I'm going to run with TexasDevin's example of "The king died under mysterious circumstances and the evidence points to a third party who may or may not be innocent".
Figure out what the central conflict "dramatic questions" is, and when it will be resolved. In this case, it might be: The open question is who is responsible for the King's death? The question is resolved when the Party identifies the responsible party to the Constable of the kingdom, and she acts to imprison or execute the "guilty party". The Party "wins" if they identify the correct responsible party. They fail if they accuse someone innocent.
Figure out who all the Actors are. Who are the interested parties in this investigation? Clearly the (possibly) innocent 3rd party is one. The real killer may be another. There will be noble factions who are trying to advance certain rivals as suspects, and/or level accusations which - if the Party can be convinced that they are true - will lead to advantageous situations for them.
For all the Actors, figure out what are Goals, Resources, Knowledge, Beliefs, Personality ( what are their "go to" tactics, what will they do only in an emergency, what will they never do ), and the conditions under which they will withdraw from the conflict. Based on this, you should be able to determine their overall strategy. E.g. The Duke of Loraine is hoping to cast suspicion on the King's estranged n'er-do-well son, to remove him as the heir, and press their claim to the succession. He has influence, money, and a good talent for persuasion as resources. He knows the Prince is innocent, but believes the King died of natural causes ( he's wrong ). He will use innuendo, rumor, and blackmail to sway the opinion of the court, but he will not employ physical violence or assassins to shape the situation. He will withdraw from the court intrigue if anything threatens to damage his reputation ( exposing his machinations and blackmail could be a way to get him to withdraw ), or anything threatens his family. Don't over-design this. Only add the details you need.
Once you have that, you can easily determine the Strategy of each Actor - what is their overall "plan of attack" to get what they want? With the Duke, he will try and subtly tarnish the Prince's reputation, put him under suspicion, and turn the court against the Prince. His hope is that this will cause the Prince to be accused, or even cause the Prince to flee into exile, then he can press for his son being next in the line of succession.
Work out the Story Flow . Figure out - based on their Goals, Resources, Knowledge, Beliefs, Personality, and Strategy, what each Actor will try and do next. Figure out where the next planned actions of the Actors will collide. Where they collide, these are Conflicts. Where a Conflict involves the Party, this is an Encounter that you'll play out with the Players. Where the Conflict does not involve the Party - figure out quickly what will be the outcome of that Conflict, and make note of it. News of these non-EncounterConflicts, and how they were resolved, will reach the Party through rumor, news, contacts, allies, etc.
Rinse and repeat, and note down how the story will unfold if the Party never gets involved. Be aware that this is not how the Adventure will unfold, just how it could unfold. If you are feeling ambitious, expand this flow out into a flowchart showing multiple possible story flows. You don't need to map this out all the way to the end, but mapping out a couple of iterations ahead of where the Players are will help.
Where the Conflicts are Encounters, sit down and design the encounter. This is where having a flowchart of possible story flows helps. It allows you identify the most probableEncounters, and allow you to concentrate your efforts here. Add details, nuance, and polish to these Encounters. Note that designing Encounters mirrors the design process so far: identify the conflict being resolved, the actors in the conflict, what they will do, and when the Encounter is over/resolved.
Turn your Players loose on your design.
They act - this will lead to an Encounter. If you've designed well, and/or are lucky, it's an Encounter that you pre-designed and polished. If you're unlucky, you may have to improvise an Encounter. Play out the Encounter until it is resolved.
The Party - optionally - gets information about the other Conflicts that happened in this "round" of the Adventure unfolding.
Check whether or not you're on the story flow you mapped out before. If you are, then you already know what all the Actors will try and do next.
WHEN the Players go off the beaten path - don't panic.
You already know who the Actors are. You know what they want, what their resources are, and what their personalities are. You can figure out how they will react to this new situation, because you know them.
Repeat steps 5-7 based on the new situation. You'll find that you'll be able to re-use most of what you've sketched out already. You'll just need to tweak certain Encounters, or come up with a new one, but you most likely don't have start over from the start.
Do not try and force the Players down what you've already mapped. Adapt to the Players, don't make the Players adapt to you.
Eventually you will hit one of the resolution situations that you identified in step #1. Or all the Actors will have withdrawn from the main Adventure conflict. In which case the Adventure will be over. Wrap it up, note anything that's changed in the world, new allies/enemies the Party has developed, and changes to the Party's reputation.
There are other facets to running - foreshadowing probable events, controlling the pace, possibly having multiple Adventure threads in play at one, etc - but that's a whole other can of bees.
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.
Now that you have the framework of an idea, you'll need to come up with ways to challenge your players in order to give them opportunities to amass political power. This is typically done by having the kingdom face challenges that the players can maneuver around and prove to the people who deserves their loyalty either by solving the problem or manipulating someone else into taking the fall for it.
Essentially you have to look at it from this perspective: people vying for control of a kingdom or political system are constantly somewhere on the spectrum of approval or disapproval of the people. No matter if this is a Divine Right monarchy or not, if the people are unhappy enough, then you have a revolt and whoever makes themselves look like the next best ruler takes the old one's place. You have to treat each faction according to that spectrum.
Perhaps the kingdom is facing a famine. Depending on the kind of ruler you are, there's multiple ways you may want to handle it, each one carrying with it its own risks and rewards. A just ruler might try to solve the issue and end the famine, but they run the risk of not being able to find a way to, say agriculturally or technologically, so then it ultimately seems to the people like the government wasted time doing nothing with nothing to show for it while they starved. That ruler would then go down on the approval spectrum. But let's say they're successful. They end the famine either by promoting the growth of a new crop, by delegating forces to assist growers for greater productivity, or by opening up their own royal granaries to share among their people. Now the people view that ruler as a hero who saved them from the famine single handedly! All hail!
Another way a ruler might try to solve the problem is to use rhetoric to distract the people and shift blame. "The real reason for the famine is the kingdom across the sea attacking our ships and driving criminals into our lands who slaughter our livestock!" If you successfully sway the people into believing that this is true and that your rulership isn't to blame for the famine, then they'll likely support you as you stand up against the "wicked" neighbors who could just be securing their own borders. Of course, there's also a risk here. Maybe the people don't believe you and your transparent attempts to manipulate them incence the common people. Or maybe even the truth comes out: the only reason the neighboring kingdom attacked those ships was because they were intruding on sovereign territory, or maybe the neighbors even offered to help with the famine and the ruler refused that help in order to support their narrative and consolidate power. If you get caught, expect torches and pitchforks at your door. Another ruler altogether might even suggest invading nearby territories to take their food, ending the famine in their own lands through force. Even though bloodshed, the people may not view this negatively at the end of the day of they still have food on the table, and might still support the person who put it there.
Now, if there's other factions within the rulership that are ALSO vying for power, then it becomes a game of not only getting the people behind your faction, but also ensuring that the other factions fail. This kind of political sabotage can take the form of installing spies in the other fiction's office so you know their plans, launching information or disinformation campaigns, or even violence behind the scenes in extreme cases.
What you as a DM need to do is introduce problems for the different factions do deal with that present multiple possible solutions, effect the lives of the common people in some way, doesn't necessarily have a "good" and "evil" side, and has other factions with their own plans for putting themselves over each other.
Famine, war, poverty, corruption, crime, these are all problems that effect people, that they generally look to their government to solve. In a monarchy, people look to the king, but with your king dead, they don't know where to look. Therefore your kingdom will be in a state of organized chaos, and opportunity will be ripe for people to rise and fall on the path that leads to rulership. Because, as it's said in GoT, "chaos is a ladder."
Your players will need to try to climb it while simultaneously kicking others off.
Thank you CharlesThePlant for that. Do you have any ideas of how I could modify them to work in d&d?
Gonna jump in and add my two cents. Firstly the disclaimer, I have had a very touch and go experience with all things DnD since the 3.0/3.5 era, in that my opportunity to actually play a successful campaign by any definition has been hindered and stymied by a variety of harsh circumstances in my personal life, and moreover I have never DM'd a game EVER, so grab your morton's salt and up-end that bastard until it's empty.
Now, as far as 5e, having the critical role and mcdm fish hooks firmly planted in me, I began a process of world-building innocently enough as a means of imagineering a single cleric character, sparing you that TLDR diatribe, I got to the point where I was content with the mechanical facets of the build, and began thinking about who is this person, what does their environment look like (nature, politics, major cultural and societal historical events - be only as specific as neccessary to paint the broad strokes and avoid the finer details), how does it make them who they are (what are their personal influences, the personality traits concepts detailed in character creation, their own life experiences - again sparingly use broad strokes) who are the significantly important people in their social circle and more generally the society they exist in - "no 'man' is an island" as the saying goes). I don't know what sort of time-frame you're constrained to in terms of creating your campaign and putting it (adequately good enough or not quite yet) on the table and rolling dice but take as much time as you need, as mentioned above, go to a library, or a bookstore, or turn on movies and tv, music even can provide inspiration. Devour whatever sources of inspiration you can or want, let your mind chew on that, ideas don't just spontaneously transform into fully developed stories without time and thought and refinement.
Using my process as the example, I have taken many months of researching this and researching that, both for the explicit purpose of this character/world build process and for other things, entirely unrelated to D&D and have had many lightbulb moments. Write that stuff down, even just a single word or phrase or sentence can work wonders, again I'm basically parroting what's already stated above. Youtube has an excellent supply of DnDers to cherry pick from and those people WANT you to "beg, borrow and steal their ideas". I have spent unimaginable amounts of time and money (far from adequately satisfying but I have ample time yet to finish at a stress-free pace) on this as well, spending money IS NOT absolutely necessary but I obssess over perfection and I love having premade options in my toolbox. The entire D&D Beyond digital bookset and monthly service fees, MCDM digital books, DrivethruRPG & WOTC DM's guild homebrew digital books, and "ahem" even some of the fabled adult themed content (of the bedroom variety) should that content ever be desired by players. Inspiration is literally everywhere, don't seek it out expecting it to magically just fall into your lap on command, let it happen when it will (time and thought are needed).
Google or search on Youtube for Spies and Intrigue at Court. You'll find hundreds of ideas that you can convert. Some of them will be modern and that's okay. Take any plot or intrigue going on in the Kremlin or at the White House, remove any hint of phone calls, computers, or nuclear missiles. The rest of the plot will likely still work. House of Cards is great for this.
When I create an intrigue campaign or adventure, I start by identifying the public political structure. How does the government say it works? What is the apparent organization when you first look at the situation? In your case, it sounds like the kingdom is attempting to find a new leader. Outwardly, they probably have discussions and speeches and other attempts to gain public support. Perhaps there is a council that will make the decision, or maybe the people will.
Next, I look at how the government actually works. Are certain officials susceptible to bribes? What groups exist within the government or without? What are their goals? In your example, it sounds like your players are part of one faction, supporting one candidate. Each other candidate has their own faction supporting them, whose goal is to see them on the throne. Another faction could want to destroy the government entirely. Define each faction’s goals.
Next, figure out who works for what faction. Identify the factions that each major NPC supports. Each faction should have at least 1. Some of them may have other motivations within the faction as well.
Then, detail how each faction interacts with the others. What are their plans to make their candidate win? How will they defeat the other candidates? Rumors? Assassinations? Bribery?
Finally, let your players loose in this mess. You know how your factions operate and what their goals are, so you have some idea how they would react to opposition. Let the story come from your players, their plans, and the reactions that follow. If your players aren’t sure where to start, have one group see them as a threat and target them specifically. Or have another group carry out their preferred mode of attack against their candidate. Either way, let your players take the reins, and follow along.
OK - Implementation 101.
I'm going to run with TexasDevin's example of "The king died under mysterious circumstances and the evidence points to a third party who may or may not be innocent".
There are other facets to running - foreshadowing probable events, controlling the pace, possibly having multiple Adventure threads in play at one, etc - but that's a whole other can of bees.
One step at a time.
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.
Great advice. I will defenitly appropriate some of this.
<If it didn't die the first time, you didn't kill it hard enough> and <If percussion maintenance isn't working, you didn't hit it hard enough>
Now that you have the framework of an idea, you'll need to come up with ways to challenge your players in order to give them opportunities to amass political power. This is typically done by having the kingdom face challenges that the players can maneuver around and prove to the people who deserves their loyalty either by solving the problem or manipulating someone else into taking the fall for it.
Essentially you have to look at it from this perspective: people vying for control of a kingdom or political system are constantly somewhere on the spectrum of approval or disapproval of the people. No matter if this is a Divine Right monarchy or not, if the people are unhappy enough, then you have a revolt and whoever makes themselves look like the next best ruler takes the old one's place. You have to treat each faction according to that spectrum.
Perhaps the kingdom is facing a famine. Depending on the kind of ruler you are, there's multiple ways you may want to handle it, each one carrying with it its own risks and rewards. A just ruler might try to solve the issue and end the famine, but they run the risk of not being able to find a way to, say agriculturally or technologically, so then it ultimately seems to the people like the government wasted time doing nothing with nothing to show for it while they starved. That ruler would then go down on the approval spectrum. But let's say they're successful. They end the famine either by promoting the growth of a new crop, by delegating forces to assist growers for greater productivity, or by opening up their own royal granaries to share among their people. Now the people view that ruler as a hero who saved them from the famine single handedly! All hail!
Another way a ruler might try to solve the problem is to use rhetoric to distract the people and shift blame. "The real reason for the famine is the kingdom across the sea attacking our ships and driving criminals into our lands who slaughter our livestock!" If you successfully sway the people into believing that this is true and that your rulership isn't to blame for the famine, then they'll likely support you as you stand up against the "wicked" neighbors who could just be securing their own borders. Of course, there's also a risk here. Maybe the people don't believe you and your transparent attempts to manipulate them incence the common people. Or maybe even the truth comes out: the only reason the neighboring kingdom attacked those ships was because they were intruding on sovereign territory, or maybe the neighbors even offered to help with the famine and the ruler refused that help in order to support their narrative and consolidate power. If you get caught, expect torches and pitchforks at your door. Another ruler altogether might even suggest invading nearby territories to take their food, ending the famine in their own lands through force. Even though bloodshed, the people may not view this negatively at the end of the day of they still have food on the table, and might still support the person who put it there.
Now, if there's other factions within the rulership that are ALSO vying for power, then it becomes a game of not only getting the people behind your faction, but also ensuring that the other factions fail. This kind of political sabotage can take the form of installing spies in the other fiction's office so you know their plans, launching information or disinformation campaigns, or even violence behind the scenes in extreme cases.
What you as a DM need to do is introduce problems for the different factions do deal with that present multiple possible solutions, effect the lives of the common people in some way, doesn't necessarily have a "good" and "evil" side, and has other factions with their own plans for putting themselves over each other.
Famine, war, poverty, corruption, crime, these are all problems that effect people, that they generally look to their government to solve. In a monarchy, people look to the king, but with your king dead, they don't know where to look. Therefore your kingdom will be in a state of organized chaos, and opportunity will be ripe for people to rise and fall on the path that leads to rulership. Because, as it's said in GoT, "chaos is a ladder."
Your players will need to try to climb it while simultaneously kicking others off.
Gonna jump in and add my two cents. Firstly the disclaimer, I have had a very touch and go experience with all things DnD since the 3.0/3.5 era, in that my opportunity to actually play a successful campaign by any definition has been hindered and stymied by a variety of harsh circumstances in my personal life, and moreover I have never DM'd a game EVER, so grab your morton's salt and up-end that bastard until it's empty.
Now, as far as 5e, having the critical role and mcdm fish hooks firmly planted in me, I began a process of world-building innocently enough as a means of imagineering a single cleric character, sparing you that TLDR diatribe, I got to the point where I was content with the mechanical facets of the build, and began thinking about who is this person, what does their environment look like (nature, politics, major cultural and societal historical events - be only as specific as neccessary to paint the broad strokes and avoid the finer details), how does it make them who they are (what are their personal influences, the personality traits concepts detailed in character creation, their own life experiences - again sparingly use broad strokes) who are the significantly important people in their social circle and more generally the society they exist in - "no 'man' is an island" as the saying goes). I don't know what sort of time-frame you're constrained to in terms of creating your campaign and putting it (adequately good enough or not quite yet) on the table and rolling dice but take as much time as you need, as mentioned above, go to a library, or a bookstore, or turn on movies and tv, music even can provide inspiration. Devour whatever sources of inspiration you can or want, let your mind chew on that, ideas don't just spontaneously transform into fully developed stories without time and thought and refinement.
Using my process as the example, I have taken many months of researching this and researching that, both for the explicit purpose of this character/world build process and for other things, entirely unrelated to D&D and have had many lightbulb moments. Write that stuff down, even just a single word or phrase or sentence can work wonders, again I'm basically parroting what's already stated above. Youtube has an excellent supply of DnDers to cherry pick from and those people WANT you to "beg, borrow and steal their ideas". I have spent unimaginable amounts of time and money (far from adequately satisfying but I have ample time yet to finish at a stress-free pace) on this as well, spending money IS NOT absolutely necessary but I obssess over perfection and I love having premade options in my toolbox. The entire D&D Beyond digital bookset and monthly service fees, MCDM digital books, DrivethruRPG & WOTC DM's guild homebrew digital books, and "ahem" even some of the fabled adult themed content (of the bedroom variety) should that content ever be desired by players. Inspiration is literally everywhere, don't seek it out expecting it to magically just fall into your lap on command, let it happen when it will (time and thought are needed).
Blessed Be - P.M.H.
Google or search on Youtube for Spies and Intrigue at Court. You'll find hundreds of ideas that you can convert. Some of them will be modern and that's okay. Take any plot or intrigue going on in the Kremlin or at the White House, remove any hint of phone calls, computers, or nuclear missiles. The rest of the plot will likely still work. House of Cards is great for this.
When I create an intrigue campaign or adventure, I start by identifying the public political structure. How does the government say it works? What is the apparent organization when you first look at the situation? In your case, it sounds like the kingdom is attempting to find a new leader. Outwardly, they probably have discussions and speeches and other attempts to gain public support. Perhaps there is a council that will make the decision, or maybe the people will.
Next, I look at how the government actually works. Are certain officials susceptible to bribes? What groups exist within the government or without? What are their goals? In your example, it sounds like your players are part of one faction, supporting one candidate. Each other candidate has their own faction supporting them, whose goal is to see them on the throne. Another faction could want to destroy the government entirely. Define each faction’s goals.
Next, figure out who works for what faction. Identify the factions that each major NPC supports. Each faction should have at least 1. Some of them may have other motivations within the faction as well.
Then, detail how each faction interacts with the others. What are their plans to make their candidate win? How will they defeat the other candidates? Rumors? Assassinations? Bribery?
Finally, let your players loose in this mess. You know how your factions operate and what their goals are, so you have some idea how they would react to opposition. Let the story come from your players, their plans, and the reactions that follow. If your players aren’t sure where to start, have one group see them as a threat and target them specifically. Or have another group carry out their preferred mode of attack against their candidate. Either way, let your players take the reins, and follow along.
Good luck!
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep