I've got an idea for a campaign, but I'm hoping the community might want to chip in to round out some of the details. Here's what I've got so far:

The party meet in a somewhat isolated town -- a fishing village perhaps, or a mining town, something with one main industry. The players will think they're there on some quest hook that may or may not come into play later on, but they quickly get sidetracked by local politics.

The mayor gives a speech in the town square announcing they've begun the process of forming some kind of trade alliance with other local villages, to ensure that the town's main industry (fishing or mining or whatever) always has a market. Before they can finish, a couple people in the crowd start yelling accusations at the mayor, saying they're skimming off the top and are corrupt, and just want to take over all the villages. Arguing ensues, and things devolve into chaos suspiciously quickly. The initial accusations get replaced by far wilder claims -- the mayor is a demon dragging people away to be sacrificed! No, the mayor is a puppet for a coven of hags who want to steal everyone's children! No, it's mind flayers, somehow! -- and soon enough, the mayor's house and a couple other key buildings around town, including the inn the PCs were staying in, are on fire.

What makes the situation harder to figure out is that if the party asks around, nobody seems to know exactly who lobbed the initial accusations. The accusers apparently used illusion magic to disguise themselves and inflate their numbers, so nobody the party talks to is sure exactly who started the whole thing. (It's also possible that the mayor does turn out to be corrupt, but only in a mundane, "More gold now thank you" sort of way and not anything more horrific or outlandish.)

My big stumbling block right now is who the BBEG ends up being. I've got a few ideas:

• a demon or devil who just delights in mayhem and messing with mortals
• one of the other towns sensed an opportunity and is trying to install themselves at the top of the alliance by destabilizing the town that proposed it (maybe a rival fishing/mining town?)
• some undersea/underground species that wants to wipe the town off the map and take it for themselves
• some outside force that wants to clear the town of witnesses so they can hunt for a long-lost relic in the area
• some combination of the above

Thoughts?

You probably will want to incorporate player characters into the setting. Make sure they know these citizens. They know that Old Leon wouldn't start a riot, even though multiple witnesses claim the rocks came from his position, because he has crippling war flashbacks if he sees violence. They know Mabel has eyes like a hawk, because she used to catch them stealing apples as children, so it's strange that she didn't see where the instigator ran off to. The PCs know this place, they rely on these people. You do not have a healing temple or a magic item shop. You have Auntie Rose's bakery where she makes food so delicious it gives you the will to live; and the Silverton twins who come home from their mysterious adventures each season with curios from abroad, and then usually end up pawning them for drinking money. An inn? How about Mr Blackwater's old mansion that he doesn't live in anymore after the kids moved away, but he's too proud to sell? All these people, and their associated usefulness to the party, are at risk here, after all.

By the same logic, you could do well to keep your options open in terms of the overarching scheme as well. Probably someone will want to play a character whose soul belongs to a demon (the very demon sowing discord in order to claim even more souls?!), or someone who seeks to redeem their name for a crime they didn't commit (and the real perpetrator is going to frame more people for more crimes?!), etc.

In short: any campaign that's fully functional without players, isn't fully functional *with* players. That space is vital. Build up loose concepts -- collect monster stat blocks at the appropriate levels that you can pick and choose from -- think about possible consequences for failure and inaction -- but mostly, think about the themes and vibes you're trying to manifest, and focus on creating a vocabulary and a repertoire of powerful tropes and archetypes to match.

Quote from ChoirOfFire >>

You probably will want to incorporate player characters into the setting. Make sure they know these citizens. They know that Old Leon wouldn't start a riot, even though multiple witnesses claim the rocks came from his position, because he has crippling war flashbacks if he sees violence. They know Mabel has eyes like a hawk, because she used to catch them stealing apples as children, so it's strange that she didn't see where the instigator ran off to. The PCs know this place, they rely on these people. You do not have a healing temple or a magic item shop. You have Auntie Rose's bakery where she makes food so delicious it gives you the will to live; and the Silverton twins who come home from their mysterious adventures each season with curios from abroad, and then usually end up pawning them for drinking money. An inn? How about Mr Blackwater's old mansion that he doesn't live in anymore after the kids moved away, but he's too proud to sell? All these people, and their associated usefulness to the party, are at risk here, after all.

By the same logic, you could do well to keep your options open in terms of the overarching scheme as well. Probably someone will want to play a character whose soul belongs to a demon (the very demon sowing discord in order to claim even more souls?!), or someone who seeks to redeem their name for a crime they didn't commit (and the real perpetrator is going to frame more people for more crimes?!), etc.

In short: any campaign that's fully functional without players, isn't fully functional *with* players. That space is vital. Build up loose concepts -- collect monster stat blocks at the appropriate levels that you can pick and choose from -- think about possible consequences for failure and inaction -- but mostly, think about the themes and vibes you're trying to manifest, and focus on creating a vocabulary and a repertoire of powerful tropes and archetypes to match.

Those are all excellent ideas. The PCs need to be invested in the community if they're going to be motivated to defend it

I think this could work quite well as the basis for a campaign.  I think there are a few interesting things to explore here--not only the rabid mob and how they react and villainize the player characters for simply trying to get to the bottom of things and explore the truth, but also the silent majority of citizens.  The citizens who are absolutely terrified since they do not know anything--they do not know what the future holds, they do not know who is to blame for the situation, they do not know if their mayor is evil or what the mayor's motivations are--and they are so frightened of both the future and what the mob might do to them if they question the mob's narrative that they do not speak out.

It is really easy to focus on the aggressive group and their conflict with the players just trying to get to the bottom of events, but I think most D&D campaigns that deal with that kind of situation forget to address the larger population as a whole.  They're mostly out of the conflict, so they probably do not need to be a significant part of the campaign's story, but they could still do things like secretly leave notes for the party saying things like "I am glad you are doing what you are doing" or "thank you for standing up for us", or showing other small ways they like what the party is doing. 

That could add a bit of depth and nuance to the Mayor-Mob-Investigating Party dynamic.  

Another thing to explore--maybe a lot of members of the mob have an ulterior motive.  Town on town rivalries are pretty common in the middle ages, and it was not uncommon for folks to abjectly hate the people of the town a few miles away.  Perhaps the mayor has been trying to improve relations with that other town, and a core group of instigators are upset because they think that other town should always be treated as inferior and downtrodden, so they hate the mayor and anything the mayor might do because of his increased tolerance for the other town.

Oh, I've just remembered a little RPG called Witchburner you might want to check out. I remember a lot of good press for it at one point in time. No experience with it myself but from what I understand, it's largely about that mob mentality and trying to solve a mystery before it gets out of control. So maybe there's some stuff to be snatched from there.

Sometimes, the twist can be there is no twist. The mayor was actually part of an unholy alliance of demons, hags and mind flayers. Each of them was to take 1/3 of the people to use for their own nefarious purposes. The rabble-rousers were resistance fighters bravely risking their lives to warn the town.

Quote from Xalthu >>

Sometimes, the twist can be there is no twist. The mayor was actually part of an unholy alliance of demons, hags and mind flayers. Each of them was to take 1/3 of the people to use for their own nefarious purposes. The rabble-rousers were resistance fighters bravely risking their lives to warn the town.

I guess that could work, although my instinct as a DM would still be not to paint the "resistance" are purely heroic, and instead pose questions about whether the ends justify the means, and whether destroying something in an attempt to "save" it is ever defensible

Quote from AntonSirius >>

Quote from Xalthu >>

Sometimes, the twist can be there is no twist. The mayor was actually part of an unholy alliance of demons, hags and mind flayers. Each of them was to take 1/3 of the people to use for their own nefarious purposes. The rabble-rousers were resistance fighters bravely risking their lives to warn the town.

 

I guess that could work, although my instinct as a DM would still be not to paint the "resistance" are purely heroic, and instead pose questions about whether the ends justify the means, and whether destroying something in an attempt to "save" it is ever defensible

 Oh, good call. Black hats vs. white hats gets tired pretty quickly. Could be the resistance wants to install some kind of dictator. Or they’re working for yet a different flavor of evil doer. So the party is faced with an enemy of my enemy situation, but all the options for allies are bad guys. 
And there would naturally be internal strife among the mayor’s supporters that the PCs could seek to exploit. 

Ask the questions: Who wants what from whom, and why? And the Answer is not power, because power is a tool to achieve a goal.

Quote from Varek_Cellarbrew >>

Ask the questions: Who wants what from whom, and why?

Always important questions for the PCs to keep in mind in this sort of scenario

Maybe you don't need that answer just yet? :) Just set things in motion and see what plays out. But I understand wanting to have a better handle on what's behind it all.

So let's see... Some idea's that popped into my head:

• a collection of Druids who are trying to reclaim a sacred space
• a person who was wronged by the mayor when they and the mayor were younger; the 'wronged' person, after having learned magic, comes back to the village to get revenge on the mayor
• a Fey noble having fun with the mortals
• the entire town is actually Fey, except for the PCs ,and they are having fun with the PCs

Quote from Harrycanyon >>

• the entire town is actually Fey, except for the PCs ,and they are having fun with the PCs

I like when this idea is well executed in fiction (for instance, the classic Trek novel How Much For Just the Planet?), but I feel like it would be tricky to pull off and be a satisfying conclusion in a TTRPG

Quote from AntonSirius >>

Quote from Harrycanyon >>

• the entire town is actually Fey, except for the PCs ,and they are having fun with the PCs

 

I like when this idea is well executed in fiction (for instance, the classic Trek novel How Much For Just the Planet?), but I feel like it would be tricky to pull off and be a satisfying conclusion in a TTRPG

 
Completely reasonable.

Thanks for the reference! I'll have to check out that Trek novel.

Here's a question I've been toying with -- should there even be a BBEG in the end, or should the real "villain" just turn out to be people's fears and distrust?

Quote from AntonSirius >>

Here's a question I've been toying with -- should there even be a BBEG in the end, or should the real "villain" just turn out to be people's fears and distrust?

 
It could be both, or it could be neither and there is some other force pulling strings in the background to make one look bad and rile up the other.  And no need to decide now - sometimes as the investigators get more information, that might adjust what ends up happening in the intrigue campaign itself. 

True, but players love fighting a final battle. If it turns out to be purely psychological, perhaps someone built a golem to destroy the perceived villains and now it's gone rampant, or something like that. Depending on how bad it is, the townsfolk could be convinced to rally together against it with the party, and the convincing is kind of the real final challenge, with the battle being the fireworks at the end.

Quote from Harrycanyon >>

• a person who was wronged by the mayor when they and the mayor were younger; the 'wronged' person, after having learned magic, comes back to the village to get revenge on the mayor

I was just coming here to suggest the above.

Someone from the town was banished a long time ago for some kind of crime.

Turns out, this person was set up - by the person who is now the Mayor.

The party would need to dig around...

And find out things like...

- The Mayor wasn't always a "good person"... a long time ago he was known for being a "strong arm"... but it's that "strong arm" that eventually led to him being elected Mayor, and he's done a good job since then... (he seems to genuinely care about the town... truth of the matter is, he just wanted power... and these deals with these other towns are him strong arming his way into other town's business....)

- The person who was banished was set up by the Mayor before he was a Mayor a long time ago... turns out that person was a part of the Mayor's gang back in the day and was never comfortable doing the things the Mayor had asked... the Mayor back then told him that he heard about an infant that was going to be killed in someone's home as a part of some dark sacrifice and sends this person with some dark art stuff to counter it - then sends local authorities to the home who capture the banished guy with the dark art stuff on him - and he's banished...

- Now the banished person has learned magic and come back to see the Mayor dethroned...