D&D General Politics (in your game)

[the Jester]

Not everyone has political stuff go on in their game- in some campaigns, you don't ever even know the name of the country you're in, or whether there's a ruler, much less their name. But in some, politics are either a major feature or a major element in the background. And it doesn't have to be politics like "kingdom A is trying to steal land and resources from kingdom B"- political tensions and conflicts can exist solely within a society, too.

If your game includes politics as either a pc-facing thing or as a background element, what is that like? What kind of political tensions are dominant? Do you have lots of factions, racial tensions, social stratification, a struggle between church and state for dominance? Is there a monarch with unlimited power or a council of wise men or a dictator grimly holding on to power by playing the aristocrats against each other?

 

[Shiroiken]

My last campaign was Saltmarsh, which had a lot of political undertones. The town itself is relatively unimportant, being cut off from the rest of civilization by swamplands, a thick forest, and rugged hills. Beyond each is a political state, and Saltmarsh is currently controlled by Keoland, but other than a single small city, is cut off by the Dreadwood. Beyond the swamp lay the Sea Princes, vicious slave traders and pirates, but they're only a mere 30 miles by sea, while reinforcements from Keoland are almost 120 miles away. A lesser faction, the Yeomanry is a landlocked state beyond the hills, but controlling Saltmarsh would give it access to the Azure Sea without paying tariffs to Keoland. There are agents for each faction in the town, each trying to manipulate the council towards their goals, while a hidden faction manipulates the manipulators. Meanwhile, most of the town just wants to be left alone by everyone!

There was a lot of politics going on, some actively done by the PCs, others done in the background. My group made an early alliance with one of the council members. Unknown to them, he was a minor agent of the Sea Princes, so their actions while geared towards helping Saltmarsh, but was potentially opening the town to invasion. Meanwhile they also make an alliance with another council member, unaware they were manipulated by the hidden faction. The party also found other parties that had their own agenda, unconnected to the five major factions. The party attended council meetings, protected diplomats, and tried to keep the town from falling into chaos. In addition, they worked out an alliance of various local creatures to attack a common foe. By the end, they made a tenuous peace with the Sea Princes, kept Keoland from aggression, unmasked and scattered the hidden faction, and brought a level of sanity back.

 

[payn]

If your game includes politics as either a pc-facing thing or as a background element, what is that like? What kind of political tensions are dominant? Do you have lots of factions, racial tensions, social stratification, a struggle between church and state for dominance? Is there a monarch with unlimited power or a council of wise men or a dictator grimly holding on to power by playing the aristocrats against each other?

Political intrigue is a must for me in TTRPGs. There are always factions vying for power and influence and the PCs manage to find their way in the middle. If there are no stakes in the local/world political structure, I'll be disappointed.

I usually skip racism and sexism because I dont think they are necessary to a good political arena. I also dont want folks to wander into offensive territory. If PCs or NPCs are treated differently and with derision, its because they are strangers and suspicious, not because they are X race. Could belong to an enemy faction or nation too.

Once I used Yojimbo as an influence to rewrite a module in a Paizo AP. There was a faction of relic hunters a bunch of elite secretive types that ran things behind the scenes. They made a truce with a band of vampires in a city to ignore the occasional death as long as the elite were left untouched. Some grisly and unexplained murders are on the verge of breaking the peace as the PCs enter the city. They can side with the fraternity or the vamps, or neither. /can also play them off one another too. Its up to them.

 

[cbwjm]

I have a vague idea of rulership in my game.

The human dominated grand duchy (could be a kingdom but the original 8 tribes wished for no king to rule them) is made up of 8 large counties the positions of which are hereditary. The position of grand duke is up for grabs for whoever wants it when the current grand duke dies. Those who wish to take over the title must be voted in by the 8 counts. It hasn't come up in game, but after a long period of grand dukes belonging to the county of the lion, the previous grand duke was overthrown after they tried to become a true king and force hereditary rule by their blood line. Their replacement was the count of the bear. Some in the lion wish to see their predecessors vision come true, others seek to reclaim the once good name of the lion.

The remains of the ancient draconic empire of Arkhosia (yes, I stole the name, I like it) is ruled by a king but in reality his rule generally only extends to the surrounding area of his own city state. Each great city left after the great elemental war in the mythic age is ruled by an archduke who has largely similar power, sometimes more depending on the importance of the city they rule. The duke of Tymanther (stole that one too), has a lot of power due to the historical importance of the city and some of their ancient institutions such as the great library and the original draconis sorcere, an ancient order of sorcerers. The king is a ruler in name only and the kingdom is held together primarily through diplomatic ties and a desire to avoid mutual destruction of their own city states if going to war.

Most of the game has little to do with the various political factions though, the party is too busy trying to stop a warlock gaining the power of a dragon elder to worry too much about who's ruling where.

 

[Zardnaar]

Generally depends on what part of my world you're in.

Without the printing press though it's usually some type of aristocracy/plutocracy/theocracy and democracy basically doesn't exist at best some sort of plutocratic republic or elective monarchy.

 

[Zardnaar]

I have a vague idea of rulership in my game.

The human dominated grand duchy (could be a kingdom but the original 8 tribes wished for no king to rule them) is made up of 8 large counties the positions of which are hereditary. The position of grand duke is up for grabs for whoever wants it when the current grand duke dies. Those who wish to take over the title must be voted in by the 8 counts. It hasn't come up in game, but after a long period of grand dukes belonging to the county of the lion, the previous grand duke was overthrown after they tried to become a true king and force hereditary rule by their blood line. Their replacement was the count of the bear. Some in the lion wish to see their predecessors vision come true, others seek to reclaim the once good name of the lion.

The remains of the ancient draconic empire of Arkhosia (yes, I stole the name, I like it) is ruled by a king but in reality his rule generally only extends to the surrounding area of his own city state. Each great city left after the great elemental war in the mythic age is ruled by an archduke who has largely similar power, sometimes more depending on the importance of the city they rule. The duke of Tymanther (stole that one too), has a lot of power due to the historical importance of the city and some of their ancient institutions such as the great library and the original draconis sorcere, an ancient order of sorcerers. The king is a ruler in name only and the kingdom is held together primarily through diplomatic ties and a desire to avoid mutual destruction of their own city states if going to war.

Most of the game has little to do with the various political factions though, the party is too busy trying to stop a warlock gaining the power of a dragon elder to worry too much about who's ruling where.

I have also stolen Arkhosia and Bael Turoth.

 

[cbwjm]

I have also stolen Arkhosia and Bael Turoth.

Sometimes it's just easier to take an already established name from another setting than come up with your own.

 

[Blue]

In one of the campaigns I'm running, the characters all started off as Maskbearers - the (failing) Imperium has about 80 (left) of these powerful artifact masks they created during their peak (lie!) that may wake when someone compatible comes before them. Accepting the Mask and the Oath (never administered!) gives one some great authorty.

The Child-Empress Olixia, Fourth of her Name, wished to focus the resources of the Imperium on a newly discovered continent. Deep Sea arries no magic, so it is out of reach of teleportation, sending, etc. Seeing six Maskbearers at once, something unheard of in recent history, she sent them to the new land. Any Maskbearer would have authority, but she also granted them the right of High Justice since she would not be there.

They get there (a 3 month sea voyage) and immediately the Governor thinks it's a vote of no confidence, since previously he was the only one with the Right of High Justice on the new continent. Dealing with that, with leaders of other settlements, setting up an improptu leading council for a settlement recovering from a plague, and acting as ambassadors.

We're now over a year into the campaign, they have found that they can travel back through the feywild to the main continents (dealing with several archfey), and have just rescued Olixia from confinement by her warhawk uncle who has been named her Regent by the Council of Nobles after a dead noble (a PCs uncle) was resurrected and reclaimed his position and others were swayed. There's a good amount of politics, and while right now they are dealing with a menace of Giants in the Reserve the Wood Elves had claimed of the Imperium in the past, trying to flip votes of on the Council of Nobles is high on their list of things to do.

 

[DammitVictor]

It's pretty crucial to mine, with the sellsword to baron to emperor to deity pipeline being the desired experience. I put a lot of work into defining economic dependencies and webs of relationships so I can effortlessly "make it all up" before the players attempt to have sex and/or fire with it.

 

[Zeromaru X]

In my Neverwinter campaign, there is shadowy organization known as the Shadow Mirrors (I stole that name, lol) that is behind nearly all the armor and weapon smiths of the Sword Coast and nearby lands, in some form or another. They either sponsor them directly or by third party, and also control the important trade routes necessary for most nations to wage war against one another. They have also infiltrated some other organizations such as the Zhents, many religions and armies of many countries, many governments, etc., so they can manipulate events from behind the scenes.

With control of nearly all of the humans and some non-humans weapon-crafters and sellers, the Shadow Mirrors goal is to plunge the world in an eternal war, as well as to control and profit for wars in all over the Realms, and they have been doing this for many centuries so the true extent of their activities can't be known. Their leaders views are that war brings about change and progress, and the best in humanity, so there is no reason to desire for peace. They define peace as the stagnation in between one war and the next, causing man to become corrupt and weak, and is thus undesirable.

The players are just discovering that all the events they have participated so far have been manipulated by these individuals. Besides that, there is the obvious political intrigue in a campaign about the true heir of Alagondar trying to take the crown from Dagult Neverember.