Campaign Concept: United We Stand

What Are We Making?

I'm back! I'm out of university (with a bachelor's degree, huzzah!) and I figured it was time to get back into blogging a little bit more. So, what are we making this time around? Well, I have a lot of new-found time, but I'm trying to "adult" a little bit now that I'm out of school. The creative wheels in my brain are turning though, and I've been coming up with campaign and character ideas... but nothing I can act on at this time, simply due to commitment. So, what else to do but write about them?

Here I've brought to you one of my specialties: a political game, filled with intrigue and drama. However, I think that this one has a bit more potential for combat than my other political games, and you'll see why. Additionally, this game allows for a ton of player input for worldbuilding, which means less work for a tired Game Master.

The question at the center of this concept is: how do you get several very different countries who all hate each other to collaborate effectively? The answer really depends on how the players go about it.

The Setting & Background Info

To start, a GM needs to ask their players to make characters that fit a role in a royal diplomatic party. Any role works, though I would advise against allowing them to be an actual member of a royal family (if there is one.) Some suggestions include, but are not limited to:

- A court jester (bard)

- A court mage (wizard, warlock, sorcerer)

- A priest or royal physician (cleric, paladin)

- A knight or general (barbarian, fighter, paladin)

- A royal gamekeeper (druid, ranger)

- A royal inventor or toymaker (artificer, wizard)

- A diplomat (literally anyone with high charisma)

- The child of one of these other positions who helps their parent out during these difficult times

- A noble who is friends or lovers with one of the royals

Each player must be from a different country. These countries are all part of the same continent, and they are the only countries on that continent. For whatever reason, none of their countries get along. This could be from a history of war, bad trade agreements, misunderstandings, etc. Game Masters should work with their players in session zero to determine exactly what the starting dynamic is.

Something happens. Whatever that is doesn't really matter, but it should have the following qualities:

- It should be unfamiliar and strange.

- It should happen in every single nation at the same time.

- It should, in some way, foreshadow events to come.

- It should be something that has to be addressed as soon as possible (because of its unfamiliar-ness), but not something immediately violent.

- The reason why it can't be violent right away is because these nations need time to realize they can trust each other before everything bad happens. The idea is that this threat is something that can only be beaten if everyone works together. You don't want to decimate your players' kingdoms immediately. Unless you do, but I don't operate like that. I like it when the NPCs don't get along right away, because then it's the PCs' social problem before the combative problem even rears its ugly head.

- Bonus points if it's something that could ultimately be considered a continental threat.

The great thing about this "event" is that it's amorphous. The GM has a lot of creative freedom in terms of what exactly this event brings and what the larger threat is to the nation.

There should also be a "home base" of sorts, which can be the first thing that the players are tasked with doing. The nations all need somewhere to meet, preferably on some sort of neutral ground. The diplomatic parties that the players are part of will settle there during this time. This place should be far away from the threat, as well; it should be a perceived "safety zone." Whether or not it's actually safe is up to GM's discretion. The political plot will happen entirely within the walls of this place.

The Plot

The overarching plot is very simple: solve whatever strange and unfamiliar threat has arrived on the continent. I have a few ideas for such a threat, and all of them would probably involve some combat or dungeon crawling.

- The nations receive a prophecy about an incoming threat (could be an evil god, demon, old one - whatever you're feeling) and need to prepare themselves in some way. The first step is getting the kingdoms to stop fighting. The second step is to figure out how this thing is coming in, and hopefully stop it.

- Towers suddenly sprout out of the ground in each of the nations. Nobody can get inside them on first glance. What's in the towers? That's for the GM to know, and the players to figure out.

- Aliens. Literally aliens. They come down from the sky in a ship, and are preparing an attack. Time to figure out how to stop them.

- A criminal empire has gotten so large and scary that they're threatening to invade the continent from all sides.

- This could also be done with something more magical, like a coven of hags or vampires, or even an evil cult.

- Could also be pirates. We all know I have an unhealthy pirate obsession.

- Think of something like "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" or "The Seven Deadly Sins." The problem could be creatures that are embodiments of / have domain over something evil. Now they're messing everything up on the continent for some reason.

While the players travel to settle that, there are things going on at that home base I mentioned earlier. After some kind of milestone in their quest, the players should be forced to return to their home base, for whatever reason. This is where the political intrigue plot is happening, and there can be a number of things going on:

- A forbidden romance between royals of two kingdoms

- An "overthrow the government from within" plot, some traitorous behavior

- A secret hostile takeover of one nation by one of the other nations

- This one in particular is interesting, because depending on how much a character likes their home nation or not, a kingdom could feasibly be absorbed by another kingdom and completely wiped out during the course of this campaign.

- An assassination of an important figure

- This is especially effective if it's someone very important. For example: a nation's "prophet-figure" who speaks to their god, the person who's been advocating most for peace and cooperation, or the sweet and innocent princess that the players love.

- If the players have family in the diplomatic party, that's also a good option. If you don't want to have them killed outright, it can also just be a solid attempt on their life.

Both of those major plots combined, in my opinion, make for a good balance of content. What you have is a compelling reason for travel and a potential for fun boss battles to save a kingdom on one hand. On the other, you have intense social-political battles to navigate as well, and a chance for some espionage. Additionally, the players also had a hand in literally making the nation they're from. They'll have strong feelings about their home and their people, one way or the other, and people are some of the most valuable resources a GM has when it comes to storytelling.

Campaign Concept: All In The Cards

 What Are We Making?

I wrote a tweet the other day about how a crazy idea came to me, and I thought to myself, "but wait... that's actually amazing." Well... here we are, I guess!

Over the past month or so, I've actually been learning to read tarot cards, and that's where this idea stems from. I was shuffling my deck of cards last night when this idea for a larger campaign hit me. I decided that I wanted to make a game where tarot cards played a large part, specifically the 22 cards in the major arcana deck. Each of these cards has a person, object, or creature on it and each card has a meaning.

The 22 Major Arcana Cards
Smith-Waite Tarot Deck

Game Masters wishing to run a game like this should definitely do their research on tarot beforehand, or already know the basics of reading tarot. I'm using my personal deck of tarot cards, which is the Smith-Waite deck, and The Ultimate Guide to Tarot Card Meanings by Brigit Esselmont as my basis for this concept. I'm also only using the major arcana cards, but Game Masters may choose to find ways to fit in the minor arcana cards as well.

The Setting & Basic Lore

I can see this game taking one of two settings: within the world of the tarot cards themselves, or in a world that just happens to have personified beings for all of the people, creatures, or objects within the cards.

Let's take the first setting: the world of the tarot cards themselves. In this scenario, we take the pictures of the cards very literally. Those people there are going to be the people that the characters meet. Additionally, they are literally in a deck of tarot cards, so someone has to have put them there. You're going to need a very powerful NPC - good or evil - who has done so. I like this setting for the comedic potential because... the players can just... talk to the Moon. Or the Sun. It's different, and I like that about it a lot; it's not something you see in D&D often.

In the second scenario, you can homebrew your own fantasy world or play in one that's pre-established, as long as there are people, objects, or beings that can fit into the roles of the cards. This gives the Game Master more freedom when it comes to character art and description. In fact, I personally like this setting more, just because of the potential of getting commissioned art of NPCs as tarot cards. That is a super fun idea.

A Game Master can also choose to use the tarot cards as a basis for character personalities, when it comes to the cards they represent. For example, in the Smith-Waite deck, the Justice card represents justice (of course), fairness, truth, and law. So the NPC representing Justice (the card) would act in that way. The Chariot card represents control, success, action, and determination. So, the Chariot NPC might be a literal charioteer, who always seems in control of his actions and determined to win.

Minor Arcana Cards, Ace - 10
All four suits
Smith-Waite Tarot Deck

If you want to use the minor arcana cards, there are ways to do that too. In simplest explanation, the minor arcana cards operate almost like playing cards: four suits, running ace to 10, and then there are four "face cards" (page, knight, queen, and king.) The suits are typically cups, pentacles, swords, and wands (rather than hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs.) Here are my personal recommendations:

- You can make four smaller kingdoms around this "empire" ruled by the Empress and Emperor that have kings and queens of their own that the party will have to go through, in order to complete the plot (which we'll get to in a moment.)

- You can use the suits - cups, pentacles, swords, and wands - as four magic items. This works especially well with four players; tailor each of the items to one of them.

- You can make finding them into something of a side quest. Sure, the major arcana is the main focus, but if they collect all of a certain suit, they get a reward or something. By "all of a certain suit" I mean that they would need 59 cups, pentacles, swords, and wands to complete the deck. That's a wand for each number on the card (ace has 1, 2 has 2, 3 has 3, etc.), and then 1 for the page, knight, queen, and king of that suit. This would be a long one, but good if you want a really long-form campaign.

The Plot

So, in my mind, all of this starts with a powerful spellcasting NPC. This can be an adventure patron, or a BBEG. Doesn't matter. 

The first setting works really well with the BBEG idea. He would already have a tarot deck, and the players are trapped inside it. To get out, they need something from each of the major arcana cards. It could be a riddle, piece of a poem, or even another card of some kind. They get those things, and they're able to leave the realm of the cards. They fight the mage who trapped them as their final boss.

In the second setting, this NPC does not have tarot cards, but he's trying to make them: "a deck of cards that can see into the future and determine fate" or something along those lines. To do that, he needs... pieces of certain types of people that the party will have to locate. Game Masters can determine what exactly these "pieces" are, if their use is benevolent or malevolent, etc. Again, these NPCs that are going into the cards embody the meanings of the major arcana cards. At the end, the players receive some kind of great reward from a friendly NPC, or they have to fight the guy whose deck they made. Do they know it better than him, because they were the ones who actually met the people inside it? Are the people in the deck happy to be there? All of that is totally up to the GM.

The thing that I love about this idea is the diversity of the NPCs and how you might play them, just because of what reading tarot is like. You can put your own twists on the meanings of the cards, especially if the cards have double meanings for whatever reason, or if you interpret the cards differently. A huge part of reading tarot, as I've learned, is trusting your intuition and determining what the cards mean to you as well. The imagery on the card is just as important as the description given by the meaning, and that opens up a whole possibility for commissioned art, if that's something you can afford as a GM.

This is the type of concept that could be done by two GMs in a very different way, and that's part of the reason why I love it so much.

Campaign Concept: Fate Versus Fortune

What Are We Making?

It's been a long time since I've done one of these! I'm so glad to be out of school and back into the swing of writing these kinds of concepts. 

This idea is a bit of an odd one for a fantasy-based campaign, but it definitely works, and I also think it has a great aesthetic. While it can be a campaign on its own, some DMs may want to use it as a short quest or even a dungeon. It works either way!

Today, I want to talk about a campaign concept that centers around gambling, luck, and changing fate. This is the type of game that relies heavily on cunning, and perhaps even cheating to tip the scales in your favor. Everything about this leads up to the players confronting one of two creatures as their BBEG: a being of luck or chaos, or a being of death or fate. They'll do so by collecting cards of an unplayed poker hand.

The Setting & Background Info

In my mind, the general setting isn't super important. This kind of game can be played in nearly any setting, as long as your setting has a gambling card game attached to it that has players holding a multiple card hand. It could be something like poker or rummy, it could include a board component like cribbage, or it could be a completely different game that you make up yourself. I'd recommend that a hand of cards consists of anywhere between three to seven cards out of a standard 52-card deck. That makes planning what the cards look like much easier.

Additionally, your setting should have this lore component to it: someone cheated Fate or Death. I use capital letters for those because, in this setting, those ideas a represented by creatures, usually gods in a fantasy setting. The idea is that some mortal challenged one of these two creatures to a game of cards. If the mortal won, they were unable to die or they were outside of the influence of fate. If they lost, they gave up their immortal soul. When it came time to play their hands, the god went first, and it was clear they were going to win. Instead of playing their hand so the game could end, the mortal took their cards and escaped. Because of this, they've gained immense power; nobody has ever managed to cheat Death or Fate before. As the DM, you can choose what kind of power this is, but here are some thoughts to get you started:

- Celestial. In doing this, the mortal has become the literal god of fortune and gambling. It was probably another, more powerful god that granted the mortal this gift, perhaps even an evil one.

- Fiend. What the mortal has done is outside of the natural order of these divine beings. It would make sense that they'd become the exact opposite of a divinity for cheating them out of what they rightfully won.

- Undead. If you bet your immortal soul, and you haven't given it up just yet, can you still die? Or are you forced to hold on to it until your cards are played? In my opinion, the latter makes more sense and makes for a better story. This creature is nearly lich-like, without the restraint of a phylactery. Their cards are the closest thing they have.

Having all the cards in one place would be detrimental. All a group of intrepid adventurers would have to do is kill this mortal-turned-immortal and take the cards to go and play them (wherever they'd have to go to do that.) Instead, scatter them all over the world.

The Plot

This is where the real fun begins. For the sake of ease, I'm going to call our mortal-turned-immortal "Luck" when I refer to them. The general idea I had for the overarching plot is that the players travel from place to place, collecting these cards. The goal is to get them to the table where the game was originally played, and then play the cards on Luck's behalf. Why the players are involved with Luck is really up to the DM. Some potential plot hooks include:

- Players enduring a loss early in the campaign against Luck. For example, Luck is producing a series of bad luck on a town, and the players are unable to stop them. Knowing Luck plans to do this everywhere, they go looking for the cards.

- Players are selected for a secret mission from a cult, faith, or faction that reveres the god of Fate or Death. This group, whatever they may be, want to appease their god by killing Luck and they've hired the adventurers to do it.

- Each of the players (especially if they have tragic backstories) could have also discovered that Luck was involved in that / a tragedy in some way. Luck was altering fate even further in that way because that has become their new purpose.

Along their way, in their journey to find these cards, they encounter Luck or perhaps other creatures that work for them who may be guarding the cards. Maybe other mortals have the cards because they bring good fortune, and they know that they're magical so they keep them. Those types of people would also have a very good reason not to let go of their cards.

Then there comes this point: who's the villain of this story, truly? As easy as it is to say that Luck is, the DM can also decide that Luck has done nothing wrong. In fact, it can be argued that Luck should be rewarded for their cleverness and allowed to live. The DM can also decide that Luck is not inherently evil, based on the kind of creature they'd become. Not all undead or celestials are necessarily evil. If you want Luck to be the evil one here, then making them a fiend or other inherently evil creature would probably be your best bet.

Perhaps the true villain of the story is the other half: Death or Fate. A being of death is a bit harder to do though, because if a party manages to kill Death... then what happens? Can things continue to die? Fate might be an easier opponent for Luck and the party in that case. If you kill Fate, all that means is that people's fates are now in their own hands. That makes for a very empowering story. Maybe as the players collect cards and talk to Luck, they realize that they're not doing anything wrong. They're just giving others the power to choose. Instead of playing the hand, they help Luck cheat Fate a second time.

Either way, it makes for an interesting choice at the end of the game, and it comes down to a line I'll steal from the Pixar film Brave: if you had the chance to change your fate, would you? Is changing fate, the natural law of what should happen in the universe, actually a good thing?

Campaign Concept: The Show Must Go On

What Are We Making?

So, this concept is a bit of a weird one, but something that I honestly think could be a lot of fun, especially if you've got a table full of theatre geeks and you, the DM, are also a theatre geek or have been involved in some capacity with theatre.

This is an idea that hit me while I was watching the 2001 film Moulin Rouge a couple weeks ago. Side note: if you've never seen Moulin Rouge, I highly recommend it. Ever since, I've had this idea in my head and while it might be a bit difficult to pull off, I think it could work, especially with the right table.

This is an idea for what would probably be a short, lower level, very roleplay-heavy campaign where the goal would be to produce a successful play or musical from start to finish.

Let's take a look!

The Setting

If you plan on running this in a medieval setting, you're going to want to think about how plays are done in your world to begin with. Is this a society where plays are for the rich only? Are plays easily accessible? Are physical theaters common, or are plays done by traveling minstrel groups that come and go? The reason why these are important is because the goal is to make a successful show. For that, you need to know a few things:

- Who is your primary audience? If it's the rich, then you don't want to write a play that makes fun of the rich or nobility. If it's the everyday person in medieval times, your play might make something with themes that are widely appealing (like the common man becoming someone great for example.)

- What kind of stage are you working with? Is it big or small? How many audience members can it hold? What's the seating configuration? You'll need to know this for blocking and also for actor entrances and exits.

- Do you have the capability for special effects? What I mean by that is magic or some type of chemical mixture that can produce certain effects. Luckily this is fantasy, so there are a lot of cool options for you to explore when it comes to special effects that can be done.

Once you have that down, you'll have to establish your setting in one of those places or among a certain troupe. You can also have it so that the players have to start from scratch and get their own actors, stage crew, and everything else. Having a traveling troupe would be a good excuse to get them out of one city and that can substitute for the travel that is typically inherent in games like D&D. Roadside encounters are great avenues for some combat, and that combat can lead to the party getting things to sell so they have more money for their show. 

"Adventuring" in this game isn't so much a goal as it is means to an end. If your setting has a prominent adventuring culture, then your party might pick up adventuring as a side job. They'll help out the city they're in, or each of the cities and towns that they travel to, to make the coin necessary to sustain their little troupe. Of course, they may also decide to put on other plays that their troupe has already done and make money that way as well. However, I'm sure that adventuring would be a bit more lucrative.

The Plot

With this group, you'll have to have session zero all together. Since all these people have the same goal of putting on this one show, then you'll definitely want to work out a couple of things. Party roles are the most important. Are they all writing the show together? Is one person doing the script and another doing the music? Is one of the characters the director, or the wardrobe expert, or the special effects designer, or maybe even the lead actor? There are a lot of people that make a show happen, so there are a lot of possibilities. The players could even all be the actors and are hired by the playwright and director to be in a pre-established show, rather than having the players come up with a show themselves. It's whatever would be fun for your table.

If the players are running / writing the show, then they'll also be responsible for finding the NPCs that will help them put on the best show. I like the idea of the party meeting new people and becoming so attached or enamored with them that they become important. They really are building this show from the ground up, and seeing it be a success at the end will be really satisfying if done correctly.

Of course, no show is complete without the drama. I have a few ideas for "hitches" or bumps in the road that might complicate relationships between people in the show.

- Actor quarrels can be common in theatre, especially among particularly petty people who may be upset about not getting a certain role.

- Perhaps there's a rival theatre troupe or play house that's also putting on a new show. Fun rivalry? Espionage? Sabotage? Maybe the players can convince some of the actors or crew there to switch sides and come work for them. Who knows?

- The two leads are hardcore pining for each other. Can the party set them up outside of the show?

- If you want to play up the "part-time adventurers" idea, maybe one of the actors or someone in the crew has a family that's in trouble. They party goes to help because they love the people in their troupe.

- The special effects designer needs a specific component for a certain spell to make the show even better. Time to go either shopping or adventuring to find it!

- Secure funding from a local noble. That way money becomes a bit less of a problem or a limitation.

Then you have the endgame. Opening night. To me, this is the climax of the game. Everything has to go perfectly, and you have to hope for rave reviews. If you don't get them, you can always continue the game with the characters workshopping the show and trying again, but the goal is a great show. You're going to want to have the players make checks, and maybe they get extra modifiers based on their relationships with the cast and crew or certain ideas they had along the way. 

Reward creativity in this game, more than in other games. Reward them for their reputations among their audience and the relationships they've made. That's going to be a key feature and core concept of a game like this. If you've ever been in a theatre production, it's often that the cast becomes something of a second family. Luckily, D&D is also a great place to explore the found family trope. You definitely want to play that up in a game like this.

Campaign / Quest Concept: Who is the Monster? Who is the Man?

What Are We Making?

I absolutely adore Disney films, and while the source material for this concept definitely isn't originally Disney, it was the Disney film that inspired it. I've actually run an adventure within my Tri-Panthonic War campaign that parodied The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The film is one of my all-time favorites, and while I've never read the Victor Hugo novel, I do love Hugo's writing.

Today I want to discuss the potential for a plotline in a D&D 5e game, in a typical medieval-fantasy setting, that follows something similar to The Hunchback of Notre Dame's plot. This probably wouldn't be a full campaign. I suppose that it could be, but it's also something that a DM could easily include as a side quest or piece of a main quest.

This is also a bit of a test run. Since I'm a bit of a Disney nerd as well as a D&D addict, I make plotlines like these a lot to use in my campaigns. If you guys like these kinds of ideas then I'll make more and have a series of Disney-related campaign concepts on here. Why not, right? So, without further ado, let's explore this idea.

Notre Dame Cathedral - Paris, France
(Photo from Mentalfloss)

The Setting

For obvious reasons, your setting (whatever that may be) should probably include a temple or church of some kind. The main setting can be elsewhere, but a church or temple needs to be involved somehow. This story has very strong religious ties, and that can actually be something worth exploring in D&D. Just remember to make sure that all players at the table are comfortable with exploring it. In the movie, a huge part of the reason why Claude Frollo takes Quasimodo in is because of his fear for his immortal soul after death. That's a fear that stems from religion. 

What religion is this? That's probably the next big question. Personally, I think that depends greatly on setting and what pantheons you're using. In my Tri-Panthonic War campaign  there are three different divine pantheons (as the name implies.) I picked the pantheon that was most popular in the current area, and then picked a god of protection and loyalty. That has great potential for irony, but it also makes sense, depending on what you, the DM, decides what to do with it. For me, the church believed that they were protecting the public from a terrifying, ungodly monster by locking him up and hiding him in their bell tower.

Speaking of monsters within the church, I know that 5e has statblocks for gargoyles. That would be a very fun and very "on-brand" encounter for this kind of setting. We'll talk a bit more about "monsters" in the plot section too.

Another large part of the source material centers around prejudices, specifically racial and cultural prejudices. Whether or not you decide to go this route is your decision, but as before, please take that up with your players before doing it. That's a really serious topic that should be addressed before pursuing something like this. While Quasimodo is the one being criticized most, he is criticized more for his deformities than anything (at least, as the movie portrays it.) There's prejudice there, but it's neither racial nor cultural. Esmerelda is the target of those prejudices. Is there some kind of conflict brewing that maybe leads to how Esmerelda's race or culture is being treated in this setting, specifically by the law and the church? However you want to convey that is your decision. In the film, Claude Frollo is a holy man, but his occupation is that of a judge. When I ran this quest, for ease, my "Frollo" character was actually the high priest of the temple. It allowed for him to keep an eye on Quasimodo, who he genuinely believed to be very dangerous.

The Plot

The important characters would be as follows:

- Quasimodo, aka "The Hunchback." This character is going to be the focal point of this plotline. Your PCs will probably be looking for him or assisting him in some way. In my version of events, "Quasimodo" was a prince. His real name was Hugo (named for Victor Hugo.) Hugo's father, the king, had tried to kill him because he discovered that Hugo was planning on killing him and taking the throne. However, due to fiendish intervention, Hugo did not die. Instead, he was horribly disfigured and hidden away in the bell tower after several more unsuccessful attempts at killing him in secret. This fiendish influence, however, did warp him. He became something of a demi-lich / fiend warlock hybrid. He was a literal monster. His desire for revenge and to improve his kingdom was what was keeping him alive. Your Quasimodo doesn't have to be a literal monster with good intentions, but I just liked the aesthetic. The players helped him realize that revenge. Obviously, this character is a bit of a far cry from the original iteration of Quasimodo in the source material. If you wanted to keep Quasimodo as the gentle young man who hasn't found himself and isn't able to be free, then that can work too.

- Claude Frollo. Your version of Frollo should either be connected to the law, or the church (or potentially both if this society is theocratic; that works even better.) He is one of the - if not the only - major antagonists in this quest. He's cold, calculating, and selfish. He is currently in favor of the "status quo" and has done nothing wrong as far as he is concerned especially when it comes to this situation with Quasimodo. He is Quasimodo's reluctant caretaker at this time. Whether or not Quasimodo respects him in your game depends greatly on how long this has been going on. In the film, Quasimodo was raised by Frollo so he trusts him implicitly until the end. It might be different for you. In my game, Hugo knew Frollo in life and had always despised him. Now, in his current situation, he hates him even more.

- Esmerelda. This character is the catalyst. She is the one that, for whatever reason, starts the plot. She is the quest-giver for this. For whatever reason, she needs help with something. Or the players overhear her muttering about what to do. She would be the second person on this list to know about Quasimodo. She the rebel - the first person to look at Quasimodo and see him not as a monster, but as a man. She can be one of the "outcasts" that the church despises, or she could just be sympathetic. In my version of the story, Esmerelda was actually Hugo's younger sister. She supports him in his desire to overthrow their father, wholeheartedly. She was always very sweet, very kind, but very clever. She helped the party plan and enact a whole distraction for the party to find an item that they needed in her family's crypt.

- Phoebus. Phoebus is the defector of this game. He's someone very important to Esmerelda, Quasimodo, or both of them. He's also someone who's deeply entrenched in the politics of the time for whatever reason. In the film, Phoebus worked for Frollo and helped to arrest Esmerelda and her people. He can also be someone within the church who doesn't know Quasimodo is there. Lastly, he should also be someone with some kind of renown and power, so that he can be more helpful with getting Quasimodo out of the situation he's in. The goal of the PCs would essentially be to convert him to their side. Phoebus was Hugo and Esmerelda's brother - the middle child and now heir to the throne since Hugo's death - in my game. He was also a paladin of the faith that Frollo belonged to. The party needed his help; he was a good man on the wrong side of the fight. His brother and sister wanted his help but, until he actually talked to him, Phoebus had believed what Frollo said: Hugo was the monster.

- Clopin. I don't know how many people will actually recognize this name if they've seen the film. "Clopin" is the name of the jester in the film who acts as the narrator for the tale. This is, in my opinion, more of an optional character, but definitely a fun one. I had him as the jester to this royal family, and he was important because he knew all the family secrets. Nobody pays attention to a jester when they're not performing, right? He was the one who let the party know that something weird was going on when they started asking questions about the prince's mysterious death. He led them to Esmerelda, who led them to Hugo.

In terms of an actual storyline, there are a few directions to take this. My plot involved more of a political angle with the overthrowing of tyrant kings, mixed with strange and terrible magic, like the demonic prevents-you-from-dying-in-a-fire type.

Perhaps your larger plot centers around corruption in this specific faith all over the kingdom. The party is sent to investigate rumors of this corruption and this could very easily be their first adventure. It's familiar and it's a great introduction to the world.

As I briefly mentioned, there could be something of a war brewing between this kingdom and another. The tensions are high already, and now you have this woman from the other kingdom who claims that the church has a man locked in the tower against his will to ring the bell. Who's going to believe her here, so far from home? What about your party?

There's one final piece that this plot needs, and it's the core idea of the film: who is the monster and who is the man? That was actually the name of this quest in my game. Frollo was more of a secondary antagonist in my version, with the true antagonist being Hugo's father, King Emmanuel. They are the duality that the question above requires. You need two people who are going to be pitted against each other, no matter which plot you choose. One of them is Quasimodo: the man who looks like a monster, but ultimately has good intentions. Even my Hugo, despite the fact that he actually was a monster, wanted to overthrow his father for the betterment of the kingdom first, and then for revenge second. The other is a man who, although looks like his fellow men, is a monster on the inside. In my case, that was Emmanuel: the tyrant king. Secondarily, it was Frollo: the corrupt and slimy high priest of a faith that people perceived to be good. In the film, this question was posed with Frollo and Quasimodo in mind and it's a really good dynamic, so feel free to keep it.

As the DM, for this plot to really work, you need to indirectly ask the players two questions.

1. Who is the monster and who is the man?

2. Are you supporting the monster or are you supporting the man?

~~~~~

ART LINKS:

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/556629/facts-about-notre-dame-cathedral 

Campaign Concept: Friends AND Foes

What Are We Making?

I want to talk about a different kind of campaign, one that would probably be more of a short-form one. This could even work as a one-shot, depending on the scale that you want to play it.

This is a tournament-style campaign that would focus a lot on combat. How any DM wants to interpret that, they have the opportunity to. I want to make a game that allows for adventure, but in a fixed setting - a game where who your friends are is just as important as who your enemies are, especially in that fixed setting.

Although the idea of a "tournament game" isn't new, it is something that's a bit out of my comfort zone. I like to run TTRPG campaigns with a lot of roleplay, more so than combat. I want to try and make a game that's a little different. Let's take a look at some ideas for a game like this.

The Setting

Setting can vary greatly in this kind of game. Medieval fantasy? That works. Sci-fi? Absolutely. You could even go so far as to make this tournament something like a mech battle if you wanted to. Some kind of dystopian setting? Just look at The Hunger Games. I want to focus on the minute details of this setting though, and I think those details depend severely on two things: why are the players here and what are they fighting? 

In terms of why they're here, you have two options: voluntary or involuntary. Did they choose to be here or not? Were they chosen to participate for one reason or another, or was there some kind of sign-up sheet? From here, you can design the other NPCs and the arena itself. As I said, this is a contained setting. In my mind, the game takes place entirely in this arena or colosseum or whatever your "battleground" is. Perhaps you take the Hunger Games route and make this game about survival as well as fighting. Perhaps there are rooms and such under or around the arena. 

Then, of course, there's a roleplay aspect to this. If the other NPCs are also here voluntarily, then they have reasons and motivations. What are they? If they're not, then what happened? Why is everyone here? That goes for the other PCs too! Who's to say that they don't all have different motivations? There's potential for party conflict and/or camaraderie there already.

The fights themselves also have a multitude of different ways in which they can be structured. Much of that depends on the enemy they're facing. The way I see it, there are two options:

- Have the party fight other people / adventuring groups. This might require more work on the part of the DM, especially if you're full-on making PC character sheets for each opponent. That could be a lot. However, it would cause the players to have to think more on their feet and strategize a little harder. I also like this more for the roleplay potential, which I'll touch on a little more later.

- Have the party fight monsters. This would probably be easier to manage, and it could also lead to some really cool scenes and combat sequences.

Obviously, you can also choose to combine the two in some way. Maybe they start with monsters and work up to fighting each other. Both situations, I think, could be really interesting for players and also really fun when you get to higher levels.

From there comes the big question: what's the point? Why are the PCs here? If they volunteered, why? If they didn't, why or why not?

The Plot

I can think of a few motivations for groups of people to want a Roman Colosseum or Hunger Games-esque tournament to occur.

- Over-population. Certain people are just randomly selected and have to fight for their lives because some entity (the government, God, etc.) said so. This tournament is viewed as a necessity. Those who are chosen can't get out of it unless someone else volunteers to take their place.

- Cultural norms. Perhaps this kind of tournament is just... normal... in this particular setting. Maybe it's considered honorable to volunteer or be chosen to participate.

- Entertainment. This is just a ploy to keep the masses in line. Bread and circuses, you know? Think: Ancient Rome. Same concept. This type of tournament would also be public and have an audience. The audience may or may not also have some kind of say in how the game goes. Think: reality TV shows with a voting system that involves the viewers "calling in" or what have you.

I'm sure there are other motivations that you can probably think up too, but these were the first that came to my mind.

Another important aspect to this is: what's the reward if they win? Depending on how deadly you make this for your players, you definitely want a reward that matches the risk. Very few people are going to throw themselves into a tournament with life-or-death stakes for something like fame. Fame would be a good secondary motivator but there has to be something else. Like:

- Money. It works for reality TV, why not here? Why not make it enough money so that the characters and their families could live easy lives?

- Food. This is something that would be important in a post-apocalyptic or dystopian society.

- Someone else's life. What if the characters each had someone very important to them? What if, when they lost, that person died?

- Some kind of magic item. Maybe one that grants something like immortality or a use of the "Wish" spell.

PC death might also be something that the table and DM will have to prepare for if you plan on making this a particularly deadly game. DMs, if this is your plan, make sure your players know that. I'd recommend putting in something like a "merge" plan for the tournament. For example, if the party loses a member in a fight, the player then makes a new PC that was the only survivor of their last fight.

Lastly, I want to discuss more about the roleplay aspect to this game, and specifically why I called this concept "Friends AND Foes." This idea works especially well if the players do fight other people, rather than monsters. Obviously, while in this arena with all these other teams, bonds are inevitably going to be formed. Even if they're loose and there with the knowledge that people could die, they're there. So what happens when the party of PCs return from a victory... to find that the team they'd been friends with was killed? Is there a feud between them and the team that killed their friends? Will they get the chance to settle it in the arena? Better yet - and this is where the title comes in - what happens when the PCs are forced to fight the team or teams they'd been calling their friends? Is there a way out of that? Do you have to fight to the death? If the players kill the NPCs, how does that affect them later?

At that moment, that NPC party is both friend and foe, and that idea, I think, could make for a really great, really thoughtful game in a very combat-heavy setting.

Campaign Concept: Does This Count as "Breaking the Fourth Wall?"

What Are We Making?

Have you ever wanted to play D&D... in D&D? Have you ever wanted to play some type of "meta-game" that's meta within the game itself?

Let me explain. This idea struck me late at night, after I got home from work. Normally, I take more time to really think and flesh out the campaign concepts for this blog, but I desperately want to get this one out there. It's so fascinating to me.

The idea is to essentially run a game that is actually two games. As such, each player needs to make 2 characters. One character will be in the "Base Game" setting and one will be in the "Tabletop Game" setting - I'll explain what those mean in a second. For the Base Game setting, the DM will also need to create a character that is the DM of some kind of tabletop RPG. If it were me, I'd just have both games as D&D 5e since that's the system I know best, but that doesn't mean that you have to. Use Pathfinder, Starfinder, Call of Cthulhu, or even a TTRPG that you, yourself, are working on. That TTRPG is the Tabletop Game setting. The characters in the Tabletop Game are the second set of characters made by the players, and they are played by the Base Game characters.

The Setting

This game has two settings: the Base Game and the Tabletop Game.

The Base Game is set in a world that's not so different from ours, or that's how I would personally do it. There would be a few exceptions though.

- I would make the Base Game world more of an "urban fantasy" setting. I would let there be strange creatures and magic mixing with modern technology and social norms.

- In terms of characters, for this world, I'd limit the player's choices a little. I'd allow any race. The classes would have to be "re-flavored" a bit, and some subclasses would have to be excluded entirely. In a "modern fantasy setting" there may not be a place for certain subclasses. DMs hoping to run this game really need to work with their players for creation of these characters. Let the creativity flow. Find ways that certain subclasses can fit in the niches of modern society; I encourage it. Backgrounds will be hard. I'd homebrew them according to characters' backstory and according to where the Base Game primarily takes place. That brings us to...

- The main setting in the Base Game, whatever it may be, has to have the Base Game characters and Base Game DM in a position where they already know each other, have been friends for some time (several months to several years), and the characters would have to know how to play whatever TTRPG the Base Game DM wants to play with them. They could all be coworkers; they work in the same building. They could all be friends from university, or maybe they're in university together right now. That's how you might want to structure their backgrounds; give them skills related to their specific job or field of study.

Urban / modern fantasy settings are really fun to worldbuild in my opinion, and I can see this world being so incredibly fun and interesting to play in.

Then there's the Tabletop Game setting. This is a typical setting for whatever TTRPG you're looking to run. Any race, class, background, etc. from that system is fair game, in my opinion. That's also really nice because if a player couldn't find a way to "reflavor" their favorite class in the Base Game setting, then they can just play it here! The players will be spending as much time in the Tabletop Game as the Base Game. I'd structure the game in such a way that every other, two, or three sessions alternate between the Base Game and the Tabletop Game.

The Plot

So what's the point? Why in the world would this be a fun game for my players? Normally when I do these types of posts, I give a list of different plot ideas and potential arcs. Well, like I said earlier, I didn't exactly spend as much time with this concept as I usually do. I just got really excited about it! So, instead, let me walk you through how I would do it by creating a fake group of players. Maybe that will get your own gears turning.

So, let's say that the Base Game setting is Aspiring Dragons University (ADU.) All the Base Game characters are university students. This is my table, and these are my players and their characters:

DM: Emily

Base Game DM: Jesse (Human, College of Eloquence Bard) - Jesse is a double major in Political Science and Literature.

Player: Carly

Base Game PC: Othokent (Lizardfolk, Arcane Archer Fighter) - Othokent studies at ADU and is also captain / president of the archery team / club.

Tabletop Game PC: Quirek (Aaracockra, Circle of Dreams Druid) - Outlander Background.

Player: Josh

Base Game PC: Graal (Hobgoblin, Forge Domain Cleric) - Graal actually attends ADU part time, and went to a trade school to become a welder before that. He still does metal-work. 

Tabletop Game PC: Elaim Dralam (Dwarf, Path of the Battlerager Barbarian) - Soldier Background.

Player: Ryan

Base Game PC: Halimath (Firbolg, Circle of the Shepherd Druid) - Halimath is a Zoology major at ADU. He grew up on a local farm.

Tabletop Game PC: Sin (Tiefling, School of Evocation Wizard) - Charlatan Background.

Player: Jenny

Base Game PC: Corelia Ironfoot (Gnome, Life Domain Cleric) - Corellia is a nursing major at ADU. She's also involved with a religious group on campus.

Tabletop Game PC: Dyla Ahlorsath (Triton, Mastermind Rogue) - Criminal Background.

I'd have session zero with the whole table, but only talk about the Base Game PCs. Then, we'd do the first Base Game session where Jesse would sit down with Othokent, Graal, Halimath, and Corelia and pitch their idea for a D&D campaign. It'd be your typical fantasy fare: go on a grand adventure to stop some great evil and save the world. Then go through another session zero as the characters in the Base Game, who are talking to Jesse about the Tabletop Game characters: Quirek, Elaim, Sin, and Dyla. Then, Jesse would start the first session of the Tabletop Game.

Alternate for two or three more sessions each. Let the players get used to the whole "two worlds, two characters" thing. I think it's going to be an adjustment for everyone, and it'll be a lot for the DM (me, in this case) to keep straight. There are a couple of things I would make known to the real-life players:

- We can, in the middle of a Tabletop Game session, transition to Base Game. Remember that your Tabletop characters are the characters of your Base characters. So, if the Base Game characters have something to say about the way that Jesse runs the game, then they have a right to say it.

- Additionally, if something happens in the Tabletop Game and you want to see how Base Game characters react, simply ask, "How does Jesse look right now?" or "What does Corelia think of this?"

- You cannot simply transition from Base Game to Tabletop Game because the Tabletop Game is only run when Jesse says that it is. If you're in class in the Base Game, you cannot suddenly be playing D&D.

- Emily is running the Base Game. Jesse is running the Tabletop Game. Any narration I do for the Tabletop Game is actually Jesse talking to the Base Game characters.

- You will know when we transition from one setting to the other via verbal cues from me, and / or from any music changes.

After those preliminary sessions, things start to get a little strange. I actually do have a short list of ideas for this, and you can use any combination at your table or, of course, make your own.

- Events on campus or in the world of the Base Game weirdly start mirroring events in the Tabletop Game.

- Tabletop characters receive weird dreams about places they've never been to or heard about. They're intentionally vague though, and could easily be something else. However, maybe Jesse is actually describing a location on campus or in the city / town the university is in.

- Base characters receive weird dreams that are actually future premonitions about what's to come in Jesse's game.

- Jesse starts pouring themself more and more into worldbuilding the Tabletop Game, and their grades start slipping. They only want to hang out for D&D.

- The encounters in the Tabletop Game are getting harder and harder real fast... Is Jesse trying to kill us or something?

All of it leads up to one general idea... that I haven't really gotten to yet. Like I said, it's open to interpretation and I didn't flesh this one out as much as I usually do. I thought that maybe Jesse could be trying to become some type of freak-ish monster / god being. Maybe it's a strange coincidence and Jesse has no idea what's going on! They see strange patterns, but it's not them doing it! They're some kind of messenger or prophet and their D&D game is... some kind of prophecy. Maybe Jesse's trying to trap the Base Game characters in their Tabletop Game's world and then bring the other characters to the Base Game world for some reason. There's also potential for you to "peel back the second curtain" so to speak, and suddenly bring the plot into the real world. But, in all honesty, I'm not sure how you'd do that one.

Ultimately, I don't know two things about the plot: who the BBEG is or what their motivation would be, and those are kind of important to a plot. Perhaps that's for you to fill in, if you decide to play this kind of game! That's part of the fun of D&D. 

One thing I'd recommend though: I wouldn't play this game with players who are new to D&D or to any other TTRPG that you would use. Two characters and two settings can be overwhelming for veteran players. Learning and keeping track of several systems can be overwhelming for veteran players.

Just make sure that if you're going to play this type of game, you know your table and you warn them about what they're getting into ahead of time. And, most importantly, have fun with it!

Campaign Concept: Sailing the Sky

What Are We Making?

I've mentioned before that I absolutely love having pirates in my D&D games. I sincerely believe that there's a lot there to explore with them. I created the concept, hoping to add a bit more flare to the idea of "adventurer pirates. I want to create an adventure / exploratory campaign based around the party wanting to be pirates - perhaps the greatest group of pirates that ever lived.

But I wanted to try and do it in a setting with a bit more of a magical flare (or cyberpunk, if you wanna go that direction; I'm sure you could do that.) So, rather than have the players sail the sea... I want them to sail the sky.

The Setting:

So, why the sky? I have a few reasons.

- Personally, I really like the idea of telling your players, "Hey, we're going to play a pirate campaign. Make characters that want to be pirates" and then you introduce the world's setting to them... and there's no oceans. The way I see the setting looking is something like a series of islands that are just suspended in the sky, floating there. However, that can be completely open to interpretation.

- The magical potential is excellent. If you want a "high fantasy" feeling in a pirate campaign, I feel like the best way to do that is to incorporate magic where you can and where it would make the most sense. The ships have to fly somehow, so... how? Are the ships more like how D&D portrays airships? Or are they perfectly historically accurate pirate ships that have been enchanted to fly?

- Despite the fact that the pirates are sailing the skies and not the seas, nothing else really changes about the concept of "being pirates." The nautical combat would be the same (we'll get to my feelings on that in a minute) and that same feeling of freely sailing over the seas would be the same.

- This setting concept is not necessarily unfamiliar either. Many pieces of media depict magical fantasy realms that have "floating islands" and I can think of two examples of media with pirates that sail the sky: the Disney film Treasure Planet and Kingsisle's MMO Pirate101.

If the sky setting isn't something you're into, that's fine. The concept still works perfectly on the sea.

Piracy should be something people aspire to in this world. It's something akin to "being an adventurer" where people mostly look up to them. Sure, some are evil, but for the most part, they're swords and mages for hire, taking up quests and sailing from one place to the next.

Pirates also shouldn't all be swordsmen or swordswomen. This is a high fantasy setting, and I demand Wizard and Sorcerer pirates with epic magical prowess because that is so cool. Imagine a necromancer with a crew of undead pirates - a literal skeleton crew or ghost ship. The players should still be free to flavor their characters however they want, and even though this is a piracy campaign, they shouldn't be forced to be stereotypical "pirates." Can they be? Of course. But if a player wants their pirate to be a Life Cleric, then sure. There can be cleric and paladin pirates that turn their ships into traveling temples and refuges for missionaries and castaways, for example. Monks could also do something similar, or could simply be known for the fact that they fight without any magic or weapons. Bards could have ships that go faster or slower based on the notes that they sing. If they dance or do acrobatics, they could steer the ship with their body or something. Tailor the world to the players' desires.

The Plot:

The reason why I'm really pushing for the players to call the shots here is because I anticipate this concept going in the direction of exploration more so than fighting a great evil, or following a specific storyline. There can be smaller arcs and storylines with grand treasures to find and bad guys to stop depending on where the players want to go.

The one thing I would say is make the first arc about how the players gain their ship or ships. As they go, they can meet the first NPCs that they may want to hire as crew. Having them work for that, I think, will make them feel like they're taking those first couple steps towards what they want. When they get it, they'll be really excited and they'll have the whole world open to them. Ships can be tricky though, and this is where I get into my feelings about nautical combat. In fifth edition D&D, Waterdeep has rules for nautical combat. I don't really like them. I think that the ship having things that the players can do is nice but I would want the players to use their own spells and abilities more so than the ship's. Let the crew have their own turn in initiative, and they can use the ship's actions to deal extra damage. 

You could let the players captain one ship together, or you could consider letting each player have their own ship and crew, and letting the party create their own little fleet. Personally, I'd go with the latter. That way, each player really gets that "pirate captain" experience and there's no arguments over who the captain is (which sounds childish, but you never know with some players.)

I'd also recommend, if you want the ships to be made of wood, mentioning something about a fire charm that doesn't allow the ship to completely burn up straight away. A Fireball will do its full damage but it won't cause the ship to burn perpetually. That idea doesn't make encounters too easy for a party with a mid-level caster, and it also gives you, the DM, an excuse to use Fireball on your players without completely destroying their ships.

In terms of other arcs, after they get their ship or ships, I have several ideas or suggestions:

- If there's a crew member that the party gets particularly close to, give them a quest - something that the party would help them with because they appreciate their work, friendship, and loyalty.

- Obviously, you can have arcs based on character backstories. That's something very easy to do here.

- Have the players search and discover a lost treasure. Classic pirate fun.

- Kill a large creature, terrifying monster, or legendary beast of some kind.

- Discover a new civilization nobody ever has before, or a civilization that was lost to time.

- Get them involved in wars between nations (or let them start wars between nations) to take down a tyrannical regime.

- Let them be revolutionary fighters against a tyrannical regime.

- Fight a crime family. Pirates versus mafia sounds like it could be fun and intriguing. Sea / Sky organized crime versus Land organized crime.

- Send them on an espionage mission. Who said pirates can't be spies?

I like this idea because, overall, it's not a stressful campaign. It's all about going from place to place, taking quests when you can and enjoying the freedom that comes with being pirates. In that sense, piracy is about adventure, and... doesn't that make it a lot like D&D?

Campaign Concept: Matchmaker, Matchmaker...

What Are We Making?

I'm going to share a concept of mine that I've actually tested out before as an adventure within a larger campaign (my Tri-Panthonic War Campaign, actually.) This concept can work as a part of a campaign, or as a roleplay-heavy political-intrigue campaign. I'm actually in the process of re-working this concept a little to make it friendlier as a larger campaign so I can hopefully run it with a group of four to five players.

This is the concept: the crown prince of the kingdom has just turned 18, and it is time for him to venture out on the Royal Selection. It's a long and storied process, during which a member of the royal family (the prince, in this case) embarks on a journey to find a spouse (a wife, in this case.) He must travel the country and meet every bachelorette of noble birth in his kingdom. The king doesn't want him to go alone and without protection. That's where the party comes in.

The Setting:

Broadly, this campaign would take place in the borders of a prosperous kingdom, ruled by at least one monarch, if not a monarch and their partner. There should be a great number of noble houses as well who have received their titles for various reasons. Examples are listed below, but feel free to think of any others:

- They're old money. Nobody's really sure how they got their money anymore, but they still have it, and they've always been around.

- Adventuring. Well-known adventurers are typically very rich.

- Being a war hero or having an ancestor who was a war hero.

- Criminal activities (that may or may not be known.)

These noble houses should also have differing reputations and renown based on their locations in a certain city, town, or village, based on their deeds, and based on their overall relationship with the king.

Narrowing in a little, the campaign setting is largely in the walls of the manors and estates of the upper class. An adventuring party would likely find a place like this to be unfamiliar territory, and would need help with navigating it. Much of their time would likely be spent interacting with the prince, his dates, and their families.

The Plot:

The number of directions that this plot can take are infinite, and there's so much room for side quests.

The first thing worth discussing are the two (yes, two - but technically one is optional) NPCs that will travel with the party: the crown prince and the royal advisor. The advisor is the optional NPC, but may be a helpful character to have around to inform the adventuring party of the reputations of the different families or their histories with the royal family. They can also be part of the "interview process" which we'll discuss later.

The crown prince has so many possibilities in terms of character and how he can completely change the plot. Here are just a few ideas, and some of them can absolutely be combined:

- The prince is a kind, humble, and nice young man. His family is very loving and supportive of him.

- The prince is so happy to be on this journey because he feels trapped in a household that barely pays any attention to him. How does the party feel when they get to know him and find out about his family?

- The prince is on this journey to find a wife, but secretly he's gay and attempting to seduce the brothers of the bachelorettes when he can. He's not out to his family because there's pressure on him (as the heir to the throne) or because he doesn't know if his family will be supportive. In this case, the monarch's partner should be of the opposite sex. Now, the party (if they want to support him) can help the prince arrange secret dates with willing young men.

- The prince is completely asexual and/or aromantic and just wants to get this over with, PLEASE! Same relationship with his family as the last point.

- The prince is a bit of a stuck-up jerk, but over time, with experience and some help from the party, he actually develops into a nice young man.

- Also, as a side note: give the prince a journal and/or a hobby of some kind that he can do in his spare time. You could even give him a few levels in a PC class. It gives him more characterization, and try to keep "session summaries" in the form of journal entries by the prince. I think that could be cute. 

The advisor character can also take on different characterizations, depending on the type of country you want this to be: a scholarly one, a war-mongering one, a kingdom based in arcana, etc. They also don't have to have good intentions. Maybe they want the prince to make a poor choice. Maybe they want him dead for one reason or another.

- Typical wizard-y mentor who is very calm and wise.

- Uptight scholarly type. Perfect example would be Chi-Fu from the 1998 Mulan film.

- Powerful general and/or war strategist.

During the process of dating, where the prince spends time with the bachelorettes one-on-one, have the players who go with the prince on "guard detail" make perception checks and insight checks. Perception is for danger or potential prying eyes. Insight is for how the date itself is going. 

I'd also recommend including an interview phase, where the players are able to talk to bachelorettes who are not currently on a date with the prince. Have them make persuasion or general Charisma checks to see how much information they get. Let them insight check these women; not all of them are going to have good intentions. Why would they? The advisor can serve this function as well, or perform an interview with them outside of the party's. Again, the advisor's role is totally optional. The biggest advantage they would provide is reputation history of the noble families. Information about these women can also be obtained via eavesdropping or spying. That's a more dangerous route because there could be consequences for getting caught, but it will almost always guarantee honest information.

To keep track of information about each of the bachelorettes, I'd give players "dating profiles" that they can fill in for the women they interact with. So if a bachelorette is, say, attempting to marry the prince to commit treason and they uncover it, they can write it down. They can also make note of any suspicious activity, or any sweet gestures these bachelorettes make.

Beyond that, there are the side quest opportunities:

- Have some of the nobles hire this party out for jobs in town while the prince is busy.  

- Some of the noblemen's sons have gone missing recently. Why? And who's behind it?

- Let them stumble upon dungeons in their travels.  

- Festival shenanigans. We all know how much D&D players love a good festival.

- Maybe there's a pirate problem in the bay city, and they kidnap or threaten the prince. 

- Have a rivalry between two noble families spiral out of control and lead to violence and death. 

- Assassins have been hired to try and kill the prince on this journey, so protect him at all costs and maybe try to find out who hired them and why.

Sure, this is a political intrigue campaign, but that's not all it has to be. Have fun with it, play around, and make it fit to your table or group.