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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 6658482" data-attributes="member: 40177">Well, different strokes and all that - I love town encounters, and my players kind of do, too.  I run a sandboxy game, too, where I always drop three hooks to the players - each one is a different adventure.  The players pick which adventure they want to "bite", and I prep it.  It's working pretty good so far.  When I do a town, a describe the main areas.  The neighborhoods, the prime buildings, the geographical features, whatever.  I also define a downtime activity specific to that town, either a brand new one, or a modification of an existing one that represents what the town is known for (Las Vegas would give bonuses on Carousing, for example, while Malibu Beach would have a "Spend time surfing" downtime activity that naturally would lead to an encounter with sharks).  I have my hooks all figured out, and figure out who is getting what.  Players state their downtime activities in the town, and how many days they're spending.  I declare things as being "rubber time", so that what happens is, players who take fewer days of downtime get a reserve of days to "catch up" to the PCs who took longer amounts of downtime (they often use this to just make a bit of money, or pray at a church for advantage, or whatever else piques their fancy).  Players also tell me which buildings they frequent, and I give them quick descriptions of what's going on.  If they seem interested in that locale, I make sure I attach the hook they'll get to that location.  I also might drop hooks through downtime activities, if that seems logical, or through organizations.  Since I'm "hooked" to three adventures, and I have 5 players, two players "share" a hook, and the fifth gets a hook all to him or herself.  I make sure that the PCs get a decent amount of info, and then let them ask whatever pertinent questions to get some more info on the adventure.  I try to time this for the end of a session, so they can pick the adventure, and I can prep it and run it for the next session.  ***So, how this actually looks (it's a bit long):I have five PCs in the town of Bronze Shore.  A tiefling fighter who belongs to the Imperial Foreign Service, a half-elven bard who works for a bunch of magical smugglers, an awakened bear barbarian who belongs to a collective of druids and awakened animals, a gnome arcane trickster who is a member of the tinker's guild who is a bit of a religious traditionalist, and an eladrin diviner who belongs to the cartographer's guild and is seeking admittance into an arcane university.  These PCs spend twenty days of downtime in Bronze Shore.  I know that there are three adventures I'm thinking of running:1.  DCC "People of the Pit", in which the PCs seek to stop a crazed tentacle cult from destroying the world2.  DCC "The Croaking Fane", in which the PCs seek to stop a frog/slaad cult from returning3.  Pathfinder's part 2 of "The mummies curse" where the PCs are asked to go to a town to investigate an undead uprising.  So.  PCs declare their downtime, and as we resolve actions, I do this:(to the tiefling, who wants to improve relations with his organization):  "You're busy watching a merchant who may have ties to the Ravenglas spy service - counting his shipments.  One night, while talking to some animal handlers and guards to get information, you hear that things up on the island of Pelican are getting rough.  The local lord is having problems with some sort of tentacled beast eating townsfolk, and wants someone to investigate.  He's offering good money.  You get some info through your spy agency that the tentacle beast is served by a faceless cult with some messed up powers."(to the Eladrin Diviner) "You're at the university's 'safehouse' in Bronze Shore, talking around and scribing a spell offered to you by a contact from last adventure, when a visiting teacher asks for your help in the city of Kael Oslocai.  You know he died when he was young, but somehow came back to life, and has ever since had visions.  He's had one now about something rising up from the grave, and asks for your help to defend his city".  and so on, and so forth.  ***For hooks, I'd make sure you stop at three.  Never give more than three hooks, unless the PCs are actively looking for them.  But generally, you should have three, and tell them "if you keep looking for more, tell me what you're looking for!".  And don't be afraid to let hooks expire - if they're not taken, let them end... with consequences, if you'd like, but I'd rather just ignore the consequences for all but the most major ones.</blockquote>

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