Test Worthy of a King

[elliott20]

After nearly a whole decade of D&D hiatus, I finally am starting back up again playing the game and getting back to GMing my first game.

I planned on running a kingmaker sandbox game where players get to run a small kingdom and deal with all of the political intrigue there in. (I'll be hacking the d20 systems with splicing some other system quirks)

The central item of all of this is the crown of inheritance, a crown that bestows upon the wearer inheritance of the kingdom and all the memories of the previous generation. The player who is playing the king can for a small price gain access to the skills of the previous kings/queens.

We originally were going to start the game right when the player puts on the crown on the throne, and start from there. However, one player wanted to actually push it back and have the players start out figuring out the succession.

So their first adventure will have them go forth to the crown's cave to fetch the crown itself. I first envision the crown to be just a dungeon crawl for the players to hack through but I felt that there needs to be more meaning to it so I axed the idea and started working on creating a series of tests that would test their mettle as rulers.

The problem is, I can't come up with any really creative tests for them. So I'm not really sure how to go about constructing it.

My first idea so far is to use this not so much as a real test (since the party WILL succeed or else there is no game), but rather use it as a place to establish the characters and some background lore. (Again, sandbox game)

We have already listed a list of 6 rulers that preceded players. They are all, at this moment, just a name and epithet. (we will fill out the details as we play)

So my idea now is to ask the players WHY was the crown created in the first place? Clearly legacy and memories is a central concept to this game, and so I want to make sure the players get this in full.

I was thinking that I would put each player into a dream-like test where they would re-live the partial memories of the past rulers and see how they would handle each situation.

Do you guys have any cool tests/situations/roleplaying situations that you can suggest for this test?

[Pink]

Well, not so much a test, but what comes to mind is a series of chambers that will ask the PCs how they will rule, and then the trial accommodates to test their ability. Something like, "By what means will you rule?" And there being an option such as a sword and a pen, picking the sword leads to straight combat, then pen to a riddle or something more puzzle based.

If you go into it you could have a lot of interesting situations that don't necessarily challenge the PCs but define what sort've rulers they will be. Generous or practical? Hands on or efficient at managing. Etc etc.

[JusticeZero]

Who made the test? Why? That's actually the core issue. Was it celestials? A dragon? A greedy king making a bid for immortality? his/her greedy advisors? All of these would have different priorities about what is important. Needless to say a lot of possibilities won't care about actual leadership skill so much as low Will saves.

[Slipperychicken]

Who made the test? Why? That's actually the core issue. Was it celestials? A dragon? A greedy king making a bid for immortality? his/her greedy advisors? All of these would have different priorities about what is important. Needless to say a lot of possibilities won't care about actual leadership skill so much as low Will saves.

Seconding this. You have to figure out why this state is run on such an absurd and unstable principle.

[Seleborn]

Maybe there could be some kind of Tome on a pedestal in which there are certain scenarios pertaining to ruling written. Have the players write out their answers to the situation, and then from their answers have the book choose the ruler. The crown magically appears on their head maybe (to prevent them from just taking it, and if they kill the winner it disappears).

Question ideas:

1) You know of an impending invasion, in which you only have the time to evacuate the peasants or the nobles. Which do you choose, and why?

2) Two of your close allies go to war against each other. They both come to you and offer half of the opposing kingdom's loot if you join them in the war. How would you proceed, and why?

3) You hear of a plot against your royal person, but you also catch word via celestial spirit of potential massacre about to happen among the common folk by orcs. You are in your royal hidden sanctum for protection when the angel comes, and no guards are around to hear your calls (their presence would cause suspicion of your hidey hole) Do you leave your sanctum at the risk of death to save your people, or stay and protect yourself? Why?

4) A powerful wizard attempts to blackmail you. He wishes no investigations into his dark experiments, and if you do not comply he will send in an army of undead to devastate the city. Also, his Imp familiar watches you constantly (invisible). You know his experiments mean the death of some of your people, but the undead invasion would cause many more deaths. What do you do? Why?


Just some idea

[elliott20]

Seconding this. You have to figure out why this state is run on such an absurd and unstable principle.

That's part of the problem. I wasn't sure WHY I decided to do things this way. It just seemed like a fun departure from the standard stuff.

I'm almost tempted to let the players answer that question, just to let them participate in the world building, absurd as this may be.

I do have some ideas to pitch though. One of them would be that perhaps this is the originator's way of trying to obtain immortality without having to actually really become one. Or maybe there is some kind of work that the originator felt would need more than one life time to complete, and this is the best way to pass it all along.

But then I would need to change / clarify parts of the crown to make it less ridiculous. Maybe instead of just the act of wearing it being enough, maybe wearing the crown itself is merely symbolic in nature, but the actual path of succession is determined by the past spirits of the kings, who would weigh upon the soul of the candidates. Would that work?

[Slipperychicken]

Here's one:

Maybe the crown normally gives some memories of past rulers (the setting's equivalent to Merlin enchanted it like that in the Kingdom's early years), and succession is usually a hereditary affair. However, the mad King Badbin the Babbler (or whatever name you think of) killed off all his heirs and hid the crown in the cave, setting up the contest in the final years of his depraved reign. Whoever finds the crown has a strong claim on the throne, but the reign will not be cozy -the winner must face down many challengers, coups, and conspiracies if he wishes to reign for long.

Plot twist: the crown "overloaded" the last King with memories, driving him insane. This is the reason the bearer can't just use the ancient's wisdom to solve everything -he risks Wisdom drain if he does it too often.

[Ozfer]

Personally, I would probably play the session without a single die rolled. Questions would not be challenges, but opportunities to display the character's personality. The crown would record the answers and give mechanical bonuses based on this, maybe? For instance, if they display a warrior attitude, +2 Strength.

[Surfnerd]

I agree with SlipperyChicken, there motive for hiding it determines the challenge. Have the crown hidden away. No reason not to make it a dungeon crawl like you initially suggested. Perhaps in a previous era lords tired of the rule of the old lineage usurped the throne and crown. The crown bestowing upon the wearer visions and guidance from the previous kings was driving the usurpers mad so they hid it and said it was stolen/destroyed/whatever. Yet it has been written since the foundation of the kingdom that the wearer of the crown rules the kingdom and being magical in nature this has always been held true.

With the loss of the crown so many years ago the Usurpers reign did not last long before infighting and political strife began to break apart the kingdom into warlord controlled regions.

Enter the PCs, they go to dungeon and find crown perhaps they were already nobles looking to put an end to the fighting, adrenaline junkies or murder-hobos. Now they have in their possession the means to rule the kingdom.....

You could always have one of the PCs be of the Usurpers lineage and if he wears the crown he begins to go insane.

Of course just because they have the symbol to rule it doesn't mean every lord is going to bend the knee. I would suggest they already have noble ties and families with persuasion inside the kingdom.

[GAThraawn]

I rather like the notion of it being used as a magical test for proficiency at the job, determined by the magical artifact or ancient spirits or whatever. Use the dream-scenario magic to test their responses to various situations, maybe situations that have already come up in past rulers lives, and accept someone who consistently shows aptitude. Maybe they believe that the spirit of past rules gets reincarnated, and each generation they try to rediscover one of their past kings?

The thing I like about this is that you can have the tests be dream scenarios, like you said, but since you say you need your players to succeed, there's no clear right or wrong answer, and you can have the correct resolution be whatever it is that they end up doing. You could have an entire adventure about them pursuing different adventure in fantasy dreamland, and whatever they do eventually leads to success. (And even if they fail, you can have the spirits say "Yup, you're the reincarnation of King Jiberjab the third. He screwed that one up just like you did. It's what killed him, in fact. Welcome back.")

[Frozen_Feet]

Screw creativity.

The crown is in the cave, because the last king went and died there. The crown, and the position of the king, is cursed, so that any king who behaves unjustly towards his subjects will be driven mad and will die a futile death in some far-off place.

Fetching the crown is not the test. The actual test is that even knowing all of the above, you are still willing to put your head on the chopping block. Hacking your way through the cave is just the start - the actual test begins only after you've put the crown on your head and declared yourself a king.

And the test never ends until you fail or die.

[elliott20]

Screw creativity.

The crown is in the cave, because the last king went and died there. The crown, and the position of the king, is cursed, so that any king who behaves unjustly towards his subjects will be driven mad and will die a futile death in some far-off place.

Fetching the crown is not the test. The actual test is that even knowing all of the above, you are still willing to put your head on the chopping block. Hacking your way through the cave is just the start - the actual test begins only after you've put the crown on your head and declared yourself a king.

And the test never ends until you fail or die.

I actually really really like this one here.

[Ozfer]

Yea, that's an awesome idea.

[Xeratos]

Not so much in regards to the test itself, but as to why a memory holding crown even exists in the first place:

There's something bad sealed up somewhere in the kingdom. Like... really really bad. Like, unleashing it means flood and earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, the minions of the Damned marching on the living, so on and so on.

The kings rule in such a way that it keeps this thing penned up, subdued, whatever. The best method they have to prevent it being tampered with is that no one knows about it. However, if no one knows, then once the original king dies, there's a chance it'll be forgotten completely and be lost to the whims of fate.

So, to prevent some overly nosy adventurer from causing disaster, the crown is enchanted with memories from its previous wearers to help them contain and protect this thing, and thus prevent calamity for another generation.

What exactly this thing is, I have no idea. It could be a magical plague, a great beast of destruction, an elemental force of pure evil, or whatever. But it needs to stay locked up in its box, hidden away from the world. Forever.

Your test could very well be designed to weed out those seeking the throne if they are unsuitable to be caretakers of the big bad thing. Those who are weak willed, unintelligent, whatever, can't make it through the test to reach the crown. When the current king (or queen!) dies, the crown is magically transported back to the trial dungeon again.

By the way, how do you plan on dealing with resurrection in your game? Is it possible that former kings might be alive again, and if so, why didn't they reclaim their crown?

[elliott20]

By the way, how do you plan on dealing with resurrection in your game? Is it possible that former kings might be alive again, and if so, why didn't they reclaim their crown?

I was thinking about that question. Generally, you need to WANT to come back. Maybe the burden of kingship is so great that nobody REALLY wants to do it after they're done. Or maybe that could be one of the plot points where the king's just never thought to do that. That or it's possible that most kings actually do make it old age, where resurrection no longer works.

[Slipperychicken]

I was thinking about that question. Generally, you need to WANT to come back. Maybe the burden of kingship is so great that nobody REALLY wants to do it after they're done. Or maybe that could be one of the plot points where the king's just never thought to do that. That or it's possible that most kings actually do make it old age, where resurrection no longer works.

The task of figuring out the effects of Resurrection on succession/inheritance laws is enough to make one want to simply ban those spells entirely.

[elliott20]

I might just do that. Of course, given that I intend to end the game before they hit level 15, I'm hoping this won't even be an issue. The setting itself was made to be pretty low powered anyway.

[Waker]

While the crown may be a magic item, it is not a guarantee of power. Nobles and others won't necessarily follow you just because you have a shiny hat. The party starts off greatly contested from all sides, supported only by a few loyal servants. Pretenders parade about wearing their false crowns, claiming you to be wearing a crown of tin.

The crown itself was originally commissioned by the first king in the hopes that the next generation of rulers would follow wisely by his example. Accruing the knowledge of several monarchs can be represented by the use of some flat bonuses to Diplomacy, Intimidate and Sense Motive. At higher levels, perhaps give the option of using a spell like Commune or some other Divination to help provide knowledge. Perhaps you might even imbue the crown itself with intelligence, slightly encouraging it's wearer to act in the interests of the nation.

[Slipperychicken]

I might just do that. Of course, given that I intend to end the game before they hit level 15, I'm hoping this won't even be an issue. The setting itself was made to be pretty low powered anyway.

You could also justify it by saying the Gods made an agreement to block rulers (and many other important people, including the BBEG) from returning to life.

[Pokonic]

Another idea: The crown itself is sentinent in a way, so unless it is claimed as the result of a chalange or contest it will not work properly. Now, the typical way this was done in the past was by the currant king throwing a game of his choice to a chosen successer, but the last king went overboard and actualy decided to make it a challange to obtain. As in, his ghost haunts the damned thing and kills anyone he does not see as being worthy.

Considering that his line is dead now and has been so for some time, the party needs to do something big for the old geezer to pass on and not kill them when one makes a move for it.

[Yakk]

Make it possible to fail. Even better, make it interesting to fail.

* There is someone else trying to go for the Crown, with what they think is a way to trick the Crown into thinking they are the rightful heir (or maybe they think they have royal blood?). They are wrong, but if they get it, their compatriots will attempt to flee with the Crown.

* Humanoids have tunneled into the complex from below, and are attempting to dismantle the tests in order to get at the Crown. If they manage to defeat the final test, the shaman plans to use the power of the Crown to

* The tests have degraded in interesting ways. What is supposed to be a test of X is instead a death trap. Instructions spoken by magic mouths are completely wrong, referring to things that don't exist, and sometimes they glitch out. This should scale up as they go through the tests (the first tests are broken in minor ways).

* Some of the previous Kings' spirits have been driven mad by being trapped by the Crown. With nobody wearing it, they have escaped and are trying to stop anyone from reaching it. Will the character still put on the Crown knowing that it will trap their soul for all eternity?

Once you have it, the adventure need not end:

* The Crown has been swapped for a chunk of metal during the reign of the last king. He was quite competent, and continued to pretend the Crown was real, while attempting to discover what happened to it. Before he died, he managed to bind him spirit to the fake Crown in such a way that he can speak to the heir, a pale imitation of the real Crown. Still, extremely useful, because the previous King learned a lot from the Crown before it was lost...

(not consisted with #4 above)

[holywhippet]

Give them some tests based on virtues:

1) Have the King to be encounter some villagers under attack by monsters. Their leader begs him to hold them off while they flee for their life but it's clear that it would be at the cost of his own. The scenario is an illusion however and the correct answer is to fight to the death showing the King must be willing to protect his people even if it will cost him his own life.

2) The King finds a mother screaming for help claiming her child was taken by some horrible giant monster to it's lair to be eaten. The woman's description makes the monster sound like something the King can't hope to beat in a fair fight. The monster is actually just something like an orc, the mother is freaking out because she is panicking. The King must prove his courage by entering the lair regardless.

3) The King encounters a puzzle which seems to have a logical and obvious answer but attempting the logical solution doesn't work. A nearby eccentric person who has been studying the puzzle can offer the solution although what they suggests seems completely crazy and illogical - but it will work if they try it. Only by accepting the help of the eccentric (and being grateful) will the King show humility in accepting they could be wrong at times.

4) The King comes across a ferry that is the only way across a wide and swiftly running river. Waiting for the ferry is a farmer taking his goods to market. He will need to take several loads across and will only be able to reach the market in time to fulfill his sales contract if he allowed to go first. The King must show patience by waiting until the farmer is finished.

Have the King encounter these things on the way to the cave. These are the actual the actual tests. When he reaches the cave he finds that the village leader, mother, eccentric and farmer are all spirit beings who test all who would seek to be King. You could have it that they will always grant the crown to the rightful heir, but the enchantment level of the crown will depend on how well they did on the tests.

[Slipperychicken]

Give them some tests based on virtues:

1) Have the King to be encounter some villagers under attack by monsters. Their leader begs him to hold them off while they flee for their life but it's clear that it would be at the cost of his own. The scenario is an illusion however and the correct answer is to fight to the death showing the King must be willing to protect his people even if it will cost him his own life.

2) The King finds a mother screaming for help claiming her child was taken by some horrible giant monster to it's lair to be eaten. The woman's description makes the monster sound like something the King can't hope to beat in a fair fight. The monster is actually just something like an orc, the mother is freaking out because she is panicking. The King must prove his courage by entering the lair regardless.

These are both horrible DMing, and encourage player types which DMs constantly complain about here, notably the "gung-go-nothing-scares-me-fight-to-the-death" kind who leeroys into every problem and expects to come out on top, no matter how stupid, insane, or detrimental to the plot that is.

"Oh, you fled the obvious no-win scenario so you can live, fight another day, do greater good by leading your Kingdom, and allow the plot to continue? FAILURE, NO CROWN FOR YOU!"

[tommhans]

Maybe there could be some kind of Tome on a pedestal in which there are certain scenarios pertaining to ruling written. Have the players write out their answers to the situation, and then from their answers have the book choose the ruler. The crown magically appears on their head maybe (to prevent them from just taking it, and if they kill the winner it disappears).

Question ideas:

1) You know of an impending invasion, in which you only have the time to evacuate the peasants or the nobles. Which do you choose, and why?

2) Two of your close allies go to war against each other. They both come to you and offer half of the opposing kingdom's loot if you join them in the war. How would you proceed, and why?

3) You hear of a plot against your royal person, but you also catch word via celestial spirit of potential massacre about to happen among the common folk by orcs. You are in your royal hidden sanctum for protection when the angel comes, and no guards are around to hear your calls (their presence would cause suspicion of your hidey hole) Do you leave your sanctum at the risk of death to save your people, or stay and protect yourself? Why?

4) A powerful wizard attempts to blackmail you. He wishes no investigations into his dark experiments, and if you do not comply he will send in an army of undead to devastate the city. Also, his Imp familiar watches you constantly (invisible). You know his experiments mean the death of some of your people, but the undead invasion would cause many more deaths. What do you do? Why?


Just some idea

i like em ^^

ill try an answer them now just for fun:

1)peasants, they do all the work that gets the town around ,and i expect some of the nobles to be skilled enough to make it on their own.
2)Give them their magic friend hats and talk them over, this is silly, we dont need another war just yet
3)I'd ofc go out and fight for my people, i'm not afraid of some celestial bitch!
4)I dont give in to blackmails, id man the posts and warn the citizens to stay inside while me and my party have a contest about who kills the most undead!

:)

[Premier]

Here's an idea:

The dungeon is more or less a red herring. All it has at the bottom is a shrine dedicated to some divine/angelic being who resides on a different plane of existence with the crown in its safekeeping. However, while the prospective ruler is adventuring in the area, the Powers That Be arrange for a threat to the region to manifest. Perhaps news a great raiding force starting to assemble, the beginnings of an orcish incursion, a natural catastrophe or something of the sort. If the quester abandons the search for the crown and focuses on the threat to the land and the people instead, he proves his worth: after all, a king is supposed to protect his kingdom, not abandon it while chasing loot and personal glory.