Reduced Starting Weapons

[GimmeYerGold]

This thread drathe started back in 2009 got me thinking: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=249&hilit=starting+daggers
particularly, this bit:

I'm thinking I should have tried starting the Heroes off with all daggers except for the Barbarian. Give him a Shortsword to maintain his edge. Starting at the Maze would be a must for this method. Then the Heroes (or at least one) may have a chance to upgrade their dagger to a Shortsword.

Has anyone tried something like this? If I start a new campaign with some adventurers, I'm curious how they would take to it starting off so weak--in my opinion it would make the equipment upgrades more rewarding, and get more mileage out of the weaker monsters and weapons. Also, a sense of vulnerability in a player keeps a player on their toes

[Teldurn]

That would be an interesting theory to test out. Chances are it would be difficult starting out (except for the Wizard who is unchanged). And the difficulty only lasts until they earn/find enough equipment to get back to their older "original" starting gear.

But even still, I'd be curious to find out how this plays in practice.

[drathe]

With my last (present) group, I used the Tier System and started their Heroes in The Maze with Daggers and a Shortsword for the Barbarian. I skipped The Trial and played it later on and instead moved onto Rescue of Sir Ragnar after The Maze. (Played The Trial about 2/3 of the way through the main book) The players gifted funds to each other to purchase more shortswords (and did the same later on for other items as well).

If I have the opportunity to play through with another group, I will stick to the Tier System and lower starting weapons again. I will likely create another easier quest to place between The Maze and Rescue of Sir Ragnar just to allow them to gather a bit more gold from the treasure deck to buy another shortsword before Lair of the Orc Warlord. The Trial will again be played around Quest 9.

[Sotiris]

"Race against time" would be a nice 2nd quest. I don't find it so hard.
I like this system though!

[GimmeYerGold]

Brought to you by supporters of the Buy More Shortswords campaign

[Redav]

I like this system though!

Same. I like the idea of the availability of things changing. Has anyone played Power Grid? The amount of resources available varies depending on player consumption, stage of the game and these variables impact on price along the lines of supply and demand. Clearly when playing RPG's (I've only played on PC) and you enter a shop /find a merchant etc, the availability of items and cost depends on your location and in some games, your reputation*. I think for the core game / expansions I'd try implementing this tier system but for my own quests, I'd allow location / supply and demand to have an impact in things.

* that's another idea. I know some like the idea of advancement for their heroes but has anyone tried to implement something based around reputation? Decided to start its own thread

[knightkrawler]

I'm thinking I should have tried starting the Heroes off with all daggers except for the Barbarian. Give him a Shortsword to maintain his edge. Starting at the Maze would be a must for this method. Then the Heroes (or at least one) may have a chance to upgrade their dagger to a Shortsword.

I think the way to give the Barbarian his edge and for him to actually KEEP it, is to give each hero a dagger (1 AD), but the Barbarian gets a +1 bonus for his attack (with all weapons he's allowed to use except the crossbow). That's how I've been handling it. It's the only way for him to actually remain the better fighter than Elf and Dwarf, which he's supposed to be.

[GimmeYerGold]

I like this system though!

Clearly when playing RPG's (I've only played on PC) and you enter a shop /find a merchant etc, the availability of items and cost depends on your location and in some games, your reputation*. I think for the core game / expansions I'd try implementing this tier system but for my own quests, I'd allow location / supply and demand to have an impact in things.

* that's another idea. I know some like the idea of advancement for their heroes but has anyone tried to implement something based around reputation?

I like it too. I haven't used it yet myself, but I want to implement it into my next campaign. Tier 1 can be "Village," Tier 2 can be "Town," Tier 3 is "City," and Tier 4 is "Capitol." The way the map would be drawn, they would be at least 3 quest locations the heroes must complete before they reach a higher tier location. Across the map there could be 4 Villages, 3 Towns, 2 Cities, and 1 Capitol total. An expanded Armory of approximately 20-24 pieces of equipment could have some shuffling of available items between tier locations of the same level, depending on reputation and availability.

Perhaps once the Heroes have "connected" certain tier locations, the available equipment is combined into one "shop," that heroes can visit freely between quests, with the best results of availability and reputation. Like opening trade routes. This would really encourage exploration for the players. I like maps, so I'm naturally drawn to this particular incarnation of the idea

As far as reputation goes, I haven't thought of a KISS system for that... maybe if the heroes complete a Quest without losing a certain number of Body Points? Like a par on a golf course?

[Redav]

I haven't used it yet myself, but I want to implement it into my next campaign. Tier 1 can be "Village," Tier 2 can be "Town," Tier 3 is "City," and Tier 4 is "Capitol." The way the map would be drawn, they would be at least 3 quest locations the heroes must complete before they reach a higher tier location. Across the map there could be 4 Villages, 3 Towns, 2 Cities, and 1 Capitol total.

I'd imagine that's what might happen with my campaign. The hero's would start off small time and move onto bigger and better things when the lords, barons, kings notice them and their achievements.

Perhaps once the Heroes have "connected" certain tier locations, the available equipment is combined into one "shop," that heroes can visit freely between quests, with the best results of availability and reputation. Like opening trade routes. This would really encourage exploration for the players. I like maps, so I'm naturally drawn to this particular incarnation of the idea

Speaking of trade routes, I was thinking that some quests could take you away from your usual point of supply. In that instance, you could roll a combat die between quests to see if you come across a merchant. The quest could nominate what die face means you meet a merchant because sometimes you're out in the boonies and the likelihood of meeting one is slim or you might be on a known trade route. You could then have a stack of shuffled merchant cards which list the available items.

[Malcadon]

I once had this crazy idea for a self-contained series of quests, where you play as a group of people who were enslaved, and they are trying to escape.

They start of with nothing but rags and chains. The game is less about combat, and more about stealth. Finding treasure is not an objective, as they cant afford to lug junk around. They may find treasure to bribe people, but if they need weapons or armor, they have to steal it — from guards or an armory. To the Heroes, finding the right costume for the right situation is worth more then finding the best combat gear, as they can avoid unnecessary fights.

In this game, your starting Attack Dice is your Strength. You need this for making Feats of Strength (each = 1 point of success; some tasks require more them one success), and you use it to make unarmed attack (each = 1 hit). Dexterity and Charisma would be impotent stats, once incorporated right.

Right now, this is just musing with no real effort to make a solid game of it. A lot of effort would be needed to get this sort of game going.