D&D General Any Realms-Heads Know About The Politics of The Sword Coast?

[doctorbadwolf]

I think you have misunderstood the cultural context. Small children play games in which there are "goodies" and "baddies". In England, for people growing up in the post-WWII environment (pretty much up to the 1980s) The "goodies" where the British and the "baddies" where the Germans. The only difference between the goodies and the baddies is the goodies always win and the baddies always loose. It has nothing to do with fascism, genocide and real evil - small children are too young to understand that.

Absolutely no one is unaware of any of that cultural context, but your statement about what children understand is simply false. Children understand that the bad guys hurt people and the good guys try to stop them.

If your PCs want to overthrow a stable government where the people are happy and prosperous, maybe they are the baddies - i.e. an evil party.

Nothing to do with evil, but democratic revolutionaries in a “prosperous” society are evil. Lol okay.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Nothing to do with evil, but democratic revolutionaries in a “prosperous” society are evil. Lol okay.

Okay, now you are poor, but look! Now you get to vote for whatever idiot you want to be king of the ruins.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Okay, now you are poor, but look! Now you get to vote for whatever idiot you want to be king of the ruins.

None of this nonsense is relevant to the thread.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

None of this nonsense is relevant to the thread.

people who are absolutely certain they are right seldom are.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Back to the OP, I would look at 3E's Waterdeep: City of Splendors or even the original Waterdeep and the North. Large portions of Waterdeep's nobility are downright evil. Many more are neutral. Few are good. It's right there in the text, indisputable. Additionally, the Open Lord has limited powers. It's a public position, presumably controls the military against external threats, and directs the city watch. Meanwhile, any noble has the ability to accuse a commoner of a crime and their word is taken as law in the courts. In practice, that means any evil noble can make a false accusation of a capital crime and the city will execute the defendant on the noble's behalf -- with no recourse. Does this not sound like a city in need of a little revolution?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Nothing to do with evil, but democratic revolutionaries in a “prosperous” society are evil. Lol okay.

Nitpicking here, but funny enough many Forgotten Realms moduels are about cults or other groups trying to overthrow and replace the current governments. Default FR (especially 5e) is very pro-status quo. Even the module Into the Abyss doesn't provide much options for overthrowing the very evil governments within the Underdark, and instead wants you to fight the forces that would destroy them (and everyone else, but still).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

people who are absolutely certain they are right seldom are.

You’re repeating yourself.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

One more thought...most of the noble families control commercial interests. They're merchant princes. That means government and industry are basically a single entity. Typically, that's bad news for the common people. I mean, imagine what would happen to the United States if a guy got elected President who just wanted to make himself, his family, and his business friends rich regardless of what it did to the country?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I mean, imagine what would happen to the United States if a guy got elected President who just wanted to make himself, his family, and his business friends rich regardless of what it did to the country?

Oh wow, that would be horrible!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Back to the OP, I would look at 3E's Waterdeep: City of Splendors or even the original Waterdeep and the North. Large portions of Waterdeep's nobility are downright evil. Many more are neutral. Few are good. It's right there in the text, indisputable. Additionally, the Open Lord has limited powers. It's a public position, presumably controls the military against external threats, and directs the city watch. Meanwhile, any noble has the ability to accuse a commoner of a crime and their word is taken as law in the courts. In practice, that means any evil noble can make a false accusation of a capital crime and the city will execute the defendant on the noble's behalf -- with no recourse. Does this not sound like a city in need of a little revolution?

Yeah pretty damn good reasons for unrest.

Nitpicking here, but funny enough many Forgotten Realms moduels are about cults or other groups trying to overthrow and replace the current governments. Default FR (especially 5e) is very pro-status quo. Even the module Into the Abyss doesn't provide much options for overthrowing the very evil governments within the Underdark, and instead wants you to fight the forces that would destroy them (and everyone else, but still).

Sure. I figured the OP was clear that the DM was on board with interpreting the situation in a way that allows for less “status quo is good” mindsets in reasonable people, but several people here seem to have not taken that from the OP, so I guess not.

One more thought...most of the noble families control commercial interests. They're merchant princes. That means government and industry are basically a single entity. Typically, that's bad news for the common people. I mean, imagine what would happen to the United States if a guy got elected President who just wanted to make himself, his family, and his business friends rich regardless of what it did to the country?

Yeah but if you break that system everyone will be poor! Lol

Yeah that’s absolutely a big element that I’ll be talking about in character as an issue.