D&D General My party wants to defuse a war by arranging a marriage. Where's the gameplay?

Pauln6

Hero
Assassins hired to disrupt the wedding either for political purposes or maybe even just for jealousy could give rise to a whodunit type story. Family members could be kidnapped, or a magical or symbolic wedding present from an important faction might be stolen. An imposter might be performing despicable acts to discredit one of the parties or maybe a family member is framed or a compromising document implicating a family member surfaces and needs to disappear again, a seer might publicly foresee Doom if the wedding goes ahead; a supernatural being, maybe a genie or a hag, will only bless the wedding if a task is performed, jealous siblings, bastard children, evil stepmothers, fairy godmothers, natural disasters, and mischievous fey wedding guests are all options.
 

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I did a wholly inadequate amount of planning for this plot, though I like the idea of needing to win the favor of the temple of the love goddess.

Turns out my party wanted to investigate a side quest I hadn't really planned, and so the romance plot will begin next week.

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Instead they spoke with a tree full of crows that shared a collective consciousness, but any crow that went outside a certain radius reverted to a normal beast. If it came back in the radius, it would rejoin the gestalt, and could share what it had seen, but the entity could not control the crows from a distance, stranding it. I meant it as sort of a meditation on what the self is, and how we are never the same being from day to day.

The PCs stole some of the boundary stones that kept it trapped, because they want to ward off other flying monsters, and everyone involved expected this might just outright kill the sentient swarm because of the 'rules lawyery' nature of the magic stones. For now, the boundary persists, because the magic only updates at dawn. Then, rather than kill the swarm, it'll set it free. And this murder of crows will be a bit, well, inclined to live up to its name.

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But next week, the party will meet with the young men who could be paramours for the princess, to get the measure of them. I'm thinking I'm going to have the high priestess of the river goddess decide that she does not want to try to make peace with No-Ostalin. She would prefer war to defend her city's identity, and so she's going to tip off a ruthless lawman in the city that the PCs are criminals.

If he can catch and arrest them, that's a win for her. If they kill him, she'll ensure their guilt is found out, causing people to mistrust them; also a win for her. We'll see if the party can find a way to avoid that, or form enough of a rapport with one of the paramours that he'll go along with the plan even if it's got opposition and people are trying to kill him.

But I need the paramours to have some personality. So far I've gotten as far as this website - RanGen | Love Interest Generator - which gave me a 'financially insolvent lazy guy who loves to bake and bicycle,' . . . so maybe not where I want to go.
 

NRSASD

Explorer
I find personality grows out of motive, so here’s some suggestions below!

Paramour ideas:

Childhood sweetheart: Twue wuv!
Heroic adventurer: marrying the princess is just another stop on my path to becoming a LEGEND. Remember how Odysseus had a super cool girlfriend in every port? That guy
Diplomat: not super into marrying the princess, but has a big picture view of the situation and knows sacrifices must be made. May or may not be resentful about this
Dutiful child: like the diplomat, only childish and hasn’t a clue about the big picture. Will marry because parents told them to. May be resentful and or whiny
Playboy: thrilled to marry princess and get out from under parents’ thumb. Uses newfound status and independence to seduce anything within a 10 mile radius. Might hit on PCs. Only use if your players would be okay with that
Zealot: has a personal cause unrelated to politics, like a cult or charity. Sees marriage as opportunity to invest waaay more resources into it and is very goal focused about the marriage.
Wannabe Conquerer: is convinced they are destined to rule. May be unsubtle and hamfisted or very subtle and actually competent. Extremely ambitious and sees this as the first step to a new empire.
Tragedy: they’ve found true love, and it isn’t the princess. Could result in affairs, princess murder, divorce, suicide, all sorts of messiness.

With all of these profiles, it’s important to determine whether or not they love the princess or see her as an obstacle/tool.
 

TL;DR - how do I make "arranging a marriage" into an adventure for a D&D party? Love is ineffable, but political marriages don't need love. So what sub-goals should the party need to achieve to make the marriage work?

Okay, political marriage between the Queen's daughter (party patron) and opposing King's son. Builds an alliance and allows the interesting and semi-secret cargo that the Queen wants to pass by the King's city without issue.

Assuming that the children are raised to power and had the expectation of some sort of political marriage (love is for consorts and mistresses), one aspect is the formal courtship. Gifts must be exchanged as tokens of introduction, interest, and promise of fidelity. Negotiators must dicker over what the prince and princess will gain, control, and share. There may be magical rituals that need to be undergone should they have a tie to the land that they look over. There may be spirits that need to be negotiated with so that they accept the potential spouse, and more importantly any heirs, as true caretakers and partners of the land they will rule. There may need to be an introductory feast where they are brought together and left alone (not too alone or too long) so they get to know one another.

So, bringing and sending of gifts, escorting principles or diplomats, participation of rituals and otherworldly quests so that the prospectives are accepted by the otherworld, and some guard duty.

And, my goodness, this does seem to be progressing rather quickly. I wonder why? Much gossip will be generated, certainly. There are doubtless other families who feel their son should marry the Queen's daughter. And, if the stakes are high enough, an unfortunate if not tragic drowning of the King's son would doubtless show that the Great River Spirit disapproved of the match. Naturally, this other family's son would be much more suitable. And, not be useful at all in getting the tablet to the Queen's city.
 

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