Having players recruit NPC's

[CIDE]

Hello all,

So, I'm running a game and the players cleared out and secured a dungeon beneath a city and are wishing to hold onto it. Seeing it as an opportunity for further world building I'm not only allowing it but also want to help the process along for getting it manned with NPC's. Each player is going to be allowed to use the Sidekick rules from UA to build a single NPC that will only be usable in the keep and tasks related to that rather than a helper during the adventure. Any additional NPC's will have to be hired as normal (and they're planning on that for housekeeping and such).

I'm trying to think of ways to streamline the process In-character without giving them too much help or stuff. I had considered having the town be part of the helping process by allocating some funds in a way similar to the Landlord feat from 3e. Basically, there's a pool that they can put money into that the town will match up to a certain limit simply because this keep will, in the future, be needed to help defend the town. I'm just trying to think of a reason for a "free" sidekick for these characters. Some specific characters will be easy and at least one's just going to be someone that want's to apprentice under these adventurer's and such. One is possibly going to be a mole or spy. I'm just trying to think of other reasons that don't hurt immersion too much.

Somewhat unrelated but the keep is also where currently unused player characters are remaining to fill NPC roles.

Thanks

[Lupine]

A big piece of advice, use characters from their backgrounds. The PCs will love to see how their dwarven great great four times removed cousin's grandmother gets along with the elven elders. The reason they won't have to hire the caretaker at first is because the person has connections to them.

Then, if they need more people, have them do carousing.

Also consider, they cleared a dungeon. Others will want to take from it, and learn from it. If its old, scholars will want to look into it. they'll make good keepers. If its a mighty keep in a strategic locations, then bandits and soldiers will be interested. I'd say that they would probably want a band of scholars and soldiers in their dungeon to work for them. There are costs for hirelings. Use them. There's also a section on maintaining a stronghold in the DMG. Use that also.

The big thing is, this location is probably rumored. If they want to keep it, they will need more than one NPC to protect it.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Yeah, what Lupine said.

If the players don't have back ups, you can set these NPC's to be their back ups. That way when their main PC is turned to stone or whatever they're not out of the game and they can try a different character on a 2 or 3 session quest.

[Wuzza]

Definitely try and work some backstory NPC's in there as suggested.

You could also use them for 1-shots if your full group isn't available for some reason.

It's hard to suggest things that don't hurt immersion without knowing your adventure/story/PC backstories.

[CIDE]

A big piece of advice, use characters from their backgrounds. The PCs will love to see how their dwarven great great four times removed cousin's grandmother gets along with the elven elders. The reason they won't have to hire the caretaker at first is because the person has connections to them.

Then, if they need more people, have them do carousing.

Also consider, they cleared a dungeon. Others will want to take from it, and learn from it. If its old, scholars will want to look into it. they'll make good keepers. If its a mighty keep in a strategic locations, then bandits and soldiers will be interested. I'd say that they would probably want a band of scholars and soldiers in their dungeon to work for them. There are costs for hirelings. Use them. There's also a section on maintaining a stronghold in the DMG. Use that also.

The big thing is, this location is probably rumored. If they want to keep it, they will need more than one NPC to protect it.


For the people that gave me enough information I do plan on going that route. Each player is kind of designing their own and some are probably going to use a lost relative, or a fellow church member, etc. So, some are already going that route. The town guard may include a very small handful. There's at least 2 inactive player characters that will also reside there.

I already planned on a few other interested parties wanting to drop in for various reasons. Some wanting to use it to study, some as a means of transporting stuff, business related bits, even some illegal or nefarious things. It's all on the players on how they address the situation and how htey want to approach it.


Yeah, what Lupine said.

If the players don't have back ups, you can set these NPC's to be their back ups. That way when their main PC is turned to stone or whatever they're not out of the game and they can try a different character on a 2 or 3 session quest.

I really like that idea. I'll have to run that by some of them.

[MoiMagnus]

One of my favourite moments in our last campaign was when "we lost" and got captured by the enemy kingdom (and put under interrogation & co). The DM then made one session where we were playing the sidekick/friends/advisors/... on a rescue mission.

This session was in a "full-narrative" way (so using the rules of one of those simplistic generalist RPG systems instead of D&D), and it was a nice break in this much more technical campaign. Moreover, since those where secondary character, narrative gameplay works much better as players are much less reticent to have their character make an heroic sacrifice / narrate a situation that end unfavourably for them.

We did the same thing 10 levels latter, where our sidekicks discovered that one of us was replaced by a shapeshifter and was about to led us into a deadly trap. So we played them discovering what is happening and trying to contact us / save us before it was too late.

So, unless you players are "D&D or nothing", I quite encourage you to try some session that play in a "different way" once or twice during the campaign. It was a lot of fun for us.

[CIDE]

One of my favourite moments in our last campaign was when "we lost" and got captured by the enemy kingdom (and put under interrogation & co). The DM then made one session where we were playing the sidekick/friends/advisors/... on a rescue mission.

This session was in a "full-narrative" way (so using the rules of one of those simplistic generalist RPG systems instead of D&D), and it was a nice break in this much more technical campaign. Moreover, since those where secondary character, narrative gameplay works much better as players are much less reticent to have their character make an heroic sacrifice / narrate a situation that end unfavourably for them.

We did the same thing 10 levels latter, where our sidekicks discovered that one of us was replaced by a shapeshifter and was about to led us into a deadly trap. So we played them discovering what is happening and trying to contact us / save us before it was too late.

So, unless you players are "D&D or nothing", I quite encourage you to try some session that play in a "different way" once or twice during the campaign. It was a lot of fun for us.

I absolutely love this idea. We're not limited to D&D but there isn't a lot of overlap between the players. Some are willing to play other games but never have. Or, others have done some systems but not the same other systems the others have.

[opaopajr]

If you had ran with skilled & untrained hirelings you would already have these sidekicks! :smallcool: As is, now you gotta do some creativity. My best advice: start small!

So create a random selection of one-line hirelings available in town currently. You have randomized average stats, attach a Background, Description, and Personality. Then only show the Background and Description to the players; play out the personality and stats as it goes.

This way players are interviewing and placing trust as they would normally in life, instead of min-maxing a game. This makes players emotionally invest in their selection. It starts a bond; it is further rewarded as survival & growth continues. :smallsmile:

... or you could handwavium it into automated housekeeping bots. :smallbiggrin: Player Buy-In will be essential.