My party have elected to travel to a far-off monastary where they intend to pursuade the monastic order to join them in a war against giants.
I have not done a lot of political games and I want to do it justice! They will have to work their way up through the ranks, seeking audience from each to grant them audience to the next. I want to make sure that they have interesting tasks, rather than the realistic "wait several weeks".
One thought I had was to build the political web and then have it such that, without any adjustment, they will be denied. Then they can elect to try and influence them, and I will work out the effects. Does that sound like a good approach?
The most important aspect to a political intrigue is that the monastery's inhabitants aren't a monolith. There should be people within it with different views and perspectives about joining the war, and these differing views eventually settle into factions, but even these factions from within shouldn't have total agreement. Everybody wants something, and everyone has beliefs about the monastery's place in or out of the war.
I’ll echo charlestheplant that you really want factions in place for the characters to have to choose sides. I suggest at least three, because that makes balancing them more complex than just there’s these ones who like us and these who don’t. If I really wanted to mess with the players, I’d make the faction that wants to join the war have some really distasteful qualities. So the characters have to think “How bad do we want their help? Are we actually willing to ally with these awful people?”
Then it becomes, do we take the easier route of helping this group to power, or the harder, more time consuming route of convincing the reluctant group(s) that it’s important to fight in the war.
Factions, favors, tests, and conflicting goals make otherwise RP-heavy missions like this more engaging.
Maybe there's a skill challenge to earn the guards' respect and set foot on the premises. Maybe the abbot is a doddering senile being influenced by a power-hungry reformer, and the party needs to figure out how to get on that reformer's good side without angering the traditionalists. Maybe one of the acolytes suggests bribing a faction leader as a test of the party's character. Political intrigue is peak when it's complex, shadowy, double-edged, and full of tenuous alliances.
My party have elected to travel to a far-off monastary where they intend to pursuade the monastic order to join them in a war against giants.
The simplest and best approach is to build off of the premise rather than think up separate "things for them to do". In this case, the monastery is far away thus not directly threatened by these giants and presumably will have never heard of the party before. So the most natural first speed bump is:
1) "Who do you think you are?" - the monastery should not take the party seriously and should not give them a meeting with senior officials until they prove themselves to be more than just random travellers or treasure seeking adventurers. To determine what sort of thing will impress the monastery, you need to decide the philosophy and values of this monastic order. A combat-oriented monastery might have people training and be impressed by single-combat sparring battle with the party. Whereas a religious-oriented monastery might demand the party undergo an ordeal to demonstrate their faith / commitment to the cause.
Once the party prove themselves and gain a meeting with the leader(s) the next most obvious speed bump is:
2) "Why should we risk our lives for you?" - many in the monastery, including its leadership, should be against joining the war these might form a single unified opposition or might split into different factions with different objections. Some may believe it is against the teachings of the monastery, others that it simply none of their business, others may fear choosing sides will make the monastery seem political and endanger their reputation, others may believe the giants are innocent creatures defending themselves etc... (look at various IRL anti-war movements for inspiration. Whereas others may see it as their duty to help.
Now that you have an overarching political/philosophical conflict you just need to add the intrigue. For this, you simply need to remember that intrigue occurs when people lie about their motivations and goals. E.g. when an advisor lies about trying to help the king maintain order while actually planning to create chaos that can be used to justify overthrowing them, or when someone lies that they oppose war because they want to protect their people when in truth it is because they are agents of an opposing side already involved in the war. So the question becomes:
3) "What do they really want?" - 2-4 members of the monastery should have ulterior motives for the party to uncover and then decide how to use that knowledge to achieve their goal. These ulterior motives can vary from personal ambition of a mid-tier member trying to use the conflict to rise through the ranks, to a secret evil cult working against the organization from within or personal vengeance for some past slight or general resentment against the current leadership, or traitors working for one or other of the sides involved in the war.
Here is a list of things to make each character interesting. Human relationships should be a major factor and hopefully these can spur those on.
Goals: The monastery probably has an overarching goal or purpose. Most of the monks probably confirm to this purpose to varying degrees. Each individual monk will also have their own reasons for why they joined this monastery that can be exploited as well as their own goals. Help them accomplish their goals and they may help you accomplish yours.
Fears: It might be fun to give each monk something they fear. This could factor into their decisions and if the players don't play off their fears, then the player's enemies could.
Secrets: Just about everybody probably has some skeletons in their closet (since this is Dnd, maybe literally) and knowledge of these secrets could be a major asset. These don't always have to be incriminating.
Prejudices: Everyone has them. Maybe the monks have little respect for the barbarian because they value inner peace and the barbarian lets himself be taken over by wrath. However they see themselves as guardians of nature so they like the druid. They could see the bard as a disgusting fool because they believe instruments should not be involved in music. They might hold the wizard in high regard though because of their shared desire for knowledge. Now it becomes more advantageous for the wizard to do some of the talking even though he has -1 charisma and the bard should instead focus on buffing his party and proving himself through his actions rather than being the face of the party.
Threats: This is pretty simple but an easy way to gain the monastery's favor would be to stop the orcs that keep attacking them.
Alignment: I don't know how well this would really work but it could be an interesting mechanic. Maybe to encourage the players to think about their alignment give them a bonus to their charisma checks when interacting with an NPC with a similar alignment. A chaotic good character gets a +1 to charisma when roleplaying with a chaotic neutral monk but a lawful good character gets a +2 when interacting with a lawful good monk. Then the players have to pay attention to the characters you create and try to find ones that act similarly to how their own characters act.
Gifts: Good political gifts can be a delicate art. Too much and you appear to be bribing them. Too little and you anger or insult the recipient. This also could cost the players valuable resources adding more stakes to their endeavor. It can also challenge the player's creativity as they try to come up with a good gift.
Allies: Give each monk a few other monks that they respect. Or you could give each higher up, influential monk a number of normal monks that would side with them if you win them over. If you want to do it mechanically, give the players a bonus to their charisma checks if they have established an alliance or friendship with certain monks that are respected. To make it more of a political web, when they win over an ally, give them a bonus when they are talking with friends of that ally but a penalty when interacting with enemies of that ally.
Outcasts: Throw in one or two monks that have little respect in their monastery. Maybe there is a monk who is more likely to side with them because he has a very strong moral compass and knows they are doing what is right, but he is so blustery and provocative that being aligned with him could damage their reputation and make some dangerous enemies. Or maybe there is another monk who barely confirms to the rules of the monastery and is looked down on because of this. If the players make the effort to gain this seemingly worthless ally, they will realize he actually knows a very incriminating secret about the head monk and he is therefore allowed to stay and enjoy the benefits of the monastery without having to follow the rules.
Events: This isn't a character central one give the players several events to mingle, prove themselves, and make connections. They can talk to and make important deals during the big banquet, discover dangerous secrets during the dance, gain favor by helping during the harvest time, or gain loyalty during a goblin raid.
Hello all!
My party have elected to travel to a far-off monastary where they intend to pursuade the monastic order to join them in a war against giants.
I have not done a lot of political games and I want to do it justice! They will have to work their way up through the ranks, seeking audience from each to grant them audience to the next. I want to make sure that they have interesting tasks, rather than the realistic "wait several weeks".
One thought I had was to build the political web and then have it such that, without any adjustment, they will be denied. Then they can elect to try and influence them, and I will work out the effects. Does that sound like a good approach?
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The most important aspect to a political intrigue is that the monastery's inhabitants aren't a monolith. There should be people within it with different views and perspectives about joining the war, and these differing views eventually settle into factions, but even these factions from within shouldn't have total agreement. Everybody wants something, and everyone has beliefs about the monastery's place in or out of the war.
I’ll echo charlestheplant that you really want factions in place for the characters to have to choose sides. I suggest at least three, because that makes balancing them more complex than just there’s these ones who like us and these who don’t.
If I really wanted to mess with the players, I’d make the faction that wants to join the war have some really distasteful qualities. So the characters have to think “How bad do we want their help? Are we actually willing to ally with these awful people?”
Then it becomes, do we take the easier route of helping this group to power, or the harder, more time consuming route of convincing the reluctant group(s) that it’s important to fight in the war.
Factions, favors, tests, and conflicting goals make otherwise RP-heavy missions like this more engaging.
Maybe there's a skill challenge to earn the guards' respect and set foot on the premises. Maybe the abbot is a doddering senile being influenced by a power-hungry reformer, and the party needs to figure out how to get on that reformer's good side without angering the traditionalists. Maybe one of the acolytes suggests bribing a faction leader as a test of the party's character. Political intrigue is peak when it's complex, shadowy, double-edged, and full of tenuous alliances.
The simplest and best approach is to build off of the premise rather than think up separate "things for them to do". In this case, the monastery is far away thus not directly threatened by these giants and presumably will have never heard of the party before. So the most natural first speed bump is:
1) "Who do you think you are?" - the monastery should not take the party seriously and should not give them a meeting with senior officials until they prove themselves to be more than just random travellers or treasure seeking adventurers. To determine what sort of thing will impress the monastery, you need to decide the philosophy and values of this monastic order. A combat-oriented monastery might have people training and be impressed by single-combat sparring battle with the party. Whereas a religious-oriented monastery might demand the party undergo an ordeal to demonstrate their faith / commitment to the cause.
Once the party prove themselves and gain a meeting with the leader(s) the next most obvious speed bump is:
2) "Why should we risk our lives for you?" - many in the monastery, including its leadership, should be against joining the war these might form a single unified opposition or might split into different factions with different objections. Some may believe it is against the teachings of the monastery, others that it simply none of their business, others may fear choosing sides will make the monastery seem political and endanger their reputation, others may believe the giants are innocent creatures defending themselves etc... (look at various IRL anti-war movements for inspiration. Whereas others may see it as their duty to help.
Now that you have an overarching political/philosophical conflict you just need to add the intrigue. For this, you simply need to remember that intrigue occurs when people lie about their motivations and goals. E.g. when an advisor lies about trying to help the king maintain order while actually planning to create chaos that can be used to justify overthrowing them, or when someone lies that they oppose war because they want to protect their people when in truth it is because they are agents of an opposing side already involved in the war. So the question becomes:
3) "What do they really want?" - 2-4 members of the monastery should have ulterior motives for the party to uncover and then decide how to use that knowledge to achieve their goal. These ulterior motives can vary from personal ambition of a mid-tier member trying to use the conflict to rise through the ranks, to a secret evil cult working against the organization from within or personal vengeance for some past slight or general resentment against the current leadership, or traitors working for one or other of the sides involved in the war.
Here is a list of things to make each character interesting. Human relationships should be a major factor and hopefully these can spur those on.
Goals: The monastery probably has an overarching goal or purpose. Most of the monks probably confirm to this purpose to varying degrees. Each individual monk will also have their own reasons for why they joined this monastery that can be exploited as well as their own goals. Help them accomplish their goals and they may help you accomplish yours.
Fears: It might be fun to give each monk something they fear. This could factor into their decisions and if the players don't play off their fears, then the player's enemies could.
Secrets: Just about everybody probably has some skeletons in their closet (since this is Dnd, maybe literally) and knowledge of these secrets could be a major asset. These don't always have to be incriminating.
Prejudices: Everyone has them. Maybe the monks have little respect for the barbarian because they value inner peace and the barbarian lets himself be taken over by wrath. However they see themselves as guardians of nature so they like the druid. They could see the bard as a disgusting fool because they believe instruments should not be involved in music. They might hold the wizard in high regard though because of their shared desire for knowledge. Now it becomes more advantageous for the wizard to do some of the talking even though he has -1 charisma and the bard should instead focus on buffing his party and proving himself through his actions rather than being the face of the party.
Threats: This is pretty simple but an easy way to gain the monastery's favor would be to stop the orcs that keep attacking them.
Alignment: I don't know how well this would really work but it could be an interesting mechanic. Maybe to encourage the players to think about their alignment give them a bonus to their charisma checks when interacting with an NPC with a similar alignment. A chaotic good character gets a +1 to charisma when roleplaying with a chaotic neutral monk but a lawful good character gets a +2 when interacting with a lawful good monk. Then the players have to pay attention to the characters you create and try to find ones that act similarly to how their own characters act.
Gifts: Good political gifts can be a delicate art. Too much and you appear to be bribing them. Too little and you anger or insult the recipient. This also could cost the players valuable resources adding more stakes to their endeavor. It can also challenge the player's creativity as they try to come up with a good gift.
Allies: Give each monk a few other monks that they respect. Or you could give each higher up, influential monk a number of normal monks that would side with them if you win them over. If you want to do it mechanically, give the players a bonus to their charisma checks if they have established an alliance or friendship with certain monks that are respected. To make it more of a political web, when they win over an ally, give them a bonus when they are talking with friends of that ally but a penalty when interacting with enemies of that ally.
Outcasts: Throw in one or two monks that have little respect in their monastery. Maybe there is a monk who is more likely to side with them because he has a very strong moral compass and knows they are doing what is right, but he is so blustery and provocative that being aligned with him could damage their reputation and make some dangerous enemies. Or maybe there is another monk who barely confirms to the rules of the monastery and is looked down on because of this. If the players make the effort to gain this seemingly worthless ally, they will realize he actually knows a very incriminating secret about the head monk and he is therefore allowed to stay and enjoy the benefits of the monastery without having to follow the rules.
Events: This isn't a character central one give the players several events to mingle, prove themselves, and make connections. They can talk to and make important deals during the big banquet, discover dangerous secrets during the dance, gain favor by helping during the harvest time, or gain loyalty during a goblin raid.