Take my scenario: The king must be stopped.

Hello all! I have been a DM for my group for over a year. My closest friends are my players which for me means the world to me to have people I love engrossing themselves in a world that I am pulling from thin air. I have been running a home brew campaign in my own world.

The premise of this specific situation is that the King (in my game, he was the Vodzh) who is usually strict but fair has been more strict lately. He is more aggressive and less kind to those around him. He has 3 adult children, all of whom are the leaders of 3 different cities/towns nearby. I based this family loosely on the Russian Romanov's.

The party started in a town run by his youngest son, Gregory Henth. Gregory is a pig and a horrible ruler. However, the party mostly dealt with his main adviser Elfrain "The Decider" Henth. Elfrain let it slip that a woman named Tera was harassing the town with bandits and waylayers nearby, but she was buried too deep in the forest to really root her out. After completing some quests with Elfrain, the party came back to town to discover one of the castle walls is besieged by a troll. Seemingly controlling the troll: A black scaled tiefling shadow sorcerer. Using the troll as a distraction, she rushed off to the kings chambers. The party not only slayed the troll, but stopped her just in time. They interrogated her to discover that she was sent by Tera to assassinate the king. It was time to root her out.

Elfrain sent the party to go undercover to a possible recruitment, Seaside Oubliette. A jail off the coast that dispose of their prisoners by tossing them into a dark hole and forgetting about them. They found that the first lieutenant of Tera was indeed recruiting prisoners to join Tera as she is building an army to attack. After joining them, they were escorted to Tera's encampment. As they arrived, they found out she was gathering an army to attack the town Gregory was running - and she has already sent them to leave. The party dispatched her quickly and raced towards the town. They also found a note on her - The king had sent Tera to dispatch one of his own children.

The town nearly destroyed, the party discovered that Gregory and Elfrain survived. A plan was devised: The king must be stopped by any means necessary. The party had a few options:

1. Take the King to court - They would need a significant amount of proof and even then, it might not be enough. In addition, the King will have dangerous allies on his side. If he is willing to kill his own children, he is willing to kill the party.

2. Start a civil war - Messy and can backfire pretty hard. How do you gain support? Where do you go? What information can you gain?

3. Kill the king - Obviously the hardest choice, as he is in a guarded castle. There was a clause in the traditions of the Henth - The person that kills the King may name the next, regardless of birthright.

There was an additional hurdle: With the King gone, who would be the new King?

My group decided to kill the King. After that selection was made, I had Elfrain call for a feast in the honor of the King. All the children would attend.

By having them choose the new King, this was an opportunity to have the players meet major NPC's of the town. A religious leader, a business owner, and the King's own daughter were all candidates to take over the throne. There is also the (strong) possibility that your players might choose one of themselves too. Now your DND game has turned into town management!!

Ultimately, this scenario took roughly 9 months of game play and my party leveled up from 3 - 7. I really enjoyed how differently my party handled a sneaky assassin compared to a large army. They had met roughly 50 or so NPC's just regarding this scenario.

My party is moving beyond this scenario to a new one with a new king, new experiences, and some really great debauchery.

Happy hunting!