Have you ever met a noble or ruler in a game who was actually a really cool guy? What's the best way to run a cool noble?
Someone who does his job rather then doing some bullshit? Good intentions and competence seldom meet in aristocracy, but still. Probably the best way to be a good noble is to do nothing outside of emergency management.
>>47063470
100% Mercutio.
Saint Louis IX, Charlemagne, Charles V, Don Juan of Austria, Aelfred the Great, Canute the Great, Frederick II, Bladwin IV, Melisande of Jerusalem, Roger of Sicily, Felipe V of Spain, Pope Innocent III, etc.
Good rulers did exist. They were never perfect but that meant well generally and were very competent.
>>47063470 (OP)
>Have you ever met a noble or ruler in a game who was actually a really cool guy?
Yeah.
Though it makes me wonder how superfluous he was in the management of his lands that he could just bum around with a bunch of commoners and (fail to) save the world. But then he definitely steps up to the plate when shit goes down and keeps everyone's head above water for a while, so there's that.
Forgot my pic.
>>47063470
>>47063892
If you mean of the non-hero, purely political variety, then Edgar not so much. Kings and princes that go out and vanquish evil for the sake of the people are sort of a dime a dozen I guess. Every half-decent ruler in every story goes and King Arthurs it up across the world.
Nobility that actually had a clear vision for where they wanted the nation to go, managed government and infrastructure well, encouraged growth and innovation, and made good deals with foreign powers while retaining the love and respect of their subjects - who see them not as a friend or a savior, but as a dependable leader with their everyday interests in mind.
You know, nobody really comes to mind. It sounds like the kind of person that normally gets assassinated in a story so their more asshole replacement can create a bunch of conflict to defuse.
Sure. Larry Light was his name, a wizard merchant who made a vast fortune making and selling Everburning Torches in 3.5.
Larry was the Viscount of a large swathe of land, where he helped his serfs to live good loves using magic (cleric on staff to heal, would shape earth for them each year) in return for then providing a decent cut of their food and other commodities (especially wood). He would fabricate the wood into goods to sell, use rhe money to make everburning torches and sell them back on the market for ever greater profits. His serfs got to live life unmolested, and he got to make a lot of money to pay for his magical experiments and library.
>>47063470
well I ran into a mage that was on the council of rulers because he saw the future so he moved his way to the top. He talked abunch of shit to the others, and was cool to the common man for seeing there struggles the most. Was a cool guy, Died with half of them tho in a fight to kill a Demon lord.
>>47063690
What about Fortinbras?
In one campaign I was in, the GM introduced us to a character who was totally not a more hardcore and serious version of Elsa from Frozen. She was pretty cool. She had a giant Ice Golem that could crush buildings underfoot that she let us borrow to fight a Lich.
Future arcana campaign. Wizard-nobles run most major tech firms. The one my character belonged to was doing the usual hero deal: uncovering a conspiracy within the group from a rival tech trade union run by some scary ancient wizards. nobody believing me. Eventually, however, I manag3ed to convince one such wizard in the firm, known as Chancellor Crask, that this trade union had magitek soldiers on several tradeposts.
When the trade union advanced their plan's agenda and attempted a hostile takeover on a space station I was on, I expected him to respons like everyone else had. "It's a minor station. If you are killed we thank you for your service." Soulless corporate shit. Not Crask. I told Crask they'd started shooting up the tradesman barracks and waited. Surprisingly, dude sends in aristocratic guard units to check out if my story is legit. Me and a shuttle full of marines fight our way through trade union soldiers and save a fuckton of tradesmen in some serious saving private Ryan shit. Totally expect this to be the end of it.
Next thing we know, Crask is arguing in the corporate council that the trade union had gone too far, and because of images his marines had beamed back, the union was under serious suspicion by other parties and had to go full evil plan way early.
Later on, when I got into some trouble with pirates (we were trying to get a bunch of gnollish space pirates to join our cause but our resident gnollish space pirate fucked up and decided to make a pissing contest personal). When a firm ship mistook us for pirates, we were forced to blow out their engines (super illegal to fire upon someone in your own firm). Crask, that motherfucker, gives me a pardon because of what my mission was and threatens to fire the investigator who brought me in.
Crask was my nigga.
>>47064272
I mean, you're not wrong, but you're also not Mercutio.
>>47063470
Yes, my character is actually planning on having lunch with them in the near future so they can talk like a person and not the benevolent priest-ruler of the land that can know no wrong. The best way to run one IMO is to have them be a regular dude that just happens to be in the know.
However this could be very different for what you want your "cool guy" to be like. There's a difference between "finds the peasants likably quaint and will head to the local pub to make fun of shitty nobles", "hires the local businesses for their biggest orders in years, then invites the whole town to a sick party where the best of the town is on display", and "will reward you if you tell them to fuck off in spite of them being some kind of important"
>>47063470
Our dm had a king that was Ringo Starr once
>>47063470
I've met the charater of the DM's father who is a wizard20/cleric16 and more or less the de facto ruler of a big city. He was... alright.
>>47066418
I hope he was a better monarch than he was a percussionist.
>>47063470
Why do I keep seeing that face posted everywhere?
>>47067426
He's a Portuguese national hero.
