Quest for the Throne

[WarrEll]

Hail friends, this amateur DM beseeches thee for guidance!

I've kind of taken up the dice recently after a bit of a hiatus. Now I'm organizing a group of my friends for a new ongoing game. The basic premise is that they are all the children of the ruling king who is torn on who he wants to choose as his successor, so they are to quest and gain notoriety as heroes. Whomever is considered the most famous and the most worthy will become the next monarch.

I haven't anything specifically lined up yet in terms of early adventures, but at some point I want to throw a monkey wrench into the works by throwing the players ahead by fifty - seventy years into the future, possibly due to the machinations of some villainous figure that seeks the throne for themselves.

In general, I was looking for perhaps some advice on what I could do or ideas of how to make that possible, and whatever certain pitfalls I hadn't considered I'm sure I made making the PCs of noble lineage.

[W3bDragon]

Building on your premise, the king is looking for a successor and instead of worrying about having an heir, he has far too many. The king is a little unorthodox and isn't willing to leave the whole thing to a matter of age. He wants to pick the strongest, most courageous, most level headed, etc. As such, the king and his court wizard hatch a quest for the heirs in which they must find and defeat (insert mythical creature or NPC of a magical nature.)

The king informs his heirs of the quest and says: "Any of you who wish to be considered for the throne must participate. Those who don't can pursue a life of quiet obscurity here in the castle. For those that do participate, know that you must pair courage with intelligence to succeed, and you must also show your ability to cooperate with friends, rivals, and sometimes enemies, to achieve the betterment of your subjects. I wish you the best. The court wizard will give each of you a boon to help you in this difficult task." The king then explains that, with the assistance of the court wizard (who is the king's cousin), he will be watching them. The court wizard gives each one a boon and gives them the first lead for their quest.

As a DM, what you would hopefully achieve with this intro is:

* Giving the characters a good reason to follow the quest: To become a king.
* Giving the characters a good reason to stick together: To display cooperation.
* Throwing suspicion off the court wizard, who will be your true BBEG: He's the pleasant uncle who gave them boons.
* Laying the seed for the time travel subplot: Unbeknownst to them, this mythical creature or NPC lives on a slow time plane, so when they finally reach his domain and spend a few days tracking him/fighting him, many years would have passed in the real world.


So, the court wizard wants the throne, but wants to inherit it without suspicion. He convinces the king to send his children on this quest, knowing that either they will die, or if they succeed, they would take many years to return. Either way, the aging and ailing old king is unlikely to last that long and when he passes, the court wizard will take his place by default, being the closest remaining relative and the most knowledgeable of the job, having been the king's advisor for many years.

A simplistic progression of the campaign would be as follows:

* A few simple quests that give the PCs clues about their target. Perhaps they have to find some lost scrolls, find an oracle, or rebuild a town destroyed by their target to earn these clues.

* They learn enough about their target to track him. Perhaps they find a cult that worships him or learn of a plan he's following.

* They follow the breadcrumbs until they learn of their target's private domain and find a way to enter it. Perhaps they have to hijack a ritual being performed by the cult to bring their target to this world, or they unlock a secret doorway in ancient ruins written about in the scrolls they found.

* They enter his domain, contend with all the target has there, which takes days. They finally defeat the target or reach and understanding with it so it stops bothering their world.

* They return to find many years having passed on their world and their kingdom is being ruled by their uncle the court wizard. He is prepared for their return and does his best to get rid of them. Perhaps they march into his throne room and attack him. Perhaps they try to stir the people against him, etc.

That should give you a basic framework around which you could build a campaign.

[Ceaon]

One important question is: will you allow in-party competition and backstabbing? Because the characters might cooperate, but only one can be king/queen. Once someone is established as "the favorite", the others will want to bring him down.

[Metahuman1]

One important question is: will you allow in-party competition and backstabbing? Because the characters might cooperate, but only one can be king/queen. Once someone is established as "the favorite", the others will want to bring him down.

To avoid this, I suggest either a Narnia style co-rulership, or just roll and open percentage dice and tell them in advance what numbers they win on. The idea being that that way they have an equal chance to become king/queen at the tail end, but this way they don't have to fight one another over it.

If you use the latter one, I also suggest giving out positions and titles as Consolation prizes. Example: If the rogue wins, make the fighter the top general, the wizard the court mage or the head of the wizards collage, the cleric the high priest ext. If the fighter wins, do the same, except make the rogue the spy master or the top diplopat depending on skills.

[Abaddona]

Hmmm, as I understand the players are basicaly siblings/cousins (all starts as the same race or did the king had fun life?) so to prevent PvP you may also make a rule that "person who stained his/her hands in the blood of his sibling or taken active role in their death cannot become a king (cause a crown is a burden which only righteous may take on or something like that)" and cast some sort of magic on them to prevent them from killing each other (or maybe crown is some kind of artifact in the style of "Iron Throne" from "Song of Ice and Fire").

[WarrEll]

Hmmm, as I understand the players are basicaly siblings/cousins (all starts as the same race or did the king had fun life?) so to prevent PvP you may also make a rule that "person who stained his/her hands in the blood of his sibling or taken active role in their death cannot become a king (cause a crown is a burden which only righteous may take on or something like that)" and cast some sort of magic on them to prevent them from killing each other (or maybe crown is some kind of artifact in the style of "Iron Throne" from "Song of Ice and Fire").
I had planned for something more of the former, yeah. Outright back-stabbing is to be considered treasonous and frowned upon, though yeah, not that won't stop the potential joker from trying it anyway.

[WarrEll]

Also something I just thought but as far as starting gold, I kind of want to give them a substantial amount, (being the royal family and all they ought to start off with a bit more than just the starting package) but then again I don't want it to be a crazy sum either.

Would like 250 - 300 gp be adequate?

[FleshrakerAbuse]

I'd say double the starting gold of the aristocrat makes sense; growing up, they would have been able to keep their own allowances, and probably would have amassed quite a bit. Since aristocrat is about 200, 400-500 gp seems to make the most sense. If they roleplay, former teachers and friends/other family members probably could give them some trinkets or mundane items ("Never underestimate the power of a well-placed tanglefoot bag... it's saved my life"). However, the best gift to give them would probably be the respect of being the royal family; even if they're supposed to be adventuring, old loyalties stay. Contacts (DMG 2) would be plently, NPC friends may be much more lenient, offering occasional healing to childhood friends and trading weapons or spellbooks, and the opportunity to add childhood feuds plays in. Envious nobles, scorned courtiers and angry peasants may give possible plot hooks.

[Skysaber]

I had planned for something more of the former, yeah. Outright back-stabbing is to be considered treasonous and frowned upon, though yeah, not that won't stop the potential joker from trying it anyway.

Mark of Justice, triggered by betraying a family member (and possible another keyed to killing an innocent). If either mark triggers they not only get cursed, they get disqualified. Have some way for those back in the palace to know if the mark gets triggered (or removed) so their disqualification is obvious.

Also, dad wants them to adventure to achieve greatness and glory, not get a bunch of his kids back as mangled bodies. I'd let them have some leeway with the starting gear. If they want to just take dad's sack o' gold and call it good then fine (and twice an aristocrat's starting gold does seem appropriate for princes and princesses) but they've got a bunch of family and presumably friends in that castle. Borrowing a masterwork weapon or two and a horse that you promise to return later does not seem out of line.