Great GM : Running A Political Roleplaying Game - Game Master Tips RPG Notes
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- čas přidán 6. 02. 2017
- CONFIDENTIAL: The video you are about to watch is for your eyes only and should after being watched self destruct. Today we explore running a political game which can be used within any tabletop rpg system whether it's L5R, Star Wars or Pathfinder. Whether it's the whole group of players forming political machinations or supporting one players political platform until well they don't. The best way to grow your political game is to create and build epic non-player characters as politics revolves around machinations, plots and relationships between characters, players and npc's alike.
There are lots of tips for creating an epic tabletop politics session however if you're keen on the cliffnotes version here are some quick timestamps.
The three most likely and useful political roleplaying game npc's
5:52 NPC Ally
6:24 NPC Hated
7:27 NPC Enemy
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Some good tips to remember if you want factions and bad guys.
when it comes to factions: There should be allies, their should be enemies, and their should be indifferent parties.
I run a muti-universal galactic stage RPG for a few years and I have only 8 main factions. That way each faction has 1 enemy faction and 2 allied factions. Plus it's convenient to have the ability to roll a 1d8 when you want to randomize the locations of the factions. But, everyone can do it their own way...
You should have more than 2 though; otherwise you merely have a war campaign with a background story.
When it comes to bad guys... They should have a reason for what they do. Their motive should fulfill one of two things.
Their means justifies their cause (Ex. A group of assassins that kill royalty to eliminate the problem of the common folk's mistreatment of a tyrannical king... with no royal bloodline, there are no tyrants; sure not all the royal family is corrupt but in this groups eyes the loss of a couple dozen innocents is less than the loss of thousands in the slums)
Their cause justifies their means (Ex. A crooked politician legalizing slavery to townspeople who cannot pay off their debt to the kingdom. But, because he did so... Their are plenty more hands to tend the field and revitalized a kingdom who was on the verge of starvation.)
There are more ways to inject politics into a game, but these are the two ways I do it... As a GM, no matter the players and setting. It's only a matter of time for a player to take the plot bait and bite by asking "But, why do they do this?" Which opens doors and possibilities. Which is always exciting to see as a GM.
Some truly excellent advice! I love this channel because of this! Thank you for sharing.
Aaron Smith I said it already in a different comment, but I'm about to start my first political game in a few days. I just got done reviewing my enemy factions agter readinf this and I saw that one of them didn't have a good reason to do what they do. So thanks for helping me notice and fix that!
Happy to help, good luck with your game.
mmmm... Seems that there is here some interesting resources! haha
I feel pretty confident to build a story with cool plot twists and stuff, I feel pretty confident to build an interesting background with factions and stuffs... But!
I have now a setting almost ready with something like 5-6 factions with different interests, beginning to move and to step on each other. My players saw the prequel (a one-shot test that they loved and they are now asking for the next session), but I really don't see how to link the actions of those factions with a cool narrative line. I can create my NPCs and let them act as the time is going and as the situation is evolving and the PCs will be in the middle. But I'm really not sure that it will give a nice story. It might be a great sandbox, but will it make a great story?
The background is kinda epic; with so much material I guess that it can only be great, but I'm a bit sceptical.
How do you link the political side of your game with its narrative side?
If someone has advice for a new ambitious GM it would be very nice :D
How do you handle a "Master plot" with several factions? I mean, it's not always one evil bad guy who is plotting... but it can just be factions with differents interests moving, and the PCs have to make choices among their self-interest also... But I don't know if this is building a cool story...
(sorry for the question long as a roman and for my poor English... But any input is cool to read :D) How to be a Great Game Master
@@Kyllleur So... after 4 yeras, did the campaign ran well?
I'd really love a video on the more broader use of intrigue rather than running a straight political game; how to mix more traditional adventuring elements with intrigue and such. Great video though! Gave me a few ideas for a game I want to set in Sigil
That's not a bad idea at all. I'll add it to the list!
you probably dont care at all but does anyone know a method to log back into an Instagram account..?
I was dumb forgot the password. I would appreciate any tips you can give me!
@Cullen Malachi i really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm trying it out now.
Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
@Cullen Malachi It worked and I actually got access to my account again. I'm so happy!
Thanks so much you really help me out!
@Elian Kaison you are welcome :)
Remember that a faction don't need to be planet wide empires and religions. They can be small too.
If you have a campaign set in just a small kingdom, it can still have factions based on powerful figures. Like the King, the young Princess, the plotting senate, all with their own "courts" of followers that you can butter up and join with.
Oh yes absolutely. Game of Thrones is basically circles of factions starting at the family unit and moving outwards.
Another outstanding topic covered here sir. Your vids have consistently been top shelf.
Glad to hear it - I and I thank you for your comments!
I am always surprised at how useful these old videos are in comparison to the fresher ones! I am honestly not sure why, but these explain things to my brain a lot better.
This was impeccable timing! I'm about to start running a political game of my own, so this was just what I needed to double check everything!
Well that is great to hear! Let us know how it goes!
6 years ago, how did it go?
It has gone surprisingly well, all things considered. My group is actually still together, with the final session of the campaign planned for later this month. It's been a good run.
We lost one player partway through, but we were able to work with him to tie out his character's story before he left.
@@ventusvindictus Wowwww! It went for six years? That is fantastic! I'm actually scrolling through this content because I'm making a political intruige campaign myself, mind having a conversation? I'm sure there are some things I could learn from you or some advice you could give, do you have discord or Instagram? If you don't mind obviously.
The players spent a surprising amount of time avoiding cities, but coordinated with other in-game groups to unify and direct widespread resistance movement against the BBEG. I got to toss a few moral quandaries put at them, with one character revealing himself to be shockingly ruthless in a "the right ends justify any means" sort of way, the party as a whole setting an entire village aflame in order to smoke out a fortress occupied by foes, and making several dark deals with several unsavory individuals and organizations.
You look really warm in that suit, much respect to suffer for your art.
One of my favorites, thanks!
This is a great video! Helped me out with a big issue I was having. You got yourself a new fan.
You clean up nicely.
You start with dusting, then you sweep. General cleaning practices :p But thank you.
There is a system called Burning Wheel that has a great mechanic for debates and social intrigue, "Duel of Wits." It blends actual roleplay, player choice of actions (what kind of statement they make), and dice rolls together to guide the social encounter. I think it could be perfect for political games
Thanks for posting your videos. Very well done, as usual.
Always a pleasure. :)
Most excellent! :)
Great video, I discovered your channel just twenty days ago and I found a lot of was on how to improve my GMing. I looked specifically for this video today as I was requested a political adventure and, as expected, there you have it. May I ask for a player counterpart? as in your mystery plot guide both for the GM as for the player.Unfortunately, I believe that my players are not fully aware of how to play what they ask for and may get bogged down
Great video, as usual.
Thank you :)
loved this !
I wish you were my GM. lol
I bet YOU wouldn't mind me playing my Lawful Evil character. I mean... Think about how much intrigues a good GM could do with such a character, even when the rest of the party is a bunch of do-gooders. ^^
Anyway. I love your video. ^^
(And you sound somehow like a super sophisticated Scottish guy for some reason. lol)
This is a great video with perfect timing since my campaign just took a slight political turn. Thanks for making!
Always a pleasure!
That is awesome, than you sir.
first time I've watched in a while, love the new look
I'm glad you like the new look. Were you away with holidays and slaying dragons or did the topics just not cover points you were interested in?
Great video. Would love to see more videos that expand on the "political" side of RP :)
also, i seem to keep being unsubscribed from your channel. i think it's happened 2 or 3 times now!
Might want to just throw in a reminder to check subscription status at the end of one of your next vids.
Currently doing a campaign using the A Song of Ice and Fire RPG rule system, set in the world of Westeros. They have a really interesting system called intrigues that basically makes conversations a type of combat, but with heavy roleplaying involved. This video was very helpful. I have been struggling a lot with this campaign so thanks for the video!
I hope it works out for you! I've not played the SIF RPG system but that sounds interesting - intrigues as a model. Mmmm.
Ok I'm going to be honest, I literally want to write a political book similar to game of thrones and reign. I always find them so interesting and I just feel like I wanted to do that for a while, I'm using this video as a guide because I'm not very well acknowledged on how everything works in this world. Thank you so much!
your voice. so soothing
My favorite political character that I've ever made was a diplomat of a new elven nation to one of the oldest human kingdoms. But nobody knew that my real goal was to recruit elves living within that human kingdom to join the elven nation. And nobody knew, on top of that, that I was using my connections with the hostile human kingdom, the neutral elves and the elven nation to create an exchange of goods to circumvent trade embargos between the two sides in secret to make an obscene amount of profit.
And the profit would go into recruiting more elves. Of course.
It's a character that I loved playing, because much like Denzel Washington in _Training Day_, absolutely nobody knew what my motivations were at any time. I was genuinely helpful constantly, but I was also brutally honest.
"Listen, mortal, this is my arena and my fight. I know that you think you help me by telling me about the movement of your troops. But I don't want to know anything about it. I am employed by your enemy. If you tell me this and the elven nation came to know about the ambush by some other means, you'd still think me to be a traitor.
So don't bring me sensitive information. I have my interests and if you play the game right, you'll not tell me what I don't need to know."
I also highly recommend that GMs investigate "Nash Equilibrium". It's a Mexican standoff of sorts between different entities, where everyone knows that if they go for a different option, they'll only be worse rather than better off in the end. The Prisoner's Dilemma is a good example of that.
That's often how these political games work in reality and if you show the players this, they'll think you'll be so smart for having thought of such a delicate political game.
Good points all around. An a very interesting campaign you must have been in. My players at the moment of trying to politic their ways out of a little Drow situation right now, and we're having so much fun. We really really are. Thank you for sharing and raising Nash and Prisoner's.
The Pretender .
I think this is the first video I've seen that has no dislikes good job just subscribed too.😀😀😀😀😀
Welcome the table! Dislikes can be constructive and if honestly applied are welcomed. On the other hand, likes are even more appreciated :)
The funny part is it still has no dislikes.
Javon Younger and a month later still dis-like free as of 12:20 PST :)
Guys there's one now... so sad...
It's at only five now
Really surprised to see such harsh cut between ally and enemy. I really feel like political games are quite the opposite, where you have mainly neutral parts, and it's all about making a deal with whatever interests they have. A good guideline i use is "everything has a price" or "keep your friends close, enemies closer", those kinds of things players expect. Most of the npc aren't really against YOU, but against your ideas or interests.
Perhaps i did not get the Ally Ennemy part but really feel like this type of plot should be less good/evil centered. Although i do agree you need to give players strong allies more than any other setting.
Really cool vid tho just out when i need it !
I is my mistake... although the three types of NPC's are presented is distinct in this video, you are quite correct, it's the shades in between that make the game. I do feel though that sometimes we can get too clever about how subtle we are, and the players end up not having a clear villain or ally. Sometimes a little cut and dry helps focus the players on objectives.
Agreed ! Being too misty and shady gets the players confused. A good tip to kickstart your campaign is to get get your players involved in the politics as fast as possible. At the start they are most likely exterior. Just get them double crossed, or have someone try to kill them or steal or do anything to piss the players off. That guy had his business and he might even not care at all about the players. But first impression will get your players on track. Always remember players all really well driven on hatred or revenge. ;) So just start the campaign by giving big first impressions, of the "big players", or other NPC, but not necessarily defining them as all time enemies or allies.
Anyway, always learning, and the comments here are always really good !
Always been keen to run a Three Musketeers style game. In other words, the covert action arm of the politicians and all that entails.
Nice. This will prove useful.
Glad it will!
Hey! I told you guys a little while ago about a Star Wars Fantasy Flight RPG Day that I was setting up at my local game shop. I just wanted to come back and give you an update. It was today and it went EXTREMELY well. People enjoyed the game, and I got a LOT of compliments about my GMing. I'm working with the store now to set up a bi-weekly game alongside the likes of Pathfinder and D&D.
THAT IS AWESOME! Well done on helping bring more games into our world. Thank you for sharing with us, and please let us know how your games go. Really cool.
planning something akin to this. peace brokering between dork and dwarves in the under dark. a lot to keep track of. this may help!
I hope so! Let us know how it goes?
Why so slow this time? Professor GM, you are always so super nice and exciting to listen! Compering to many others, you are one of the best. Except in this video... it starts a bit slow. Normally if I see someone speaking like that, I switch to another video. (But it's you, so I didn't. :) ) Maybe a flu?... No matter, you are great and we all love you! :D
I'm working on something like this right now. An aracenpunk/steampunk setting where two empires are at war, rebel guerilla factions, a mages guild working in the shadows, and a dwarven Kingdom who's supplying almost all of them with weapons (among other smaller groups of interest) I want to start it off small, and as the campaign goes on the PC's spiral down a rabbit hole of alliance's, spying, and information warfare.
Is that a wall of Magic the Gathering cards behind you? that is amazing if so, i think i have a new wallpaper idea should i ever have enough money to be artsy with
Better be using commons or lands
its actually a cool campaign idea i have been looking to do something with less combat
It's a great way to run a non-combat or limited combat game. I enjoy them!
The best political game I played was a Vampire the Masquerade. We were a group of a couple dozen players, run by two narrators. We had multiple players per clan, so there were layers of political intrigue going on: inside each clan and amoung the clans, over territory, resources, position, secrets, items, siring rights, etc.. Even the prince was a player. Best RPG experience I had.
LOL Game of Wits (or Thrones...) XD
I couldn't resist.
This is vey interesting, especially since the political campaign my group are playing is vastly different. The GM is most often "God" but sometimes plays our second in command. This because we are 8 players playing 8 (or nine?) different factions based around our main character. Because of the scope of the game it's mostly played via social media, but sometimes some players meet up IRL to play. Which is fine as long as the GM is also present. Like the time I got one of the players so drunk that he revealed all his plans. "You can't guess what I have planned... I am so proud over this and that" haha, great one time move.
I think everyone has backstabbed everyone at lest once and one IRL friendship was close to breaking (thankfully that situation was well mediated by the GM). Despite that I think it's one of the most engaging campaigns I have over played. When you succeed with outmanoeuvring 7 other players you feel rather smart and in the opposite case you have stilled learned something and is very motivated to win the next time.
That almost everyone in the group has or is getting a higher education in politics/international relationships/economics/theology (which are the most important subjects in the game so far) makes it even more difficult.
Oh dear, this was a long comment. Needless to say, love your channel. It's helped me gather the courage to DM myself 👍🏻
I want to do a political intrigue/mystery with dragon eggs. I dont even know where to begin. Can you do a video about intrigue and deception while still adventuring? Like think of level 1 as the first quest giver (ex: a Noble House of waterdeep sends you on a quest that ends up being mystery and discovering, secret orders, and ending in learning the Noble House were lying all along.)
I've done a pretty interesting character who brought political intrigue into what was supposed to be a war campaign. What was supposed to be boots on the ground, soldiers on the battlefield between human kingdoms. Enter Lord Chancellor Aeb Medh Makryat, who secretly supported elven guerilla fighters, staging coups with Noble courts against their rulers, kidnapping heirs just to lead uprisings as their steward. The highlight was all his schemes connecting with each other as multiple kingdoms just ...gave up.
I love your videos and each is honestly better than the last. But I must say, you look uncannily like Richard Attenborough. In the best way possible.
Even though I'm running a Star Wars game focused on a group of smugglers and explorers, one character - a runaway Chiss noble - decided she wants to focus more on the social and intellectual pursuits. At first, I was worried about how I could tie her into the main experience and help her see the value of her skillset in the setting we were playing, but her presence now has actually allowed me to tell more interesting stories and she's become one of my favourite characters! For example, recently their group was tasked with arguing their own defense before a council of crime lords after getting into a fight with a delegate from the Black Sun over the salvaging rights for a lost Trade Federation treasure ship. Even though no character, PC or otherwise, fired a single shot, this scenario was so tense and engaging that my players still talk about it to this day. I now make more consideration for what my group has started calling 'social boss fights', and these encounters have encouraged all of my players to explore broader skill sets -- and they've offered me more ways to engage my players in a plot they feel increasingly invested in!
Social fights - I like that. There was a system - I forget which one now, which broke down game-play into Physical, Spiritual, and Intellectual fights. It was an interesting mechanic to giving players a sense of victory in all portions of the game. But it sounds like you have a winner!
Burning Wheel? I haven't played it much, but they have a battle of wits(maybe called something else) which plays out mechanically like they handle physical combat.
I think most of those tips apply in a regular game too as a guideline on how to run your rooster of NPCs and making sure your world is moving along with the story.
That's a good observation. Yes a lot of these could be applied over a broader game too.
I really enjoyed this video, it highlighted some of the things I feel are important in the political game. I also really like how you make the point of growing in NPC rank and the necessity of taking notes.
I don't quite agree with your opinions about the initial political game where you basically put forward a single character as the political figure head. It seems too limiting for other players. Each player should be involved in politics and this means that each player should be working both to force in game conflict though NPCs, but also through the party with NPCs setting up differences in ideas, enforcing stereotypes and pressuring the PCs to act as the NPC deems fit. The political game is not so much about one person shining in the political combat but the party being emotionally and rationally degraded and coming together despite that to achieve a single end OR crumbling under that pressure.
Another issue I had was the simplicity of NPCs, whilst I enjoyed your examples and did find them quite helpful I feel like they weren't real enough to be acting within a political game. NPCs shouldn't be conniving against players but they should be stretching the limits of reciprocity, which you pointed out and I agree with. To use an example: In a Vampire the Masquerade game I'm running there is one NPC who is not evil but who is a business man. His goals are to gain more boons so that he can diablerize people and maintain his business empire. He's a powerful man but he's not evil. He's screw players over but insofar as selfishness will allow him to. I think this is what your video missed, if players don't help themselves they will fail, and having fail states in the political game is extremely important.
Good video but I don't think it touched on the politics in a solid enough sense and left it too nebulous.
I'm glad you added your comments! You are right and I think there is much more to running a politics game than was let on in the video. Thank you for expanding on it! I appreciate it :)
This certainly is a way to represent a political game.
My impression however was that this was very strict in structure and not as fluid as a political setting can be.
I run Tyranny of Dragons right now and in the background there are all these political parties with their own goals and resources and I leave it to my players on which party they are going to play.
This then dictates on who becomes opposition or ally.
Fluidity is the name of the game, and I really didn't touch on it. It seems there is more to politics than just one video ;)
who would have thought
Somehow, this always becomes a factor after 14th level or so. Our last game went total civilization sim at 17th....then we ended the world to bring our table to an end (we all moved away)
Ichimaru Gin from Bleach was also a great show of a Hated NPC
P: "I'M GONNA BUILD A WALL AROUND CHINA"
GM: "China already has a wall-"
P: "SHUT UP! I'M GONNA BUILD A WALL AROUND YOU AND EVERYONE THAT LOOKS LIKE YOU!"
Um, you may want to do a lot more on this subject at a later dater. There is more to it.
Anyway, in a slightly unrelated topic...Would you be up for a game of in character letter writing?
A lot of people have asked for more on this topic! There is of course a lot more. At the moment I can't commit to anything as I'm trying to relocate countries and time isn't a luxury I have. I'm flattered though that you'd ask me.
Yeah, you just scratched up the dragon's belly a bit on this one. To get to the guts and the heart of the beasty will require more shows
As am I, actually I'm moving out of state. Going to California. Tennessee is so closed minded. If you don't mind me asking. to where are you headed?
I haven't actually GM'ed before, but it seems to me that there should be some kind of political game available in the background of any setting. That way, if the pcs are interested in playing that game, hey can enter on their terms. Do you think that would be too complex or daunting? I just love the idea of players being able to move smoothly from one playstyle to another.
Another issue: How would you signal that its possible to switch, I'd imagine medium or long-running players might not even think to try it.
I think you are concerned too much with the how :) If you begin to introduce plots to the PC that are more political in nature - help a senator here, help a noble there - and those plots put the PC's in political situations and the PC's are loving it - then carry on with that and slip into a full political game. If they don't react well and want to move away from it, then keep your politics in the background.
I think it is totally something that can exist there in the background in all games. We must just be wary of forcing it on our players.
What is that sheet of cards in the background? I thought they were Magic cards at first but looking closer I don't think they are... anyone know?
I love me some collectible card games and that looks like one I've never seen before.
Political intrigues make great first arcs : PC play politics, at some point they fail, then they live in exile looking for a way to climb the stairs again. Having lost their usual supports, they become adventurers (and they have to live in the world they contributed to build as politicians).
I see Magic, i click like.
Might you have ideas on the political side of a sovereign city like a fantasy Vaticanesqe set amongst other kingdoms?
My two cents on handling the political game is make the main guy a figure head puppet who the party controls or he is the boss and the party is his agents
Ok but how about political RP which involves more sensitive subjects? Because I have been thinking that part of a campaign, could be that a huge disaster in a nearby kingdom. The city the adventures is in will suffer economic downturn, because they just lost an important trading partner. So the adventure would be to let the players choice between two different solution to that problem. One of them being that the kingdom and city government will offer big loans to the big companies to be able to keep open and develop new tactics to increase the economy, (kinda like 2008 crisis). The second option would be if the government would give that money to regular people instead of the big companies. To support them now when the cost of living crisis will affect the poor part of society. So my fear is that the players will risk becoming unfriendly with each other. As it basically boils down to left vs right economic policies
Oh no. I shared this online. When will I receive my discipline.
Especially if its set in a sci-fi, colonial or fantasy I like to ensure there is a clear thing to contest. You can take a leaf out of the dune universe and make it a physical resource , in dune's case he who controls the spice controls the universe but yours could be oil, a cash crop, hyperspace engine fuel, a type of gem used for making powerful magical items, something very useful and highly valuable. Or you could make it a specific place, you could be trying to gain control of the entirety of an important straight that is a funnel for many sea lanes, it could be taking the entirety of a magical system of nexuses that will allow you to enact world changing spells, it could be a system that is an intersection for many wormhole stations. Finally it could be a clear political position, maybe a major election is on the way, maybe the emperor is dying and they have no living relatives. Its a bit of a crutch but its good for giving your player's attention a direction and getting you started. Once you've established whose contesting your party you can design minor interest groups who aren't powerful enough to be a force of their own but the loyalty or control of will help to push you into a position where you can reach for your goal. This will make it easier for you but bare in mind not everyone can find the balance of taking it serious enough to get into it without getting so invested that they can't drop the persona at the end of the game.
One thing I have to disagree with you is the idea of an NPC that appears to be an opponent until the very end, I don't think its very satisfying. You can have NPCs who defect because you're winning. You can have NPCs who still hate you but you have a common enemy, it should be made clear however that you'll have to do some serious work to keep them from murdering you in the long term. You can use honourable enemies who decide not to kill you while your down or are disillusioned by both sides and step out of the political arena. You can use NPCs who are loyal to an idea rather than a faction, maybe they are loyal to the crown and now you are king they will serve you. Finally you can use double agents just fine but having it so that they weren't in contact with anyone in your faction while secretly assisting you is a bit strange. If you want to have a sudden reveal that someone was on your side all along don't have it at the end have it in the middle and have it be told to you by a senior member of your faction when you either take their place or rise up into the inner circle.
Yog Sothoth in real life it is oil.
I might just be saying that because I’m American...
Yog Sothoth you can also have the honorable ones join the players if they’re good and honorable or leave them if they become the bad guys.
And just when I need it.
btw is the audio a bit too quiet, or are my headphones sh*t?
No one else seems to have commented on it... Maybe the headphones are not boosted enough? Windows sometimes does it's own volume control?
Legend of the Five Rings in a nutshell
critique of the video. your face is often cut off by the notes on the side. I'm sure you noticed this, but may e keep yourself off to one side to avoid that?
so in the character I thought up, the big political game was the underdark's trade back to the dwarves from the drow. but my character didn't want that to happen so while the campaign wasn't political my PCs actions would have had a political impact to a big political NPC. being a support character to a larger story happening in the background.
Yeah. I wanted the light to be dramatic and like a political interrogation thing... ironically it kept me off center psychologically lol.
As to your Drow - the thinking of this video would still be applicable in terms of how your interactions would be treated. The GM would need to use the ideas to make it fun for you.
When I run political games I like to run all parties as morally grey so it's really up to them who's good or bad or I let them run their own political parties
By morally grey do you mean the politicians and parties each have their own specific ideals and ideas or do you mean actually being in between good and evil at all times?
I am playing the political character in a long running and still on going game, that was absolutely crazy without my attempted macanations.
The dragons beat the gods in a war, the dragons rule the world, theres a thriving underworld ruled by a triumvirate of vampire courts and a diplomatic/areological mage society witch my character hailed from. I forged together with the greatest of the vampire courts and the mage society after my characters mother and father who i had no idea out side of simple logic existed killed the head master, i brought back to life the founder of the cabal through soul magics and making besties with an archdevil then her brother (Not who your thinking of) who have yet to even attempt a stab in the back and are on rather good terms with the Party, so i became defacto head of the organization through effectively bullshiting my way to the top and lucking my way into pupeting the founder, so that leads to forging an alliance with the vampire court by arranging a political marriage between my gay character and the head of the courts lesbian daughter.
Oh yes i should metion that is the only political thing i did that didnt massively blow up in my face, through ether the party or NPCs getting pissed off at my characters quite literal evilistic tendencies to plan and act without informing anyone else witch ends about as well as youd think.
Characters been married three times, once for love to a white lich i had no idea was a lich until they died and came back to life, once for politics, and once by accident becuse the games crazy and the DM is carizer.
(Dm uses the greek pantheon, the big bad enemy of the campaign is Hadar he wants to eat the world, went through a massive trial to gain the championship of a god, at the end god teleports me into a room filled with treasures and magical artifacts and whatnot and says "Choose your prize, anything in the room can be yours." now my character has a 20 intelligence saw the god was in the room so says 'you, i choose you as my reward' leading to my character becoming the avatar of that god and by ancient greek standards married to a god completely by accident because i didnt think that would happen. Its a fun game currently i just got a flying ship last session)
I didnt expect the DM let alone the God in game to agree to my character saying 'you are my prize'
DM is a bit of an XP and Level Scrooge we only just got too level 12 a few sessions ago, but he makes up the deffrence through magical items and insane gains that are earned
Hi! At the moment i´m GMing a campaign where some politics is involved. The group has to decide which of 3 groups they want to support and help. Sadly my group doesnt want to help a specific group, in a matter of fact they do not care at all. Should I let them do other things and give hints about how the world is changing and therefor force them into joining one side. Or should I let the idea of a game of thrones inspired campaign go away?
in my opinion you should follow the lead of your players, if the politics simply don't interrest them and they just want to kick in a dungeon door kill the monsters and take their loot as their DM it's your duty to provide them with that experience, you can always use the political aspect as a backdrop when they return to town to sell said loot and what not, to give your campaign world a believable feel of progression, but if they aren't drawn to interact with it don't try to force them into doing so.
I think you should let them go kill some monsters and colllect some drops and start to track the time (if you don't already do).
Then, give one faction a reason to "hate" or "be against" the group as individuals (something like elven racism if they are majoritary elves or half-ellves for instance) AND, give this same faction a secret weapon like a mysterious new magic/technology or an help from some gods/demons (this way a non political elements becomes one by helping the intrigues).
Finaly, with this weapon, they will get a military victory over their opponents and so, expand their domains, making tehm hostile to your players because of the guards and the porpaganda they spreads among the villagers. This way, your players will realize that the world can evlolve without them and it can be for the worst if they do not try to make it change in their favour.
If they are still not interested in helping one of the two defeated faction to reconquer their former lands, just move the action somewhere else and stop trying to do political oriented games with this group.
That sounds like a great plan! Thank you!
What are the sides?
Does someone know what the outro music is?
Guy for PM!
2:42 If you're wearing headphones and listening really closely, you might hear a scream. I may be schizophrenic.
Should a DM set up their adventurers to lead a village after a Mayor gets killed after an attack or not, it bugs me that there was never an option for the players to find an npc to run the village with them instead all the duties get placed on the party, i don't know how to run a city ...
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Greetings from the distant future, summer of 2020! You are in for a trip! Watch out for coronavirus, it's going to be a lot messier than you'll probably expect. (Feel free to cringe at my lame time travel joke.)
Shadow Weaver from DreamWorks' 2018 remake of She-Ra is another great example of the hated character. Also it's just a damn good show in general!
I'd like to watch you run a political game.
So, did anybody else decide to draw up a flowchart?
Creating the politics of the 5 kingdoms of the empire of men is one of the issues I have in preparing my planned campaign.
Of course the empire is a bit "racist" in favor of men over elves, dwarves, halflings or any other humanoids.
Then there are the 3 realms of elves and 4 of dwarves and the obligatory "Shire" of the halflings who are seen as comic relief by all of the others.
Nobody takes the halflings too seriously but they are tolerated by all other PC races, since they are non-threatening and just want to raise good cabbages, carrots and corn, while making prodigious amounts of beer and ale.
I may think about adding Tabaxi, Dragonborn and others not previously mentioned... maybe they just don't exist on the planet... maybe they are in a far off continent as yet undiscovered.
Nobody likes RPing the way I do everyone just wants to go into dungeons and kill stuff... I want to build or run an empire, be a spy, and navigate the seas making my fortune... But sure let's go the tavern and find out about the next dark wizard we have to kill
sorry - stopped watching at the "PC's must have allies that never betray them".
this is a breakdown of reality -- if i manipulate an ally repeatedly and he never turns his back on me or betrays me to my enemies, then i no longer believe the world i'm playing in has real consequence or logical consistency. this is especially true in a politically themed game, where the entire crux of the game comes down to the nerve-wracking question of who you can and cannot trust.
Loud intro, quiet voice.
Protip for making political campaigns: Don't name your BBEG "Donald Trump". You can thank me later
Yeah, doing that kind of thing is just a great way to turn a political game into a political argument