My players love 4E and the concept, but one of them came up with an idea to play as normal people, and then grow slowly into heroes. I loved the way they thought about this without me telling them anything about commoner campaigns that are going on, and i'm interested in the idea of running a commoner campaign myself, so i'm going to give it a try.
If you feel like it, I need help with ideas, thoughts, comments, anything. I already have a few ideas, but their very rough and I would like critique for them.
Powers
The characters will start off with no powers. They will have to train and train to get powers. For warrior oriented characters this means joining the militia and training. For sneaky, theif-like characters it might mean practicing theivery or training on obstacle courses. Magic oriented characters could become the apprentice of a local wizard or join a Wizard's college. Divine influenced characters {who in my setting have much less flashy prayers} will join the local church. Training will take a long time, at first only for at will powers. Then, if they wish, they can take a long time training for encounter powers. I don't think I will allow Daily powers until much later on in the campaign. But I don't want gaining powers to be the focus of the campaign--after all, the players are supposed to be living a normal life.
Occupations
Farmer, Bartender, Fisherman, Plummer, Craftsmen, Smithy, Cook, Wagon Driver, Priest and almost anything the characters can think of {of course in the boundries of being a commoner} will be available to them. Their skills {which will be different, haven't worked that out yet} will be used while working the most. Working will gain them money which, if they are smart, will put to good use with their taxes, food, water and anything else they need to keep them alive. If they have any money left over, they can buy some other stuff or get a drink at the local bar. Occupations will NOT be like classes. They will be a way of the characters getting money. Of course, if the players want, they could be homeless beggars, as that would give some interesting roleplaying oppurtunities.
Money
Silver and Gold. No. Players main bulk of wealth will be copper and silver peices with a hundred or so gold for taxes if they are average commoners, poor ones might only have copper and some silver. Keep in mind-the players wealth will be based on how much they work.
Just some rough ideas thrown out there for constructive critisism, or just plain critisism, either way is fine.
Starting off, everyone could be maybe classless, or have an at-will power as an encounter power. They would all be restricted to simple weapons.
You'll also need ways to keep them from dying too quickly. If they only start with 15hp, they'll go down pretty quickly.
Also, how do you plan on doing stats?
Try this link.http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1045567 Might find some useful or atleast spark some of your own.