What do your heroes do when they're not adventuring?

Desdichado · Apr 8, 2002

Well, I prefer not to break up games into "adventuring" blocks, so when they're not adventuring is a bit of a misnomer. They're always "not adventuring" yet everyday life is full of adventure!

Seriously. I try to break away from the "quest" paradigm, and the "dungeon" paradigm (I guess I'm a Dragon Master, not a Dungeon Master...) so I have a lot of city adventures and stuff like that, mixing characters up with shady politics, assassination attempts, getting robbed in dark alleys, breaking into some noble's house to find some secret, etc., etc. so if there is any "downtime" I can always find some way to make it interesting and tie it into the campaign.

mmadsen · Apr 8, 2002

CLASS ACTIVITIES: Fighters, Wizards, Clerics, and so on all perform various routine disciplines and professional activities. Wizards study scrolls and books, and work on potions, or whatever other research possible; Clerics pray and meditate, exersize, as well as confer with clergy of their faith in the local area; Fighters and such exersize vigorously, and engage in intense weapon training, and so on.

I'd like to expand on this. How, by class, could the various classes spend their "off season"? And what random things might happen to them (or their estates)? Do you have any good game mechanics for any of this?

Fighters:

Train (i.e. level up): Choose combat Feats to train and learn.
Cost of Living: Decide how much to spend on clothing, food, ale, gifts, etc. Social standing for the next year should flow from these expenses. (See Variant: Upkeep, DMG, p. 142)
Income: Roll to see how productive your estate is, how much tax money is coming in, etc.
Stable: Roll to see how healthy your mounts (horses, hippogriffs, etc.) remain, if any get stolen (adventure seed!), etc.
Social: Does our noble knight start courting a lady love? Does our mercenary spend all his money at the bordello? Does our established hero start a family? Or risk his family life with infidelity? Or get cuckolded? A death, birth, or scandal in the family!
Garrison, Border Patrol, Armed Escort, Tournament, Raiders -- there any many small, local encounters that aren't grand quests.

hong · Apr 9, 2002

mmadsen said:
Fighters:

See previous.

ALSO!

What shall we do with a drunken sorcerer?
What shall we do with a drunken sorcerer?
What shall we do with a drunken sorcerer?
Deep down in the dungeon

Serve up a meal of his toad familiar
Serve up a meal of his toad familiar
Serve up a meal of his toad familiar
Deep down in the dungeon

(chorus)

Shapechange his 'ead into a horny satyr
Shapechange his 'ead into a horny satyr
Shapechange his 'ead into a horny satyr
Deep down in the dungeon

(chorus)

Throw 'im in a fight with a pissed beholder
Throw 'im in a fight with a pissed beholder
Throw 'im in a fight with a pissed beholder
Deep down in the dungeon

(chorus)

Charge up and blow up 'is staff of power
Charge up and blow up 'is staff of power
Charge up and blow up 'is staff of power
Deep down in the dungeon

(chorus)

hong · Apr 9, 2002

Joshua Dyal said:
(snip dancing leprechaun)

Joshua, I have to say that that's the worst picture of Julius Caesar I've ever seen.

mmadsen · Apr 9, 2002

I call this the Faction Stage

Perhaps, Tonguez, you could explain this a bit more and give some examples?

Successful actions gains the PC 'Status points which can be converted into new 'faction members', used to improve faction actions (eg agitates), used to obtain faction skills and upgrades, or used to improve PC skills or as character XP.

Are you familiar at all with Birthright?

mmadsen · Apr 9, 2002

Rogue Off Season

I suppose a Rogue's "off season" wouldn't bear much resemblance to a knightly Fighter's. A swashbuckling Rogue might woo paramours, while a thug might settle for ale 'n' whores. His social standing is important in its own way, but being "mack daddy" isn't quite the same as being a magnanimous lord. I suppose a mob-esque guild thief might have the equivalent of an estate with tax revenue: extortion, gambling, drugs, smuggling, etc.

I guess the most interesting "off season" activity for Rogues would be urban adventure: spying, thieving, etc. The Rogue doesn't need to raid faraway temples when he can sneak into local temples.

Desdichado · Apr 9, 2002

hong:
Joshua, I have to say that that's the worst picture of Julius Caesar I've ever seen.

Click to expand...

What? He was short, balding, and his contemporaries accused him of being ..ahem, a bit of a fairy.

drnuncheon · Apr 9, 2002

hong said:
Joshua, I have to say that that's the worst picture of Julius Caesar I've ever seen.

I also had no idea that Caesar wrote "Adventures in Middle-Earth"...

Anyway, as for the question of the thread:

What downtime? My PCs have full-time jobs as members of the City Watch...their adventures come out of that. If they're lucky enough to get a day off they usually spend it resting/healing...

J

Darklone · Apr 9, 2002

Downtime?

You mean ... time to spend all the treasure and stuff? Hmm. Got a wizard who wasn't able to write a lvl1 spell into his book for weeks

Arravis · Apr 9, 2002

well...

My character is the "evil wizard" of a local dungeon

. Nothing like coming home from a hard days work of being attacked by adventurers, lol.

I am serious btw, the character is high level and he runs a small low level dungeon

.