Help me out. PoL. Why don't small towns get overrun?

[Elder-Basilisk]

That was the way I was initially positing it--as an adventure seed.

In a PoL scenario, it doesn't seem entirely unlikely that you could have villages whose only connection with the ruling king are the tax collectors who arrive once every 1d6 years to collect taxes and accept the townsfolks' oath. The king doesn't do anything to protect them from the dangers of travel--in fact the king's authority only reaches as far as the point of his soldiers' swords (which happen to be traveling with the tax collector). Maybe next time they show up some heroes will tell the tax collector where he can shove his threats and then the kingdom will shrink a little bit more. Or maybe, there won't be a next time. The tax collector didn't come this year and the patrols that used to come by twice a year with the circuit judge never showed up. Maybe the king and his citadel were destroyed by invading orcs.

Or maybe the kingdom is expanding. The basic scenario is still points of light, but in this setting, the points of light are being woven into civilization--what's left to be seen is whether the new king will succeed and whether he will create a civilization that is a beacon of light or a pool of darkness. In that kind of a scenario, the tax collector arrives for the first time in two generations along with a garrison. The king is pushing back the frontier. He is going to be a king like his great grandfather. The role of the PCs in the campaign for at least a couple adventures will be to either help or hinder that goal.

Like I said in the previous post, PoL is a stage of a setting not a setting. And the setting doesn't remain static. Sooner or later, the lights will either grow or go out.

Exactly. There are no authority structures in PoL; or at least, no reliable authority structures. The arrival of a tax collector could be an adventure seed, in fact (Chinese Ghost Story, anyone?).

 

[med stud]

In a PoL scenario, it doesn't seem entirely unlikely that you could have villages whose only connection with the ruling king are the tax collectors who arrive once every 1d6 years to collect taxes and accept the townsfolks' oath. The king doesn't do anything to protect them from the dangers of travel--in fact the king's authority only reaches as far as the point of his soldiers' swords (which happen to be traveling with the tax collector).

It was exactly like that in Sweden in the 13th century (lots of other places as well, I only know Swedish history at any depth). The influence of a noble was as far as his men could go in a day on a horse. There were kings with a little more influence, but they couldn't push the nobility or the peasants too far. Tax collection was very haphazard and not very formalized. Much of the king's and nobility's priviligies consisted of the right to have free food and lodging from peasants. The king's army was small, maybe a hundred knights. The nobility had almost as many men as the king.

Also, wilderness was vast and the forests were essentially natural barriers the same way rivers and mountains use to be. You didn't travel much, often travel was dangerous due to brigands and highwaymen. The king and nobility made it so the brigands had to hide and do quick raids, there were always brigands. Then were the problem of Finnish and Estonian pirates that struck the east coast with some regularity.

If some of those brigands were trolls and some of the enemy kings and nobles were dragons or mindflayers, you could use 13th century Sweden as a PoL- setting. The only drawback is that it was so very primitive, which is easy to solve by adding magic and fallen empires. The principle could stay, though; noone's power reach more than the reach of his/her sword.

 

[Mystaros]

I've made all five of my points of light places where ancient heroes of good have fallen in the fight against the darkness. The great forces of evil stay away from these places due to superstitions or fear of triggering chains of events which may bring back the hero's spirit in the form of a child.

Yeah it's lame I know...

Actually, that's pretty darn cool. Don't sell your ideas short.

 

[loseth]

I still worry about higher level foes that specifically target civilized populations. For example, illithids. A surge of illithids would decimate an area.

If I can refer to an earilier post of mine here, all you need to deal with such things is an authority that has control in force over the area in question. This authority won't have the resources to deal with the day-to-day problems of the village, but you can bet your bottom dollar that he'll respond immediately and with extreme prejudice to a serious invading force (whether illithids or anything else) that threatens his tax/tribute base. Usefully, the main striking arm of such an authority might just be an elite band of adventurers...

 

[hong]

I still worry about higher level foes that specifically target civilized populations. For example, illithids. A surge of illithids would decimate an area.

This is not a "worry". This is a plot hook.

 

[robertliguori]

If I can refer to an earilier post of mine here, all you need to deal with such things is an authority that has control in force over the area in question. This authority won't have the resources to deal with the day-to-day problems of the village, but you can bet your bottom dollar that he'll respond immediately and with extreme prejudice to a serious invading force (whether illithids or anything else) that threatens his tax/tribute base. Usefully, the main striking arm of such an authority might just be an elite band of adventurers...

Fing is, a surge of illithids requires adventures of high enough level to kick basic illithidae into the 'minion' category. If you don't have that level of hero around, you're sunk, and you're most likely utterly decimated in the initial sneak attack unless you've specifically prepared for it. And that requires that you know about (and can prepare) for every threat, lest a splatbook come out and introduce a monster that can buzzsaw through the humanoids like an axle grinder through cheese.

How about this: We know there are dragons. Dragons like treasure, and high-born maiden sacrifices. You need a certain minimum level of civilization in order to maintain a surplus of both, and Klazinrau the Inferno Given Wing can't indulge his draconic appetites of the Orcish Death Horde has made off with King Steve's treasury, tax base, and daughter. So, since dragons thing to the long term as a general rule, it can be assumed that they are on the side of civilization, so they can be the ones to reap civilization's benefits.

Because any scenario that involves dragons making strafing runs on huge armies is a good scenario.

 

[hong]

Fing is, a surge of illithids requires adventures of high enough level to kick basic illithidae into the 'minion' category. If you don't have that level of hero around, you're sunk, and you're most likely utterly decimated in the initial sneak attack unless you've specifically prepared for it.

And this is a problem because...?

 

[hamishspence]

Dragon strafing runs

Klauth, the Dragon of the North, in FRCS, apparently is known to help out people on rare occasions, topple mage towers, and roll around on orc hordes, crushing hundreds, and he's CE.

So, we do have precedent for monsters preying on monsters, and not always attacking cities.

Even 3rd ed said: don't worry too much about monster ecology, we do not need to worry about top-heavy ecosystem. I doubt 4th ed will be any more concerned about that kind of realism. However, if its a concern, keep big monsters rare, monstrous humanoids can be herders and raiders, almost never farmers, except in isolated areas (yak folk?)

 

[loseth]

Fing is, a surge of illithids requires adventures of high enough level to kick basic illithidae into the 'minion' category.

Not necessarily adventurers, just sufficient resources (check out 'control in force' in the post I linked and you'll see what I mean).

 

[Clawhound]

IMHO, PoL is about avoiding this situtation:

- "Let's take him to the authorities."
- "Can we do that? Let's ask the authorities."
- "Blah blah? Let's ask the authorities."

OK. Let's get a few things straight. In most of the world, there are no authorities. Where there are authorities, they can't deal with this stuff. In fact, the authorities may be your problem.

PoL makes the game about the PLAYERS. There's a nasty world out there, and they only one who is going to make a difference is YOU. Wade in. Kill evil. Take their stuff.

PoL is about JUST ENOUGH information for the players to allow a quick start to a game. The DM can know more, if not reams of details, but the players only need to know "scattered towns and cities struggling to survive" and "might makes right."