Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5550398" data-attributes="member: 8835">In the case of a murder mystery, I look at that every thing ultimately leads back to the killer.  Even a red herring.  So when the PC follows a false clue (one planted by the bad guy) at some point, they get to the end that reveals how it was faked.  Thus, you have a safety check on a red herring.Plus, I don't believe in using red herrings (or betrayals, etc) very often.  Make things straightforward the majority of the time, so the change-up has impact.In the case of the OP, the bad guys overthrew the government.  There has been no new king in X years.  Seriously, how much of a secret is it that somebody's been messing with the government.When bad guys take over power, they restrict freedoms, are hyper vigilant for dissenters, because they know people are gunning for them.  Not replacing the king is such blatant move that I wonder if you've made a mistake in classifying it as a secret.a secret society taking over power uses puppet rulers, in hopes that nobody suspects.  Thus, the old king may be killed, but a "new" heir appears to take the thrown.  One who takes his orders from elsewhere.  Or he's replaced with a doppelganger, who also takes his orders from elsewhere.  Or it's the BBEG himself, pretending to be the kindly new king.With a no-king scenario, its obvious that somebody is blocking his replacement.  Start making the government intruding on the PCs lives, and the players will go into secret rebellion mode.</blockquote>

Verification