yangnome
First Post
The most important aspect of a political game is power struggle. A “political game” needn’t necessarily take place between governments. You could run a political game between ruling elite, noble families, inside the thieves guild, or behind a prison wall. All of these scenarios and more open up tons of opportunities for power struggle.
Once you decide where you want your game to take place, you need to create the actual power struggle. Is it something obvious or something subtle? Will your game be black and white with players clearly choosing one side against another side, or will there be many options and a lot of gray area for players to make decisions on their own? I prefer the latter, but it will really depend on your group.
After you decide the nature of the power struggle, you can start developing the entities involved. As mentioned above, this may be one entity, or it could be multiple. Take the thieves guild example. There could be one high-ranking member who is plotting to overthrow the guild leadership, or it would be a number of factions vying for leadership after the death of the leader. Decide how many factions you want, and begin to define who they are, the key players in each faction and their motives.
Once you have an idea of who the factions will be, and some of the NPCs involved in each, then start examining their motives a bit further. Look for the means they will use to achieve their goals. Will they be upfront, underhanded; probably a mixture of both. How will each group try to manipulate the PCs? Is there a chance they might get along with them, or use them to achieve their goals, or will they be opposed to the PCs from the get go?
I’d advise setting the PCs in the middle of things and letting them figure out their own loyalties. If you have a group with mixed backgrounds and opinions as many are, you may even have PCs leaning toward different sides, which makes for more fun.
Whatever you do though, make the stakes high. Unless you or your players prefer something black and white, throw in a number of different choices, factions, alliances and allies. Throw in some surprises with mixed alliances, betrayals and the like. Keep them on their toes and always guessing. Develop everything in layers. Conflict is the one element that makes for great stories and great games. Make certain the PCs have plenty of conflict, some from external means and some in their own heads. Choices shouldn’t be between right and wrong. Choices where they have to decide the lesser of two evils is always a lot more fun, especially when things aren’t always what they seem.
The most successful “political game” I ran took place in a prison. PCs were mostly political prisoners, as were many prisoners in the place. The PCs were in prison from level 1- 6. They were forced to fight for their survival, which required choosing sides and vying for power in an environment with little forgiveness. In addition to choosing sides and struggling for power, PCs had to make decisions on how much they would give up in order to have and achieve power and alliances. It was a very dark game, full of moral dilemmas, but it worked out well for the most part.
Once you decide where you want your game to take place, you need to create the actual power struggle. Is it something obvious or something subtle? Will your game be black and white with players clearly choosing one side against another side, or will there be many options and a lot of gray area for players to make decisions on their own? I prefer the latter, but it will really depend on your group.
After you decide the nature of the power struggle, you can start developing the entities involved. As mentioned above, this may be one entity, or it could be multiple. Take the thieves guild example. There could be one high-ranking member who is plotting to overthrow the guild leadership, or it would be a number of factions vying for leadership after the death of the leader. Decide how many factions you want, and begin to define who they are, the key players in each faction and their motives.
Once you have an idea of who the factions will be, and some of the NPCs involved in each, then start examining their motives a bit further. Look for the means they will use to achieve their goals. Will they be upfront, underhanded; probably a mixture of both. How will each group try to manipulate the PCs? Is there a chance they might get along with them, or use them to achieve their goals, or will they be opposed to the PCs from the get go?
I’d advise setting the PCs in the middle of things and letting them figure out their own loyalties. If you have a group with mixed backgrounds and opinions as many are, you may even have PCs leaning toward different sides, which makes for more fun.
Whatever you do though, make the stakes high. Unless you or your players prefer something black and white, throw in a number of different choices, factions, alliances and allies. Throw in some surprises with mixed alliances, betrayals and the like. Keep them on their toes and always guessing. Develop everything in layers. Conflict is the one element that makes for great stories and great games. Make certain the PCs have plenty of conflict, some from external means and some in their own heads. Choices shouldn’t be between right and wrong. Choices where they have to decide the lesser of two evils is always a lot more fun, especially when things aren’t always what they seem.
The most successful “political game” I ran took place in a prison. PCs were mostly political prisoners, as were many prisoners in the place. The PCs were in prison from level 1- 6. They were forced to fight for their survival, which required choosing sides and vying for power in an environment with little forgiveness. In addition to choosing sides and struggling for power, PCs had to make decisions on how much they would give up in order to have and achieve power and alliances. It was a very dark game, full of moral dilemmas, but it worked out well for the most part.
