Campaign idea/Interest check (Mercenary training)

[Avianmosquito]

Now, I'm not running this right now because I already have a play by post and a real-world campaign, but I had an idea for a campaign I might run in the future.

The premise is thus:
The party is a group of students accepted into a mercenary training academy. The PCs will be attending the academy for on the job training, so they can be certified for high-end mercenary work. The students would all start off with 5 levels in NPC classes (expert, warrior or adept) and the purpose of the training is to convert their existing classes into PC classes one level at a time. The party would naturally be grouped together early on and complete the training as a team, and the training would consist of a combination of unpaid internships (supporting instructors on field missions) broken by periods of instruction. The internships will build experience that will be spent to convert the levels. In total, this will take 15,000xp across 5 internships and each will be followed by a month of classes we'll be skipping. That's enough experience they could have used it to level twice and had 2,000xp to spare, but surely it's better to unlock the ability to use PC classes (5,000xp) and convert five levels (0xp, 1,000xp, 2,000xp, etcetera) into PC classes than it is to level twice in NPC classes with no ability to take PC ones.

So, how well do you think this would be received if I ran it here, and why?

[Venger]

Now, I'm not running this right now because I already have a play by post and a real-world campaign, but I had an idea for a campaign I might run in the future.

The premise is thus:
The party is a group of students accepted into a mercenary training academy. The PCs will be attending the academy for on the job training, so they can be certified for high-end mercenary work. The students would all start off with 5 levels in NPC classes (expert, warrior or adept) and the purpose of the training is to convert their existing classes into PC classes one level at a time. The party would naturally be grouped together early on and complete the training as a team, and the training would consist of a combination of unpaid internships (supporting instructors on field missions) broken by periods of instruction. The internships will build experience that will be spent to convert the levels. In total, this will take 15,000xp across 5 internships and each will be followed by a month of classes we'll be skipping. That's enough experience they could have used it to level twice and had 2,000xp to spare, but surely it's better to unlock the ability to use PC classes (5,000xp) and convert five levels (0xp, 1,000xp, 2,000xp, etcetera) into PC classes than it is to level twice in NPC classes with no ability to take PC ones.

So, how well do you think this would be received if I ran it here, and why?

That sounds like it has the potential to be hilarious if it's a satire/farce game.

Mechanically, you need to ask yourself what exactly is added from a player perspective by doing class levels this way versus the normal one aside from a lot of complication.

You can tell this story and let them just roll normal PC classes while they're mercenary interns.

Do you have an answer to what is materially better or more interesting from doing it this way?

How does converting levels work exactly?

Your answers to these questions will likely determine how warmly this concept is received.

[Avianmosquito]

That sounds like it has the potential to be hilarious if it's a satire/farce game.

I can't tell if this is a joke, an insult or a compliment.


Mechanically, you need to ask yourself what exactly is added from a player perspective by doing class levels this way versus the normal one aside from a lot of complication.

You can tell this story and let them just roll normal PC classes while they're mercenary interns.

Do you have an answer to what is materially better or more interesting from doing it this way?

It lets them be introduced as novices to an unusual setting and be taught by more experienced NPCs, and it does it while letting the players have more than one hit die. That way it doesn't run the risk of them being one hit killed by an errant rain drop. It lets them play a campaign where their characters start off as genuine novices and improve, just as they don't know the setting or the rule changes and will need practice, but their characters are still reasonably competent. It gives a chance to see how an NPC class actually operates in the hands of the player, what they can do with it, something I at least have never seen somebody get into. It lets them take their time designing their build WHILE they're playing the game, so the game can start almost immediately. It also allows you to re-spec PC levels if you come to regret your choices. This, I think, is a better way to start than as a level 1 character who is often supposedly educated already but is always just about worthless and dies immediately if struck by a leaf blowing in a gentle breeze.

There's also the effect it has elsewhere in the setting. It implies that all characters start with NPC classes and PC classes had to be learned. It has an immediate mechanical advantage right there: If you want an NPC to be more useful to the party, you can train them in a PC class. If a PC dies and needs replacement, you can give them an NPC that's available and slowly train their classes into PC classes instead of instantly converting their levels into PC levels or leaving those levels locked in. It also allows NPCs to seek revenge on the party in a manner that may actually have some effect without having to have PC class levels beforehand.

Even putting aside the mechanical advantages, I think the lore and roleplay aspects alone are interesting. It allows them to transition from being a completely regular person to being an adventurer in a more believable fashion than any other option presented in D&D, because there IS no other option in D&D, you're either an adventurer or you're not. It also implies that, rather than the PCs being special magic awesome, the PCs are still regular people and that regular people could do what the PCs do if only they had the opportunities the PCs had. And it means that the PCs' actions may well inspire people to take action themselves, for good or ill.


How does converting levels work exactly?

As somebody with NPC classes, you pay 1,000xp for each of your current levels to unlock the ability to use PC classes. (This hints that in this setting, characters with player classes ALL started off using NPC classes at some point.) This, together with a month of training (two if you train yourself) allows you to unlock the PC classes and convert your first level into a PC level. Beyond that, you pay 1,000xp to convert the second level, 2,000xp for the third and so on, with each level also taking one month of training (two if you train yourself). You can respec the same level more than once, but the XP cost continues to increase.


Your answers to these questions will likely determine how warmly this concept is received.

And you have my answers to the questions thusfar.