Say you want a revolution.
I’ve finally finished the Mistborn trilogy this week, so I’ve got overthrowing tyrants on my mind.
Despite occasionally dipping over into secret-elite-head-shape power fantasy, these books are fantastic. The worldbuilding is a masterclass. The intrigue and plots are top-notch. I’ll never use dopplegangers again; expect a Kandra statblock to appear on this blog soon!
I think the thing I liked most about it was the first book’s methodical and practical breakdown of what sparking a revolution would look like. It got me thinking. How many TTRPGs revolve around overthrowing a tyrant? How often is that task boiled down to simple assassination?
Let’s take a look at gamifying the building blocks of revolt.
No Easy Answers
Mistborn avoids focusing on assassination (though it does get there) by virtue of its BBEG being effectively immortal/unkillable/invincible. In the real world, tyrants have typically dissuaded violent solutions to their rule by creating the belief that they would be replaced by someone even worse. We’ve spoken previously about the futility of assassination in a feudal setting; this is a good time to exercise that energy. It’s not enough to slay the tyrant, like a dragon. The heroes must break his power, so that none may take it up again.
To that end, keep a count to measure the Revolutionary Morale. It starts at 2; the people are scared and in need of heroes. Whenever the PCs fight against the tyrant’s minions around common folk, they roll a 2d6 morale check, like you might expect from ODnD. Success means the people rise up. In other words, we start with the assumption that there’s only a 1/36 chance of the oppressed aiding the PCs against their oppressors.
If the PCs kill the tyrant, roll a Morale check. Success means the people rise up, overthrow evil, and install a new government (efficacy and morality of successor governments not guaranteed). Failure means another, yet more miserable tyrant takes the throne — bonus points if they’re already known to the PCs.
Here’s how PCs add to the counter. Note that most of these goals have side effects.
+1 – Burn a guard station (reduce the chances of random encounters)
+1 – Burn the armory (guards no longer have a 1-in-6 chance of being well armed (plate, greatsword / machinegun depending on era))
+1 – Assassinate the Propagandist
+1 – Rescue Prisoners from jail/execution (creates new hireling options)
+1 – Steal the army’s payroll (reduce guard Morale by 2)
+2 – Lure the army out of town (further reduce chance of random encounters)
+3 – A PC dies heroically and publicly in service of the revolution (roll a Morale Check to fill the streets with riots)
Training
So you want to lure the tyrant’s troops out of town? You and what army?
The best way to lure an army is with another army; they won’t abandon the capital just to chase a few high profile revolutionaries. Getting one will require making deals, speeches, and big impressions.
Winning an army through heroism and leading it against evil is the bread and butter of fantasy RPGs. Hell, that was the finale I used in Grade 8 when I ran my first long-term campaign. Roll up on a minor warlord, solve his issue, and commandeer his army; that’s how it’s done, right?
((minor Mistborn spoilers))
There’s a great bit in Mistborn where Kelsier, the revolutionary leader, faces down a mutiny in his army. Knowing that they are hopelessly outmatched, he promises them magic powers and pits a champion against one of the mutineers. He then subtly uses his magic to effect the fight, thus ‘proving’ to his followers that they can overcome their enemies. It was a great scene, and I think it would fit great in a game of 5e — especially if you have a sorcerous PC with the subtle spell feature.
((spoilers complete))
Like these ramblings? You made it this far! Check out this blog post about Shadowdark Cursed Scroll #2! Or, if you’d like to support us, consider picking up a copy of Wakeside, our newest indie RPG. It’s a weird modern fantasy bounty hunt based on PbtA! Thanks for reading!