Intrigue is a hard type of campaign to run. Generally, RP heavy campaigns need people who are very comfortable playing their characters. It also requires you to lay out a lot of information in advance so that the players can have some campaign-matter to play with.
It also requires, at least you have, some familiarity with the genre. If neither you nor your players really understand how clandestine operations are supposed to look or play, then it won't work.
What are your players like? How much experience do you have with RPGs as a player? What sort of intrigue do you want to achieve? Spies? Backroom politics? Are you hoping your players will be running their own intrigues or are you just having them deal with intrigue, as in a thriller?
In my opinion, DMing is a bit like writing. You shouldn't start trying to write war and peace. I wouldn't even necessarily start with a campaign. I would start with an adventure and maybe add a little intrigue in there. Maybe it's just one character who is a sneaky spy type. See how it works and get a feeling for running a game before moving on to something more ambitious, would be my advice. Take it or leave it. But there is a real value in finishing things and it helps to do something small completely before moving on to something larger.
It could be about a story like the Peninsular War: Make the characters represent a smaller kingdom, which is on the doorstep of a belligerent military power. They have to undermine this country, but the Kingdom can't risk open warfare. So the players act as insurgents, sabotaging the Military power both militarily and politically. When in doubt look to the 18th and 19th centuries for inspiration: westerns, samurai films, Hornblower-eske military adventuring and Star Trek all make for prime inspiration for any D&D game.
Intrigue is one of the more complex types of Adventure to try and pull off. I won't say don't do it ( People Who Say It Cannot Be Done Should Not Interrupt Those Who Are Doing It ), but you're trying to dive into the deep end of the pool the first time you try and go swimming. I'd personally recommend the shallow end first, but you're the one swimming. A straight up rescue mission, or heist mission, or escort mission - while they're pretty stock and thus possibly not wildly novel & exciting, they're easier to do and get some writing experience under your belt.
I would also recommend against trying to create an entire campaign of any kind. Start with an introductory Adventure, or two. Often, you'll find the Campaign idea comes out of something that happens in those first Adventures. I don't mean improvise your whole campaign - but some inspiration may come out of the first few sessions that will allow you to go off and design the campaign, and have it fit your Players/Table better.
If you don't want to do that, then I'd recommend finding some Intrigue fiction and totally ripping the plot off the first time you try and build one of these. Disguise it sufficiently, and move elements around, so the Players don't recognize it, but that gives you a pre-written inspiration and a framework to fall back upon when the Players change things around. Just off the top of my head, doing a short Murder on the Orient Express style short adventure/mystery as to who killed Lady Catherine Farrington on the sea voyage from Ank'Harel to Nicodranas might be something that could be pulled off. Some role played conversations with the NPCs, lots of social Encounters, lots of use of Insight, Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion ... and find the culprit(s) for the captain.
If you don't know any Intrigue fiction, then I'd really recommend either a) you try another genre or b) you quickly read/listen/watch a large slug of the stuff. Intrigue is a genre with it's own conventions - and your Players will subconsciously expecting those to be in play. Playing with those expectations and conventions can be fun ( Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express did exactly that ), but that's not the same as being unaware of them and thus leaving them all out. Chances are you end up with a befuddled mess instead.
No matter how you approach this - best of luck with your game!
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.
I am thinking about some kind of court struggle where the king has died and the players are nobles sent to influence the election to make sure that it is favorable to their respective families.
Have you read or watched Game of Thrones? Surely there have to be some plot points you can steal from there. That entire show is about intrigue set in a fantasy medieval world.
That wasn't meant to sound snarky. I think it's an excellent reference for what you are trying to do.
Here's a plot summary. Though as GoT is a popular show, you may want to be careful how much inspiration you take from it. Odds are, your players are familiar with the material, and if you follow the plot too closely they may realize that they're just playing through season 1 of GoT. Instead, see if there's elements in this (or other books/movies/tv shows you like) and isolate those elements and try to build something new around them.
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.
Thank you CharlesThePlant for that. Do you have any ideas of how I could modify them to work in d&d?
Sorry - but DM'ing requires a certain level of baseline creativity and work. You can't run material that you're not intimately familiar with - at least you can't run it well.
If you're not willing to put the thought and effort into building your game, are you sure you want to be DM'ing?
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.
Thank you CharlesThePlant for that. Do you have any ideas of how I could modify them to work in d&d?
Sorry - but DM'ing requires a certain level of baseline creativity and work. You can't run material that you're not intimately familiar with - at least you can't run it well.
If you're not willing to put the thought and effort into building your game, are you sure you want to be DM'ing?
I decided to have the PC's be the descendants of powerful nobles, but their family's noble titles have lost their influence. Recently the king in the world fell prey to a disease and died. Now the powerful nobles scramble to consolidate power so that they can claim the throne. The PC's have been told to travel to the capital, and attempt to influence the the struggle and put a king/queen on the throne that will benefit their respective families. But I still need mission ideas to kickstart my brain into thinking about missions.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
<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>
ok, so the king has died. There is an order of succession, right? Only there are outside elements who wish to cast doubt and disrupt this order of succession. Possible motivations for these outside influences include:
The king has multiple adult children who are angling for the throne--potentially including some children who were not publicly known about
The family of the queen wants to make the most of this opportunity to solidify control
The king died under mysterious circumstances and the evidence points to a third party who may or may not be innocent
The old enemies of the king from other kingdoms have scores they wish to settle
The king kept a dark secret and it is coming to light now that he is no longer there to keep a lid on it
Or, you could just do what I have always wanted to do and make a campaign based on The Warriors (which in turn is based on Anabasis by Xenphon) where the party is deep in enemy territory to broker a peace agreement between warring tribes when the foreign king is assassinated and all eyes turn on the party (who are innocent). Now the party has to protect themselves as they make their way back home.
I need help
<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>
Okay, well, we need information.
Intrigue is a hard type of campaign to run. Generally, RP heavy campaigns need people who are very comfortable playing their characters. It also requires you to lay out a lot of information in advance so that the players can have some campaign-matter to play with.
It also requires, at least you have, some familiarity with the genre. If neither you nor your players really understand how clandestine operations are supposed to look or play, then it won't work.
What are your players like? How much experience do you have with RPGs as a player? What sort of intrigue do you want to achieve? Spies? Backroom politics? Are you hoping your players will be running their own intrigues or are you just having them deal with intrigue, as in a thriller?
In my opinion, DMing is a bit like writing. You shouldn't start trying to write war and peace. I wouldn't even necessarily start with a campaign. I would start with an adventure and maybe add a little intrigue in there. Maybe it's just one character who is a sneaky spy type. See how it works and get a feeling for running a game before moving on to something more ambitious, would be my advice. Take it or leave it. But there is a real value in finishing things and it helps to do something small completely before moving on to something larger.
I got some help from a friend and they said I could build a campaign, and then they would revise it. I just need Ideas for the plot.
<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>
Well, what sort of intrigue do you like?
It could be about a story like the Peninsular War: Make the characters represent a smaller kingdom, which is on the doorstep of a belligerent military power. They have to undermine this country, but the Kingdom can't risk open warfare. So the players act as insurgents, sabotaging the Military power both militarily and politically. When in doubt look to the 18th and 19th centuries for inspiration: westerns, samurai films, Hornblower-eske military adventuring and Star Trek all make for prime inspiration for any D&D game.
I think Verenti is 100% correct.
Intrigue is one of the more complex types of Adventure to try and pull off. I won't say don't do it ( People Who Say It Cannot Be Done Should Not Interrupt Those Who Are Doing It ), but you're trying to dive into the deep end of the pool the first time you try and go swimming. I'd personally recommend the shallow end first, but you're the one swimming. A straight up rescue mission, or heist mission, or escort mission - while they're pretty stock and thus possibly not wildly novel & exciting, they're easier to do and get some writing experience under your belt.
I would also recommend against trying to create an entire campaign of any kind. Start with an introductory Adventure, or two. Often, you'll find the Campaign idea comes out of something that happens in those first Adventures. I don't mean improvise your whole campaign - but some inspiration may come out of the first few sessions that will allow you to go off and design the campaign, and have it fit your Players/Table better.
If you don't want to do that, then I'd recommend finding some Intrigue fiction and totally ripping the plot off the first time you try and build one of these. Disguise it sufficiently, and move elements around, so the Players don't recognize it, but that gives you a pre-written inspiration and a framework to fall back upon when the Players change things around. Just off the top of my head, doing a short Murder on the Orient Express style short adventure/mystery as to who killed Lady Catherine Farrington on the sea voyage from Ank'Harel to Nicodranas might be something that could be pulled off. Some role played conversations with the NPCs, lots of social Encounters, lots of use of Insight, Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion ... and find the culprit(s) for the captain.
If you don't know any Intrigue fiction, then I'd really recommend either a) you try another genre or b) you quickly read/listen/watch a large slug of the stuff. Intrigue is a genre with it's own conventions - and your Players will subconsciously expecting those to be in play. Playing with those expectations and conventions can be fun ( Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express did exactly that ), but that's not the same as being unaware of them and thus leaving them all out. Chances are you end up with a befuddled mess instead.
No matter how you approach this - best of luck with your game!
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.
I am thinking about some kind of court struggle where the king has died and the players are nobles sent to influence the election to make sure that it is favorable to their respective families.
<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>
Have you read or watched Game of Thrones? Surely there have to be some plot points you can steal from there. That entire show is about intrigue set in a fantasy medieval world.
That wasn't meant to sound snarky. I think it's an excellent reference for what you are trying to do.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Nope, can you give me some of the main points?
<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>
https://www.vulture.com/article/every-game-of-thrones-season-recapped-and-explained.html
Here's a plot summary. Though as GoT is a popular show, you may want to be careful how much inspiration you take from it. Odds are, your players are familiar with the material, and if you follow the plot too closely they may realize that they're just playing through season 1 of GoT. Instead, see if there's elements in this (or other books/movies/tv shows you like) and isolate those elements and try to build something new around them.
Thank you CharlesThePlant for that. Do you have any ideas of how I could modify them to work in d&d?
<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>
So ... we're coming up with the idea/plot-line, your friend is building it into a campaign for you? I'm assuming you're running it, at least?
If that's the case, and you want an off-the-shelf Intrigue based adventure, then have you googled around for free intrigue based adventures?
If you're willing to shell out a few bucks, the options become even broader.
Places to start looking:
And, as previously noted, almost every other intrigue/mystery story ever written
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.
Sorry - but DM'ing requires a certain level of baseline creativity and work. You can't run material that you're not intimately familiar with - at least you can't run it well.
If you're not willing to put the thought and effort into building your game, are you sure you want to be DM'ing?
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.
I decided to have the PC's be the descendants of powerful nobles, but their family's noble titles have lost their influence. Recently the king in the world fell prey to a disease and died. Now the powerful nobles scramble to consolidate power so that they can claim the throne. The PC's have been told to travel to the capital, and attempt to influence the the struggle and put a king/queen on the throne that will benefit their respective families. But I still need mission ideas to kickstart my brain into thinking about missions.
<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>
All I need is a bunch of kickstart ideas, and then I will modify them to fit the world I have envisioned.
<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>
ok, so the king has died. There is an order of succession, right? Only there are outside elements who wish to cast doubt and disrupt this order of succession. Possible motivations for these outside influences include:
Or, you could just do what I have always wanted to do and make a campaign based on The Warriors (which in turn is based on Anabasis by Xenphon) where the party is deep in enemy territory to broker a peace agreement between warring tribes when the foreign king is assassinated and all eyes turn on the party (who are innocent). Now the party has to protect themselves as they make their way back home.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Those are great ideas.Thank you.
<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>
But how to implement them...Personally I have no idea.
<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>
I am using bullet point 1, any helpful ideas to implement it. This is a new campaign BTW.
<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>
Hello boi
Hi friend
<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>