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View Full Version : DM Help On Designing the "Force of Nature" Antagonist



Madara
2016-12-17, 04:37 PM
My upcoming campaign has been locked in to a "Dwarf Merchants" campaign. This is D&D 3.5, with the players starting as a party of 1st level dwarves who plan to adventure while crafting and trading goods. The game will be taking advantage of carrying capacity rules and a variety of other factors, but the question I must propose is this:

What sort of antagonist would directly oppose the ideals of free trade and exploration that the party's characters celebrate?

The idea of course, is to create at least one major force which they may contend with that is ideologically opposed to them. I have considered having interactions with villages that promote a more socialist nature, where the people would be shocked that someone was trying to sell goods for profit when they could just make a fair exchange. I have considered natural forces which scream that travel and exploration can lead to dangers which many shouldn't contend with. Would it be better for an enemy which is more humanoid in nature or should I consider more primal forces?

Beneath
2016-12-17, 05:05 PM
Opposing exploration is the concept of things dwarf was not meant to know. Opposing travel could be that they are supposed to be rooted to a specific place (I could see, perhaps, an ancestral spirit demanding that they not stray far from their clan lands and tasked with tracking them down and bringing them back, for anything less constitutes a betrayal of their place)

They could also be opposed by a larger merchant group that likes having a monopoly.

Another, more personal opposition might be some shadowy group that starts the campaign as just a benign secret society some of their investors belong to, but that grows to try to take control of them.

A force of nature could be literally that. A storm, a supervolcano, the fimbulwinter, something that they have to deal with to trade. All of these things can have personifications that can be stabbed in the face.

RazorChain
2016-12-17, 06:59 PM
The elven trehugger society

An communistic, hippie, vegan society that believes that all life is sacred (except dwarves because they are evil) and that capitalism and free enterprise is the devil.


And when the greedy dwarves start to spread their evil capitalistic ways into the towns and villages where T.E.T.S is trying to promote their free loving hippie ways then T.E.T.S takes affront.

John Longarrow
2016-12-18, 12:00 AM
thousands of years ago there was a vast empire that ruled the lands. Enemies of this empire found them to be near unbeatable until they struck upon a unique approach; destroy the infrastructure that supported the empire. To this end they began placing hundreds of summoning stones across the land. Each stone would summon forth random creatures that hunted any who came near.

Game mechanics: Each stone summons a monster that stays around for up to 7 days. Can only have 1 monster at a time. monsters range between settlements but the remaining urban and rural areas are where the stone's can't influence OR where stones have been destroyed.

The PCs will have to find out what is the cause of these horrible monsters being present, find out how to move or destroy the stones, and then work on setting up reliable trade routes.

Just an initial idea that could be expanded for use in game.

Fri
2016-12-18, 06:24 AM
If you think directly opposing society might be too much, maybe force of nature fits better. But there's nothing that prevent you from using both at the same time!

For another force of nature thing, maybe something that make trade dangerous, and your party is the trailblazer who's going to open it up. Like, maybe there's a major apocalyptic war ages ago, and now the land is covered in deadly terrains (like forest that eat up people or poison mist) and your party have to find or open safe way for trade route.

Another idea for opposing ideology, what about Monopolistic Guild? Like, big business who's totally don't like the idea of free traders like your party.

Knaight
2016-12-18, 08:34 AM
You need an opposition with resources, and that's a big requirement. Sure, you could take some weird stereotype socialist village, but what clout do they realistically have? They clearly don't have much in the way of funding - it goes against their being. They don't have much in the way of personnel - even if extensive mobilization is feasible, there's just not enough people to oppose the sort of resources serious money is able to bring to bear.

That means established money. Local monopolies trying to keep their local monopolies are a big one, and the basics of that have already been covered. What's not been covered so much is the political side. International trade is an early step towards bringing nations together, and that has a major implication for internal politics. How exactly that happens depends on the internal political structure, so I'll present one option that I'd argue fits dwarves and creates the situation needed. Enter the Bureaucracy Beneath.

The Bureaucracy Beneath is a derisive term for the dwarven empire from which the PCs hail, or more accurately a term used primarily by internal dissidents to describe the network of regimented bureaucracies that supplanted the old nobility generations ago. The emperor now appoints a veritable army of head ministers, who then hire regional administrators, who hire provincial administrators, who then hire appoint local bureaucrats in a catch all position called operators. All of these have ties to and only answer to the central ministries. They are moved around the empire and almost never end up appointed anywhere near their homelands, and almost inevitably end up loyal to their ministry.

In theory, these ministries look out for the interests of the dwarven people, and they are legitimately responsible for a good part of the prosperity of the dwarven civilization. The imperial exams gather a lot of talent, civic duty runs strong through the dwarves, and more than anything the nobility having to actually educate their scions to get them into official positions (while even then preventing the highly inept from accessing power at all and bringing in the best of other classes) has helped. The ministry of tunnels has administered generations of growth, the ministry of waterways has kept the civilization capable of internal trade and agriculture, the ministry of mines kept the dwarven engine of commerce running, the ministry of laws it's populace.

In practice, that's the interaction that will be seen by dwarves not actually involved in administration. For those in it, all that takes a back seat to interministry politics. Every time there is a new emperor, they jockey for position. Every time a foreign government changes a policy that affects the administration the ministry of trade, the ministry of foreign relations, and the ministry of war engage in furious political fights with the ministry of laws and the regional governors, who stand to gain from isolationist policies. Every time a new vein of ore is found the five different ministries involved in distribution jockey for position to get the metal, and use it to demonstrate their value to the emperor and in so doing gain power.

The current emperor is young, only 150 years old, and only on the throne for 35 years. The early stages of winning favor are in full effect, with payoff for centuries to come. Interministry politics are at a high point. Now into this volatile situation a small party of traders is going off into the wider land, making contact with foreign governments, establishing trade connections that have a tendency to turn into political connections - some of which are with short lived races that establish political connections at the drop of a hat. They're exploring new lands, and bringing the uncertainty that comes with that. Regional governance is not happy. The ministry of laws is not happy. The old nobility sees a shift of power to merchants, and the ones that didn't end up in the handful of ministries that benefit are really not happy. There's real power here, from regional governance being the most powerful institution as a whole to the head minister of laws being an elderly dwarf who knows the halls of power better than any other head minister, to the church of Moradin's hostility with spreading the secrets of the dwarves among the inferior races.

Kato
2016-12-18, 08:52 AM
The elven trehugger society


Kind of this. But yes, defenders of nature. Free trade means exploitation of ressources which means the land suffering. Exploration means extension of human influence into so far sacred, protected areas. All this means humans rule over nature. If you have a strong magical influence you could actually give "nature" as a weapon to your enemy. Either have them imbued with magical powers by spirits of nature or animals at their command or something along these lines.


The alternative could be quiet the opposite... a ruling monarch who has enough far sight to know that free trade and exploration, his kingdom expanding and his populace getting wealthier themselves might lead to his power weakening. It is far harder to controla large kingdom with rich citizens that have lots of contact to outsiders and can buy stuff and weapons from them, than a small kingdom you can easily and completely control.

Yllin
2016-12-18, 11:40 AM
Human counterespionage general believes that dwarves are planning an invasion and the merchants are secret agents gathering intelligence.

Devils (disguised) are trying to trick the dwarves into signing a contract that will eventually send thousands dwarven souls straight into the Nine Hells.

As already mentioned, some monopoly like centralized Trader's Guild is oppressing free traders.

Fri
2016-12-18, 09:14 PM
I love the idea of kafkaesque monarchistic bueraucracy that plague the dwarven kingdom as opposing ideological force. Now I think of it I like it better than either elven treehuggers or monopolistic guild.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM9xZSJO4is

Knaight
2016-12-18, 09:43 PM
I love the idea of kafkaesque monarchistic bueraucracy that plague the dwarven kingdom as opposing ideological force. Now I think of it I like it better than either elven treehuggers or monopolistic guild.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM9xZSJO4is

I actually based it on imperial China - with internal problems cranked up to 11.

Cluedrew
2016-12-18, 10:15 PM
Something else to consider if you have a main "ideological opposed enemy" is to have a side/later enemy which shares the same ideology but has twisted it up and turned it to evil. Its not done very often but... I've seen it work.

Fri
2016-12-18, 10:23 PM
Something else to consider if you have a main "ideological opposed enemy" is to have a side/later enemy which shares the same ideology but has twisted it up and turned it to evil. Its not done very often but... I've seen it work.

Oh man yes. Basically Moist von Lipwig versus Reacher Gilt (from discworld).

Frozen_Feet
2016-12-19, 05:54 AM
Can't go wrong with dragons. They're traditional for a reason.

Think of it. The more the dwarves explore and the wealthier they get, the likelier it gets they will attract a dragon. And when a dragon gets it dirty claws on wealth, what does it do with it? Does it trade? Does it share? No, it just hoards it and sits on top of it, freezing assets for arbitrarily long periods. Every dragon present makes everyone else poorer. They're monopolies and money-grubbing rich people personified!

LibraryOgre
2016-12-19, 02:54 PM
You might start, just to have some variety, with an organization of guilds. They don't oppose exploration, per se, but that's the province of a specific guild. If you're not a Guild Explorer, then you're taking jobs away from the Guild Explorers. Likewise, are you a Guild Smith? Are you properly accredited with the Guild in Guild City? Do you have the licenses to practice your trade *here*, where there's already a Guild Smith? Are you undercutting the Guild Smith? We allow non-Guild Smiths, but they have to follow non-Guild pricing (which is in no way competitive with the Guild pricing).

Freed
2016-12-19, 05:14 PM
Maybe a Dragonborn village that feels that you must be strong and seize a hoard instead of buying it.,

Braininthejar2
2016-12-19, 08:31 PM
Another dwarven merchant guild, which is not directly hostile to them, but so greedy and unscrupulous it makes them enemies by association (if they decide to chop a trade route 'shortcut' through a sacred forest, the druids won't much care which greedy dwarf merchants they retaliate against)

They might get tricked into an infernal contract later, becoming a full blown threat that has to be put down.

GungHo
2017-01-03, 01:37 PM
My upcoming campaign has been locked in to a "Dwarf Merchants" campaign. This is D&D 3.5, with the players starting as a party of 1st level dwarves who plan to adventure while crafting and trading goods. The game will be taking advantage of carrying capacity rules and a variety of other factors, but the question I must propose is this:

What sort of antagonist would directly oppose the ideals of free trade and exploration that the party's characters celebrate?

The idea of course, is to create at least one major force which they may contend with that is ideologically opposed to them. I have considered having interactions with villages that promote a more socialist nature, where the people would be shocked that someone was trying to sell goods for profit when they could just make a fair exchange. I have considered natural forces which scream that travel and exploration can lead to dangers which many shouldn't contend with. Would it be better for an enemy which is more humanoid in nature or should I consider more primal forces?

Echoing what others have said, you can have conservative, isolationist dwarven factions that may have either simple ("we have everything we need") or complex ("you're upsetting the balance of power") motives. You can have other groups that have encircled dwarven lands like (dark) elves, duergar, or orcs that stand to be physically in the way. You can have groups like humans and halflings that already run the supply chain that have to be moved aside in the market (and who may have their own simple or complex motives from "this pie doesn't grow/takin our jerbs" to "we are the Holy Order of Teamsters and HOT-shotting is our calling"). Finally, the entrepreneur dwarves may have found a wonderful new series of tunnels that aren't on ANY maps and were sealed off and it helps them make the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs, but the reason the tunnels were sealed and struck from the records was that this was where the dwarves "dug too deep" and they're unwittingly releasing an evil on the world... which could be anything from the Balrog, an army of golems, or a fumarole of (toxic and/or psychedelic) gas so voluminous that it could change life in the whole underworld.

Note, the latter was once how I killed off all the underdark crap i didn't like... gassed everyone and made the stuff i did like move out.