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View Full Version : who should hire my adventurers and where?



Theres
2009-07-02, 09:17 PM
My posse that i will soon assemble and send off into the wilderness in my new free roam campaign have a history with my spotty DMing. First, they're hired by either no names with little importance or character development or they're hired by level epics who need them to do their dirty work. My logic on the situation is that if a weaker but richer NPC hired them the loose cannon in the party ( we always have one) would bisect his sorry ass and take the money earning the hatred and soon beat down by our self righteous uber good fighter. So to prevent this i have the party hired by someone who could actually acquire this kinda wealth and influence (epic level hero deity) but the self righteous fighter complains asking why they don't go do their own dirty work which I reply with an honest BS answer. So I'm kinda caught with who should do the hiring of the trusty PC posse. I have resolved to have scrawny but connected empire clerks hire them to handle local issues that don't quite draw the attention of the empire but still need to be dealt with. From there when their all higher level should I have motivation as the driving force instead of being simple hired thugs? Help this rookie DM:smallfrown:

woodenbandman
2009-07-02, 09:22 PM
Uhh... Well, if one guy is rich enough to hire some guy, then he's probably rich enough to buy stuff to protect himself.

And in any case, you should probably let the players choose whether or not they get hired.

TheCountAlucard
2009-07-02, 09:30 PM
...but the self righteous fighter complains asking why they don't go do their own dirty work..."Delegate."

An analogy: if you own a restaurant, are you going to cook the food, wait on customers, handle the cash register, bus tables, and clean the bathrooms? You might do one or more of these things, but chances are that you're probably going to have to hire at least some help.

The sensability in hiring people to do this sort of thing for you is even more apparent if you're not particularly skilled in that sort of thing. Just because you own a restaurant doesn't make you a great cook, and along the same lines, just because the fighter boss is eighteenth level doesn't give him the ability to read Dwarven, so if he wants these dwarven ruins explored, the wisest course of action would be to hire someone who could.

Theres
2009-07-02, 09:44 PM
Thank you two people who replied. Usually my PCs go to the biggest city possible and look for someone rich to hire them. Thank you second poster person (i forget names fast sorry:smalleek:) that makes sense. So a lowly clerk would have the resources to pay them and organize missions but he himself couldn't carry out these missions because he's desk bound and not allowed to use empire resources. Now i need good examples from other more experienced DMs

Saintjebus
2009-07-02, 09:55 PM
I like making the employers a little shadowy- the mission that they are hired to do is fine, they get paid, but they never see his face- meanwhile, when they are adventuring they are hearing rumours about a massing army somewhere, more monster raids than usual, etc. Finally, they discover that they're employer is behind all this. Then you have a ready made villain, and motivation for the characters to go after him-after all, he played them for fools!

chiasaur11
2009-07-02, 10:05 PM
Hire at a tavern. Tradition.

As for the employer?

An epic wizard. He's doing it because it's funny.

Catbeard
2009-07-02, 10:06 PM
a few thoughts....

• the wealthy NPC probably isn't that interested in pressing the flesh with some fresh off the barn sellswords. if as the one of the repliers suggested, he's delegating the task at hand, he's probably also delegating the task of finding the right folks for the job. which means you've got the chance to create an interesting middleman for the PCs to interact with to begin with, plus the chance to build up the rep and influence of the employing noble.

• and maybe the task is something the noble needs done, but doesn't want anyone else to know about. which means the middle man again, plus discretion on the PCs part. and maybe instead of the employer being a villain, what if they were genuinely good people, who just needed something murky done? clever PCs might find a way to use it as leverage later on.

• and if your PCs beat up on the middleman, then all they'll get is a pouch full of lunchmoney... and the anger of the NPC noble, who probably values his minion enough to hire other minions to beat the PC thugs black and blue with splotches of red. it'll be a good lesson in consequences for your dudes.

• lastly, you could pay them, not in money, but in something else they need – either a magical doodad they need for their metaplot quest, or the freedom of an imprisoned family member, or in whatever you can dream up. as long as it's not there at the negotiating table, but it is theirs once the job is done.

Juggernaut1981
2009-07-02, 10:06 PM
Option 1: The Merchant
I have for you to go [insert dirty work here] and I have the cash to afford [insert army of goons here] who are on my payroll if you get any strange ideas of killing the person who is hiring you...

Option 2: The Head of State
Look clearly I'm a busy person and look as much as I would love to spend 5 weeks running around the countryside attacking things in dungeons like I did years ago... but I AM BUSY AND OFFERING YOU CASH...

Option 3: The Setup
Look, I could do this myself but I'm working on [insert activity here] and it could get me a really good payoff. So I just need someone to do this little task for me. [PCs leave and walk into your long-lived plot that has nothing to do with the person who hired them first] [I]This is also known as the Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale Option

Option 4: I have the means to make you do what I want
Hey, I'm offering you cash, but if you don't like that... Mr Wizard and Mr Priest over here are more than happy to MAKE you do what I want... take your choice...

Option 5: Unwilling Participants
PCs get [abducted/cornered/trapped by events] and find themselves wrapped up in a much bigger story. This is the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil method... a favourite of Gary Gygax

Starbuck_II
2009-07-02, 10:16 PM
M
My logic on the situation is that if a weaker but richer NPC hired them the loose cannon in the party ( we always have one) would bisect his sorry ass and take the money earning the hatred and soon beat down by our self righteous uber good fighter.

So to prevent this i have the party hired by someone who could actually acquire this kinda wealth and influence (epic level hero deity) but the self righteous fighter complains asking why they don't go do their own dirty work which I reply with an honest BS answer.

So I'm kinda caught with who should do the hiring of the trusty PC posse. I have resolved to have scrawny but connected empire clerks hire them to handle local issues that don't quite draw the attention of the empire but still need to be dealt with. From there when their all higher level should I have motivation as the driving force instead of being simple hired thugs? Help this rookie DM:smallfrown:


A dragon in disguise as a mechant disguised as a dragon polymorphed as a human (that way even harder to determine true nature/form). Why he gets his kicks having other evil dragons/their crime links killed (he hates them he does). And if the party tries anything...well the party taste good with ketchup. :smallbiggrin:
But seriously, why should he waste his time killing them. He is dragon better the monkeys do it. He could hire thugs...but they lack the finesse that PCs use.
Let us say young Red dragon named Firkraag Jr Husslepuff the Third. Maybe other dragons teased him. Maybe he just is self hating. Either way he wants them dead. "D-E-D."

Theres
2009-07-02, 10:18 PM
I'm going for options 2 and 3 mr. nice guy on forum. Shadowy employers and middlemen sound appropriate and make sense. The epic level wizard in a tavern is gonna make my uber good fighter pissed ( I've done exactly that before along with his retinue of epic level barbarian, rouge and sorcerer :smalltongue: ) leverage on the Npcs on my required morally ambiguous pc's in nice too.