Gauging Interest: A Game of Intrigue

I'm creating this as a way of gauging interest in a game I'm seriously considering running. Many campaigns will have you set off as bright-eyed young adventurers, ready to make your mark on the world. The question this campaign poses: What happens when the party's adventuring days are over and they start to settle down? Of course there are always more bad guys to slay, but hey! You're legendary! A small group of bandits or perhaps even armies of goblins mean little to someone of your incredible power. So what do you do now? This game will likely involve very little combat and mostly roleplaying, as what this campaign will seek to examine is how high-powered characters interact with a world that considers them just short of gods. What are the consequences of the actions of said legends when they go astray. Perhaps some might even try their hand at becoming a villain in their own right? EDIT: This isn't necessarily just a recruitment thread. I would also like people's thoughts/opinions on the idea. And I would appreciate details regarding said thoughts/opinions not just "you're dumb and you're idea is dumb" or the like.

Hi Bryan, my current 5e campaign started out with a very old character sitting by a fire pondering whether or not to release the memoirs of her life. We then flashed back to a brief stint as a first level character that allowed some combat and intrigue. It's been fun to free pcs from the day to day of adventuring a little but still keep mechanisms that allow for real threat as a back up. I say say go for it. It's an interesting thing you are trying to do and gives a take on a game that most people have never thought about.

I spent a while thinking about it and it occurred to me how influential legendary PCs would eventually become. Kingdoms could rise and fall with an errant word of support for or against the current monarch, the word of such a legend stirring incredible reaction from the populace. If they wished to help people they would have to be subtle indeed. The same thing could be said of conflicts. An army of level 1-3 soldiers would mean nothing to a level 20 fighter. But what then would happen when the army lay decimated at his feet? Surely his own side would cry out in honor of his deeds, but the other side would likely seek some retribution, hiring assassins and seeking to cast down the legendary warrior.

I take it this is a D&D 3.5-ish thingy? 's not one of my usual systems, but I rather do like thinking about the effects of high-powered characters on game worlds. One potential pitfall would be just setting up a world which superficially resembles ours, or a mythically-tinted version of ours, and then just throwing the characters in. I mean, it'd be interesting, sure, but one would be left with the question of "How on Earth did nobody do what the characters did before?". If epically powerful characters exist (say, a typical D&D 3.5 character), then there are two possibilities. Either they have people who are a legitimate challenge to them, or they do not. Pretty simple dichotomy. In the first case, this needs to be considered when world-building. There'd be no need for, say, the quasi-feudalism which permeates stereotypical fantasy, because a lord or lady (sexism seems somewhat less likely when any woman can turn out to be a witch capable of calling down a plague upon your entire country) doesn't actually need armies of serfs in order to control their territory. Instead, they need only contend with others of equal power, and you end up with a situation reminiscent of classical WoD vampires, where the ruling elite treats the rest of the world like cattle, and any social structure involves solely the powerful, leaving the rest of the world beneath their notice. Conversely, if there aren't any people (or monsters, because D&D-esque monsters are often intelligent enough that they should be able to grab themselves a kingdom or two), then in addition to begging the question of how on Earth the PCs got that powerful, it also removes any shred of humanity from the characters. They don't have any challenge anymore, they don't have anything to fear from the mundanes, and if they're dissatisfied with anything, then they can simply force a change on pain of death. Their only real peers are one another. It's also an interesting scenario, but it's a very different one, and maybe one without as much chance of intrigue. Whatever the case, I'd definitely be interested. It's far from the usual stuff, and I could use a change of pace. What sort of system would you be thinking of using?

I was planning on using Pathfinder for this particular game. You do bring up some very valid points that i will have to consider.

well if u have seen the new Dracula movie it shows after vald the impaler is done helping the army he lives a nice life as a ruler of a small kingdom and has to make payments to the army he was apart of. he lived a nice life before they asked for more soliders. vald offers instead of giving them soliders he'd fight for them cuz the name of vald the impaler would strike fear in their opponents. im thinking that your at this point. if so u could cause something like that to happen heros who rule a small caslte vs an large army with a few warriors who can match there skills. this is one way you could add combat or roleplaying. if your trying to go for people who live quite lives in a village or owns a castle armys will always need soilders. I would have more who match our skills, people seeking training, people who want revenge for something in our pass, assassins like u stated above. this is all under the assumption that this is the normal fantasy world its not that we are the only ones who have gained this power but there are others who have done the same old young and mid age. im interested in joining if I can fit it in a time. being a college student and all. when would u plan on starting? (new to pathfinder but played 3.5) sorry for the spelling errors

It's quite alright. This is something that is still in the planning stages, but being a college student myself my schedule becomes fairly restricted. I'd likely end up running it on Monday or Wednesday nights. But you're quite right. The heros wouldn't be the only one with power, but the game would be examining more how heros handled that kind of power. A wise wizard might hoard arcane knowledge away in a tower to prevent having any undue influence on his environment, while a fighter might go out and keep fighting in wars drawing the attention of increasingly dangerous foes.

Exasperated Cultist said: Stuff So, here's my question to you. In my vision of this world the heros have reached the pinnacle of their power (level 20) and now are among the most powerful people in the world. The question becomes what do they do now? That's something where I'd probably spend a full session or two going through with the party and playing out the end of their last great adventure and hitting a point where they've slain the biggest baddie they could find... what now? Do they leave the plane in search of Balors for hunting? Do they settle down and take over a kingdom, do they make their own from scratch with their considerable wealth? Obviously there will be other people in the world who can challenge them, but depending on how the party goes about things those people might not ever bother with them.

Just a quick bump to bring this back up, I'm still looking for more feedback.

One last bump. If no one has any more feedback I'll take it all into consideration and begin the actual construction of the campaign.

Ugh, I so want to play this. I just want to make that comment out there. Heavy roleplaying and intrigue is my sustenance, and something I've desired for so long. Not so much the "Everyone is morally grey or darker", but the idea of heroes putting the cost and maintenance of victory to the test. I do agree that it'd probably take a good session or two to work out each and every character's saga before the reach the point of playing out the campaign start though. If they're as legendary and heroic as you've stated, there'd be a fairly obvious trail of their adventure and lasting changes they've made to the regions they have previous walked through.

That was something I had considered. SOmething akin to spending at least a few hours with each player detailing their characters history, or perhaps a few full-fledged sessions essentially speed-running through the history of the party, working out their various victories, defeats, glories and dishonors.

Now that last comment you made is a definite yes. Go with that, Bryan. Focus on the most interesting parts of their adventures that helped shape them in the beggining as a group.