Points of light - Unpopular adventurers?

[Kahuna Burger]

A thought about the "points of light" setting idea - how might it effect the social status of an "adventuring group" wandering through a far flung "point"? On one hand, adventurers are capable of improving the situation of a small settlement pressed by various natural and supernatural threats. On the other hand, incompetent adventurers are capable of seriously annoying those threats and making life worse for the small settlement. And on the gripping hand, even if they succeed in their goals, they may disrupt a balance of power in the area and leave a situation the settlement is less equipped to cope with once things equalize again.

The issue of collateral damage can exist in any setting, but it seems to me that in a stable* points of light setting, the chances are greater of adventurers being greeted more as potential troublemakers than neutrally or as potential saviors.

*By stable I mean a situation where the points of light are in some sort of (fragile) equilibrium with their surroundings. If there is a constant state of "war" with the encroaching darkness, there is less adventurers can do to make the situation worse.

I'm thinking of situations such as in Reign of Fire, where the "army" guys initially failed in their attack on the bull dragon - and had gone straight to it from the now less defended settlement, leaving a nice trail for it to follow back and take it's annoyance out on the civilians.... Or even the Hobbit, where treasure seekers woke a slumbering threat and made it mad enough to come looking for them in the nearby town.

How would a group of adventurers be greeted in your points of light campaign?

 

[dystmesis]

In my limited experience with Points of Light, they're quite unpopular

 

[Agamon]

How would a group of adventurers be greeted in your points of light campaign?

Depends. If the balance was recently disturbed by a similar type of group, quite negatively, I'd think. But if the 'point' is being harassed or outright attacked by something in the surroundings for one reason or another, I'd think the people would look to the adventurers as heroes, like in Beowulf. Of course, dealing with the threat can always have unexpected consequences, that a village elder or woodsman might foresee and they could become a thorn in the PC's sides, only to be proved right eventually.

 

[jdrakeh]

One of my favorite games (vs Monsters) uses this model by default -- PCs are montser hunters, though they're seen by normal folks as being harbingers of trouble. They do an often thankless job for the greater good, slowly gaining ground with the locals as they work. They certainly aren't rockstars out of the gate.

For some reason, a lot of the folks who I've played vs Monsters with really liked this approach -- I think because it was different enough from the tack taken by games that they were familiar with (different editions of D&D), without changing actual play too much. At any rate, people liked it. I suspect that this same kind of feedback may have played a role in WotC adopting "Points of Light" for D&D 4e.

 

[Doug McCrae]

They could be loved, hated or neither. On the one hand the world is more dangerous so people are going to be very suspicious of heavily armed wandering strangers - they could be marauders. On the other hand there is a greater need for heavily armed wandering heroes - to protect folk from all those marauders!

 

[WhatGravitas]

They could be loved, hated or neither. On the one hand the world is more dangerous so people are going to be very suspicious of heavily armed wandering strangers - they could be marauders. On the other hand there is a greater need for heavily armed wandering heroes - to protect folk from all those marauders!

I guess, and that's the beautiful thing about points of lights, it could vary from town to town.

If a town was recently target of raids, bandit attacks, marauding adventurers: Then they're outright hated.
If the town was quiet for a time, they're probably just ignored or eyed suspiciously.
If the town sees it fair share of outsiders (perhaps because it's close to a trade lane), then they're ignored.
If there are monsters or other adventurers were there recently (without wreaking havoc, but helping them), then they're welcome.

Of course, other factors will also influence that:

If the party has a good face (i.e. bard), who can entertain the town, trade stories and news... this will be good.
If the party is overtly arcane - they may end on the stake (or at least are accused of black magic and witchcraft).
Clerics (i.e. priests) with prominent gods and holy symbols are probably (together with the party) as sacrosanct, will be respected/revered whatever. The reverse is, of course, also true (i.e. locally hated or unpopular faith).
Money will change a lot - a generous party (nice tip for tavern wrench, helping beggars a.s.o.) will probably also garner some friends (and thieves).

The more "stable" a PoL setting is, the more important become the latter factor, i.e. outward appearance and demeanour of the group.

I think there's a lot of potential in this question!

Cheers, LT.

 

[Victim]

I don't see how PoL automatically means that magic is viewed as bad. If human settlements are hard pressed, then magic might easily be seen as an ability to turn the tide. "Swords are of no more use here" and all that.

It seems to me that hospitality traditions and such might be extremely important. Strangers are both potentially dangerous and important for news, beating off big monsters, etc. Offending some powerful, traveling wizard might be the end of the entire town. By the same token, trusting some stranger too quickly is also dangerous, especially since it might be a disguised monster. And it's not just the town that has to be cautious. Travelers aren't necessarily going to know that they're walking into. The town might be the haven of bandits who'd kill them in their sleep, maybe the folk sacrifice outsiders to the monsters for protection, paranoid people who try to burn magic users, or disguised monsters. Some conventions and rituals that make it easier to establish trust on both sides

 

[WhatGravitas]

I don't see how PoL automatically means that magic is viewed as bad. If human settlements are hard pressed, then magic might easily be seen as an ability to turn the tide. "Swords are of no more use here" and all that.

It depends on the type of magic. Considering something like the Warlock... it gives arcane a bad reputation. Additionally, the distrusted mage is a staple - that may fit into PoL. And in a world of where most of the map is dark, you never know what could be a monster.

And a guy with a sword is less dangerous than the guy with the fireball, at least from a villager's point of view.

Of course, this will and should vary with the "sophistication" of the individual point of light. If the town has its own mages (or even wizard guild), they understand the existence of magic better, see helpful uses and know that their mage may protect them.

In a town, where nobody has the ability to wield magic, a mage is akin to a walking god, and somebody with "flashy arcanism" (i.e. walking around with glowing staff, magic voice, will probably conceived as more arrogant and hence possibly dangerous - so they're not going to trust them instantly (but won't be hostile).

And, of course, you'll get all the nuances between these extremes. Throw in divine magic, and you'll get an even broader spectrum.

But yeah, it's a bit playing up the fantasy cliché/trope - however, it's quite evocative and should be used sometimes (as long as it's not only done to get on the nerves of the player).

 

[mmadsen]

A thought about the "points of light" setting idea - how might it effect the social status of an "adventuring group" wandering through a far flung "point"?

I think the key is to realize that adventurers would have little place in a civilized, non-points of light world. Anyone armed to the teeth, like a party of adventurers, would either be (a) the local authority, or (b) a challenge to the local authority.

In a less civilized world, anyone traveling between points of light must be armed, and there are legitimate roles for armed fighting men that don't involve usurping the local authority's power.

It's the difference between the modern world and the Old West.

 

[Piratecat]

This has some similarities to a gunfighter entering a western town. People know about it, and people stay out of his way until the see they can trust him.