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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 4796425" data-attributes="member: 177">Did I say "can't"?  I don't see where I said "can't".  I'm noting that it is unlikely - they don't have the training.  A career of beating up ogres does little to prepare you to run a nation.  Honestly - do you think somehow a prize boxer, winner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship is somehow fit to know what tax laws to put into effect?As I said earlier - put the king on the front line, the king becomes a high-profile target.  I mean, honestly - every time the Evil Tyrant Emperor goes out at the head of his Ghastly Legions, the PCs kill him!  Why on Earth (or Oerth, or Toril, or wherever) should the players expect that this should change?Thank you for insulting my imagination and abilities as a GM.Dude, you asked why people would not want to do such stuff.  Rather than accepting reasons presented, and working with them, you are trying to spend your time telling me I am somehow wrong.  May I suggest that this is not a constructive way to go about this?Because if you fail to count the beans, your country's economy collapses.  People will grumble, and you'll institute controls to keep the peasantry and minor nobility in line, growing every more strict as the kingdom's purse empties and your ability to meet needs declines.  Local humanoid bands will begin raiding, as you can no longer afford to keep up a standing army to patrol properly.  Eventually, some upstart with a magic sword and a bard-friend who knows a good rhyme scheme will paint a picture of you as a tyrant, and fight his way through the castle, cut your head off, and replace you.The irony that this is what happened to your predecessor will not be lost on you in your last moments.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Well, then they wouldn't be resisting it, and the problem you posit goes away.  Clearly, the question is about is trying to get people who didn't sign up for it to do it.  Yes, and they generally do so poorly (from a simulation perspective), with plot holes you can fly your floating castle through.  My players are smart cookies, and will wonder why their kingdom works so well, when they spend exactly zero time running it.  They'll begin to wonder if they are necessary... and so will their subordinates.I can get all the plot elements you suggested into game without making the PCs the rulers.Which, interestingly, brings up a major issue - monarchy (and most governmental systems) is about having one ruler.  I, however, have a group of 4, 6, maybe 8 players.  Only one of them gets the goodies, or I split the party up across the continent, making them each rulers of their own lands.  Not particularly.  But then, if sheer durability were the key to rulership, I should make a large boulder into Emperor for Life, now shouldn't I?  Or maybe the largest diamond I can find - that way it'll gain some respect for being so valuable!</blockquote>

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