Alright at a high level this is the rules that I am looking at:

A Domain is defined by 4 skills: Diplomacy, Espionage, Lore, and Operations. These are the ways your kingdom are active. If you want to make a treaty? Roll diplomacy. Spy on the enemy? Roll espionage. Research a curse or monster plaguing your realm? Lore. Muster your army and engineers to change the land? Operations.

These are obvious just examples but you get the jist.

Diplomacy is your soft power and influence represented by courtiers, bards, diplomats, friendly merchants and nobles etc.

Espionage is your underworld power represented by spies, thieves, and bandits.

Lore is your intellectual power representing priests, mages, scholars, and historians.

Operations is your physical power representing soldiers, servants, slaves, and builders.


A Domain also has 3 defenses: Communications, Resolve, and Resources. When bad things happen to your kingdom it will be tested against one of these three. Can you get the message about the trap to your army in time? Can your people hold fast under an orc siege until reinforcements come. Can you feed your peasants after a blight ruins the crops.

Communication represents how fast and accurate you can deliver orders in response to an event. Can your subjects get you the information you need quickly and accurately and take your decisions back in time to be enacted.

Resolve represents how much trust your people have in you and your kingdom. High resolve means that people will trust in the system, low resolve will result in rebels rising up and rogue officers going off on their own.

Resources represents raw materials: food, wood, gold etc.

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A Noble Court starts out as the following:
Diplomacy: +2
Espionage: +0
Lore: -1
Operatoins: +1

Communication: 10
Resolve: 12
Resources: 11

In addition there are titles that when given out represent both ownership or status as well as providing a cool bonus to your character:

Court Mage - Gain an extra spell slot of your highest level
Court Minstrel - Bonus to performance. Can cast Hideous Laughter 1/encounter without expending a spell slot
High Priest - 1/turn when you damage a creature with an attack or spell you can also heal someone within 30' for 1d2/level
Master Assassin - Bonus to stealth. Gain +1d6 precision damage to every attack with light or ranged weapons.
Master-At-Arms - Gain a teamwork feat that you can also grant to an ally each round

Finally the ruler gets this ability: It's kind of complicated but basically you can add +1d6 to one ability score each encounter.

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In addition as a Noble Court you gain access to a specialty

A Court of War provides bonuses to your tactical combat like extra damage and the ability to ignore AoOs while moving

A Political Administration focused on statecraft lets you better defend your realm and even use Diplomacy instead of Espionage for some rolls.

A Legacy Administration puts heavy emphasis on the rulers that came before. It lets you summon aid from unexpected sources as well as blocking enemies from getting aid from their allies.

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Anyway this system overall is very focused on mass warfare. The idea behind these rules is that with the skill checks it is easy to create problems and resolve them but it turns kingdom warfare into a game in and of itself. There are all sorts of exciting units you can get, like elven wood rangers or even a dragon! What you decide to spend your "kingdom actions" doing to raise your army and how you use them effectively are very important. Do you use your court mages to counter their heavy infantry, or do you try to pepper them from afar with mounter archers. Those kinds of decisions. Looking into it the warfare system is much more engaging than the default Kingmaker.

Long story short...i like it. You aren't micromanaging to determine which house goes in which slot. Instead it is an emphasis on where do you want your kingdoms strengths and weaknesses to lie, and when the fighting starts how do you want your armies to engage.

I officially vote for staying with Rostland and the Swordlords.