Every System, In Full

Everything that can go wrong.

Everything in the game, on one page. Just want the highlights? See the Features page.

Kingdom & Economy

Build it, staff it, feed it

Roads, walls and gates

Lay roads, then ring the kingdom in stone. Walls, towers and gates, with Guards up on the walls.

Wages & the job market

Set wages per building and villagers change jobs on their own when a better one opens up.

Resource economy

Crops, meat, lumber, ale and bread flow from producers through Markets to villagers. Break the chain and people go hungry fast.

Population growth

Villagers age, marry and have children, and immigrant families arrive when the kingdom looks worth moving to.

Housing & homelessness

Run short on houses and the homeless put up shacks and tents on the outskirts.

Treasury, taxes & loans

Set an income tax, watch the ledger, and borrow from the Treasury tab when you're short. Loans have to be paid back.

Exports

The Export Office ships surplus goods out of the kingdom for gold. Processed goods sell for more than raw ones.

Estates & Politics

Three classes, three opinions of you

Class Approval

Peasantry, Nobility and Clergy each track their own approval of you, driven by different needs. Pleasing one can cost you another.

Happiness, Loyalty, Grievances

A villager can be fed and happy but disloyal, or loyal and still furious about a wrong you never put right.

Faith & the Clergy

Faith is its own need, met at Mass. Neglect it and the Clergy turns on you however full the treasury is.

Laws

Pass Due Process, ban public assembly, and live with what changes.

Tyranny

Only unjust acts raise it: killing without cause, condemning without trial, arresting the innocent. Lawful punishment is free.

Dread

Fear works, for a while. High Dread cows the bold and terrifies the rest, and it fades if you stop feeding it.

Coup threat

Push the Royal Guard too far and they start plotting.

The Crown's Advisor

Your advisor writes a yearly report on the realm: rebel threat, unemployment and anything else you should have noticed.

The Crown

Wearing it is the easy part

The throne room

Double-click the Keep to go inside. The King holds court on his throne with his Personal Guards around him.

Audiences & pleas

Petitioners queue and kneel. Paupers beg for alms, the hungry for grain. Grant, refuse, remove, arrest or kill, and every choice lands on an estate.

Personal Guards

Up to four sworn Guards stay at the King's side. When one falls, the next steps up.

Food Taster

Name someone to taste the King's meals, or find out the hard way why the job exists.

Crown orders

Kill, Arrest, Detain, Banish, Condemn. The target can kneel or resist, and a refusal becomes a fight.

Regicide

Assassins, disloyal Guards and rebels all come for the King. He runs for the Keep when it gets bad.

Law & Justice

Due process, or not

The Hall of Justice

The accused stand before three Justicars. Evidence usually means a conviction. Without it, they might walk free.

Sentences

Years in a cell, banishment escorted to the border, or death. The verdict is read out in the courtroom.

The Prison

Prisoners live in their cells: pacing by day, asleep on their cots at night. Some bribe the jailer or break out.

The Executioner's Scaffold

A Guard walks the condemned up the steps: a kneel, last words, the chair or the rack, then the end.

Condemn

The King's death sentence without a trial. It adds Dread, more with every villager who watches.

Crime & the Underworld

It happens whether you look or not

Gangs

Gangs form around a leader, usually the richest among them, with their own members, meetings and grudges.

Gang wars

Rival gangs meet, clash and go to war in the streets. Every gang fight is to the death.

Robbery & heists

Thieves rob villagers and buildings. Gangs arm themselves from the Armory or from kitchen knives.

Guards see, then act

Guards respond to what they see or hear from a witness. A robbery in a quiet corner can go completely unpunished.

Detain & search

Stop a suspect in the street and turn out their pockets.

Demand Payment

An established gang leader demands tribute from the Crown, and it escalates over years if you refuse.

Retaliation

Order the Guards after one gang member and the rest of the gang comes for your Guards.

Witnesses

Someone who saw a crime may come forward, and a confession can send a criminal straight to trial.

Inside the Walls

Buildings you can walk into

Real interiors

The Keep, churches, Tavern, Dance Hall, Theater, Market, Prison and Hall of Justice all have rooms villagers actually walk into.

Mass

Bishops say Latin Mass to full pews. Couples marry in the Chapel.

The Tavern

Barkeeps pour and patrons drop in at any hour for a drink, a rest or a fight.

Dance Hall & Theater

Songstresses on their stages, a play on a good night, and the nobles paying for all of it.

The Market

Stallholders stock food and goods, and you can walk up and buy.

Invasions & Multiplayer

A real player, inside your walls

Live invasions

Another player joins your running game as one of your villagers, with that villager's job, house and gold.

Arrival briefing

The invader learns who's disloyal, which gang works which street and how many Guards are out.

Manual or Automate

Steer the body yourself, or let it live its normal life while you wait for an opening.

Spy network

Recruit disloyal villagers, run operations, start protests and set a rebel attack in motion.

Join the rebellion

When a rebellion breaks out the invader can join it, switching to the rebels' colours until it ends.

Coups & turncoats

A Guard invader picks Crown or Traitors in a coup. Striking the King in uniform unmasks you, and every Guard comes for you.

Getaways

Sprint, vanish into the crowd, resist arrest, bribe the jailer or break out. The alarm only goes up if someone saw you.

Friends-only kingdoms

Rather not meet strangers? Only let your friends invade.

Wildlife & Nature

The land was never fully tamed

Roaming animals

Deer, wolves, bears and birds live in and around the kingdom and don't care about your walls.

Predator attacks

A wolf or bear can go after a named villager. Guards and Hunters nearby come running.

Hunters

Hunters track game for meat and take down predators before they reach the streets.

Barns

Raise chickens and cows for meat and cheese.

The Wolf Den

Send a Guard out to the Den when a pack starts taking your livestock.

The Living World

What happens when you're not looking

Daily schedules

Work, meals, rest and a night at the tavern. Everyone has somewhere to be.

Ambient chatter

Villagers talk about what actually happened near them: a robbery, an execution, a tax rise, the weather.

Weather

Rain, storms and snow. Thunder scatters the street and sends children running for cover.

Seasons

Each season brings its own pressure. Hard winters mean hungrier, colder villagers.

Protests

Angry villagers stop in the street and call the Crown to account. Leave them and the crowd grows.

That's the whole kingdom.

Good luck holding it together.