The intrigues of Aghrapur

[Benedict]

I'm trying to put together a massive, dynamic scenario for my campaign. However, it might just be too ambitious. Is anyone able to give me comments or ideas?

(Anyone from DESCARTE here? Please stay out.)

Provided things go to plan, the PCs will shortly be travelling to Aghrapur as conscripts in the Turanian army. My grand ambitious scheme is to have the PCs given the task of rooting out a plot to depose/assassinate the sultan and replace him with the sultan's brother.

I would like this to be an extended, involved scenario with lots of freedom for the players, with the action taking place both in and out of Aghrapur. In the course of their investigations they will gather information about the conspiracy, disrupt its actions, break cells, and finally discover just how high the conspiracy goes. Then they will have to make a case against the sultan's brother while hastily foiling the last stages of the plan to assassinate the sultan.

I am picturing the worst excesses of the Delhi Sultanates, mixed with The Thousand and One Nights. I am going to run the sultan something like the king in the Jet Li movie Hero, that is, completely paranoid about assassination and essentially inaccessible. Therefore, the plot to kill him has to be very clever and subtle. For the purposes of the scenario it also has to be intricate and over-the-top.

Anyone ever run a scenario like this? Does anyone have any good suggestions for me?

 

[Sarov the Swift]

Sounds plausible in the REH tradition.

Elements to consider: Turan aggressively probes the borders of Vendhya for possible invasion. Sultan Yezdigerd may have been behind the assassintion of Vendhya's king Bunda Chand. The new Devi, his sister, may plot retaliation. Read The People of the Black Circle for inspiration.

Turan reminds me alot of the Persian empire. Yezdigerd's power is absolute, almost godlike, much like Xerxes or Darius. Read up on your Persian history, as brothers, cousins and disatisfied vizers were always trying to usurp the authority of the Persian crown.

Crime, extortion, embezzlement, and all manner of corruption is common in a system like this, as one paranoid ruler who is reluctant to delegate power cannot oversee all the corners of his empire. Plenty of room for plotting.

 

[Majestic7]

Sounds good. A few suggestions:

If you want foreign involvement, some Zamoran activities might be nice too. It fits in the interests of Zamorra to have Turanians fight among themselves as much as possible, instead of marching to Shadizar. Hyperborean influences might be another possibility, though they immediately shift the focus from more mundane plotting towards sorcery.

What if the culprit behind the assassination is not after all a brother or similar male relative wishing to claim the throne, but a woman wishing to be the power behind the throne? Think of the few strong wives and mothers of the Ottoman sultans who were de facto rulers of the realm, organizing coups and changes to inheritance when it fit them. This would allow a twist in the plot line as the characters think a certain male noble to be their main enemy and after eliminating him way or another, do not really seem to accomplish much as the woman behind the scenes remains.

I think you should give the players option to throw in their lot with the assassins instead of defending the sultan. Make the conspirators try to buy them with riches or sweet talk - for example about how the present sultan is planning an insane war while the new one would be nice and peaceful. I think it would be interesting if the player characters actually switched sides middle of the campaign.

Talking about switching sides, how about having some powerful neutral parties present in the setting, such as some local clans or temples that the conspirators try to recruit for their cause? The player characters could then do some diplomatic warfare as well, trying to turn them to support the sultan or even start building a power base of their own for some political purposes in the future.

A campaign like this can be pretty challenging, but personally I love running games of intrigue and conspiracies. They require a different approach than straight dungeon crawl - it is more important to handle the big picture of things and how little events affect other, larger events than script every room and corridor from start.

I've kept my Conan game quite simple, but the Traveller campaign I run is a complex web of conspiracies, plots and political agendas mixed up in a mess of lies and secrets. It made the world much more lively when I actually got players for the background powers as well - so that instead of wondering what group X would do about what group Z did about the player characters, I ask guys A and B what they would do. They kind of roleplay characters in a place of power with certain resources. I send them reports from their underlings and they allocate their resources in return. It makes the world seem much more lively.

A setup like that might be too complex for your needs, but it might still help to have a few friends outside the gaming group to help you. Like have someone to ask what he would do if he was the mastermind behind the assassination plot and part X of his plans had been foiled in a way Z while he has resources A,B,C under his disposal. Often such outsiders can make up much better plots and counterplots than GM by himself, if you want to keep the game dynamic.

 

[Hervé]

S&P32 has a description of Aghrapur and it's downloadable for free from Mongoose site. it should be an useful tool for you.

Jet Li as Yezdigerd? I never thought I'd see this one...
By the way, I don't have the books at hand but I don't remember any Sultan in Turan. Yezdigerd's a King, isn't he?

 

[warzen]

I've kept my Conan game quite simple, but the Traveller campaign I run is a complex web of conspiracies, plots and political agendas mixed up in a mess of lies and secrets. It made the world much more lively when I actually got players for the background powers as well - so that instead of wondering what group X would do about what group Z did about the player characters, I ask guys A and B what they would do. They kind of roleplay characters in a place of power with certain resources. I send them reports from their underlings and they allocate their resources in return. It makes the world seem much more lively.

A setup like that might be too complex for your needs, but it might still help to have a few friends outside the gaming group to help you. Like have someone to ask what he would do if he was the mastermind behind the assassination plot and part X of his plans had been foiled in a way Z while he has resources A,B,C under his disposal. Often such outsiders can make up much better plots and counterplots than GM by himself, if you want to keep the game dynamic.

Funny that I had the same idea but never the opportunity to actually test it.
Did it work fine ? Did you use the same group of players or another group ?

W.

 

[Majestic7]

Funny that I had the same idea but never the opportunity to actually test it.
Did it work fine ? Did you use the same group of players or another group ?

W.

I've been using that system quite succesfully for five-six years in Traveller. I've used lighter version of it in other games with equally good results. It is of course other group than the ones playing "regular" characters in the campaign - I limit what the players know to what their characters know. Setting things up takes some effort, but it pays itself back with interest, as the background player system produces game material by itself.

 

[The King]

Anyone ever run a scenario like this? Does anyone have any good suggestions for me?

The best campaign idea I found in this region stems from the Conan the Barbarian comics (where Conan meets Red Sonja in Makkalet).

 

[warzen]

Funny that I had the same idea but never the opportunity to actually test it.
Did it work fine ? Did you use the same group of players or another group ?

W.

I've been using that system quite succesfully for five-six years in Traveller. I've used lighter version of it in other games with equally good results. It is of course other group than the ones playing "regular" characters in the campaign - I limit what the players know to what their characters know. Setting things up takes some effort, but it pays itself back with interest, as the background player system produces game material by itself.

Thx for the feedback Majestic7.

Do you have written rules about this or do you follow a more narrative feeling to handle the different player actions ?

May be we should start a distinct thread to talk about that...

W.

 

[Spectator]

I must say I never liked the concept of using foreign nationals (the PCs) as counter insurgency operatives or in the role of 'protect the royal crown' kinda stories because it never really made sense, especially with the turanians.

Why would they hire a cimmerian Barbarian, a stygian scholar, a Zingaran Pirate, a Kothian Soldier, and a Zamoran Thief (OK get the picture?) who happen to spend their time raiding ruins and spend their ill-gotten gains likedrunken sailors??????? It makes no sense. That would be similar to our US Govt. hiring some ethiopian to handle a state secret?


I think the better course if you want to run an 'intrigue behind the throne' would be to pre-generate some turanians, maybe some turanian army officers with a varied skilllset?

I know its fantasy and all, but somethings have to be plausible.

 

[Strom]

I'm trying to put together a massive, dynamic scenario for my campaign. However, it might just be too ambitious. Is anyone able to give me comments or ideas?

(Anyone from DESCARTE here? Please stay out.)

Provided things go to plan, the PCs will shortly be travelling to Aghrapur as conscripts in the Turanian army. My grand ambitious scheme is to have the PCs given the task of rooting out a plot to depose/assassinate the sultan and replace him with the sultan's brother.

I would like this to be an extended, involved scenario with lots of freedom for the players, with the action taking place both in and out of Aghrapur. In the course of their investigations they will gather information about the conspiracy, disrupt its actions, break cells, and finally discover just how high the conspiracy goes. Then they will have to make a case against the sultan's brother while hastily foiling the last stages of the plan to assassinate the sultan.

I am picturing the worst excesses of the Delhi Sultanates, mixed with The Thousand and One Nights. I am going to run the sultan something like the king in the Jet Li movie Hero, that is, completely paranoid about assassination and essentially inaccessible. Therefore, the plot to kill him has to be very clever and subtle. For the purposes of the scenario it also has to be intricate and over-the-top.

Anyone ever run a scenario like this? Does anyone have any good suggestions for me?

The scenario in the Messantia box set - Vengeance of the Golden Skull - has a similar type plot and may assist you with some ideas to involve the PCs and make their assistance plausible both with the assistance of the ruling Sultan or behind the scene without royal support.

 

[Bjorn the Barbarian]

I ran a campaign a couple of years ago, where the actual "plotter" to take over the throne was disguised and been travelling with the PC's group (as a player) the whole time to keep an eye on them, sending out secret messages along the way to foil the group's plans as she went along, and to direct her henchmen/women.

Boy were they mad when they caught her. Turned out ok though since she was the long lost rightful heir anyway. The PCs didn't know who to trust or believe at first. They never suspected her (since she was a player), even when her character would disappear for days at a time, they just figured she was doing in game stuff to help them since she was a petty noble (or so they thought, ha ha :twisted: ).

I had worked this out in advance with the player (who was the girlfriend of one of the other players) and we had a blast running this. The rest of the party got over the fact they had an insider in their group and switched sides to win the throne for her, for which they were greatly rewarded. :twisted:

 

[Benedict]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I am so glad I brought the topic up here. My head is buzzing with ideas now.

I love the idea of a woman wishing to be the power behind the throne and the apparent plot leader being something of a red herring. I will definitely use this idea.

I also like the idea of the PCs having the option of joining the plotters. An idea I had in fact was having the PCs hired or instructed to do a task, something very routine such as robbing a mansion, before they get involved in investigating the conspiracy, and for their investigations to uncover that the task was somehow integral to the plot. Thereby giving them a reason to consider switching sides.

 

[Benedict]

I must say I never liked the concept of using foreign nationals (the PCs) as counter insurgency operatives or in the role of 'protect the royal crown' kinda stories because it never really made sense, especially with the turanians.

Why would they hire a cimmerian Barbarian, a stygian scholar, a Zingaran Pirate, a Kothian Soldier, and a Zamoran Thief (OK get the picture?) who happen to spend their time raiding ruins and spend their ill-gotten gains likedrunken sailors??????? It makes no sense. That would be similar to our US Govt. hiring some ethiopian to handle a state secret?


I think the better course if you want to run an 'intrigue behind the throne' would be to pre-generate some turanians, maybe some turanian army officers with a varied skilllset?

I know its fantasy and all, but somethings have to be plausible.

I'm sure I have a much more tolerant attitude to plausibility, but I have considered this. (Starting the campaign over again with Turanians isn't an option by the way.) The idea I had was that the first evidence that emerges about a plot is the discovery of a mole in the secret police, so the official who is looking into the plot wants to use outsiders. Also, it is not clear at the beginning just how high the conspiracy goes, so it isn't quite a state secret initially.

At any rate, the PCs are in the Turanian army and have reason to be trusted by the agha in charge. So it is perhaps more like the French army giving an important job to members of the Foreign Legion.

I won't pretend this scheme is particularly plausible, but I don't think it is worse than many of the tenuous plot hooks that get PCs involved in adventures.

 

[Benedict]

S&P32 has a description of Aghrapur and it's downloadable for free from Mongoose site. it should be an useful tool for you.

Jet Li as Yezdigerd? I never thought I'd see this one...
By the way, I don't have the books at hand but I don't remember any Sultan in Turan. Yezdigerd's a King, isn't he?

Actually, Jet Li would be one of our PCs, which is even more outrageous I can tell you.

And I have been referring to Yezdigerd as sultan because the S&P Aghrapur article notes that he is sultan .

 

[Sarov the Swift]

S&P32 has a description of Aghrapur and it's downloadable for free from Mongoose site. it should be an useful tool for you.

Jet Li as Yezdigerd? I never thought I'd see this one...
By the way, I don't have the books at hand but I don't remember any Sultan in Turan. Yezdigerd's a King, isn't he?

Actually, Jet Li would be one of our PCs, which is even more outrageous I can tell you.

And I have been referring to Yezdigerd as sultan because the S&P Aghrapur article notes that he is sultan .

I believe the Mongoose texts also refer to Turan as a Sultanate on occassion.

 

[Majestic7]

Thx for the feedback Majestic7.

Do you have written rules about this or do you follow a more narrative feeling to handle the different player actions ?

May be we should start a distinct thread to talk about that...

W.

A bit of both. I have built a homebrew system that measures the institutional power available to the players that they can use to get other people do things for them. Whether these things work or not depends on narrative decisions and random dice rolls if player characters are not directly involved. The background players spend more time fighting against each others plots than causing trouble to the "regular" players - in fact, often the player characters become their tools in their plots, often unknowingly. If you wish to discuss this further, I guess we should really start a separate thread.