Re: What would be a cool Fading Suns epic?
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2015 11:29 pm
Thanks.
I think the major takeaway is a "good" metaplot opens more potential plot threads than it actually closes. Again, going back to the example of the Emperor's consort. The love triangle between Alexius, the Decados and the al-Malik/Brother Battle is not particularly inclusive for players. The story hooks presented in the B2 book suggest a resolution where the final result is simply determined by the Emperor and not the PCs. This ultimately removes the outcome from the players hands and makes them feel less agency in the story. The situation is slightly worse then if they read the book and it flat out states regardless of the actions of those involved, the following happens. Of course the purpose of the story was to introduce the players and their characters to the Byzantine politics of the Empire but remember the perception of the players will be they are marginal to the plot.
A good example of a well written metaplot adventure is Giovanni Chronicles IV for the classic World of Darkness. Giovanni Chronicles I is actually a bad example and its from the same series of adventures! Both books assume relatively young characters for the settings (i.e. recently turned vampires). The main difference is in the first book, the players are largely spectators to events with very powerful vampires dominating the story. While it certainly fits into the theme of the Vampire: the Masquerade setting of the vertical struggle of young versus old vampires and of the eternal Jyhad between the elder vampires, the players involvement is limited to nudging things along. Things improve until book 3 when the player characters are elders in their own right and can somewhat hold their own. Book 4 puts the players back into the roles of brand new characters in the 20th (and ends in early 21st) who become embroiled yet have a significant impact on events. Each successive story in the book gives the storyteller options for potential outcomes and how it will influence recurring NPCs opinions. Some of NPCs themselves also change over time in response to events. This is accomplished with the backdrop of seemingly local events to the Boston area until the penultimate climax.
So the outline of how I would write the "Empress" plotline would require increasing the number of potential suitors. Salandra and sister al-Malik could still remain the "front runners" though. The addition of the additional suitors makes it more likely for players to find someone they can feel sympathetic or root for. No offense, but the Decados are easily perceived, and rightfully so, as Harkonnens turned up to 11. Using some of the existing plot threads could serve to create continuity as well:
The Hawkwood detractors become increasingly bold in their actions and disapproval of Alexius' attempts at trying to distance himself from his familial ties. They push for one of their own as a candidate (or an easily tractable member of the family). A precursor to this plot might be an adventure or plot device introduced to indicate their conspiracy is gaining some ground and becoming emboldened.
The main Hawkwood family continues to push for a strong member of the family to further cement the Hawkwood claim on the Phoenix throne. Ideally, this would be a young woman with an elder stateswoman as her mentor (think Margaery Tyrell in A Song of Ice and Fire aka Game of Thrones). This again ties into the Dowager Mother's write up in the B2 book.
Brother Battle and the al-Malik continue to push for Sister Theafana and she still maintains an inside track. However, the other factions have worked hard to undermine her position. Perhaps the more Republican elements of the House are also concerned about her ties to the Church and fear she isn't liberal enough to their liking. A Third Republic conspiracy could be thrown into the mix to add another candidate from the family. The Orthodoxy might be concerned Brother Battle might become too influential if one of their own would become Empress. The Hazat worries her marriage would create a crusade but one against the Symbiots rather than the one they have been pushing for.
The Orthodoxy themselves are also wary of the sister's ties to her former House al-Malik and might encourage a marriage with a Li Halan in the hopes of eventually establishing a theocracy down the road. Secretly though, they seemingly put their backing behind a blatant Church puppet to deflect or conceal their support of the Li Halan suitor. Or the Li Halan is essentially their backup choice. Later, the Patriarch metaplot story suggestion might tie back into this with the Orthodoxy's would be puppet playing a role in that plot. It would throw in some interesting plot ramifications and give players who were involved in both dramas a sense of continuity.
The Hazat have their own agenda and hope to marry one of their own in order to gain the support for a Crusade against the Caliphate. She might be a long shot but if given certain ammunition she might become more compelling candidate. Perhaps the story thread is an investigation into who caused the failure of life support on Jericho which ended the Emperor Wars?
The Decados continue their plots and are the most aggressive at undermining everyone else's candidate through guile and intrigue. Some Decados might not be on board with Salandra and fear she has "gone rogue" or wishes for her own personal advancement and is using the House's resources towards that goal. Perhaps a major important figure in the family has suffered setbacks because of this politicking and he or she wants Salandra's attempts to fail.
The League itself seemingly backs no candidate through the Leaguemeister but secretly deals behind the scenes with all factions. The "enhanced fertility drugs" Salandra Decados has been using in her tryst with Alexius could be revealed to come through certain League services. The Reeves on the other hand might push for candidate whose family is severely indebted to them so they can gain additional leverage on the Empire for their own designs. The Muster backs whomever they think will cause the most strife in the Known Worlds to potentially create another major war and thus line their pocket books further. The Charioteers and Scravers don't have a horse in the race but will support whatever maintains the status quo or gives greater benefit of their respective guild(s) and the League.
Although this certainly feels a bit God-Emperor of Dune inspired, elements of the Engineers have used the intervening years to genetically engineer the "perfect candidate" for Empress. A Changed woman designed to win over Alexius with whom they can secretly control later. Perhaps she was designed based on recovered genetic code from Vladimir Alecto! A similar thread could even originate through the Symbiots in hopes of infecting the Imperial Household. A previous adventure where the characters are hired or encouraged to find a personal item that once belonged to the first Emperor would be a good tie in for how the Engineers obtained the genetic material in the first place.
The minor Houses would have their own candidates as well in the hope of gaining a leg up. They too are longshots but the Houses could throw in a few wrinkles by potentially forming an Imperial House. A House Cameton marriage might even go and cement Alexius' hold over the capital planet. The Van Gelder's might hope to recover their former major House status and thus slowly dilute the other noble houses' power, etc. Perhaps a once lost but now recovered voting scepter might be the focus?
A certain group of Republicans are pushing for a Chauki bride in order to preserve Iver's Republican institutions and counter the nobility, particularly the Hazat. Elements of the Imperial Eye through the Sons of Iver might be keen on this as well.
The Imperial Eye might favour one or more candidates. The amount of dirt they might have dug up could make them significant players in the unfolding story. Perhaps they push for one of the Questing Knights or a minor noble who has pledged direct fealty to the Emperor? Perhaps the Imperial Eye hopes to subvert one of the candidates through the Soulsucker to create an ideal pawn in an Empress thus gaining greater autonomy over itself but also influence in other domains.
Throw in foreign powers like other Lost Worlds, the Caliphate, the Vuldrok, some alien races, the Risen Emperor heresy, the Invisible Path and you could create some truly great machinations to make Imperial matchmaking a campaign in itself!
As for the adventures themselves, I would create a series with each story being a struggle between 2 or more of the potential candidates which the GM can decide to pick and choose which dramas he or she wishes to use (all, some, a single, or none at all). Each story's potential likely outcomes will raise or lower a candidates' chances with additional consequences and follow up plot hooks for cadres. I'd almost recommend to make it extremely difficult for a specific campaign to be able to run all of the adventures unless players are particularly discreet or skillful in avoiding foiling some factions who might sponsor them in another.
I think the major takeaway is a "good" metaplot opens more potential plot threads than it actually closes. Again, going back to the example of the Emperor's consort. The love triangle between Alexius, the Decados and the al-Malik/Brother Battle is not particularly inclusive for players. The story hooks presented in the B2 book suggest a resolution where the final result is simply determined by the Emperor and not the PCs. This ultimately removes the outcome from the players hands and makes them feel less agency in the story. The situation is slightly worse then if they read the book and it flat out states regardless of the actions of those involved, the following happens. Of course the purpose of the story was to introduce the players and their characters to the Byzantine politics of the Empire but remember the perception of the players will be they are marginal to the plot.
A good example of a well written metaplot adventure is Giovanni Chronicles IV for the classic World of Darkness. Giovanni Chronicles I is actually a bad example and its from the same series of adventures! Both books assume relatively young characters for the settings (i.e. recently turned vampires). The main difference is in the first book, the players are largely spectators to events with very powerful vampires dominating the story. While it certainly fits into the theme of the Vampire: the Masquerade setting of the vertical struggle of young versus old vampires and of the eternal Jyhad between the elder vampires, the players involvement is limited to nudging things along. Things improve until book 3 when the player characters are elders in their own right and can somewhat hold their own. Book 4 puts the players back into the roles of brand new characters in the 20th (and ends in early 21st) who become embroiled yet have a significant impact on events. Each successive story in the book gives the storyteller options for potential outcomes and how it will influence recurring NPCs opinions. Some of NPCs themselves also change over time in response to events. This is accomplished with the backdrop of seemingly local events to the Boston area until the penultimate climax.
So the outline of how I would write the "Empress" plotline would require increasing the number of potential suitors. Salandra and sister al-Malik could still remain the "front runners" though. The addition of the additional suitors makes it more likely for players to find someone they can feel sympathetic or root for. No offense, but the Decados are easily perceived, and rightfully so, as Harkonnens turned up to 11. Using some of the existing plot threads could serve to create continuity as well:
The Hawkwood detractors become increasingly bold in their actions and disapproval of Alexius' attempts at trying to distance himself from his familial ties. They push for one of their own as a candidate (or an easily tractable member of the family). A precursor to this plot might be an adventure or plot device introduced to indicate their conspiracy is gaining some ground and becoming emboldened.
The main Hawkwood family continues to push for a strong member of the family to further cement the Hawkwood claim on the Phoenix throne. Ideally, this would be a young woman with an elder stateswoman as her mentor (think Margaery Tyrell in A Song of Ice and Fire aka Game of Thrones). This again ties into the Dowager Mother's write up in the B2 book.
Brother Battle and the al-Malik continue to push for Sister Theafana and she still maintains an inside track. However, the other factions have worked hard to undermine her position. Perhaps the more Republican elements of the House are also concerned about her ties to the Church and fear she isn't liberal enough to their liking. A Third Republic conspiracy could be thrown into the mix to add another candidate from the family. The Orthodoxy might be concerned Brother Battle might become too influential if one of their own would become Empress. The Hazat worries her marriage would create a crusade but one against the Symbiots rather than the one they have been pushing for.
The Orthodoxy themselves are also wary of the sister's ties to her former House al-Malik and might encourage a marriage with a Li Halan in the hopes of eventually establishing a theocracy down the road. Secretly though, they seemingly put their backing behind a blatant Church puppet to deflect or conceal their support of the Li Halan suitor. Or the Li Halan is essentially their backup choice. Later, the Patriarch metaplot story suggestion might tie back into this with the Orthodoxy's would be puppet playing a role in that plot. It would throw in some interesting plot ramifications and give players who were involved in both dramas a sense of continuity.
The Hazat have their own agenda and hope to marry one of their own in order to gain the support for a Crusade against the Caliphate. She might be a long shot but if given certain ammunition she might become more compelling candidate. Perhaps the story thread is an investigation into who caused the failure of life support on Jericho which ended the Emperor Wars?
The Decados continue their plots and are the most aggressive at undermining everyone else's candidate through guile and intrigue. Some Decados might not be on board with Salandra and fear she has "gone rogue" or wishes for her own personal advancement and is using the House's resources towards that goal. Perhaps a major important figure in the family has suffered setbacks because of this politicking and he or she wants Salandra's attempts to fail.
The League itself seemingly backs no candidate through the Leaguemeister but secretly deals behind the scenes with all factions. The "enhanced fertility drugs" Salandra Decados has been using in her tryst with Alexius could be revealed to come through certain League services. The Reeves on the other hand might push for candidate whose family is severely indebted to them so they can gain additional leverage on the Empire for their own designs. The Muster backs whomever they think will cause the most strife in the Known Worlds to potentially create another major war and thus line their pocket books further. The Charioteers and Scravers don't have a horse in the race but will support whatever maintains the status quo or gives greater benefit of their respective guild(s) and the League.
Although this certainly feels a bit God-Emperor of Dune inspired, elements of the Engineers have used the intervening years to genetically engineer the "perfect candidate" for Empress. A Changed woman designed to win over Alexius with whom they can secretly control later. Perhaps she was designed based on recovered genetic code from Vladimir Alecto! A similar thread could even originate through the Symbiots in hopes of infecting the Imperial Household. A previous adventure where the characters are hired or encouraged to find a personal item that once belonged to the first Emperor would be a good tie in for how the Engineers obtained the genetic material in the first place.
The minor Houses would have their own candidates as well in the hope of gaining a leg up. They too are longshots but the Houses could throw in a few wrinkles by potentially forming an Imperial House. A House Cameton marriage might even go and cement Alexius' hold over the capital planet. The Van Gelder's might hope to recover their former major House status and thus slowly dilute the other noble houses' power, etc. Perhaps a once lost but now recovered voting scepter might be the focus?
A certain group of Republicans are pushing for a Chauki bride in order to preserve Iver's Republican institutions and counter the nobility, particularly the Hazat. Elements of the Imperial Eye through the Sons of Iver might be keen on this as well.
The Imperial Eye might favour one or more candidates. The amount of dirt they might have dug up could make them significant players in the unfolding story. Perhaps they push for one of the Questing Knights or a minor noble who has pledged direct fealty to the Emperor? Perhaps the Imperial Eye hopes to subvert one of the candidates through the Soulsucker to create an ideal pawn in an Empress thus gaining greater autonomy over itself but also influence in other domains.
Throw in foreign powers like other Lost Worlds, the Caliphate, the Vuldrok, some alien races, the Risen Emperor heresy, the Invisible Path and you could create some truly great machinations to make Imperial matchmaking a campaign in itself!
As for the adventures themselves, I would create a series with each story being a struggle between 2 or more of the potential candidates which the GM can decide to pick and choose which dramas he or she wishes to use (all, some, a single, or none at all). Each story's potential likely outcomes will raise or lower a candidates' chances with additional consequences and follow up plot hooks for cadres. I'd almost recommend to make it extremely difficult for a specific campaign to be able to run all of the adventures unless players are particularly discreet or skillful in avoiding foiling some factions who might sponsor them in another.