A question of intrigue

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    • A question of intrigue

      I'm about to start my first Shard campaign. I have years of experience with different systems, both playing and GMing. The group I'm playing with also has a wide range of experience and we've been playing together for years.

      That said, most of what we have done is hunt and fetch, steal, save the damsel, dungeon crawl type campaigns. Basic D&D flesh and blood. We've never delved too far into the intrigue and political aspects of things.

      I read a lot and have a general feel for the idea of political intrigue, but I'm hesitant about how to write it in. I'm really not "into" politics, which is part of the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to ease into intrigue and any ideas or suggestions of types of political intrigue?

      Background: Our group is going to be sort of an elite forces team for their House. The leader is in the line for succession to some sort of title, but several steps down from it. We also have a guard who is a trained assassin, a guard who has some latent magic talent and an advisor who is skilled with the magic of healing and endowment. We're starting with the three free mini-adventures, adjusted to fit the characters.
    • RE: A question of intrigue

      The recipe for setting the tone for intrigue that we always employed always had these key ingredients:
      • Start with carefully establishing the player character's House and Line by making a full list of all the primary NPCs representing the leaders of the House (and the Line it belongs to, to a lesser extent), and all the main vassals that the players will be able to have cool relationships with...
      • Develop a carefully crafted list of NPCs for the "enemy Line" and the primary "enemy House"... These should certainly include those the players will interact with the most, including some "throwaway" characters, but primarily focusing on the long-term villains that the players will love hating...
      • Clarify the understanding that, though the rivalry between the player-characters' House and Line and the "enemy" House and Line was understood by all, open warfare and fighting was disallowed by the laws of the land...
      • Now, start tying these two lists together by creating some back-history that establishes why these two Lines (and therefore their associated Houses) hold each other as rivals... The true, original reason may no longer be remembered except by the eldest of the Lines, and may revolve around darker secrets more than merely the bitter rivalries established by more recent clashes...
      • Assume that the ruler of the land they live in will utilize the skills of both of these enemies in an attempt to keep the overall peace. This will, of course, mean that they enemy Lines will naturally become jealous of, and therefore competitive for, the ruler's favors... This could create the possibilities for scenarios that require spying on the activities of the "enemy" (even those fulfilling the desires of the ruler), assassinations or attempts to stop assassinations of beloved House members, the discovery of spies in one's own House, journeys across country to fulfill your own aryah's wishes that create adventurous confrontation with House rivals, etc.
      • Eventually consider adding the possibility of uncovering national or international disloyalties either in the players' House and Line, or within the "enemy" Houses and Line... Perhaps a civil war is brewing due to dissatisfaction over the ruler-ship of the current country's leader... Who's side will your House and Line take? Perhaps the "enemy" Line's great aryah is in cahoots with the greedy ruler of a neighboring nation who wants to take over the player's nation, offering your enemy some choice tidbit of land once the war is over...
      • Regardless of the details, it's a general theme of "us vs. them" using secrecy to veil outright conflict, and themes of honor and loyalty to excuse acts of greed, deceit, and violence... Who the "good guy" is should sometimes be ambiguous, and if possible, let the various intrigues the players are in cause them to question their own moral choices from time to time...
      • And finally, though it's always hard to resist, do your best as a GM not to play your whole hand within the first few intrigue-based adventures... Always set aside enough uncovered truth and terrible secrets to keep stringing the action long and keeping the themes entertaining in a "soap-opera"-like fashion... And be very careful to make your villains more than just one-dimensional bad-guys... They may have fun being "bad" to your players, but at the end of the day they are "people" too, and have to go to sleep having convinced themselves that all their "villainous" actions are justified in the name of honor and glory, etc etc... They believe that what they are doing is "right" (at least for them).... Heh!


      Hopefully this gives you some ideas to play with...

      Aaron,...anything further to add? You were the mastermind behind the intrigues that inspired the original Tishínian adventures...

      Scottie ^^
    • RE: A question of intrigue

      Scott pretty much covered it. I would simply echo that creating strong bonds between the PCs and the various NPCs is a great way to get the players invested emotionally.

      Some ways to do this would be to create a character within the House that the players simply love, be it because he or she is kind or generous or even strangely eccentric. Make this character either the actual leader of the House or perhaps the heir apparent or even one of the high-ranking members (like the Chamberlain or the Master of the Honor Guards). If the players feel they must help and protect this individual, it'll be easy to get them into the intrigues of enemy Houses when that character is threatened.

      Another thing is to make sure that the PCs the "stars of the show." Even if they are not the most powerful or built on the most points, if the PCs are those who are sought after by other members of the House, especially by prominent ones, then they will not only feel special but will come to view the House as "theirs" and will want to protect it. Remember that relationships can be anything you and the players want them to be, so PCs can be the offspring of famous heroes or important dignitaries or even of the lord of the House itself. Play with those relationships and see how best to create that connection.

      Or better yet, have one of the players discover that they are actually related by blood to the lord of the enemy House. Say that there was an exchange of hostages early on between the two rival lords to insure that the peace would be kept, but that the PC him/herself may not be aware of that connection. Maybe they think they're actually the offspring of the lord whose House they were raised in only to discover that they are the heir to the enemy House. This is just an example of connections that use political intrigue as a great hook for many, many stories.

      Good luck!

      -Aaron