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A number of years ago I played a bit of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen. I didn't get very far into the game (long story not fit to tell here), but one concept introduced within it always intrigued me. The idea that the player's forces would not automatically be regarded as the side of good and thus worthy of receiving universal acclaim intrigues me. So I'm going to run with this notion, and hope the results are worth enacting.
The setting must be established first. Borrowing from modern political developments a bit, a nation gradually loses its freedoms in the drive to achieve peace and security. Exactly why the eroding of freedoms is accepted by the people of this nation has its roots in an enemy that employs every method available to kill. This destructive activity has been nasty enough to make the populace enormously appreciative of any chance to live their lives without the fear of imminent death, regardless of how tightly the government now controls them.
The draconian government does not merely survive; it thrives by riding the tide of popular acclaim. Twenty to thirty years after its measures were instituted, a new generation of citizens has come of age. These young people do not remember the horrible events that allowed the government to seize despotic power. Some of them naturally do not wish to upset what is working, but others do. The player would take control of a group of young people determined to return freedom to their country. Because it's far less common, I think a female protagonist is a good idea. Unfortunately the idea of upsetting the peace achieved in the nation does not come close to unifying the people. In addition to the many younger people who either don't care or are allied with the government for whatever reason, support among those old enough to remember life prior to the current government measures is essentially nonexistent. Very few people are willing to aid the player's team in any way. To survive, the party must flee to a neighboring nation. Training and aid are obtained via this neighboring state, but in order to restore freedom to their homeland the protagonist's team must invade it. Either that or their homeland attacks the neighboring nation for having the effrontery to hold notorious fugitives without any punishment. Upon returning to the homeland, the protagonist's team is greeted not as liberators but as conquerors. Those people who agree to treat with them are despised by the rest of the citizenry as collaborators and traitors.
How this would play out depends upon whether the traditional RPG or a tactical method is chosen. In a tactical model the cities of the homeland must be conquered one by one, and guerillas will plague the player. A traditional RPG type would have numerous people in each town ready to die instead of living under a foreign oppressor, and so most of those who would be NPCs in most games instead fight the player at the first chance. Some of them might live, some would die, and some the player would have to choose whether to kill or leave alive on the off chance of needing them later. Shops would be incredibly expensive, or else the player would choose to dispense with hospitality and just rob the shop proprietors. Ex-soldiers would be sprinkled among the populace to try inciting rebellion, and the oppressive government would always be apprised of the player's movements thanks to numerous eyes watching those movements.
I feel that the player should also have the choice of how draconian to be in suppressing the resistance. Particularly since creating a new dictatorship over the ashes of the old is a perfectly viable option. The fabric of idealism will be ripped to shreds after the player takes the actions necessary to bring the country out from under the government's yoke.
There is no truly happy ending, merely a list of possibilities depending upon how indebted to the other nation(s) the protagonist's team ends up being and how oppressive the measures to control the countryside ended up being. This is the kind of idea I feel an RPG would express beautifully.
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