Adventure w/ 3 Commoners [Archive] - Wizards Community

Adventure w/ 3 Commoners [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
BladeDrinker
05-10-05, 04:30 PM This is a strange idea, but I think it might be amusing to try once; I am thinking about running a quick adventure (maybe two or three sessions) with a party of three human commoners. At the end of the adventure (assuming they live, of course) they find an artifact and have to choose what to do with it- use it to trade in their commoner levels for PC levels (and make an enemy of a certain deity), or destroy it and retire from adventuring. If they decide to take PC levels they can use their characters in the next adventure and get to keep the artifact, though its powers will have been greatly reduced.

My questions are these:

1) Does this sound like a lame idea?
2) How can I make an exciting challenge for commoners? (The players will probably get bored in a hurry if they're getting slaughtered by kobolds.)
3) How do I allow the characters access to healing and how can they get around traps and locked doors?
4) has anyone else tried this, or are there any official adventures using commoners as PC's?
Cardinal Teplin
05-10-05, 05:01 PM I tried it something that sounds similar

It was basically a Buffy the Vampire Slayer game, with the players playing commoners. Undead were roaming the streets at night, and the PCs, in trying to find out why, stumble on a strange secret...

I would suggest allowing people to be experts, artisans, nobles, etc. rather than just simple commoners. As for fights, take the Buffy approach. The monsters attack innocent citizens, and the PCs have to save them, and take out the bad guys. The fact that the bad guys could take out the players in a straight fight is ok if the bad guys aren't trying to take out the PCs, but do something else. Undead are excellent for this, but any in-game reason for desperate singel mindedness should do. Victory could be as simple as fending them off until the watch the come.

Basically, if the PCs don't have much power, you're going to need to play up the investigation angle much more, and the social interaction. Defeating the bad guys in a fight should never be the main point of ANY scene. Try following them back to their hideout, figuring out what they are doing, raising the alarm when they are in the library, thus leading to the inevtable question of what they were doing there, and hey look there's a book marked 'important clue' on the floor, maybe that's what they were after.

It's entirely possibly to run a game without significant combat. And that's basically what you're doing. AD&D is not the best system to use for that, but it is perfectly possible.
BladeDrinker
05-10-05, 05:28 PM I would suggest allowing people to be experts, artisans, nobles, etc. rather than just simple commoners.

You're right. I made a "farmer" NPC class that is just barely better than a commoner. Warriors, experts and adepts aren't really what I'm going for, but you are right. The commoner is just too unskilled to be anything more than zombie-making material.

FARMER
Hit Die: d6.
Class Skills
The farmer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Level BAB Fort Ref Will
1st +0 +2 +0 +0
2nd +1 +3 +0 +0
3rd +1 +3 +1 +1
4th +2 +4 +1 +1
5th +2 +4 +1 +1
6th +3 +5 +2 +2
7th +3 +5 +2 +2
8th +4 +6 +2 +2
9th +4 +6 +3 +3
10th +5 +7 +3 +3
. . . etc.

Class Features
The following is a class feature of the farmer NPC class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The farmer is proficient with the sickle, club, scythe and sling. The farmer is also proficient with padded armor. He is not proficient with any other weapons or armor, nor is he proficient with any shield.

{edit: I can't get the stupid table to format properly. . .}
CzarGarrett
05-11-05, 09:31 AM Hark! A quest! Thine sheep needs to be sheared!

Yea, thou must sheareth the sheep afore the milking of the bovines can commence!

But it sounds interesting. For a challenging, yet not definately deathly adventure, I'd use something like a rather open cave complex with a small forward patrol of kobolds and/or animals.

If there's 4 or 5 larger caverns, in anticipating of a large kobold group moving in, there'd be a dozen or so kobold scouts with a pair of small dogs. I think in groups of 4/4/2/2+2, 3 commoners with a bit of healing potions could do it without much difficulty.
Cantankerous
05-11-05, 02:49 PM Not killing the Commoners 101. First and most importantly, remember that all NPC classes are at minus one level modifier, or are 1/2 level at "1st" level. Thus you must be acreful not to throw CR1 encounters at your 0.4 level average party.

Personally I wouldn't have them start out as farm kids, 1 st level Commoners, but would let them, at the dead minimum, have 2 levels of the NPC class that most fits what they see themselves as playing as regular characters. A level of expert or a level of adept or a level of warrior as leavening makes for added survivability ..

...and a 0.8 level party. ;)

Isshia
MinusInnocence
05-11-05, 03:19 PM I just thought of John Carpenter's Vampires. You mentioned the PCs might anger a deity if the artifact is used... what if it's actually a holy relic and recognized as such by the clergy?

It could be passed from village to village in secret. Only the upper crust of the priesthood really know where it is at any given moment (of course, they have no idea of its importance, as its powers are dormant until "the right people" come along) and it is heavily cloaked in nondetection magic. Of course, if someone were simply looking for the Cup of Such-and-Such they could still find it with Scry and such but its extraordinary Wish capabilities are a secret even to the priests who carry it.

Unfortunately, when it is in the village our utterly non-heroes grew up in, the forces of darkness play their hand. Monsters are roaming the countryside and the trail of clues leads to the relic as the source of the conflict. Maybe the inner recesses of the church are something like a dungeon, except without many monsters (skeletons or something easy would be ok though) or traps. Puzzles and skill checks would be the order of the day here, and I agree with the sentiment that 1st level Commoners might not be the best idea.

When the monsters attack, the PCs are a few of the only people who can do anything about it. But remember, they're low-level NPC class people, not rough-and-tumble fighters or wizards. The way to deal with five or six Orcs is not to attack them directly but ready some sort of special trap, like collapsing a roof when they run into a house or something. Give them plenty of sidequests to do while "the real heroes" are taking care of the greater threat: if an old catapult has been out of commission for years, maybe all it needs are some spare parts, but the only craftsman who can help lives across town (in a district they just closed down). Or someone's sick grandmother was expecting medicine three days ago, but it never arrived... the bad guys must have looted it from a caravan, and someone has to sneak into the Goblin camp to take it back.

While the town is besieged, the trio are left with the task of finding the relic and... doing something with it. They could use it, as legends abound of its power. But as you said, the god will be furious if it is used; but I'm thinkin' maybe the god should be Evil. It's only angry because something so Good and holy has fallen into the hands of obviously heroic individuals.

Deciding not to use it and simply taking it away to draw the strife from their home will delay the inevitable clash between Good and Evil by a generation or two. Maybe when this preliminary quest is over, the new characters can meet any surviving Commoners (in their 80s or so by now) and hear what happened.

If you've never played Earthbound, check it out. It might give you some ideas about how people who start out as Average Joes are thrust into bizarre situations but know if they don't do something, nobody will.
Kaligrad
05-11-05, 03:37 PM Personally, if I were to run a campaign based off of a bunch of commoners, it would be followed with a campaign where the PCs (now with actual classes) have to deal with the consequeses of the commoners' actions. It's a neat way of saying that even the weakest among us can alter history.
PurdueDave
05-11-05, 04:25 PM I remember playing an adventure a long time ago (like AD&D) where you were shipwrecked. You started without any "class" and adventured for a while trying to deal with the situations after the shipwreck (a few hundred XP, you started with a negative number and worked your way up to zero) and then went into a class from there. It was pretty fun so I would imagine that your idea would be fun as well.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
BladeDrinker 05-10-05, 04:30 PM	This is a strange idea, but I think it might be amusing to try once; I am thinking about running a quick adventure (maybe two or three sessions) with a party of three human commoners. At the end of the adventure (assuming they live, of course) they find an artifact and have to choose what to do with it- use it to trade in their commoner levels for PC levels (and make an enemy of a certain deity), or destroy it and retire from adventuring. If they decide to take PC levels they can use their characters in the next adventure and get to keep the artifact, though its powers will have been greatly reduced. My questions are these: 1) Does this sound like a lame idea? 2) How can I make an exciting challenge for commoners? (The players will probably get bored in a hurry if they're getting slaughtered by kobolds.) 3) How do I allow the characters access to healing and how can they get around traps and locked doors? 4) has anyone else tried this, or are there any official adventures using commoners as PC's?
Cardinal Teplin 05-10-05, 05:01 PM	I tried it something that sounds similar It was basically a Buffy the Vampire Slayer game, with the players playing commoners. Undead were roaming the streets at night, and the PCs, in trying to find out why, stumble on a strange secret... I would suggest allowing people to be experts, artisans, nobles, etc. rather than just simple commoners. As for fights, take the Buffy approach. The monsters attack innocent citizens, and the PCs have to save them, and take out the bad guys. The fact that the bad guys could take out the players in a straight fight is ok if the bad guys aren't trying to take out the PCs, but do something else. Undead are excellent for this, but any in-game reason for desperate singel mindedness should do. Victory could be as simple as fending them off until the watch the come. Basically, if the PCs don't have much power, you're going to need to play up the investigation angle much more, and the social interaction. Defeating the bad guys in a fight should never be the main point of ANY scene. Try following them back to their hideout, figuring out what they are doing, raising the alarm when they are in the library, thus leading to the inevtable question of what they were doing there, and hey look there's a book marked 'important clue' on the floor, maybe that's what they were after. It's entirely possibly to run a game without significant combat. And that's basically what you're doing. AD&D is not the best system to use for that, but it is perfectly possible.
BladeDrinker 05-10-05, 05:28 PM	I would suggest allowing people to be experts, artisans, nobles, etc. rather than just simple commoners. You're right. I made a "farmer" NPC class that is just barely better than a commoner. Warriors, experts and adepts aren't really what I'm going for, but you are right. The commoner is just too unskilled to be anything more than zombie-making material. FARMER Hit Die: d6. Class Skills The farmer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex). Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4. Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier. Level BAB Fort Ref Will 1st +0 +2 +0 +0 2nd +1 +3 +0 +0 3rd +1 +3 +1 +1 4th +2 +4 +1 +1 5th +2 +4 +1 +1 6th +3 +5 +2 +2 7th +3 +5 +2 +2 8th +4 +6 +2 +2 9th +4 +6 +3 +3 10th +5 +7 +3 +3 . . . etc. Class Features The following is a class feature of the farmer NPC class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The farmer is proficient with the sickle, club, scythe and sling. The farmer is also proficient with padded armor. He is not proficient with any other weapons or armor, nor is he proficient with any shield. {edit: I can't get the stupid table to format properly. . .}
CzarGarrett 05-11-05, 09:31 AM	Hark! A quest! Thine sheep needs to be sheared! Yea, thou must sheareth the sheep afore the milking of the bovines can commence! But it sounds interesting. For a challenging, yet not definately deathly adventure, I'd use something like a rather open cave complex with a small forward patrol of kobolds and/or animals. If there's 4 or 5 larger caverns, in anticipating of a large kobold group moving in, there'd be a dozen or so kobold scouts with a pair of small dogs. I think in groups of 4/4/2/2+2, 3 commoners with a bit of healing potions could do it without much difficulty.
Cantankerous 05-11-05, 02:49 PM	Not killing the Commoners 101. First and most importantly, remember that all NPC classes are at minus one level modifier, or are 1/2 level at "1st" level. Thus you must be acreful not to throw CR1 encounters at your 0.4 level average party. Personally I wouldn't have them start out as farm kids, 1 st level Commoners, but would let them, at the dead minimum, have 2 levels of the NPC class that most fits what they see themselves as playing as regular characters. A level of expert or a level of adept or a level of warrior as leavening makes for added survivability .. ...and a 0.8 level party. ;) Isshia
MinusInnocence 05-11-05, 03:19 PM	I just thought of John Carpenter's Vampires. You mentioned the PCs might anger a deity if the artifact is used... what if it's actually a holy relic and recognized as such by the clergy? It could be passed from village to village in secret. Only the upper crust of the priesthood really know where it is at any given moment (of course, they have no idea of its importance, as its powers are dormant until "the right people" come along) and it is heavily cloaked in nondetection magic. Of course, if someone were simply looking for the Cup of Such-and-Such they could still find it with Scry and such but its extraordinary Wish capabilities are a secret even to the priests who carry it. Unfortunately, when it is in the village our utterly non-heroes grew up in, the forces of darkness play their hand. Monsters are roaming the countryside and the trail of clues leads to the relic as the source of the conflict. Maybe the inner recesses of the church are something like a dungeon, except without many monsters (skeletons or something easy would be ok though) or traps. Puzzles and skill checks would be the order of the day here, and I agree with the sentiment that 1st level Commoners might not be the best idea. When the monsters attack, the PCs are a few of the only people who can do anything about it. But remember, they're low-level NPC class people, not rough-and-tumble fighters or wizards. The way to deal with five or six Orcs is not to attack them directly but ready some sort of special trap, like collapsing a roof when they run into a house or something. Give them plenty of sidequests to do while "the real heroes" are taking care of the greater threat: if an old catapult has been out of commission for years, maybe all it needs are some spare parts, but the only craftsman who can help lives across town (in a district they just closed down). Or someone's sick grandmother was expecting medicine three days ago, but it never arrived... the bad guys must have looted it from a caravan, and someone has to sneak into the Goblin camp to take it back. While the town is besieged, the trio are left with the task of finding the relic and... doing something with it. They could use it, as legends abound of its power. But as you said, the god will be furious if it is used; but I'm thinkin' maybe the god should be Evil. It's only angry because something so Good and holy has fallen into the hands of obviously heroic individuals. Deciding not to use it and simply taking it away to draw the strife from their home will delay the inevitable clash between Good and Evil by a generation or two. Maybe when this preliminary quest is over, the new characters can meet any surviving Commoners (in their 80s or so by now) and hear what happened. If you've never played Earthbound, check it out. It might give you some ideas about how people who start out as Average Joes are thrust into bizarre situations but know if they don't do something, nobody will.
Kaligrad 05-11-05, 03:37 PM	Personally, if I were to run a campaign based off of a bunch of commoners, it would be followed with a campaign where the PCs (now with actual classes) have to deal with the consequeses of the commoners' actions. It's a neat way of saying that even the weakest among us can alter history.
PurdueDave 05-11-05, 04:25 PM	I remember playing an adventure a long time ago (like AD&D) where you were shipwrecked. You started without any "class" and adventured for a while trying to deal with the situations after the shipwreck (a few hundred XP, you started with a negative number and worked your way up to zero) and then went into a class from there. It was pretty fun so I would imagine that your idea would be fun as well.