Rebellion: Modes of Production, Class Conflict and Social Change

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Rebellion: Modes of Production, Class Conflict, and Social Change

In my campaign, I have frequent riots by different guild members, as well as factions of the arena, fighting against one another. There is always some whackjob demagogue standing on a wagon or some steps somewhere, stirring up crowds of the unwashed masses….
The sight of some strange man or woman, standing on a street-corner and preaching to the masses is common, as they attempt to beguile or entice others to be swayed by their arguments, hoping to gain converts to their religion.

There are different groups within society, whether organized by religion, race, politics, or social class, that are usually protesting something or other, and arguing and wanting this or that policy to change, more rights, and so on.

Then, of course, aside from the dramatic aspects of such, there are some deeper considerations at hand. How do you develop the change in society that comes from new technology, new processes, or even new political or economic policy? There could be ramifications from when a guild for example changes leadership, and the new leadership takes a stance on not trading with the trolls for example, or refusing to do business with the elves of the Shining Forest, and so on. Whether by technology, the government, magic, or economic changes, there can be all sorts of changes unleashed on significant segments of society, and causes the society to make changes to the new developments. Then there is the agitation of class warfare, as old as ancient Greece and the Roman Republic, where the interests of the elite land-owning classes were oppressive to the farmer, the small businessman, and the poorer segments of society.

Do any of these things impact your campaign? How do you develop them? How has the player characters interacted with them? Such concepts can be intriguing and provide some sense of drama and change within the local campaign urban and rural environments alike, as oftentimes the typical environment can certainly appear static, unchanging, and at least in some ways, boring. I have found it to be fun and interesting to experiment with these ideas and such in my own campaigns!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[haakon1]

IMC, there is very limited social change in terms of class struggle, birth of the enlightenment, change of technology, that sort of thing.

Technology is essentially set. Sometimes a new technology will drop in from another world -- night vision goggles and an FN FiveseveN pistol, for instance, ended up at a magic shop from a lost Stargate D20 character stumbling into Greyhawk -- but it doesn't change the essential mileau.

As for social change, there's more of a chance of that, but I usually have it come in the form of wars between states, rather than revolutions or social movements.

This actually makes some sense from a sociological point of view. As Jared Diamond points out in his study of collapsed societies (Norse Greenland, Easter Island, the cliffdweller Indians of the four corners region, etc.), being on the edge of destruction tends to make a society very conservative in its ways -- where one false step means death, new ways are frowned upon.

There are, of course, differing views on whether abudance/threat make people more change avoidant/likely to change, but I buy Diamond's basic argument in a number of contexts, including post-war US politics.

That said, it would be interesting to have NPC's advocate a new religion, democracy, guild rule (syndicalism, gotta love it), timocracy (rule of the brave, i.e., the military class), half-orc rights, etc.