Underground Resistance Campaign

[Derren]

The people are protected (from outside forces), trade is good, etc. The only problem is that it's a dictatorship, where you live, die, and suffer at the whim of the king.

So it is a normal monarchy? And apparently not even the worst. Why would the people want this monarchy to be overthrown when they are well off in it?

 

[khantroll]

Morrus: I'll have to take a deeper look at the WtBS. I remember reading either a preview or a review a while back, but was hip deep in another campaign and didn't give it much thought.

Derren: Well, it's a lawful evil monarchy, and not everyone is alright. As with the LE alignment, as long as you follow the warped code, you stand a chance.

It's broken up into five districts, each headed by a Lord Marshall (a general of the original conquering army). Inside each zone, the Marshall may do as he pleases so long as it isn't detrimental to the entire kingdom. Every zone keeps its workers fed (if necessary) and it's exterior boarders defended, but the actual quality of life varies a lot depending on what you can do for the State and what zone your in.

In the capital district, life is cheap. Undead are used for most manual labor, and much like the Pathfinder City of Cheliax(sp?), there are a good number of earthbound demons and devils here. Merchants and extremely skilled craftsmen, as well as magic users, are the only things that can be expected to survive here. Much like in a drow city, any perceived weakness will probably lead to death. Anyone caught committing a crime will be used in the Marshall's experiments. That ranges from theft to treason.

Meanwhile, in the forest district, life is a little better. It's Marshall is a soldier, and is very much your typical medieval lord. If you know anything about Ravenloft, this like the Domain of Falkovnia. It's strict, and the military is always in charge, but keep your head down and your mouth shut and you might survive.

On the far side of the spectrum lies a third district that is a nightmare land. For all intents and purposes, assume Ravenloft's Il-Aluk meets Hellraiser.

The other two are somewhere between these three.

It's the question of any fascist state; if basic needs are met, except for personal freedoms and justice, why would anyone want to overthrow the government? Just as in real life, the answer is a combination of the fact the populace doesn't like to know that its life and freedoms make taken away in an instant, and the fact that outside forces would rather not have fascist, militaristic empires at their doorsteps. So they help foment rebellion.

It doesn't help all districts have a zero tolerance policy for sedition. Anyone trying to argue against the State will be executed painfully and without mercy.

I know I'm not doing a great job of describing this here, and I'll have to get that down before game time. It might help if I illustrated the thought process I'm using.

Take Nazi Germany, and give it the trappings of an evil fantasy empire. Undead, demons, dark magic, magical siege engines and killing machines. Yet still maintain the fascist sense of pride (at least within the military), and all the other trappings of Nazi Germany (including racisim; in this case elves).

To aid in this, my Lord Marshalls are based on typical fictional depictions of high ranking Nazi officers:

Lord Marshall of the Capital: A pastiche of Hitler and Joseph Mengele.
Lord Marshall of the Forest District: Groening
Lord Marshall of District 3: Pastiche of Joseph Mengele and Hemmler.
Lord Marshall of District 4: Pastiche of Josef Kramer and Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Lord Marshall of District 5: Friedrich Jeckeln

A quick google of these men and their personalities will give you an idea of what the government is like in each district (or, just remember a certain Brad Pitt film).

Second, now that you have an evil empire, assume that instead of a world war, it is left to native, underground forces to over throw. Outside forces are willing to help by smuggling supplies and intel, and perhaps training, but no one would want to go to war with this kingdom. A little like France prior to troops actually landing there.

Does that help paint the picture? To illustrate why there is a rebellion, and what exactly the PCs are up against?

 

[Derren]

It's the question of any fascist state; if basic needs are met, except for personal freedoms and justice, why would anyone want to overthrow the government? Just as in real life, the answer is a combination of the fact the populace doesn't like to know that its life and freedoms make taken away in an instant, and the fact that outside forces would rather not have fascist, militaristic empires at their doorsteps. So they help foment rebellion.

Thats a very modern view of things, but people living in a medieval fantasy world would hardly take so much issues with that as to rebel as long as they are not starved.
90%+ of the population lives in small villages and don't expect to ever leave it. For them live is simple and they couldn't care less what some lord does in a city far away. Nor will the lord bother with controlling every village in his domain. Likely he even can't.

Take Nazi Germany, and give it the trappings of an evil fantasy empire. Undead, demons, dark magic, magical siege engines and killing machines. Yet still maintain the fascist sense of pride (at least within the military), and all the other trappings of Nazi Germany (including racisim; in this case elves).

While Nazis are nowadays painted as the ultimate evil, many other countries both modern and medieval, some of them being romanticized today, behaved equally bad. Especially in medieval times things were rougher and actions considered abhorrent today were deemed to be a necessary evil or were even supported in the name of faith.

At some point you will have to explain why the common folk, living in a village without any mass communication or media and without much contact to townsfolk, would care so much as to rebel.
As you are using Nazi Germany as template, don't forget that there was no real resistance to the Nazis during their reign in Germany and no one rebelled except for individuals and people who wanted a better military leader and/or a king back.

 

[Corathon]

I've played in a game like this (I think; I have no idea what "Sonic SatAM" means). It was pretty difficult. Adventurers face danger all the time, its pretty rough if society is against you too.

The game ended in TPK.

 

[BriarMonkey]

...
At some point you will have to explain why the common folk, living in a village without any mass communication or media and without much contact to townsfolk, would care so much as to rebel.

As you are using Nazi Germany as template, don't forget that there was no real resistance to the Nazis during their reign in Germany ...

This is what I see as the most significant issue with the premise of the campaign. In Germany, there wasn't the kind of rebellion as when one thinks of France, Greece, Russia, or many of the other occupied lands. But therein lies the key - occupied lands.

From the way this is presented, it feels like it is the name, or primary, kingdom in which the PCs are operating. To me, that is tantamount to a farmer telling Stalin where to get off - it isn't going to happen. However, if you realign this a little and set the campaign up in a conquered, or occupied, territory, then it may work a little better. Think France (sorta).

Yes, this is overly simplified, but during the real war, the French government fled into exile and the Germans ruled through not only force, but a puppet regime. The British, and later American, governments helped local resistance efforts against the Germans. But they (the resistance) had a reason to fight the Germans - it was their country and their government they were trying to win back.

In your scenario, if this is all the peasants have known, then there is no resistance and no reason to clamor to arms. If this is an occupied nation, then the conquerors are a force to be expelled. Having a government, or heirs, in exile trying to rally support (especially if they had friendly relations before) will lend credence to a resistance effort as it would have not only a reason, but faith, in which to wage their campaign.

Historically, if you look at other resistance groups from that period, like in China and Greece, you can have resistance groups that are actually at odds with each-other, but still fighting to oust the invaders (Japan and Germany respectively). But part of that fighting is also for who will control the region when the war is done.

I add that in there because using that type of premise means the resistance can be a significant threat to the occupiers (say, the group that's not the PCs) but doesn't necesarilly have the mandate of the masses, or the crown in exile. This in turn means the PCs have a wide berth to not only help overthrow the occupiers, but also manipulate things so either the rightful heir regains the throne; they (the PCs) can make a bid for the throne; or they can help the other force gain the throne.

I guess all that is just to say, try using an occupied nation, not a home nation as it just doesn't look like it'd work well.

 

[gamerprinter]

Divination magic can easily be "blocked" by other gods, holy sites and items, sure not all the time but enough. Another simple fix, a mask, a cloak... You just have to make sure your logic on why divination magic can't help is know to your players, for the first time they fail to get a blessing, is the time something can go wrong.

Non Detection spell works fine enough to block divinations.

If I were running a Resistance campaign, for the majority, I would avoid magic use when possible and rely on low tech solutions, as in Hand of Evil's point on masks, cloak, etc.

Since the resistance forces aren't advertising their existence, I find the idea that divinations to discover you, much harder than one might think. If the city or region where the resistance group is based is large enough, the authorities are going to have to look everywhere to find you. It's not like "look into the crystal ball, oh there they are!" You need to know where to look for divination to work.

Like a thieves guild, or as in my Way of the Yakuza supplement for Kaidan, such organizations usually have some kind of thieves cant, or secret language shared between covert members that outsiders cannot understand (short of Tongues spell I suppose). When discussing matters of secrecy, don't use the Common tongue, speak in Cant.

And as the suggestion for the Star Wars Alliance forces - you'll need to relocate operations often, maintain a network of spies. You'll probably want to avoid a central control, and not be a hierarchal organization, rather a network of allies. That way, killing the guy in charge of the resistance does not end resistance.

I've run a low tech military resistance based on the Viet Nam war, with resistance members being equivalent to 'Viet Cong', where they are guerrilla forces dressed in local garb, not military uniforms. We even included underground (earth dug) tunnel systems. Our resistance was all elves/half-elves versus the human tyrants of the region in our campaign.

 

[khantroll]

Sorry that it has taken me so long to respond, but I've been busy IRL.

Derren: I don't expect or want the peasants to want to help them in the beginning. The PCs are all members of persecuted races; elves, dwarves (whose status is complicated), or people who would be opposed to the State (the survivor of a State sponsored experiment and a traitor). The way I'm picturing it, they are backed by a foreign power, and will eventually convince people (in the cities, at least) that change is necessary.

I'm not using Nazi Germany because of some moral or political judgement. If I were looking for evil templates, I could reach back Egypt, and nearly every culture in between. I'm using it because it fits the LE alignment, and is something I'm sure everyone is familiar with. I want my players to hate the villains. By making them similar in both tone and action to the popular portrayals of these people, I think it'll stop being a case of a cliched evil overlord.

All that being said, you're right. I will have to make sure that they don't receive any support from the general citizenry.

I also intend t have the backing nation double cross them at some point, proving that it's not that they care one whit about the State, only bettering their nation.

BriarMonkey: Sorry if I didn't make it clear, but it is an occupied nation; it's just been occupied for a long time. It's 5 countries that have been bolted together for about 75 years. A long time by human standards, but not so much for elves, dwarves, and everyone else.

That's a good idea about including another resistance effort. I've been toying with that idea myself. It'll make the PCs work harder.

Corathon: Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday AM. The gritty, dark one from he early 90s.