So in my latest campaign (Age of Worms, in a homemade setting) there is a mayoral election. Most the political folks were killed in the last dragon attack. I expected the election to be a minor diversion where the PCs support the candidate they obviously know and love against the morally-ambiguous rich mine owner.
However, our fighter has decided he wants to run for mayor. I'm inclined to discourage it since it would be hard to be mayor and a globetrotting adventurer. It's unlikely the PC would win anyway though. He's the least-known of his group and has a shady past. He'd probably most likely just act as a 3rd party candidate and siphon off just enough from the "good guy" that the "bad guy" wins.
Has anyone had this come up in a campaign? I'm curious how you handled it. Could be fun but I think I'd need to find ways to throw in something to keep the other players interested.
Thanks!
It's unlikely the PC would win anyway though. He's the least-known of his group and has a shady past. He'd probably most likely just act as a 3rd party candidate and siphon off just enough from the "good guy" that the "bad guy" wins.
Sounds like your average politician...
I would use up this opportunity to try the Verbal Duel rules on a political debate, and then the influence rules to attempt to win the population against his adversary.
Depending on the needs the players should seriously consider this.
Check if the other players are interested in it, and consider whether you'd be okay changing the game's direction. If so, go for it.
A mini game system could give them a certain amount of time campaigning, which can be spent on various activities. Activities all cost time. They may cost money, extra time, or have a check associated with them. Activities earn you points towards election, money that can only be spent on above-the-board campaigning or a special illicit embezzling activity, or penalties to your opponent. Illicit activities always require a check to keep them hidden, but can provide greater bonuses or lower costs if successful- if not, they cost the candidate points. (So you could spend a day befriending an ally with diplomacy for ongoing bonuses, or send an hour to illicitly charm them with a stealth or bluff and a save.)
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Ask the player in question for advice. Maybe he/she has a plan. Like wanting to retire the PC. Becoming mayor is a nice ending. Or if not, ask the player to solve the problem of a mayor setting out on an adventure.
This could be done in game, a NPC asks the PC about his plans. But it's probably better to (also) handle it by talking to the player before next session (or whenever a decision is due), giving you some time to plan your session.
An in game development could be that the PC allys himself with the favorite canditate, one of them becomming the running mate to the other. An election system with two (or more) rounds if no candidate gathers a majority lends itself well to such arrangement. If it's the PC who becomes the prime candidate and subsequently wins, he could easily leave his duties to the deputy mayor upon returning to adventuring.
Are the PCs heroes in the town? Involved in thwarting the dragon attack, perhaps? If so, any one of them should stand a reasonable chance of doing well in an election, if it was up to me.
You should perhaps not dissuade your player from participaing, just because his PC might lose. Losing is underrated in roleplaying. It might be a lot of fun, if the miner wins and the favourite candidate starts to resent the PC.
As shadowkras said, this is a perfect occasion for the verbal duel rules in Ultimate Campaign. You'll need to do a bit of work in advance, and there are also elements in the Influence rules that could be appropriate.
I'm in the middle of trying to distill the verbal duel rules into a group of worksheets to help players and DMs get a handle on what they can do with the verbal duel rules. It looks like a great system, but it's presented in a rather non-linear fashion, and requires some unpacking to get things to work right.
Why an election? Is the society they are in not a monarchy? Most fantasy settings are.
Even in medieval Europe, towns often goverend them self and held elections. Not true democracies, but still.
If it works and he wins can you make this town a central location in the campaign? Does he gain any extra advantages over the other players? cohorts, gold, land, etc. Is there any organizations that the other PCs might be interested in; wizard guild, thieves guild, clergy, etc? Is the mayor position always needed around or is it more of a figurehead that only needs to be around for ceremonies and the like? Feel free to ask the player why he wants to be mayor. From there you can know if he even really wants it based upon how you are going to do it.
That said an election can be a very fun campaign event. Even if you have no intention of letting him win roll with it :) Investigating the election fix could be its own adventure.
One obvious thing to do is to have somebody from the campaign organization of the "good guy" to point out the effect that he will have on the election and offer him some sort of deal to bow out. If he doesn't take the deal, let things play out normally, as I assume that the campaign can continue just fine regardless of which NPC wins the election.
In the unlikely event that the PC wins the election, one idea might be to give him a cohort who goes on adventures with the rest of the party while he runs things in this town. The PC would earn XP as though he were with the party and filter it down to his cohort per the standard rules.
In the real world, a political candidate is usually not acting solo. He or she has a group of advisors and confidants that give he or she a chance at being able to do the job well. Your adventuring party could do the same thing. Maybe part your fighter's political platform is that he isn't a politician, like the recent US election. The other party members can help him devise strategies and win votes in certain demographics.
Ciaran pointed me towards another idea -- If the PC becomes mayor, you have a built-in hook for any adventure caused by antagonists who in any way threaten the town that he is mayor of. The difference is that, instead of just hiring a gang of adventurers to take care of the problem, he joins or leads them.
If you'd rather not deal with the headache of making him the mayor, and figuring out what a mayor would have to do other than being a plot device to dispense adventures, you could introduce old rules that the PC ineligible to run for Mayor because you need to be a citizen, or reside in town for over a year. This is assuming he isn't a local, of course.
Not eligible, but still wins the popular vote!
it would be hard to be mayor and a globetrotting adventurer.
Sounds like his opponents have their line of attack: "Fighter Bob wants you to think he'll be there for you. But where was Fighter Bob when the dragons attacked?! Off gallivanting in exotic lands, while Mine Owner Moe was here, helping you rebuild your homes!"
And if the fighter does win, he'll face criticism every time he goes out "seeking personal glory instead of doing the job we elected him to."
He'd probably most likely just act as a 3rd party candidate and siphon off just enough from the "good guy" that the "bad guy" wins.
That...sounds like a plus, as far as future plot hooks / confrontations go?
Could be fun but I think I'd need to find ways to throw in something to keep the other players interested.
Does the rest of the party think it would be fun/interesting to have the fighter elected Mayor? If not, maybe it's up your players to talk the fighter's player out of it. If they are interested, they can all be part of the campaign. You say the fighter's the least-known of the group; their "face" characters will clearly have a role in campaigning for him. Clerics can try to round up endorsements from the local temples/priests, while the bard appeals to the common folk. If your rogue is the sneaky type rather than the talky type, well, maybe they can try to pull a Watergate in the mine owner's offices to come up with incriminating information.
But, if the party is into this idea, all of the above is stuff they should be thinking of -- if you think they need prompting, maybe the competitors start doing some of that stuff first, and now the party has to catch up!
I think this could be a fun little distraction in game, and help with immersion. But have a talk with the player and find out what they wish to accomplish in this election. Do they think they can win, do they want to retire their character to the town or are they just in it for the fun/heck of it?
I dont see how the least know candidate can really stand a chance... But then the rest of the world didnt expect Trump to win the election in the US either...
Promise to build a wall to keep the orcs out, and the orcs will pay for the wall. (or elves, gnomes, halflings or any other race/country/group)
hehehe
A little follow up: I discussed some of the ramifications (and committment required on his part) of running for Mayor in the campaign, and the player decided against it. Instead, they did a few tasks to help support the candidate they like. The fun part, though, was that not all of the party supported the same candidate. Here are some of things we did/are doing:
--They were tasked with taking care of a menacing lizardfolk gang that had been robbing merchants on the road to town. This ended up putting them in a sketchy bar competing in a drinking game (the rules to which i had to make up on the spot, which was fun for me) to get information. It also helped to get some of the patrons to support their candidate
--They have some influence with some important people in town so they're going to use that to try to convince them to endorse the candidate.
--They will try to use their local celebrity to help the local garrison recruit some badly-needed soldiers. It seems like they plan to lead an expedition with the candidate and these new troops to take out the lizardfolk gang. Basically turn it into a PR stunt.
--We used the Vebal Duel rules to stage a debate for one particularly powerful NPC. The players just took turns making arguments for their side. I played a rep for the other candidate as an NPC to balance the teams. It was pretty fun though at the end the arguments were getting a little tired. The sorceress was basically untouchable with her 20+ charisma.
--I plan to use the lizardfolk encounter as a segue back to the main campaign . . . they'll be ambushed by some much, much more powerful foes and hopefully realize that, as 13th level adventurers, they have more important things to spend their energy on than throwing their weight around to swing an election in a backwater mining town.
Anyway, thanks for all the ideas. It was a lot of fun for the couple of sessions so far but I think I'm glad the player decided not to run as it would probably get a little stale after a whole lot more.