Ormesia: Kingsmoot

Brian · December 13, 2011, 01:57:42 PM

Note: Tons of this stuff is stolen from other games I've run, books I've read, and actual history. You know what they say, after all -- steal from the best! Don't get the idea I'm trying to claim credit for it all! Their legos, my lego-monster. :3

I discussed at one point with Dune a campaign I ran that led up to two days (sessions) of RPing with almost no combat; this is starting the thread to remind me to come back to it with my notes and explain what seemed so cool about it. Mmm, politics.

Bah, too irritated to work on fics.

Okay, unfortunately, this story does have some setup before I can get to explaining what Kingsmoot was. Here's some notes (which may be of interest to those who enjoy worldbuilding):

First off, I created a fantasy kingdom roughly modeled on the UK (in terms of geography). I will upload the maps (if they still work) when I get home so you can see what it looked like/where events took place.

The island kingdoms contain Elves (southern of the two large eastern islands), humans (northern island), Halflings, and Dwarves (surface/below ground of the western island, respectively).

Politically, the human island was handled in a way modeled off the Celtic ideals; each area of about 4-5 days travel across was ruled by a king. The king had the responsibility of managing the entire country and determining various matters of law. War was generally handled by the king's warlord, and his assistant in political matters was called the Hand. Since the northern island was divided into six separate 'kingdoms', in times of need the kings would gather and elect an Ard Righ -- High King.

This elected high king would have the role of administering the smaller countries and managing taxes -- basically whatever it took for the kingdoms to unify enough to field 'the high king's army', which was under the command of the (elected at the same time) high warlord.

Historically, in ancient (to the players) times, the kingdom was once invaded and completely subjected by the Imperials (yeah, thinly veiled allusion to Roman occupation of the UK). One day, for reasons that the Ormesians never really understood ... the Imperials just left, never to be seen again. Unlike the actual UK, the distance between Ormesia and the mainland was a week's voyage by sea, minimum, and Ormesian sailors as a rule simply never sailed out of sight of land.

Those who did almost never came back. (Primitive navigation + violent seas. Also, the druids were screwing with things to try and keep the imperials from coming back, though this took a very long time to come to light -- and didn't work anyway). Drawing from the ancient Celtic custom, in point of fact: "Those who return from beyond the seventh wave are blessed." So a common 'trial' for the guilty was to bind someone hand-and-foot, stick them in a boat, and shove them out to sea. If they did come back, their crimes were forgiven.

Furthermore, proper druids in this world had a training progression that actually matched the original Celtic tradition. 4 years as a warrior (or ranger), 6 years as a 'bard', and then you can begin training to be a druid. (Otherwise, the druid 'class' was separate from the social role, and were just called 'nature-touched' or 'friends of the earth'.)

These druids had created a system of magic devices and tools (badges) that allowed people who pledged their loyalty EITHER to the kingdom, or the land the kingdom sat on to perform small feats of magic. Servant of the Kingdom or Servant of the Land, eventually graduating (either way), into Servant of the Realm. Both of these were 'free' prestige-like classes that the players got tacked onto whatever their class choices were, providing the above benefits and the use of Action Points (I'll attach a writeup for that, as far as it went, too).

So. The Druids actually ran the Kingsmoot (the election of a new high king), which took place at the center of the human territory, on a mound called King's Tor. The campaign began with the players finding a beached imperial ship, which they reported to the aging high king. When they notified the current high warlord, he took what fleet of ships was availible, and then did his best to keep imperials from controlling the straight that divided the human lands from the elven lands to prevent them from being cut off.

Incidentally, this cost the high warlord his seat at Kingsmoot, and left him unable to vote, as he was too busy kicking imperial ass on the high seas. When Kingsmoot was called, the players had managed to meet about half of the kings of the land, and get on good terms with a pair of them (and decent terms with the third).

Aside from the citizens of the kingdom, there was also a group of people with no nobility who didn't recognize kings, but still respected the land (a running theme in this game). Freemen were the non 'Druid' members of this group, and were allowed at Kingsmoot on rare occasion. The most important freeman in this situation was named Nandos -- Nandos, the Laughing Blade (and by player request, his signature line (to match his vest/bare-chested costume), was: "Who the hell do you think I am!?").

Nandos was a traveler who in his past (and youth) decided to visit the dwarves, just to see what the fuss was about. Given sea travel is not something to be taken lightly in this setting, that put him apart from most others, and he was considered a little bit 'crazy' in the first place. This reputation was enhanced around one hundred times when he joined a dwarven band and stumbled across an active portal to the realm of the orcs.

Through his own series of adventures, he and a steadily shrinking group of dwarves fought against the orcs, eventually reclaiming an ancient dwarven king's tomb, where Nandos recovered an ancient rune-chizeled sword-breaker. This artifact of the dwarves was said to only serve those with 'unflagging heart', and in Nandos's hand, after the leader of the dwarven band fell, leaving it to Nandos, it took flame.

(Yes, I made an artifact sword-breaker.)

Taking the weapon, and rallying the half-dozen dwarves still left alive, Nandos entered his own battletrance, not screaming, not singing, but laughing -- and earning the title that followed him home after destroying the portal (and incidentally killing an awful lot of orcs). His other, less known title, was Dwarf-friend, because those guys loved him; he saved their kingdom, after all.

Next: POLITICS.

Brian · December 13, 2011, 03:50:04 PM

Here's the raw notes on the kings at kingsmoot:

Spoiler: Show

Of the seven kingdoms, one had just entered a bloody civil war (incidentally, the kingdom with the most territory on the strait, where the imperials were trying to land). The two elder sons of the king were warring for control and had deposed their warlord (Alec Westwind) after the king's death in an imperial attack. Alec Westwind took advantage of being handed a message meant for the original king to violate protocol, open the letter, and then take the youngest son (a twelve year old boy named Tomas) to Kingsmoot -- without notifying the other sons what they were missing out on.

When the players arrived (first day of the two-session segment), Alec and Tomas (and what small amount of staff that was loyal to Tomas) were already awaiting the Kingsmoot. Alec was wearing the black band of the condemned for his violation of the Druid council's sealed letter, which was the hook that drew the players to talk to him. It took a week for the remaining kinds and their staff to arrive, as well as the previous high king's Hand.

So, the high king was dead, the high warlord was fighting imperials on the seas, and the elves sent a delegation to watch over the human Kingsmoot. As Druids and Seekers they were permitted; the magic of King's Tor was supposed to reject anyone who wasn't either a Seeker or otherwise tied to the land (kings, hands, warlords, their staff). The kings each had their own goals and agendas, but most of them weren't actually willing to take the seat of the Ard Righ because it would cost their own subkingdoms too much.

(Oh, yeah, the setting is rife with potential.)

The second king to arrive is the king of Leth; they basically screwed up and let the imperials through the strait to strike at Lorturr, which in turn directly led to the king's death there (and the situation that left Tomas at Kingsmoot, with his brothers fighting a civil war during the imperial invasion). Leth's warlord (Orley Sykes) felt directly responsible, and so led a suicide attack to take out the imperials in the Still Sea (the strait) to try and redeem himself.

The king of Leth felt this wasn't going to be sufficient, and decided based on the player's discussions with him to betroth his daughter to Tomas -- giving the prince some support and endorsing his presence on the mound. Nervous king, brand new warlord, and his young daughter. (Now three kings support the players, as does Tomas; they were very good at working the political angles.)

After that, they approach the sons of Cloudchaser and try to buddy up to them. The three sons are in order, a scholar/tactician, an architect who is beloved by the people (but has what's considered an unhealthy fascination with imperial architecture), and (the players find this out later), a highly efficient murderer who detests violence except as the last resort. From here, the players get sidetracked on buddying up to one of the three kings they don't have influence over, and decide they like the eldest son (Dexter) the most for the role of high king.

Really, I was going to let the players figure out how they handled and influenced the meeting; if they had chosen, they could even have installed Tomas and used him as a puppet. What actually happened was, when the other kings challenged Tomas on the grounds that he hadn't been crowned (and recognized by the land), the players used their influence to convince enough of the kings to recognize his validity as an heir (though this automatically labeled his brothers traitors to the realm. Such is life).

+1 king who owes the player a favor; well done, guys. (Incidentally, far later when they went to Lorturr, the players were embarassed to find a giant mural depicting them standing over and then delivering Tomas his crown on the backdrop of King's Tor.)

The first night of Kingsmoot, one of the players is a bard, so joins the bard contest to see if he'll get to perform for the actually meeting of kings-- He rolls a natural 20, so that's instantly settled (hilariously, this bard always rolled 18s or better against his rival, so that running gag fit in there nicely; poor guy could not avoid the PC bard for the life of him, and really tried).

Based on this, the others get to stand in the distance around the stone circle (think Stonehenge), where the kings stand beneath the arches of their kingdoms and adress the High Druid (who is officiating the meeting). The elves stand to one side, watching quietly; the players can't yet figure out what the elves are up to.

The first night is the election of the new high king, and all of the kings argue for who it should and shouldn't be. The players used their influence to get a majority vote for Dexter Cloudchaser (the eldest son); the kings of Lorturr and Leth don't hesitate a second, the king of Saldean agrees reluctantly.

The greatest oposition is actually from the Saldean king, who goes along primarily because of the players. After that, King Pawl objects on principle, because he doesn't like seeing a unanimous vote. It almost comes down to a challenge of champions, but the players play on King Mattias's sympathy for Tomas to get a fourth vote, and that's the majority; Cloudchaser waits until then to throw in his own vote for his son, showing some restraint by not being a jerk and that makes it 5/7.

After some shrewd negotiation, Pawl and Worrler reconcile their historical differences, and the players manage (a little to my surprise, actually) to score a totally unanimous vote. It was fun, but all the drama and discussions (ah, politicing) actually took an entire session.

Brian · December 13, 2011, 07:41:47 PM

On to session (day) two:

The players get an ominous warning that the elves are up to something, despite the fact that they've been quiet and just watching the proceedings thus far.

The main representative of the elven factions (at least, the one who is speaking the most) is Dain Lightfist, the son of one of the elven heroes from the rebellion that occured as the imperials were withdrawing; the players investigated his 'heroic' past, and it worked out like this:

In the distant past, Darren Lightfist was given his name and reputation for an act of vengance, not heroism; he and the force he led slaughtered hundreds of imperials that had effectively been abandoned by the main imperial force. Underequipped, lacking leadership, and (at that point) starving, they couldn't pose any threat at all -- but they killed them to a man. Well, the humans didn't care for the imperials either, but the players were disturbed by the facts behind the legend.

It doesn't help that Darren's son, Dain, has a condescending attitude towards humans in general, and ignores the human players, only talking to the bard and druid (who both happen to be elves). Warned that something is up, the players start checking the rounds and seeing who's most likely to be voted in as high warlord.

Leth's warlord has held the position for less than a week, he's out. Lorturr's warlord is currently in a dicey spot for opening a druidic missive that wasn't addressed to him, so the High Druid forbids him eligability (and he's more concerned with protecting Tomas from his brothers, anyway). Harold is too old, Faldran's too cautious ('lacks courage'), Lawrence is recognized as an incompetent. Each king nominates their own warlord, except for Tomas.

Most of the warlords conceed through debate, but Devlin and Ardasu won't stand down, so they agree to settle the matter with a duel.

This is what the elven representatives were waiting for; anyone with a sponsor (and from a technical standpoint, Dain's father counts, awarded the honor centuries ago, but recognized by the druid council still), can bid for the challenge. Assuming their champion wins.

Ardasu and Devlin duel, and Devlin stands down after taking a concussion from the flat of Ardasu's greatsword (it wasn't a fair fight). Dain then steps into the ring and challenges Ardasu. The players see (but aren't able to point out) that the elven council is using magic to give Dain a (significant) edge over Ardasu, and the warlord is disarmed by an enchanted rapier and forced to yield -- or die.

Ardasu yields, though all of the kinds are furious-- And then the players reveal their emergency fallback plan.

The players didn't know what the elves were up to, exactly, but they really, really like Nandos (and his artifact weapon). Madman or not, they think he's awesome, so they get Tomas to sponsor him -- but keep it a secret until it's absolutely required.

It's required when the elves reveal that while they're indifferent to who's king, they're not above trying to place one of their own people in charge of the high king's army. (In Darren's words: "Rather than leaving it in less competent hands.")

And before Dain can complete the oath of the high warlord, he gets challenged -- and Nandos manages to work in the player's favorite Gurren Laggan line, too. "Who are you to challenge the heir to the Lightfist family?!"

"Who the hell do you _think_ I am?"

From a GMing perspective, I have never before managed to get the players to be so happy about an NPC winning a fight against another NPC, so I think I must have played a few cards right on that count. (They actually CHEERED when he took the field and backhanded Dain in challenge.)

Artifact sword-breaker vs. less artifactey magic rapier (I had plotted this out, but didn't actually expect the players to go for it, so I was pretty happy about it).

End result, Dain's magic sword wasn't strong enough, so it broke, and the backlash revealed that the elven council representatives were trying to cheat-- Thanks to the players pointing it out. Darren was so furious he almost broke the sanctity of King's Tor and assaulted Nandos with magic (which wouldn't have been that effective, thanks to the magic sword-breaker, but, hey). The high druid is more furious with the elves, and Dain is assigned (quite unhappily) a role as Nandos's page.

"I'll teach you right, kid."

"I'm your elder by two hundred years."

"So?"

After that, the players feel like meddling more, so they approach the defeated Ardasu, and try to get him a high position beneath Nandos-- Before they recall that Ardasu's father (Veight) was the former high warlord. Ardasu has no issues with Nandos, and recognizes that laughter or not, the Laughing Blade actually is a keen tactician, and more importantly, honorable. So he defers that role to his father, who's busy fighting imperials (and thus, actually more knowledgeable about the imperials -- and thus capable for the role).

Since he was the new high warlord, he relinquished his artifact sword-breaker to the dwarven contingent to take home. While I had forgotten it, the players had previously gone out of their way to have the former high warlord's smith make a new greatsword, the traditional weapon of the role -- they reminded me at this point, and then they (personally) got to present Nandos with his new blade.

All-in-all, the players took the cues I gave them and handled them well -- sometimes even better than I anticipated. A few of their plans actually surprised me, but fit so well in the setting, why not? It was probably one of my more successful 'and then politics' events in a game, and the players absolutely loved it. Still a high-point for me in my gaming career, even if the campaign ultimately suffered 'And then ... DRAMA!'

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