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Absynthe_minded21 01-16-08, 05:43 PM

All too many DMs make the information gathering part of a campaign an automatic transaction of Pay X gold, Receive Y info, Repeat as needed. Here I offer three examples in which talking to a researcher is a memorable event in itself. Robin Jumbletrack, Caravan Captain. Specialties: Large scale politics, wilderness, regional layout, gossip. In my world much of the population lives in small villages, hamlets really, and I instituted a floating market of sort, gypsy merchants that travel from town to town, buying and selling (and thusly allowing me to bump up an area's GP limit when I need it) It stands to reason that if a group of merchants travels enough they'll learn a thing or two. It also stands that if a merchant has something, it's for sale. All the PCs need to do inorder to speak to Jumbletrack is find him, and since you, the DM, have absolute control over where he is and when, you have control of the "cost" in time and money, meaning you can replace gold with effort. Also, since eveybit of his information is secondhand, feel free to throw a false line at the PCs now and again. The Ruby Librarian. Specialties: History, Magic, Geography A smokey room nestled in the heart of a ruined temple on the outskirts of town. Spectral tomes line the empty shelves of this burned and blackened library and a nearly transparent figure sits at a desk, pouring over an intangible volume, a smoldering flame behind him. The librarian knows most everything about most everythng ancient and is willing to empart his knowledge on any seeker, provided they bring him something in return; a book he does not yet posses. All the PCs need do is send the appropriate GP amount at a rare bookseller (amount decided by you of course) in town, then take a short trip out to the library where they can chuck the book into the fire (it's ghost then flutters out of the flame to take place on the shelves!) and get their answers. Of course, don't let the bookseller know that's why you want it, bibliophiles tend to frown on such things. Isabella "Izzy" Coal, "Entertainer" Specialties: Local Politics, Local Crime, Local Gossip The storefront says "Tarts" with a hand painted picture of a pastry underneath, but the half oger at the door reads otherwise. Walking past the counter you turn and travel down the stairs into a completely different place. A drum beat echos in the dimly lit cellar, plusing through you, and smoke lingers near the ceiling. A tall, dark haired woman dressed in little more then a sultry smile approaches and, taking you by the hand, leads you into a side room. As soon as the door closes behind her the smile disappears and she becomes all buissness. Izzy is one of my favorites. She's a bard, working as a dancer ect, who suppliments her income by selling information spilled to her by the cities' elite, drunk and eager to impress. For the price of a "private dance" the PCs can obtain most any kind of local intel they might require. That's three of the "sages" I've dreamed up and have sitting around my notebooks and three ways in which research need not being dull. I'd like to hear what other people have up and running! (note: even these encounters get dull if used to often, so I recommend swtiching things up frequently, so as not to send the PCs to the same sage over and over again.)