'An Occasional Dream': New ST Looking For Opinions

So, 10 days from today I'm starting my long due CtL chronicle, and I wanted some opinions/ideas/suggestions on the matter. The chronicle will be set on Wellington, New Zealand, as I like to select different and distant locations for my games (I have two HtV chronicles set on USA and Argentina each, and a VtR chronicle set on London) and I like the combination of city/nature this location provides.

As for the setting goes, I have little layed out. The Freehold is ruled by two married rulers, the King of Spring and the Queen of Summer, who have the throne all year long. The King truly loves the Queen, although she only married him for political reasons, which he knows and gives him a strong drive to do ANYTHING in order to keep their position. The King of Winter is a senile old man, with a small amount of followers and little respect in the Freehold. Little known fact, his senility didn't developed naturally, but was intentionally caused by... someone. The Queen of Autumn is not around, as days after the Crown was passed onto her, she disappeared. This was 3 years ago, and the Old King of Autumn, now deprived from his old power, walks the streets as a vagrant, long lost his faith in recovering his beloved (adopted) daughter.

There is also a local Goblin Market, location not decided yet, secretly run by a Vampire, an ancient Ventrue with an addiction for Changeling blood. Although I am not a fan of crossovers between WoD games, this is a minor character that only serves as a nod to my VtR players in the group. His Market is allowed by the rulers of the freehold for one reason: the vampire helped them get to where they are. It was he who delivered the fruit that gave the King of Winter his senility... and he probably knows where the Queen of Autumn is.

The third locale that I have assembled is a sort of refuge for the players, an old Inn on the woods called The Errant Gnome, run by a small Wizened (the so-called Gnome) cook, a pretty Fairest waitress and a Darkling pianist.

This is all I have for now, as far as setting goes. My idea was that there is a Changeling populace of around a hundred Lost, most of them aligned to the Summer or Spring Courts, about 20 or so still loyal to the missing Autumn Queen, and merely a handful of Winter followers.

So, what do you think?

Sounds like a good set-up, but where are you gonna go with it? A great setting can help a great story, but only if the story is great. If you want the PCs to depose the Spring/Summer setup, you could maybe lay the seeds for that now and then put them to work for the Spring and Summer courts against various local problems - each having some clue which, after a certain number of quests, begins to make clear that they're really being used to clean up after the Freehold's messes, messes which are coming about due to the unstable and treacherous seat of power's increasingly desperate attempts to keep the Freehold in their favor. Then they can start getting in to the Autumn and Winter scene, taking things back in the other direction and giving you plenty of time to throw together privateers, loyalist plots, Hedge incursions and numerous other antagonists to make an epic staircase to an epic struggle for the Freehold's future.

Just an idea, what I tend to do with power struggles like that - put the PCs on the very-much-empowered but "wrong" side for long enough to get them used to the game, comfortable with their support base, and doing tons of damage to what will eventually be their own cause - then let the truth reveal itself (this sometimes requires a Kick the Dog moment or two to get them to pick the "right" choice) and have them shift over to a much grittier gamestyle where they're responsible for lifting most of the weight if anything good is to come of it.

Take the time to make a bunch of NPCs for each Court - don't bother about being proportionate, just make the "silent multitude" clear to the players. You'll want 2-3 NPCs you intend to have the PCs interact with for your own purposes and another 2-3 in anticipation of who the PCs will WANT to interact with per Court. NPCs are really important, especially when you want to get PCs invested in an organization (IE the Freehold).

You'll have to forgive me, there's actually a lot here that is worth commenting on, but I'm feeling a little cranky and brusque. Bare with me. 

Major totoro:

The King truly loves the Queen, although she only married him for political reasons, which he knows and gives him a strong drive to do ANYTHING in order to keep their position.

Mister Knightshade:

Major totoro:

The King truly loves the Queen, although she only married him for political reasons, which he knows and gives him a strong drive to do ANYTHING in order to keep their position.

This setup is too typical. You can do better.

I'm aware of that, but I think that's why I like it. The players have never played nor read CtL, and I think it's a nice, classical setup for the rulers of a Freehold, and a good way to introduce them to the game. I'm still open to suggestions about the matter, but I really like the basic idea of a King truly and deeply devoted to a Queen that's just there for compromise.

Mister Knightshade:

I recommend combining these two ideas into one. There's no point in having two super-crazy guys in the setting, it will just get confusing. I recommend dropping the King of Autumn as a character, and fold his plot into the King of Winter's. This sets up a conflict between Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. 

I particularly like the image of the King of Winter being a vagrant as well as an unwitting cult leader.

Good point. The merging makes sense. And so it will be done.

Mister Knightshade:

Then don't do it. Don't waste time on creating a pointless character. 

Yeap, I was thinking that same thing. I'm thinking of replacing him with a Hobgoblin obsessed with Changelings, as he does not have the capability to dream, and seriously wants it. I'll be working more on this now.

Mister Knightshade:

The idea of a refuge, is cool and I like the name. But play around more with the personalities of the inn. Right now, it's a by the numbers typical D&D tavern. You want more than that. Perhaps the gnome is actually an Oracle, and only pretends to be ordinary. Perhaps the waitress is as pretty and sweet as she seems, but must remove her face every night, moisturizing it in a special alchemical bath, or it dries up and cracks. Maybe the Darkling takes requests, but only if you pay him in the coins you get from those awful "ancient coins sets" you buy in museums. 

Yes, the characters in the Inn were simple as I had just recently thought of it. I think I will use your idea for the waitress, as it sounds really interesting. For the pianist, I think he was the lost Queen of Autumn's lover. She fell in love with his music, and with him. They had some time of bliss together, and they had some great plans for the future of the freehold, but then she was mysteriously gone. He now sits and plays his music, right beside the forest they loved so much, awaiting the return of his loved one.
I'm still working on the gnome, but the concept of the place is that the Inn is the place where the characters who've lost their dreams, hopes or desires end up.

Major totoro:

I'm aware of that, but I think that's why I like it. The players have never played nor read CtL, and I think it's a nice, classical setup for the rulers of a Freehold, and a good way to introduce them to the game. I'm still open to suggestions about the matter, but I really like the basic idea of a King truly and deeply devoted to a Queen that's just there for compromise.

I would personally only rate it typical if the king is a moping puppy and the queen a cold bitch. And as you said, what is cliche depends on the audience. Consider perhaps how put another layer or twist in the relationship that the players can find out. This may include the Queen pretending to be in love and devoted to most of the freehold. Or perhaps their relationship is physically intimate, but emotionally distant. Also, wether the Queen is generally a cold person, or if she is warm and friendly and just.. not in love with the King. Perhaps the King is jaded and disillusioned with his emotional attachment and would be open to offers of fixing this flaw in his character.. unless of course his love is the result of some faerie magic to begin with?

HuwJones:

I would personally only rate it typical if the king is a moping puppy and the queen a cold bitch. And as you said, what is cliche depends on the audience. Consider perhaps how put another layer or twist in the relationship that the players can find out.

Of course. The Queen is not a cold bitch at all. She's a just, valiant leader, truly devoted to the protection of her Freehold. And it's not like she despises the King. He finds him a suitable companion, and they have a strong relationship, but she is ultimately a woman of passion... and some urges she cannot, and doesn't even intend to, resist. For his part, he's utterly in-love with her, not to the point of mopping and crying, but to the point of doing everything in order to maintain his position and his marriage. He knows, or at least suspects, about the Queen's affairs, but as the other option would take him away from her, he is willing to look the other way... for now.

HuwJones:

Perhaps the King is jaded and disillusioned with his emotional attachment and would be open to offers of fixing this flaw in his character.. unless of course his love is the result of some faerie magic to begin with?

Interesting. Very interesting. Definitely an option to be considered...

Major totoro:

I'm aware of that, but I think that's why I like it. The players have never played nor read CtL, and I think it's a nice, classical setup for the rulers of a Freehold, and a good way to introduce them to the game. I'm still open to suggestions about the matter, but I really like the basic idea of a King truly and deeply devoted to a Queen that's just there for compromise.

Major totoro:

but she is ultimately a woman of passion... and some urges she cannot, and doesn't even intend to, resist.