Palace Politics

[squeen]

My home campaign has taken a turn into uncharted waters (for me) and I'm looking for some advise.

BACKGROUND: The party has entered the King's palace, disguised as the heir-apparent (whom they had previously slain while he was mixing it up with them incognito as a reoccurring villain of their pedestrian nightmares)---a former Moriarty to their Holmes. They know something is off with the King, but they need to convince him to raise the army to stop a strategic invasion of a borderland outpost of which they are particularly fond. They party has gotten up to 7th-ish level, and I'm trying to introduce some domain play (via Domains at War, which I recently purchased based on Two Orc's recommendation---and which majorly impressed me enough to pay for a ginormous 4'x4' hexmap on mouse-pad foam for the miniatures/tokens). The siege by a 1000-soldier army convinced the party not to tackle this single-handed.

I've (mostly) mapped and keyed the palace inside the city. Made a list of the major players in the court (King, Stewart, Head of the Palace Guards/Secret Police, younger brother of the dead prince, king's new and irritating 'royal advisor', visiting vassals, household head of staff, general of the army, etc.), but am looking for a good example of this kind of play environment, or just some general tips of how to handle it.

I've thought about purchasing Masque of the Worms with the hope that it covers a similar situation of social intrigue, but am looking for other sources.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Beoric]

I have seen articles on structuring these that appeared good to me, but I eventually found that the very structure made the whole thing feel contrived. I now prefer to just shove a bunch of elements out there and see what the PCs do with it.

If I have time I give every NPC a basic personality (usually an alignment and two randomly selected words or phrases), a connection to at least two other NPCs, and an agenda. I use the word “agenda” loosely; often it is just an exploitable interest. The connection or the agenda must either be directly relevant to the adventure, or exploitable. I often use a spreadsheet to randomly generate suggestions for all of these.

I also try to make sure that whenever an NPC has something the PCs are likely to want (usually information), there is an impediment to them accessing the NPC, getting the thing from the NPC, or knowing that the NPC has the thing. For this purpose, it is acceptable to have NPCs that serve no purpose other than to be a pain in the ass – the social equivalent of a soldier guarding a doorway – although if you can work this into a more developed NPC’s agenda it is better, because then you can also give them a point of leverage which the PCs can discover and exploit.

 

[Malrex]

I now prefer to just shove a bunch of elements out there and see what the PCs do with it.

This.
You don't have any walls like a dungeon...so you got to make the party form their own walls....and how you do that, is you drop a bunch of adventure hooks/situations/events on them and they will become focused on one of them--like a dog to a bone, they won't let go because they will feel overwhelmed. You also should consider a timeline so that things can happen in the background that may effect party's decision. Finally, think of the major NPC's--what's their motivations/goals and mannerisms. It's working like a charm in Vermilion for me and making a city adventure easier to run.
So for your situation...
1. hook--infiltrate the enemy army to take out a tent that has important info.
2. Head of the palace guards is seeking a mutiny to kill the king in the chaos
3. Hook--need more weapons for the army...party needs to ambush a small contingent of the enemy army to steal weapons/armor
4. Stewart is secretly scrying and giving info to the enemy army...a house servant overheard him...party needs to find some sort of proof/create a trap.
5. Neighborhood kingdom willing to help, but wants the head of the General first as he had done something against them in the past.
6. A scout reports that assassins are sent in to kill the king...party needs to help protect the king and stop the assassins.
7. Party in charge of part of the army...a small contingent is going rogue and the party and their soldiers must take them out--problem is they are in a fortified area/cave in the hills.
8. Opportunity to rile up a cave full of trolls that are near the enemy army....
9. Merchants are raising prices on bread/corn/whatever and need to roleplay it out so that the king's army will have plenty of supplies
10. King wants proof of the party's trust...sends them on a quest before he even entertains the idea of raising an army.

and so on.....

 

[squeen]

I really appreciate both the suggestions. I'll take to heart the "shove a bunch of elements..." approach and also will also construct a time-line. I love the notion of "virtual walls" and also "NPCs that serve no purpose other than to be a pain in the ass". The NPC sketches and motives are something I have managed to get in place before the party's arrival (last session).

What I'm struggling with currently: how to convey the complex hustle and bustle of palace life and keep all of the NPC's moving dynamically. Perhaps some sort of organizational matrix with all the names and a box to fill in incrementally on what they are doing each day(?). If there is a ton of activity going on, it will (as you said) overwhelm the PCs and hopefully force them in to decisive action for fear of getting swept away in the torrent.

@Malrex: Those are some really nice hooks. Thanks. Where do I get a copy of City of Vermillion?

Here's a philosophical problem I am struggling with: just because I think it would be a lot of fun to have the PCs captain the army and play out a mini Domains at War scenario, I don't want to railroad the action that way. However, I have a knob to turn as a DM---how suspicious/compliant should the royal court be? Will I unfairly affect the direction of the game by enabling the PCs and not trying to exposure their deception "hard enough"? I want them to work for it!

 

[Malrex]

I really appreciate both the suggestions. I'll take to heart the "shove a bunch of elements..." approach and also will also construct a time-line. I love the notion of "virtual walls" and also "NPCs that serve no purpose other than to be a pain in the ass". The NPC sketches and motives are something I have managed to get in place before the party's arrival (last session).

What I'm struggling with currently: how to convey the complex hustle and bustle of palace life and keep all of the NPC's moving dynamically. Perhaps some sort of organizational matrix with all the names and a box to fill in incrementally on what they are doing each day(?). If there is a ton of activity going on, it will (as you said) overwhelm the PCs and hopefully force them in to decisive action for fear of getting swept away in the torrent.

@Malrex: Those are some really nice hooks. Thanks. Where do I get a copy of City of Vermillion?

Here's a philosophical problem I am struggling with: just because I think it would be a lot of fun to have the PCs captain the army and play out a mini Domains at War scenario, I don't want to railroad the action that way. However, how I have a knob to turn as a DM---how suspicious/compliant should the royal court be? Will I unfairly affect the direction of the game by enabling the PCs and not trying to exposure their deception "hard enough"? I want them to work for it!

Don't make it over-complicated. The beginning might be complicated because you are throwing so much at the party. I just focus on the main NPC's and their motivations...I keep it in the back of my mind and/or have a table to remind me. Most of my focus is on what the players decide to do--that should be the main adventure (but I'm more sandbox style). After the session, I can think about what the other main NPC's might be doing and how it relates to the timeline...that's where the importance of the timeline comes in for me. The timeline can be a little loose.

Might be interesting to have the royal courts be VERY suspicious, but the King might totally be on the party's side....so they have some hardships with trust and tasks might be more complicated because they may not be well liked, and the king might be swayed one way or another, but the king has the final say. That's when the royal court might send in the complications like hiring people to challenge their leadership when leading the army or trying to make them look bad.

City of Vermilion--running a Kickstarter for commissioned art, professional editor and a printer...if things fall into place, it will launch this month. It's a supermodule (probably close to 200 pages, 30+ tables, 30+ maps) and all written. Just doing some tweaks while playtesting. If you like Kellerin's Rumble, you will like this one as its way bigger and has a fuckton going on, plus it's on a island and there is a bunch of sea/underwater adventuring as well. I may post some info/video on my blog in the next few days (few posts about some of the components already).

 

[squeen]

City of Vermilion--running a Kickstarter for commissioned art, professional editor and a printer...if things fall into place, it will launch this month.

Please let me know when that happens. I'm in!

And thanks for the tips. I really like the idea of someone getting hired by the Stewart to managing things inside the army and challenge the PC's authority (also a few spies too to report back).

Don't make it over-complicated.

Ummm...I may have missed the boat on that. You see...

The King's a bit of a flake---a none-too-bright doppleganger originally sent to destabilize the kingdom by an external power, but who went rogue and is now looking to maintain the status quo without tipping his hand (i.e. letting things get worse---so his master doesn't become suspicious---but slowly because it's really enjoying the opulent lifestyle.)

Things have evolved (over years!) so that we now have a polymorphed+disguised PC masquerading as a slain (secretly corrupted) prince trying to convince the erratic, isolationist, faux-king sleeper-agent to mobilize the army. All the while, each side is afraid the other will find them out, or they will accidentally expose themselves through misconduct.

Watching all this is a court of spies from the two external rivals that hate and fear the Lawful humans infinitely more than they do each other.
...and complicating matters further, the last time the party was in town, they had to flee the city because of a botched jail-break.
Lastly, they can't let on that there are elves (or magic-users) in the party because the cuckoo king banished them years ago as a safeguard against potential exposure.


I just love D&D high jinks. (maybe too much)


Still...I want a believe-able palace with a fully dynamic routine and cast of extras (not sitting in rooms waiting for the PCs to open the door). The world must be the straight-man for the PC's escapades (Bryce's Rule #101)---accented by the magically wondrous and/or dark and deadly Unknown lurking at it's periphery (Melan's Rule#0).

 

[Beoric]

...I want a … cast of extras (not sitting in rooms waiting for the PCs to open the door).

See, my approach to these NPCs is each one is the equivalent of a room, in that it should constitute a full encounter for the PCs. The NPC has something the PCs want – usually information, access to another NPC, or decision making authority. If the NPC gives it up too easily, then it is like a room with no monster and a pile of unhidden, untrapped treasure. They need a reason not to help, but one which is not so rigid that there is no hope of the PCs persuading/intimidating/tricking/bribing the NPC.

NPCs with no function other than to mess with the party are more like wandering monsters with no treasure. And now that I say that, I realize they could conceivably be deployed in a similar fashion – randomly, with checks being made for screwing around.

I also note that developed NPCs have reasons to be places, and can have routines. Which makes it easier for you to make a chart with different times of day along one axis, and NPCs on another, and chart out where each NPC is likely to be at a given time. Or a chart of time vs location, which charts out which NPCs are likely to be in each location at a given time (perhaps with probabilities in order to provide variety).

Of course, this only matters if you expect the PCs to be spending time in the castle (or palace or whatever), as opposed to moving from NPC to NPC following clues like a pointcrawl. You might be able to get the same feeling of bustle by having a wanderers table instead of a chart – but then of course your wanderers need something to do and a reason for the PCs to interact with them.

 

[squeen]

See, my approach to these NPCs is each one is the equivalent of a room, in that it should constitute a full encounter for the PCs...

This sounds like a potentially powerful framework for viewing NPCs in a civilized environment. I am going to re-evaluate my prepared material with this in mind---treat NPCs functionally as a mobile keyed-encounter with associated risks, challenges, and rewards.

Maybe something like:

Head of Staff
Name: NPC #1
Function: organizes the palace staff for meals, maintenance, and formal events
Domain: Rooms 1,2,3,4 (am), 5 (pm)
Personality: Tight-lipped, alert (daytime), haughty, suspicious, pseudo-intellectual, mildly xenophobic, talks to his dead mother when he thinks he's alone
What he wants: An efficiently run household, a peaceful succession of power, romance,...
Secret Agenda: angry because of the death of his brother, spies (indirectly) for the Tower Witch---thinks he is aiding a democratic revolutionary movement
What He knows: notionally the location in the dungeon where the Guild mages are imprisoned, where the younger Prince goes at night
Weaknesses: heavy drinking (evenings), obsessive bird-watcher (amateur taxidermist), superstitious
Who He Likes: NPC #2, NPC #4
Who He Dislikes: NPC #3
<stat block>

If I also key the rooms and list what's in them and who might be there at any given time, then I can have a 2D matrix of encounter info. Place-Person(s).

I have this tentative notion that the PC will be guests during the day buffeted by the demands of the NPCs, and then skulking about at night---but who knows how it will turn out. The uncertainty is the big payoff of OSR-style play.

I recently read Melan's blog-post The Alternate Old School Primer. One take-away for me was his view on the content creation process as a causality chain "action –> reaction –> action –> reaction etc." between the DM and players---a notion that is supported by Gygax in the 1e DMG section called "The Campaign" (p.86). I am also going to try and keep things flexible enough to allow that process to develop. My intent is to try to install some safe-guards (via written prep) so that
(a) the session goes well
(b) the situation 'feels grandiose'
(c) I don't make my particular "favored" outcome the path-of-least-resistance, and all rewards are duly earned

The party has been in and out of the city several times over the years, but never made it into the Palace before. I think it should be memorable and make them feel a bit out-of-their-depth. I recently visited some medieval structures (castles/cathedrals) in Spain and they are magnificent! They make you feel small.

I am busily working on modifying (more secret passages!!) & keying a map of Raglan Castle in Wales (WIP below)---it's been a beast since I've tried to start from a point of historical accuracy (room usage), but the web-info is sparse and contradictory. I am wasting a lot of time wondering non-playable things like "How the hell are the serving staff suppose to get the meals from the kitchen to the dining room on the second floor without going outside in the rain?". And yet it feels like an opportunity for mental growth I shouldn't gloss over.

Of course, adding a purely fictional dungeon level is cake in comparison.



Anyways, I'll give it a go. Many thanks for the assistance!

 

[DangerousPuhson]

Let us know how it goes, specifically with regards to what you end up using vs. what you don't end up using. I ask because I think your social encounters look to be a little over-engineered, though I can't quite exactly pinpoint what might be useful against what might not be, so I'll be eager to see a field report on practiced utility.

 

[squeen]

Yes. I too am a fan of simple-as-possible-but-no-simplier and if it's heavy and cumbersome (and what I sketched above needs serious compression), I guarantee I will throw it away and try again. I almost never fall in love with my creations to the extent that I'm not always pondering a version 2.0.

I will see what sticks, and report what I've learned.

I'm curious of course for others to do the same.

 

[Malrex]

I think 'winging it' is good for some NPC's. I like the set-up you have for your NPC's...but when you get 10 of those going, it might be hard to scan or find the right one you need to roleplay out. IF you keep that format, then I suggest putting together a summary table that has the key info you want to remember and can glance at quickly.

And because I don't want to be a hypocrite, I plan to do the same thing with what I'm working on after discussing it here (see below). This is the format I used for one of the 6 ruling groups in my city--and it takes up maybe. I plan to make a summary table on 1 page for easy reference for the highlights which I would probably keep:
name of group, leader name, summary of personality traits into 3-4 words (fiery temper, secretive, greedy), and summarize both goals -wants business as usual, black market, against Talons, find Taerik-sacrifice.

That would be enough for me to run the leader and enough info where I could probably wing a few other merchant NPC's. If the party starts to have a stronger relationship with a particular merchant after roleplaying, I can then beef them up.

2. The Azure Sails: A huge trading company that works with foreign and local merchants. The Azure Sails is pretty wealthy from trading olive oils and wines for building materials and valuable ore across the Zontani Sea. See Vermilion, Area #10B.

Leader: Arlissa has a fiery temper, secretive, and lusts for money. Most try to avoid her when she is angry. A master haggler, she fights for every gold piece with a sharp tongue and wit.

Arlissa Harrowkoln, Level 7 Fighter: AC 6, MV 120, hp 51, #AT 1, Dmg 1d8, AL N, XP 633, S 12, I 14, W 13, D 16, C 15, Ch 13, Gear: cutlass, dagger, Leather Armor +1, Cloak of Protection +1, pearl bracelet (200 gp), pearl earrings (100 gp), and a silver locket (75 gp).

Current Goal: They want Taerik to honor the lottery and be sacrificed so that the populace goes back to ‘normal’ business as usual. Although cautious, Arlissa is entertaining the idea of working with The Shiver to start a black market.

City Lockdown: Outraged, they are openly defiant towards the Talons as the lockdown is threatening their trade business. The Azure Sails conduct organized ambushes upon soldiers of the Talons in the streets. Arlissa looks to hire adventurers to find Taerik so that he can be sacrificed to the Maelstrom.

 

[squeen]

@Malrex: A summary table sounds like a really good idea. Maybe ONLY a summary table is needed (if you use a teeny tiny font).
Dunno.

Nice example. You have me excited for your kickstarter.

 

[Beoric]

I'm not sure you need all that information in your "stat block" (up in post #8). You might reduce the character traits to two (adding alignment if you use that, I find it a great shorthand, and quite flexible when combined with other personality traits); assume the function was clear from the title; by default have one want/secret agenda (some that you have listed are implied by the title), and one clear point of leverage. For who he likes and dislikes I would flesh out why.

My usual form of writeup (riffing off Malrex’s example):

Champlain, Steward of the Castle: LN, obsequious, moody; unhappily married to the Lady Penelope’s Lady in Waiting, the King has refused his request for a divorce; is providing information to enemy army in return for promise of (manufactured) proof of his wife’s adultery, and out of spite; crushing like a schoolboy on the new maid, Millie (the Housekeeper has noticed, and does not approve); has access to the entire castle, including the treasury.

Millie the Chambermaid: LG, fierce and determined, trying to pass for demure; joined the royal household to investigate the death of her brother, one of the guard (who “drowned” in the well after discovering the Captain of the Palace Guard’s plot); gently reverent, she is on the verge of developing a paladin’s powers; theoretically has access to the common areas, the servant areas, and the living areas; her investigation is hampered by the Housekeeper who assigns her duties away from the guards and the aristocratic apartments because she is “too pretty by half, and I don’t like the way the Lord Steward looks at her.”

I rarely use all of it, or even most of it, but the act of writing it cements the place’s feel in my head, and (I think) I end up conveying that to the players.

 

[gandalf_scion]

I'm not sure you need all that information in your "stat block" (up in post #8). You might reduce the character traits to two (adding alignment if you use that, I find it a great shorthand, and quite flexible when combined with other personality traits); assume the function was clear from the title; by default have one want/secret agenda (some that you have listed are implied by the title), and one clear point of leverage. For who he likes and dislikes I would flesh out why.

My usual form of writeup (riffing off Malrex’s example):

Champlain, Steward of the Castle: LN, obsequious, moody; unhappily married to the Lady Penelope’s Lady in Waiting, the King has refused his request for a divorce; is providing information to enemy army in return for promise of (manufactured) proof of his wife’s adultery, and out of spite; crushing like a schoolboy on the new maid, Millie (the Housekeeper has noticed, and does not approve); has access to the entire castle, including the treasury.

Millie the Chambermaid: LG, fierce and determined, trying to pass for demure; joined the royal household to investigate the death of her brother, one of the guard (who “drowned” in the well after discovering the Captain of the Palace Guard’s plot); gently reverent, she is on the verge of developing a paladin’s powers; theoretically has access to the common areas, the servant areas, and the living areas; her investigation is hampered by the Housekeeper who assigns her duties away from the guards and the aristocratic apartments because she is “too pretty by half, and I don’t like the way the Lord Steward looks at her.”

I rarely use all of it, or even most of it, but the act of writing it cements the place’s feel in my head, and (I think) I end up conveying that to the players.

GREAT WORK, I like the verisimilitude we've come a long way from "every NPC is there to be killed."

 

[squeen]

@Beoric: I was going to reply to your most recent post, "But you are missing Beoric's point!", before realizing you are Beoric. Still, I think your insight of treating NPC as encounters/rooms implies that one should write them up---not like my long-winded stat block (above)---but as Byrce suggests we designers should present rooms: terse with the most important info called out in a way the DM can easily find. Your notion of the NPC-as-a-room with information/abilities as treasure needs to be readily evident. While your two character write ups have "verisimilitude", the play-able content doesn't jump out at you. You are forced into reading the whole thing through.

That's not to say I know a better way (that's why I started this thread), I'm just suggesting you (and Malrex) aren't following your own advise with a paragraph of prose for each NPC. A table, matrix or standard stat-block would at least be rapidly scan-able. Your key insight (at least the one that resonated with me) was the What-They-Know/What-They-Can-Do entry. It needs to jump out at you like bolded treasure items. The personality traits and motives are perhaps like adventure backstory that should go in sidebars or some kind of Appendix that the DM reads once before play starts.

Trying again with mashed up content from you and Malrex

NPC Summary Table​

Who	Head of Staff (Champlain)	Maid, 2nd floor (Millie)	NPC#3	NPC#4	NPC#5	NPC#6
Description	unhappy ass-hat (neutral)	spunky, pretty (lawful)
What	has keys to treasury informs enemy general (see sidebar)	might join party (paladin, L1) investigating brother's death (see sidebar)
Relationships	hots for Millie the maid unhappy marriage	none
Stats	F1, AC 6, MV 120, HP 51, Atk: cutlass(1d8), XP 633, Special S 12, I 14, W 13, D 16, C 15, Ch 13, Gear: cutlass, dagger, Leather Armor +1, Cloak of Protection +1, pearl bracelet (200 gp), pearl earrings (100 gp), and a silver locket (75 gp)	TBD

The detailed "story" stuff can then appear somewhere else.

(The table formatting in the forum is hopeless.)

 

[Beoric]

(The table formatting in the forum is hopeless.)

Yeah, and it sometimes accidentally deletes my whole post, with no “undo” button. But I find it pastes nicely from Word.

I wasn’t going for verisimilitude, I was going for flavour. I might use a different format if I ever wanted to publish instead of doing it for home use (which is never going to happen). And I would certainly have a summary chart elsewhere.

But I was trying to keep the paragraphs short and “sticky”. I find that too much whitespace between ideas that are supposed to inform each other, instead has the effect of separating them, and (for me) increases the cognitive load necessary to fuse them into something interesting and organic.

As an experiment I pasted those paragraphs into Word with 12 point font several times, and was able to get five entries on a page with two column format; with 10 point font I got 7 entries. You can decide whether that is too wordy for a “room” entry.

 

[Malrex]

For me...this part is the most important:

Leader: Arlissa has a fiery temper, secretive, and lusts for money. Most try to avoid her when she is angry. A master haggler, she fights for every gold piece with a sharp tongue and wit.

It could even be summarized with 3 words or whatever...but my point is personality traits are what helps me roleplay them best and make them come alive. I usually stick a line like this when its a NPC of importance or the main bad guy. I add stat blocks only for people who the party might fight or potential NPC's that might join the party. Otherwise (Fighter 5, hp 40, AC 5) might be good enough.

For a bunch of NPC's, I like Squeens table. Problem is stat block always makes it messy, but I like the table break down.
For Beorics...I like the flavor personally. I would maybe bold a few key descriptive words. I think Squeen's table and Beoric's can both work. I think Squeen's table would be more helpful to a beginning DM though with stats and whatnot. But I totally get Beoric's method of writing it out and cementing it in your head.

 

[squeen]

I think we are all 'agreeing really hard'. A table is scan-able during play and so is potentially a good aide. Also, it must contain the most play-able (personality) points as Malrex mentions but easily could become overly large and unwieldy. I'm on the fence as to whether or not it should have the stats in it---maybe they live elsewhere. The written page almost always feels to me a bit like a painting. I have to see how the letters, figure, etc. all "hang together" to know if I got it right.

Also, as Beoric suggests, the more detailed "sticky" bits of prose adds flavor (which is good). What I'm not sure about is if those little interconnected stories should appear scattered in each character's description, or should just be a sidebar that tells the story and references the characters already defined. Probably doesn't matter too much either way. Six of one...

Overall, I very much appreciate all your help kicking this about. What I was hoping to uncover was if there is a radical solution for social-settings that someone had already sussed out or knew of in print. It doesn't sound like that's the case. D&D manages NPC is a very ad hoc way. As with everything else, juggling the potential flood of information and need for spontaneous creativity rests heavily on a DM's on-the-fly skills.

That said, I have recently ordered a copy of Melan's The Noturnal Table for city adventures. There is a system in it for handling factions in a city and their inter-connectivity that I'm hoping might prove useful for me. As always, I'm looking for something "new and awesome" that helps me deliver an amazing experience to the players (or at least helps me stay organized). I imagine y'all feel similarly, or else you wouldn't be reading this. D&D's infinite-possibilities/infinite-detail illusion has always been a data-management nightmare---one that, at first blush, seems more aptly suited to computers---but surprisingly (42 years after Zork), one that still benefit's immensely from a human's sensibilities.

Also on Melan's website is a nice 3rd anniversary post that also goes into a bit of 'The State of the OSR' (a former hot topic here). His point about fragmentation and the decline of publications like Fight On! and Knockspell has me feeling a bit melancholy today, and reminds me of how small a group of folks regularly visit and post here. For those that do, I am grateful for the DMing camaraderie.

Cheers all. Hope you get in a good play session this weekend.

 

[Malrex]

Please let me know when that happens. I'm in!

A little sneak peek video: https://www.themercilessmerchants.com/post/city-of-vermilion-sneak-peek

Things finally falling into place. I'm aiming for a 16th Kickstart launch.

 

[squeen]

A little sneak peek video: https://www.themercilessmerchants.com/post/city-of-vermilion-sneak-peek

@Malrex: That looks amazing! Pitch perfect---I hope you can pull it off.

BTW: Your wife was cracking me up. Your a lucky man!