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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NewJeffCT" data-source="post: 768114" data-attributes="member: 10784">Ideas needed here.  This is pretty longI am giving the PCs the following restrictions going in to a mini-campaign.  They should be human, and are from a small town, with a population of about 500.  So, being from a small town, they probably know each other.A brief background is that the town is generally fairly quiet, with most of the folks making their way sheep herding and farming.  The land is not conducive to farming for any sort of huge population, or to generate any major trade income with neighboring towns or cities.  It is generally somewhat of a backwater (though, I will not describe it that way to the PCs).The setting is Kalamar, and in the Duchy of Dodera, which has been at war with neighboring Tharggy for at least a generation.  At the beginning of the war, the area surrounding this town was very close to the war front.  In fact, old North Keep, maybe a day’s journey closer to Tharggy, was fully staffed back then with close to 150 soldiers and a good 70-80 more in support staff.  That included small platoons of men who would man small border forts even closer to the frontier with Tharggy (well, more like glorified watch towers…)… However, over time, the war front has moved South due to the inhospitable terrain in these parts – the border forts guard mountain passes, which are not conducive to moving large numbers of soldiers and horses.  The Duke of Dodera has decided that he cannot afford to keep the keep fully staffed with military personnel so far away from the main war front.  So, in the last several years, only a skeleton crew of soldiers has manned the keep, while the border forts have basically been abandoned.  The soldiers are generally professional, if bored.  They rotate in for tours of duty that last about a year.Order is kept in town itself by a small part-time militia run by the mayor, a flamboyant ‘semi-retired’ adventurer (Ranger 2/Rogue 2) and two full time retired soldiers (both Warriors 1).  The rest of the militia rotates in and out every few weeks in between shifts of farming or sheep herding.  Fully mustered, they have about 25 men (a mix of Commoner 1 or Expert 1).  The militia and the soldiers in the keep have not had any problems dealing with the occasional goblin raid or rampaging wild animal for as long as most can remember.  The keep is still a deterrent to most humanoids, as well as those feral dwarf bandits that plague the deeper reaches of the mountains.Life is quiet here, with only the occasional drunken brawl over a pretty girl disturbing the peace.  The main church is the good aligned “Church of the Life’s Fire”, staffed by 3 religious types (one Exp 2, two Com 1… both with ranks in Knowledge-Religion and Healing skills… though, if a PC wants to be a Cleric, he will be sort of a prodigy in this small town under the tutelage of the older Exp 2 for now.  The Exp 2 would have plans to send the PC on to bigger and better things in the name of their faith.Since their nation has been at war with Tharggy for well over a generation now, I am guessing that various emissaries of the Duke of Dodera, or from allied Kalamar, have been busy over the years spreading the bad word about the evils of Tharggians – how their female controlled government uses men as slaves, how they torture and murder prisoners, while, of course, any prisoners from Tharggy are treated with respect by Dodera, etc.  And, of course, the war was started when Tharggy invaded Dodera and pillaged several towns, killing small children.  It’s not like the folks of Dodera can tune in to CNN or the BBC to see otherwise and dispute the facts.The same with the dwarves in the mountains.  Unknown to the PCs, they are refugees from Kalamar’s smashing of a dwarven fortress.  They have moved north to flee Kalamar and are only trying to make their living in these strange, new lands.  What the PCs do not know is that the Duke of Dodera has hatched a plan to march a large flanking force in secret through the mountains in the early Spring to be a surprise flanking force once the war resumes in late Spring.  The keep, will be the base of operations for this flanking force  The Duke basically plans to secretly move men in and bring it up its old full staffing level, and has been shipping in supplies from several neighboring farms and towns to keep things quiet locally.  Too many supplies from one source will raise suspicions.However, they have been having problems scouting the paths through the mountains due to the dwarf bandits.  The PCs will be approached by a representative of the Duke and be asked to perform a duty for their Duke and their nation.  Since they are from the region, the head of the forces in the Keep will ask them to scout out the dwarf forces and get a bead on their home base.What I want is for the PCs to hopefully figure out that the dwarves are just trying to survive and are goodly creatures, not something to be wiped out.  Any ideas here?  Maybe the PCs capture a dwarf scout and bring him back to the keep, to see the men there torture the poor dwarf?The truth of the matter is that the PCs grew up in a nation run by an evil Duke who plans to enslave Tharggy.  The Duke’s predecessor and the Emperor of Kalamar started the war with Tharggy, breaking a peace treaty between the nations.  The hard copy of the peace treaty between Tharggy, Dodera and a neighboring tribe of barbarians has “mysteriously” disappeared over the years.  I am hoping to get the PCs to realize that they are on the wrong side, and then help the dwarves and the Tharggians as freedom fighters / rebels / Robin Hood types.Maybe the dwarves found the missing peace treaty?  Maybe the flamboyant mayor knows the truth of the war and has a secret love in Tharggy?Any help or suggestions on ideas?  I am trying to keep this low magic... so, the PCs will not be going to the local magic shop to rent out some flying carpets to sweep the mountains...  But, I would like some sort of "smoking gun" for the PCs.Thanks</blockquote>

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