| >> | >>29462
D&D textwall sperg here. Got an idea, well two variants. If your players want to all be part of the royal guard/army they can go from soldiers to the king's trusted men. You'll need player buy in to be heroic heroes to some extent though.
Few ideas. Presumably the kingdom has problems and the wisdom of the chosen kings and their desire to do well means destiny doesn't do the heavy lifting. Have the players brought from wherever (unless they agree to all be members of the royal army or whatever) as mercenaries to assist with some goblins or something as part of a task force, have it go a bit wrong but the players kill more than their share and it works out alright. Now they're trusted by the king so he gives them a royal charter (or just more missions) to act as mercs in his territory so now they can make some good money helping people.
Spend the low levels having them do odd tasks to help the kingdom, but it's world and rep building. Have a few hints and lay down hooks. Have each adventure reveal a bit, that the kingdom is mostly happy but some people are bad news. At some point have them befriend a streetwise orphan girl. As guards they earn more trust as mercs they earn more repute. During these adventures as well as exploring the kingdom, culture, gods, reveal that there is some discontent among the greedy nobles/merchants who all want more, that there is a small criminal underbelly, and that while it's stable the bottom rungs of society do enjoy very little of the prosperity, make sure they understand the genie's wish. Then have the king murdered, if the players are guards have them go somewhere to get an item key to his legacy, perhaps he has found a rumour of a wizard's pair and the wizard created a decanter of endless water, so he wants to find the plans and use the magic to increase the water available to his people. Something like that. The wish is now fucked. The nobles squabble and the guards go without direction, crises like bandit raids are poorly answered and the guard morale drops, crime rises etc. The nobles cut the blue dragons a better deal and now it's an ancient dragon with a family helping it. The players can fight fires but after a few weeks it's apparent they can't save the town. Arad's head gets destroyed so only a true res will bring him back and there's a handful of people world wide who can do that. Have any that are nearby get bought out or have to flee a swarm of blue dragons.
But there is hope. If the players think to contact other plane or something don't hide this from them. If they don't, have a priest come to them as their best chance. The king has a living descendent. A few generations ago the king at the time sired a bastard. This bastard is a poor person the players met and befriended (my advice, have them meet a few people with qualities you'd want in a ruler whose next impact will be to look after the poor. Then when they take to one, that's the one who'll be the heir. What I'm saying is don't make an heir and risk the players not taking to them, but once they take to an NPC, make them the heir. They can then become the next Arad the kingdom needs, bringing a new era of wealth and stability.
So now the players need to protect their heir, perhaps shortly after they find them there's a leak and they need to smuggle them to safety then they need to remove the enemy and put the heir in charge, perhaps find records or proof or maybe a few high ranking priests will be enough. Saving the kingdom makes this great destiny easy to apply. Depends on the class and character. I mean maybe the character could be the heir or maybe they end up marrying the queen/king. You could do all sorts of class specific stuff, as a cleric they bring glory to their god and maybe revive or reform their church for the better, as a rogue maybe they plunder the dragon's hordes or set up a benevolent (or profitable) spy agency, works for a bard though maybe they just compile the tale of the events that happened and it becomes a favourite world wide, the wizard could rediscover or actually complete the previous wizard's work or adapt it and allow the desert kingdom to grow.
The middle of the campaign then becomes a fairly dynamic struggle as the nobles solidify their plans and the players get strong enough to start pushing back. Give the villains plans and goals that will progress and threats or suffering that will grow and back up plans. But also give them weaknesses, some the players will get hints at or know or be told, some they need to look for. Let them turn the guard back if they kill a few key figures (though perhaps waiting to strike, though if the players wait a long time they may have to prune a few more etc), let them raise an underground resistance (who will require help occasionally but will provide leads and slow plans down) let them sabotage plans, fight a guerilla war or just go looking for powerful magic items or weapons. The point is that at some point they start really stinging the villains and killing the players becomes the top priority and then the players can only stall the end so long.
If you can tie Arad's goal into something that does happen, bonus points. Either way. I just thought rather than have Arad leave his mark, have a crisis. Real stakes rather than the players going through the motions of a prophecy. They can also mostly succeed but have the Arad descendent die and still be okay. They can eventually true res Arad once they've removed the usurpers, or just try ruling themselves. If you end up putting the bastard's grandchild on the throne but then they can res Arad maybe as a dead guy he already sees great qualities in the new ruler and stands aside. |
