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View Full Version : Roleplaying Retired Adventurers, and the benefits of trading in



Ninjadeadbeard
2021-04-25, 02:54 AM
So, I've started a long campaign where the characters are expected to grow old and eventually die, leaving successors behind to deal with adventures and quests and suchlike after they're gone. Before we get to that sort of thing, however, I'd like to know if there are any RPGs out there that tackle this sort of situation.


If you retire a character, should there be a material benefit given to your next one for not dying?
In leveled systems, should new/replacement characters come in at the same level as the old?

Yora
2021-04-25, 03:25 AM
The famous one is Pendragon, in which players each play their own dynasty of arthurian knights, and your domain gets handed down from father to son.

Quertus
2021-04-25, 07:33 AM
So, I've started a long campaign where the characters are expected to grow old and eventually die, leaving successors behind to deal with adventures and quests and suchlike after they're gone. Before we get to that sort of thing, however, I'd like to know if there are any RPGs out there that tackle this sort of situation.


If you retire a character, should there be a material benefit given to your next one for not dying?
In leveled systems, should new/replacement characters come in at the same level as the old?


It depends.

Do all characters retire at the same time? Is "balance" a big issue for the system / group?

If that's "no" and "yes", respectively, then you want the new PC to roughly equal the old PC.

If that's "yes" and "yes", then they don't have to be the same level as before… but they *do* need to be roughly equal to each other, which strictly limited how much advantage they can get from their previous character.

And if it's "any" and "no", then do whatever sounds the most fun.

Batcathat
2021-04-25, 08:20 AM
I'm just thinking out loud here, but one idea might be for the next generation to get different advantages depending on how the last one's career ended. For example, if the retired adventurer is still alive, they might be able to provide training and contacts, while a dead adventurer might mean more money or other resources for the next generation.

Tanarii
2021-04-25, 10:47 AM
Yeah, they get to play a new character who hasn't had their ability scores reduced by age, and presumably starts off with dear old Mom's magic items. Or at least the ones she hasn't given to henchmen over the years. And probably the best available mundane gear, since mom is rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams.

If Mom isn't dead yet she can always step out of retirement and pitch in if the danger is world ending enough, worth risking a last hurrah instead of another 10 years living in the lap of luxury from the profits of years adventuring.

Slipjig
2021-04-25, 04:25 PM
You could definitely hand down some of your magic items, and you can also inherit the older generation's contacts and allies. If the two groups overlap time wise, higher level characters can pass down gear they have outgrown. You might also consider some variation on the Weapons of Legacy. Even if it was just a Longsword +2 when it was introduced, taking up your father's sword/staff/mask (or having him give it to you after you prove that you are ready for it) can be a pretty powerful narrative moment.

One thing that could be fun is to run at least a few sessions alternating between the old crew and the new. If we are talking literal parents and children, the parents are probably still late 30s/early 40s when their kids are ready to start adventuring. Maybe set up a few situations where two things need to be dealt with simultaneously, so that the Old Guard handles the higher CR mission while the Youngbloods simultaneously handle the lower CR (but still important) mission at the next session. When you are ready to take the training wheels off, maybe engineer a Glorious Last Stand TPK for the Old Guard.

If the Old Guard just retires, what sort of benefit they provide would depend on what they are doing in retirement. The fact that they've decided to stop crawling down holes looking for treasure doesn't mean they are sitting in their rocking chair. If they are any sort of lord, some of their authority would be implied for their progeny within their own domain. If a character invests his money to start a merchant house, he will have easy access to transport and contacts all over the place (and if there is political intrigue, being employed by a merchant house gives you a good cover story for poking your nose into all sorts of places "as potential investments"). Someone who secures a court wizard gig would have access to high society, as well as access to the Royal Libraries. Any of these characters could provide adventure hooks.

Basically, just think of all the advantages privileged people have IRL, and translate it into game terms.

If there is a clear 1:1 connection between. Old and New, I might set a rule that nobody can create a character that is their own offspring/trainee. Let them RP being each other's mentors. That allows them to interact with their mentors without without having to play both sides of the conversation or having the DM take over a PC.

Anonymouswizard
2021-04-25, 05:03 PM
The only games I own which consist this a concern are Pendragon (which I'm not overly familiar with) and Paleomythic, which has temporary equipment, assumes replacement characters are made using the standard character generation rules, and it's probably designed around randomly generating your characters but doesn't actually admit that.

Paleomythic can, of course, have legacy moments in it but due to equipment being inherently fragile you're much less likely to inherit your parent's spear or armour than their knowledge and wisdom, likely in the form of learning one of their Talents. But that's stone age settings for you, there's also a large focus on finding food in the game and being able to tame animals is a special skill considered as powerful as magic (and honestly pretty much is, animal companions are much more reliable than the spirits of the dead).

Okay, I think The Fantasy Trip expects characters to potentially die if old age, but it also includes rules for your day job. It's attitude in replacement characters is going to be along the lines of ’realistically replacement characters should not have more skills then a starting character'.

If doing this in D&D I'll echo the sentiment that unless you're replacing the entire party at once you should have new characters join within a couple of levels of the old ones. If replacing the entire party at once it might be worth dropping several levels (or going all the way back to 1st or 3rd level) to help get across the 'you are less experienced' feel, but it can mean sidelining existing threats sure to D&D's rapid power growth. But there's a lot you can do, including the classic 'old threats rise as the heroes who once stopped them are no longer here'.