hello dear /tg/. I come hear seeking your ideas as you are immensely

>>49092449
Try your luck in 5e general.

>>49093031
>>49092449
Also, break up your posts into paragraphs. Walls of text are a pain in the ass to read.

>>49092449
>hello dear /tg/. I come hear seeking your ideas as you are immensely creative as a group.

Okay, but we're also assholes. I don't know if you're going to like this.

>Im working on a D&D 5e adventure for my group. I taking inspiration from two sources.. The Black Company series and Berserk. What i mean is that the characters will start as low ranking soldiers in a mercenary unit hired to maintain peace in a large city (just like at the start of the Black Company first book).

What level are the characters starting at? When you say low-ranking, they're Corporals / Lance Corporals in modern terms? Or they're low-ranking NCOs, with a few much lower ranking men under their command?

>They need to bash some heads in and make sure people fear the company. And then they will have to deal with something big (im thinking a displacer beast) and see many of their comrades killed.

Heads up - give something stats, and PCs will find a way to kill it. Or kill themselves trying to kill it. What level the characters are will matter here.

>Then... after the Lord who hired them is killed they can decide to keep the city and take care of it as their own. Maybe the captain decides he had enough of getting dangerous assignment in random places on the continent and he want to appoint himself as lord of the land and administer it.

An important point - if the players are low-ranking members of the company, THEY aren't deciding shit about the fate of the city. Instead, I'd have the captain of the company decide one thing, and perhaps one or two of his lieutenants decide another - a brief bit of infighting in the company, and the players decide which side (if any) they want to come down on. Make it a close thing, whichever side they pick, who wins - maybe they stay with the captain, and just barely put down the revolt; maybe they side with the "let's go back to doing our fucking job" lieutenant, and just barely avoid being called traitors and killed.

>>49093113

>Now... I need ideas on where should the story go to ? What is the end game ?

Can't speak for anyone else, but that's not AT ALL how I design a game that sounds as open-ended as this one. How can you have an end-game plot when at the moment you don't even know if your players will decide to stay in the city?

I prefer to have events which I know will take place regardless of the players' actions - Borazuul the Mad Wizard will destroy his tower by accident on the 8th of Hearthfire, covering the city in magical ash. Left-Handed Wu's gang are all poisoned at a dinner on the 21st of Sundering, leaving a power vacuum in the underworld. The gates to Oblivion begin opening on the 17th of Harvest, as the Daedra Dunzanazaz begins his offensive to take the mortal plane. Etc., etc., etc. Doing it like that allows for there to be organic responses to the events of the world, and it gives you time to develop plots for your individual hooks.

>What would be interesting for a gruop of players. I wanna keep the Forgotten Realms setting (monsters, magic, etc)

Forgotten Realms is also a world of unusually active Gods, and clearly defined political intrigue. Those are both big parts of it; maybe read some of the fiction.

>but I want to maybe work some Game of Thrones in there as intrigue goes.

1) Forgotten Realms already has plenty of intrigue. Just... anything that happens in waterdeep. 2) Unless your players are specifically looking for an intrigue game, and have the skills to run it... no. No you don't. Have your players be INVOLVED in the intrigue. In GoT, don't think about your characters being Arya and John. Think about them being The Hound and The Mountain instead. The world has intrigue, they're just doing their job and trying to get by, occasionally being directed by other forces.

That's assuming you've got a normal bunch of players, though. If you've got the skills to run it, and they want to do it, play fantasy Venice and have some goddamn fun.

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>>49092449
Have you considered actually reading the Black Company campaign setting? It has good ideas for Company goals. Also check out Birthright and reverse engineer it.

>>49093195
>Maybe the party wants to rule so they want to depose the captain and become nobility ? and as such they shoul work for different houses in the city and quest for them in order to obtain favor and support ?

"Become Nobility" is an interesting concept, as the entire point of the Nobility, the Aristocracy, is that you have to be born into it or walk on fucking water to be invited into it. If you're playing a proper intrigue game, none of the people you're questing for are going to view you as anything other than useful pawns, and they'll have contingencies in place to avoid your characters getting too much power - or being useful to anyone else. A small group of mercenaries bonded to your house? Sure, that's great. A small group of mercenaries, who have done work for you in the past that may reveal vulnerabilities of yours, who might be hired by your enemies? Hahahahhaha no.

> or maybe something bigger is coming their way and they should take actions to delay it and fortify as mercenary company ? maybe an event like in Berserk happens were all Hell gets loose and they need to fight it off ? Or Maybe some great mage like the Dominator has an eye on the city and will want to lay siege ? I need cool ideas you think would be interesting and involving.

Those are all places to start. They need fleshing out, obviously, but yeah, run with it. For new ideas... steal. Pick any movie or game you've liked, file the numbers off. Let's go with Avatar, for instance, described in generic terms. "Soldiers are sent to a remote place to take a resource from natives who turn out to be more competent than expected. One soldier tries to infiltrate them, and is instead seduced by them and turns against his masters. The natives start organizing all of the tribes in reach to repel the invaders."

Right there, you've got several ways to play it. Maybe the company is hired to kill the turncoat. Maybe they're hired BY the turncoat, an old member, to train the natives at war. Etc.

>>49093279
>I also want to add some npc to create a small retinue for each player. Like 1-2 soldiers from the company who will do things for them and tun things for them when they are away.

Make the characters Sergeants, then, or cadet cadre instructors, where they're either running a small group of men or they have some almost-soldiers they're training up. Give their NPCs skills that complement them, have each of them be a micro-party. Do field actions, instead of just small group shit. Positioning their men becomes as important as actually fighting.

thank you. all great points.

Players will start at first level and be probably corporals in the company... so they get 2-3 dudes to listen to them and obey orders. You are right... i cant make sure they wont leave the city. But i can give them incentives to stay there. Like... as you said... there might be a leadership problem between the Lieutenant and the Captain and local families might hint that they should act on it and take command with their support (this will happen after they do some quests for them and gain favor).

I love the idea you mentioned on making them choose between ways to act.. The Captain says do that while the LT says do that but be as brutal as possible while the families say do that but let that guy escape. I agree, i should make some fixed events that happen regardless of what they do. They could serve as seeds for quests they could take. Some ideas about what i could use ? I love the idea of underworld leaders getting killed and now something bad can happen if they dont act on it. Also the idea in Berserk where the nobility will grant them privileges and power when they are useful but will turn against them when they become to powerful.

Yes...i have the BC campaign setting... after reading it i had this idea. Im interested in a more grounded in reality and politics adventure. Without neglecting high fantasy and adventures. At the start the players will receive orders and obey but as time goes on they will have to decide if they want to take control and become the new leaders/lords/important faction in the city.

>Black company AND Berserk
There better be generous amounts of rape

>>49093358

If they're first level, NOBODY listens to them. Unless the people under them are pretty literal garbage. Make them second or third, give them their one or two first level subordinates.

>At the start the players will receive orders and obey but as time goes on they will have to decide if they want to take control and become the new leaders/lords/important faction in the city.

Maaaaaybe. I'd be careful about planning for player action. Instead, plan what the world's going to be like, and let the players react.