How to Run a Turmoil in Thudor Game

By Evan Dine

Politics are already difficult enough to discuss without any added medium, let alone making it the focus of a game like Dungeons & Dragons. Turmoil in Thudor aims to remedy this with a collection of strategies, resources, and game mechanics to create a controlled, fun environment where players can learn to talk about political issues in a civil manner. Read on to see how you can use our methods to run your own Turmoil in Thudor-style game.

Preparation

The first step is laying out the narrative structure of your game. While a grand, open-world campaign can be fun where your players travel around Thudor on epic journeys, we highly recommend building your game in a one-shot format.

One-shots are shorter adventures that can be played in one sitting. While their playtime is limited, they allow for deep, focused explorations of a specific topic. This lets you and your party focus on and engage in meaningful conversations around only a few political topics, and really delve into their complexities in a quick time frame. Afterward, a debriefing at the end of the session where the players discuss what they experienced can help retain the lessons learned from the game.

Alternatively, an episodic format is great if you want to continue to use the same characters to explore multiple topics. This keeps the contained, deep narratives of one-shots while providing some semblance of a larger story arc. Episodic campaigns also offer players the chance to see multiple aspects of the setting, as well as their decisions shape the world around them.

Keep in mind, Turmoil in Thudor emphasizes conversation over combat and should allow moments that let players talk about pressing political issues at length. To replace combat encounters and allow these moments, we have created debate encounters, extended social encounters where players and NPCs discuss solutions to important problems. See our article on debate encounters for a full step-by-step process.

For now, how do debate encounters differ from your usual Persuasion check? Generally, the Persuasion skill should be used for one-time checks, ideas and encounters. This includes persuading a shopkeeper to lower his prices or convincing a friendly NPC to tag along for a while longer. Meanwhile, the debate encounters are longer, drawn out conversations where groups of characters, both PCs and NPCs, are negotiating how to fix the larger political issues at play, and the results of which will have lasting narrative consequences.

These kinds of encounters allow for more in-depth conversations on political ideas, their impact, drawbacks, and complexities. For examples of how debate encounters work in play, check out our original one-shot, “Denizens of Dro Thon,” where an ancient fortress with a powerful magical artifact is being contested between a noble lord with lawful claim and refugees in dire straits.

Creating Characters

Once you’ve finished writing the game, it’s time for your players to create their characters. To have the full Turmoil in Thudor experience, the players are strongly recommended to use our character background generator during the character creation process. This does not assign a character’s every trait, but rather key background traits unique to Turmoil in Thudor to inspire character creation and involve them in the game’s world and mechanics. It’s also meant to encourage players to role-play characters whose ideals differ from their own. The traits generated include faction alignment, core belief, and Leverage.

A character’s faction alignment determines their allegiance to one of Thudor’s four factions trying to influence the direction of the kingdom. The selected faction–the High Assembly, Ivory Conclave, Order of Stone, or Knights of the Soil–will determine the character’s broader ideological allegiance. You can learn more about the individual factions in our page about Thudor and its history.

The core belief is a character’s primary ideological motivation, taken from their faction’s wider range of beliefs. This is meant to help build the character’s goals and drives in-game, as well as connect them to their faction and build relationships between the other members of their party. Characters with similar core beliefs may bond, while those with opposing beliefs may act against each other.

Lastly, Leverage is a special resource, service, or ability that describes a character’s role within their faction. In addition to inspiring character creation, Leverage also has mechanical benefits in debate encounters. Should the player find a situation where their Leverage could bolster their party in a debate encounter, they can first roleplay how their character uses it in conversation, and then gain a +2 bonus to the next leverage roll. Leverages give your party an edge in a debate and make a player feel they have something to add to the narrative. Find out more on how Leverages can be used in this article.

As a DM, be sure to create scenarios where the players can use their Leverages. Players can feel irritated when they have a cool ability that never gets to be used. One thing to be careful of, though, is not to create a situation that could automatically be ended if a player just used one of their Leverages. Try to work in players’ Leverages whenever possible, but if a Leverage cannot fit in narratively, make the call to restrict it.

Running the Game

No matter the group you play political games with, there should be some conversations about your game before the dice begin to roll. This is where session zero comes into play. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything defines session zero as a “… special session… to establish expectations, outline the terms of a social contract, and share house rules. Making and sticking to these rules can help ensure that the game is a fun experience for everyone involved.” These sessions often include character creation, party formation, as well as anything else that needs to happen before the actual campaign begins. Essentially, make sure your players know exactly what they’re in for, and can prepare accordingly.

In the case of Turmoil in Thudor, a session zero is a great time to remind everyone about the goals of the game, to create an environment where political issues can be discussed openly and understand people with different ideologies. Opinions are just that: opinions. They should be left at the door during games like this one to allow conversations to flow freely. Additionally, a player must acknowledge their own biases, whether because of their own personal experiences or that of groupthink.

Groupthink is when a playgroup all come from similar backgrounds and have similar frameworks and opinions or affiliations. When people in a group share the same opinions, those opinions can easily be misrepresented as the truth. Try to be aware of this phenomena and not let it influence your players’ decision-making.

In Turmoil in Thudor, conversation is prized over combat, so players should be prepared to leave their weapons at the door. If players insist on engaging in combat with NPCs, remind them that this isn’t the game’s goal. If combat becomes unavoidable, simply give a brief narration of the players’ victory. The players are likely powerful enough to defeat their enemies anyway.

Explain that they have defeated their enemies, whether that means killing them or knocking them out. Now they will have to deal with the consequences. For instance, they could lose all favor they might have gained with the party they attacked and be met with hostility when interacting with them. Further debates and negotiations may be lost, leading to a game over.

Additionally, DMs should be prepared to be more involved than in typical games of D&D. The openness of the debate encounters can be incredibly unpredictable. Players can argue for solutions and plans the written adventure might not have prepared for. Therefore, a DM will need to be more attentive, being open to on-the-spot creativity and knowing when to impose limits.

Acting Out of Character

One of Turmoil in Thudor’s primary goals is to have players embody characters that have ideals that differ from their own. This isn’t an easy thing to do, and it could be intimidating for many people, players and DMs alike. It’s likely they will outright ignore their character’s ideals in favor of their own, or become too heated during a debate.

The limits of any of the situations above will likely differ from group to group, and you should clarify those limits with your group. Whenever the designated limit is breached, whatever it may be, the player acting out should be reminded of their environment. They are playing a role-playing game that puts complex issues front and center, and must be mature when discussing them.

When a player breaks character, they should be politely asked to try to stay in character. For a player who is not as comfortable with role-playing, give them as much reassurance as possible. It’s important to create an environment that is open to players of all skill levels, and encouraging for everyone to explore ideas they aren’t familiar with. Should the player, however, be breaking character purposefully, a deeper conversation is required.

If a player is uncomfortable role-playing a particular character and their beliefs, don’t force them to. Let them leave the table, and if you’re playing again soon, allow them to generate a new character.

If a player gets too excited or agitated to a point they’re behavior is negatively affecting the game, give them a quick warning about their behavior. Should they continue, politely ask them to take a step away to cool off. If they refuse or continue to cause trouble after stepping away, ask them to leave the session.

Keeping a constant dialogue with your players is a sign of a healthy DM-player relationship and can keep the game fun for everyone.That being said, never be afraid to ask a player to leave should they be too troublesome. It’s not fun or ideal, but with a topic as heavy as politics, everyone must be willing to have these conversations in a safe environment and stay open-minded.

Turmoil in Thudor