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View Full Version : Help with a new campaign.....



paladinofshojo
2011-07-20, 11:21 PM
((this was originally a joke I made but I decided why not turn it into a campaign))

The Campaign starts with a Cold War between two extremely different political powers in a bid to control the Continent in which they share:An Empire and a Republic....

One is a Republic, however there is a huge division between the rich and the poor, the poor aren't even granted the right to vote. The only reason said Republic is in war is that its leaders simply want to gain more territory and resources. Even though people have rights on paper in said Republic, the poor are only marginally treated better within this government. There's also the incredible corruption and mismanagement of the government has left its army rather deteriorated. Plus, the country seems to be more of a confederacy, with every city-state having more power than the federal government, leaving a weak central government and army. They also have a mixed population of many ethnicities, ofcourse this causes some resentment amongst peoples. However, in terms of population they outnumber the Empire 6 to 1. The "leader" of the central government is a Chief Minister is a puppet for the de facto leaders of more powerful city-states. He believes that the best way to let a country grow is to let the people govern themselves, a laizzes faire philosophy which has led to many monopolizations of businesses, even a fantasy version of the Mafia. He is also known to be taking bribes from influental members of society who need services of the countries armed forces, (such as to put down a strike or petition with deadly force). Other than that, the government of the Republic generally leaves its people unmolested with the freedom to buy and sell and trade whatever they want aswell as owning property for those who can afford it.

The Empire on the otherhand, the distinction is between noblemen and commoners, even rich commoners are treated slightly lesser than poor nobility. The lowest form of commoners (serfs) have little to no rights and almost no means to advance themselves socially. However, from birth all nobility are taught chivalry and nobles oblige to discourage abuse of position. However, the rate at which nobility actually practice that is the same as the rate of decent politicians in the Republic. The government is headed by a young child who was crowned Emperor after his father died, all the real power falls to a morally-ambiguous ambituous chancellor who wants to use the boy to lead the Empire into a "golden age" who won't stop until he has centralized the Empire into a proud and prosperous nation, however his goals involve conquering neighboring nations, destroying entire towns over rumors of dissidents, and other less morally righteous acts. However, the citizens of the Empire are generally wellfed and healthy under his management, but commoners can't own swords, warhorses, or land and all citizens of the country are taxed more to provide for the army aswell as the socialistic reforms brought on by the chancellor (including healthcare for elderly and orphanages). The army is more organized than the Republic's and the soldier recieve better equipment on average as the resources per man are greater.

And just to make things interesting this whole war was started over a dukedom that was by right the Empire's, however the Duke who was incharge of said dukedom decided to switch sides after emmissaries offered him a substancial bribe, after "declaring independence" he triggered a war between the Empire and the Republic, since both sides couldn't afford to back down to the other. His entire dukedom was turned into a warzone with his own people caught in the middle, even though the dukedom belongs to the Empire, after mingling with Republican soldiers, many within the dukedom decide that they want to carry on with the ceccession. Causing more problems for both sides. The war is currently contained in that dukedom but if something isn't done soon then it will errupt in an all out World War....

Also decided that there should be a slightly zealous cult of druids and rangers that extends beyond the borders of the two superpowers......this cult believes in anarchy and wishes that the Empire and the Republic would be done away with........The Empire and the Republic are both fighting their own shadow wars against this cult, since they apparently see the cult as a threat to civilization and order.

I was wondering where should I put my PCs in this campaign and how should I let the story flow?

Also I was wondering how should I add races into this Campaign?

Othniel Edden
2011-07-21, 01:37 AM
What races do you want to include in this campaign?

Honest Tiefling
2011-07-21, 02:25 AM
1) Where to start? Why choose! Pitch the idea to the players and let them vote. Unless they express interest in a city, throw them into a town near the border, but not too close.

Does either side conscript? Would they be citizens of one or the other? Is this war the only threat going on, or are the soldiers unable to deal with local monster infestations because they are called to war? Can they be searched and their goods confiscated?

2) Which races? Decide if you want Tolkeinesque flavor or not. If you do, use the PHB races. If not, use the consolidated race lists and pick out a few that work with the magic and the monsters of the world.

I think that at least one of the things should not be human dominated, if your PCs like humans, they can pick the other place. Also, do your PCs love all sorts of crazy races? If so, it might be interesting if the Empire is actually very racially integrated, and the nobility use magic or adoption to produce heirs when they marry off otherwise incompatible races.

The Republic could have a more complex system, where say, humans are at the bottom, fey rule and elves occupy a position between the two and are expected to train in the arcane to serve the fey. The elves aren't treated as badly as the humans (Or whoever you stick there), but they don't get much of a say either.

If you must be born to a certain class to vote, that is rather like certain Ancient Greek city states. If you need money, well, there are ways to keep those uppity humans and elves down so they never get the money needed to climb up the social ladder.

LansXero
2011-07-23, 12:53 PM
((this was originally a joke I made but I decided why not turn it into a campaign))

I was wondering where should I put my PCs in this campaign and how should I let the story flow?

Also I was wondering how should I add races into this Campaign?

Put them in the dukedom and let them choose who to side with, Id say.

Gnomes = Mafia
You could work the city-state aspect of the republic maiking each state predominantly populated by a different race. Make kobolds the trod-upon workers, and elves the posh nobility of the empire? :D