Tips for running a campaign set during a revolution

[System Ufera]

Hello, everyone! I'm starting another campaign to test a game system that I'm making, and I need help designing the details of the campaign. Things like encounters, how to get the PC's and their backstories involved, etc.

The premise of the campaign is that it is set about 50 years prior to the "standard" time frame of the system, during what is called the Milandrian Revolution. I already have some major details figured out, as typed below:

[sblock] The setting is Baalicos, best described as THE Evil Nation that is thoroughly reviled as the enemy of the world. The common people of Baalicos are brutally oppressed by the nation's emperor, Doumzarnoch Nilkinas, and have previously tried to rebel many times but have yet to free themselves.

The campaign will probably start in the remote hamlet of Havelle, where being away from any major guard presence has allowed the locals to start thinking about rebellion. Unfortunately, their hamlet is apparently not as safe as they thought it was, because one day, a large group of Baalican soldiers arrives to raze the entire settlement to the ground.

Major NPC Rebels:

Joles Milandred: A boy from Havelle who would, as an adult, become the leader of the rebellion. His personality is a combination of wisdom and passion that makes him a natural leader, though his overly ideal outlook may be a weakness at times.

Ga-Eid the Beggar: Another denizen of Havelle, who ends up losing his hand while escaping. He ends up serving the rebellion as a spy.

j'Eshonn Mackdrey: Yet another refugee from Haavelle, a young man who started training in combat magic at a young age in hopes of serving in a rebellion.

Reida j'Aupeline: An healer's apprentice who falls in love with Joles.

Rodaqel the Mystic: A mysterious hermit who gives his services in enchanting items to the rebels.

Major NPC Villains:

Doumzarnoch Nilkinas: A cruel, sadistic tyrant who actually goes out of his way in using his authority to cause misery. Secretly, he and a significant number of his underlings are devils in disguise, which is why they delight in cruelty (the rest of his underlings are either coerced or magically brainwashed into service); in fact, he himself is merely a puppet of Balua Zebim.

Balua Zebim: A mysterious adviser to the Doumzarnoch, with an unsettling and unnatural aura. Secretly, she's the one who's really in charge of the devilish entities that form the government of Baalicos, though she herself receives orders from a much greater force that will not be part of this particular campaign.[/sblock]

So far, only one player has any real idea of what character he wants to play: a disillusioned officer of the Baalican Army who ends up betraying his unit at Havelle.

The tips I need are regarding encounters and PC involvement, as well as any other factors of how to run a campaign centered around a revolution and even how revolutions are fought on both sides. The revolution itself is supposed to last at least two decades, so that will further complicate things.

Any ideas?

 

[Dioltach]

An interesting little fact I picked up when I was studying History was this: most revolutions show a standard pattern of a popular uprising, a moderate government, a violent coup and lastly a dictatorship. Don't know whether you can do anything with that, but I thought I'd share something that's been hanging around in my brain for over 20 years.

 

[Derren]

From your description I assume that it will be a sanitized black and white scenario with the good oppressed people rising up against the evil government?

Considering the time the revolution takes very open movement should not be possible. So maybe you should create a system which specifies how long it takes in cities and other populated places till the empire gets reinforcements (and not only once). Basically it should be impossible for the PCs to simply walk in and kill everything. If you are playing a D20 game the extreme power levels can make it quite difficult to prevent this tactic, though.

 

[System Ufera]

An interesting little fact I picked up when I was studying History was this: most revolutions show a standard pattern of a popular uprising, a moderate government, a violent coup and lastly a dictatorship. Don't know whether you can do anything with that, but I thought I'd share something that's been hanging around in my brain for over 20 years.

I know it's a bit backwards when running a campaign, but the conclusion and aftermath are already decided; the leaders of the revolution and the post-revolution government are genuinely good people who seek to lead their people effectively and fairly. In fact, Joles Milandred, mentioned in the box in the original post, was made king in a similar way that Washington was made president, in that, while he had no initial intention of becoming the leader of the nation, he was the obvious choice of his people, and the people needed a leader. His son and successor, Augstruss Milandred, shares deeply in Joles's ideals, having himself become old enough to fight in the very last days of the revolution.

The primary reason the post-revolution government functions is because its sole function is to serve the people, and so it has to earn the trust of the people. In fact, corruption is anywhere from marginal to downright nonexistent due to a provision in the Milandrian Constitution which makes it so that any government official, even the monarch him/herself, can be assassinated if the official is found guilty of corruption and voted to death by the people (the very threat of which has prevented the vast majority of corruption in the first place).

Anyway, that's beside the point. I just wanted that issue to be resolved so we could then focus on the reason I created this thread, which was to obtain help in putting together the revolution itself. You know, strategies and tactics to be used by either side, encounters that the PC's would be involved in, etc.

 

[System Ufera]

From your description I assume that it will be a sanitized black and white scenario with the good oppressed people rising up against the evil government?

Pretty much, yeah.

Considering the time the revolution takes very open movement should not be possible. So maybe you should create a system which specifies how long it takes in cities and other populated places till the empire gets reinforcements (and not only once). Basically it should be impossible for the PCs to simply walk in and kill everything.

That's a very good suggestion! It's simple enough that I would have taken it for granted and not made any effort toward it had you not suggested it; nonetheless, I agree that I ought to design a system for logistics and such.

If you are playing a D20 game the extreme power levels can make it quite difficult to prevent this tactic, though.

The campaign is in a system made entirely by myself.

 

[Derren]

That's a very good suggestion! It's simple enough that I would have taken it for granted and not made any effort toward it had you not suggested it; nonetheless, I agree that I ought to design a system for logistics and such.

Don't forget to let the players influence the system. Bribed the local head watchman? Response time goes up. Created another commotion the guard has to care about? They might not even show up at all.

 

[System Ufera]

Okay, so the campaign has started. During the first session of play, Havelle was destroyed in a big, fiery explosion, and the player characters have yet to get along perfectly (as I mentioned, one of them was supposed to be a Baalican officer who betrayed his unit, but that didn't actually happen, and now he's more or less being held prisoner by the other PC's). The campaign is already progressing in a somewhat different manner than I had prepared for, as the party is less focused on gradually forming a rebellion and more focused on figuring out how to defeat a particular enemy that they encountered. The enemy in particular is a Black Knight, one of only a handful of extremely heavily-armored engines of destruction with their minds practically erased so that the only things they know is who to obey and who to kill (all the players know is that it is extremely durable and extremely deadly is close combat).

Another thing is that the PC's are trying to spread rumors that they have a Baalican officer held prisoner, all the while downplaying the strength of their forces, in order to lead more Baalican soldiers into an ambush.

That said, I'm not sure how to proceed. I mean, I know how the Black Knight can be effectively countered (abilities that can ignore DR), but I'm not sure how to proceed plot-wise.

 

[Derren]

That said, I'm not sure how to proceed. I mean, I know how the Black Knight can be effectively countered (abilities that can ignore DR), but I'm not sure how to proceed plot-wise.

The players might not enjoy it (so change the plot when this becomes apparent), but I would use the chance to encounter the Black Knight as a carrot to make them form a proper rebellion.
Make it clear that the Black Knight is not usually send out to deal with some local rabble and instead sits in the capital together with much of the army. The only real chance to even meet him on the battlefield or to lure him out is to actually get a rebellion going.
But don't keep the Knight in the background too much, as otherwise the players might lose interest in him. Always give them hints about him here and there about what he is and what he is doing.