The prince is dead!
This is the news the PCs will hear when they stop at a small city on a river ford. Obviously, this ties into a larger, over-arching plot to the campaign. For now, it means that certain nobles (including the one of this particular city) allied closely with a (corrupt) Duke are given the right to raise existing taxes and levy new ones. Further, they employ a new group of enforcers answerable only to said royal, the Duke's Dragons. Rather than just introducing all this as background and description to what the party is doing, I'd really like to have an adventure which involves both roleplaying and action centered on these developments, but I'm coming up blank.
I have a LG human cleric, a NG dwarf ranger, a CN orc (which replace half-orcs in my setting) barbarian, and a CN human sorcerer. I'd love it if the party had to choose between supporting law, by allying with the Duke's Dragons, or chaos, by allying with someone opposed to them. The two potential allies would have to be LN and CN, primarily because the Duke's Dragons are non-good. They're mostly lawful evil (using gestappo tactics), but then the choice for the party is too one-sided. Conversly, if the chaotic NPC(s) is(are) CG, then the choice is again too one-sided. I'd also really like to avoid too much possibility of prison-time for the PCs because of the LG cleric (having him go to jail would complicate things in a way I'd rather not delve into at the moment). It also makes it more of a free choice between law and chaos, since it wouldn't mean gaining a permanent bad reputation for choosing one over the other.
I've got several different ideas in mind. Perhaps a chaotically-aligned figure, possibly an adventurer, starts a riot in the streets because of the emotion over the prince's death and the outrage of the legal abuses and Duke's Dragons. Perhaps the merchant or some other figure the PCs will be traveling with is chaotic (he hasn't been introduced into the adventure yet, so that's all mutable) and has to be busted out of jail and then escorted from the city. Perhaps a priest of a rival (enemy but not necessarily evil?) church (I use my own homebrewed pantheon) is arrested/persecuted and the party has to choose whether to join the Duke's Dragons or help the otherwise hostile cleric? All these things are spinning around, but just won't congeal. Help, Paizonians, and thanks in advance!
Hmm how about the new royal showing more favour to a more martial and proactive faith, however it could also be explained off that the prince's death has been blamed on minorities in the community perhaps even hiding the fact they've been securing people to hide the ones who they consider a threat.
For example that orc barbarian or even that sorceror which reminds me of Blackmoor where sorcerors' are effectively have to stay in hiding as the wizards' cabal specifically hunt them supposedly to combat the evil posed by these non-wizards but actually more because of the abilities they wield and the wizards have been trying to duplicate.
Now for that first adventure how about they learn of the prince's death but rumours persist that someone was behind the assassination and the heir has sought the means to secure their rule and keep their fiefdom safe maybe to hide the truth behind the succession and what is really going on...
I'd suggest this: have a new form of martial law put into place whereby all persons not in service directly to an official of the crown or part of a baronial household guard/feudal army/city militia (or whatever appropriate military/paramilitary organizations exist) must surrender their arms; any clergy not part of a lawfully recognized religion must either leave the country or promise not to practice; any spellcaster not affiliated with (name appropriate organizations) must do likewise. These reasons are stated for public security. Furthermore special squads made up of spellcasters, warrior types and investigative rogue types are already formed up (how did THAT happen so quickly?) to hunt down anyone who hasn't registered by the appropriate date.
This might have the pcs just flee the country. However any person who is not part of a recognized lawful association or trade group has to pay through the nose--including a tax on magical items at the borders!
Now, to sweeten a possible deal for the pcs, have representatives of the Dragons approach them and offer them positions, with good pay, just a small cut to the Duke for any treasure/loot they might get, and some interesting mission/adventure possibilities. Don't present it as 'this is an evil organization'. Talk about law and order, talk about various evil plots, assassination of the prince, others targeted, have the Duke publically furious at the prince's death, grief stricken in his outrage. Have solemn advisors and trustees of the Duke remark solemnly, "He loved the Prince dearly...this is such a blow to him."
On the other hand, have some rather disreputable people, people who don't necessarily look all that great, warn the pcs that this is an evil plot, that the Duke is a villain, and offer great rewards to those who help them. Something like this:
1. Candidate for the throne: is a weedy young man with a nasal voice and a foppish manner of dress. This conceals a keen mind, someone capable of gathering others with great talent around him, but it shouldn't be readily apparent. The consolation prize: he at least seems rich. His first adventure involves seeking out a relic. It actually is a relic, and involves further quests that might greatly help him gain the throne.
2. A bard who seems like a drunk. In fact he IS a drunk but it doesn't mean he's stupid; he also has excellent Thieves Guild contacts who have been aware for a while of something in the wind...He has secret info about arrests that have already taken place, and about the true character of the Dragons.
3. A ruffianly seeming landed knight who is known to be a brigand and barely more than an outlaw, spoken of in whispers and with a certain wariness and contempt, who nevertheless is a lifelong friend of the prince's, determined to avenge him and make sure the succession goes well. His first plan is a rescue of a potential heir held hostage on a remote estate...
I'd suggest this: have a new form of martial law put into place whereby all persons not in service directly to an official of the crown or part of a baronial household guard/feudal army/city militia (or whatever appropriate military/paramilitary organizations exist) must surrender their arms; any clergy not part of a lawfully recognized religion must either leave the country or promise not to practice; any spellcaster not affiliated with (name appropriate organizations) must do likewise. These reasons are stated for public security. Furthermore special squads made up of spellcasters, warrior types and investigative rogue types are already formed up (how did THAT happen so quickly?) to hunt down anyone who hasn't registered by the appropriate date.
...
Now, to sweeten a possible deal for the pcs, have representatives of the Dragons approach them and offer them positions, with good pay, just a small cut to the Duke for any treasure/loot they might get, and some interesting mission/adventure possibilities. Don't present it as 'this is an evil organization'. Talk about law and order, talk about various evil plots, assassination of the prince, others targeted, have the Duke publically furious at the prince's death, grief stricken in his outrage. Have solemn advisors and trustees of the Duke remark solemnly, "He loved the Prince dearly...this is such a blow to him."
Thanks, this gives me some ideas! The prince's death is something I've had planned for a while, and will lead into the rest of the main campaign's plot (filled with politics and unlikely bed-fellows, large scale battles and personal encounters, and a nation generally at war). There is a disgraced group of knights (and rightfully so; they are lawful evil) who are being blamed for the prince's death, but it is the corrupt duke (and his unseen dark elf lover, who is just using the human nation as a stepping stone in a larger plot) that is really responsible for the prince's death. The evil knights are in a position to oppose the corrupt duke, and whether the party formerly joins up with them later or not, their paths and goal will coincide as the campaign progresses.
All that being said, the issue at hand is just the first introduction to those larger themes (smaller plots already begun don't appear directly connected, but will become so as time goes on). I want things to get progressively worse as the game goes on, so the first effects shouldn't be so severe. The city in which the PCs hear of the prince's death is the major crossroads of the nation, with lots of traders and travelers from all over. The legal abuses will therefore be the work of just the local baron in his jurisdiction, since he's been given that authority by the duke. Placing such obscene taxes and regulations on the nation's overland trading hub will have widespread effects, but still allow the party to continue on their way to the kingdom's frontier and not be as adversly impacted there.
Along with the trade and travel regulations, the duke will shut down some of the churches in the area which fall more outside his power structure. That may well cause some riots. The city will be closed for a week while things get sorted out. This will let the party get into some trouble (perhaps on both sides), do some roleplaying, and get a sense of things. During this time, the leader of one of the closed temples will becom somewhat of an outlaw figure, though no folk-saint to be sure. Then the party can be presented with a choice between which figure they'd like to support, or possibly neither; all options ending up with different effects but ultimately getting them out of the city and back on the road.
Thanks! That got the wheels turning with a lot more focus.
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So what is it you need?
You have a Lawful Evil Secret Police.
You have suggested a Town which sits on a site where a Major road crosses a major river. You could be looking at an Administrative centre for what is essentially four regions divided by road and river. It is not so much a city governed by Barons or Dukes, rather an Administrative Town with a charter from the Prince rather than the lesser Monarchs.
Less likely to be a Guild Town as Guilds wont like to be spied on and infiltrated by Provo Martials.