Adventure Action

[Darkharvester]

Where can a table/chart be found that you use to roll for how successful an adventure is? If a character or Lt. go on an adventure, how do you determine how successful of an adventure it was? I could have sworn I saw a chart/table at one time but now I cannot find it.

[Jaleela]

Are you asking about 2e or 3.x?

The PDF file for 3.0 pg 100 has an Event Resolution table for success of "Domain Events", not character actions. It mentions Character Actions, but does not give any determination for success. The goal of the Adventure action seems geared toward resolving with an actual DM adventure given to the specific player for role playing. Success determined the old fashioned way.:-)

2e (don't have the book to hand to look up the page number) has gold bar/RP counts as well as a roll on a d20 to determine the success or failure (typically 12 or better unmodified by RP/GB application).

Does that help?

[AndrewTall]

What we probably want for the action is a table for low-medium-high-extreme risk type adventures, and a series of outcomes. The benefits being xp, gold, province morale/action bonus, etc and the risks being loss of equipment, fatalities, some major incident, etc. I'll have a think about sketching something and ask for feedback.

[AndrewTall]

Ok, I've had a stab at something (attached).

Inevitably there isn't much detail as the adventure purpose will vary hugely. I figured that it would be better to set an 'adventure level' as the target - meaning an adventure appropriate for a NPC of their level, etc to go on with a reasonable chance of success, with the corollary that a low level PC going on a high level adventure will struggle and vice versa.

The resources (be they gold, Regency, Magic items) necessary to modify the success chance were left vague as they depend heavily on the adventure level - sufficient gold/etc to modify the chance of success on a plane-trip or similar epic adventure dwarf those needed to clear out the local goblin raiding party. Tables could be made for each adventure level but it would be a fair amount of effort.

The outcome are tilted towards positive outcomes as the adventure has an inherent cost of an action, so a 'normal' outcome is positive.

Thoughts?

[Vicente]

Looks pretty reasonable for a fast resolution system :)

[Sorontar]

sufficient gold/etc to modify the chance of success on a plane-trip or similar epic adventure dwarf those needed to clear out the local goblin raiding party.

With enough gold you can avoid flying on Air Harpy and can instead choose the Luft Hansa from Rohrmarch, and travel using modern mechanical devices.

Oh, you meant different types of plane-trips. :)

Sorontar

[Thelandrin]

Now, this looks interesting. Thanks, Andrew!

[AndrewTall]

I tried to think of what I use adventure actions for - basically as a PBeM tool I'd want a looey to level up, assist in an action - I should probably have put in a 'get something neat' column.

I'm wondering if the steps are right though, I'd expect to be able to compensate for a level gap by chucking in resources - although the fumble result would probably be harsher, but I'm not really sure what sort of level of resources is appropriate - or if it would always be a 'wing it' sort of deal.

[arpig2]

Thank you Andrew - as always some useful stuff. I've been playing around with something along these lines and will see if your ideas and mine can be combined.

[Thelandrin]

I'd remove helping out the action with military units and RP, mostly because those are realm assets and if those can solve the problem, you don't need to go adventuring!

[Sorontar]

I'd remove helping out the action with military units and RP, mostly because those are realm assets and if those can solve the problem, you don't need to go adventuring!

Yeah, that is like using an army to raid a dungeon instead of Lara Croft or Indiana Jones. While the chances of finding hidden items may be increased, so is the chance of setting off major traps and manifesting or alerting major monsters. Adventures need specialisation, not hack'n'slash. Armies aren't specialists, but PC parties are.

Sorontar

[AndrewTall]

It depends on the adventure being undetaken - if a standard adventuring party is going to get turned back at the border, but a larger group consisting of diplomats and troops is going to get them to the site and guard it while they investigate and rest then I'd expect a benefit. In practice it is something I would expect to see in an 'adeventure action to support a realm action' environment.

For example a Vos prince decides to blaze a trail between hunting grounds clearing out various threats along the way, he takes with him not just his companion adventurers, but also his trusty warband and a few dozen peasants. On the way he finds a cave complex with goblins in - clearly one of the key problems in ensuring that the land can be used.

The peasants build a small fort, clear some land, hunt, etc while the warband guards the exits and mans the fort ensuring that the prince and his adventuring group can rest safely and don't need to worry about gathering firewood, food, etc.

Would you not agree that the prince is more likely to succeed in eliminating the goblins - and any other threat, with the troops support than he would be his party was unsupported?

It obviously depends on the adventure, if it's a jaunt through the Shadow World, invading an awnsheghlien land - well frankly I'd say leave the troops at home or pray for their souls as they lie in unhallowed shallow graves - but at other times taking along supporters, a powerful magic item, a bundle of gold, etc could easily lead to the difference between success or failure - or even just good success as opposed to adequate.

It would be down to the DM, I'd expect the player to justify the usefulness of their support - if it sounded reasonable (say making a donation to the local temple for it to lend the adventurers an amulet of negative plane protection before they go hunting vampires) then I'd certainly allow it to impact the odds of success.

[arpig2]

Valid points there Andrew.

As promised, here is my version of the Adventure action with quick resolution tables.

[AndrewTall]

Looks nice, I like the bravery mod. Do you need party level modifier with the ECL base?

I'd suggest noting that the treasure is likely in non-cash form for the higher amounts - in GB terms a small domain could see the adventure actions bring in far more than the domain does otherwise. Giantdowns had something similar with armour from recollection - x GB worth of armour needing just a small outlay to be used.

Province impact - is it worth noting this as applicable 'if the main aim of the adventure was do deal with a random event in the province', or 'DM option only' sort of thing?

[arpig2]

Good point about the level mod. that got left in after I decided to define the difficulty of the adventure relative to the PCs' levels. However, it could be argued that a 10th level party will have far less trouble dealing with an 8th level encounter than a 5th level party will with a 3rd level encounter. So maybe rather than remove it altogether it would be better to reduce the bonuses substantially, maybe something like this
PC Level
1-4 = 0
5-7 = +1
8-12 = +2
etc. etc.

A good point about the treasure and the province impact, I'll modify those right away.

I'm thinking that for the province impact I'll say something along the lines of what you suggested, but with the addition that if the adventure isn't focused directly on something affecting the province then the maximum effect would be "Trivial". My reasoning is that having your regent travel to a distant land and slaying some dreaded beast would still be a boost to the domains morale and loyalty, etc. The overall fame (or infamy) of the regent in the wider world should have some effect.

[arpig2]

Upon further reflection, that's a pretty chintzy rationale for a modifier, so I think it should just be dropped in the name of simplicity.

So with that decision made, here is the updated version.

[AndrewTall]

Looks good, and I agree that fame won by the regent is likely to raise morale at home - although context will play a role.

[arpig2]

Oh absolutely, the context of the adventure will always be important in adjudicating the results.

[Thelandrin]

Thanks for the new PDFs. They make this even more interesting to have adventures. :D

[AndrewTall]

I've played wizards a few times, having 'adventure' actions that were effective while not unduly risky would make them much more playable, small realms would probably also see a reasonable benefit - or those in Vosgaard which expect personal regent attention as 'the norm'.