PDA

View Full Version : Quest Ideas: Revolution/Civil War



yougi
2012-11-22, 03:25 PM
Hey guys,

So I'm working on this Dragonlance game where the PCs would try and overthrow the Dragonarmies which rule the world (basically your trope-filled Evil Empire plot). I'm trying to think of various small objectives they could try to achieve to reach that goal, and need some help with that. I took inspirations in the various recent video games which contain civil wars (Skyrim, Red Dead Redemption, etc...), and here are my ideas so far:

- Assassinate an enemy leader/caster
- Get intel on enemy plans
- Contact other revolutionary factions
- Spread false rumors
- Liberate town/village/city/fort
- Rebuild town/village/city/fort
- Defend liberated town/village/city/fort
- Hijack shipment of Awesomium
- Rally allies (enemies of our enemies, or other oppressed people)
- Get an item that gives leadership rights
- Mess up relationship between enemy and their allies
- Convince population to go to war
- Recruit leaders/lieutenants for the liberated regions

That's very little material for what I hope to be a long campaign. What do you guys think?

Anxe
2012-11-22, 03:32 PM
My current campaign is split into two parts. In one part the PCs are a group of rebels in an evil kingdom. The kingdom is attempting to establish a new pantheon. The leader of the old pantheon is on his deathbed and unable to stop the new pantheon. The PCs are assembling pieces of a prophecy that can bring the leader of the old pantheon. It's just a bunch of macguffins, but its definitely enough for a whole campaign.

As for you, build a situation. Put your players in control and they'll come up with ideas. Hell, ask them for ideas right now. They know what they want to do better than I do.

Friv
2012-11-22, 04:14 PM
- Assassinate an enemy leader/caster
- Get intel on enemy plans
- Contact other revolutionary factions
- Spread false rumors
- Liberate town/village/city/fort
- Rebuild town/village/city/fort
- Defend liberated town/village/city/fort
- Hijack shipment of Awesomium
- Rally allies (enemies of our enemies, or other oppressed people)
- Get an item that gives leadership rights
- Mess up relationship between enemy and their allies
- Convince population to go to war
- Recruit leaders/lieutenants for the liberated regions

That's very little material for what I hope to be a long campaign. What do you guys think?

I think that if you only use each of those ideas once, you've got a good thirty or forty sessions of material and you're probably good to go. :smalltongue:

Seriously, though, those cover a lot of ground, and several of the ideas can be expanded into quite long story arcs. You could spend a few sessions rallying allies, lead those allies to take back a territory, rebuild that territory, and then go to find new allies when your current allies are now in danger. Draw up a map and use each section to expand into other sections, while NPC actions cause sections that the players aren't in to fluctuate.

If you're doing this D&D style, of course, there's always the old standby of "gathering various magical objects for use in the rebuilt town, many of which happen to be hidden in ancient ruins that were once powerful forts, or which are hidden in powerful forts that were once ancient ruins and are now full of dragon armies." I mean hell, if this is a Dragonlance game, something as simple as a magic item that can brew healing potions will be a huge deal in a war.

Ravens_cry
2012-11-22, 04:27 PM
I think a good civil war campaign should be as morally ambiguous as possible.
You have good people supporting the opposite side, and horrible people on your own side, but they are your people, dammit.

hymer
2012-11-22, 04:57 PM
Some other things they could be doing:

-Rescuing an operative that got captured or is otherwise inconvenienced
-Checking up on a potential ally who may be an enemy agent
-Finding the agent in their midst
-Escaping an area after having been found out
-Worse evil comes along and a temporary alliance with the bad guys is needed to save the civvies
-Scouting or escort duty for person, group or macguffin
-Performing sacred rite for either raw usefulnesss or to motivate the populace

Don't forget, once they begin to get an idea of the overall situation, to have them pitch in on the strategy. That is, if your players are into that sort of thing. Have them do this towards the end of a session, so that you can use it in the next session if they give you a little gold.

Anyway, the campaign should eventually or occasionally head into different territory. The revolution starts going better, and the PCs can act more in the open with more standard military missions. Or things get more desperate, and the fight for victory is suspended for a time in favour of a desperate struggle for survival or escape.
Don't forget to throw in the odd thing that keeps the revolution in the background, but has more to do with the PCs personal objectives or interests.

BootStrapTommy
2012-11-25, 09:51 PM
I think that if you only use each of those ideas once, you've got a good thirty or forty sessions of material and you're probably good to go. :smalltongue:

While I'm not inclined to say thirty to forty sessions, definitely a whole campaign in that. The first session you set things up, throw a few useless XP sinks their way and set them up to be anger at the Empire. Second session, quest for the magic macguffin of leadership rights, party earns themselves fugitive status. Third session, finally find the macguffin and form the rebellion with the allies they earned. That's three sessions and they just began the rebellion. Next session they get intel and find a base of operations, while spreading their message and propaganda, raising sympathizers all over the land. Build the army. Next session they have to flee when their found out, finally having to find a mole to save the movement. Next session, hijack some Awesonium. Assassinate, recruit, and enemies of my enemies. Next session liberate a few cities. Recruit more, military success earns hidden sympathizers to become emboldened. Next session rebuild and defend, save ally. Save another group accidentally and gain their support. Learn a few "higher ups" are pulling for you. Next session more liberation of cities. Intrigue within the group as forces within fight for control over the future of the movement. Next session repeal enemy counterattack, rally final allies and commence final assault. Next session, everyone doesn't live happily ever after, as characters must then clean house and attempt to build a new struggling nation.

That's eleven sessions and all material hasn't even been used. And that was assuming pretty long sessions.