Characters that are not characters - the Nimble Inn of Windemere

Sometimes things can take on a character of their own. The USS Enterprise, Serenity, the Baxter Building (Marvel reference, and I am not even a big Marvel fan yet I still know that!) are all examples of things that take on more than just being a backdrop. Way back in college, my Scout's ship (an upgraded 200dTon ship with a TL17 AI - yeah, we did the gonzo things, and why did I stop?!) was as much of a character as Nathan Brazil (at the time I was a big Jack Chaulker fan, though in later years I think I found a lot of his stuff actually repetitive. Probably because I read most of what he wrote). 

I keep hoping that if I can get back to running a fun game of Traveller, we'll get to play long enough for them to become invested in their ship, their home in the stars. The onus is on me to make those games fun, and I am really hoping to get to run a series of Traveller games.

Same for fantasy games, where the advantage is that I can use the same town for any fantasy game really. Why I got really deep into Windemere Crossing and Fort Covenant. And waiting to see if Organic Towns can help make these towns change and grow.

And what, I hear you asking, sparked this thought? I was reading Delver 6, and there was an article for his Tavern rule book. This little 'zine is for players who decide to buy an inn or tavern and has various ways to produce profit. I realized this was the same thing as Organic Town purports to be, except writ small. And sometimes starting small is a good thing.

And then that brought the thought to mind that I really can treat both my tavern-to-be and towns as characters and have them go through the rules & processes to see what happens. I need to re-read the town & tavern rules, but my plan is to have a post dedicated to that growth on a regular basis. I need to have goals else I just sit here. I did a brief overview of that concept here, and the taverns rules are here. I know I have the PDF, and I need to see if I bought the actual paper copy. I do prefer to get both as I really prefer reading "real" books. Probably because I already spend way too much time in front of a screen (as I type this, in front of a screen). Ahh, and yes, it was with the other copies of Delver magazine. Note that I have a couple of auto-backs: 0-Hr for spaceships, and Delver as it is full of fun random things. That I really hope to use some day! 

First, we'll need to add a tavern to Windemere Crossing and Fort Covenant. As a reminder, here's the first post for Windemere Crossing. And in re-reading that, sad that we never got there: the kids I was playing with dropped out of gaming, so we never actually got there. But as I will be running some OSE games in the near future (and quite possibly some Fantasy Trip as well), and I just like world building, we'll just keep on building.

We already have 2 inns in Windemere we can expand on: the Nimble Priest Inn and the Silver Pirate Inn. Looking at the PDF of the Organic Towns book (I really want the physical book to arrive as it is hard to flip around in a PDF for me vs an open book with bookmarks. And I sit behind a computer all day). There are 3 levels for inns - I, II, III. I is basically a bunkhouse, II the more classic inn of most RPGs, and III a much richer guest estate. And taverns follow a similar step: Alehouse is your basic tavern, a tavern adds a private lounge and basement, and then the grand tavern is quite the hoity-toity place. Both give bonuses to the towns they are in. 

For this post, as it got a lot longer than I expected while writing it, we'll focus on the Nimble Inn.

The Nimble Priest Inn is a level II inn based on my original description: 

The Nimble Priest Inn. A large 2 story building with a basement below the main floor, The Nimble Priest is run by the acolytes of the Fair Lady. Fellow clerics and acolytes get a good discount, everyone else pays fair coin for the rooms. Rooms range from a few coppers to sleep in the stable above the riding mounts, 5 silvers for a shared room and breakfast, 1 gold for a single room and breakfast. The Fair Lady is a deity none of the characters would have heard of before. 

Thank goodness searching in posts actually works well - Google does do that well despite other faults they may have). Because of this inn, Windemere Crossing gains 0.5% population growth as well as an extra 20 SP (settlement points) a month. We also have a few other tidbits of info from various previous posts:

Every few weeks however, he (Ira Sprigbasher, the sheriff) gets drunk at the Nimble Priest Inn and stays there versus his rooms above the sheriffs' station near the north of town. The acolytes pray over him, knowing something is off but not sure what it is.

He (Ellis Newtonson) visits the Nimble Priest Inn every 3 days, lighting a candle in one of the back rooms that serves as a generic sanctuary. Each year he petitions for an actual temple, or at least using one of the many abandoned buildings for a sanctuary.

Zhou Smithensonne is the local High Priestess of the Followers of the Fair Lady. She runs the Nimble Priest Inn in Windemere. There is a small cadre of 5 other priestesses who assist with the operations, including Wren, who is a most excellent cook.

He (Timothy Dixon) goes by the Nimble Priest Inn once in a while, and if a bit flush with gold perhaps the Devilish Waters.

Guess these character challenges help me fill worlds full of NPCs. Re-reading about our priestess, I see I partially developed an entire sect for Tionna, one of my gods I've yet to detail out, other than she is the Goddess of All Living Things. Which is a pretty broad thing. Perhaps there are more levels and gods and goddesses in my pantheon I need to develop.

Okay, so once a month when we work on our settlement upgrades, we now have a slight population increase as well as more points to spend. I see I'll need a notebook with a summary page for the town, then worksheets for each building that helps that town and how to improve things. I also think if I do this right, I can generate a living history of the town for when players come into it (oh yeah, they just added those new floors to the Nimble Priest a few months back - said it makes the bards sound better). Of course, this is actually a fair amount of work to do on paper. And as I write software for a living, I can see a lot of potential to doing something to help track this a bit better, especially all the bonus SP and population points. I also see it as a very niche thing - the Kickstarter had 1600 backers, so even doubling that implies a very small number of people go this level of trouble. Sadly I already see the SQL schema but will refrain from starting another project. One of these days I will get back to my Traveller trade program (the original intent of this blog was to track that progress!). 

Though this is actually from WDW I think, it is close to how I see the outside of the Nimble Priest Inn

And while looking for taverns and inns, this posting from Imgur has some nice concept art that can help bring taverns to life.

And back to the original point: how is the Nimble Inn doing this month? Opening up the Taverns book, being a small inn, rolling 1d6 on that chart they have a 53 gold profit. There are modifiers we can apply based on things such as reputation and so forth. For reputation they are like home, so no change there. We can also check for any awards we may have received: Yiko's Medal of Superior Service which gives us another 3% so 4 more silver, 5 coppers. Looking at improvements from the Tavern book (which will fit into the Organic Town improvements I think), there is not much there for the Nimble Inn, Via Organic Towns, we could expand to the level III with very nice accommodations. However, that does not fit my idea of this martial artist priestess-led inn. They want inner wealth, not the trappings of the secular world. Taverns also has options for travelling bards, and story tellers (which was in Delver 6) to bring in more guests. For this month, they brought in Trimgell Sandsharp who tells the tale of the Night of the Two Headed Werewolf.

To the crowded room, Trimgell tells the tale of Taleck Driss, the thief, his partner Misun Essim another thief, Krale Jarrish the magic user and Yurk Brokestar, a fighter. The tale starts outside the walls of a monastery. Howls heard in the night, and the glimpse of the creature high on the city walls. The valiant group first encounters the werewolf in the at a wagon, eating a dead merchant (+4GP). While they wounded it (+2GP) Krale was killed in the fight. Chasing after the beast through the town, it was cornered at cliff's edge. Horribly, the two-headed beast split into 2 creatures - a wizard werewolf and a cleric (+4GP). then leapt into the darkness, leaving a trail of blood. Tracking the blood to the creture's lair, they found six kidnapped children! (+2GP). In the end the remaining adventurers killed both the evil cleric and his werewolf, saving the day and the children (+6GP). 

Adding all that up, there is another 16 gold. Rolling on yet another table, apparently despite the thrilling tale, the patrons were bored so we only double this to 32 gold. This brings the month's total to 76 gold, 4 silver and 5 coppers. 

Additionally this month, a wizard has come into town, looking for children with magical abilities. Rolling on that table, he finds plenty and plans on staying to train them (from Organic Towns).

I'll have to see about worksheets - I think Organic Towns has some, and I need to modify those or add to them for the Taverns rules. And I need to find my Windemere folder - I had printed out a good deal of this, and now need to add my worksheets and all this.

Finally, there are also some game hooks now for the Nimble Inn. We've got several characters, wandering bards telling tales, and possibly some adventure hooks. Fighting at the Nimble Inn seems a bit dangerous as those priestesses are quite adept with those quarterstaffs. They could see the drunken sheriff heading home and about to get waylaid. Perhaps Rennor Lurbuk gets in over her head, and if the adventurers rescue her, her family feels they owe them. And any magic users may want to train with the wizard if this is a period when they level up (my games I tend to do the level up mostly like TFT - you need to actually train and rest, they don't magically appear in the middle of an adventure. Though combat skills can as those are getting used, but learning new spells requires the resources and time).

Character Challenge 2023: 16/31 The Gravedigger

Not all characters need to be a playable character. There are always townsfolk and bystanders you need. Sometimes there are just background, other times there is a bit of interaction. And sometimes what was intended as a tiny distraction becomes an entire adventure.

One of the minis from an Archon kickstarter had a bunch of townsfolk. These are on the sprue, and with my fat fingers and inept modeling skills, are not a good way for me to get minis. Regardless, I do have a few of them put together, including this grave digger. 

Old Sam has been digging graves since his pappy first gave him a shovel when he was a mere lad of 10. His family have been digging graves outside Port Covenant for generations. A quiet man wearing dirty-encrusted clothes, Sam's broad hat covers his face in the sun, and keeps him warm in the cold winters. Adept with his shovel, he and his 3 sons can get a grave dug in 20 minutes depending on the ground. Having seen so many buried, he has a macabre sense of humor and is not afraid of ghosts and things that go bump in the night. In fact, ghosts tend to ignore him as well. 

While not shunned in town, people tend to go of their way to avoid the entire family. Living on the outskirts of town, this suits them just fine, except for the youngest, Lockabe, who does not want to be in the family business. A master craftsman, he wants to do more than make coffins. Sam accepts this as the two older boys seem content with digging graves, and a town, even one as trafficked as Fort Covenant, only needs to many graves dug.

Keeping this basically rules & mechanics free, I'll just free-form a character.

Taller than average but not by much, Sam is a quiet presence in Fort Covenant. Hands and cloths constantly dirty from dirt, he is a quiet man, always polite and with a seemingly infinite amount of patience. He digs the graves, waits until the body is deposited, and any last rites are performed, then fills the grave. He also does a silent benediction that has been passed down through the generations. Few people stick around to hear, but it is a prayer to the Old Gods to ferry the deceased soul to where it needs to go. Sometimes the Old Gods still listen, and Sam's family has been gifted with health for generations. They also have other gifts, and the dead and undead will never bother them.

• Strength - average
• Endurance - above average from years of digging
• Intelligence - average
• Wisdom - average

If he were to get into a fight, he is an expert at his shovel, and it will do above average damage. Not sure how I would define the shovel, but somewhere between a club, staff and a sword as he keeps the digging part sharp. And perhaps the Old Ones have blessed the shovel - can you have a +2 shovel?

Patiently waiting for the funeral to arrive after digging a fresh grave.

Day 1: Classic Traveller Scientist                   Day 2: OSE Gnome Illusionist  

Day 3: Mongoose 2e Navy Commander         Day 4: The Fantasy Trip Spy

Day 5: Aslan Outcast                                       Day 6: Traveller Army Commando

Day 7: OSE 4th Level Cleric                           Day 8: Mongoose Traveller Journalist

Day 9: Delve Goblin                                        Day 10: Space Gits Military Intelligence

Day 11: Traveller 5.10 ex-student                   Day 12: Traveller Assassin Aslan

Day 13: TFT Elf Mage                                   Day 14: Classic Traveller Pirate

Day 15: OSE Mycelian                                   Day 16: The Gravedigger

And I've been remiss and not linking to the Tardis Captain who started this whole thing!

Character Challange 2023: 4/31

Decided to work up a silly character for the Fantasy Trip. Wildspire makes some fun minis and tends to be an auto-back for me on Kickstarter. This is one from their first project. A spy requires dexterity and intelligence above most things, so starting with our 32-point beginning character, we'll do ST: 9, DX: 12, IQ: 11. Having 12 points to spend in talents & magic, we'll give him (well, it could be a woman, we can't see who is hiding!) Magic: Invisibility (IQ 11 skill, 3 ST to cast, 1 ST/turn). Talents will include Carousing, Knife, Sword, Literacy, Acute Hearing, Silent Movement, Detect Traps. 

Growing up at Fort Covenant, young Brady listened to all the bards' tales of derring-do. He would pretend to be a spy in a war-torn nation, his friends guards he had to pass. Taking up a job in the local militia, he picked up some mundane military skills, but his captain, seeing some promise in the young man, had him train with a wizard the corps employed. He picked up the invisibility spell, and with further training honed his senses and ability to move quietly. He has been on a few scouting missions and is eager to infiltrate the enemy's stronghold soon. He has been gifted with a power stone with 6 ST, allowing him to use his magic spell for 2 turns before either using his own ST or becoming visible again. It is a small stone pendent he wears about his neck on a silver chain, a gift from the wizard and the guard.

He may be encountered in a tavern, scouting, or just wandering the streets, gathering intelligence. 

Sneaking into the fortress

I'll need to revisit the Fort Covenant - all I really remember is that it is larger than Windemere Crossing and on the same trade route, just further east. The city books I've backed should show up in the next several months, and maybe I'll get back to them. I do like the idea of the towns changing over time, so really want to read up on that and take it along. It is a lot like the Cepheus and other game systems where you generate the character background, except your character is a town.

I also thought about languages, but Common is, well common. He is not going to be able to spy in a Goblin camp other than from a distance. I had to readjust a bit after my initial draft - ST 8 can't use anything other than a dagger, and I figured he may want something a bit better. A rapier seems like a good choice! I think I have 1 IQ point left so if so, I'd probably pick Orc or Goblin as a language. I think I need to expand on my town a bit and see if there are Orcs or Goblin bands out & about, attacking or plotting.

Day 1: Classic Traveller Scientist

Day 2: OSE Gnome Illusionist

Day 3: Mongoose 2e Navy Commander

Day 4: The Fantasy Trip Spy

Day 5: Aslan Outcast

Day 6: Classic Traveller Army Captain

Fort Covenant - On the Ocean Trade Route

 Had a bit of time of this wonderful Sunday afternoon, so I went and started working on a town for the next adventure or two. I also re-read the Delver books, realizing that he was including OSE adventures in there already! And each one goes up in levels for the players. So huzzah, I'll sprinkle some of those around the town at some point.

I'm also going to keep the location a bit undefined a bit, to let things settle in my mind. I know it is east of Windermere. I've never mapped that part of my world out. What I am thinking is to get the other players to help flesh out the world. Eventually we'll find the borders to Windemere and all that, but I'm hoping to build that out organically. What most GM manuals usually say: start in a central place, and build out from there. Not all of course, and for those who read my blogs, you know I just keep on mapping forever (...ever....ever in echos). Can't help myself!

Going through the town process for this settlement, we had some really interesting rolls. First, it starts as a military camp that evolved into a town. The eastern, to be named, kingdom put this military camp alongside the Ocean Trade Route to help protect those caravans moving through the kingdom. After more than 5 decades, the town has grown up around the camp, now a series of barracks inside the thick, stone walls. The focus of the town is still a military town: a lot of the services are oriented to our boys and girls in maroon. Yes, maroon uniforms. Hides the blood better perhaps. After time, wizards and magic users must have moved in: Fort Covenant's specialty is unique shipping methods. Not only do the caravans pass through, but there are gates (and good thing I am getting a book on gates though those may not really apply as these would be commercial gates. Perhaps one links to Ardonirane which would be handy as I do have that book and would like to use it!)

This is a large town, almost 6,000 people and perhaps 1500 buildings. Of that, 2,000 or so live outside the town walls. Most of the buildings are of moderate construction: decent but few are outstanding marvels. The town itself has a moderate prosperity: few are rich, but few are also poor. Oddly, for a town on a major trade route, its own market square is tight, with very few stalls. Each evening, there is an auction for the limited stall space in the market square. And in fact, it is unlawful for any overflow market areas outside the town. The troops maintain security along the trade route for leagues in either direction, but also do not allow for any free-standing markets outside the town. Not to say there are not hidden black markets (and I have a black-market supplement I need to actually read: the players would be most interested in this I believe).

The town is populous without feeling crowded and is surrounded by large agricultural farms. Oddly though, there is very little nightlife for Fort Convenant. Most shops and services close down, leaving just the inns and taverns open after dark. All the gates are closed and barred. The town watch is small, a couple dozen officers. They watch inside the town walls, while the Baron's troops handle things outside those walls. This is a convention started decades in the past, when there was a significant amount of robbery and thievery on the roads. When the kingdom finally turned an eye to the lost taxes, Fort Covenant was founded. 

Fort Covenant is ruled by Baronness Panax, of the Panax bloodline. She rules as her father did, commanding the troops and maintaining the military law. She is part of the city council, and has final veto power over anything. Not particularly imposing, rumors abound about her magical abilities but she has never used magic in the presence of anyone that can affirm this. She spends one day a week in the town hall, but most of the time she is in the fortress inside the city walls, dealing with the troops.

Fort Convenant boasts the Inquiry Bibliotheca, a huge library of books both mundane and magical. Its specials collections are kept behind well-locked and guarded doors and require approval to get into. The normal stacks carry books, scrolls and writings from most of the world, and there are several scribes who copy books. Its front doors have a pair of dragon statues that some say will come to life should anyone try and steal a book (finally someplace to use my dragon busts from the Reaper Bones Kickstarter! And should a player try to actually steal a book, I do have dragon minis). 

A few blocks from the barracks is the Crowbar, a dance hall that gets so crowded that you will need a crowbar to get in. No one remembers the original name. There is a weekly dance where the place gets packed, with soldiers, townspeople and visitors all together. The town watch keeps a few extra watchmen on duty that night as things can get rambunctious. 

And of course we will have merchant houses such as Gulark Nightspell, our tea merchant from what I am hoping is an exciting adventure. And using the ever-popular (at least with me) fantasy city generator I'll see if I can come keep hitting enter until I find a good map.

And this one ended up nice - it even has a Military Ward and the fortress/barracks I needed. May have to figure out the trade route. 

Interestingly, I can save off that city generated via a URL as well. I've downloaded a few versions of the city, but just in case I need to go back, that is an interesting and nice touch. Pretty sure I've tipped the creator once before - I may have to again.

While I am still working on my Windemere setting (and I may also update it to have all the characters statted out in OSE format, though that would be a lot more time consuming than the Fantasy Trip stats!) I am now wanting to work on this one as well. And if we get to play in the next couple of weeks, while I don't need all the details, I do need enough for my adventure to work. While it is probably a one shot, I am really hoping that we can get back to gaming. Or else I'll just have to figure something out: I really prefer face to face gaming. It is easier to read people, and for me to associate players and characters. As we don't do video on the Skype game night, it is hard to read people and for me to keep focus sometimes.

And I just realized I've been neglecting my Traveller high port. I've got the ideas floating in my head, but I seem to be having a hard time putting them down into something cohesive. The story of my life it seems sometimes: a lot of ideas but not enough action. But it was part of my January meta-challenge, so I feel I need to finish that up.

Finally - Happy Spring!