One thing that has been keeping me from blogging last couple of months is organizing for my (hopefully) upcoming campaign, "Gold & Glory". In this Western Marches style sandbox the characters are ne'er-do-wells, dreamers, layabouts, and the like. Outcasts who don't/won't fit into regular society. They start poor and with little else than a hunger for easy gold. Stealing from "monsters" and robbing tombs being easier in their minds than toiling away on a farm or indentured as an apprentice.I'm aiming for fast (10min) character generation. Thus I have replaced starting monies and pouring over equipment lists with "pick an item from each column" detailed below. Which I'm hoping will be faster than "shopping". If not, table is setup for rolling randomly. I stocked it with old-school dungeoneering equipment to help develop the tone and style I hope to achieve in this campaign.
G&G Starting Equipment:
- Everyone has a belt, shoes, cloths, and cloak of common/poor variety.
- Humans, Halflings, and Elves start with 2d6 copper, shoulder/back pack, bedroll, 1 wk food, 2x waterskins.
- Halflings get a leather sling and some rocks.
- Elves get an ash longbow, quiver and 40 arrows.
- Gnomes get a red felt cap if male, green one for females.
- Dwarfs get a small ball of mud.
- Religious types start with an appropriate holy symbol of the non-fancy type.
- Pure fighters get an additional weapon of their choice from any of those listed below.
weapons1 weapons2 armor misc1 misc2
------- -------- ----- ---- ----
1 2 flasks oil lantern potion heal holy water flagon of wine/ale/whiskey
2 4 javelins shield 2d6x10cp pot helm holy symbol
3 caltrops The Deck draw better cloths chalk charcoal "pen" & 4 sheets of papyrus
4 1h dagger 1h dagger padded 2 lg sacks 4 person tent
5 1h sword sling leather 10 ft pole hammer & 10 spikes
6 1h mace lt xbow scale 50' rope shovel
7 1h pick 2h pick 50' twine crowbar
8 lh flail 2h flail 1lb grease horn
9 lh hammer 2h hammer 4 torches flint & steel
10 1h axe 2h axe/battleaxe 1 wk food pipe & tobacco
11 1h spear 2h spear/polearm
12 2h staff 2h staff
Finally each player gets one draw from The Deck. The Deck is a bunch of index cards each detailing a misc/weird/unusual item (see Jeff Rients's "Deck of Stuff" for details).
Let's say I want to buy a second ball of mud. How much would this valuable prize cost me, yon shopkeep? ;)
ReplyDeleteWell that depends on what sort of finish shiny or armoured we're talking about and whether you prefer the easy portability of a small mud ball or wish to make the impression that only carrying a large mud ball would make?
ReplyDeleteHey, don't knock the mud balls. Never know when you'll get the hankering to make a child.
My job as DM is to provide "things", it's up to the players to figure out what to do with them :)
armored
ReplyDeleteI like it when the players need to start from little to nothing. I plan on starting a shart run campaign where the players wake up loin clothed in a slaver's pen.
ReplyDeleteI'll take the #3 special value item and I'll take a large axe on the side with a retractable 10' pole.
Jeff is just chock full of great ideas, isn't he?
ReplyDeleteI took the idea for my 100 random starter items list from his card deck post.
Here it is if you would like to mine it for your game.
http://oldguardgamingaccoutrements.blogspot.com/2009/03/100-item-list-of-random-objects-for.html
E.G., excellent starter item list. Now I have to decide if the visceral feel of holding a card is worth writing up all those index cards...
ReplyDeleteI generally like a bit more choice in starting items for players (though I often mix this with "schrodinger's character", but the pick list is the way I do things too. You start with 10 items, pick from the list (some things take more than one starting "item").
ReplyDeleteThe shiny mud ball thing is fantastic. I love it. I absolutely want to play a Dwarf with Mud Ball skills. I want to know where the best soils are!
ReplyDeleteI had read the Dwarven "making my baby" post before. Awesome idea.