Hey all... Getting ready to run a GH campaign and the players enjoy political intrigue. Other than "group A trying to kill King B"... can anyone give me some ideas for political intrigue. Thanks kindly....
As of now I am having the party start off in GH city. The only thing I can think of so far is having the Horned Society behind the dissappearance of Xenia Sallavarian to try to destablize Nyrond.. thinking of placing evidence of it pointing towards Nyronal people and that maybe Duchy of Urnst would take possibly war with Nyrond over this...
I am great at dungeon cralls , but am quite lacking in the political arena... any help would be much appreciated.
Perhaps you could have the group called on to help a local district official only to discover he isn't what he appears to be at first, but this discovery only comes in bits and pieces. This official could a) be working for the Horned Society, b) working against the Horned Society but it appears to be the opposite, or c) working for for a third party that wants the Duchy and Nyrond fighting because then this third party gets to clean up afterwards. What this "clean up" is is to be determined by you. When they get suspicious have a few side adventures that lessons their misgivings.
What I have so far is that the Horned Society is attempting to amass various ancient tomes and artifacts from around the Flanaess. Initially, the PC's will uncover this fact, easily actually.
These various items are related to one goal... pertaining to the release of Tharizdun from his prison. The Horned Society is actually being 'used' by an ancient lich named Arinanin... a former Suel mage and first lich known on GH, who has (un)lived in seclusion for 5000 years. His first theft was the only known copy of a book from the Great Library in Greyhawk called "The Fate of Tilorop"
Arinanin's goal is to attempt to release Tharizdun, and the Pc's will have to try to thwart his plans.
I take it you are setting your campaign post Greyhawk Wars and post LGG.
Do you have access to From the Ashes boxed set? If so, the ins and outs of the various ambassadors assigned to the Free City of Greyhawk should give you a lot to work with. The issues raised by this product, though it may be dated, can still provide much adventure ideas on how to destabilize Nyrond.
The relationship between evil Rhenee and Iuz can be exploited for political fodder, especially for the friction it causes between Greyhawk, Furyondy, and the Knights of the Holy Shielding. Greyhawk depends on much trade the Rhenee bring in and do not want to ask too many questions while the knights are still fighting against Iuz tooth and nail.
There are still many Nyrondese refugees in the City of Greyhawk. Civil unrest based on thier unemployed and criminal elements can fan the flames of open revolt among the native Greyhawkers versus the refugess.
Also, if you want to incorporate the Horned Society, the City of Greyhawk boxed set describes the Cult of the Shriven Sickle, which is a Nerull worshipping cell of the Horned Society that operates out of the Pit in the city proper. Their goals includes the assassinations of lone paladins, destruction of holy magic items, and general mayhem. Add them to the previosly described scenarios and the picture gets more interesting.
If you are willing to use Keoland as a setting and some non canonical sources, I wrote up an article linked here:
which describes the politics and resulting fall out from a good aligned nation making allies with humanoids. You can adapt this to Greyhawk pretty easily by using humanoids from the Cairn Hills. Greyhawk's oligarchy wants to avoid trouble with various tribes of orcs, but does not want its dwarven allies to know this. It opens up some possibilities.
[quote="geologyrocks"]...having the Horned Society behind the dissappearance of Xenia Sallavarian to try to destablize Nyrond...[/quote] Don't forget, there is always the Black Prince, Sewarndt, to contend with regarding Nyrond. The children of Archbold certainly offer political intrique with the added challenges of family affairs. While the City of Greyhawk and other points west offer interesting personalities and locales, places east in the former Great Kingdom are begging for development. Consider Eastfair, Innspa, Almor and other places where Xenia could have been spirited by a jealous and bitter sibling and his all-to-willing accomplices.
My input is this: consider what level your PCs are. Depending upon their level and capabilities they will either be killed by the badguys or will zip through whatever you have planned (provided they are too high, or too low level).
What i have found that works is this: don't give the antagonists all of the information. Make the PCs work for it and make every triumph the party has be just that, a triumph. Meanwhile, with every bit of new information uncovered there is a hook to the next part. I have also found, from experience, that you don't want too many plots going on at the same time as the PCs will become confused and discouraged.
I recommend a bottom-up approach because you will pull your hair out if you go top-down because with a scheme of this magnitude every bigwig in the Flanaess will become involved with this. If that happens one of two things will happen 1) high level NPCs will dominate 2) if high-level NPCs don't get involved it will be weird, PCs will ask you, 'where is Mordenkainen or Tenser? What are they doing about this?'
Since a lich is involved there is every indication that your PCs will go to places off of Oerth (i.e. Return to the Tomb of Horrors). The Personalities of the schemers play an integral part in byzantine plots. Who is this guy? what does he/they want? what had him/her come to this conclusion? It is important to get to know the movers and shakers inside and out, especially the ones that the PCs will encounter first. I highly recommend watching Lost if you want to see how you can tease the players and keep them interested in what is going on.
Don't get too caught up in the tempo, patience is your ally. With plots of this sort continuity is more important than keeping track of time.
The Grey Mouser
'Choose your enemies carefully, you will become like them' - proverb
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