The same thing we do every night, Pinky...

[Scarey Nerd]

Within the next month-ish, I am going to be participating in an Evil campaign, as I have stated many times previously on this board. The party is made up of:

Spoiler

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- Albino Human 4th level Fighter. He is adventuring as a rite of passage, and his final goal is to take over the world.

- Draconic Human 4th level Cleric of Tiamat. Tiamat saved his life in the past and now demands half of his wealth, meaning he needs to raise funds to sate her greed.

- ...Something. A homebrewed demonic-angel-thing, a destructive creature destroying everything in its path, after falling from the Heaven of Christianity, if my understanding is accurate. No class levels, will pick up Barbarian at 5th HD.

- Tiefling 4th level Wizard, who essentially adventures for the fun of it, as far as I'm aware. I don't know a huge amount about this character, I will edit this post when I get more information.

- Kobold 4th level Bard. I know even less about this character, and will update as and when.

- Changeling 4th level Rogue (Me). Build to disguise, he cons people, murders, steals, lies, cheat, and is generally not very nice. Adventures for fun, fame and fortune, and will most likely be the party face with +15 diplomacy, +11 bluff and other such skills.

The Fighter, Davkas Serpenthelm, is going to hire us in his quest to gain dominion over the world. My question in the playground is this:

With this party, how would you advise them to utilise their talents to succeed in this goal? Pure brutal force won't always be an available option, and neither will stealth or diplomacy in some scenarios, etc. Basically, I'm looking for ideas that will help us take over the world without the majority of the world teaming up to destroy us. Yet.

Thank you in advance for any ideas people may come up with

[Katana_Geldar]

One good trick is to trigger a peasant uprising, convince them that you'll "restore their freedoms" and that if they go against their liege they will have the protection of you or your goons. Then, by the time you are in a position to give them their rights (having taken over the world) you're too strong to be resisted. hahaha

And you need some goons, some footsoldiers to keep the little guys in line.

[herrhauptmann]

One good trick is to trigger a peasant uprising, convince them that you'll "restore their freedoms" and that if they go against their liege they will have the protection of you or your goons. Then, by the time you are in a position to give them their rights (having taken over the world) you're too strong to be resisted. hahaha

And you need some goons, some footsoldiers to keep the little guys in line.

Spend some time gaining status as a hero of the people first. Crush orc raids that threaten the villages, hire a bard to sing of your victories. Make sure to include the fact that you did it for free. And if you murder someone, make sure to leave no witnesses except for your scapegoat. And you can hunt him as the vile Butcher of Boyd, for extra peasant credit.
Do some Robin Hood type stuff.
You'll also now be a slightly higher level, so fights SHOULD be easier.
The positive reputation you've gained should make it easier to instigate the riots.

[Katana_Geldar]

You'll need an army. Recruit them and train them yourselves or by people the PCs trust so they will be loyal to you.

[dsmiles]

And you need some goons, some footsoldiers to keep the little guys in line.

[$0.02]

This is the key right here. You need easily controlled goons. Kobolds or Goblins work well for this. I prefer Kobolds.

I had a LE fighter/soon-to-be-blackguard (and follower of Hextor), and my adventuring companions were a NE cleric of Falazure, and a NE bard/soon-to-be-assassin. We were curb stomping The Sunless Citadel for gits and shiggles one day, when the fighter (me) got the bright idea, "Hey, you know what this town needs? Kobolds...and I know where to get some." Our unstoppable army of enslaved miners started carting their ore to town, and the town's alignment slowly started shifting away from good, and it soon (after a couple of decades, which is 'soon' when talking about economics) became a neutral superpower (kind of like Switzerland, only, you know, super). Long story short, you need goons to start your hostile takeover of the world. Goons with a marketable skill are even better.

[/$0.02]

[Farlion]

(kind of like Switzerland, only, you know, super).

You know, I should do very unnice things to you for this insult


Back on topic:

Taking over the world can be achieved either from the bottom up (as has been stated here) or from top to bottom.

1. Step: Perform good deeds to gain hero status
2. Step: become advisor of the King/Insert-Any-Royal-Here
3. Step: convince the King, that you marrying his daughter is the best decision he has ever made
4. Step: The King dies (up to your imagination, how this works )
5. Step: Take over the World!

Cheers,
Farlion

[Peregrine]

Divide and conquer. A peasant uprising is good. But play both sides if you can possibly get away with it. And it's especially important to run other schemes in other nations (preferably very different ones to avoid raising suspicions of a grand conspiracy... since that's exactly what this is...)

Playing to your individual strengths:

• Albino Fighter Man leads the peasant uprising.
• Tiamat's Towel Boy manipulates and destabilises economies. At a very simple level, hoarding valuables will both make Tiamat happy and make those things even more valuable. Also destroying or taking over all rival producers of those valuables. Getting more complex, he could find ways to suddenly flood markets with goods that he's been hoarding.
• Hell's Angel, in addition to his RDI of wanton destruction, corrupts good-aligned organisations that might want to stop you.
• Generic McTiefling... provides magical support and communications, I guess.
• Kobard leads the uprising of the monstrous races with his hopefully good (bard, after all) diplomacy skills.
• You, Rogue Leader, pick a kingdom to insinuate yourself into and start yanking strings. Leading the nobles in their attempts to crush the peasant uprising, for instance. (Encourage them to be stupid and brutal in putting down the revolt. Killing off the peasantry will majorly break the kingdom's day-to-day operations.)

Really, my best ideas along these lines would involve all of you running separate ploys. I'm not sure how that would go as a campaign, since it's kind of reliant on you working apart. (Even if you hop around and work together on each aspect of The Conspiracy, the more you're together, the more likely you are to be caught out. But the practicalities of actually running it as a game might override this.)

But if that can be overcome, you're basically each pulling the strings of one or more nations to bring them into conflict, and then bam! Just when they're all weakened and relying on you, you lot get together and say "ha ha, we're on the same side and now we OWN YOU ALL!"

Assuming you can all resist the urge to backstab each other, of course.

[Lysander]

Form a mercenary band. Use your profits to hire underlings to form an army and use them to earn bigger profits. When possible, all of you take leadership and combine your followers into one giant mercenary army. Travel the world getting richer and more powerful, all the while honing your army's talents and attracting new warriors and magicians. One day your army will be powerful enough to stop being hired by kingdoms and start conquering them.

[Sarquion]

Hi, This is Davkas Serpanthelm (Sarquion is another of my characters)

My original plan was to marry a princess but the DM thought of this and so purposely made it so that in the local area (which is where i'm interested in taking with its good resources etc) there are no princesses so there goes my first plan.

So now I'm thinking of using mercenaries to disrupt the city taking the money etc which makes the peasants unhappy so giving the right opportunity to become the peoples hero, and therefore making it easier to start the revolt, to get me into power then from there ... MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

[The Glyphstone]

Hire an Evil Laugh Coach for certain - your diabolical laughter needs work.

[Sarquion]

Hire an Evil Laugh Coach for certain - your diabolical laughter needs work.

Hey ... .... it's true i'll hire someone immediately

[Snake-Aes]

Perform (Horrendous Laughter).

[Tengu_temp]

Not enough setting information. What's the comparable power level of a level 4 party in your world? In some settings, they're close to being some of the most powerful people in the world, in others they're weaker than average city guards.

[Scarey Nerd]

Not enough setting information. What's the comparable power level of a level 4 party in your world? In some settings, they're close to being some of the most powerful people in the world, in others they're weaker than average city guards.

Far more powerful than the average warrior, but not powerful enough to be hugely famous.

[PinkysBrain]

With this party, how would you advise them to utilise their talents to succeed in this goal?

You're ants trying to help another ant become president of the United States ... ants which can grow to be giants for sure, but that's a problem in and of itself.

This can only end in tears ... lets say you guys level for a while, at some point the fighter will have nothing which is of relative worth any more to hire any of the other party members. So why would you still help him try to get the throne, aren't you just as worthy?

Any way, depending on setting you need a huge amount of adventuring to grow your personal power, depending on setting you will need to acquire the favour of a couple of gods and you will need a power base with devoted followers (ie. a country) from which to launch global conquest.

[Sarquion]

you will need a power base with devoted followers (ie. a country) from which to launch global conquest.

I wasn't expecting to to take over the world in a night, me and 4 other adventurers.

But saying that I do see where your coming from, I was planning to start around level 10ish (not as soon as I hit it more of a rough guide on when I will start to develop my plans into actions) on a low scale and then expand from there.

[StreetPizza]

A lot of the other posters in this thread are pretty realistic and well-founded in their suggestions, so I'll jump on the bandwagon too.

Start small. If you're going for the gain-support-and-rise-to-power-"legitimately" route, you might end up doing a few generic dungeon crawl-y, Orc raid break-y stuff, but enough of that will eventually put you in high regard in at least a small town. Seeing as how there aren't any princesses in the local area, I'm going to assume that towns are run either via oligarchy or democracy.

If the towns are run by oligarchy (an elite few controls everything), find a way to get the ruler or rulers' attention and do stuff for that person until you're trusted enough for that person to consider you their successor. If this means offing their offspring so you jump up on the list of successors-to-be, do it. Shortly thereafter, off the person him/herself. You, as the successor, will take the position. If the town is ruled by a council and not a single person, just rinse and repeat for the rest of the council with the rest of your party.

If the towns are run by democracy, this just got a lot easier. Save the town from danger that may or may not have secretly been caused by your own party (pissing off some nearby Orcs under the guise of one of the townspeople and then saving the town when the Orcs attack, for example). Your popularity should ensure your election.

From here, I'm not sure where to go because of this little "no princesses" situation. Who rules the local area? Whoever they are, they should be your first target on the road to world domination. Well, unless you go for the mercenary army idea--much better than my plan with regards to your subjects' loyalty; with a mercenary army, you don't have to keep up appearances to make anyone happy. Just keep them paid. Of course, that can be it own problem, but that's enough out of me.

[The Glyphstone]

If you go the Mercenary route, remember Charlie's Rules.

Charlie's Rule #3: We are in the business of solving problems for our clients.
#3 Collary: Creating problems for our clients creates business.


You'll save a town from marauding ogres to build popularity. They don't need to know that you Charmed the ogre chieftain into attacking the town in the first place.

[Crossblade]

Hi, This is Davkas Serpanthelm (Sarquion is another of my characters)

My original plan was to marry a princess but the DM thought of this and so purposely made it so that in the local area there are no princesses ... MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Marry the prince.
How badly do you want that power?

[Snake-Aes]

If you go the Mercenary route, remember Charlie's Rules.

Charlie's Rule #3: We are in the business of solving problems for our clients.
#3 Collary: Creating problems for our clients creates business.


You'll save a town from marauding ogres to build popularity. They don't need to know that you Charmed the ogre chieftain into attacking the town in the first place.

It also works the other way around. Captured a crime lord? Excellent! Sell his head to the land's lord! (and take over the crime lord's job to expand your network)

[herrhauptmann]

Marry the prince.
How badly do you want that power?

Didn't there used to be a cursed "Valkyries armor" could only be worn by women. Of course, if a guy put it on, he'd suddenly be eligible for wearing the armor, and in fact would be unable to remove it without a remove curse.
"You call it the trouse--"

[Peregrine]

If this means offing their offspring so you jump up on the list of successors-to-be, do it. Shortly thereafter, off the person him/herself. You, as the successor, will take the position.

Just make sure you can't be connected to the murders in any way. In fact, make all show of doing your best to stop them.

"My lord, it grieves me to report that your second son has been murdered."
"What! Another?"
"Yes, my lord. I fear there is a plot to destroy your family -- there can be no doubt that your last son, your daughter, and at last you yourself are in deadly peril."

Cue paranoid and increasingly erratic behaviour. When it comes to offing the man himself, don't ignore the Lion King ploy -- make somebody else take the blame themselves. Maybe someone who was actually defending themselves from the oligarch's paranoia?

[CapnVan]

The safest (and therefore best) way to take over the world is to do it in such a manner that no one notices. If no one knows that you've succeeded and now rule the world, then there's no one to oppose you.

Find out where the doppelgangers are. Recruit or dominate them. Use them to replace key personnel everywhere.

Invest heavily in anti-scrying and divination magic — you want to know everything about your enemies, and want them not to even know you exist.

Etc. The point is — you don't want to be known, you don't want to run an army or a rebellion, you don't want bards singing about how great and important you are. You don't want to marry into the royal family. All that's important is that the royal family does what you want, when you want.

You want to be Palpatine before he became Chancellor — the one who's running things, but no one knows it. You want to be the Trilateral Commission, etc.

In short, every conspiracy theorist's wet dream.

[Sarquion]

Marry the prince.
How badly do you want that power?

Firstly my guy wouldn't dare put himself in that kind of position ... ever, he's too proud.

Yes, my lord. I fear there is a plot to destroy your family -- there can be no doubt that your last son, your daughter, and at last you yourself are in deadly peril."

Secondly I will have to have an attack on me too which is easily done. Otherwise it may look suspicious.

It also works the other way around. Captured a crime lord? Excellent! Sell his head to the land's lord! (and take over the crime lord's job to expand your network)

Good idea. The party member who is a daemon angel thing has started to not want this character any more so I don't even need to find anything epic or dangerous etc, I got one just out side the city.

You'll save a town from marauding ogres to build popularity. They don't need to know that you Charmed the ogre chieftain into attacking the town in the first place

Finally, good idea which could be doable with a cleric and wizard on our side.