My niece is interested in learning D&D, so I helped her start rolling up a character. I told her to start up on the backstory and she came up with this super rich concept of an exiled prince who has to flee to the city central to our campaign world because a civil war forced her from her homeland (also the prince has some secret quasi-divine heritage that he doesn't know about, which I assume is something she got out of a Percy Jackson book).
So far, so awesome. I've got a fairly good idea of the structure of the court in the Duke's palace and who the players would be. I'm visualizing her campaign as something like The Three Musketeers with people whispering behind fans at the opera and eating grapes peevishly and whatnot. The problem is that I've never done a campaign like that before, so I don't really know what needs to happen. I'm thinking the prince's parents might have had their wizard compel an imp to serve the prince as a protector/familiar on the grounds that an imp would be weak in an actual fight, but probably really great when it comes to reading and translating complicated social situations and byzantine etiquette. I also don't know what the right ratio of story to sword fighting is.
Any advice on sources to read or movies to rip off? This is a young kid and I want her to like D&D.
What kind of game does she want? Ask her what kind of activities she wants to do / how much sword fighting / social stuff to do.
D&D 5e, while better than previous editions, still has its roots in wargaming and is mostly built around combat. What I do for non-combat encounters is have the players make 3 different ability checks, with some different choices so hopefully everyone can contribute.
An example for a court scene where you need to gather information:
Persuasion for actually getting information Deception to disguise your intentions Insight to read the room Perception to overhear other peoples conversation
My players often choose the social route to solving problems, so I have a Social Encounter setup that I use often.
For my social encounters I usually set up a line with points across it. To one side of the line is the party's goal, what they are trying to get from an NPC. At the other end is either the NPC's resolve/what they want, or what another NPC wants. My players mediated a meeting between an Archdruid that had been infecting livestock with lycanthropy and the mayor of the farming town, so that the two could come to an agreement about the land and a fair way to divide it. Here's what they had to deal with:
The players didn't see this, but it was how I was tracking things behind the screen. Amaruun, being ancient and angry and having seen how the farmers had scorned her deal with the founder of the town, is harder to convince than the earnest Mayor; and easier to piss off. For each successful check I crossed out the highest number to the left; for failures the highest on the right.
If the players could get them both to concede, that would leave the town and the Druids in the most ideal state where they could work as partners. This was the overall goal. If they could get one of them to concede, the deal would weigh heavily in one direction and would spoil the players' allyship with that party. If they pissed them both off, there would be blood and curses to go 'round for generations to come. The least ideal solution. Depending on how far the players moved on any one track, the result could be tempered slightly.
I let my players run the show from there, coming up with ways to talk to them both, how they wanted to mediate, whose side they favoured, etc., and the NPCs reacted to add colour, flavour, and immersion. I didn't tell them what a success/fail was-- But if they failed the check the NPC could retort with an argument meant to persuade the PCs to their side. If they succeeded the NPC might agree with them, but then add another point that the PCs would want to address.
The result of the situation doesn't matter, this was just an example of how you could run something like this. Imagining the scene as they speak secretly behind fans, and she needs to convince this NPC to help her enter a backroom, but the NPC doesn't want to risk being involved? That could be interesting as a social challenge.
For movies/sources, I'd say take a look at any period drama that's about nobility or position. Things like The Tudors would be a great source of period political intrigue.
There is something many need to need to realize, what makes nobility and royalty what they are isn't money.
It is servants.. if the background chosen is Noble, it says you can expect to get to see assorted Lords normally.
but in real life.. your prince would likely be invited to stay/live at court, her own suite, guards, servants, mostly under the hospitality of the Duke if i get this right.
And example would be suppose a Baron in a party was invited to stay at the hospitality if another noble. The Baron could designate three of the party/adventuring companions as retainers. so they could stay together. Each kept by the host Lord's servants at the lifestyle apparent to their social class. But would be expected to carry out their Service to the prince(?ess).
I have a Baron who during a visit to a local king. had his parties wizard draft letters of retainer for the Wizard as secretary, the fighter as Squire, and Rogue as Outlander Guide/ Shadow-whisperer[spymaster]. All completely legal since he used his Baronial Seal.
and in his tradition Nobles NEVER carry money. His party just rolls their eyes when he hands his portion to someone else to hold.
Just make sure she understands the difference expected toward heroic companions, retainers, servants, and drudges.
I would definitely second Houligan on the asking what type of game play she wants. You don't say how old she is, but she must be fairly smart and imaginative if she's creating a great backstory for this character already. I DM for a group with 2 smart 10 year olds, and I've found that a lot of role play and puzzle/problem solving, mixed in with unexpected fighting/peril keeps them engaged and interested (but obviously every kid is different).
As for plot conceits or story progression ideas, maybe a riches to rags (to riches again?) idea where the prince must become or at least act as a commoner for a while. Or perhaps he is at odds with his parents over the civil war but must find ways to work with them (or around them) to maintain his status which is essential to winning the war. Perhaps the prince discovers that the king's closest confidant/adviser is a spy but the king refuses to believe it and the prince must find and kill some evil/monsterous entity that is the patron of the spying adviser, etc.
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My niece is interested in learning D&D, so I helped her start rolling up a character. I told her to start up on the backstory and she came up with this super rich concept of an exiled prince who has to flee to the city central to our campaign world because a civil war forced her from her homeland (also the prince has some secret quasi-divine heritage that he doesn't know about, which I assume is something she got out of a Percy Jackson book).
So far, so awesome. I've got a fairly good idea of the structure of the court in the Duke's palace and who the players would be. I'm visualizing her campaign as something like The Three Musketeers with people whispering behind fans at the opera and eating grapes peevishly and whatnot. The problem is that I've never done a campaign like that before, so I don't really know what needs to happen. I'm thinking the prince's parents might have had their wizard compel an imp to serve the prince as a protector/familiar on the grounds that an imp would be weak in an actual fight, but probably really great when it comes to reading and translating complicated social situations and byzantine etiquette. I also don't know what the right ratio of story to sword fighting is.
Any advice on sources to read or movies to rip off? This is a young kid and I want her to like D&D.
What kind of game does she want? Ask her what kind of activities she wants to do / how much sword fighting / social stuff to do.
D&D 5e, while better than previous editions, still has its roots in wargaming and is mostly built around combat. What I do for non-combat encounters is have the players make 3 different ability checks, with some different choices so hopefully everyone can contribute.
An example for a court scene where you need to gather information:
Persuasion for actually getting information
Deception to disguise your intentions
Insight to read the room
Perception to overhear other peoples conversation
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My players often choose the social route to solving problems, so I have a Social Encounter setup that I use often.
For my social encounters I usually set up a line with points across it. To one side of the line is the party's goal, what they are trying to get from an NPC. At the other end is either the NPC's resolve/what they want, or what another NPC wants. My players mediated a meeting between an Archdruid that had been infecting livestock with lycanthropy and the mayor of the farming town, so that the two could come to an agreement about the land and a fair way to divide it. Here's what they had to deal with:
Archdruid Amaruun
Amaruun Will Concede - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - Start - 2 - 1 - Amaruun Won't Budge
Mayor Lithrow
Lithrow Will Concede - 1 - 2 - 3 - Start - 3 - 2 - 1 - Lithrow Won't Budge
The players didn't see this, but it was how I was tracking things behind the screen. Amaruun, being ancient and angry and having seen how the farmers had scorned her deal with the founder of the town, is harder to convince than the earnest Mayor; and easier to piss off. For each successful check I crossed out the highest number to the left; for failures the highest on the right.
If the players could get them both to concede, that would leave the town and the Druids in the most ideal state where they could work as partners. This was the overall goal. If they could get one of them to concede, the deal would weigh heavily in one direction and would spoil the players' allyship with that party. If they pissed them both off, there would be blood and curses to go 'round for generations to come. The least ideal solution. Depending on how far the players moved on any one track, the result could be tempered slightly.
I let my players run the show from there, coming up with ways to talk to them both, how they wanted to mediate, whose side they favoured, etc., and the NPCs reacted to add colour, flavour, and immersion. I didn't tell them what a success/fail was-- But if they failed the check the NPC could retort with an argument meant to persuade the PCs to their side. If they succeeded the NPC might agree with them, but then add another point that the PCs would want to address.
The result of the situation doesn't matter, this was just an example of how you could run something like this. Imagining the scene as they speak secretly behind fans, and she needs to convince this NPC to help her enter a backroom, but the NPC doesn't want to risk being involved? That could be interesting as a social challenge.
For movies/sources, I'd say take a look at any period drama that's about nobility or position. Things like The Tudors would be a great source of period political intrigue.
There is something many need to need to realize, what makes nobility and royalty what they are isn't money.
It is servants.. if the background chosen is Noble, it says you can expect to get to see assorted Lords normally.
but in real life.. your prince would likely be invited to stay/live at court, her own suite, guards, servants, mostly under the hospitality of the Duke if i get this right.
And example would be suppose a Baron in a party was invited to stay at the hospitality if another noble. The Baron could designate three of the party/adventuring companions as retainers. so they could stay together. Each kept by the host Lord's servants at the lifestyle apparent to their social class. But would be expected to carry out their Service to the prince(?ess).
I have a Baron who during a visit to a local king. had his parties wizard draft letters of retainer for the Wizard as secretary, the fighter as Squire, and Rogue as Outlander Guide/ Shadow-whisperer[spymaster]. All completely legal since he used his Baronial Seal.
and in his tradition Nobles NEVER carry money. His party just rolls their eyes when he hands his portion to someone else to hold.
Just make sure she understands the difference expected toward heroic companions, retainers, servants, and drudges.
Itinerant Deputy Shire-reave Tomas Burrfoot - world walker, Raft-captain, speaker to his dead
Toddy Shelfungus- Rider of the Order of Ill Luck, Speaker to Friends of Friends, and Horribly big nosed
Jarl Archi of Jenisis Glade Fee- Noble Knight of the Dragonborn Goldcrest Clan, Sorcerer of the Noble Investigator;y; Knightly order of the Wolfhound
I would definitely second Houligan on the asking what type of game play she wants. You don't say how old she is, but she must be fairly smart and imaginative if she's creating a great backstory for this character already. I DM for a group with 2 smart 10 year olds, and I've found that a lot of role play and puzzle/problem solving, mixed in with unexpected fighting/peril keeps them engaged and interested (but obviously every kid is different).
As for plot conceits or story progression ideas, maybe a riches to rags (to riches again?) idea where the prince must become or at least act as a commoner for a while. Or perhaps he is at odds with his parents over the civil war but must find ways to work with them (or around them) to maintain his status which is essential to winning the war. Perhaps the prince discovers that the king's closest confidant/adviser is a spy but the king refuses to believe it and the prince must find and kill some evil/monsterous entity that is the patron of the spying adviser, etc.