So I'm a little bit at a loss as to what to do with a situation I created for myself. One of my players is a young knight, a son of the lord of a large trading city. Over the course of the campaign so far, that city (as well as most of that side of the country) has been overrun by an army of monsters and beasties, in a different time his father, the lord of the city, is killed. This makes my players character the lord of the city, him being the eldest son. The war is just about to end and the city is going to be re-captured soon. How can I keep my player from INHERITING a CITY? This seems like a bit of a misplay on my part...
Any ideas? Should I have him be exiled for some reason? Should I have the city NOT be recaptured? I really don't think it's a good idea to give control of a city to a lvl 6 player. Thank you in advance for any ideas and help!
I'd let things go the way you've planned, to be a bit of a devil's advocate, and just let the character deal with the responsibility. Maybe consider introducing a rival to make it more complicated. Is it set in STONE that he's the oldest son? Could a cliche Secret Older Sibling swoop in and rightfully usurp the lordship, or could others close to them just deem him unfit to take over due to inexperience, etc? Are there lots of other groups/factions who would rather see this family line ousted so they could take over instead?
Alternatively, does the Player / Character want to deal with the responsibility of RUNNING a city? Would they willingly hand over control to an underling and be doing other things? Do they try their best and wind up exiled ANYWAY for doing a crap job of running the city? Do they panic at all the red tape and paperwork running a city like this is, and exile THEMSELF?
If they stick around, at least it's an easy way to settle on a Home Base and focus on a small geographic area to plant lots of small adventure hooks into without worrying about plotting too far flung a territory.
Family secret #1: The young knight isn't truly the eldest son. The true heir to the position has remained hidden for some [enter adjective here] reason.
Family secret #2: The young knight isn't truly the lord's son. He's illegitimate.
Divine intervention: A deity/demi-god redirects the young knight's destiny.
Political intrigue: A nefarious plot has been under way during the young knight's absence, and the hearts of the people are now loyal to the false lord (who possibly is taking credit for re-capturing of the city).
Crazy plot twist: The lord has been brought back to life by [enter NPC] for some reason.
The mistake may have been to allow something that powerful in the backstory.
I've had it happen to me - so I'm not being critical.
Why not leave the choice with the player? Saddle them with the responsibility of running the city, but ... give them an adventure hook in that they may have a long lost elder sister, who has been missing these many years after Pirates ....
If the player doesn't want to run a city ( doesn't sound like much fun to me if you want to be a Hero and rescue beautiful dragons from fearsome princesses ) they appoint a regent and go quest for "older sister" so they can offload the city on her and go back to the irresponsible life of slaying monsters and quaffing ale.
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I say just let him inherit the city since he is the rightful heir. He may not want the responsibilities of running the city which gives more reason for him to be unfit to rule. And this would make other Houses rise up to overthrowing the young lord. Maybe all the other houses blame his father/family for being in this situation in the first place and not being able to defend the city from the monsters/baddies.
And the young knight will have to prove himself worthy in some impossible trial or tournament what not... But he will have too many enemies in the other Houses and they will make sure he fails.
He will lose his rights to rule the city after all.
And if him and his companions want to figure out which Houses were behind it all then the story continues on...
Seems like a fun situation for story telling. Good luck! 👍
option that doesn't appear to have been offered thus far:
"I didn't vote for you!" - the people reject the son, setup a democratically elected council of people who both survived the invasion and were legit heroes. Reasons - the son not being there when they needed him most.
Wow. Thank you SO MUCH everyone. This is INCREDIBLE... I will definitely come back and ask for more advice in the future. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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So I'm a little bit at a loss as to what to do with a situation I created for myself. One of my players is a young knight, a son of the lord of a large trading city. Over the course of the campaign so far, that city (as well as most of that side of the country) has been overrun by an army of monsters and beasties, in a different time his father, the lord of the city, is killed. This makes my players character the lord of the city, him being the eldest son. The war is just about to end and the city is going to be re-captured soon. How can I keep my player from INHERITING a CITY? This seems like a bit of a misplay on my part...
Any ideas? Should I have him be exiled for some reason? Should I have the city NOT be recaptured? I really don't think it's a good idea to give control of a city to a lvl 6 player. Thank you in advance for any ideas and help!
The king decides that the failure of the Lord to protect the city requires the investiture of a new Lord.
The previous Lord's son is given a quest to prove his worthiness to inherit the title and if successful is bequeathed a manor and some lands.
Perpetually annoyed that Eldritch Knights can't use Eldritch Blast, Eldritch Smite, and Eldritch Sight.
I'd let things go the way you've planned, to be a bit of a devil's advocate, and just let the character deal with the responsibility. Maybe consider introducing a rival to make it more complicated. Is it set in STONE that he's the oldest son? Could a cliche Secret Older Sibling swoop in and rightfully usurp the lordship, or could others close to them just deem him unfit to take over due to inexperience, etc? Are there lots of other groups/factions who would rather see this family line ousted so they could take over instead?
Alternatively, does the Player / Character want to deal with the responsibility of RUNNING a city? Would they willingly hand over control to an underling and be doing other things? Do they try their best and wind up exiled ANYWAY for doing a crap job of running the city? Do they panic at all the red tape and paperwork running a city like this is, and exile THEMSELF?
If they stick around, at least it's an easy way to settle on a Home Base and focus on a small geographic area to plant lots of small adventure hooks into without worrying about plotting too far flung a territory.
Merely throwing out ideas as they come to mind...
The mistake may have been to allow something that powerful in the backstory.
I've had it happen to me - so I'm not being critical.
Why not leave the choice with the player? Saddle them with the responsibility of running the city, but ... give them an adventure hook in that they may have a long lost elder sister, who has been missing these many years after Pirates ....
If the player doesn't want to run a city ( doesn't sound like much fun to me if you want to be a Hero and rescue beautiful dragons from fearsome princesses ) they appoint a regent and go quest for "older sister" so they can offload the city on her and go back to the irresponsible life of slaying monsters and quaffing ale.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Some great options given above.
I say just let him inherit the city since he is the rightful heir. He may not want the responsibilities of running the city which gives more reason for him to be unfit to rule. And this would make other Houses rise up to overthrowing the young lord. Maybe all the other houses blame his father/family for being in this situation in the first place and not being able to defend the city from the monsters/baddies.
And the young knight will have to prove himself worthy in some impossible trial or tournament what not... But he will have too many enemies in the other Houses and they will make sure he fails.
He will lose his rights to rule the city after all.
And if him and his companions want to figure out which Houses were behind it all then the story continues on...
Seems like a fun situation for story telling. Good luck! 👍
"Lawful Good does not always mean Lawful Nice."
option that doesn't appear to have been offered thus far:
"I didn't vote for you!" - the people reject the son, setup a democratically elected council of people who both survived the invasion and were legit heroes. Reasons - the son not being there when they needed him most.
Wow. Thank you SO MUCH everyone. This is INCREDIBLE... I will definitely come back and ask for more advice in the future. Thank you, thank you, thank you!