Jewel Thief
2010-09-11, 11:39 PM
Need help developing a civil war campaign between different races in an empire. My friends and I ran a campaign last Spring which, although set in a little village, had devastating political and social consequences for an Empire that consists of goblins, humans and orcs. Our goblins are different, in that they're very beautiful (in an Elphaba kind of way, see the musical Wicked - she's daaamn) and are the well-educated, aristocratic class. They're also commonly scholars and academics. The goblins also run the military with hobgoblin efficiency. Meanwhile humans (along with dwarves, who are an extreme minority) comprise the bourgeouise and mercantile divisions of society. They don't have a standing army but many, many militias, due to distrust in the goblin government. Orcs are primarily slaves, but are naturally great warriors. There are also extremely small groups of elves (who are a privileged "can't touch this" class) and minotaurs (usually mercenaries for hire).
I'm trying to develop a war campaign for a sequel to our first campaign, but haven't developed much of the landscape or political situation. This is an Empire, so there's an Emperor, but I don't know much of the politics past that. Ideas for racial conflict? Battles you'd like to see? Halp with campaign building!
P.S. Basically the first campaign was about a political villain living in a unified empire between goblins, humans and orcs. Through consecutive actions and manipulations, he pitted all of the races against each other, revealing extremely powerful secrets about them that made co-existance impossible - for example that goblins eat humans on a regular basis (albeit in secret) and that humans have been known to make blood sacrifices of goblins, orcs and other humans to the demon god Waris. Free orcs were riled up about the treatment of their enslaved brethren, and a few massacres of peaceful human and goblin pilgrims later made everyone else pissed off at them.
The villain collected the corpses of various witnesses of these atrocities, then brought them to the capitol of the Empire and had them resurrected, each providing extreme cases of racism and sadism between the races. Our adventurers were mercenaries and detectives who were both caught up in the political intrigue, and trying to figure out their loyalties. Not exactly "Good" people per say, they went along with the plot until the villain decided they too were witnesses and needed to be killed. It was a great campaign and we all enjoyed it. However, now war has started, and we want to continue the story set in this world.
This villain, by the way, is a mysterious courtesan of the courts who manipulates people as he wills. He wears dark robes, a black mask, and changes the politics of the time as he wishes. It was he who instigated this war and wishes to profit off of it, although his motivations remain hidden. He's our Joker character, our wild card, using and abusing the different races as they prepare for war - the goblins with their massive war machine, the humans and their guerrilla militias, the orcs and their swarming brothers.
I'm trying to develop a war campaign for a sequel to our first campaign, but haven't developed much of the landscape or political situation. This is an Empire, so there's an Emperor, but I don't know much of the politics past that. Ideas for racial conflict? Battles you'd like to see? Halp with campaign building!
P.S. Basically the first campaign was about a political villain living in a unified empire between goblins, humans and orcs. Through consecutive actions and manipulations, he pitted all of the races against each other, revealing extremely powerful secrets about them that made co-existance impossible - for example that goblins eat humans on a regular basis (albeit in secret) and that humans have been known to make blood sacrifices of goblins, orcs and other humans to the demon god Waris. Free orcs were riled up about the treatment of their enslaved brethren, and a few massacres of peaceful human and goblin pilgrims later made everyone else pissed off at them.
The villain collected the corpses of various witnesses of these atrocities, then brought them to the capitol of the Empire and had them resurrected, each providing extreme cases of racism and sadism between the races. Our adventurers were mercenaries and detectives who were both caught up in the political intrigue, and trying to figure out their loyalties. Not exactly "Good" people per say, they went along with the plot until the villain decided they too were witnesses and needed to be killed. It was a great campaign and we all enjoyed it. However, now war has started, and we want to continue the story set in this world.
This villain, by the way, is a mysterious courtesan of the courts who manipulates people as he wills. He wears dark robes, a black mask, and changes the politics of the time as he wishes. It was he who instigated this war and wishes to profit off of it, although his motivations remain hidden. He's our Joker character, our wild card, using and abusing the different races as they prepare for war - the goblins with their massive war machine, the humans and their guerrilla militias, the orcs and their swarming brothers.