Need Help With Plot For Liberated City

[Scorponox]

Hi all,

I'm a DM, and I am having some problems with stories for what happens after a town/city is liberated from a group of bandits.

The bandits moved into the area because of a power vacuum, and have been forcing people into harvesting their narcotics. They ransacked a town, and have been holding it. The villagers have gathered in another town, and the adventurers are gathering resources so they can make weapons and lead the retaking of the first town.

What I'm having trouble with is what happens AFTER they liberate the town? (Assuming they are successful at this.)

The only thing I can think of is the townsfolk are very happy, and they decide to keep their little army together and maybe set up an official opposition for the bandits. Other than that, I got nothing.

A bit of background on this town. It's populated with workers, who almost all work in the vineyards to take care of grapes, and their town provides wine/brandy/alcohol to the entire region. If they are not involved in the picking of the grapes, they are involved with other aspects of the industry, such as bottle making, etc. So they are hard working, blue collar types, who have a bit of a hate for the upper town, which is a tourist attraction and where the rich owners of the wine companies live.

To the west of the town, past a long road, a bridge, and another long road, the bandit stronghold is along the coast, and beyond that, the sea.

 

[gamerprinter]

Well, what kind of investment do the adventurers have for this community? They could get a small reward and leave as most adventurers do. Or as you suggest they could become the appointed rulers of the community and establish a militia and patrols to defend against the bandits. Who is the ruler in charge of the area - barony, kingdom? Do you have the authority to take control of the area, collect taxes, become the local sovereigns?

Managing a village/town can be fun, can be boring, can tie the party down too much when they get to higher levels, or can be a place for many plot hooks and many adventures - it depends on the kind and style of game you like. You could have endless options.

GP

 

[Cor_Malek]

Hello!

First thing that sprung into my mind was "huh, sounds like Hahagana". See, Israeli Defence Forces come more or less directly from paramilitary organization that was created after I WW in British Mandate for Palestine to defend jewish settlers. To date it's one of very few armies that were created by the grass roots.
In situation you have in game, the most crucial question for me would be: why was there a power vacuum in the first place? Is the region in no-man's land between two rivalling kingdoms? Is the suzerain to weak to hold power outside of capitol? Maybe the local lord just doesn't give a ? Either way, by having to protect themselves, they just made having a lord quite redundant, and they might want to expand their area of influence.
If this happens, they might find other settlements that do not want to part with their lord. On such occasion, the town leader could try to strongarm them, or simply "prove" them wrong, by using PC's as fake bandits to show how defenceless the lord have left the area.

Such plan could have many outcomes, and which is better - mostly based on PC's decisions. They could disagree; agree to help with the plan, but try to work something out in the meantime; they could agree and really do it, either very stealthy and successfully, or they might find themselves in a situation where the targeted city joins the revolt/secession, but they are pursued bandits (with the leader who sent them on this mission denying his involvement "for sake of good-being of his people").

BTW - what about casualties? Who survives the attack could and should influence what happens with the town later on. Make a list of some important people, and keep track of them in the fight, at least if they join the attack. The PC's should know who they are and have some power over where to direct them (out of harms way) or look out after them, defending their lives. It could affect the shape of the settlement (local fence survives, and the only pre-incident law enforcer dies), or just provide minor, but urgent situation (ie - finding a new medic/cleric/midwife ASAP) and thus a plot hook.

Another aspect would be... and what if they sniffed the cash in the drugs? Not everyone, but for example a group of younger, more eager folk, maybe a group that would be more resourceful and helpful during the attack. Their parents might be content to go back to hard work every day, but are they? They now know how profitable the drugs can be, and what they need to cultivate, and hey - it's not like their economy didn't already rely on addictive stimulant Not even strong arming anyone, but in months time, people will have a choice: break your back in the vineyards all day for a steady cash, or get plenty gp's for half the work.
If the PC's don't interrupt this change, the town should become more and more affluent. But the drugs go somewhere. There's a crime sindicate that grows more and more powerful, and other cities that are being crippled by the curse of addiction. If it goes that far, decide whether the drug is cheap or expensive, which will cause disruptions either among working class or the leaders (I suggest the former, as you can still have an NPC or two abusing cheap drugs, but it'd be harder to have poor people affording expensive one). There's of course no reason why you shouldn't have both(or more!) kinds: think cocaine v crack, amphetamine v meth.
One city would flourish (at least perceivably), while others would suffer.

You've created a very interesting situation, that's for sure. Give us a nudge about what you and the players did.

Cheers!

 

[Scorponox]

Hello!

First thing that sprung into my mind was "huh, sounds like Hahagana". See, Israeli Defence Forces come more or less directly from paramilitary organization that was created after I WW in British Mandate for Palestine to defend jewish settlers. To date it's one of very few armies that were created by the grass roots.

Great comparison! The only other story I could think of close to it was the retaking of Deep Space Nine during season 6.

In situation you have in game, the most crucial question for me would be: why was there a power vacuum in the first place? Is the region in no-man's land between two rivalling kingdoms? Is the suzerain to weak to hold power outside of capitol? Maybe the local lord just doesn't give a ?

In this campaign, the area of South Caitonia has traditionally been lightly inhabited, with only a few small towns dotting the area. King Marius, who's kingdom is further north, has never really bothered with this area, since it is a bit too insignificant. His soldiers would sometimes ride into the area and demand tribute, though he really does nothing for the region. The people of South Caitonia and the king have a somewhat strained relationship.

When Emperor Justus, of the lands to the far north, declared war on the kingdom of Caitonia, what little forces of King Marius's soldiers in South Caitonia were recalled to fight in the war to the north. Because of this, there was a power vacuum left, and the pirates of the Silk Coast saw this opportunity, and moved into the area. The coastal town of Stormfrost was the first to be conquered, and now the pirates are moving inland, taking the town of Lyons as their second victory.

Another aspect would be... and what if they sniffed the cash in the drugs? Not everyone, but for example a group of younger, more eager folk, maybe a group that would be more resourceful and helpful during the attack. Their parents might be content to go back to hard work every day, but are they? They now know how profitable the drugs can be, and what they need to cultivate, and hey - it's not like their economy didn't already rely on addictive stimulant Not even strong arming anyone, but in months time, people will have a choice: break your back in the vineyards all day for a steady cash, or get plenty gp's for half the work.

Nice. This was where I was thinking of going with this story, but am kind of stuck as to what types of quests I should do with it. The first order of business would be to rebuild the town. So there could be a couple of "gather resources" hooks there - i.e. they need wood, so the adventurers have to protect a bunch of lumberjacks from monsters while they gather the wood. But how to turn the town from a hard working blue collar town that picks grapes to one that decides to sell drugs?

I probably have more story than I need for this upcoming week, but it's always good to plan ahead just in case.

 

[Vanifae]

My thoughts:

* Power vacuum, who will run the town and why? This could fuel several adventures especially for a small town where everyone has a vested interest in keeping things stable between their neighbors.

* The drug angle as suggested is a very strong one. What if they decide that making the drugs or whatever is more profitable? Who stands to gain the most from this? Who can capitalize on this the fastest and most decisively?

* Another angle is hero worship. What if the heroes, the PCs, create a cult of personality about themselves and the younger folks decide staying in this village sucks, they want to go see the world and start departing in large numbers to find their fortunes? What if many of them don't come back? How do the townsfolk feel about this that stay behind? What if the heroes leave the village to go on and find the remains of some of these would be heroes? Do they feel a sense of responsibility? This of course works better if you can introduce some minor characters that they care about.

 

[Cor_Malek]

Back on the case

Damn, that's a fun setup Lot's of possibilities, and ground to cover.

OK, to avoid gibbering, I'll try to divide the two main themes: power-vacuum and the drug eco.

Right now, it's a scarcely inhabited, badly protected, low-profit area nobody gives a s. about. A nuisance heirloom; a place that wine comes from, the kind that marshals and squires drink. With stories of brigands ruling over countryside, it's a boogeyman to threaten officials with. Be good, or you'll get "promoted" to a barony in that shole.
But what happens when the bandits are gone, there's a somewhat centralized law, and there appears to be a steady cash influx? Suddenly it's a charming, sunny area with booming economy, and the kid wants it's toy back!

At first, there there would probably appear some agents of king, just scouting out the situation, probably posing as merchants with escort. Then, when it's time to reclaim the area - sheriffs to "relieve" self-appointed law from it's duties, thanking them for good work, go back to whatever you do, peasant.

The people could just cave in, there could be frictions or even a rebellion. They could find a "front noble" to pose as if they had a rightful liege in place; said noble could really be a puppet or could use the situation to really grasp the reins of power. With time they could try and go independent.



The rebuild, and drugs angle:

Ideas for startup quests:
- is everyone and everything accounted for? Check who is down or dead, what about the main structures. City hall could be rigged with traps, with a couple of bandits holed up, desperate to think of a plan as to what to do now. A person or two counted among dead could actually still rescuable.
This could serve as a good introduction to the area post-attack for the party.

- The fruits are ripe, and will fade in a couple of days. All hands are needed at gathering, but there's so many injured! The party needs to find some medical help for the townsfolk with their limited resources. There are several possibilities in the area, but the player's have to decide whether to get a great and knowledgeable cleric, which will allow to help lives of dying man who used to be herbalist and pharmacist, as well as X (insert an NPC here ); or more help, that is less knowledgeable - but will be able to more or less mend all injuries, thus minimizing the loss of yearly crop.
The choice here (and whether the chosen path is successfully executed) will also affect the struggle between vineyard and drug people. If majority of crop would go bad, there's a lot more incentive to go into drugs, even if "only for a little while". Death of pharmacist on the other hand, while bad to the town, would slow progress the drug people can make, or just throw them a tier lower cash-wise, as they could provide only raw material.

The road to drug producers can be slow and blurry. Depending on how you like to run campaigns, it can be corrupt baddies vs hard-working goodies, or a situation where everyone has their own motif, and believes to be in the right.
The herb they're gathering could be quite mundane, but not often used, something like salvia (and the drug that's made out of it). From their perspective, it's a herb; a weed almost. They gather it, and process some of the way. If some rich folk wants to pay a lot of cash for it - who are they, to forbid them to?
They know how alcohol can be abused, while they never saw any salvia-induced bar brawl. ;-) In time, this would change, some of the processed drug would inevitably find it's way back. But by that time it could be far down the road.

And just go baby-steps. All the work for now is done, the stuff is gathered and processed, waiting in bags in several points in town. On the other hand, the vineyards were unattended to, the city was badly damaged, and there is winter to look for. I mean, they need the money, so why not just sell what they got, and use the money for rebuilt? Note, that based on PC choices and allegiances, they could be the ones making contact with buyers, or it could be some faction from town.
Now that the contact is made, and they know it's extremely profitable and easy to cultivate (as it's basically a weed). It's not really a choice of whether to do it or not - but rather if it will be out in the open. If the city decides to ban the business, inevitably some crimelords will make contact with the disgruntled minority, to get them to provide it again. If that happens, it will be in smaller amount, but power of the outside crime will slowly creep in.
If it can be done out in the open on the other hand, more money and power will remain with the town, but the transition from hard work in vineyards to harvesting the drug will be swifter.


Some possible quests here: a drug harvest delivery. The important thing about drug exchanges (especially if no side is dependant on having one contact to deal with) is that they're always a stakeout. The trick is, that if both sides know this, and are well prepared for it - it becomes a silent, latent mexican standoff. If one side is unprepared, you take all their stuff. If you're the unprepared one, you try to back out as quickly as possible, maybe not deal at all. If there's an equilibrium, an exchange takes place, and all part. This can be hard both on players and you, and be quite impossible if players are too trigger happy. Even if they're not, for some bizarre reason there's like a 80% chance that they'll get - even if just this once, and screw it up. So don't rely on only one organization and that it'll go right the first time around. You can of course influence their chances by adjusting how desperate given organization is for the delivery, and thus - how much firepower they'll allow PC's to have, and how many opening they'll pass over.

Another hook would be to have PC's investigate what's the big deal with the drug actually is. Bizarre interest could be truly abstract to the citizens, and they'd have to go to some big city and see what the drugs are, giving them a possibility to witness how people escape into addiction. Depending on how throughout they are, they might see a bunch of yuppies apparently having great time, a noble/wizard/bard taking a sniff every now and then to "clear his mind" or get to people ruining their lives, stealing from family for another fix, and laying in gutters.

BTW - I didn't process the idea entirely, but this can be adjusted to history and situation of Kowloon Walled City. Long story short - it was a working anarchistic settlement. After a time they were taken over by the Triads, at which point police from outside made a series of raids, and got rid of them; from this point there was no organized crime (though plenty of petty criminals ;-) ). It was an amazing place, and at very least it's interesting to read about. But I'm fairly sure it could be adapted to this situation (just toss off the architecture ).

Cheers!

 

[Andramelech]

Sorry if this is a repeat but I didn't read the whole thread.

Although the people are happy to be rid of the poppie cartel, they realize that the gangsters were the only thing keeping the local Goblinoid population at bay.

 

[Gilladian]

Another aspect to think about is the church. Is there a local religion? Did the old rulers bring in an outside church that is now fading, and an OLDer local religion is now coming back?

Is there NO currently active church in the area? Will prosletyzers/missionaries come from somewhere? What is their attitude towards the drug trade? Towards the wine-merchants?

Also, a BIG issue in all this is what the players want. They may not have any desire to become town elders or whatever.

Have you seen Paizo's Kingmaker adventure path? It could give you some ideas on how to either have your PCs become actively involved in running a new, growing kingdom, or at least how to develop one "in the background".