Chain Gangs or Taverns, How Parties Meet



As a player and DM, I get tired of having all the player characters initially meet in an inn or tavern and then decide to start adventuring. I've started running an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1E campaign and I tried to come up with an original way for my player characters to meet and to begin working together - I put them on a chain gang.

Ok, so it wasn't a chain gang. What happened is that every one of the PC's had the same experience: there they were in the Tenebris Silva (The Dark Forest) when they were surrounded by a group of bandits including their one-eyed leader and a mage wearing red robes. Then that's all the characters remember until they woke up without their arms, armor, and money.

Each of our characters was rescued in the woods by a traveling merchant who took pity on them and let them travel to the big city in his cart. But at that point the Catchpole at the city gates would not let the characters into the city because he didn't want vagrants in the city!

The city guard agreed to let the characters in after they did some work to help out the city. In return they'd be fed, sheltered (sort of) and would be paid the daily rate of laborers (in the Dungeon Master's Guide this is two silver pieces a day). So our group of characters had three tasks that they had to problem solve and determine how to do:

Repair part of the city's walls

Build and place a peer (the south part of the city is against a river)

Sow 10 acres with grain

In each situation they were given tools, but they had to problem solve how to do this. I awarded XP for solving each problem. They also had encounters along the way (goblins and kobolds) and I counted them as proficient with the shovel, pick ax and mallet that they were using as tools. The whole thing took the party six weeks of game time, resulted in almost 1000 xp each for solving problems and more from the encounters. They met a merchant who will buy dead goblins and kobolds along with their weapons (he sells them to rich folks that want to show off to their friends).

This gave us an original way to meet and start working together. It also set up a great side quest (they have to find the bandits eventually) and the goodwill of the city guard.

(opens in a new ta

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Thief Subclass in 1E

One of the thief subclasses is a character class in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1E that did not make it to 5E.  It's an interesting class that has a lot of potential during a campaign both as a player character and as an NPC. Who can be in this class?  Everyone but halflings.  Like humans, half orcs can be unlimited in their level.  Gnomes can reach level 8, dwarves 9, elves 10, and half-elves 11.  Regardless of race, this sub class need a minimum strength of 12, a minimum intelligence of 11, and a minimum dexterity of 12.  They do not get a bonus on experience points as a result of higher ability scores. Let's talk about the strengths of the class: They use the six-sided die for hit points.   They get thief abilities (including backstab), save as a thief, and fight using the thief table in the DMG.  Unlike thieves they can use shields and can use any kind of weapon.   Unlike thieves they start with three weapon proficiencies and ...
Read more

Organized Crime

Image
Designed by freepik.com   Organized crime make great side quests and adventures in any city campaign setting.  This creates bad guys and people to help which makes things more interesting.  It also creates opportunities for problem solving, combat, experience points, employment and treasure!  Below are some examples that you can use in a campaign: The Fight Club An illegal fight club that people are betting on.  Maybe somebody has been kidnapped and is fighting in it.  Maybe elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes are being forced to fight monsters.  Whatever situation fits your campaign this has to be found, infiltrated, and stopped.  Then, does stopping it have any ripple effects?  Will anyone be upset (or grateful) that the player characters accomplished this? Protection Rackets An old fashioned protection racket where a gang of bad guys are hitting up merchants for protection money.  The merchants want the party's help stopping it....
Read more

The Gnome

Image
From freepik.com In 1E AD&D, the gnome is a fun race both as a character and as a non-player character.  Gnome males are somewhere between 39 and 45 inches tall and weigh between 72 and 92 pounds.  Gnome males can attain a strength of 18/50 if a fighter.   Females are between 36 and 42 inches tall and weigh between 67 and 83 pounds.  Females can attain a strength of up to 15.  Unlike other races, gnomes do not add to their dice rolls for abilities though their lowest possible strength is a 6. Depending upon their class, they begin the game at somewhere between 65 (fighter on one extreme) and 124 (illusionist on the other extreme) years old.  Gnomes are considered young adults at 50, mature at 91, middle aged at 301, old at 451, and venerable at 601.  Following the Dungeon Master's Guide, gnomes could live to 770. Gnome player characters can be fighters up to level 6 depending upon their strength, illusionists up to level 7 depending upon their...
Read more