Training, Research, Carousing, Gifting, and Sacrifice. (part 1)

Training, Research, Carousing, Gifting, and Sacrifice.

Turning coin looted on adventures into experience points for old-school dungeon fantasy games.

The original dungeon crawling RPG awards 1 experience point per gold piece hauled away on an adventure. This original method works fine for a simple campaign but in a complex and enduring campaign the PCs end up with incredible treasure hoards and little to spend all that treasure on in they aren’t empire builders.  The following outlines more explicit methods for turning treasure into experience points.

What changes and what doesn’t change in awarding experience points should be noted first. Experience points for defeating monsters, overcoming challenges, and specific mission awards are given to PCs as normal under the campaign rules used. No experience points are granted for the specific value of treasures gained during an adventure. For those GMs that wish to award experience points (hereafter  to be noted as exp) for magical items it is recommended to consider only awarding exp for utility as opposed to monetary value (it may be possible for some players to gain multiple awards from discovering magical items). Earned exp should be given as normal for the campaign but converting money to experience points requires specific actions on part of the PC/player.

Keeping track of downtime is essential as this shall be a resource as precious as coins when converting treasures won to exp. It is recommended that the campaign  be structured to allow for 2 to 4 weeks of downtime to occur between adventure sessions. It is during this downtime period players will make decisions on how to spend their treasure and the time required to do so.

Health and preparation are also essential to the entire process and recovery from injuries and other maladies will reduce the time a character has to convert wealth into exp.  Aside from Gifting and Carousing a character must be over 50% of their normal HitPoint total to benefit from the following methods of exp gain.





Throughout these guidelines "coins" will be used to express treasure costs. This is done to fit the coinage used in a campaign and is meant to be the common coin of value used in a campaign, so in a typical "gold standard" campaign all coins are gold pieces and in a "Silver Standard" these would be silver pieces of course. One should feel free to adjust fees as appropriate to the campaign economy of course as the suggested pricing assume lots of coins flowing even if the specific type may vary.

All of the methods of exp advancement require a 2d6 die roll with appropriate modifiers to determine the success and quality of the attempt to gain experience points. This roll may be made per week or at the end of multiple weeks depending on the campaign.

Experience Point Reward Table

2d6+mods	Result
3 or less	Unsuccessful*
4 to 6	Limited Success
7 to 10	Typical Success
11 to 12	Unexpected Success
13 or more	Amazing  Success**

 
 * a roll of two “1’s” on the 2d6 roll will always be unsuccessful regardless of modifiers applied.
 ** a roll of two “6’s” will always be a success  regardless of modifiers to the contrary but will only be an amazing success if the total score indicates it to be such.

Training
Training is study and exercise dedicated to a character’s class and skills. The time span for training is based on the week. The definition of training here is meant to cover potentially tiring and stressful exercises.

A character may spend a maximum of 100 coin per current level each week spent in training. A specific trainer may be employed if a character so wishes but the costs will be greater and may not contribute to exp gained.   

Training prohibits spending time on Research but does not interfere with Carousing, Gifting and Sacrifice in and of itself (those methods may prohibit or reduce time allowed for Training however).

Training Modifiers
-3 for self training.
-1 if character has inferior prime attribute.
+1 for prime attribute of 13-16
+2 for prime attribute of 17 or higher
+1 if Trainer employed is at least 2 levels/ranks above character
+2 if Trainer employed is at least 6 levels/ranks above character
-2 for Training during long term travel.
-1 if training in a space not dedicated to training
+1 if training in superior training space.
-2 to +2 depending on relationship with trainer

Training results:

Unsuccessful Training: No Experience points are gained and there is the possibility of injury or stress being inflicted upon the character, check on training mishaps chart to see what fate befalls character. A character’s relationship with a trainer declines during this training.

Limited Success:  Earn experience points equal to 50% of coin spent on training. Extra fees paid to trainer are excluded from these exp.  (Example: 150 coins are spent on training and 100 coins spent to employ a trainer and the character would gain  75 exp)

Typical Success: Earn experience points equal to coin spent on training. Extra fees paid to the trainer are excluded from these exp. (Example: 150 coins are spent on training and 100 coins spent to employ a trainer and the character would gain  150 exp). The relationship with the Trainer will improve.

Unexpected Success:  Earn experience points equal to coin spent on training. and 50% of fees paid to trainer up to normal weekly limit allowed.(Example: 200 coins are spent on training  by a 2nd level fighter and 300 coins spent to employ a trainer . The character earns 200 exp for initial coins spent and an additional 100 coins (half of the 200 allowed per week)).

Amazing Success: Earn experience points equal to coin spent on training. and 50% of fees paid to trainer. (Example: 200 coins are spent on training  by a 2nd level fighter and 300 coins spent to employ a trainer . The character earns 200 exp for initial coins spent and an additional 100 coins (half of the 200 allowed per week)). The relationship with the trainer will improve. Consult Training Boons chart to see if additional benefits are received.

Relationship with trainer

A character’s relationship with training will impact the benefits of training. A trainers disposition to a character will impact fees, training roll, actual experience points rewarded for training, and
the benefit or severity of boons and mishaps.

Initial Relationship with trainer.
If the relationship with a trainer isn’t defined by social relationships within the campaign roll 2d6  and apply the appropriate modifiers to determine that relationship.

Initial relationship modifiers:
-1 if CHA of student 6 or less
+1if CHA of student 15 or more
-2 if of opposing alignments
+1 if of same alignment
-1 if student prime attribute is inferior
+1 if student prime attribute is 15 or greater


Initial Relationship with Trainer

roll	Initial relationship
3 or less	Dislike
4-5	Unfavorable
6	Mercenary
7-8	Polite
9-10	Favorable
11 or more	Friendly

 
Impact of Relationship with Trainer

relationship	minimum trainer fee	Training Roll	Impact on exp	Mishap or Boon
Hostile	200/level	-2	-10%	-25
Dislike	150/level	-1	-10%	-10
Unfavorable	125/level	-1	-	-
Mercenary	110/level	-	-	-
Polite	100/level	-	-	-
Favorable	75/level	+1	-	-
Friendly	50/level	+1	+10%	+10
Mentor	none required	+2	+10%	+25

Training Mishaps
Only roll on this table when an unsuccessful training session has been completed.
+10 to roll in a superior training space
-10 to roll in a makeshift training space
+1 per point of prime attribute over 14

1d100 roll	Training Mishap
1 or less	Permanent loss of Prime Attribute. Character loses 1 point in prime attribute.
2-10	Grievously Injured during training. Character’s Prime attribute is halved for next 8 weeks. Recovers 1 point per week of complete rest (final points only recovered after all rest). HP reduced to 1.
11-25	Seriously Injured during training. Character’s Prime attribute is reduced by 2-5 points Recovers 1 week owe week of complete rest. HP halved.
26-40	I’ll fated. All saving Throws and Class actions are at -2 for next 7 weeks.
41-50	Strain/Stress reduce Prime attribute by1 point for 2 weeks.
51-60	Forlorn. All saving Throws and Class actions are at -1 for next 2 weeks.
61-70	Down the wrong road. Next three training sessions -1 to roll.
71-75	Took a wrong turn. Next training session is -1 to roll.
76 or more	Mishap avoided

Training Boons
Only roll on this table when an Amazingly Successful training session has been completed.
+10 to roll in a superior training space
-10 to roll in a makeshift training space

1d100 roll	Training Boon
25 or less	No Boon Granted
26-40	Insight gained, +1 to next training  session roll.
41-60	Good Student, +1 to next 3 training session rolls.
61-80	+1 to all die rolls until a failed saving throw, skill check, or hit roll.*
81-90	+1 to all die rolls until a failed saving throw, skill check.*
91-99	+1 to all die rolls until a failed saving throw.*
100 or more	Character Permanently gains 1 point in prime attribute.

 * Temporary bonuses do not stack.

Some campaigns may not handle permanent ability score gains well, treat this a bonus that will last for the next month of game time if a permanent increase fitting.


(more to come in future posts)

Roll an Apocalypse

Roll up an apocalyptic setting.

First determine what type of apocalypse toy are dealing.

1d20	What Happened?		Table II Roll	Loot Modifier
1	Nuclear War	Somebody drops the bomb, likely a whole lot of bombs. Vaporized/melted cities, radiation sweeps the world, and even clouds of dust causing nuclear winter.	1d12	-20
2	War	Conventional war gone wild inflicting casualties and absorbing the resources of the world until not only is war impossible but so is the civilization that once fought the war.	1d8+14	-15
3	Plague	Disease sweeps the world decimating the population. Wether it was germ warfare by organized states, terrorism, or random chance matters little at all to the few survivors left in an empty world who must get on without the support once provided by civilization and worry if the disease is bound to return.	1d20	0
4	Famine	Crops failures of epic proportions cause civilization to unwind in quick order. Sure there were resulting wars and pandemics among starving populations but the lack of food is what did in the world.	1d8+14	0
5	Impact	An asteroid, comet, or other cosmic wanderer slaps into the earth. The widespread destruction caused by the impact alone may be all it takes to end the world but the panic before the end may make the actual event a blessing. In the end the seas or air itself may have been poisoned and only the lucky sheltered or remote few have survived.	2d8	-5
6	Ice Age	Cool Winters for a year or two, followed by a year with no summer, and then the ports of the world are iced in as the snows build year after year. Mass migrations drive many to the equator where overpopulation does them in leaving behind isolated bands of survivors picking over what was left behind, struggling animals, and preying on each other.	2d12	-10
7	Hot House	The climate warms, the seas rise, the and the air grows heavier. Civilization is destroyed leaving behind a seething overgrown tropical hell or superheated parched wasteland.	3d20	-10
8	Solar Irregularity	The sun goes wild, millions are roasted alive by the sun; to go out in the day unshielded means blindness and skin cancer. Electomagnetic pulses have destroyed our fragile electronics and the civilization that depend on it. Plants wither when the suns rays have shifted from their norm and even the soil is scoured clean by radiation and ionization.	1d12	0
9	Mutation	We changed and not consistently or for the better. Civilization is unable to continue with so many people are no longer people at all. Is it evolution gone wild, genetic warfare, or defective rogue nano-cosmetics…will there ever be a new normal?	1d20	+5
10	Seismic Doom	The continents are drifting and shifting all the time, we don’t even notice this constant activity except for when centuries of change occur in moments. Cities are shaken to their foundations, tsunamis sweep the world, and volcanoes both old and newborn burn and choke all nearby. Survivors struggle in a world of shifted rivers, displaced seas, and newly risen mountain ranges.	1d10	0
11	Pollution	Civilization comes undone as it posions the air, water, and soil of the  people it was meant to serve. Not enough was done to stop the floating islands of junk, the toxic municipal water supplies, and the acid rains until things had reached and toppled over the tipping point.	1d8+16	+10
12	Zombies	The dead walk and are hunger for your flesh. Call them zombies, ghouls, or vampires they have returned and attack the living with a vengeance.	1d12	0
13	Alien Invasion	Ruthless aliens have attacked the earth.  Entire populations have been eliminated, cities razed and landscapes turned over to alien use. Mankind either forgotten, herded into containment zones, enslaved, or hunted as vermin. The earth is no longer ours.	1d10	-10
14	Robot Uprising	The machines have turned against us. It makes little difference to survivors if the machines meant to save us or eliminate us they are now masters of the earn and her resources and little of their plans seem are carried out with mechanical indifference.	1d20	-20
15	Religious/Mythic End Times	The Tribulations, Ragnarok, or other traditions are true and happening or happen with an unexpected vengeance. Wether if it’s demons possessed legions serving the anti-christ, Frost Giants and Epic heroes battling across the world civilization cannot go on in the face of this destruction.	1d6 (1d100)	0
16	Engines Run Down	The machinery, tools, and devices of civilization become so integrated and so complex that when they inevitably fail (or run out of fuel) the people that depend on them are no longer able to maintain them when they break down. Nations are left to starve with no food begin delivered, cities choke in their own waste, water no longer flows through the pipes the number of breakdowns cascades beyond containment until it’s all over.	1d20+10	0
17	Animal Uprising	Sure animals can be dangerous but mankind has mastered them for thousands of years or so we thought until they turned on us en-masse. Flocks of birds ripping the unwary apart, pets turning on their owners and zoo animals seemingly coming together to escape and seek revenge.	1d12	+10
18	Magic Returns	Magic has crept back into the world with a vengeance.The civilized technological world can’t function in the face of the chaos wrought by individuals able to shape the weather, bend the landscape and transform matter. The few able to make use of magic are not the only menaces to ravage the world as magical energies change the nature of physics itself and reality bends and shifts to a new order.	1d20	0
19	Temporal Disjunction	Time comes crashing in on itself. Dinosaurs and horrors from far in the future walk the land, forests choke cities to a stand still and oceans shift to where they were in ages past.	1d10	-20
20	Overpopulation	The wonders of the modern world extend our lives and allow more children to survive each year. But the resources are limited and the population becomes so great it is just simply too large to shelter, feed, or police. A tide of humanity washes over civilization like a plague of locusts tearing it down.	1d20+12	+10

For greater variation mix or match 2 or 3 of the above as many can easily go hand in hand.

How much warning did civilization get?
This will impact the likelihood of finding cached supplies and if the big-wigs got to their secret bunkers in time.

Score	Warning?	Loot Modifier
4 or less	Suddenly/Overnight the end came. None were prepared.	+10
5-10	Days of chaos with few ready or capable, the panic and disarray only served to reduce the number of survivors.	+5
11-15	Weeks or warning only served to accelerate the destruction of civilization as forlorn populations went mad and turned against their neighbors. A few isolated areas maintained a semblance of order as the end approached but even fewer endured.	-10
16-18	Months of warning undid thousands of years of civilization as populations and nations unrestrained by the need to cooperate ripped each other apart prior to the end. Only well supplied and remote enclaves could endure.	-20
19 or more	It took years for things to end, people had even adapted to a new normal thinking they would survive; most were wrong.	-10

How long ago was the apocalypse?
What remains and how meaningful the end of civilization is to the characters has a lot to do with when if all happened.

1d20	How long ago?	Loot Modifier
1-3	Ongoing, it isn’t over yet.	+10
4-7	Weeks/Months, people are crawling out of the debris shocked and unsure of where their next meal will come from.	0
8-9	1-3 years, isolated pockets of civilization struggle to remain as survivors battle over the remains of civilization.	-10
10-11	10 years, old institutions are forgotten and politics from before the apocalypse meaningless in the struggle to survive. Isolated pockets have endured or grown up among the ruins but the situation is dangerously fragile.	-20
12-15	30-50 years, children have been born and had children of their own that have only known the ruins of the old world. Stable pockets of civilization are just one petty war, plague or famine away from destruction.	-30
16-17	100 years, communities have come together that did not exist before the apocalypse. Few if any are alive that lived in the world before. New social traditions have risen that are replacing those of antiquity.	-50
18-19	Centuries on, new nations have risen in the howling wilderness left by the destruction of civilization. History of the world before is incomplete and the achievements are not fully reclaimed. Languages have changed enough only the well educated can comprehend old writings.	-75
20	Millennia into the future, it’s a whole new world where knowledge of the old world is lost or considered mythic. Civilization may have had time to rise and fall yet again before establishing a brave new world. Few if any records of the past can be deciphered.	-90

What was the world before like?
The world before the apoclaypse can be different to shake up player expectations.

1d20	The World Before
1	18th century or earlier, vast rural populations survive initial destruction with some areas untouched and by the initial calamity going on for many years on their own as if it never happened.
2	19th century or earlier, vast rural populations survive initial destruction, some areas may go on for years untouched by the initial calamity.
3	Napoleonic Empire dominates Europe and the colonial world. As 19th century above but Napoleon and his successors are in power. Different laws and language will remain after the fall.
4-5	Early 20th century, rural populations can remain sheltered for years but the inevitably suffer from the lack of material support form the now defunct civilization.
6	Confederate Colonialism, The Confederate States of America (having prospered after the the civil war ended in a peace treaty favoring the south) dominates a far flung range of colonies.
7	Kaiser Triumphant. Germany was victorious at the end of WW-I. The Nazi’s never rose to power and the multi-national colonial struggle endured.
8-10	Mid 20th century, remote areas could have avoided the initial clarity but will inevitably fall victim to secondary and tertiary die-offs.
11-12	Hitler Victorious, the Axis won WW-II and the politics reshaped as the Axis powers adjust to victory. Communism expunged, Nazi science unchecked.
13	Oceania has always been at war. The world was dominated by large super-states always at war with each other.
14-18	Late 20th century/Early 21st. Every corner of the world will be involved in some manner. Remote populations must adapt or quickly wither without material support from the outside world. Even areas seemingly untouched by the initial calamity will suffer greatly from population densities far in excess of their carrying level.
19	Near Future. Every corner of the world will be swept up some semblance of normal might the possible in isolated pockets that have attempted to become self-sustaining.
20	Far Future. The solar system is swept up on the calamity with only the remotest corners untouched and able to endure.

Clearly some of the World's before don't fit with each Apocalypse but with a little creativity most can be adapted.  The table above is brief and only scrapes the alternate history backgrounds that could be used to add a flair to your post-apocalyptic campaign.


Don’t forget loot scavengers can find.
Check each area to see how common specific classes of loot may be. Some backgrounds will have an impact on a class of goods not accounted for here.

	Very Rare	Rare	Uncommon	Common	Plentiful
Storred Food	30 or less	31-70	71-90	91-99	100+
Firearms	0 or less	1-60	61-90	91-98	99+
Ammuniiton	10 or less	11-70	71-95	96-98	99+
Vehicle	0 or less	1-60	61-80	81-98	99+
Fuel	20 or less	21-85	86-95	96-99	100+
Consumable Luxury Goods	-40 or less	-39-75	76 to 90	91-99	100+
Clothing	-10 or less	-9-10	11 to 80	81-95	96+
Medicine	0 or less	1-75	76-97	98-99	100+
Tools	-10 or less	-9 -10	11 to 90	91-97	98+
Building Supplies	-30 or less	-29-0	1 to 85	86-95	96+

If civilization is up-and running in a region the availability of goods will be based on the standards and economy of the new civilization not on picking thru the remains of the past.