D&D 5E Expedition based adventuring

[FrogReaver]

I think this is a pretty interesting idea. To make it really work, I think you're going to want to pre-prepare some logistics numbers, like how much you need to feed your workers per day, how much you pay them, travel times etc. You'll also want to have some numbers for how much a man can dig per day etc etc.

I don't think you need to formalize mechanics for workers dying or revolting or stuff like that - think of those as 'encounters' that need to be solved by the adventurers.

Personally I'm now intending to incorporate something like this into my own campaign: I'll make it really clear that there are large sections of dungeon that are inaccessible due to mundane concerns, along with extremely large, valuable items that require a lot of manpower to shift. I'll also make sure the PCs encounter some sort of labor representative. I think they're smart enough to put two and two together, and I make sure that gold is free-flowing enough that they'll have the funds to do this sort of thing.

I think the main difficulty is doing this early enough that the challenges introduced can't simply be magicked away, while still making the quantity of manpower required small enough to be believable.

Was on iphone earlier. I think you make excellent points. Certain things need fleshed out regarding the workers. I think this can be done on an expedition by expedition basis instead of having global rates for the workers that affect all expeditions. Though eventually hammering out some baseline suggestions may become important.

The great thing about magic is that if you simply disallow long rests while on the expedition or make long rests nearly impossible or very dangerous (which in such a setting would not be hard to do) then you can at least contain long rests and magic recharge rates. My basic solution would be to change long rest to 1 week and short rest to an 8 hour rest. This means that in order to get a long rest the party would need waste a ton of time and resources that they may not have to waste especially when accounting for the workers needs.

 

[jonathonhawke]

When the players finish an expedition and return to the big city, they can find out what happened to the teams that undertook other expeditions. Perhaps one team returned after a great success, bringing back even more treasure than the players, while another team didn't return at all (and the next expedition may be to find them).

 

[Jediking]

From what I understand of hexcrawl, what I am proposing is pretty far from one. Maybe you can elaborate on the similarities?

My first impression was like a West Marches style game, which I throw into the "hexcrawl" style (maybe erroneously, I have never run nor played in one). There are quite a few sites (The Alexandrian, TheAngryGM, Giant in the Playground) that offer advice from making and filling the map to measuring distance and resources.

Anyways, the similarities I see to West Marches (maybe hexcrawl?) are:
-PCs start in base/town/HQ, go exploring, find adventure, then return to safety.
-There will be resource management in the form of time/food/safety, not just daily class features.
-In town, PCs can use their knowledge of what they have found/explored to fill in gaps and reach farther goals.

The players in the big city will be given a handful of expeditions to choose from. They can use their skills to try and make sure they pick the best expedition. Once they have chosen an expedition they will begin the journey to the expedition site.

-PCs can choose where they are going, either by selecting a job or region.
-You also say the journey could be handwaved or the PCs find a good way to get there. I am assuming that if they find a better/safer way, this path will be a benefit for future expeditions in the same direction.


In any case, whether you call your campaign a hexcrawl or sandbox or Bob, it shouldn't matter. Seems like a fun idea, but looking at some ideas for West Marches could help or spark new ideas. Hope it turns out well.

 

[FrogReaver]

My first impression was like a West Marches style game, which I throw into the "hexcrawl" style (maybe erroneously, I have never run nor played in one). There are quite a few sites (The Alexandrian, TheAngryGM, Giant in the Playground) that offer advice from making and filling the map to measuring distance and resources.

Anyways, the similarities I see to West Marches (maybe hexcrawl?) are:
-PCs start in base/town/HQ, go exploring, find adventure, then return to safety.
-There will be resource management in the form of time/food/safety, not just daily class features.
-In town, PCs can use their knowledge of what they have found/explored to fill in gaps and reach farther goals.


-PCs can choose where they are going, either by selecting a job or region.
-You also say the journey could be handwaved or the PCs find a good way to get there. I am assuming that if they find a better/safer way, this path will be a benefit for future expeditions in the same direction.


In any case, whether you call your campaign a hexcrawl or sandbox or Bob, it shouldn't matter. Seems like a fun idea, but looking at some ideas for West Marches could help or spark new ideas. Hope it turns out well.

Thanks for the explanation and advice. I'll take a look.

 

[feartheminotaur]

Sounds awesome. I'll echo the importance of entwining the patrons, or at least their motivations, into the overall story. I'd assume they are doing it for more than profit motive - there are cheaper, easier, and safer ways to get rich than spending capital outfitting armed expeditions that may come back empty handed (or not at all).

We did this in 3.5 based on a bit in the DMG II. We worked for a shadowy entity (that would have had "Corp" at the end of their name if it wasn't an anachronism) that outfitted expeditions to far away (and very dangerous) places to find hidden relics of yore. It turned out to be a cult looking for the pieces needed to perform a doomsday ritual. So, we got to explore, fight, loot, listen to the DM do funny voices for the myriad NPCs, and kill our bosses at the end - it was the best.

 

[Curmudjinn]

For this sort of campaign, I'd find a good set of "wilderness events" or "expedition events" random tables that you can roll on. E.g., disease starts going around, or wild animals eat some of the rations at night, or you get slowed by weather or terrain, etc.

Then I might try to abstract out things like "food" and "equipment" and "treasure" into levels that can go up and down based on the character's decisions. Like if you go out hunting your food increases, but if you explore the dungeon your treasure increases. Maybe you find an old supply cache and equipment increases. Then, random events force you to select between these resources. Like if you encounter a river you need to cross, you can build rafts (which uses up some equipment) or go around a longer way (which uses up some food). The goal of such abstractions would be to make the PC's expedition-management decisions more interesting by clarifying their impact, while keeping things abstract enough to play very quickly.

The old Judge's Guild tables would be great for this, as would the d30 Companion.

 

[Curmudjinn]

Also, it's hard to make the players care about laborer losses, unless there aren't enough to go around and each one is vital and has a personal relationship with the party. Many real-world executives see laborer losses simply as numbers to replace and I can't imagine a busy adventuring PC viewing them much differently without some serious personal integration.

 

[FrogReaver]

I like this idea!

Sounds awesome. I'll echo the importance of entwining the patrons, or at least their motivations, into the overall story. I'd assume they are doing it for more than profit motive - there are cheaper, easier, and safer ways to get rich than spending capital outfitting armed expeditions that may come back empty handed (or not at all).

We did this in 3.5 based on a bit in the DMG II. We worked for a shadowy entity (that would have had "Corp" at the end of their name if it wasn't an anachronism) that outfitted expeditions to far away (and very dangerous) places to find hidden relics of yore. It turned out to be a cult looking for the pieces needed to perform a doomsday ritual. So, we got to explore, fight, loot, listen to the DM do funny voices for the myriad NPCs, and kill our bosses at the end - it was the best.

 

[Mark CMG]

Also, it's hard to make the players care about laborer losses, unless there aren't enough to go around and each one is vital and has a personal relationship with the party. Many real-world executives see laborer losses simply as numbers to replace and I can't imagine a busy adventuring PC viewing them much differently without some serious personal integration.

It might be good to RP the group leaving with the laborers and all of them saying goodbye to spouses, children, etc. Maybe even have a little kid ask the adventurers to promise to keep their parent safe.

 

[feartheminotaur]

it's hard to make the players care about laborer losses...

Easy: "Oi, adventure boy, grab a shovel. You let Roy get eaten, now you can shoulder his load too" says the guy who carries the food.