Ausk Valrosh |
So I've been planning this campaign set in Brevoy for my players and everyone seems interested. I've promised, political intrigue (something I've never dealt with) , dynamic player involvement in the plot (meaning I want it to be more sandboxy rather than a railroaded story (something we've never really done)), and a relatively low fantasy version of Brevoy (not that brevoy isn't already low fantasy esqe).
That being said, I would like some input on how to deal with the political stuff and how the players can get involved. I've stated the rule that only one player should be a noble from one the established houses of Brevoy, as to limit an inner party struggle a bit.
But the real issue lies in playing the political parts out. Should there be diplomacy checks? Should it rely purely on roleplaying skills? If I do have checks, how much weight does a natural 20 have? These are things that I believe are a little more complicated than simple dialouge, and diplomacy.
Do you guys think I am wrong? Would making it play out differently just bog the game down and make it less fun?
Any and all thoughts and questions are appreciated, thank you
Eltacolibre |
natural 20 have no weight on skills...its just a very high roll and doesn't do anything else for skills, just like rolling an 1 on a skill, doesn't do anything.
For Political intrigue, just take inspiration from the media (A song of Ice and Fire being the popular one at the moment, Ninja scroll is another more actions/adventure orientated). Intrigue is about more than just diplomacy, it's about forming alliance, backstabbing, betrayal. In a fantasy world, like Golarion, you can even shift the table on them. When magic gets involved, a dominated former ally, goes from friendly to being their enemy or maybe someone they knew is replaced by a doppelganger or a succubus etc...
Basically the first thing you need to establish, what is the primary conflict, why are they doing all this? In game of thrones for example, everybody is playing the game to get on the Iron Throne. Like, what is the clear goal here?
Issac Daneil |
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I apply a method of mixing;
To get the meeting with nobility established they can rely on Diplomacy to overcome a guard barring access, and when they arrive their role playing with the noble grants them a bonus to eventually necessary Diplomacy check.
Or, if you deem it so, a penalty. The key thing about social and political games is that the players need to start to KNOW who they speak to, and how those people think; that why they can change their words to suit the listener's taste, just like with regular people.
For example:
An Npc Noble has a reputation for being a fiery tempered negotiator.
Unknown to most others, except perhaps his friends (an investigation the players could have undertaken), he has an appreciation for model soldiers. Give him a gift of one, descreetly, and he may take you to be a friend, or else failng that, will atleast be in an agreeable mood. That grants a bonus to Diplomacy.
That sort of stuff is how I run it. Each important npc has a few quirks, whether for good or ill of those trying to use them.
Ausk Valrosh |
natural 20 have no weight on skills...its just a very high roll and doesn't do anything else for skills, just like rolling an 1 on a skill, doesn't do anything.
For Political intrigue, just take inspiration from the media (A song of Ice and Fire being the popular one at the moment, Ninja scroll is another more actions/adventure orientated). Intrigue is about more than just diplomacy, it's about forming alliance, backstabbing, betrayal. In a fantasy world, like Golarion, you can even shift the table on them. When magic gets involved, a dominated former ally, goes from friendly to being their enemy or maybe someone they knew is replaced by a doppelganger or a succubus etc...
Basically the first thing you need to establish, what is the primary conflict, why are they doing all this? In game of thrones for example, everybody is playing the game to get on the Iron Throne. Like, what is the clear goal here?
I've talked to one of my players about what kind of game they wanted play and he said (and I concur) that he wanted to play something that had a major goal but also had this separate quest line that has to be dealt with. He referenced skyrim when talking about this, because in that game there is the immediate problem of alduin and the return of the dragons, but there is also the Nord's fighting against the imperials for power.
Long story short I plan on doing something similar with solving the vanishing as the big end goal, while also dealing with the potential civil war that's been brewing.
TimD |
Political games are kind of a weird hybrid thing in most P&P games, which are primarily focused on level & "stuff" advancement - the politics rarely have a solid effect on a character's game mechanics, so they're often overshadowed by things that do.
The first thing I would do is make sure that the one player who is playing the noble isn't going to overshadow or make the other characters feel like they are side-kicks.
I would actually sit down with all of the players before your first session and come up with a list of characters and character goals for each of them, so you can sort of plot them out (and maybe back-up characters and back-up character goals if your games tend to be on the lethal side or if you have PCs who cyle through characters). Once you've done that, I would come up with a list of allies, enemies, and other antagonists who may be opposing or competing for these goals or would benefit if the PCs actually reached their goals. If you want to be a bit more dastardly, you can also have the goals of one PC make the goals of other PCs either more difficult, impossible, or otherwise hamper their efforts. This allows you to coordinate and foreshadow while still retaining your "sandbox" theme. As your campaign progresses, you can not only update what happens to the PCs, but how their actions may change the goals and perceptions of their allies and rivals (perhaps losing allies and gaining alliances with former rivals even).
PC 1: Noble PC - make their family < V > the preiminent family in the region, while laying low their long-term rivals < x >
PC 2: Become ennobled after making a fortune
PC 3: Spread the faith of < y > throughout the land, making it the main religion in the region
PC 4: Gain revenge against Family < Z > for person reasons (Inigo Montoya name, entirely optional, of course)
... complications: Family < x > is a huge supporter of religion < Y > or offers to marry PC 2 into their family, which would make them a noble. Perhaps family < Z > is a long-term ally and has ties of marriage into Family < v >, which would make the revenge of one a complication to the other, etc. Most likely you would want to avoid actual PvP, but games with lots of politics often involve PCs conspiring without each others knowledge, as well.
Throw in a few shapechangers and altered memories and things can rapidly go from sandbox to sahara for possibilities :)
Hope that helps!
-TimD