So, I'm interested in running a political style game with heavy emphasis on urban interactions and intrigue. I'm basing the game in Brevoy, and focusing on the disappearance of the old royal family (mobile at the moment and can't remember the name) and the rise of the Surtova family as the ruling family.
I have a total of 6 players at the moment, and might gain another (I'm practiced in running large groups) before too long here. The majority of the party is casters of some sort, either arcane or divine, and a decent mix of Melee and ranged combat.
I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on pitfall/traps or good things to focus on.
I know I'm going to involve a Cult of Dragon Worshippers, and the current ruling family being heavily tied to them. But other than that, I was wondering if there was anything others have done for this kind of campaign that worked well or was a lot of fun.
Thanks in advance for all your help!
First off, splitting the party is going to happen in this situation. You're just not going to have every PC crammed into a carriage or whatever talking to the current NPC at once. So, you need to keep such interactions short and to the point, or you need a second GM.
Even if RP is the focus, you need a fight each session if you're going to keep everyone interested IME.
Rule of cool as far as communication and giving speeches goes is even more important than usual.
I am not sure if you already planned on it, but I think Ultimate Campaign will be a valuable resource for this kind of campaign.
Check out Fame and Reputation. These rules will help govern when they (the PCs) have enough political pull (or lose it) as well as help show their general influence. The constant tug of war to both their Fame and Reputation will have them feeling like they are in their own political race. This way, the groups will be thinking like politicians ("what can I do to get these supporters?") and you will have scales based on actions and deeds instead of bluff and diplomacy rolls. Also, the need for fame and reputation will give opportunities to do non-RP/politics so that the game stays interesting with action.
I would also make use of downtime for less important interactions so that some players are not glazing over while you and a small portion of the group RP out a political encounter that has little barring on the overall scheme of things. It might also be wise to have the players decide on their actions for the downtime periods, and pass it along to you. Then at the beginning of each meeting, you can explain what are the effects from those actions. This will allow you to budget more of the game time for the exciting, full-group portions (such as avr suggested: fights/non-rp encounters).
Just a couple thoughts. If this wasn't what you were looking for or need more, just let me know and I'll try my best to tailor the advice to suit your needs better.
most of my players aren't that interested in tracking things like fame and reputation, so I'm just gonna wing most of that. So far, I have a Paladin/Sorcerer, a Sorcerer, an Arcanist, a Hunter, a False Mage Rogue, and a straight up Fighter.
The party is relatively into social encounters and RP normally, but I'm planning on mixing it up on a regular basis so that it doesn't get stale. The fighter is actually a relatively new player, so I'm going to go relatively basic as far as optional rules go.
As far as play style, I'm thinking more of a Secret War style game, where the players themselves are part of a larger Rebellion, and they are basically their own Unit. They have some contacts outside their immediate area, but so far they're mostly just small fries. This will change as they go up in level and accomplish more, but for now they're basically trying to set roots down and build a base of power.
So there's gonna be plenty of social encounters (dealing with local merchants, thieve's guild and even some of the local guard) mixed with fights (clearing out bandits for the merchants, dealing with rivals to the thieve's guild and even helping to uncover corrupted officials, by any means).
The problem I see is the paladin, though he is a follower of Erastil, so maybe I can work on the "for the good of the common folk" angle to really motivate him.
Does it look like I'm missing anything big?
Missing anything big? I think you have a lot of it covered.
Additional topics to pull from if you feel you need more content:
-Player Secrets: Allow the players to have personal secrets that only you and each character knows. These don't have to be anything that may tear the group apart, but it allows each player/character to have something personally invested in the success of their political, secret war game. This can also help with the 'finding motivation for the paladin' predicament. The common good angle works, but you could give him a rumor of a prominent figure consorting with unscrupulous people or some dark sinister plan.
-False leads: By creating false leads and sub-plots, you will ensure that the non-battle engagements have an extra layer of complexity.
Just trying to help bounce some ideas around to keep the creative juices flowing. Send me a pm sometime of how things work out as this goes underway. Sounds like you have an interesting concept and I hope you and your players have a great time playing through this creation of yours!