Dilligently plotting...

[NotMousse]

Having an odd idea for a theme involving Doppelgangers with a slight twist to their normal MO based on this meme.

Libertarian plot

So while yes they're looking for power and wealth it's as a means to the end of more overall freedom (and the acceptance of them as a race).

[Emmanuel Nouvellon-Pugh]

Excuse me sir, but may I partake in that blunt?

Traditionally Doppelgangers like chaos and trickery because they are aberrations. Their MO is laughing at mortal suffering because their minds are so alien that they cannot empathize.

[The Epic Dungeon Master]

One could pose the notion that in gaining absolute power and not exercising it, anarchy and chaos would ensue, thus fitting the MO.

[Emmanuel Nouvellon-Pugh]

The Epic Dungeon Master wrote:

One could pose the notion that in gaining absolute power and not exercising it, anarchy and chaos would ensue, thus fitting the MO.

Shape Shifters that rule in a secret society and could wipe out civilization with a thought are druids, not doppelgangers.

[Pendagast]

Emmanuel Nouvellon-Pugh wrote:

The Epic Dungeon Master wrote:

One could pose the notion that in gaining absolute power and not exercising it, anarchy and chaos would ensue, thus fitting the MO.

Shape Shifters that rule in a secret society and could wipe out civilization with a thought are druids, not doppelgangers.

I frequently use druids (and elves who are neutral in my games) as antagonists/villains in this manner.

[Vincent Takeda]

Emmanuel Nouvellon-Pugh wrote:

Traditionally Doppelgangers like chaos and trickery because they are aberrations. Their MO is laughing at mortal suffering because their minds are so alien that they cannot empathize.

Sounds like a libertarian to me! D'oh!!! Just kidding!

[boring7]

Doppelganger conspiracies can have problems, but your OP's idea isn't a bad one. It reminds me of how illogical but doggedly determined the Founders of DS9 and the Skrull were.

What's interesting is they probably become twisted versions of the old 19th-20th century anarchists, who were all about freedom and getting rid of the Old Order and infiltrating/destroying leadership to create perfectly free idealized communism.

Which unsurprisingly led to brutal authoritarianism in the places it won.

Of course this is all a bit complex and self-contained, if you want to put the adventurers in and set a world of semi-traditional fantasy what you want is a conspiracy of doppelgangers out to shift and plot and murder their way to controlling a place like Cheliax to turn it away from deviltry and hell-magic but have basically three paths where the PCs either stand against them (thus helping the devil-worshippers), stand with them (thus falling prey to the chaotic evil ones within the ranks plotting domination and/or deals with demons), or stand against both (thus not really having any allies and having to be "on the run" a lot).

Actually, now I'm seeing a 6-faction struggle in Cheliax (or someplace like it).

-You've got the Evil Establishment, a band of lawful evil nobility that use Devil conjuration or Necromancy to maintain their evil power. Or both.

-You have the chaotic and idealistic Freedom Fighters, most of whom are doppelgangers but who have good relations with human upstarts as well. They want to bring down the order, become the new order, and make a place where anyone can live. But they're willing to cut corners and make successively more machiavellian calls as time goes on.

-You have the Demons, who are trying to infiltrate/support every "chaotic" organization as part of a plan to become the new, chaotic evil establishment, but they have to watch out for good guys, bad guys, and their own chaotic nature sabotaging their plans.

-You have the Neutral Druids who just want the unnatural horrors stopped. Right now that includes doppelgangers but they might be persuaded otherwise. Unfortunately some of their more powerful and extremist members are close to figuring out how to geonuke the entire nation into forested wasteland because of all the devil and demon and undead stuff that's tainting the land.

-You have the good guys, another nation at the border trying to stand against the evil with their paladins and their clerics but having to play politics on account of not wanting a war, but also has a bunch of "old guard" that just want their power back from the current Evil Establishment and might not be that good.

-And finally, the PCs, who start out somehow tied to a little close-to-the border town and next to a large forest with mysterious ruins inside.