Long post! Sorry - just a fair bit of stuff in my head.
I was just talking to the wife about letting the players know who is ultimately behind their jobs. I am going to give them a guy to talk to and pretty much leave it at that.
I totally agree in regards to the Camp and some property. It should be a reward, not a Monty moment. My main arc will take the team into Tannara after a raiding party, that will be their first introduction to the Y'kin. It will be a minor, and unrelated confrontation. The party can decide how bad it is. I have been working on Lug raiding parties and camps up along the mountains. Standard density - you start with a few spaced out well hidden structures and start to hit the more fortified areas. Eventually, if they boldly go where no man should, they will hit the underground warrens.
I have a few missions in mind that will trigger events and perhaps push some missions priorities around on the players.
I have had games in the past that ran for years. The party starts from some dungheap and by level 13, the Fighter is Knighted. A while later the Mage is given Tenure at the University, the Thief earned his own props in his own community, the Cleric was given title for the Church of Orhan. I tried to make it special, but the only one that got the courtly dealings was the Fighter and her Knighthood(Dame-hood). The party got the meet the Emperor for all of 2 minutes. He thanked them for their Noble services to the Empire and looked forward to hearing more about their deeds in the future. The guy playing the thief was the only one that sat back in his chair and said, "That was F&*Ken cool!". Jerks. Eventually that game came to an end because everyone became adults and that sux.
I, as a GM, get lost in the mechanisms going on around the party. Mostly because I get carried away. I started with a notepad of paper, moved to Corel Word, then to MS Word, then Excel, and finally to a visual data placement program. It ran all the connections for me. Eventually I had a brain aneurysm and gave up. Not really, but there was so much going on I just lost track of it all. Most of my parties have been pretty - Lets avoid civilization for as long as possible - and I was cool with that. I had a party a few years ago and two of the four players loved the politics and the court intrigues. Problem was, one was 16... and had this Gossip Girl thing in her head. The other player would have made an excellent run at the court. She was smart, could dance and talk. Dangerous talents in a character when the player can back it all up.
I am looking at the "Cult of the Third Moon" hook and it is pretty mobile. I could easily put that badgirl in the mountains. I added two small ruins, both with dark and dank dungeons and some caves that harbor the terrible one off monsters. Yea, ideas are not my problem.
I felt the need to flesh out some of my thinking. I want to work out of the Lord so that I better understand the sort of people he would have around himself. Being a hero does not always make the best governor of an province - is he a terror to his people? Does he rape and pillage? Does he tax the hell out of his people? Are his people terrified of him? What sort of soldiers does he have in his service? Are they predators? Does he have a spy network through his province? How integrated it is? How sophisticated is it? Does he have any bastards? Does he keep a local women or man on the side that he visits on a regular basis? Does he force religion on his folk? Does he run a regular census for his people to try and meet what they are short on? Does he supplement crops when the season is poor? Does he kill those who trespass on his grapes?
I am trying to generate a mood and just wondering if others have used him. I did a search across Google and got zip, and then a few search across several forums and found a dusty silence with crickets chirping.
My wife says I should probably make him a bit generic to start which is standard writers fair, till something changes that dynamic. I think I am going to build upon the idea that the Good Lord does not really run the estates. He is busy after all. His Stewart and a talented army of Staff manged the large property, deal with the day to day muck and complaints and help to arrange the festivals, Matchmakers gatherings, and numerous religious (sing: Orhan!) events. The Stewart is a very busy Lady. Her staff are constantly working and travelling around the lands. They have to manged towns, individuals, laws, jails, what few soldiers they currently have, seasonal events and hundreds of other things. The Mayors/Reeves and Eldermen all have to manged their own communities, but each answers to one of the Stewart. I am adding a few mines to the property. I am tired for the Steward just writing all of this!
The People are content. They are proud of their Hero Lord and consider themselves lucky. Some believe they are stronger due to his presence - like a hockey fan whoms team is on a win streak - Canadian here, first thing that came to mind. For all of that he is an absent Father figure. In some cases it may as well be the Stewart's estates. She is even handed, adheres to the rules and laws of the land, a Lawful Good character with leanings towards Lawful Neutral. I am often amazed how much I can say about someone by just using a D&D Alignment.
Most of the Staff are good people, but a few let things happen, when the right grease is put to the right wheel. Sylus Othorus is one of the Staff, his job is to broker deals and maintain relations with existing clients and sellers. Once the party is to the estate they will be managed by his wife, Phillus Othorus. She is a prickly woman that is currently annoyed at bandits and getting a fair bit of pressure from the Stewart. The PCs will be reporting to Phillus, as she will be managing their payments, bounties and other particulars. I am not even going to come up with a name for the Stewart till I absolutely have to.... Half Elf named Alinar Ravenvale... I KNOW, I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF!
Right now, as this is just the beginning, the entire place looks good, feels good. Eventually I have to add some rot and see what the party does. My gut says to keep the Hero a Hero and his Stewart a solid and good person. The Staff are open to interpretation. I will need one evil jerk in there to make things bad and cause problems. After that, each village with have some sort of "Cult of the Third Moon" event to it. All of it has to unravel over time.
I think I can keep this going for a while.
And sorry for the super long post. But I have been working on this all night and am excited to slaughter my players.
Thanks!
