Plot Hooks Based on Real Politics

[Koumei]

Mostly I want to jot this idea down somewhere I'll be able to find it again, as I might actually run this one next time it's "my turn" to run something.

So first there was the one where the Barony of "Ukra" (which was between the Empire of Urska and the Urovian Nation-State) was mobilising groups of raiders to attack merchants, stealing fuel sources from Urska en route to Urovia, during a fierce winter. The PCs would have to go stab the Ukran Baroness in the face. Which was clearly based on events happening in the Ukraine.

Then I had the idea of Occupy Lich Tombs, except it turned out about five other people had already done #occupydungeon games.

Now I present to you...

"LORD NASHER HAS FAILED US!"
During these times of economic hardship - recovering from the Wailing plague, the Sarrukh invasion, Yet Another Fucking Drow Incursion (YAFDI is now an official term people use), Valindra's assault... during these times, people are quick to grumble and complain, to wish for a better life and look for alternatives. Of course, while the Sword Coast has seen plenty of action, the fact is, every time the big bad was slain. Other places actually aren't so lucky, but the people of Neverwinter aren't in the habit of scrying for interest, nor getting off their bloated arses and travelling.

Harnessing these grumblings of misfortune, Altir Firekeeper used his ability in Illusion and Enchantment to sway the people against Lord Nasher. This man has sat on his throne for far too long! He can no longer protect us, he has not the ability to serve our interests! It is his fault that we are falling into ruin - and look, ships of refugees bound from Tethyr, Chult and the Moonshae Isles are flooding in, day after day! All these people who import poverty and don't even speak Common! It is time for action!

With his magic, and with financial backing, he turned the people against Nasher, and the lord of Neverwinter stood down before things would turn ugly - indeed, he fled the lands, fearing persecution from the new ruler.

Now Neverwinter has a new ruler, and for all the promises, there seems to be little change. Oh, now dragons and hydras and aquatic landsharks are loose in the oceans, destroying boats of foreigners, certainly. And prison camps have been set up to house the survivors - mining away for onyx, which is apparently much sought-after. The other changes at first seemed purely cosmetic: new businesses brought in new towers (using magic to make them appear literally overnight), with brilliant flags and carpets, adding colour to the streets, but it seems that these groups - the Telflammar Shadowlords, the Red Wizards of Thay, and the Zhentarim - actually own the place now. Certainly they provided a lot of financial backing to Firekeeper, and they seem to consort with him a lot... but it is as though they truly run the place.

And now, you few heroes are contacted by the old spymaster of Lord Nasher. Are you bad enough dudes to save Neverwinter?

Favoured Races of the Region: Human (Illuskan, Chondathan, Tethyrian)
Barely Acceptable Races: Human (Mulan, Damaran), Half Elf, Half Orc, Genasi, Assmart, Tiefling
Dirty Ethnic Foreigners: Human (Calishites, Rashemi, Imaskar), Elf, Orc, Halfling, Gnome

Although I posted this as a reminder to myself, others are free to post their own "based on real politics/history" ideas that they've had brewing. Possibly people could discuss which things are good or bad, or whatever. This is in no way limited to D&D, although "Shadowrun: everything that happened in 2013 actually happened in 2013, now it is 2050" is a bit of a cop-out.

[darkmaster]

Is Assmart your one stop shop for all your ass needs? Anyway, just don't do anything too close to home/the present and you'll avoid shouting matches.

[Koumei]

I don't actually play with anyone who voted Coalition - or if I do, they hid it well and have always been okay with me badmouthing their PM. So I'm pretty safe there. Indeed, online I don't actually play with other Australians at all and I'm pretty sure non-Australians don't give a shit.

[TheNotoriousAMP]

I don't actually play with anyone who voted Coalition - or if I do, they hid it well and have always been okay with me badmouthing their PM. So I'm pretty safe there. Indeed, online I don't actually play with other Australians at all and I'm pretty sure non-Australians don't give a shit.

I don't particularly like the coalition's anti-immigrant stance myself, but I'd be uber careful about politics in games. There aren't that many real differences between the usual center/centre right and left coalitions that dominate most nation's politics. So, while I'd be fine with you mocking Tony Abbot, if suddenly people are bad just because they are conservative, you piss off anybody in your group who actually knows conservatives. Even if they might agree with your sentiments, most people don't have that pure of social groups, so you're still villianizing people they may know. Geo-politics, those are a bit easier to do, but even then let some time pass.

And even within the issues themselves there are problems. I'm for gay marriage rights and equality on the law. But on the other hand I recognize that Chick Fil-A the corporation probably treats its employees better than any other fast food chain, donates a pretty good amount of money towards their college education, and is closed on sundays and major holidays like Christmas and thanksgiving. So, while they may donate funds to groups I don't agree with, they've also never had a case of an actual customer or worker being discriminated against. So where do you draw the line and make them the bad guys?

I'm part Ukranian myself and it would piss me the fuck off to be in a game like you mentioned. Same would go if I were Russian. Its not that either side are right/wrong (they're both plutocratic parties, but I do feel that a push towards Europeanization would reduce corruption. Even Bulgaria, my family's main source, managed to clean the swamp a bit and no one thought it was possible), but its still a sensitive topic.

I'd personally keep groups internally flexible. If you're fighting an evil empire, chances are there's internal splits over certain issues. The Nazi's were always torn between their socialist and corporatist factions, and even though the corporatists rose to greater influence, the socialist wing never really quieted down. And if you think about it, the Soviet Union was essentially the best example of a MegaCorp we've ever seen, even the Zaibatsu of Japan at their peak couldn't match it.

TL;DR: Keep things flexible and give wounds time to heal. As a history nut, there's one thing that always pops up and that is that groups are always coalitions of different ideas. Making one group all about one political theme is basically turning your RPG into a shitty Young Adult novel (which, quite frankly, is almost all of them).

[Koumei]

So, while I'd be fine with you mocking Tony Abbot, if suddenly people are bad just because they are conservative, you piss off anybody in your group who actually knows conservatives.

If someone is pissed off because "Down with immigrants!" people are made to look like the bad guys, then they must really hate reality. And again, I don't care much about their feelings. Such a game isn't taking every single conservative element and making them the bad guys, it's turning a specific group of bad guys in real life and making them the bad guys in a game (or rather, basing bad guys on them to make for a proper game, as "D&D characters versus real-life dude" is not very challenging). Sure, if the conservative party in your country is identical to that in ours, then yes, the game effectively mirrors more than just one country. And anyone who likes those parties deserves to feel bad. And is unlikely to like me enough to play in one of my games in the first place.

I don't think you can put forward an argument based on "Think about the feelings of right-wing fuckwads" that is going to be taken seriously here.

As for the Ukraine, that game was based on the events a few years ago with the gas-stealing, where Europe and Russia both had reasons to stomp on the Ukraine's asshole (Yanukovych). Note that unlike a real war, D&D characters can actually wander into the house of the political leader calling the shots and stab them in the face without making life difficult for anyone just trying to live in a country. If you sympathised with Yanukovych, I'm going to laugh at you. On the Internet.

Keep in mind that the point isn't to make those politicians and burn them in effigy*, it's just to take real-world problems and see how D&D characters can solve them - while still making their opposition D&D-scale. Finding the places where doing that works at all rather than "so the problem is that there is insufficient (resource), and we can all create (resource)? Should we solve this one before or after lunch?"

Yes, and to get a few cheap points for referencing current events.

*Yanukovych was replaced by a draconic female Steam Mephit. There is in fact very little cross-over on that Venn diagram.

[name_here]

Well, for long-term history...

THE PELORIAN DISPUTE

So, generations ago, the emperor had something of a problem. He'd managed to rally his subordinates and finally beat back the orc invasions that had been plaguing the area, but now he had all the land they had taken and needed to do something with it. He couldn't control it all by himself, but if he handed it all over to his nobles they'd start to have enough power to tell him what to do, and he didn't exactly have a pool of qualified non-noble subordinates.

However, Pelor's priests were generally pretty well qualified to handle administrative tasks, and at the time the church was somewhat disorganized, so he went and gave all the land to Pelor's priests with the understanding that they'd manage it for him and he'd pick their replacements. This worked fantastically, until now.

See, the High Priest of Pelor doesn't live inside the empire and isn't loyal to the emperor. Having finally sorted shit out in his immediate vicinity, he's noticed that some highborn non-cleric is picking who runs his territory. He's rather determined to change that, but the emperor still kinda needs that land the church has and doesn't want a foreigner picking who's in charge. Plus, the High Priest of Pelor has been implying he thinks kings should serve priests and not the other way around. And some of the neighboring rulers are having their own domestic problems and just might agree to that if it means Pelor's clergy will help them out. Plus, the nobility are still a bit on the uppity side, and while they like being part of an empire they also think they've got plenty of room to weaken the emperor without ruining everything.

Then a Trumpet Archon of Pelor appears to the party and gives them a holy mission: Sort this shit out and quickly

[Avoraciopoctules]

The committee in charge of the Grand Interplanar Games is famously corrupt. But when the rights to this year's Winter Games are awarded to the Iron City of Dis, eyebrows are raised. In addition to the staggering cost of setting up skating rinks in a realm known for its literally hellish heat, rampant embezzlement and reckless demolition of existing properties have given the event the highest price tag in known history.

Hundreds of fiends have been displaced from their homes to make room for the sporting arena. Most organized among these are a large pack of hellhounds, who have decided that they want revenge and are willing to hire adventurers to help them get it.

[TheNotoriousAMP]

Yanukovych and immigrants stuff.

First- was thinking you were talking about the current regime not that fuckwad Yanu. Anywhoo, on the matter of conservatives, this is exactly the sort of ideology you don't want in your game. I'm personally pretty fucking strong on the social justice side and a happy democrat, but if you ran a game where the republicans were demons, you'd piss me off. Mainly because I actually interact with conservatives on a daily basis, so telling me my friends should feel bad because they don't vote blue is annoying. I probably agree with most of your politics, but I also happen to spend enough time with the other side to know that the foundation behind those beliefs isn't necessarily based on racism or evil. Black and white works for fictional problems (Sauron, White Walkers/Others), if you are going to try and integrate real problems into your fictional worlds err on the side of gray. Otherwise you probably will end up pissing off even those who agree with you.

Here's my potential contribution (don't know DND so fill it in as is, perhaps Dark Suns?)

The desert land of Kano is currently being riven by a civil war. Years ago, angered by the collapsing economy and encouraged by the revolts occurring in neighboring countries, a large segment of the population rose up against their increasingly brutal king. But as the revolt went on and other countries began to become more involved, religious extremists within the revolution began to grow in influence and arms. Now, all hope for peace is gone and the only thing the civilians caught in between both forces can do is pray for one side to win and the bloodshed to end. In the middle of all of this, after a particularly heinous (blood magic/corruption magic/ect) a mercenary party has been hired to eliminate the death magic users/other poison equivalents within the country. But, the king's faction is unwilling to cooperate with them, and outside countries are doing everything to hinder them. Will they be able to accomplish their mission without being caught in the fighting or choosing sides?

Open ended, shades of gray and a central objective that doesn't solve the problem as a hook to bring the party in and maybe have them decide the civil war.

[darkmaster]

Well, obviously the correct answer in terms of D&D is to become personally powerful and take over the country for yourself.

[TheNotoriousAMP]

Well, obviously the correct answer in terms of D&D is to become personally powerful and take over the country for yourself.

True dat. But it does make it an interesting challenge where everyone who would fill your powerbase either hates you or you hate them. It would make for some interesting roleplaying and it be a ton of fun to DM, since it opens up some more creative missions than just "loot the cavern".

[DSMatticus]

And even within the issues themselves there are problems. I'm for gay marriage rights and equality on the law. But on the other hand I recognize that Chick Fil-A the corporation probably treats its employees better than any other fast food chain, donates a pretty good amount of money towards their college education, and is closed on sundays and major holidays like Christmas and thanksgiving. So, while they may donate funds to groups I don't agree with, they've also never had a case of an actual customer or worker being discriminated against. So where do you draw the line and make them the bad guys?

I just want to point out that if you replaced "gay marriage rights" with "interracial marriage rights," and then listed nice things Chick Fil-A had done while also throwing millions of dollars at blocking "that abominable corruption of our values known as gay marriage racemixing," no one would have a problem calling Chick Fil-A the bad guys. Ethically, you cannot excuse wrongdoing with philanthropy. You have an obligation to do no wrong, and neglect of that obligation cannot be balanced through acts of philanthropy. Dan Cathy is an evil man who deliberately and knowingly funds the abuses of his fellows. He does not get a pass on that because he isn't cartoon villain evil; no one is. Even fucking Hitler wasn't cartoon villain evil - he had friends, he had family, he encouraged those around him to live healthily and break bad habits, he thought the slaughter of animals was cruel and unnecessary (which some might argue is naive or pointless, but certainly well-intentioned), blah blah blah. But Hitler is still fucking evil. We can all agree on that.

I can understand that you are hesitant to turn to your friends/family/coworkers/acquaintances and call them vile, disgusting shitbags. Because they are your friends/family/coworkers/acquaintances, and that would be awkward. And you know what? That's fine. I don't rock the boat at my extended family gatherings, either. But eventually, discrimination against homosexuals is going to go the way of overt racism and stop being as socially acceptable as it is, and in that distant future your post is going to read like "c'mon guys, racists aren't all bad. It's not that black and white." (EDIT: haha, oh wow, pun unintentional) It's true, in that sense that Bob the Racist might make a great poker buddy or be a loving husband and father, but Bob the Racist is still a terrible fucking person by any standards of decency reasonable people uphold.

[Aryxbez]

Eh...Political discussion sound all sorts of confusion, can we just go back to talking bout buttstabbing politicians?

Note that unlike a real war, D&D characters can actually wander into the house of the political leader calling the shots and stab them in the face without making life difficult for anyone just trying to live in a country.

Keep in mind that the point isn't to make those politicians and burn them in effigy

It sounds good to me, I've always viewed politics as an "antagonistical force" that's fun to defy, and buttstab in games. The mention of how D&D characters can handle politics, sorta reminds me of what I'd want to do to sorts like the Jarls, or Maven Blackbriar in Skyrim. I'd see why not just throw in politics people are dissatisfied by, and running fantasies of them getting thwarted in some way (assuming not defying the social contract to begin with).

So one tip, is to take from real-life politics for RPG adventures. Is there any general tips for how to handle politics, and inserting of interesting political interactions/events in games? (lack of social minigame, and city building minigame I imagine are to blame?)

[Koumei]

I've learned not to build a social system because I'm no good at it and nobody here can make one that at least most people seem happy with. Instead, I'd just let people MTP stuff, occasionally using Diplomancy checks to unlock stuff or whatever. And then your reputation would broadly be "You did good deeds of X height, this entitles you to X big payoff, or Y constant benefit, but you can piss that good will away by doing Z".

Presumably the PCs would decide that Lord Nasher isn't actually that great, seeing as the Wailing plague, the Sarrukh invasion, YAFDI and Valindra's assault did all happen on his watch, so they'd rearrange things with themselves at the top, wearing fancy titles, and then they'd be properly at war with Zhentil Keep, the Telflammar Shadowlords and the Red Wizards of Thay. And considering the amount of wizardry involved in that, that could seriously be the entire campaign, or (like with the Ukranian game) it could devolve into the PCs going into underground hot springs and suplexing a Succubus Countess through a table. It was a Vampiress, using a German suplex, for the record.

[darkmaster]

Someone needs to play Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher. Take heart young philosopher you have taken your first step toward enlightenment this day.

[darkmaster]

Yes! Socrates Jones Reference two posts, I do believe this means I win an internet. Sorry, I just really love to see a good game like that get some attention. Seriously guys, highly recommended, it's got flaws but they're small enough that the game's still really enjoyable. Assuming you don't mine the Phoenix Write games, cause it's basically that.

[talozin]

See, this thread right here? Is why I prefer not to have real-world politics in my games. Or at least to make those politics old and obscure enough that no one fucking cares or or is even likely to recognize them, like having a campaign based around the Social Wars.

[RadiantPhoenix]

Marriage is older than the religion.

Religion is at least 30,000 years old

Underline mine. He's talking about one specific religion: Christianity.

[infected slut princess]

I think an adventure based on Afghanistan's recent history would be good. So basically, X number of years ago, Evil Empire 1 conquered your country and you fought them with support from Evil Empire 2. Years later, after Empire 1's collapse, Evil Empire 2 toppled your shitty government and installed a puppet government that is full of northern barbarians who rape little boys as a matter of culture. Evil Empire 2 also has fighter jets fucking dragons on its team and lots of crazy magic items. So you need to dig up ancient magic items from the war against Evil Empire 1, polish them up, and go fight Evil Empire 2 and its puppet government and monsters. Epic adventure.

[Avoraciopoctules]

I think an adventure based on Afghanistan's recent history would be good. So basically, X number of years ago, Evil Empire 1 conquered your country and you fought them with support from Evil Empire 2. Years later, after Empire 1's collapse, Evil Empire 2 toppled your shitty government and installed a puppet government that is full of northern barbarians who rape little boys as a matter of culture. Evil Empire 2 also has fighter jets fucking dragons on its team and lots of crazy magic items. So you need to dig up ancient magic items from the war against Evil Empire 1, polish them up, and go fight Evil Empire 2 and its puppet government and monsters. Epic adventure.

You could definitely make a pretty cool game out of it. And it's the sort of thing where a lot of people probably wouldn't grasp the source material at first if you put a bit of effort into giving players the local's perspective.

[Prak]

Right, so ignoring the giant off topic war since the second post...

The Grain-Guild Wars
The evil nature mage Monz'nto has come to power in the city of Greyhawk. He has won many supporters through supplying nearby farmers with enchanted seeds which resist much of the hardship of farming and produce a great deal more grain, and is hailed as a hero by many.
Unfortunately, he also employs a fearsome cabal of blackguards who are tasked with hunting down farmers whose crops show traces of the magic he used to enchant these seeds who did not buy their grains from him. He is also using his wealth and power to take the lands of farmers who do not buy his seeds so that they may be given to loyal farmers.
The city has shown an amazing growth and prosperity thanks to these enchanted grains, creating so much surplus that the city stores are stocked to support it's subjects for the next ten years even if the fields were put to the torch and salted tomorrow. There is so much food available that people are predicting the adventuring population will grow five or even ten fold in the next decade. Certainly Monz'nto's plot has brought much good.

But that doesn't negate the fact that peoples' livelihoods are being stolen from them to advance it, nor the fact that many farmers have been executed because a bee carried a bit of enchanted pollen to another field.

The heroes must find a way to save the populace from the evil Monz'nto has wrought, but can they find a way to preserve the good as well?

[Koumei]

Prak: in a Planescape game, TotallyNotMonsanto is actually a major force of evil across the planes. I'm hoping there will be a point where we prove the corporation is a person by stabbing it in the face and/or dick.

[Prak]

Heh, nice.

[Avoraciopoctules]

The Grain-Guild Wars
The evil nature mage Monz'nto has come to power in the city of Greyhawk. He has won many supporters through supplying nearby farmers with enchanted seeds which resist much of the hardship of farming and produce a great deal more grain, and is hailed as a hero by many.
Unfortunately, he also employs a fearsome cabal of blackguards who are tasked with hunting down farmers whose crops show traces of the magic he used to enchant these seeds who did not buy their grains from him. He is also using his wealth and power to take the lands of farmers who do not buy his seeds so that they may be given to loyal farmers.
The city has shown an amazing growth and prosperity thanks to these enchanted grains, creating so much surplus that the city stores are stocked to support it's subjects for the next ten years even if the fields were put to the torch and salted tomorrow. There is so much food available that people are predicting the adventuring population will grow five or even ten fold in the next decade. Certainly Monz'nto's plot has brought much good.

But that doesn't negate the fact that peoples' livelihoods are being stolen from them to advance it, nor the fact that many farmers have been executed because a bee carried a bit of enchanted pollen to another field.

The heroes must find a way to save the populace from the evil Monz'nto has wrought, but can they find a way to preserve the good as well?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3893Yd_614

[Prak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3893Yd_614

The song has a good sound, but it's full of "GMOs are ebul, mkay?" and I hate that attitude.

[fbmf]

Off topic part (Jesus, Chick-Fil-A, Morality) now has its own thread in MPSIMS.

Game On,
fbmf