D&D 5E Renown - Have You Used This Optional Rule?

[CleverNickName]

So I'm gearing up for my next D&D campaign: a heroic, swashbuckling adventure based heavily on the fourteenth and fifteenth century Mediterranean. I'm talking about The Age of Sail, the Renaissance, The Three Musketeers. To build this world, I'm borrowing heavily from older Mystara sources like GAZ9 "The Minrothad Guilds" and GAZ11 "The Republic of Darokin," as well as from newer sources like "Ghosts of Saltmarsh" and "Seas of Vodari." There is going to be a lot of competing interests, lots of rival factions, and lots of court intrigue.

These Factions are what I'm most excited about at the moment. I've created a handful of Guilds and other organizations that the party of heroes can interact with...and the closer they get to one or more of these factions, the more parts of the world will "unlock." If the heroes do enough favors for the Alchemy Guild, they will be able to purchase more powerful potions (and at discounted prices), for example. But how can I implement this sort of thing in the D&D 5E game, without bogging it down with micromanagement (or worse, turning it into a completely different game*) in the process?

I figured a good place to start was with the Renown rules, in the 5E Dungeon Master's Guide. It has rules (well, more like guidelines really) for a new score called "Renown," that tracks how close the party is to a particular faction. Renown 1 would mean that you are a new recruit to The Town Guard, and Renown 10 would mean you are a close personal friend of the local constable. Renown 20 might mean you are the Constable.

But it's a new rule to me, and I haven't heard much about it on these forums. Has anyone ever used Renown in their game? How did it go? Are there any issues or pitfalls I should be aware of?

*We are not changing game systems; this will be a 5E D&D campaign.

 

[el-remmen]

I have not but I will be watching this thread closely.


The last 3.xE game I ran ported in the Influence and Reputation rules rules from the ASoIaF d20 rule book. It worked pretty well, but with 3E's more robust skill system.

 

[Yaarel]

I use something called "fame", for worldbuilding and npc relations.

Essentially a character is prominent and influential among a number of people approximating 10 to the power of half the level. (10 ^ L/2) At level 1, a character is influential to roughly 3 people, typically loved ones. At level 4, a hundred people might mean a popular student at a school. At level 12, a million people might mean a national hero (like Beowulf) or leader of a massive city. At level 20, ten billion is more than the population of earth, and can mean a planetary or planar representative. At each level the number increases roughly 3, 10, 30, 100, 300, 1000, etcetera.

 

[LordEntrails]

A little bit. I tried with my current campaign (WDDH, Beyond Icespire, ToH + custom) but kept forgetting to keep track of it or to make the effects of it very visible to the players.

A few thoughts;

• the players should never know the numbers. Yes they should know that they are liked, or trusted or hated. And what the rough scale is, but not numbers.
• When my players got 'famous' enough with Waterdeep, they were awarded a Heroes badge (an arcane mark/tattoo they can hide or show at will) that gets them a discount on some supplies as well as influence with the Guard and Watch etc.

In the end, I tend to just wing it and as we play they get benefits, or adversaries, as appropriate Or something close to that as I's simple too lazy to keep track of specifics

 

[Shiroiken]

I've used it before, and there's some pitfalls to avoid. Overall the concept works pretty well, however.

Most organizations are going to be local groups, with a few being nation-sized. Only a handful are really going to have multinational influence. Figure out how far you plan on taking the game, and set your organizations accordingly. Local organizations should be far easier to get influence with, but they're going to have much less utility when you're not there. You've already got your guilds kind of set up, but I'd still take another look at them to make sure you'll be okay.

Tracking can be a pain, depending on how much you want to do with it. If you want some political PvP, you'll need to track each PC's renown, since they'll work as individuals as often as a group. Assuming your group is going to remain cohesive like most groups, then you can just track the group as a whole. You should consider where the party/PC stands with each faction after every adventure, although most missions won't impact more than 2-3 groups. A simple spreadsheet with every faction and the party's renown should be sufficient.

You might want to fiddle with the numbers layout, as I'm not fond of their setup. First of all, I allow renown to go negative (infamy) to represent the organization being unhappy with the PCs. Secondly, I require more and/or harder missions to gain renown, since as printed it's not hard to jump up quickly within a single organization. For example, if using the downtime activity, 1 week might gain you 1 renown if under 5, but it'll take 2 weeks for each after that, then 3 weeks once you're at 10, etc. A few simple missions might get the PCs some renown, but once you're at 5, they need to get harder to be worth renown, then again at 10, etc. Alternately you can score 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 renown points that eventually add up to full renown.

 

[Krachek]

No, but I wish I could, but the system still seem clunky.
So I think it could be simpler to keep track of PCs :
success and failure,
bold or coward action,
honorable or treacherous move,
generous or selfish,
and so on.
As time past, it will make a portrait of the PCs and the party, and can be used to help handle social encounters.

 

[aco175]

I have a lot of things depend on location and how far from the home base the PCs are and what level they are. I have a few campaigns around Phandalin and by 5th level, the PCs may be getting free drinks at one of the taverns and some free lodging. The general store may have some discount on goods and such. By 10th level, most places have a policy of the PCs money not good there, but this leaves open calling in a favor for something which is good for roleplay and development.

If the PCs travel to Neverwinter there is only a small chance that they have any fame/renown. I like to give them something if they are above 5th level and may have a merchant passing through that heard of them. If they start to do things in Neverwinter, then they can now enjoy the same there as in Phandalin. Of course, time erases most things if the PCs do not come back around once in a while.

I also let the players choose a bonus at a location. Generally around 5th level they gain a contact that they can go to for information and discounts. They may gain another contact by spending money and doing favors sometime around 8th level. I try to divide contacts up around town so the PCs each get someone different. The players generally get advantage on checks with their contact.

 

[DND_Reborn]

FWIW I have never used Renown as it is in the DMG, but I have my own version which is completely unrelated it seems.

Whenever a PC enters an inhabited area, I roll d%. If I roll the PC's level or lower, whoever they are interreacting with has actually heard of them and/or their exploits. If the person is of a similar "line of work" so to say (a soldier talking to a Fighter PC), I use a d20 compared to the level instead of d%.

If they do know about them, what they have heard could impact the social aspect of the encounter positively or negatively, but usually in the PC's favor (an NPC guard might fear an evil Fighter PC, so the PC would gain advantage on Intimidate, etc.).

 

[Stormonu]

We've used Theros' Piety and Ravnicas Reknown, but not the system out of the DMG, and our campaigns are only around 7th level or so. While the perks are great fun, the system is cumbersome and it not being linked to level can make it awkward to implement (especially if you pick up a perk 'late' enough that the effort doesn't feel worth it, or they are handed out too quickly and disrupt the game). Also, tracking reknown is a pain in the behind, doubly so if you as DM are tracking it.

Also, don't forget about Mystara's Savage Coast, with its gauchos and swashbucklers - and if you can get your hands on it, look up 7th Sea/Swashbuckling Adventures. Lots of good stuff to purloine from that world (my favorite being Los Vagos - Guy Fawkes Zorro).

 

[shawnellsworth]

I used it a few times. I've come to the point where I track it mentally and let the players know that their fame/infamy will have an impact on the roll. Usually advantage or disadvantage is most cases to keep it simple.

I've also had NPCs know them before they introduce themselves and used newspaper articles to show their impact and level of fame with an exhibit.

p.s. great to hear you are using Vodari!