Hey, I'm a slightly experienced dm who is a running a game with one giant city that is shielded off from the world because of propaganda and cataclysmic events. The city is basically a dictatorship with crime, drugs, slavery, and cults. So far, the players have completed in stopping a drug operation and ending a slave trade but I don't know what to do after. I have hopes that they come to face the dictator and his governmental system of criminals but how to connect where they are now to there is befuddling me. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated 👍
Perhaps the dictator hires thugs under the table to take the party out. His entire empire is getting destroyed by one group of adventurers, so it'd be reasonable he'd want them taken care of quickly.
Another angle is to have one faction of criminals make a pact with the party to eliminate their competition. They could even lie to the party and claim to be trying to clean up the city, too. Might make for a fun, "Wait, we've been working with the bad guys this whole time??" moment.
Your players have foiled some bad guy plans. That seems like a good time for a BBEG to take notice of them and try to foil their plans ... or their existence.
By now the PCs should have made enough ruckus that the ruler (or one of their subcommanders) would at least have heard of them. It wouldn't be unlikely that one or more of the government officials have suffered from the PCs' actions, maybe the had money invested in the slave trade or something. Either way, the government are sure to start showing some interest in the PCs and their friends and allies. Use that.
Since it's a dictatorship we're talking about, start having the cops (or equivalent) harass anyone associated with the party. You can start off small and build from there. Maybe the players' favourite inn gets raided or their local cabbage dealer has his cabbage stand destroyed. Then t's just a matter of how quick you want things to escalate. If people the players care about gets disappeared or even killed they will have personal motivations for attacking the actual government. Sooner or later it should lead to a showdown against the dictator. Have fun! :)
Maybe even turn the tables on the party to spice things up. It is clear that your setting is a dictatorship ripe with crime right? Now, how about using some cunning against the party in response to their actions in devastating the drug ring and slave trade?
Maybe those slaves that were meant to be traded were considered very valuable to the slavers/government and now the dictator wants his recompense. So, the dictator uses his considerable resources to execute a plan that is hidden from the public eye. The dictator has one of his proxies, a face unknown to the PC's, proposition the party in the guise of a good citizen, asking them for their help in finally "overthrowing their cruel leader." Have this spy give the party a job that sends them to a place where he heard more slaves are being kept and in need of liberation - such as, say, a sewer cavern beneath the city. If the PC's accept and investigate the sewer, have it be staged for an ambush, where the PC's are outnumbered and essentially stripped of their possessions at knifepoint, only to be traded as slaves themselves to the Rat King, a crime lord that has made his base in the sewers beneath the city and thinks of himself as a dictator in his own right.
The dictator of the city would know of the Rat King and his filthy syndicate of course but allows them to exist because 1. they pose no real threat to his power in the city above, and 2. the Rat King is often useful in getting rid of "problems" such as adventurers.
Now the party has to liberate themselves as slaves and will have to do so while all of their family/friends above are unsure where they disappeared to.
Hey, I'm a slightly experienced dm who is a running a game with one giant city that is shielded off from the world because of propaganda and cataclysmic events. The city is basically a dictatorship with crime, drugs, slavery, and cults. So far, the players have completed in stopping a drug operation and ending a slave trade but I don't know what to do after. I have hopes that they come to face the dictator and his governmental system of criminals but how to connect where they are now to there is befuddling me. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated 👍
Perhaps the dictator hires thugs under the table to take the party out. His entire empire is getting destroyed by one group of adventurers, so it'd be reasonable he'd want them taken care of quickly.
Another angle is to have one faction of criminals make a pact with the party to eliminate their competition. They could even lie to the party and claim to be trying to clean up the city, too. Might make for a fun, "Wait, we've been working with the bad guys this whole time??" moment.
Your players have foiled some bad guy plans. That seems like a good time for a BBEG to take notice of them and try to foil their plans ... or their existence.
By now the PCs should have made enough ruckus that the ruler (or one of their subcommanders) would at least have heard of them. It wouldn't be unlikely that one or more of the government officials have suffered from the PCs' actions, maybe the had money invested in the slave trade or something. Either way, the government are sure to start showing some interest in the PCs and their friends and allies. Use that.
Since it's a dictatorship we're talking about, start having the cops (or equivalent) harass anyone associated with the party. You can start off small and build from there. Maybe the players' favourite inn gets raided or their local cabbage dealer has his cabbage stand destroyed. Then t's just a matter of how quick you want things to escalate. If people the players care about gets disappeared or even killed they will have personal motivations for attacking the actual government. Sooner or later it should lead to a showdown against the dictator. Have fun! :)
All of these ideas are great and I will definitely try to implement these, y'all are a life saver 👍
Maybe even turn the tables on the party to spice things up. It is clear that your setting is a dictatorship ripe with crime right? Now, how about using some cunning against the party in response to their actions in devastating the drug ring and slave trade?
Maybe those slaves that were meant to be traded were considered very valuable to the slavers/government and now the dictator wants his recompense. So, the dictator uses his considerable resources to execute a plan that is hidden from the public eye. The dictator has one of his proxies, a face unknown to the PC's, proposition the party in the guise of a good citizen, asking them for their help in finally "overthrowing their cruel leader." Have this spy give the party a job that sends them to a place where he heard more slaves are being kept and in need of liberation - such as, say, a sewer cavern beneath the city. If the PC's accept and investigate the sewer, have it be staged for an ambush, where the PC's are outnumbered and essentially stripped of their possessions at knifepoint, only to be traded as slaves themselves to the Rat King, a crime lord that has made his base in the sewers beneath the city and thinks of himself as a dictator in his own right.
The dictator of the city would know of the Rat King and his filthy syndicate of course but allows them to exist because 1. they pose no real threat to his power in the city above, and 2. the Rat King is often useful in getting rid of "problems" such as adventurers.
Now the party has to liberate themselves as slaves and will have to do so while all of their family/friends above are unsure where they disappeared to.
This is a genius, thanks for the idea 💡