Kingdoms: Queen - The Sorceress

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The Queen: Advice to the Adjudicator

The Queen, even more so that the King, is the most powerful and complex piece in the game. The Game of Succession may be won or lost with the King's capture, but it is generally how the Queen is used that will determine victory.

With the Queen, it is likely the Adjudicator will have a lot more information to work with than with most pieces. Reflect this by making her more complex rules-wise! It is perfectly reasonable for a Queen to have 4 or more descriptors at the start of the game. Don't go overboard though, or it will likely overwhelm the player with options. At the very least, all Queens should have a Sorcery Style trait, plus at least two other descriptors.

As always, bear in mind that this list is not and never be exhaustive! If you need a new descriptor, then just add it on! Bear in mind that descriptors with drastic effects should normally be placed in Traits rather than Boons, as Boons are very easy to come by in-game.

When applying descriptors to the Queen, bear in mind that the descriptors can also be used to reflect her relationship to the King as well as her personal traits. For example, if the King is besotted with the Queen, then it is the Queen who takes the Devoted Couple boon.

Boons for the Queen

Escape magics

The Queen gains +2 on Escape Attempts.

Intrigue Magus

During winter, temporarily add +2 to Sorcery.

Puissance

Permanently add +1 to Sorcery.

Ritualist

Reduce cost of casting Rituals by 1 Glamour.

War Magus

During summer, temporarily add +2 to Sorcery.

Traits for the Queen

Sorcery Style

All Queen must take this trait. When this trait is taken, select a single style of magic which the Queen can practise, based on her description. The queen can cast a multitude of spells in this style. The range of styles is limited only by imagination! For example, one Queen might specialise in Pyromancy (control and creation of fire), another in Healing (mental and physical restoration), and another in Arachnomancy (control, enhancement and summoning of spiders).

Sorcery style: has two main effects in game:

• A roleplaying hook.

First, and most importantly, the style defines how the Queen Player describes her magic. It is assumed that the Queen knows many hundreds of spells, and can improvise as well, so it is acceptable for the Queen to cast magic freely within her style, without any need for an exhaustive list of effects. Note though that this is just for roleplaying - making up spells in this way doesn't have any direct effect on the dice rolls or on the game system. It is presumed that general sorcerous effectiveness is represented with the numerical Sorcery attribute.

• Flavour of rituals

Rituals (as described in the Springtime section) allow the Queen to actually effect the game directly with magical effects. Ritual must, of course, remain within the Queen's magical style. It is acceptable, for example, for a Pyromancer to summon an intercontinental fireball that seeks out and incinerates an army, but not for a Healer to do so. Generally though, with a bit of imagination as to how to manipulate various special effects, most Queen Players should be able to achieve most game effects through rituals.