Social Dynamics and Change In The Campaign

[SHARK]

Greetings!

Do many of you my friends develop social dynamics that change the cultures within the campaign milieu? It seems to me that if one were to avoid doing so, the campaign cultures would seem *static* For example, in our own real-world history, the Church's increasing possession of land and wealth gradually led to the formal changing of the Church's policies on allowing priests to be married. As the Church gained increasing lands and wealth, it wanted to keep more and more of it in the hands of the Church, rather than see such inherited wealth go to the deceased priest's widow and children, thus taking the wealth out of the hands of the church. This change in policy of course, had an enormous impact on thousands and thousands of people--as well as future priests, who of course were then expected and required to be unmarried.

An additional example would be how the medieval attitudes of sending women off to covents, actually over time, led to many women becoming educated, knowledgeable, who then proceeded to write some rather provocative treatises on experiencial faith, mysticism, as well as arguing for various dimensions of social equality and social reforms--which contrasted greatly with the general patriarchal medieval mindset, but also pointedly with previously articulated Church dogma. These philosophical and literary contributions also contributed significantly to the gradual development of ideas of *Courtly Love*, *Chivalry*--and romance, which filtered their way into Church policies and calls for reforms of the medieval mindset, prosecution of tournaments, and the diverse expressions of pacifistic elements and ideas within the Church that had previously been nonexistent, or much more muted.

These are two real-world examples of how social dynamics gradually accelerated larger, salient changes within medieval society, both near and far.

Have similar dynamics changed various cultures in your campaigns? If so, how have the PC's responded to such social evolutions? Were the PC's against such changing dynamics, seeking to protect and serve the status quo? Or were they eager to take up the new ideas, and aid such social evolutions?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[DrunkonDuty]

The short answer is : no.

But it might be about to happen in my current game. My BBEG is a behind the scenes manipulator type with several secret orgainsations working for her. The PCs are (finally) starting to fight fire with fire. They are setting up their own organisations (secret and official government ones) to try and take BBEG down.

They may succeed or not, I don't know. But even if they do succeed they have set in motion certain social changes that will have a knock on effect. One that comes to mind is tighter banking regulations. HOw's that for an epic sword and sorcery theme? Conan the Banking Regulator. There's also a possibility of a permanent Star Chamber/Inquisition and a super secret spy organisation (these 2 are a bit more of what heroic fantasy should be about. But usually opposing them...) All this in a Lawful Good Dwarven kingdom. Actually it fits perfectly in an LG Dwarfhold in my opinion.

This the sort of thing you meant?

 

[Eridanis]

SHARK! Nothing to contribute at this second (getting the kids ready for bed), but just wanted to say it's good to see you around.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I like that, Drunkonduty.

There are two things that I am doing in my games to emulate this, SHARK. First, I'm planning on advancing the timeline of my campaign world for my next campaign - 50 years or so ought to do it. The efforts of my current players will determine a lot of things in the next campaign, and I plan on asking them how THEY think the world would evolve.

Then, over the course of that campaign, I plan on having a few long breaks (in-game) to allow for the type of long-term planning that Drunkonduty's example would require; I'd like to set it up so that the PC's go from young adults to their forties over the course of a campaign...

I'm giving thought to lots of ways to break up the concept of a campaign - I had a friend who started running a game where after 5-6 levels, we switched to a new group of people, from a different culture - but all in the same world, and all dealing with the same problems. We started off as a group of barbarians from a repressed minority, and then created PC's who were nobles from the group that was oppressing our prior characters! Eventually we would have switched to elves, and who knows what else. I think he was planning on a world-spanning idea where the players would have brought back one or two of their best PC's to deal with the ultimate threat. I think that could be a really nifty idea, and I'm sad that we never got to the end of the campaign.

 

[el-remmen]

In my current campaign, there is a burgeoning democractic movement seeking to replace the magocracy of the PCs home nation (the PCs are all noble born, or are loyal to the power that be).

The thing is that most of the people supporting the movement are either part of the educated merchant class, or disaffected nobles, who have the learning, leisure and inclination to write and discuss political philosophy. The problem being that the results of their theoritical dialogs would ostensibly undermine the systems in place to allow people like them to have power in the first place.

 

[SHARK]

The short answer is : no.

But it might be about to happen in my current game. My BBEG is a behind the scenes manipulator type with several secret orgainsations working for her. The PCs are (finally) starting to fight fire with fire. They are setting up their own organisations (secret and official government ones) to try and take BBEG down.

They may succeed or not, I don't know. But even if they do succeed they have set in motion certain social changes that will have a knock on effect. One that comes to mind is tighter banking regulations. HOw's that for an epic sword and sorcery theme? Conan the Banking Regulator. There's also a possibility of a permanent Star Chamber/Inquisition and a super secret spy organisation (these 2 are a bit more of what heroic fantasy should be about. But usually opposing them...) All this in a Lawful Good Dwarven kingdom. Actually it fits perfectly in an LG Dwarfhold in my opinion.

This the sort of thing you meant?

Very cool, man! Players setting up their own organizations that can inlfuence the political and social landscape of the campaign. Indeed! Good stuff there!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[SHARK]

SHARK! Nothing to contribute at this second (getting the kids ready for bed), but just wanted to say it's good to see you around.

Greetings!

Well, thank you Eridanis! Thank you very much! It's good to be back! I've missed everyone!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[SHARK]

I like that, Drunkonduty.

There are two things that I am doing in my games to emulate this, SHARK. First, I'm planning on advancing the timeline of my campaign world for my next campaign - 50 years or so ought to do it. The efforts of my current players will determine a lot of things in the next campaign, and I plan on asking them how THEY think the world would evolve.

Then, over the course of that campaign, I plan on having a few long breaks (in-game) to allow for the type of long-term planning that Drunkonduty's example would require; I'd like to set it up so that the PC's go from young adults to their forties over the course of a campaign...

I'm giving thought to lots of ways to break up the concept of a campaign - I had a friend who started running a game where after 5-6 levels, we switched to a new group of people, from a different culture - but all in the same world, and all dealing with the same problems. We started off as a group of barbarians from a repressed minority, and then created PC's who were nobles from the group that was oppressing our prior characters! Eventually we would have switched to elves, and who knows what else. I think he was planning on a world-spanning idea where the players would have brought back one or two of their best PC's to deal with the ultimate threat. I think that could be a really nifty idea, and I'm sad that we never got to the end of the campaign.

Kid--that's just pure *GOLD* my friend! Talk about providing a very different role-playing experience for the players! Just outstanding! Through all of that, there are plenty of opportunities to provoke changes in society that have enduring effects. Along the way, the players get the deliciousness of experiencing very complex social/political/cultural struggles in a sublime, personal way that also enhances their understanding of such struggles, and the different perspectives of the positions involved. You should definitely carry through with that inspiration! I've done something similar in my campaigns, and it has always been a huge fun for the group!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[SHARK]

In my current campaign, there is a burgeoning democractic movement seeking to replace the magocracy of the PCs home nation (the PCs are all noble born, or are loyal to the power that be).

The thing is that most of the people supporting the movement are either part of the educated merchant class, or disaffected nobles, who have the learning, leisure and inclination to write and discuss political philosophy. The problem being that the results of their theoritical dialogs would ostensibly undermine the systems in place to allow people like them to have power in the first place.

Greetings!

OH! Such beautiful *IRONY*, heh, El-remmen? That sounds very cool. I bet it makes them struggle and really wonder about what their doing, and the implications of it. I love the whole political struggle thing. That's always a neat element to bring to the campaign.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

 

[Umbran]

It is my observation that social dynamics change fairly slowly in comparison to the length of most campaign storylines, especially if you eliminate widespread fast communication and modern media from the equation.

In addition, the globe-trotting and plane-hopping nature of many campaigns will mean that the slow change in a local culture would be overshadowed by the plethora of variations the characters see among the variety of cultures they encounter.

End result - no. Even if I wanted to do that, I'll be honest: my gaming sessions are not long and frequent enough to spend on things that are (by comparison to the plotline) minutiae. I have enough trouble getting through the campaign events, let alone getting across the fact that since the start of the campaign, the rigid class structure in the world has loosened up a bit...