of Dice and Dragons

In most role-playing games the object is to have the characters in the game travel from place to place, overcome obstacles, get the treasure and increase their power level. That’s all well and good but what happens when you need to introduce something other than a simple “dungeon crawl?” One suggestion would be to move campaign to a worldly scale and introduce conflict between countries (provinces, territories, or whatever you would like to call them in your campaign). If you decide to go that route I suggest introducing the characters to a diplomat.

The diplomat is simply an individual that is acting on behalf of someone else, in this case a country. They are responsible for negotiations between the two countries, establishing relationships, smoothing over issues between the two nations and possibly espionage. They offer a great opportunity to role-play as well.

A few ideas you could use:

- The dipolmat is just starting out on his travels and needs an armed escort, “Anyone interested in a job?”
- The characters are at “court” when a dipolmat is introduced and they think that he’s an imposter. They’ve seen him earlier in the campaign at are unaware of his rise in stature.
- The characters encouter a diplomat during a stay in at an inn and share a few drinks with him. This give you as the GM a great chance to pass along world events and informational items to the characters.

Of course you could also put the shoes on the other foot and have the local government appoint the characters as ambassadors to another country. This could turn into a rather interesting adventure depending on how relations are between the two countries.

Got an idea you’d like to pass along? I’d love to hear about it.

May your dice roll well.

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Not every role-playing encounter needs to be serious and using a drunk can give you that change of pace. Be sure to make it a memorable experience though, slur your words when you speak, get up and stagger around the table and make large arm motions when you talk. This a great opportunity to ‘ham it up’ in front of your group and may just be what’s needed to break the string of serious sessions.

So, what can you do with a drunk?

- Have him stagger into the group spilling the contents of that big bag of gold coins they’re bringing back from the local dungeon.
- Have her stumble over to the party while at their local “watering hole” and ask for money.

Or you can use them to affect the group a bit more directly:

- The drunk could be a Mercenary between jobs and blowing off a bit of steam and pay decides to pick a fight with one of the party members.
- You can borrow a scene right out of the movies, “Corbin, sure I know a Corbin. He’s sitting right over there.”

Got an idea for the drunk? I’d love to hear about it.

May your dice roll well.

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Wars are fought, nations rise and fall, fortunes are won and lost and through it all stands the individual that protects the land and people on behalf of the government - the soldier.

Before introducing this individual to your role-playing group spend a few minutes to think about his appearance (armor, weaponry, unit insignia and so on) and whether he is a career man or simply serving the minimum tour required.

In addtion to thinking about those things you should also think about how the public in general views the military, are the supportive, afraid or indifferent? Do they consider it an honor to serve or is it required of the state or maybe both?

So how can you use this in your campaign?

- The soldier is a recruiter and approaches the party about enlisting. Of course if they don’t enlist a press gang (encounter idea #10) may show up in the area.
- The soldier is retired and is telling tales of campaigns from long ago. This is a good way to pass along historical information to the party.
- The soldier is newly enlisted and is showing off his shiny new uniform trying to impress those around him.

Remember that the soldier does not have to be a male figher type either - mix it up with female soldiers, non-warrior types such as mages, rogues, mechanics or medical individuals.

May your dice roll well.

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Have you noticed that in almost every role-playing game the spectre of death is always close at hand but the individual who handles the arrangements for the body and funeral is never mentioned?

I’m sure you’ve seen the stereotyped undertaker, if you haven’t, rent almost any old western and you’ll see him. More often than not a tall and lanky individual who is wearing a dark suit (often a tuxedo) and always has a tape measure and seems to hang around where the action is. Imagine the look on your players’ faces when you mention that their character is being asked to raise their arms and then realize that they are measure for a coffin.

You can use this individual for a number of role-playing situations:
- As mentioned above the undertaker shows up and takes their measurements, then the local bully shows up and picks a fight.
- The characters are investigating a murder and want details about the body - who better to ask?
- After returning from the local dungeon the characters are what to get more information about body preservation - since they just dealt with what appeared to be the walking dead.

Remember you don’t have to follow the stereotype, maybe in your world undertakers are always gnomes, female or wear hooded cloaks so that no one knows their true identity.

May your dice roll well.

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In most role-playing environments the heroes come home, tell their tales, spend their money and then they are off again onto the next adventure.

The question then has to be asked, what repercussions are there on the community? In a lot of cases they may not be good - higher costs as more money flows in along with higher taxes. Parents concerned about their children wanting to take up the ‘adventuring life’ instead of staying home to help on the farm or in the family store. The increased crime rate as thieves move in and bandits attack townsfolk on their way in or out looking for the riches to be had.

Take all that and sprinkle in a little presuasion and you have a mob on your hands and that’s something that every party should be wary of.

When confronted with a mob like this the party has to deal with things with a bit more tact. They can just open fire on all those people (unless they’re playing from the evil slant) that wouldn’t be right. How could they be heroes and protectors of the weak when they gun down (fireball, charge, etc.) the very people they are trying to help? An interesting situation to have to role-play out of.

You should also keep this in mind from the other side of the coin as well. I played a character once, a wizard/thief, who was acutally responsible for creating a mob. There were strange things going on and wanting to bring down the local mages’ guild he built on those fears and with a little prodding turned the whole town on the guild who then proceeded to burn the guildhall to the ground - a very memorable experience and enjoyable session.

I would like to thank the members of the gmmastery Yahoo group for inspiring this post.

May your dice roll well.

Be sure to check out these additional encounter ideas

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