D&D 5E Political campaign?

[amazingDuck]

Hello, I'm a new DM who has DMed a few dungeon crawls, but nothing beyond that. I've never actually played, either, I've only DMed. I wanted to run a campaign with some of my friends (none of whom play), but unbeknownst to me, it seems it's recommended that new DMs run modules for their first campaign. So I'm in a bit over my head because the player that is most intrigued wanted to do a political campaign. I can't back out of it now. I've already started and I'm tired of making my players create new characters for the fifth time, not to see them reach level 3. Currently, the story is that there are two rival cities close to each other, and the city the adventurers start in captured a general of the other city whilst he was on patrol. The players are needed because the general was captured by a cultist, looking to sacrifice him so his diety would grant him eternal life. The players have already rescued the general from the cultist and returned him to the city and that's where we stopped, but know I have to start doing the political side of this campaign. So basically I have no idea what to do, and I would be grateful for some tips on how to run/create fun political campaigns.

In addition, I usually only run games with low-level characters, and it doesn't seem enough to me that clerics can only cast cure wounds twice, especially when low-level characters are killed so easy. So I was wondering if allowing spellcasters to regain 1 spell slot on short rests, +1 slot every 5 levels, would be balanced, especially in late game.

 

[Eltab]

For a political campaign, I'm going to have to give you some cursed advice: Watch the evening news. (And try not to turn into )

Set up maybe three factions in each city. (The General heads one of them, the Cultist heads another, so the problem is that much simpler.) They each have a goal - which you have to figure out 'what do they want?'. They each use the methods and tools you glean from the IRL nightly newscasts against each other.

BTW, get the old PC sheets and work them into the plot, as messengers or muscle for one group or another. Use this to indicate who the 'good guys' (more or less) are. Your players should get a kick out of it, when they recognize their former selves.

 

[Tormyr]

Murder in Baldur's Gate is a political adventure where 3 factions vie for power in Baldur's Gate.

It can be a frustrating adventure for players as there is too much going on for them to fix everything. So the players/PCs can feel a bit powerless. Some things will get worse, and the PCs may actually cause some of the problems unknowingly.

It can be a frustrating adventure for DMs (especially new DMs) because it was written for a different rule system and would need some adjustments (particularly around selecting other monsters as the stat blocks are out of date). Being a city adventure with an episode a day format, the heroes are always well rested and at peak power.

 

[Jaelommiss]

I ran a political game a few months back that fell apart after four sessions, and wasn't really fun for anyone. I'd have two pieces of advice based on that experience.

1) Make sure that everyone wants to play a political game. One person saying they want it and everyone else staying quiet almost certainly means that the others don't want a political game, but don't want to ruin someone else's fun. This was the problem I ran into.

2) Start small, and let the players determine how their network spreads. Before I tell you how to do that, I'm going to explain how I manage factions and NPCs (who are just really small factions).

A politcal game is all about factions, ranging in size from a single person to alliances of organizations. Their influence will range from someone willing to act for themselves all the way up to leading or controlling thousands of people. A single player character is on the low end of both (at first). The government of a country has both large membership and influence. The king at the head of that government is a single person with immense influence. A band of poorly equipped escaped slaves could be a faction with large membership but poor influence. A single faction will generally be composed of several smaller factions, which can be further divided until you reach individual members.

With that background, in the first session I will introduce roughly five factions to the players.

There will usually be one that is motivated to be hostile to the PCs, but cannot act against them immediately. In my game the PCs were secretly devil worshippers, so I used a large monotheistic clergy that included a large portion of the nation's nobility. This is generally a lurking threat that the players are aware of constantly, but unable to effectively influence at first. It shapes their actions without a direct confrontation.

The second faction acts as a foil to the first, helping the party or acting as a patron. For my party this was the devil that they worked for. I like to use a hands off approach for this group. The devil gave the party a broad task and a lead to follow: have this monotheistic nation accept the worship of other deities so big man Asmodeus can set up churches here. I suggest you use the nobility's annual tournament to ingratiate yourselves with their society.

The third faction is an immediate villain that the party can work against to accomplish their objective. I used a duke, brother to the king, leader of the nation's armies, and reigning champion of the tournament. He hires mercenaries and champions every year to maintain his victory. He was a paladin of the monotheistic clergy, but that wasn't confirmed beyond rumour until they fought him in the melee. Finding a way to make the party oppose this faction is best handled by a (possibly disobedient) subordinate. I had his arrogant champion challenge a PC to a fight and, after winning, taunt the others that they might as well back out of the tournament. My party didn't meet the Duke until the third session, and by then they had all but declared war on him.

The fourth faction is a rival to the immediate villain that the party's immediate goals align with. My party needed to find allies to face the King's brother, so I introduced a faction that hadn't been created yet. I added a half dozen independent nobles, mostly low ranking, who were tired of the Duke's victory every year. The party's first real accomplishment was bringing them all together, though they themselves did not have the political influence to head this new group.

The fifth faction is a neutral party that the party can use to their advantage, but without any pressing loyalties one way or the other. This was the knight in whose village the tournament was taking place. He offered housing for the party as well as an invitation to the tournament. He was also the most likely way that they could have been exposed. My players did not take to this character too much, so he fell offscreen pretty fast.

It looks like a lot, but this is starting small. Some of these factions will only show up once every few sessions, while others will Now that you've got a good sized roster of factions for the players to interact with, just sit back and watch them work. If they are interested in politics they will develop a relationship with some of the factions you've introduced. As time goes on, you can introduce more factions where they make sense. Two of the top members of the factions my players helped create got fleshed out further and became their own sub-factions. The same happened with the opposing faction.

When the party started to feel like things were stable, I'd add a twist and more factions. I like to introduce this shortly before resolving the current issue is resolved so that it feels like there is always something going on in the world. There's no finishing an adventure and waiting around for the next one to show up.
Twist: The noble whose team wins the tournament may claim the right to lead the king's armies (discovered halfway through the tournament). The leader of the party's team is using this to strengthen his domain.
Faction: Rebellious group that wants to overthrow the leader of the party's team and claim his lands.
Faction: Only surviving character from a PC's background is revealed to work for the party's enemy, but is friendly with party.

When my party would latch onto a faction, I considered who else would be present in their sphere of influence, what conflicts and motivations existed between those groups, and then introduced them. By waiting until you know who the party is interested in you can avoid making lots of factions that would end up ignored. At this point you just play all these factions to their motivations and ongoing plots, wrap the PCs up in this endless web, and watch the chaos unfold.


Edit: I use this technique far more gently for NPCs and conflict in normal games. I don't spend as much time developing them in game, and it happens over a longer timescale, but the principle of expanding spheres of influence still applies.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Hello, I'm a new DM who has DMed a few dungeon crawls, but nothing beyond that. I've never actually played, either, I've only DMed. I wanted to run a campaign with some of my friends (none of whom play), but unbeknownst to me, it seems it's recommended that new DMs run modules for their first campaign. So I'm in a bit over my head because the player that is most intrigued wanted to do a political campaign. I can't back out of it now. I've already started and I'm tired of making my players create new characters for the fifth time, not to see them reach level 3. Currently, the story is that there are two rival cities close to each other, and the city the adventurers start in captured a general of the other city whilst he was on patrol. The players are needed because the general was captured by a cultist, looking to sacrifice him so his diety would grant him eternal life. The players have already rescued the general from the cultist and returned him to the city and that's where we stopped, but know I have to start doing the political side of this campaign. So basically I have no idea what to do, and I would be grateful for some tips on how to run/create fun political campaigns.

I personally don't think that D&D is all that well suited to a political game, compared to other options like Fate, which have social/mental consequences. One thing to consider is that full spellcasters have a huge utility advantage over other types of characters. Mind reading, invisibility, charm etc. Add in that those games tend to have even fewer fights per day, letting them dominate further in non-combat days. Probably something to point out early so someone doesnt play a champion and just get bored. Non-casters have to rely on a few skills and hope the DM just rolls with their non-class based mechanic ideas, which casters can ALSO do.

In addition, I usually only run games with low-level characters, and it doesn't seem enough to me that clerics can only cast cure wounds twice, especially when low-level characters are killed so easy. So I was wondering if allowing spellcasters to regain 1 spell slot on short rests, +1 slot every 5 levels, would be balanced, especially in late game.

This completely invalidates the warlock as having a reason to exist, so I would say no. Casters need nerfs IMO, not buffs. I have found 5E pretty non-lethal after 2nd level. If your party keeps dying at 1st/2nd, just give them a few extra potions of false life/healing, and try and telegraph dangerous fights. As a side note, Cure Wounds is a kind of bad choice compared to Healing Word, since you can healing word and attack/cast a cantrip, and the few extra HP probably wont make a big difference compared to just winning the fight faster.

 

[aco175]

In addition, I usually only run games with low-level characters, and it doesn't seem enough to me that clerics can only cast cure wounds twice, especially when low-level characters are killed so easy. So I was wondering if allowing spellcasters to regain 1 spell slot on short rests, +1 slot every 5 levels, would be balanced, especially in late game.

The base mage class has a power that lets them regain a spell similar to this. I would not see a problem with it, but should be balanced with the rest of their power. Maybe make it one of their divine powers. This way they can regain a spell but it costs them the ability to turn undead that day or rest. Next question would be to let the mage regain spells twice since it is overpowered and favors the other casters. Be careful for the fighter will want action surge twice next.

 

[TallIan]

In addition, I usually only run games with low-level characters, and it doesn't seem enough to me that clerics can only cast cure wounds twice, especially when low-level characters are killed so easy. So I was wondering if allowing spellcasters to regain 1 spell slot on short rests, +1 slot every 5 levels, would be balanced, especially in late game.

All the classes are a little weak at low levels. The fighter, who should be able to tank lots of damage, is really only a hit or two away from unconsciousness. Generally in combat healing in 5e is not great, but that is balanced by ample out of combat healing. As others have pointed out, doing this would step on the toes of other class abilities (or in the case of the warlock, the whole class concept) and to be blunt would make the already powerful caster classes more powerful.

If you are finding some character week at low levels, it's probably time to venture into higher level play.

 

[haakon1]

Political can mean a lot of things. I think my game is highly political, but it’s not because it’s about factions and in-fighting and lawmaking, but because politics are part of the settings, players get pulled in to help and become allies of political players, and I am heavy on setting.

To me “House of Cards” is tedious, but “Game of Thrones” is fascinating, because there is a lot going on — politics, religion, intrigue, dragons, war, adventure, etc. Even LOTR or Beowulf or Conan have politics, it’s just not of the sort about getting the bill through committee (instead alliances, racism by elves, inheritance issues, “king by his own hand”, etc. To me, politics should be a reason the adventure MATTERS, not usually the adventure itself. I often used the idea: this mission pleased the guy who runs adventurers for the ruler, so he’s a new mission important to the nation, and he can get you of trouble.

My advice on some good sources:
- Song of Ice & Fire RPG, Chroncile Starter. Excellent intrigues and noble families, GoT setting.
- Living Greyhawk Gazetteer. Complex international politics in the original D&D setting.
- Shackled City Advenute Path. Paizo.com has a ton of SCAP ideas, including a great fan made scenario for a ball that ran amazingly well for me and many others.

 

[OzDragon]

My real issue with political campaigns is that it leaves out a few classes. Rogues, Bards, Wizards, Clerics and to a lesser extent Sorcerers with have the most play due to skills needed. The other classes can be used but will be out of their element so to speak.

 

[tardigrade]

Before I leave more specific advice, 5e might not be the best system for this - would you consider running something else or are you locked into 5e?