Political campaigns. How to?

[der_kluge]

I think I've pretty much got the basics of how to run you average, run-of-the mill dungeon crawl, or your standard BBEG/macguffin sort of thing.

The type of game that eludes me are the political games. What do you think are good components of a political game? I envision that you start the PCs up against some powerful entity like the corrupt rulers of a town, or something, but along the way the PCs must be able to slowly win against them, but most political games I've seen, or been a part of, kind of break down because initially the odds against political forces seem so overwhelming that most players don't bother. Is that any remedy for this?

Tell me about a successful political game you ran, and how you pulled it off.

 

[Crothian]

Political games are tough. I do them by setting up specific sides and just letting the PCs choose one or the other. It also though depends on the PCs, if they don't know how to play in a political game they'll obviously not do well at it.

 

[Stormborn]

Political campaigns take a lot of work to be done right. You have to track the movements of NPCs who act independently of the PCs, rather than reacting as in more traditional campaigns. This means more labor on the GMs part, and need for a detailed and consistant setting.

I strongly recommend Dynasties and Demagouges from Atlas Games (http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG3220.php). Also,you had better be sure your players want to be involved in that kind of game. Its not everyone's cup of tea, and a poorly recieved or executed politcal campaign can kill a group. A compromise is to have the PCs all be members of a noble house or houses made up of the warrior elite who are expected to deal with extraoridnary threats/go on quests etc. That way you can balance out the sessions of talking and intrigue with a few more traditional adventures.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Probably the biggest component of a successful political campaign are the players. You need at least one (though two is better) players with a good grasp of subterfuge, treachery, and advantage, as well as a lot of creativity. If you try to run a political campaign without that, you'll end up with a lot of players staring blankly at the wall looking for the next plot-hook and then leaping at anything that resembles a hook like a drowning man grabbing a lifeline. (At least that's what happened to me).

A fully developed setting is another essential element to a political campaign. Player creativity is good but if players don't have an understanding of the power groups and basic resources and goals of the others in their world, then they don't have the material they need to work with.

A nice intermediate solution is to introduce strong NPCs who are on the side that the PCs would choose and have them orchestrate events that the PCs take part in. That way, even if the players aren't prepared to orchestrate events, you have political elements in your game.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I echo all the above.. especially the part about Dynasties and Demagouges.... very good book for running politics in game.

Perhaps one day I will have a group that I can use the book with

 

[philreed]

I echo all the above.. especially the part about Dynasties and Demagouges.... very good book for running politics in game.

Agreed. And I'll add go read David Liss' A Conspiracy of Paper.

http://www.davidliss.com/

The first chapter is on his site. This and his other two novels are very inspirational for any DM looking to run a game based on economic and political intrigue.

 

[DMH]

It depends on the goal of the campaign- power or disruption of power. The former, where PCs and their allies become politically connected or elected, is right in Atlas' book. The latter, where the PCs are trying to bring down a government(s), is somewhat easier, but with greater risks. Sun Tzu is a great source for political games as well.

Just today I was reading Toxic Sludge is Good for You, a book on the PR industry and how lies told the correct way are so powerful. The setting idea was for Midnight where some elves become orcs (in mind and body) but with a powerful imperative- to bring down Izzy's armies. This would be a political setting of the most violent kind. The PCs would have to work up the ranks and then waste their soldiers in battles against the elves and orcs.

A less violent setting would be Utopia in Oathbound. The bloodlord is an insane being that believes he is a god. Trying to tear down him would be more of a cat and mouse game where if you lose, you go to prison for a few decades.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

The key thing in political games (apart from players who like to and can play that way) is connections - there need to be a ton of them. Build tons of NPC's in very limited fashion (Bob the stonemason master craftsman, Exp 7, NG, age 34) and make connections. I like to set up a random generation system that I then use to group people together.

Start the PC's off small. They're not taking down the Stonemason's Guild and all their money and connections - they're trying to help a low-level bard who's in trouble for tweaking the noses of the guildsman. They're not going after City Hall, they're just after one corrupt guy. And then the next. Working their way up. Eventually, they can go after the top dogs - but not too soon.

 

[S'mon]

Motivated NPCs with their own agendae are vital. But most important, the PCs must be free agents who can decide to support X and oppose Y, or vice versa. "You are all supporters of Lord X" does not work for a 'political' game, unless the politics is entirely within House X and concerns who gets to succeed Lord X.

 

[Yair]

I am not good at running political campaigns, but just wanted to add a footnote.

The most political campaign I've run was in the Birthright setting. Birthright works like normal D&D, but with an added layer in that each player (well, roughly) also holds certain resources of Guild, Law, Source, and Religion power. Since the character owns these resources, he is very much inclined to struggle to keep and expand them, and I found this created a very rich political struggle.
My players certainly did engage in all sorts of subterfuge and schemes to increase their political power. However, the game was not quite D&D, it is a turn-based game that soon escalated rapidly and deteriorated into open warfare. It was very hard to run, involving lots of minutea and calculations.
While the campaign did have some semblance of D&D to it, the game was not D&D. Nevertheless, I was surprised at the level of political savvy and schemes it drew from my players, so I thought I'd mention it here.