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Message: <blockquote data-quote="der_kluge" data-source="post: 1797461" data-attributes="member: 945">So given that my wife is 1,000 miles away back home, and I'm living with my sister at her apartment.  And given that I'm still kind of learning what to do at my new job, I've taken to filling up the free time with working on a new campaign.This will be a kind of low-magic, low-fantasy game.  I'm basing it in a kingdom with an actual king, and it will be more of a grittier world.  Not sure which ruleset I use, but it probably wiith either be modifed d20, or maybe HARP, or grim tales if I decide to pick that up.  Anyway...The king is old, and his grasp on the kingdom is fairly weak, and it has spread throughout to the point where he can no longer easily control it.  He has 4 children, and the eldest son will inherit the throne once the king passes.  The second, a daughter is secretly studying black magic, and is in cahoots with the second son to try to kill both the king and the eldest so that he can claim the throne.  The second son has promised the daughter power and lands if she helps him claim the throne.  The queen died years ago, although what no one realizes is that the second son and the daughter killed her.  There is a fourth child, a son who lacks the power ambitions of his siblings, and basically a bard who wanders the land, often in disguise.So, enter the PCs, who start as simple peasants in a village near a swamp.  So, these bullywugs enter from the swamp and kind of start terrorizing the town.  Now, everyone knows bullywugs live in the swamp, but they live really far into the swamp, so this kind of surprises everyone when this happens.  Turns out, the princess and the evil prince have a fortress in the swamp where they are making an undead army.  Furthermore, through an incestuous relationship, have created a [fiendish] child who is now 13 years old, and she is pregnant currently with a second from her brother.  Their plan is murder their father, and when the eldest son takes the throne, to start a war with their undead emerging from the swamp.  I'm thinking that they would want some way to try to lure their son's army into the swamp where some horrific type of ambush awaits the prince and his troops.  With the prince dead, the second son will emerge, "quash" the undead and take control, where he can oppress the people, and generally create really awful conditions for everyone.During this, the princess actually has a doppleganger assuming her role in the brother's estate, so that no one actually knows she is out in the swamp.Where I need help - I need some way to drag the PCs into the mess.  I was thinking of having their Lord be murdered for some reason, and then to have their village go up in flames from the bullywugs, and so they are basically forced into adventuring from their simple lives.  Beyond that intro though, no real reason for them to keep going.I also need some kind of ambush device in the swamp that would kill lots of king's soldiers.  I'm also working on the geography, and I plan to have an elven nation, and a gnomish city in the mountains, and some halfling village in the plains.  There won't be any dwarves.  My version of gnome will include some dwarven concepts like an affinity to earth, and a love for gems, etc.  I also intend to make elves more fey-like, and more tied to nature.  I haven't really tied the other races into the story yet.So, my idea for the campaign is that the PCs would eventually get caught up in the struggle of their people against the tyranny of the new king after the eldest son is slain.  So, it would be a huge political struggle as they make their way through a web of corruption that the princess and prince have created as they make deals and promises, etc.  Any thoughts?</blockquote>

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