Help Writing Blackmail (CDR!)

[Celcey]

Greetings, Playgrounders! In one of my campaigns, the players have recently retrieved a package that belongs to a king, containing some damaging documents in regards to his rule as king (which they will almost definitely try and use as blackmail), but I'm not sure what exactly these documents should say. I have a few ideas, but I'm not 100% set on anything.


This king is king of what essentially amounts to a city-state: the one large capitol city and the surrounding territories, which are mainly farmland and some small towns and villages dotted around. The capitol city was originally a trading town whose primary exports were lumber and (of course) trade, because the town was located right outside a fey forrest that merchants used as a safe path.

Eventually, the town grew into a big city, but it wasn't owned by anyone, because no one could claim ownership of the fey forrest, and so no one had bothered with the land right near it. So they (with the help of the fey/good forrest creatures) choose a worthy king who was benevolent and wise and all that good cheese. This is that king's son, and he's a selfish idiot who is too enamored of worldly pleasures.

I'm thinking he's not the worst king ever, but only by virtue of having good advisors to basically do the running of the kingdom part. Some of my ideas for the documents are that he's run out his coffers and his lenders are coming to collect, proof of extra-marital affairs (although he might be just engaged and not married yet) although his marriage/engagement is very politically significant, general proof that he's just a very poor king and should be dethroned, or that he's having to much lumber cut from the forest and it's damaging the forrest, causing problems for the magical ecosystem and hurting the magic that protects the forrest.

I like the last idea because it gives me plenty of plot hooks for the characters having to fix the forrest, like clearing out Ettercap infestations and helping the pixies and sprites with other evil, forrest infesting things. The only problem with it is that I don't know if it's politically damning enough, but that could also work with the whole draining the coffers idea. Thoughts, opinions, ideas?


Also, just in case anyone was wondering, the CDR in the title is a message to one of my players letting him know not to read this thread because it contains spoilers for the story ahead.

Thanks in advance!

[Ninja_Prawn]

Thought the first: if the fey forest is so sacred that literally no one claimed the land rights until a worthy kings was elected, people will take ecological neglect very seriously. It'd be on the same scale ad a king who uses gold currency deliberately adulterating it with lead.

Thought the second: regardless of what else you do, he definitely, 100% has syphilis. It's basically an open secret by this point. Like, even the fey creatures of the forest gossip about it.

[Celcey]

Thought the first: if the fey forest is so sacred that literally no one claimed the land rights until a worthy kings was elected, people will take ecological neglect very seriously. It'd be on the same scale as a king who uses gold currency deliberately adulterating it with lead.

Fair point.



Thought the second: regardless of what else you do, he definitely, 100% has syphilis. It's basically an open secret by this point. Like, even the fey creatures of the forest gossip about it.

...
Yep.

[Shining Wrath]

A king is usually an absolute monarch. His continued rule is not subject to anyone's approval or vote. He is also usually 100% in control of the army and police. There have, historically, been exceptions to the preceding, and you can invent a book full to advance your campaign. But in most settings, blackmailing the king is pretty close to the ultimate high risk / high reward gamble.

The documents, then, have to be documents that would motivate external forces to invade and depose him, because the locals can't do it. The affairs while engaged to a foreign princess are a good start, but I think we need something that would make the fey leave their forest and open a 100% recycled materials can of whoop-ass on him.

Something like a plan to set up a massive lumber operation - using zombie labor. And the necromancy is being supplied by fiends summoned through a portal, and he's in danger of losing control of the portal.

[Brendanicus]

The king is building too quickly, and is running low on lumber. As a result, he is plotting for ways to remove the fey to get at the forest. The only problem is that he needs to do it in a way that causes the people to discredit the forest's significance/hate the fey.

Possible suggestions: The king is calling upon the help of the Unseelie Court and their monsters to harass vlilagers and drive the Seelie Fey out of the forest. The Unseleie eliminate their enemies, and the king gets use of the forest once they leave.
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Other idea: In an attempt to open a long-closed trade route, the King made the poor decision to try to assassinate the dragon living here. After that failed, the king and his advisors are scrambling for a way to avoid retaliation from the dragon, without causing panic from the populace. The people had to fight a war against this dragon in the past, and the dragon managed to repel the king's army. If another conflict occurred, the people would rather riot than fight it again.

[Safety Sword]

You could always go with the old classic.

The document show that he's not the "real" king. Perhaps he was replaced by a doppelganger, or magic has been used to alter the appearance of the substitute.

Perhaps there is a secret underground that has suspicions that the king isn't the real deal and are planning a coup.

Extra points if the fake king is actually a better ruler than the original and the kingdom turns into an extremely nasty place when the original king is restored.

This also allows the players to be able to swap sides throughout.

I'll admit that it's been done before (in one of my campaigns), but it was pretty fun to watch my players discover the truth, become indignant and rush to depose the king and restore the rightful ruler, realise they had made a grave error after he turned out to be a horrible ruler and the kingdom was headed for disaster and then switch sides, eventually re-enacting the original plan and replacing the king with the original replacement.

Good times. It has spawned the cautionary saying at my table: "Remember that time we replaced the King".
I usually interject with "Twice".

After the cringes are complete my players seem to think a bit harder about meddling in politics :smallamused:

There are lots of ways you can twist this to make it surprising too. Perhaps the documents are fakes, the real king doesn't want to rule, etc etc. An almost unlimited array of twists can be applied.