Hi all, I am planning something to happen as a result of the actions my PCs have taken that will happen very much in the background and would really like to see if my thought process hangs together.
Background
There is a town in my world called Gefiell. It sits on the shore of a major Sea, and is sheltered from most of the inland area of the continent by some large hills to it's north. The main production that happens in said town is fishing, mining, and some farming of livestock and hardy vegetables. Over sixty years ago the place was ruled by a single Lord who upon dying had not made up a will and therefore his two children quarrelled over the place and essentially the town has been split into two halves. Named the Right Side and the Wrong Side. The right side is mainly mining, craftsmen, and very skilled workers. The Wrong side is mainly farmers, labourers and fishers. Only the Wrong Side has any magic users, due to the banning of magic on the Right side by their Lord. Basically, both sides of town began to function like independent towns and traded essential goods. The wrong side would deliver food, the right side would deliver tools and the like so there was a symbiotic relationship but over the decades the two towns now have different characters.
The PC party's actions
The Party on their first visit to Gefiell essentially wiped out both Lords (the two disagreeing siblings) and have left the place in the rule of a council of notable figures namely a Wizard, the Captains of the Town Watches (one for each side of town), the head of the miner's guild, head of the fishing fleet, and head of the craftsperson's guild. Mostly they've left this place alone having rejected seats on the new town council to oversee the merger of the two sides of Gefiell.
What the Party Don't Know
The Wizard in question has been conspiring with the heads of the town watch in order to kill off the two warring sibling Lords. It is the Wizard who manufactured the situation that allowed the players to bring about the end of the two lords. It was the Wizard who started to seed the idea to the locals that the party should be known as the heroes of Gefiell for delivering their freedom. For reasons that the party don't know yet the Wizard's motivation is chaos and potentially a civil war. Without being too obvious, the Wizard wants a lot of people dead, dying or injured to achieve one of their goals. The captains of the town guard may or may not be in on it...I'm going to improvise that depending on how the party react to the evolving situations.
What I'm planning to have happen in the background
I like having a living world. I like to have the actions of my players have consequences, but I am concerned that while the players are off with a particular thing they might return to the town and find it unrecogniseable, or not understand the reason that something has happened.
The food producing workers of the Wrong side are going to start getting restless because they aren't paid as much as the miners of the Right side. I'm going to seed in some discontent from workers they pass on the street, I've already sown some seeds of the townspeople getting restless or not liking the new status quo. Meanwhile, the miners of the Right side are going to start growing in their discontent because they don't get the same benefits or conditions as the food producers. So for the farmers and fisher people I'm going to have them get paid maybe half what the miners do, and for the miners they're going to be jealous of the farmers and fishers getting to keep some of the food they produce as well as having more regular break times. This will all lead to striking workers of course. So on both sides of the town there will be workers essential to the town's ability to function refusing to work. Depending on how long the party are out of town for they could come back to a town where the Inn is closed due to lack of food, they could come back to mass starvation on the Right side of town, they could even come back to a town after it's been torn apart.
What I need your thoughts on
If your PCs came back to a town that appeared to be flourishing, after an in game week, or month, to one that was either full of striking workers, in conflict, or destroyed do you think that the logical thread I've laid out is explanation enough.
Obviously, if the party returned to a destroyed town I'd leave clues as to what happened (journals, news flyers, town decrees, maybe even a survivor).
Hi all, I am planning something to happen as a result of the actions my PCs have taken that will happen very much in the background and would really like to see if my thought process hangs together.
Background
There is a town in my world called Gefiell. It sits on the shore of a major Sea, and is sheltered from most of the inland area of the continent by some large hills to it's north. The main production that happens in said town is fishing, mining, and some farming of livestock and hardy vegetables. Over sixty years ago the place was ruled by a single Lord who upon dying had not made up a will and therefore his two children quarrelled over the place and essentially the town has been split into two halves. Named the Right Side and the Wrong Side. The right side is mainly mining, craftsmen, and very skilled workers. The Wrong side is mainly farmers, labourers and fishers. Only the Wrong Side has any magic users, due to the banning of magic on the Right side by their Lord. Basically, both sides of town began to function like independent towns and traded essential goods. The wrong side would deliver food, the right side would deliver tools and the like so there was a symbiotic relationship but over the decades the two towns now have different characters.
The PC party's actions
The Party on their first visit to Gefiell essentially wiped out both Lords (the two disagreeing siblings) and have left the place in the rule of a council of notable figures namely a Wizard, the Captains of the Town Watches (one for each side of town), the head of the miner's guild, head of the fishing fleet, and head of the craftsperson's guild. Mostly they've left this place alone having rejected seats on the new town council to oversee the merger of the two sides of Gefiell.
What the Party Don't Know
The Wizard in question has been conspiring with the heads of the town watch in order to kill off the two warring sibling Lords. It is the Wizard who manufactured the situation that allowed the players to bring about the end of the two lords. It was the Wizard who started to seed the idea to the locals that the party should be known as the heroes of Gefiell for delivering their freedom. For reasons that the party don't know yet the Wizard's motivation is chaos and potentially a civil war. Without being too obvious, the Wizard wants a lot of people dead, dying or injured to achieve one of their goals. The captains of the town guard may or may not be in on it...I'm going to improvise that depending on how the party react to the evolving situations.
What I'm planning to have happen in the background
I like having a living world. I like to have the actions of my players have consequences, but I am concerned that while the players are off with a particular thing they might return to the town and find it unrecogniseable, or not understand the reason that something has happened.
The food producing workers of the Wrong side are going to start getting restless because they aren't paid as much as the miners of the Right side. I'm going to seed in some discontent from workers they pass on the street, I've already sown some seeds of the townspeople getting restless or not liking the new status quo. Meanwhile, the miners of the Right side are going to start growing in their discontent because they don't get the same benefits or conditions as the food producers. So for the farmers and fisher people I'm going to have them get paid maybe half what the miners do, and for the miners they're going to be jealous of the farmers and fishers getting to keep some of the food they produce as well as having more regular break times. This will all lead to striking workers of course. So on both sides of the town there will be workers essential to the town's ability to function refusing to work. Depending on how long the party are out of town for they could come back to a town where the Inn is closed due to lack of food, they could come back to mass starvation on the Right side of town, they could even come back to a town after it's been torn apart.
What I need your thoughts on
If your PCs came back to a town that appeared to be flourishing, after an in game week, or month, to one that was either full of striking workers, in conflict, or destroyed do you think that the logical thread I've laid out is explanation enough.
Obviously, if the party returned to a destroyed town I'd leave clues as to what happened (journals, news flyers, town decrees, maybe even a survivor).
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.