Does anyone else feel that their players kinda fetishize Royalty?

[Faily]

Putting aside the fact that I loathe the idea of the “good king” archetype as a symbol of legitimate authority. There are two reasons why I won’t go this route.

1) If you have a benevolent monarch that is actually competent, chances are your setting is idealistic where there is little to no corruption or abuses of power, no infighting, no turf wars between nobles. And that just sounds way too boring. Why would a stable nation need morally compromised mercenaries?

2) This is supposed to be a sandbox game where the players decide their own stories, if I introduce some “big good” character then it stops being about the player characters and starts being all about the “big good” character and how they plan on creating change to establish more equality and justice for all.



I’ve had a Robin Hood styled rebel leader of peasant soldiers and yeoman that had been shafted by the wars they fought in the name of their lords and king appear at least once or twice in my campaigns.

But instead of joining them, the party usually sides with the King…

In a fantasy-world with magic, gods, and supernatural powers, a benevolent ruler that is competent is just as believeable as a cruel ruler that is competent. Both can be interesting stories. For the benevolent ruler, the challenge is more often "what can we do without compromising our morals?".


You say it is a sandbox, but you clearly have a specific idea of what sort of story you want the players to engage in. Just because the king is a Big Good instead of a Big Bad, it doesn't make it less about the PCs anymore than it was with a Big Bad. You say it is a sandbox, which means that the players should be free to pursue whatever story they want, but you make it clear that you want them to bring change to establish a more equal and just society for all, and to do this they must rebel against an Evil Overlord.

EDIT: I'd recommend looking at the War For The Crown adventure path (Pathfinder). It sets the PCs in focus for helping the legitimate heir to the throne who also happens to be a good person, mostly.