Source
r/loremasters•
Work_Account__

[Major Quest] [4e] We rotate DM's and I need to right some wrongs. lvl 7 PC somehow became a king.

Ok so How they got into power isn't really as important as what Im going to do with this. Im my group we switch DM's we had another player DM for about 3 months, he had his story arch and now I (the main DM) am back to it. when this was going on I didn't stop anything as I was not DM and it wasn't my place, now our Minotaur Barbarian is the king of all Minotaurs. I just cant have this.

The Party all lvl 7.

Grongor - Minotaur Barbarian

Saelon - Elf Ranger

Trogdor - Dragonborn Warlord

Hvedra - Dwarf Battlemind

So what I've done...During the last DM's arch the Dwarves were moving south from the mountains on the plains, while WHY the dwarves are moving tot eh plains should be the main question, we just killed them, protecting our own. When I picked up I gave a reason for the dwarves moving south, they were being invaded form the north by a superior army of warforged.

So the party....mended ties with the remaining dwarves to the north and mad a kind of a collation with the other surrounding groups, the Teiflings and the Deva to fight off the incoming warforged. Many of the other leaders asked for proof of these metal monsters and the party is now riding off to capture one to present as proof to the other leaders.

What Im planning... the warforged are power feed by a magic amythst in their chest. They are to march south/ destroy everything and crush the minotaur civilization, as you cant be king with our any subjects.

Suggestions for how to deal with this mechanically? Any Idea on how to run the armies? I'm not talking about in combat but moving armies across a map out of combat? How do I depict the enemy moving in with out killing the party every time. Like should I just say this army is here now and they killed everyone....or how do I stress the warforged are more advanced and powerful. I am kind of missing a motive for the enemy but it will probably be some kind of powerful wizard who controls all.

Posted May 2, 2014, 3:18 PM UTC

512
thebadshepperd•

You should not be working against other DMs. Constantly fighting and trying to undo someone else's story is not good for anyone and is going to make everyone angry as you undo the story the DM told and the players worked for.

This is not an issue that can really be solved in character, you need to work it out with your group and cover how each DM and their stories are supposed to interact.

In my group, each DM's story is completely separate with separate characters, with the understanding that no DM should effect the others story.

5
Work_Account__OP•

Im using what he gave them to propel the story forward. The band of races, the over arching bad guy Now I just need a ring of power and we have a good ol lord of the rings story.

How about I reword it as: "There is a powerful army marching south and they are much stronger then the mortal races of the world, they just happen to be in the middle of it"

They are very much going to use every king-level string they can pull and I do plan on making this last a while. This will be all out epic, it will also give them something to fight for as don't have a grand overarching story we just go around doing back story missions and general shenanigans.

Maybe all out destruction is they wrong approach but their existence is threatened and I'm not sure how to advance enemy armies justly.

0
Were_Bear•

I think this would work great for character development, depending on how the players react. There is some situation where the minotaur army is killed by the oncoming warforged. Leaving the city defenseless, it becomes occupied by another of the races under the guise of protection and a forward operating base. Slowly this race undermines his power and gains full control of the city. They due this for access to strategical resources or position and general betterment of themselves. If your players attempts a rebellion to gain back the power, the rebellion and most of the minotaurs are slaughtered. If they decide to wait it out and trust these pacts and alliances they forged with other races, your player loses all respect from the minotaur civilization due to them being pushed out of their own city and he does nothing. During all this they are still fighting off the invasion.

Should the party leave the civilization behind to fight on the front, this will all still work and possibly more smoothly. Have his minotaur underlings and advisers send reports of the new race taking power and forcing themselves on the city, changing laws, enforcing a curfew, etc. Now your minotaur player has to decide what is more important: saving his kingdom from his own "allies" or helping to save the world. This option wouldn't even require the minotaur army to be wiped out all at once but instead over time until it would be too weak to fight off the other race.

Now on the off chance they roll perfectly through all of this and fight back the other race after returning from the front. Your party will be a high enough level to have him properly be a king. During the war, he won't have many kingly abilities anyway short of telling the troops where to go. Of course, this is assuming they fight on the fronts, but what party would really want to sit bored in a village/city when there are things to slaughter beyond its walls.

The minotaur barbarian will either be a King without an Kingdom, striving for revenge or to rebuild, or he will be the King who not only fought off an immortal invasion but also reclaimed his Kingdom from backstabbing allies.

The End.

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Work_Account__OP•

This is awesome. They already have the army stretching thin covering so much. In our last session the party went behind enemy lines to capture one of these warforged. They raided a small party and while having the advantage of surprise they barely made it out with their lives. They did manage salvage one of the bodies of few they defeated. The party plans on using this as evidence to try to convince other leaders of the invasion.

The few groups they work with now I will probably keep relatively loyal, who knows who else they will reach out to though.

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Trapline•

I just cant have this

Why not?

3
Work_Account__OP•

I just feel at lvl 7 is too early for one to be put on as king. One of my problems is the party wants to do combat every session. Why would a king ever put themselves in a position where they could be hurt when he could order his men to carry out the missions.

Even If I did keep him what would you suggest?

I still have the issue of finding a balanced way of advancing the enemy army.

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Trapline•

Level 7 is very likely too early for a PC to be a king but I would let it come to it's end more naturally than retconning a previous plotline to force him out of power.

Make it a test of his character rather than this huge set piece where he is supposed to lose out. I'd run the game in a way that he is initially pleased with his accomplishment and maybe even gets a little drunk on his new power. Let that be the catalyst for what would probably end up being party disagreements or the undercurrents of a rebellion/coup.

In the long run he shouldn't be able to sustain that power but I think it's unfair to decide that he doesn't even get a chance to. If the PCs want to be in fights all the time then let them fight. Have tournaments. Let him go out on expeditions that a smart king wouldn't. There are plenty of ways that his own decision making would likely take him out of power. If he's smart and has the party's support than that sounds like he actually has the makings of being a king and deserves his position as long as he can hold it.

There isn't any series of player events that should be met with the GM erasing a civilization to get around it.

7
walkendc•

Agree with Trapline here. One thing you could do to make him quit is make being a King very boring. He and the team can't go fight because they have to plan the battle, find out where all the supplies are coming from, send out spies to find out the enemies movements, and make it known that a usurper who is too powerful and too well placed to deal with directly (i.e. they can't kill him) us waiting in the wings for him to screw up. As the wins if the opposing army mounts the calls for your PC King to step down get louder and louder until he has to abdicate the thrown or risk banishment or execution.

As for missions and quests, Trapline is advocating a Captain Kirk approach where your king goes on missions a king shouldn't. So give your king a tough as nails vizier or a Minotaur secret service who either keep him in the stronghold or send a retinue of guards to every mission who scout ahead and take care of threats before the team arrives. Or have them go on a quest to retrieve a Minotaur artifact, used in dark times and these are the darkest of times, from a dungeon and have them fail to recover it. The artifact is stolen (perhaps by the usurper's minions) or broken and the kingdom takes it as a sign that your PC shouldn't rule.

There are LOTS of ways to bring a king low that don't involve obliterating all his subjects.

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Work_Account__OP•

I hear ya there. The warforged are already are marching south and they are superior in numbers and ability. This is the first test of his metal. Previous encounters typically have been around the Barbarian smashing everything with a hammer, I want to make the party change their tactics by putting enemies in from of them that will be harder to hit/ have physical damage resistance. The warforged was how I was planning on doing it. I have introduced a group of magical set items that could help them but they are not going for it yet, maybe after the first encounter with the warforged.

1
Hammer_Sticks•

Isn't he the king of minotaurs? If the party wants to fight constantly, you have every opportunity to make that happen while allowing him to remain king. Minotaurs are creatures driven by force and hate (traditionally), so he must rule by force and hate.

The party must lead raids, and fight wars just to keep the subjects content. He must bring back spoils, or they'll be at his throat. Territory must be claimed, enemies must be made and crushed, and potential usurpers must be slaughtered and put on display. The insatiable greed and aggression should allow for plenty of plot hooks and room for action. Don't fight your players, ever, just find a cool way to roll with it. Be creative.

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claytonian•

"I can't have this" hey, keep your ego out of the DMing and you might learn what makes serendipity so great

0
DangerousPuhson•

Just depose of his kingship. Many ways for that to happen:

  1. Civil war - leaving him with only a very small faction of subjects (he'll be the "king" of one minotaur village).

  2. Coup-d'etat - the second he leaves his throne to go on an adventure or something, some other group comes along and claims it.

  3. Constant assassination attempts - agents who don't let up until he's dead or abdicates.

  4. Challenged - a stronger, younger, more popular minotaur demands the throne, challenges in 1-on-1 combat. If the king wins, it happens again until he doesn't win.

  5. Legal loophole - sneaky advisor makes the king break a law that gets him dethroned.

Or, let him have his kingship and alter your campaign around it. Maybe to be recognized as the absolute king, he needs to hold the Sceptre of Rulership or something that isn't in an easy-to-get place. Maybe he needs to make a pilgrimmage to a dangerous far away place because its a tradition. Maybe he needs to kill some massive beast to assert his authority. Lots of ways to take it without cutting down the thing he worked hard to get (though I doubt he worked that hard, since he's a level 7 king).

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