There was actually a group of criminals who did this in the American West of the 1800s...though they didn't serve escargot or wine. And they got away with it, too.
Apparently, the Wild West had a shortage of meddling kids.
Kill Monsters, Take Stuff, THEN WHAT?
- Thread starter I'm A Banana
- Start date
There was actually a group of criminals who did this in the American West of the 1800s...though they didn't serve escargot or wine. And they got away with it, too.
Apparently, the Wild West had a shortage of meddling kids.
coyote6
Adventurer
We can only hope that someday, with the help of time machines, we can alleviate this sad situation.
You mean, go back in time so we can serve escargot to the doomed?
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
BrokeAndDrive said:
Ha! The comparison is pretty apt, actually.
And, look, no one is saying that you can't keep killing monsters and taking their stuff.
But what do you do after that? You engage in sub-plots and personal goals, but which ones? What are some examples? You role-play, but what do you role-play your characters doing? What are the goals, the aspirations, the hopes, the dreams, the motivations, of your heroes?
I mean, if all you do is kill things and take your stuff, one may say your adventurer doesn't have very good work/life balance.
FireLance
Legend
[Insert rant on how the game is already too balanced here.]I mean, if all you do is kill things and take your stuff, one may say your adventurer doesn't have very good work/life balance.
Kidding.
Never claimed anything to the contrary. Only tried to emphasize that if the original poster asks about activities alternative to killing and looting, someone seems to have forgotten what R stands for in RPG type of games.
Frankly, these days there are many computer and board games quite capable of satisfying one's baser instincts
Regards,
Ruemere
Lest a good thread die, I think we should make a list of all the cool things characters can do during "down time" between excursions. Note, I'm not talking about character retirement here or what they do instead of killing things and taking stuff. But sometimes characters rest for a while between delves, or in an episodic type game (like a TV show) characters need a hook, a place to be and a thing to do when the phone rings and their skills are needed.
1. Class Training School: While training has fallen by the wayside in newer editions, it was a major wealth and time drainer in earlier editions. A competent PC can set up their own school to train the local and passing through NPCs of his class, getting some of that money back. If it goes well, perhaps the characters school can become famous, attracting students from the far reaches (which is a good source for followers, cohorts and even replacement PCs), as well as rivals.
2. Tavern: PCs spend a lot of time in the tavern. What if they stopped dropping coppers for beers and set up their own place. They decorate it with trophies of their own victories and their clientèle comes to bask in the glory of real life adventurers. Of course, NPCs adventuring parties will come to the tavern to find rumors, or while the PCs are on an adventure the place could be robbed of those trophies. Thieves guids and other organized crime might try and get a cut of the PC owners' action and rivals and villains might seed the establishment with spies.
3. Merchantile Pursuits: This one has been used by lots of groups I have DMed, mostly because it is very hands off. The PCs take some of their well earned gains to finance a caravan, basically writing a check and forgetting about it until the profits roll in. of course, having the caravan attacked by bandits or having the caravan master return with wondrous tales to lost cities of gold can always serve as seeds to further adventures.
1. Class Training School: While training has fallen by the wayside in newer editions, it was a major wealth and time drainer in earlier editions. A competent PC can set up their own school to train the local and passing through NPCs of his class, getting some of that money back. If it goes well, perhaps the characters school can become famous, attracting students from the far reaches (which is a good source for followers, cohorts and even replacement PCs), as well as rivals.
2. Tavern: PCs spend a lot of time in the tavern. What if they stopped dropping coppers for beers and set up their own place. They decorate it with trophies of their own victories and their clientèle comes to bask in the glory of real life adventurers. Of course, NPCs adventuring parties will come to the tavern to find rumors, or while the PCs are on an adventure the place could be robbed of those trophies. Thieves guids and other organized crime might try and get a cut of the PC owners' action and rivals and villains might seed the establishment with spies.
3. Merchantile Pursuits: This one has been used by lots of groups I have DMed, mostly because it is very hands off. The PCs take some of their well earned gains to finance a caravan, basically writing a check and forgetting about it until the profits roll in. of course, having the caravan attacked by bandits or having the caravan master return with wondrous tales to lost cities of gold can always serve as seeds to further adventures.
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
Reynard said:
Yeah! This is the stuff I was looking for!
4. Pursue Love: Some characters canvass the local temple of the love goddess, others try and find their True Love. They've gotta find it, convince it, protect it, nurture it, and enjoy it. They may have rivals, or jealous exes, or various cruel people with the power to make their budding romance suffer. Enemies may catch wind of their vulnerable NPC ally.
5. Rule a Land: Becoming a baron or a king or an emperor or a pharoah leads to taking care of the people and the land that they live on. Administrative stuff can mostly be dealt with by NPC beureaucrats, but sometimes the plague is supernatural, or the famine is caused by ongoing warfare, or the castle is attacked by the Terrasque. Making your kingdom prosper might require a certain artifact, or that a certain Dark Lord be disposed first.
6. Solve a Mystery: Sometimes, your enemies are hidden from you cleverly. They may be lycanthropes, or vampires, or sewer cultists, or simply normal humans with hidden agendas for crime and murder. Solving a mystery can lead the party to many exotic places in search of clues, or following threads that the clues put together. Of course, one of the most iconic results of solving a mystery is getting to know too much...(*cough*Far Realm*cough*)
7. Make Stuff: You might be a simple craftsman as a side business, but a heroic artisan wants to create magic items and artifacts of transcendant power, not just useful for his immediate party, but mighty in terms of world history. Maybe there are competitions of craft, perhaps there are items that wind up cursed, maybe a rival group makes something dangerous, or perhaps the supply chain gets disrupted and the party needs to investigate!
Saeviomagy
Adventurer
How about:
Become a Legend!
Often times following the plot doesn't necessarily result in widespread renown all on it's own. You have to make an effort to ensure that people know what you're up to.
Get your own plane!
Let's go for totally crazy stuff. There's any number of adventures where the bad guys muck with the planes to try to gain dominion over one: why not the PCs? Start out with, say, one of the gate towns of carceri, try to sow enough of the right alignmenty stuff and voila! The town falls off into a demi plane.
Create a grand unified theory of magic!
Start an arena!
Incidentally: raiding the bad guy playbook for evil plans can be a great place to start for goals - usually the only thing that makes a plan evil is the way the bad guy goes about it.
For instance: opening a gate to the 9 hells is a bad thing
OR IS IT?!?!
what if you opened one with the intention of invading hell?
what if you opened one to somewhere else (how evil can opening a portal to the plane of cute fluffy bunnies be?)
and so on.
Become a Legend!
Often times following the plot doesn't necessarily result in widespread renown all on it's own. You have to make an effort to ensure that people know what you're up to.
Get your own plane!
Let's go for totally crazy stuff. There's any number of adventures where the bad guys muck with the planes to try to gain dominion over one: why not the PCs? Start out with, say, one of the gate towns of carceri, try to sow enough of the right alignmenty stuff and voila! The town falls off into a demi plane.
Create a grand unified theory of magic!
Start an arena!
Incidentally: raiding the bad guy playbook for evil plans can be a great place to start for goals - usually the only thing that makes a plan evil is the way the bad guy goes about it.
For instance: opening a gate to the 9 hells is a bad thing
OR IS IT?!?!
what if you opened one with the intention of invading hell?
what if you opened one to somewhere else (how evil can opening a portal to the plane of cute fluffy bunnies be?)
and so on.
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