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.