mob = free magic items?

[aboyd]

This really isn't a D&D 3.5 edition question, despite the title. I'm looking for an answer that would be appropriate for any fantasy world that is steeped in medieval culture.

I have a player who has got it in his mind that he must have an AWESOME sword, even though he's far too low-level to afford it. To get around his lack of money, he has purchased parchment & ink, and made/distributed 50 flyers announcing free food & drink if people will come to the blacksmith's place and tell him to make the weapon for free.

Yes, I know it is very silly childlike thinking. The player is in fact a kid.

He has purchased enough bread & beer to feed about 800 people. He didn't think to arrange for tables or guards or anything else to keep order, so I'm imagining that everything will be leaned up against the walls of the smithy -- a mess but still viable.

So here's the question. What happens in a ye-olde-days city of 60,000 when someone puts out 50 flyers announcing free food? I'd like to put together a list that I could roll for, something like what the Toolbox book does. However, I'd like to weight it toward the outcomes that have the most plausible odds.

Here is my d6 roll:

1. This becomes like a soup kitchen
2. This becomes a mob that overruns the smithy
3. This becomes a mob that overruns the smithy
4. Nobody shows up
5. Nobody shows up
6. This becomes a drunken party with everyone, blacksmith included, singing pirate songs and having stupid fun

Could anyone help with ideas to turn this into a d20 roll? What are the likely outcomes? What other ways could this turn out?

 

[Voadam]

7. A wizard shows up takes some bread and ale and says "You want to know how to make a magic sword? Apprentice yourself to me for seven years."
8. A cleric of the war god shows up takes some bread and ale and says "You want to know how to make a magic sword? Dedicate yourself to the priesthood and study the mysteries. Earn enough credit on the battlefields in his name and he will endow your sword with mighty and terrible potencies."
9. A blacksmith takes some bread and ale and says "You want to know how to make a magic sword? Apprentice yourself to me for seven years and you will make a sword yourself. It will cut through flesh and bone. That's all the magic a sword needs.".
10. A bard takes some bread and ale and says "You want to know how to make a magic sword? Well I once heard a story about a dwarven mage-smith that went like this . . ."

 

[Nifft]

To get around his lack of money, he has purchased parchment & ink, and made/distributed 50 flyers announcing free food & drink if people will come to the blacksmith's place and tell him to make the weapon for free.

Yes, I know it is very silly childlike thinking. The player is in fact a kid.

Game balance is for consenting adults. What you're doing is more like a form of education. IMHO it's purely up to you if you think the kid's technique should be rewarded. Specifically: do you want him to try this kind of thing again?

If yes: it works.
If no: it doesn't work.

My criteria would be:
- Did he work to envisage his idea, thinking through consequences?
- Did his idea amuse me? (In its originality, its presentation, or just through his enthusiasm.)
- Does his idea result in humiliating pictures I can blackmail him with later in life?

"I own three junior senators", -- N

 

[Doug McCrae]

The kid wants an awesome magic sword, let his plan kind of work. Someone shows up to the food handout, maybe an old ex-adventurer down on his luck, with a story about a mighty magic sword supposedly in a long dead emperor's tomb or lost by a great hero in a deadly labyrinth or something. Maybe the ex-adventurer was in a party that tried and failed to raid the emperor's tomb or knew the great hero.

Don't have no one show up, that's just dull.

 

[aboyd]

Thanks Nifft. I'm going to bypass the teaching moment and just let the cards fall where they may, whether it's appropriate for the kid or not. For all I know, this will turn out wonderfully. I'm trying to not have a vested interest in an outcome, and be equally open to a wonderful or horrible result.

For those who are interested, I turned to the Toolbox book (the original one) and used tables 3-38 through 3-47 to roll up a few random people who might have received the fliers. Here are the few so far:

The spouse of a store owner (not specified)
Drunk dwarf
Gallant soldier
Harlot
Apprentice (trades)
Noble gentleman
Local bandit
Local farmer
Bored noble looking for excitement
Cat burglar
Young vandals
Beggar (with a level of rogue)
Arcane student (level 1 wizard)
Divine disciple (level 1 adept)

My thinking so far is that the apprentice & arcane student are irrelevant -- they'll head off to study or whatever. The noble gentleman is uninterested. The dwarf, harlot, bored noble, and farmer would show up just fine. The gallant soldier might realize what could happen and arrange an extra watch to be in the area. But then there are a lot of thieves in those results. The bandit, burglar, vandals, and beggar/rogue would probably all attend, with friends, and rob the mob blind.

What do you guys think? Is "major crime opportunity" steering it in a plausible direction?

 

[aboyd]

Doug, I like your quest idea. Thanks!

 

[aboyd]

OK, I have it up to a d12 now. I tried to incorporate feedback.

1. Nobody shows up
2. This becomes like a soup kitchen
3-4. This becomes a mob that overruns the smithy
5. This is uneventful (the blacksmith shutters his shop, people come, take food, leave)
6-7. This becomes a mob that is crime-ridden (pickpockets, wenching, and so on)
8. This becomes a mob that commits crime (vandalizing store fronts)
9. This becomes a Tiananmen Square massacre
10-11. A wizard shows up, takes some bread and ale and says "You want a magic sword? I know of one lost by a great hero in a deadly labyrinth."
12. This becomes a drunken party with everyone, blacksmith included, singing pirate songs and having stupid fun

I need a few more possibilities to turn this into a d20 roll.

 

[Gilladian]

You say "the apprentice and the arcane student are irrelevant"!!!!

Have you EVER heard of a high school boy turning down free food? They'll show up with ten of their best friends, their girlfriends, their dogs, and half their younger siblings!

The noble gentleman MIGHT show up, looking to find someone to do a task for him. The local farmer might realize there's a chance to rent out some stuff he normally keeps in storage (ie tables, chairs, other useful items).

 

[MichaelSomething]

Another thing you have to account for is the blacksmith. Is he/she cappable of producing said sword if he wanted to? To make magic weapons in 3E, you have to have caster levels. In 4E, you must have the ritual caster feat and have a level highter/equal to the item your making. Also, how popular is said blacksmith? If the blacksmith has a good business record or is popular for other reasons, people may not want to attack him/her. Would you join a mob to attack an innocence business? Most mobs form for another reason and devolve into looting.

The crowd is another thing to consider. The people who form the mob would most likely be evil and choatic (since they ARE a mob). I imagine they would be difficult to control even if you manage to get them all together. If the crowd gets out of control, what is the player's course of action? Is there a bard in the group? What if a fight breaks out?

I personally think the best solution is to follow the other's advice and use the player's desire for a sword as a quest hook.

If you're doing this in 4E, a skill challenge would be worth cnsidering. In any case, simply rolling a dice and consulting a table feels inelagent to me. There are simply too many factors to boil it down to one dice roll.

 

[QuaziquestGM]

What level is the kid? This sounds like a good plot hook for a map to THE FORGE OF FURY (lev 5 i think?) or some other module likely to contain a cool sword to turn up at the party.