Modern adventuring solutions
Want to show your low-level PCs how the world doesn’t revolve around them?
Want to let your wealthy, powerful PCs see just how influential they are?
Above all, do you want to introduce some ideas from the modern corporate world into your campaigns?
(What’s that? You don’t? Too bad – you’re hearing this anyway.)
Let’s talk about outsourcing for a moment.
For PCs lower on the level totem pole, many of the adventure hooks are similar. It’s always sheriffs this, priests that, “my kids are missing”, “the supplies never arrived”…
Why not put them in proximity to power?
A high-level party wants to go after a formidable lich. That’ll take more than kicking down the doors of a nearby tomb. There are many odd jobs around that, from gathering supplies to sabotaging the enemy, from intelligence to logistics.
The high-level adventurers hire the party to do something appropriate to their level.
That’s not bad – a mildly interesting twist on the usual quest giving.
What makes it more interesting is when the party gets to that high level.
Give them a quest – like, say, slay the blackguard attempting a dark ritual. Make it clear there’s a time limit and a lot to do, most of which is beneath them.
Let the party hire low-level adventurers to help them out.
Some of those tasks might including recon, stealing supplies and preventing the enemy’s reinforcements from arriving.
Spending lot of money and persuading competent adventurers to take a job increases the odds of success. Being cheap and rolling poorly makes each job less likely.
Your party can still win without these side tasks getting done, but it’ll be harder.
I don’t know. This isn’t my most creative idea and, hey, it’s probably already been done. Still, even something as simple as this can make for a cool session or two.
You know what can make for cool campaigns?
Something like Footprints, which creates situations where the adventures practically write themselves.
See what I mean here: