How do you start a revolution?

I'm trying to focus my campaign around an impending revolution, but I'm having difficulty in figuring out just what to do to bring it about. First, a little background:

The king has been poisoned by an advisor with a poison that saps the will and makes the victim a puppet. The advisor, in addition to being incontrovertably evil and just plain nasty (he's a half-fiend), is trying to create a situation where he can gather thousands of slaves as living sacrifices in order to break the Planar Seal, which prevents travel to and from the Astral plane (known as the Void). One of the things he has done is raise taxes to exorbitant levels, where many cannot pay the taxes and are sent to the mines. That brings up another point.

The country recently came to war with a neighbor as they expanded their territories onto a nearby island flush with natural resources. The war provides a convenient reason to send debtors to the mines, where the advisor's yuan-ti allies whisk the prisoners away through secret tunnels to a hidden temple that's being constructed in the jungles to the south.

Anyway... the local populace is getting fed up. A covert organization, known as the League of Freedom, has begun to show itself, recruiting people to oppose the king and demand fair treatment. They began by creating a petition to bring before the king, but this has been mired in political legalise and is doomed to failure. Still, for reasons to lengthy to list here, the League is determined to foment the ill-will of the citizens and bring about an open uprising... which brings me to my problem. What does open revolution entail? What sorts of actions can the League undertake to begin the revolution, and when it happens, what will it look like?

Please, I need any and all advice here. The Prince is firmly allied with the League, and he is popular with the commoners, so that is one resource they have at their disposal, but other than that I feel pretty clueless. Will the people just one day spontaneously form a mob and march on the palace? What can the League do to enhance the success, or trigger the spark, of the revolution? Also, what sort of actions by the king/advisor may unwittingly accelerate a revolution? The advisor is really focused on garnering sacrifices, and he couldn't care one whit about the well-being of the populace.

I eagerly await your advice.

It sounds more like civil war and less like revolution. The people are rallying behind another aristocrat who they think will be a better leader than the present one. They aren't changing the mode of government, are they?

Now, if the people are starving to death because of the taxes, they might rebel against all aristocratic figures. But they need some kind of power base, and if they can't subvert the army to thier side the revolution is doomed to fail.

First you have to create the enviroment, what is wrong, why is it wrong, where is it wrong.

Then define the sides, is it rich against poor, civil rights, good vs evil. Then you have to show it in every game. This can be done by people taken from their homes in the night, beatings in public, book burnings, and such.

Now you need to think about the spark. That one moment that sets all the unrest ablaze. This could be an arrest of a very popular person to the killing of someone in public or just a very chismatic person saying the right thing at the right time.

Chaos is next - once things start they get ugly, groups will be formed and fight for power, people will think their way is better than someone elses. But what really happens is the interstructor falls apart. People stop doing their jobs. It takes a lot of work to get things back into place.

Hand of Evil said:

First you have to create the enviroment, what is wrong, why is it wrong, where is it wrong.

Then define the sides, is it rich against poor, civil rights, good vs evil. Then you have to show it in every game. This can be done by people taken from their homes in the night, beatings in public, book burnings, and such.

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As it stands now, the sides are pretty much the poor/have-nots versus the rich/haves. However, I'm trying to think of a way to make the current regime seem even more tyrannical. The taxes are bad and have certainly begun to turn the populace against the ruling monarchy, but what other sorts of edicts "from on high" are sure to elicit hatred and opposition?

Now you need to think about the spark. That one moment that sets all the unrest ablaze. This could be an arrest of a very popular person to the killing of someone in public or just a very chismatic person saying the right thing at the right time.

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This is something else that I'm undecided on. The leader/mastermind of the League of Freedom (LoF) is an Erinyes who belongs to an organization of demons/devils who enjoy the freedom offered by the Planar Seal. They have begun various plots to halt the operations of the advisor. Her task was to try to bring the country to its knees by fostering a revolution. She has a headstart in that the commoners already harbor a considerable amount of ill-will, but I'm at a point where I'm trying to figure out what she can do to create that spark.

Chaos is next - once things start they get ugly, groups will be formed and fight for power, people will think their way is better than someone elses. But what really happens is the interstructor falls apart. People stop doing their jobs. It takes a lot of work to get things back into place.

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This is good. I couldn't really envision what the revolution would really look like, but it makes perfect sense that the infrastructure would collapse and various power groups would emerge. Definitely good ideas.

Schmoe said:

I'm trying to focus my campaign around an impending revolution, but I'm having difficulty in figuring out just what to do to bring it about.

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As has been pointed out, there's a difference between a Civil War and a Revolution. The situation you describe seems closer to a civil war than a revolution in that the League of Freedom you mention seem to want to replace the king rather than put in question the institution of Monarchy.

A very good (and easy to read) book if you're the reader type is "Vingt Ans Après" (ie. Twenty Years Later, presumably) by Alexandre Dumas. It's the follow-up to the Three Musketeers and is set during La Fronde, an uprising that happened in late 17th cantury France for the very reasons you describe : a manipulative prime minister who effectively controls the king (an infant, in this case) and imposes insane taxes on the people.

The book does not end in bloodshed (France waited another century nefore getting to that) but would give you very interesting ideas as to what generates an uprising, how it's organised, how the king and his advisers counter it, etc.

One of the main questions you must ask yourself IMO is : is it about ideals or is it about power. Historically, most examples are either fully in the second case or between the two, but rarely if ever wholly in the first option. This is fantasy though, so you might want the uprising/revolution to actually succeed at making things better, and the "good guys" to take power. If not, and the cynical side in me thinks that makes for a more interesting plotline, the whole issue is who wants to topple the king and why, what so they plan to do afterwards (like plunder the treasury and leave for your equivalent of the bahamas, or install a divine right dynasty, whatever...)

LostSoul said:

It sounds more like civil war and less like revolution. The people are rallying behind another aristocrat who they think will be a better leader than the present one. They aren't changing the mode of government, are they?

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Hmm, that's an interesting observation. Currently, they won't necessarily be changing the mode of government, but they certainly want to see a different ruler.

Now, if the people are starving to death because of the taxes, they might rebel against all aristocratic figures. But they need some kind of power base, and if they can't subvert the army to thier side the revolution is doomed to fail.

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Yikes, what a great point. I needed someone to crystalize it for me. Currently, the brother of the King is pretty fed up with the way things are going, but he is preoccupied with the war. He rules over the city and surroundings of Rushington, which is where officers of the army are trained and holds considerable military strength. If they could get the King's brother on their side, it would be a small step from there to open civil war.

<wheels turning>

Schmoe said:

Yikes, what a great point. I needed someone to crystalize it for me. Currently, the brother of the King is pretty fed up with the way things are going, but he is preoccupied with the war. He rules over the city and surroundings of Rushington, which is where officers of the army are trained and holds considerable military strength. If they could get the King's brother on their side, it would be a small step from there to open civil war.

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What's the brother of the King's wife up to? (If he's married.) She'd probably be back at court... and maybe somebody close to the king who wants to remove him sets up an affair between the two in order to cause a civil war. It doesn't have to be as obvious as that, though; as long as the King's brother is forced (or provoked) to act against some ally of the King who the King can't turn his back to.

It is a good adventure hook for the PCs in any case... spying, planting false information, wheeling and dealing... cool stuff.

I would have thought a quick examination of the causes of the French Revolution would be worthwhile. I am trying to remember my history from school but I think that it had to do with:

1. Prolonged foreign wars (in America and Italy)
2. Increased taxation to pay for war
3. Rampant inflation due to lack of supply of goods and food as a result of war
4. Starvation within Paris itself.
5. Clear demaraction of the aristocracy and the people. The Aristo's were OK cos they could afford food. The people could not. Whilst they starved the Court continued to squander tax on pointless foreign wars and was unresponsive to demands for change.
6. The Army were not paid due to economic crisis and switched sides.

In those circumstances you can understand why a population would want to change the form of government. I don't understand why the population in your campaign would want to follow yet another autocrat. Surely they would wish to gain more power as a group. Why not have the prince be an idealist who wishes to bring democracy to the nation? Or have him wish to establish a parliamentary monarchy like in England after the civil war where the King become subservient to Parliament.

As for actions that revolutionaries might take, the jacobins printed and distributed seditious political leaflets for which many were executed.

Some were driven to murder of aristocrats e.g. Marat most famously.

There were demonstrations

Aristocrats might be pelted with rotten detritus.

The following site has good links to all sorts of stuff about the french revolution:

http://history.evansville.net/revoluti.html

Hope that helps!

Vive la revolution!!

reuben said:

I would have thought a quick examination of the causes of the French Revolution would be worthwhile. I am trying to remember my history from school but I think that it had to do with:

1. Prolonged foreign wars (in America and Italy)

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Have it.

2. Increased taxation to pay for war

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Have it.

3. Rampant inflation due to lack of supply of goods and food as a result of war
4. Starvation within Paris itself.
5. Clear demaraction of the aristocracy and the people. The Aristo's were OK cos they could afford food. The people could not. Whilst they starved the Court continued to squander tax on pointless foreign wars and was unresponsive to demands for change.
6. The Army were not paid due to economic crisis and switched sides.

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Hmm, I haven't considered any of this. These are all good points.

In those circumstances you can understand why a population would want to change the form of government. I don't understand why the population in your campaign would want to follow yet another autocrat. Surely they would wish to gain more power as a group. Why not have the prince be an idealist who wishes to bring democracy to the nation? Or have him wish to establish a parliamentary monarchy like in England after the civil war where the King become subservient to Parliament.

As for actions that revolutionaries might take, the jacobins printed and distributed seditious political leaflets for which many were executed.

Some were driven to murder of aristocrats e.g. Marat most famously.

There were demonstrations

Aristocrats might be pelted with rotten detritus.

The following site has good links to all sorts of stuff about the french revolution:

http://history.evansville.net/revoluti.html

Hope that helps!

Vive la revolution!!

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Wow, those are all excellent ideas. Thank you very much.

I had planned to have a mob, incited by a revolutionary spokesman, attack and kill the wife of a nobleman as she went to market, followed by retaliation by guards, followed by the storming of a nobleman's mansion. That should be enough to set off ongoing revolts and defiance of authority. There definitely is already a feeling of "haves" vs. "have-nots", so the justification is there.

I love your idea about the prince. Consider it taken. The prince is henceforth a democratic idealist who wishes to transform the nation into one ruled by the people, for the people. That's the perfect explanation for his popularity with the commoners, and I can get a good deal of mileage out of it for driving campaign events.

Schmoe said:

I love your idea about the prince. Consider it taken. The prince is henceforth a democratic idealist who wishes to transform the nation into one ruled by the people, for the people.

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A "prince" probably wouldn't transform the government to a democracy, even if he could. Reason? He'd be killed. He's much better off starting some kind of parliamentry system (like mentioned above) while he still holds the crown. A constitutional monarchy.

This way he can keep his head, he can appoint other powerful nobles (his allies, both nobles and military ones) to a "house of lords", and he can give the commoners the right to vote for thier member of parliament. Hopefully that will satisfy all concerned.