The King?-- what did you do?

[Adm.Lee]

I was thinking about Julian Filipowicz, the Markgraf of Silesia (and King of Poland), in connection with the "Later Days" game blog brought up here. I have read as far as the players going to Silesia and getting hired by the Markgraf to look for his brother's remains in Czestochowa.

I remember being perplexed by this guy when I ran Black Madonna back in the day-- there were suggestions that he could be a useful patron/foil for the PCs, and there were hints of intrigue between two of his subordinates, but I could never put together anything for me to run.

I assume that it was left open-ended, so that each GM could tailor things to the game's circumstances, but that left me hanging. I readily admit that making stuff up from whole cloth is one of my weak points as a GM.

Hiring the PCs, and then sending them back out beyond his borders, seemed counterproductive from a story point of view, as that would bypass the intrigue elements. Sending them out to his Foreign Legion seemed useful, but just as uninteresting to me. He wasn't said to be planning any offensive moves, so there was no goal on which I could focus.

In short, it seemed like a lost opportunity for storytelling to me. Did anyone else come up with stuff for the PCs to do with him?