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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4018760" data-attributes="member: 5143">I have yet to run a campaign where the PCs amassed any sort of social power at all.  The last couple of campaigns I called the PCs managed to get from 1st level to a good 14th without actually talking to another person longer than "I'd like to sell this treasure.  No time to talk, there is this enclave of powerful evil cultists threatening to destroy the world and wouldn't you know it, they have huge amounts of treasure.  We keep having to make trips back here to sell things before we go back in."  Most of the people in the world didn't even believe them and figured they were just making up excuses to avoid telling them where all the treasure they found came from.  They saved about 2 people from being kidnapped by the evil cultists, but no one really believed them either.  I mean "evil cultist are going to destroy the world soon, but don't worry...there are a group of 6 heroes stopping them single handedly."  It's not very believable.  So the PCs managed to get through the whole campaign without ever receiving recognition for their work.It IS though.  I just finished running another adventure where the PCs were asked to go into an ancient temple and recover some artifacts from the past at first level.  There they contracted a magical disease and there was no known way to stop it.  They spent the next 9 levels tracking down clues about what might cure them, racing from place to place before the enemies could get there before them before ending up with a confrontation with a creature of huge power.  However, in 10 levels they went into town in order to ask around about the cure, find a clue, then head out to a dungeon in search of the items they needed before coming back to town, selling magic items and doing it all again.They saved no kings or kingdoms, did nothing that normal people would recognize as "heroic".  No reason to be given castles or have anyone flock to them as followers.Sure, there is a plot and reason why they don't gain these things. I, as the DM, could care less about the politics of any of the countries of the world, what the people on the street might think about these strange people coming into town covered in blood with giant sized suits of armor for sale.  I don't care because they aren't important to the campaign.  It is about the PCs trying to find a cure for their disease.  Anything that advances that plot and gets the PCs enough XP to defeat the challenges I have planned for the next session I'll do.  When it comes down to it, my campaign could be summarized by a series of battles in order to gain powers with a thin plot to tie it together.  But it's fun.</blockquote>

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