New adventure, ideas needed

[ikosaeder]

Hi Folks,
I want to create a new adventure/ campaign that is based on politics and intrigues. The setting will be free but I plan to run the adventure in the Forgotten Realms. The theme is oriented on the game of throne series, but is not directly using the plot from there.
Now I would like to gather some more ideas on subplots and encounters.

What I have so far:
The adventure will start in a harbor town, with heavy fortifications, since it is the residence of the king of that area. The king has an evil adviser (The Villain) that is actually a spy from another kingdom. This adviser tricks the king to believe that his second in command ( a wizard) and best friend is a traitor. The king orders the traitor to be executed and promotes the evil adviser who is now abusing his new power for the benefit of the neighboring kingdom. In fact this is a long term plan of the other king.

There is a rebel group already working against this villain secretly, that was lead and supported by the wizard. These rebels steal the body of that wizard for possible resurrection or to make him a martyr.
That is where the players come in. They are asked to recover the corpse or to destroy it. If they follow the trail, they will encounter the rebels and are told about the villain. They can now choose if they support the rebels (if they believe the story) or fight them (if not).
In the latter case, they will soon learn that they made the wrong decision because taxes will rise, people get incarcerated or executed for no obvious reason.

If they unite with the rebels, all this will happen too, but the pc's might be able to protect some of the innocent.

The players have to find a way to fight the villain without exposing themselves. Since the king is very fond of his new adviser (because he finds so many evil traitors in the city) they have to be careful. They need to find some proof to convince the king of the evil scheme before they can openly attack the villain.

Plot Ideas:
The players:

help to resurrect the wizard
have to rescue someone from prison
must fight the cohorts of the villain
accomplish missions for the rebels (Get resources, smuggle information into the city)
have to escape the prison (if they are discovered while working for the rebels)
have to work with some other noble that is opposing the king but is loyal to the country.
must convince other nobles to support them and the rebels.

The happy end would be, that the villain is defeated, the rebels are honored and the wizard is back to his right place.

[Unusual Muse]

Here's a great article from Gnome Stew (http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/the-fish-tank-as-a-mystery-2/) that discusses how to "map out" mysteries/intrigue/plot twists.

[BowStreetRunner]

A couple of thoughts occurred to me while reading this.

First, if there is one thing that rich and powerful people share in common, it is that they all have enemies. The king has lots of enemies. The wizard has lots of enemies. The adviser has lots of enemies. Write up a few additional powerful enemies for each, along with a brief synopsis of the basis for the enmity (public or private) and have those on-hand in case you need to push the PCs in one direction or another. A chance encounter with any of these other NPCs could help decide matters for the PCs. These enemies could be religious leaders, wealthy merchants or guild members, nobles, military leaders, heads of criminal organizations, etc. Some will be enemies with more than one of the three main NPCs. Others may actually be allies with one or more of the main NPCs. The web of connections should be tangled enough that you can use power-plays by these various factions to nudge the PCs anytime you need.

Second, increased taxes, secret police and even executions are not always a bad thing from everyone's point of view. If there has been some level of social injustice, there may be factions who benefit more from these events than others, and will react accordingly. Think of the Scar Enforcers from RoD, who might feel the Elves and Humans are finally getting their due - never mind that it's just coincidence that no half-elves have been targeted. Or perhaps one of the churches has been complaining of too much crime and corruption and initially sees this as a sign the government is finally going to do something right. As many people as are upset by what is happening, there should be some who are thrilled to see it, at least at first.

Third, there are going to be a lot of factions in the city who will just be taking advantage of any changes for themselves. Never mind what motivated the king to initiate a new policy, if they can use it to help themselves and hurt a rival, they will. There should be some unforeseen complications to the plans of the king and the villain. An underworld leader might take advantage of the situation to implicate a particularly incorruptible watch captain in a way that makes him a target for the villain. A guild leader might use the increased taxes as an excuse to delay a major road project that the church is counting on being completed before a major religious holiday. The PCs may hear about some of these events at random in the news circulating about town, or may even get drawn into side adventures that hint indirectly at what is going on in the main story line.

[Yora]

I don't know much about Game of Thrones, but in the Forgotten Realms, this probably should be placed at the Moon Sea. That region is the most famous one for backstabbing bastardry among traitorous lords.
It's on a lake, so all major cities can be reached by ship, and to the north of it lies a cold wilderness inhabited by monsters.

[buttcyst]

Here's a great article from Gnome Stew (http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/the-fish-tank-as-a-mystery-2/) that discusses how to "map out" mysteries/intrigue/plot twists.

this was probably the most useful thing I have read in a while, I recently created an unexpected plot twist, so unexpected in fact, that I didn't even see it coming and this article just solved my new problem I've been scouring threads to figure out.

[Unusual Muse]

this was probably the most useful thing I have read in a while, I recently created an unexpected plot twist, so unexpected in fact, that I didn't even see it coming and this article just solved my new problem I've been scouring threads to figure out.

The Playground is a beautiful thing. :smallsmile:

[ikosaeder]

@Unusual Muse: Nice article, thank you. But it is what I'm doing already.

@BowStreetRunner: Very good ideas, that was what I'm looking for.
I will incorporate some of that in that campaign.

I have now most of the faction ready, and some of the background.

Nobility:
King
High council
Villain
4 major noble houses
4 minor noble houses

Military:
Army
Navy

City:
Council of trades men
Council of crafts men
Clergy
Rebels
Thieves Guild

1 Major and 1 minor house will support the villain, as well as the leader of the army. 2 major and two minor houses will be mostly neutral (meaning ignorant of the problem) and 1 of each will support the king.

[BowStreetRunner]

Looks good. Here are a few additional faction ideas to consider.

Add a foreign ambassador or two. Always fun to factor in the agendas of neighboring kingdoms.

Depending on your campaign-world, fantasy military forces are perfectly capable of supporting an air-force. Also, very few monarchies relied on large standing armies. Things were a bit more complicanted. For instance, you could have Royal Guards protecting the king and capitol, a Royal Army garrisoning a few key border forts, the Royal Navy protecting shipping and important ports, Royal Marines garrisoning significant ports and supporting the Navy, and a Royal Air Force whose primary role in patrolling border areas and maintaining supply lines to the various garrisons.

Beyond that, there would be troops belonging to the various nobles of the land - each would have his own knights and men-at-arms he could call upon or who could be seconded to the crown in time of ward. The church would have its own holy militant orders like templars and hospitallers guarding important church lands and protecting pilgrims travelling through pagan lands. Merchants would also have large mercenary forces protecting their trade, including privateers at sea.

I always liked when games I played had not just a thieve's guild, but also a separate assassin's guild. You might also have Bandits and Pirates who are outside the cities and therefore not part of the guilds.

Another faction that I've always liked to find in a campaign are gypsies. Outside of the sphere's of influence of just about every other faction, they always tend to have their own agenda and make a very colorful addition. Add that you can have human, elven, halfling, or just about any other race you choose for this group and it can be a great extra bit of flavor.

[ikosaeder]

I like that, espacially the gypsies. I was thinking to include something like the
Tuatha'an from Wheel of Time (a faction that is totally pacifistic).
Also I will use some people that are switching sides.

[BowStreetRunner]

I like that, espacially the gypsies. I was thinking to include something like the
Tuatha'an from Wheel of Time (a faction that is totally pacifistic).
Also I will use some people that are switching sides.

Well, you can't really just have the Tuatha'an without also including the Aiel. The back-story just wouldn't be complete. :smallwink:

[ikosaeder]

Sure, to incorporate the whole back story would alone fill several sessions.
But I you have a group of, lets say religious fanatics with enormous influence on the common people and an oath of no violence, that would give a lot of role playing opportunities. The villain would try to force /bribe them, while the group has to protect /persuade them. The winner gets the crowd.

I actually think there is an adventure /film/book, where some adventurers have to fulfill a mission for such a group and they have to swear that they want take violence to achieve that goal. So they have to find ways to circumvent any encounter. All the gathered combat power is totally useless, and the adventure very, very dangerous. (You can only do this if your fighter player is experienced, because he will be most useless in this scenario.) Alignment is important here, too. Lawful characters have to keep the oath absolutely while chaotic pc's would try to find any loopholes.

Update: I created a prestige class for NPC for this faction
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15491874#post15491874

[BowStreetRunner]

Sure, to incorporate the whole back story would alone fill several sessions.
But I you have a group of, lets say religious fanatics with enormous influence on the common people and an oath of no violence, that would give a lot of role playing opportunities. The villain would try to force /bribe them, while the group has to protect /persuade them. The winner gets the crowd.

I actually think there is an adventure /film/book, where some adventurers have to fulfill a mission for such a group and they have to swear that they want take violence to achieve that goal. So they have to find ways to circumvent any encounter. All the gathered combat power is totally useless, and the adventure very, very dangerous. (You can only do this if your fighter player is experienced, because he will be most useless in this scenario.) Alignment is important here, too. Lawful characters have to keep the oath absolutely while chaotic pc's would try to find any loopholes.

Well...okay...but I guess I just thought the story of the Aiel being descended from the Tuatha'an was just really, really cool! But what you said was really good too! :smallbiggrin: