"Conspiracy" Fantasy: have you ever done it?

[Wraith Form]

Welcome to EN World, Blessed Kitty....wow, two cats in a single thread! If I were H. P. Lovecraft, I'd take this as a good omen!

One thing that I've heard repeatedly is to "start small and build from there". It's really tough to do that when your plot involves planting major clues from the beginning of the campaign as to a larger, more sinister plot....but I'm actually being more literal.

Start in a small area of the campaign, so that you don't feel that you *must* create an entire world map. Make a town--not too small, not too big--that you can base initial adventures in. Think of a few NPCs that you can populate your town with. Treat the town as a "home base" for the PCs to use until their XP levels (and your DMing skills) are advanced enough to expand, then create a state/province/large city, and build from there. Basically, don't feel pressured to think big if you're just starting--think small and let it grow! Hope that helps.

 

[Piratecat]

But I'm not sure what story I want to tell. I have a some ideas for various conflicts needing resolution, and BBEG's but I don't know how to make it into a cool story all tied together with lots of twists and turns. I have a spider more or less, but I can't figure out how to build the web.

So, to expand on Wraith Form's original request, does anyone have any good resources/advice/suggestions on developing a meta-plot in general?

The best advice I've seen is from Sagiro; toss lots of clues and plot hooks near and far, see which ones the PCs bite at, and develop those. Later, at your leisure, you can tie in the ones that you mentioned but no one followed up on. You'll look like a genius, and your players will be having fun in the mean time.

 

[Wraith Form]

For adventuring, you'll want to tie the knowledge and conspiracy to a fun meta-plot. Something with ancient, suppressed evil is always nice.

I was thinking about being a cheese-ball and yoinking the X-Files meta-plot of trying to save the "worthy" (the high priests, in your idea/the Consortium in X-Files) from a hostile worldwide takeover of another, more powerful species (the illithids were blowing wind up my skirt/the "Greys" in X-Files).

This way I can tie in some very strong Cthulhu-mythos-style supernatural stuff and even some alternate dimension/plane-hopping stuff. The illithid's (madness-inducing) high-tech eqipment falls into the hands of the church, of course, which is using said eqipment to fight their secret wars and experiment on the unsuspecting populace. The church "grants" (because they can't stop 'em) the illithids the right to grab people off the streets in return. (Monte Cook's Chaositech will slot in nicely here.)

 

[Blessed Kitten]

Start in a small area of the campaign, so that you don't feel that you *must* create an entire world map. Make a town--not too small, not too big--that you can base initial adventures in. Think of a few NPCs that you can populate your town with. Treat the town as a "home base" for the PCs to use until their XP levels (and your DMing skills) are advanced enough to expand, then create a state/province/large city, and build from there. Basically, don't feel pressured to think big if you're just starting--think small and let it grow! Hope that helps.

Well, I am more or less just following the World Builder's Guidebook and I have this odd compulsion to at least have a vague idea of how the world looks before I can start focusing on on progressively smaller areas with increasing levels of detail.

My natural tendency is also to come up with ideas that have the PC's moving around a lot and generally being on the run. Although that might just be because of what I'm used to. The last major campaign I played in, the closest thing the party had to a home base was a carriage.

 

[RobJN]

Another thing to consider: when you toss those plot hooks out, and lay down the first few clues... see what the players make of them... Many times, their ideas/interpretations are much, much better than your own!


Good gaming,

Rob

 

[Piratecat]

I was thinking about being a cheese-ball and yoinking the X-Files meta-plot of trying to save the "worthy" (the high priests, in your idea/the Consortium in X-Files) from a hostile worldwide takeover of another, more powerful species (the illithids were blowing wind up my skirt/the "Greys" in X-Files).

Sure, that works wonderfully.

Lets say that a church elder has gone completely insane and has worked with an alienist to bring illithids through. Just a few, so far. . . but the illithids are consolidating their power. So long as the cleric keeps open a small arm-sized hole into the far realm, the illithids are extraordinarily powerful (+4 effective manifesting levels, or +4 to save DCs). Should the church grant them "grazing rights", it is to the horror and disgust of the orthodox church and their witch-hunters. They can't let it be known, as the scandal would destroy the institution they love, but they can do everything in their power to stop them.

This means that several sites will be fun to adventure at:

- the far realm pinhole through which the illithids gain power
- the "illithid indoctrination center" where illithids new to this reality are trained
- the home of the corrupt cleric and his alienist buddy
- the ancient site of a prophecy revealing this plot to anyone who can understand it.

I'd start subtly; you never want to reveal the actual monster until you're far along.

Blessed Kitten, I design my own world the opposite way. I have tremendous difficulty designing the world top-down, and I'm impressed that it's so easy for you. If you want the group to be traveling, make sure you put cool and necessary stuff relatively far apart.

 

[Wraith Form]

The last major campaign I played in, the closest thing the party had to a home base was a carriage.

Ha ha ha! Well, then--I wish you luck. Globe-spanning adventures seem a little advanced for my personal tastes (until I feel more comfy in the DM's chair) but if it works for you then cheers and hats off to you!

 

[Wraith Form]

So the next question is how to achieve that "Trust No 1" effect. I believe that the PCs need to have at least one or two people that they can trust, get reliable info from, etc. Non-stop betrayal at the hands of those who are in power will soon become tedious, so I'll have to have some sort of Deep Throat that can help. Any suggestions to best deal with the rest of the conspiracy? How to encourage the feeling that suspicion & betrayal is around every corner, without it becoming overwhelming to the point where the players are frustrated? (I suppose this ties directly in with pacing...making the tension mount and then relaxing it, making it mount and then relaxing it, similar to horror roleplaying.)

I've read some of PirateKitty's and Sagiro's story hours....one thing that I can say right off the bat--you have some great players! I've rarely seen that type of roleplaying ability in any group I've played in or one-shot DM'ed. Plus, you two (as DMs) are smart! I'm not confident that I can be as spontaneous & wise if I get behind the DM's wheel....I'm not an idiot, but I'll (by neccessity) have to start out a bit less ambitiously.

 

[Piratecat]

Pshaw.

I think the best thing to do is to let some of the PCs have a mentor who they've trusted their whole life. Ideally, let THEM develop this person; as part of character creation ask each player to give you three NPCs, someone older than them (friend or foe), someone younger than them, and a rival.

If the PCs had a hand in designing their mentor, they're more likely to trust them -- and they'll be angrier if betrayed. I agree that they should have someone looking out for their best interests, like Skinner mostly did on the X-Files.

 

[Wraith Form]

The Ordalians (led by their current monarch, old and hidebound, and his son, an impetuous warrior prince) want to weaken Ivalice so they can press old territorial claims

Maybe I just need to dust off my high school European History books regarding feudalism, but what exactly does the phrase "press old territorial claims" mean? I assume you're saying they're trying to retrieve property (land) that they once held dictatorship over, but who took the land? (Another country, as in the Ivalicians?) How will they get it back? (War? Diplomacy?) Why do they want the land back? (Simple conquest? Is there something valuable about the land?) The sad thing is that, despite wanting to run a conspiracy game, I'm not really well-versed about certain aspects of politics, quite frankly.

* LATER * Err, never mind. I re-read your post and get a bit clearer picture now.