s worth of actions (whether or not they’re the same or separate days is up to the group’s imagination). Then these actions are performed in order, though some may be skipped depending on strategies or other circumstances:

1. Advance the City Deck
2. Gain Reinforcements
3. Play Standard Hero Cards
4. Place Reinforcements
5. Fight for Territory!
6. Fortify
7. Cleanup and End

Advance the City Deck

Turn over the top card of the City deck and resolve its effects immediately. When a card’s effects are resolved, destroy it. If there are no cards left to advance, the game ends.

1. Queen Ileosa also advances her Edicts deck in the same way, resolving the card’s effects immediately and destroying it. If she runs out of Edicts, she is simply out and can no longer advance that deck.
2. Heroes do not advance the Hero deck. There are separate rules for Hero cards and their acquisition.

Gain Reinforcements 

Gain all reinforcements you would normally get, along with any bonus units from special effects or districts the heroes control. Place these in your reinforcement pool. Queen Ileosa always gets at least 15 reinforcements, but ignores bonus units from controlling districts.

Heroes gain 3 reinforcements each turn by default, with 1 additional unit per three quarters they control. When a hero controls a district, they gain additional reinforcements depending on which district they control:

• Old Korvosa: 1
• The Heights: 6
• The Grey: 2
• East Shore: 2
• North Point: 3
• Midland: 4

Play Standard Hero Cards

Certain Hero cards are designated as Standard cards. These can be played at any time on the hero’s turn as long as they are not in combat.

Place Reinforcements

Place any number of reinforcements from your reinforcement pool onto quarters you control. Quarters that are unoccupied are not under your control and units cannot be placed there. In order to place reinforcements on a quarter it must be connected to your breach in an uninterrupted line of adjacent quarters.^[1] Otherwise it is considered cut off and cannot benefit from reinforcements until it is linked to the breach again. Treat Castle Korvosa as Ileosa’s breach.

Fight for Territory!

The fight for Korvosa is long and fraught with intense skirmishes, close-quarters fighting in streets and alleyways, even shops and homes. The occasional spell flies through the air, and fires can set whole quarters ablaze, but neither Ileosa nor the Resistance want to decimate the city. Thus, fighting often becomes a street-by-street, block-by-block affair between melee combatants. The following are rules for combat:

• You may only attack a quarter that is adjacent to (touching) one of your own.
• You must always have two units in the quarter you are attacking from.
• You may continue attacking a quarter until you have eliminated all of the opposing units, or you may shift your attack from one quarter to another, attacking each as often as you would like.
• You may attack as many territories as you would like during one turn, and occupy them after combat.

• However, each unit may only move once per turn into an unoccupied territory claimed without a battle.

Attacking: First announce both the quarter you are attacking and the one you are attacking from. Then roll the dice against the opponent who occupies the opposing quarter. Use 6-sided dice unless special effects state otherwise.

• Before rolling, first you, as the attacker, then your opponent, as the defender, must announce the number of dice you intend to roll, and you both must roll at the same time.
• You, as the attacker, may roll 1, 2, or 3 dice. You must have at least one more unit in your quarter than the number of dice you roll.

Once you declare an attack, you must attack at least once before calling it off. However, you may attack a quarter as many times in one turn as you want, provided you have enough units.

Defending: You, as the defender, may roll either 1 or 2 dice. To roll 2 dice, you must have at least 2 units in the quarter under attack.

Deciding a Battle: The more dice rolled, the more units that are involved in the combat and may be lost. To decide the battle, compare the highest die each player rolled. If the attacker’s is higher, the defender destroys one unit from the quarter under attack. But if the defender’s die is higher, the attacker destroys one unit from the quarter they attacked from. If both players rolled more than one die, they also compare the two next-highest dice and repeat the process. Unless otherwise noted, Ileosa wins all ties.

Capturing Quarters: As soon as you as the attacker defeat the last opposing unit in a quarter, you capture that quarter and must occupy it immediately. To do so, move in at least as many units as the number of dice you rolled in your last battle. Remember: in most cases, moving as many units as you can to the front line is advantageous. Units left behind cannot help you when you are attacking, but also remember that you must always leave at least one unit behind on the quarter you attacked from. You may not leave a quarter that you have captured empty.

Landmarks: Landmarks are special quarters that hold great significance and powerful defenses. All units in a quarter with a Landmark defend with 8-sided dice instead of 6-sided dice. The player who controls a district’s landmark is counted as the district’s controller, even if other heroes have units in a district that is fully controlled by the heroes.

Decisive Blow (3-Quarter Bonus): During your turn, if you take three contested quarters you immediately earn a Hero card if you are a hero, or advance the Edicts deck if you are Ileosa. Heroes may only do this once per turn; Ileosa may do this as many times as she wants, provided she can capture the quarters. A contested quarter is one that contains enemy units.

Once More Unto the Breach: A player can always attack their breach with units from their reinforcement pool and can always move units into the breach from the reinforcement pool if it is empty.

Fortify

No matter what you have done on your turn, you may end your turn by fortifying your position. You are not required to win a battle or even attempt to fight for territory to do so. To fortify your position, move as many units as you would like from one, and only one, of your quarters into one other quarter you control. The two quarters (the one you are moving from and the one you are moving to) need not be adjacent, but there must be a safe path between them. Just like with reinforcing from the breach, this means that you must be able to travel from the first quarter to the last through quarters that you control. If you  have to pass through an enemy quarter or an empty quarter then you cannot fortify between the two quarters. As always, in moving your units from one quarter to another, you must leave at least one unit behind.

Cleanup and End

Destroy any cards that were used this turn, resolve all effects, and clean up any units that were destroyed during battle. Unless otherwise noted, all card effects from the Hero, Edict, and City decks end on this phase.

Allies

Ally cards are a unique part of Battle for Korvosa. These cards represent both Ileosa’s fearsome lieutenants and the Resistance’s brave leaders. Each Ally is tied to a district and meant to create the feeling of the NPCs’ power to either lead revolutionaries… or crush them. Allies have special abilities that only work in the district they’re tied to and are only beneficial to one side. These cards are gained by the heroes whenever they fully capture a district and have permanent effects, much like Role cards, and represent an NPC taking charge of a part of the city while the heroes continue pressing in on Ileosa’s forces. As such, although these NPCs may be--and probably are--taking part in the revolution, in game terms the heroes have no Allies when they begin the game. Ileosa, on the other hand, begins play with an Ally in every district. She controls the city, after all!  

How Allies work:

• Allies are intrinsically tied to their district.^[2] Their effects work only within their district, and only so long as they are active. For heroes, their Allies effect all heroes in the district, not just the hero who has control of it.
• Ileosa begins play with an Ally in each district: Mavrokeras in the Grey District, Trifaccia in East Shore, Sabina Merrin in Midland, Togomor in North Point, Zarmangarof in Old Korvosa, and Ornher Reebs in The Heights.
• In order for the players to defeat one of Ileosa’s allies, they must take full control of the district, including its landmark.When they take full control of the district Ileosa’s Ally is destroyed and the heroes’ Ally becomes active.  Although the hero who controls the landmark is counted as controlling the district, all heroes gain the benefits of their Ally while in the district, regardless of whether they are the district’s controller or not.
• By default, Allies for the heroes are: Archbanker Tuttle in North Point, Cressida Kroft in Midland, Vencarlo Orisini in East Shore, Archmage Ornelos in The Heights, Bahor Arkona in Old Korvosa, and Keppira d’Bear in the Grey District.^[3] 
• If Ileosa fully recaptures a district, destroy the heroes’ Ally in that district. Allies that are destroyed are permanently gone from the game and do not return even if a district is reclaimed.
• Optionally, this means that a certain NPC has been slain in the course of the revolution. For players, killing Ileosa’s lieutenants means that their assault on Castle Korvosa is easier; they do not encounter that foe. Likewise, this can mean that the battle has very real consequences for what kind of aid the heroes can receive after thirty days of fighting. Because this is essentially the ending of Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path, it seems fitting that some NPCs wouldn’t make it through the revolution, but lucky or tactical players can make it through without losing their trusted friends and allies.

Hero Cards

Hero cards are special cards meant to provide the players with a bit of oomph to help in their fight against Ileosa. Each of the default Hero cards are flavored to match allies my own players have made and NPCs they have met. Their flavor can easily be changed to suit your own campaign and provide your own players a unique and customized experience. Their effects are geared towards giving the heroes a strong, one-shot advantage for a risky move or decisive blow. Players may have any number of Hero cards, and when they draw one they need not play it immediately. Instead, Hero cards have different types that dictate when they can be played:

• Standard: If you have a Standard Hero card, you can play it at any time during your own turn except during combat.  
• Combat: If you have a Combat Hero card, you can play it at any time when you are attacking or defending, but only when you are rolling the dice to attack or defend.
• Free Action: If you have a Free Action Hero card, you can play it at any time, even on other players’ turns, and even during combat.

After a Hero card is played it is immediately destroyed.

The Queen

Playing as Queen Ileosa designed to be pretty similar to being the GM. You control a large number of units, have a lot of resources and advantages, and essentially control how hard or easy the game is. The crucial distinction is that in the course of normal play, [most] GMs don’t actually want to ruthlessly kill off the PCs ad nauseam. Here, however, the GMs goal should be to play as ruthlessly, efficiently, and effectively as possible. Because the game is set up to have no in-game consequences (except perhaps the death of certain NPCs), and because nothing in these rules actually kills PCs when their armies falter, there’s no reason not to try to win as hard as possible. This is meant to be a difficult game to win. Ileosa doesn’t want to give up her city or her power. She hates the heroes, their allies, and the snivelling commoners she has to deal with until her ascendancy. Martial law is in effect; this ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around. Ileosa--and you since you’re, well, her--will do everything in her power to win; kick players while they’re down, set up traps, cut off units, deny advantages, pick on weak targets, and generally just be a ruthless bitch.

Ileosa has certain advantages, listed here:

1. She wins all ties. Unless another effect overrides this effect, any time her roll ties with an opposing player, whether she’s attacking or defending, the hero loses.
2. She starts the game with each of her Allies active in each district.
3. She plays an Edict on each of her turns, and may play bonus Edicts for every 3 quarters she conquers during her turn.
4. Castle Korvosa is her breach; although it is represented as part of The Heights, it is not a capturable quarter and does not have to be captured to control The Heights. Because it is centrally located, it’s difficult to cut her forces off. Additionally, since she starts the game with 1 unit in every quarter that isn’t a breach, she can typically reinforce and fortify nearly any quarter on the map, and she can always place reinforcements on and attack from Castle Korvosa.
5. Ileosa ignores bonus reinforcements gained from controlling districts. Instead, she always gets 15 reinforcements during the Gain Reinforcements phase.

All of that said, do not punish players for losing unless you want to be really hard on them and think they can take it. Don’t use up resources on their character sheets, don’t damage their characters, don’t break their magic items, and especially don’t kill their heroes. The game is already rigged, no need to push it further.

Teaming Up

This game is, naturally, quite different from other similar games (like Risk) in that there are two teams. One team consists of one player with extra resources, and the other consists of multiple players who must pool their resources together in order to win. But what happens when you want your own units to enter a quarter controlled by another player? What if you and the other player both have units in the same quarter, and Ileosa’s Gray Maidens attack?

Quarters

Control of a quarter is held by the player who captured it from Ileosa. However, one or more heroes may control units within another player’s quarter.

Districts

Control of a district is held by the player who controls the district’s landmark. Only they gain the bonus units from controlling the district, though all heroes gain the benefits of the district’s Ally.

Combat

Heroes may only attack with their own units, even if other players control units in their quarter, unless other players give them permission to use their units for combat by lending them out. If this happens, the attacking hero loses his own units first in combat and moves his units to a conquered quarter first.

If Ileosa is attacking a quarter with units controlled by two or more players, the hero who controls the quarter loses his units first, followed the next player in initiative, then the next one, and so on.

Movement

Heroes may move units into adjacent quarters controlled by other heroes. This counts against the units’ movement for the turn, and once they move into an allied quarter those units cannot move, attack, or fortify for the rest of the turn.

Reinforcing

Heroes can reinforce quarters controlled by other players only if they control units in that quarter.  

Fortifying  

Heroes can fortify quarters controlled by other players only if they control units in that quarter.

Hero Cards

Heroes can trade Hero cards during their Cleanup phase as long as at least one of the heroes controls units in a quarter controlled by the other.

Ending the Battle

After weeks of fighting quarters lay burned and decimated, stores looted and homes burnt, countless brave men and women slain for their cause, and mighty champions wonder what will happen next; the final card of the City deck is advanced, but Ileosa yet reigns? Her iron grip on the city may be white-knuckled, but it still holds firm.

The ending of the Battle for Korvosa is meant to trigger the PCs’ assault on the Castle itself, part II of the Crown of Fangs module. If the players have been rebuffed by Ileosa’s forces, the Resistance may consider a direct assault with a small party of powerful champions their only option; a last-ditch effort to win back the city. Likewise, the players may have Ileosa’s stronghold completely surrounded when the last City card is played, her forces all but annihilated and her champions slain. In this case, all that is left is destroying the wicked queen herself, and the players’ assault may see them leading a coalition of forces into Ileosa’s devil-ridden lair. Whatever the result of the game, it ends when a player cannot advance the City deck and only affects the module itself as much as the GM wants it to.

GMs may be inclined to reward powerful magic items, experience, Hero Points, or other rewards to aid the players in their attack on the castle. No specific rewards are recommended here, as each game--and GM--is different in how they may want to handle the abstract nature of the game. With each player’s turn representing about one day’s worth of activity, and the game balanced around a GM and 5 players (the size of my party!) each taking 5 turns, the entire battle takes place over the course of about one month of game time, or 30 days. As such, there are 30 cards in the City deck, and the game has also been balanced for a GM and party of 4 (the assumed group size) each taking 6 turns. Adding or reducing the number of cards in the City deck may be necessary for larger or smaller groups (although, try not go to below 25 cards), but all the same it may be useful to consider each full round of initiative as one week.

This gives players ample time to craft magic items, engage in side quests, request aid from foreign dignitaries, or otherwise be active in the game world. Of course, this timeline can easily be changed to suit your needs, and while adding more cards will naturally make the game longer, it may also lend itself to a more epic siege. In that case, other things may need to be changed: the number of Hero and Edict cards should increase, the number of units each hero gets should be reduced, Allies should be harder to kill, etc.

In the end, though, there is only one goal: kill Ileosa and end Kazavon once and for all.