Forum

So I've just had an email from one of my players who has said that, straight up, they think adventuring will be a net negative and they want to get involved in the trading economics because that seems to have a more reliable outcome in terms of enriching themselves.

Looking at the Ravens Purge adventures and running them RAW, I can't completely argue that he's wrong.

How do I convince him that Medieval Sim isn't the best option? He's not content to scrape by making 2-3d6 silver fighting undead in a cairn when he could more safely make money working as a smith.

And he has a point! Like Weatherstone, the ruins of a Named King has insulting low rewards for such a risky site:
-d6xd6sp
-d6cp, d6sp (why is this all fricking random?) and a Valuable Find (avg: 3d6 sp, but up to 1d6 gp)
-d6xd6sp
-7d6 cp, 5d6 sp, and 2d6 gp
-Algarod's Crown worht 3-6d6 sp???
-the gear of the other treasure hunters if fought/killed
-a magic sword

And all you have to do is escape a deathknight and a castle full of undead for that 'amazing' payday. Now, he's not seen this yet, so he doesn't realize how bad it is, just that things haven't gone well for them so far.

I'm about to say, if you want to be a villager, that's a fine retirement for the character. But as this is a meta-sentiment, I think I might just lose the player...all of his characters will feel the same.

Maybe stop playing Forbidden Lands? (i am being half serious)

The game is about survival (not making money), the title is : "rogues and raiders in a cursed world", not "walking dead in wall street".

But, more seriously, he may be a smith (why not?) but there is maybe not so much customers (cursed world etc) except for the Rust Brothers, orcs clan (Eye of the rose) and maybe he will be taken away from the people he cares about (maybe that's what happened to the village smith). Each year, the rust brothers come and take people to make sacrifices. He maybe dont want to be chosen for that by staying in the village ! Maybe some of his relatives are at Grindbones beacause they were taken there...

Whatever, he wont be able to do only the job (smith or other) quietly. And again, the game is about survival. I would have a talk with a player like this. Maybe if his character (or him?) think about money, he should change for another who has different goals? Or change the game and stop playing. It's not a big deal if he wants another experience (Pathfinder is more about being wealthy ). Maybe talk with him about the experiences he wants by playing FL. Maybe the game is not for him? Is money everything for him (for the character)?

I this is a problem with the player and not with the game, or economics of it. My response to the player would be that's fine,your character can become a smith and stay in the village. Please roll up a new character to go adventuring, as there is no story in the village".

I think the realistic side of it is that although a smith can make fancy swords and armour, there are very few people coming to the villages to buy this stuff, so he would be stuck making knives, arrows, and copper plates for the tavern. If adventurers do visit the village, they will visit the smith once to restock on their way to the adventure, where they have heard of a powerful, and valuable, ancient artifact....or wondrous new things to see and do.

Or a group of raiders come to the village and slaughter everyone, except him. And unfortunately they are all too powerful, because he is only earning 1 XP per session so can't build up his talents or skills to defend his friends and family.....That's a bit harsh but it sounds like he wants to suck the fun out of the game anyway.

This sounds that you are having a serious situation on your hands. There is a deep misalignment between:

• What kind of game your players wants to play.
• What kind of game you want to run.
• What the rules of the game can actually provide.

There is no way around this one: have an honest discussion with your player about this. Get to understand what they're looking for in the game.

• Do they really pursue to live a life of merchants/crafters in the setting of the campaign?
• Are they only considering it because it’s what they consider « more lucrative »?
• Do they measure their success in term of the riches they accumulate?
• etc…

Then, move on to with what you are looking for yourself, as a GM. Include every player in that conversation if you feel that the problem is not only with one player.

Do not go looking for a middle ground just yet! You first want to have an open-heart discussion and understand what is going on.

You can use a framework such as the same page tool to help you focus your questions: https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2010/03/2 ... page-tool/

Once you’ve got everyone to talk and that you share a common understanding of what is going on, you can start thinking about what you could try to cater to everyone’s wishes.

• Your craftsman could be travelling with the adventurers, on a personal quest to learn from the greatests in the land.
• PCs could establish a trade cooperative, merchants and caravans would work for them. But their success would draw the attention of ill-meaning group: thieves, major actors in the civil wars. Soon, the would have to fight to defend what they tried to build.

But nobody in the group (you included) should have to make too many concessions. If you don’t find something that everyone is genuinely excited about: consider doing something else or playing with a different group.

It’s sad, but at that point it would be better for everyone involved.

Listen to your players, be understanding, be honest with them and with yourself. Depending on your relationship with the members of your group, it could be awkward or difficult to manage. It is truly the hardest challenge a GM may face. Be brave and don’t lose faith, it’s nothing you could have prevented.

We’ll be here if you need advice or just want to talk it out.

As stated above, invite your players to talk this through. The main goal are for all of you, including you, to have fun.
Or, if it's all the same to you, why not place more gold at some of the sites to keep them interested? After some 50 long sessions, my players are beginning to wonder if they are ever going to get the funds to get a stronghold going. I told them that most of the places they've been visiting so far is inhabited by others or too easily accessed for treasures to be left untouched. As they have made a habit of running away as soon as the bigger monsters appears, they really can't argue against that. Now they're even talking about searching a few keeps and caverns with real monsters they've heard rumors about, just to see if there's any treasures there.
Also, a few missions in the Ravens Purge campaign are easy to convert to "be-offered-mony-by-king-for-undertaking-task" if you want to. The rules and adventures are merely a guide and you are of course free to give them all the loot in the world if you want to.

Well, we talked and he decided to quit the game. Never found out what, exactly his goals were. I think he wanted no pressures on the group at all, no time constraints on training or downtime and people only reacting once the pcs were ready? I am not 100% sure.

Well, its probably for the best.

Well, we talked and he decided to quit the game. Never found out what, exactly his goals were. I think he wanted no pressures on the group at all, no time constraints on training or downtime and people only reacting once the pcs were ready? I am not 100% sure.

Too bad but as already mentioned, it’s probably for the best. At least, you did what you could do and tried to talk it out. Hope it won’t ruin your campaign.

Well, we talked and he decided to quit the game. Never found out what, exactly his goals were. I think he wanted no pressures on the group at all, no time constraints on training or downtime and people only reacting once the pcs were ready? I am not 100% sure.

Too bad but as already mentioned, it’s probably for the best. At least, you did what you could do and tried to talk it out. Hope it won’t ruin your campaign.

Thanks. It's a bummer because he's a friend and we've been gaming for ages (I'm gaming in a Dark Heresy game he is running). I hope to have a full conversation with him at some point and figure out what is going on. It also kind of screws the party a bit because he was the warrior and no one else comes anywhere near his level of skill, so that's a potential problem for them. But I might toss an NPC or something at them.