Getting That Sword-and-Sorcery Feel

[Freelance GM]

Just don't put the world at stake. Let profit be the sole motive of the adventure.

Maybe the campaign's endgame is just taking over a kingdom instead of saving the whole world.

Ah yes, this! I figured the plot would either end with the players taking over a kingdom, or starting their own. In addition to the Hobbit, I feel like Dragon Age II might be a good source of inspiration, what with the moral ambiguity and all...
Which brings me to the next point...

They shouldn't have morals or ethics. Those get you killed.

What I'm getting from this is look at all the ways older editions tried to sucker Paladins into falling, and then pull stunts like that on a regular basis. I might include some semblance of a moral high road, or "less evil" choice, but it will inevitably require a lot more effort than the obvious, morally reprehensible option. Like just about every quest in the Witcher II. Give the elf accused of spying a fair trial, or just let her get lynched? (She turns out to be guilty anyways!)

Blade of the Iron Throne looks like something I will have to pick up in the future, but for this game, I was thinking of running basic (albeit slightly tweaked) D&D:5E.

If you're playing D&D, In Sword & Sorcery, there are no spells that smite the wicked but leave the pure unharmed...

...During combat, encourage players to improvise. Start by always describing the environment at the start of a fight; when in doubt mention three things that are found in the room. If you just say there is a room, the players have nothing to work with. If special attacks are just as good as standard attacks, but more fun, then that's good enough.
Another general tip, which I think is even more important in Sword & Sorcery, is to only roll dice when you need to. Say a player wants to break open a door.

It's a good thing I'm running 5th Edition- it seems geared for doing exactly what you suggested.
First, all of the "alignment" spells only work on fiends, celestials and undead, so no more Paladins singling out every corrupt schemer at the noble's party. Alignment restrictions are out, and things like the Paladin's Smite attack work on any mortals of any alignment- but it's super-effective against Fiends and Undead.
Second, the fast-and-loose, DM-empowering rules make it easy for me to make rulings on those "special attacks."


Thanks for the advice. I know the sort of direction I need to be looking in, now, flavor-wise.

DoomHat had the plot outline of this:

• Step one, get some quick funds by looting a couple ancient cursed tombs.
• Step two, raise an army from the countryside, gain their loyalty by defeating and or subjecting the monstrous races plaguing them.
• Step three, march on the capital, perhaps bypassing the walls with your small strike-team through the underground dungeon so you can open the siege doors for your army to flood in.
• Step four, hold the capital against any of the Kingdom's old allies you didn't already find a way to befriend up to this point.
• Step five (optional), go through the day to day drama and struggles of maintaining a kingdom, especially in a fantastical world of strange dangers.
• Step six, build new characters employed by your old ones to go shoot the kingdom's troubles.

Perhaps if I did something like this...

• The players earn a reputation as talented adventurers during a long career of scummy mercenary work within and around the City.
• The players are put in command of a special team/organization. (Since I just started DA:I, part of me screams "Inquisition!") Maybe one of them just succeeds the leader of the mercenary group they were working for, and keeps the other PCs around to help. If this is the case, competing for the leader's favor could be a large part of Step 1.
• The City screws you over- using your organization as a diversion, using you to start a war, or otherwise uses you in an expendable way. A lot of your people die, and you decide that things would be better if your organization took over the City.
• Opportunistic monster hordes and rival kingdoms use the transition between the old rulership and your rulership as a window to attack. (But not at the same time.) The players must defend their hard-earned city, and make some friends in the process. Instead of Steps 5 and 6 being separate things, this overlap with both- the original PC's handle the kingdom-ruling, while gathering allies and resources would probably be done with lower-level "agents" of the PCs.

Now, I can do the worldbuilding necessary to pull of steps 3 and 4, but does anyone have some fun adventure hooks for the first or second steps?