Let your party rule

[Saint Mac]

Have a group that has been hacking and slashing through your world? Are they tired? Are you? Then I say let them rule!

One of the fears that strikes many DMs/GMs is that they feel they should know everything and account for any possible situation his or her group may do next. I’m going to assume that you aren’t the ‘live to party kill’ type of person and actually enjoy story telling. If you are that type of DM than you probably need this post more than others. If you are the definition of a true DM, then maybe you need something to freshen things up a bit. For both types, give this a thought or two.
I once had a chance to be a DM for a 3.5 game and I just wanted to give it a try after many years of Player-only game play. Nervous as hell, I thought, why not let them be the true focus of the game? How was I to do that? Then it came to me to put them truly in the middle of it, the story line, the main theme, everything I could. The only way I could think of doing just that is to let they rule something. Here’s what I came up with, paraphrased of course.

At our player creation time, I was asking questions about what kind of character they were putting together to find that "first meeting" spot in my head. I tip my hat to all the times players meet at a local inn, I thought I would put them on a boat that was making a quick portage in a tiny village for supplies. They hopped off and headed for the tavern so the D&D custom start was a complete change. J

After some chatting up and a bit of drinking, they grabbed the only room in town. Awaken at night by three townsfolk, the party is told that the town is populated with vampires. With gifts of silver daggers and healing potions, the company is off to destroy all that live within the small town. Play it as you like, but the three villagers help wipe out every last soulless townsfolk. In the morning, the three take the ship in the morning leaving a small empty village for your party to begin their own world-build campaign.

All I really did was create a shipping random table for boats that float in and out, a few neighboring issues, and some notable NPCs that come to visit this odd place on the way to someplace else. The story lines will come to you quickly as you laugh and have as much fun as they have seeing a place grow on a map.

Change it, revamp it, but enjoy it. It’s supposed to be a fun hobby!

SaintMac
　
　
Author Bio: SaintMac is awesome and has been all his life.

 

[arthurhoneyhill]

So your PC's are literally 'ruling' this new town? Getting new citizens (to replace the vampires) and building up the economy, etc.? Not a bad idea, if that's what your players are in to. Lots of room to explore the surroundings and inner workings of the towns.

But did you mean EVERYONE was a vampire? Or just some of them.

 

[Saint Mac]

Thanks! I found it fun as a DM...a bit spooky as I had no idea what they would do. Give it a single off-game try, see if they like it. *shrug*

Yes, literally ruling the town. With travelers on the surrounding roads and those on "pit stops" from sailing ships, they try to recruit people (NPCs) to live there and invest into the town's growth. Its fun! Challenging to a DM, but so what right? I had a very high level map of "the world" and randomly picked a point on a shore. Funny thing is that as they grow the town, i have to get creative about where these people are from and so on. I HAD to keep notes of my random rolls with this, but it actually is filling in my world map!


Yes, I had to REALLY knock down the stats and play with why the vampires were there. *shrug* It was just an idea that popped in my head and I ran with it. I was feeling humerous so I put in a NPC that grew weed on the outskirts and it repelled the vampires... ended up saving him from them.

 

[Quartz]

You might be interested in the now defunct (alas) Story Hour thread 'Aphonion Tales' where one PC is the ruler of a nation and the other PCs are his advisors.

 

[Saint Mac]

You might be interested in the now defunct (alas) Story Hour thread 'Aphonion Tales' where one PC is the ruler of a nation and the other PCs are his advisors.

Sounds cool, I'll check it out thanks!

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, my group started in an area where nobody had seen the governor in about 27 years... and now (8th to 9th level party) they have set themselves up as the governors (two married pcs) and various officials. They are in charge of their territory and have already had to fight a mercenary army to keep it.

 

[Saint Mac]

Sounds like a cool idea. In the game I had (stated above) on of my players married a NPC that moved in too. Although a GM has to be careful about PCs having family and how you handle it, it can be great ties and character building.

I'm starting a Pathfinder - Kingmaker session soon and I'm excited to see what they do with it.

 

[Croesus]

Just a thought, but your players might find it interesting if a group of adventurers come through, looking for fame and fortune. Maybe the adventurers can be recruited to help clear out some troublesome problems (bandits, dangerous creatures).

Or perhaps the "adventurers" defile graves, break into homes "investigating" crimes, start fights because a local didn't treat them with proper "respect" - in other words, act a little too much like some players do when confronted with a world full of npc's.

Could be fun for the players to be on the other side of such problems.