It has been a long time since I've tried to DM anything, and I was wondering if there was any advice that you could offer. I'm thinking of starting a BR campaign, using the standard setting, with a very small group of players (My area is just not a good one for attracting gamers, or I am just not connected enough with my fellow gamers to get a healthy group going).

Any ideas on how to start the group off would be nice. I'm sure at least one will want to become ruler of a province (to start with). How does she gain control of it from her predecessor? I'm scratching my head on this one...there is only so much DM manipulation that one can employ before realism is stretched out of shape. Honestly, how many riots and overthrows can a place take over a short time? And if more than one player wants to control land how messed up can a realm in general get during a "Time of Troubles" such as this...but then that might be a way to go about it. Three provinces fall to new rulers, and the evil forces (for want of a better term) take advantage of this fact and start an invasion...

Ok, maybe I'm just looking for a sounding board here, but I would still like to hear any ideas that would help me get things rolling and keep them going. I'm not looking to railroad my players here, but an idea of a line they could go down in the course of gameplay would be helpful...even if said timeline is probably going to be ripped apart as soon as the players run their own way through the campaign.

Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for your suggestions.