What can I do to entertain you?

[Ken Murikumo]

So one of my players constantly wanders off when the party comes to any village, town, or city while the rest simply trade things and find lodging/food. It's basically just during down time, so it's not hurting the party or the campaign, but aside from gambling or any shenanigans at the red light districts, i really don't have any ideas on what would be available for him to entertain himself with.

Right now he is at one of the largest megalopolises on the continent and the rest of the party is at the mage tower, learning history and getting/selling magic stuff. This city is massive, in that it extends into the ground in layers, so not only is it huge from one end to the other, it's also bigger underground. With having a city this big, i want to have more available than gambling and whores.

I thought about fight clubs and tests of skill, which is just more in-depth gambling. Also there are the arts, which wouldn't be bad so much, but me just describing the contents of a show, performance, or gallery with nothing else would get boring after a while.

I guess it's kind of important to mention this, but his character is a thrill seeker. His characters goal is to make sure he lives a full and entertaining life, so when he wanders off, it's not to split the party and make DMing a nightmare, but to seek out "fun" in a roleplaying manor.

Any suggestions are welcome. Even if it's not entirely realistic in the time period (because, you know, magic and fantasy).

[Phelix-Mu]

Lemme just type out a bunch of ideas. Warning: a fair bit of them may or may not be trash.

- Mysterious Spice Shop: An interesting npc runs a hidden spice shop. In addition to an assortment of recreational drugs, there are also rare plants, reagents, and mystical stuff. Picture the vendor at the beginning of the Disney version of Aladdin, but make the shop bigger (but also cramped and maze-like), and place it in a dark corner of a subterranean bizarre.

- Connected to the above, consider having the character have an important of spiritually significant vision while high on recreational drugs. Various deities use dreams or dream-like states to send messages to followers, and Zuggtmoy is the demon lord associated with the darker side of drugs and poisons.

- Ever read about the Society of Sensation? I believe it was introduced in Planar Handbook, but it really sounds just like this character's cup of tea. Consider having one of their sensoriums or feasthalls in the city, complete with an npc that has levels in Ardent Dilettante (like the sample npc from the aforementioned book).

- Dance parties are a thing thanks to bardic magic, illusions, and light-manipulating magic. Have there be a rave circuit in abandoned buildings in the city. Maybe the character meets this chick there...lol. Out of curiosity, would the character be up for something more emotionally complicated than whoring? Cause romance or courtship stuff is role play gold. Also, great future adventure hook.

- Have a gang of street orphans rob the character. He could kill them to get his stuff back, but maybe hint that the orphans didn't mean any harm and are starving (literally). See if this character has any inclination toward charitable work or advocacy for the poor. Adventurers martial huge resources and influence as they level, and can really alter the lives of a great many people without all that much effort.

- Religious stuff: Maybe an interesting church or religious organization is encountered. The dwarven clerics of Moradin are performing a recreation of one of their founding myths in a local city square. Or perhaps the clerics of Pelor have gathered the sick and infirm and are performing their healing duties and community outreach. Perhaps the rogue/clerics of Olidammara are out playing tricks on the well-to-do, or they are performing a major heist and the character gets caught in the middle of it.

- Terrorism: Maybe there is some kind of civic strife in the city the characters weren't aware of, and the character is caught in the midst of a major attack by a radical faction.

- Organizations: Guilds and clubs all are constantly looking for new talent and new recruits. Maybe this character is spotted by someone hoping to associate with skilled adventurers. I find the use of the Affiliation Rules in PHB2 and Complete Champion to be a welcome addition to most games, as it really gives a character connections to a community of interesting people.

[Bullet06320]

- Terrorism: Maybe there is some kind of civic strife in the city the characters weren't aware of, and the character is caught in the midst of a major attack by a radical faction.

maybe he's the one plotting the terrorism attacks?

getting player input on what they want to do in the downtime situations like this helps a lot, and with a large city that your currently in, would be pretty easy to plug in almost anything you wanted into some nook or cranny

[Seruvius]

Like Phelix-Mu, I'm just going to through some random ideas, and maybe some of them will tunr out interesting.

- As the others are gearing up and getting info, try and make him included in that as well rather than being a drag. Have him come across some interesting clue, say finding a coven of nasty creatures that he can sneak after (no idea what his class is, i.e. if he can do the sneaking gubbinz), along the lines of mutants in the sewers. Or possibly give him a spot check chance to intercept some plot relevant assassination attempt, same sort of idea.

- Find an old abandoned area underground with lost information that the party could use, or he can just keep to himself for future benefit.

- Being on his own is a perfect time for some sort of intervention from another plane or from his god (again no info on alignment or class). Maybe have him find a weapon of legacy or something similar and bind the rites of activation to his quests ( say find a troll and slay it single handedly and what a surprise there just happens to be one near this city they are in atm).

- If he is a skill based class maybe have him help the investigation of a local murder and chase him/her/it down, or if he/she is a fighting class, have them hired by a local lord to protect them for a day. again many oportunities for adventure hooks during these solo missions

[Oracle_of_Void]

Have the player meet the world's first bungee jump (of a bridge or something). World's first sky-diving (ride some flying beast high up and activate your parachute/enchanted feather fall trinket). Near the ocean? Shark cages or scuba-diving (underwater breathing is a breeze with magic). World got a little steampunk? Roller coaster and fairground rides could be an option.

These are all things adventurous people do in real life so this could all be potential options without being too out there. I mean, surely someone came up with this kind of stuff to keep the bored rich or stupid poor busy.