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Plot Description
The old King has been murdered and a successor must be found, but first the killer must be found. The PCs, being members of the old Kings household, are tasked with the job of apprehending his killer.
Regarding the succession. The Throne is shared between three separate Noble Houses and the Crown cannot pass to the two members of the same House successively, thus it must go to one of the other two Houses.
Since nobody, not even an heir apparent, may benefit from the murder of another person, the succession cannot proceed until both contenders for the Throne, and all of their followers, are eliminated from the enquiry.
Options
1. One of the heirs apparent, impatient for his shot at the Throne, assassinated the King in order to speed the process up. Being no fool, he did of course attempt to frame his opponent for the crime.
2. The Kings assignation was the work of a foreign power or major criminal origination that hopes to profit from the resulting chaos.
3. The murder was not at all political. Instead the old King, who always had something of a reputation as a womaniser, was killed by the jealous husband of his latest conquest.
June 11, 2007, 11:40
June 11, 2007, 13:16
As it is, the GM would have to come up with how the murder was done, what clues exist, who they point to, and why the antagonist killed the king. Their desire to seize the throne leads to more questions about why and what they will do if they achieve their ambition.
An interesting series of adventures could be built around an assassin who successfully blames someone else for the deed. If the evidence of the murder only surfaces after the murderer is crowned, do the player characters risk plunging the land into civil war to overthrow the usurper?
The murderer may not even have had evil motives: Suppose that the doddering, aged king refused to pass the reins of power to his eminently qualified successor, instead trying to manipulate the system to put a favorite (but unqualified) princeling onto the throne after he steps down. The murderer could have thought (rightly or wrongly) that the king's death would save the land from endless suffering and chaos.
May 2, 2008, 16:06
As far as the plot goes, it's a nice take on the standard "The king is dead long live the king!" plot line. (The unique inheritance rules are a nice touch, and any gm who doesn't like'em can just as easily ignore'em.)
June 11, 2007, 13:19
June 11, 2007, 15:11
June 13, 2007, 10:07
October 2, 2007, 15:58