D&D 5E (2024) When the characters strike it rich in the first adventure...

[BookTenTiger]

I'm between campaigns right now, so I like to play a little game where I ask myself, "If I were running a new campaign tomorrow, what would I do?"

I came up with a campaign structure idea in which the characters strike it rich in the first adventure, and then the rest of the campaign is all about what they do with the money. I love playing around with campaign structures, so I thought I'd write out my idea here.

But in the meantime...

When have your characters struck it rich? What did they do with the money?

Here's my campaign idea:

Gold, Gold, Gold

Characters: The players would create characters who need a lot of money for some reason. Maybe they want to open a business? Or fund a rebellion? Or raise an army? Or start a magic academy?

Campaign World: The only part of the campaign world that I'd detail would be the Treasure Fields, a frontier zone which is populated by terrible beasts and legendary treasures. Once the players come up with their characters' backgrounds, including what they want to spend money on, we would create more of the campaign world together. For example, let's say a character is an exiled prince who wants to reclaim his throne. We would put his kingdom on the map and maybe some neighboring allies or rivals.

Adventures: The first adventure would be a traditional dungeon crawl in which the characters would, at the end, uncover an enormous hoard of treasure. After that, I'd work with the players on adventure arcs that fulfill their characters' goals. For example, there might be an adventure arc in which the exiled prince can raise an army and retake their kingdom. The goal would be to tie in the backgrounds or goals of the other characters as well. So if there's a character who wants to buy and run a tavern in the big city, maybe the current sitting sovereign has corrupted the guild of merchants and he won't be able to open the tavern until the prince is restored.

Return to the Treasure Fields: Throughout the campaign, if a character dies, or meets their goal and wants to retire, there would be opportunities for new characters to return to the Treasure Fields and make more wealth!

Endgame: There wouldn't really be a "Big Bad Guy" for the characters to fight or a world-saving adventure (unless that's tied into a character's quest). I guess the campaign would wrap once the last character met their goals!

 

[Koloth]

Don't be surprised if several of the characters go down the path of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. That has been the career path for many a wealthy young person thru the ages.

 

[sevenbastard]

Westerns are a part of the rich tapestry that is American mythology

Don't be surprised if several of the characters go down the path of Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll. That has been the career path for many a wealthy young person thru the ages.

Yeah i wanted to avenge my father and claim my rightful spot on the throne, but that looked very stressful and honestly like a lot of boring days filled with paperwork. Im just going to stay here in this beach town frequenting the "Feast Hall" and smoking this black lotus.

 

[Emerikol]

Most groups are wealthy after their first adventure by most standards but you mean kingly wealth. I get that from the whole post.

 

[aco175]

I think it comes down to options to the players. Some are great with having PC development and can plan options for their PC and develop ways to get there and other players need the DM to give them choices on where to go next. To have a bag of gold might be the end goal for a lot of PCs and then just to retire by building a tavern. Some players never thought that far ahead on what to do once you get the gold.

Similar to starting off like the D&D cartoon or a lot of movies and give the PCs a cool/powerful magic item at 1st level. But in this case, they need the item to gain more power and levels or likely it is tied to defeating the BBEG.

 

[Umbran]

What level of play do you intend to start with?

The question comes to mind that the PCs might reasonably have to spend most of their efforts protecting their wealth...

 

[MGibster]

My player's characters are level 8 now, so they've got more gold than they really need. My plan was to test out the rules for bastions, so I discussed it with my players a few sessions ago and it turns out they have no desire to pursue that avenue. They just don't see any meaningful benefit to it. I didn't have any strong feelings one way or the other, so that's cool with me. I ended up telling them I'm not going to bother with gold anymore during the campaign. They can just assume they have enough gold for pretty much anything they want.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I think it comes down to options to the players. Some are great with having PC development and can plan options for their PC and develop ways to get there and other players need the DM to give them choices on where to go next. To have a bag of gold might be the end goal for a lot of PCs and then just to retire by building a tavern. Some players never thought that far ahead on what to do once you get the gold.

Similar to starting off like the D&D cartoon or a lot of movies and give the PCs a cool/powerful magic item at 1st level. But in this case, they need the item to gain more power and levels or likely it is tied to defeating the BBEG.

I think this is why you would have to start the campaign with each character having a clear goal of what they would want to do with the money. "Retiring" could be an option, but then that character would, you know, retire, and they'd have to create another character.

If they have a simple goal like "open a tavern" then we'd work together to create complications. Maybe there's a rival tavern, or the construction site is built on an ancient cursed temple, or they want to source mead from the fey realms?

 

[payn]

Mo Money Mo Problems (though it appears having it solves them pretty well too)

 

[aco175]

I think this is why you would have to start the campaign with each character having a clear goal of what they would want to do with the money. "Retiring" could be an option, but then that character would, you know, retire, and they'd have to create another character.

If they have a simple goal like "open a tavern" then we'd work together to create complications. Maybe there's a rival tavern, or the construction site is built on an ancient cursed temple, or they want to source mead from the fey realms?

I know many players that are more passive and not have anything more than to gain gold and or fame. I might be more work than reward for the DM to work with them. I found that having them tag along with the other invested players better for me and then hope they get some cool ideas for their PCs.