The Kingdom- Pine Bend, a small logging town in Oregon

Threats- logging jobs going away, regional sickness, stagnation (no new people)

Locations- Glen Davies Memorial Park entrance meadow, Mountain Pine Museum, Community Center, Lake Vine Diner

Cassandra de Vries- Touchstone, then Power, then Touchstone. She owned the Lake Vine Diner. Originally she wished that the Kingdom would provide more opportunities for her inhabitants but at the end of the game she feared that the Kingdom would become a ghost town. Her issue was that she was afraid of losing her "aunt" status. Her locations were the diner and meadow. She was a very concerned citizen and always helpfully advising the mayor. (Dani)

Dale Browning- Perspective, then Power. He was the mayor of the town and also ran the hardware store. I've forgotten his original fear, but at the end he feared that the Kingdom would become a bland company town. His issue was that he failed his ex-wife. His locations were the Community Center and museum. He was Cassandra's ex-brother-in-law.

The first Crossroads was "Will the Kingdom sell logging rights to Mill Corp?" Agents from the company had been coming around but no one knew why until a big meeting. Cassandra found all sorts of information that she helpfully provided to the poor Mayor. None of it was much use. A committee of town residents was put together to talk about the situation. Dale feared the town would lose its heart but Cassandra intervened and agreed to sell them rights to her family name. Power decided that yes, the town would sell.

The second crossroads was "Will the Kingdom allow newcomers to build houses in Pine Bend?" The company wanted to build housing for the new people at the edge of the national forest! Cassandra intervened, suggesting an alternate site. That didn't sit well with anyone, including the mayor who feared that if they didn't let it happen all the growth would go to another town and Pine Bend would stagnate. Originally Power decided the answer was no. There was a role seizure and the answer became yes.

If you're wondering, Ben and I decided to try two-person Kingdom after Abnormal. It actually worked out very well despite the vacuum of various roles at different points. (I think the rules for handling vacuums may have been changed since the last version I played when we had to deal with a vacuum.) Side Effects were fun but I didn't miss them if that makes sense which says to me that removing it was the right decision. The Intervention mechanic was nice. (I think that's new since I played last too.)

I wasn't sure how well this would work with two or how it could be set up to function optimally without moving too slowly or too fast. Treating it like a three-person game was a neat solution. The pacing was fine and it was fun to watch the characters adapt to new roles. I look forward to future games of Kingdom, with one, two, three, or four other players. :)

Thanks again to Ben for being willing to try this out with me!

Yep, this was the first attempt at a two-player Kingdom game *in the entire world of gaming*.

When I pitched this to Dani, I said something along the lines of "this isn't going to work but I've been wanting to give it a try. We'll probably stop after I see what's broken." But lo and behold, two Crossroads later, Pine Bend was still humming along! We could have kept going along merrily, but I had to dash.