Help for tonight's session!

[Dousedinoil]

Hey everyone,

So I started DMing Rise of the Runelords for my party and I've adjusted a few encounters and details about the city of Magnimar. So here is the background you might need:

Instead of having the Lord Mayor alive and well, he was murdered like much of the greedy people of Magnimar. Now, his fairly innocent son (much younger) is taking over until a new mayor is elected from one of the four royal houses. I felt like this would not only make the city feel like less corrupt but it would allow me to hand out quests to the party that would help him win over the popular vote.
Now, what I also did was create what I called a "Council of Justice" similar to the one that I've seen in Waterdeep. Some of the masked and robed members keeps their identity hidden and have voice changing staffs (like Waterdeep) as to not be prosecuted for voting one way or another. Others are open council members as they don't fear prosecution.

So the problem I'm having now is that the party defeated Justice Ironbriar last session and now the council needs a new member to replace him. I want to include one of the PCs into the council but given how most have secret identities, I'm not sure how you would go about this. I mean, how would they elect new members without their identity being know to majority of the council. Maybe they vote on a member, invite him and then all take potions of forgetting or something?

Also, my group is still very weary that the whole system is a shadow government that isn't held accountable. I want the PCs to think Ironbriar was where the corruption ends. I was thinking of having the group find letters at the mill saying "how hard the council is to corrupt and he is still unsuccessful in converting other members."

Should I roll with the whole corrupt government thing? Or how do I fix this political mess?

[Toilet Cobra]

Should I roll with the whole corrupt government thing? Or how do I fix this political mess?

Well, if it weren't corrupt it wouldn't be a shadow government, right? I don't know enough about the adventure to be sure, but I don't see why it wouldn't be. Maybe this is a turning point and the players will be instrumental in defeating the rest of the corrupt council.

An invitation might be floated to one of the PC's whom an openly known councilor wants as a partner in rooting out the remaining corruption. You can skip over the actual election, but I'm assuming one of the councilors would propose promoting the player and convince the Shadow Council to go along (and they do, for their own nefarious ends). As for the actual process, there's probably some formal debate, several recesses, a little bribery, and some empty threats. Y'know, political junk.

All in all I'm not sure what you as the DM (or you as the Shadow Council) are going for with giving a PC this kind of position, but it's an interesting idea. With the right group this could be a ton of fun and I hope it works well!

[Dousedinoil]

Well, if it weren't corrupt it wouldn't be a shadow government, right? I don't know enough about the adventure to be sure, but I don't see why it wouldn't be. Maybe this is a turning point and the players will be instrumental in defeating the rest of the corrupt council.

An invitation might be floated to one of the PC's whom an openly known councilor wants as a partner in rooting out the remaining corruption. You can skip over the actual election, but I'm assuming one of the councilors would propose promoting the player and convince the Shadow Council to go along (and they do, for their own nefarious ends). As for the actual process, there's probably some formal debate, several recesses, a little bribery, and some empty threats. Y'know, political junk.

All in all I'm not sure what you as the DM (or you as the Shadow Council) are going for with giving a PC this kind of position, but it's an interesting idea. With the right group this could be a ton of fun and I hope it works well!

So I guess what they did in the masked lords of Waterdeep was have 2-3 "retainers" that would know the identity of the masked lord. They wouldn't give it out to anyone but could verify that they were someone of great importance or power. I guess to act as a barrier.

Why I wanted to do this, is because one of my PC's is playing a chaotic neutral character. I think he would have a lot of fun seeing what he can get away with. I want each of my players to have a sub-story that suits their character.

In my story the party's number one fan is a female gnome named Tangle. She owns the biggest and best magical weapons shop in Magnimar and has been a huge hit with the party. She is a huge fan of the chaotic neutral character and is going to be the one pushing for his admission into the council. She is obviously a masked council member herself but isn't corrupt (at least not yet). I'm going to have her and her retainers kidnap the PC in the middle of the night. It's up to the PC of he wants to tell the rest of the party.