Mooks and Camping

The Set Up

In order to tell you the next part, I gotta tell you this part. The stated purpose of a homebrew system I'm toying with (until I inevitably get bored with it, and just use the GLOG [by Arnold K.] or Dungeon World) was to cut back on dice rolls, and to make every number important. You took time to write the numbers down, you might as well use them. "Why not FATE?" none of you ask. FATE is good, and has it's place, but I also enjoy some crunch. Reduced dice rolling AND some crunch? Yes, yes. It's about building bridges, damn it.

Either way, one of the ideas was to combine Wisdom and Charisma. Thought behind it was that Charisma is stereotypically a dump stat, and Wisdom is useful to...what, Clerics? Perceptive dudes? So, instead of two numbers laying around doing nothing, jam them into one number doing a few things. That being the Personality stat. That's why you'll occasionally see "Personality (or charisma/wisdom)" in my posts. I should probably make a short hand for this.

Personality (c) - Personality (or charisma depending on system)
Personalty (w) - Personality (or wisdom depending on system)

There. Done. Shut up.

What I'm getting at, is that one of the uses for Personality was to determine how many, and of what quality, hirelings you could have. That being you could have a total rating of mooks equal to your Personality. Got a Personality 12? Then you can have three rating 4 servants, two rating 6 servants, or twelve level 1 shitty servants running around acting as meat shields.

Also being mentioned is "Refresh." Long story short is your Vigor determines your stamina (which is basically your HP). It's effectively your ability to avoid taking lethal damage. It hits zero, you start getting stabbed to death. Quickly.

Stamina is easy to get back; you just rest for eight hours for Vigor modifier + Refresh value's worth of Vigor points restored. However, you can only get the rest needed in camp (or potions), as the dungeons are full of danger, odd sounds, bad smells, and the viscera of the monsters you just killed. Probably ghosts too.

The Pay Off

What follows is a list of mooks, used to do tasks the heroes are far to busy to do. Their primary stats are their Rating and Cost. Typically, the higher their Rating, the better they are at their job, and the more likely they are to stick around should things get violent or weird. Sometimes you just aren't paid enough for this shit. Which brings us to the Cost stat. The hired help ain't here for fun. They're here for that sweet, sweet gold. Some work for a standard rate, others for a percentage. Most mooks won't enter the Dungeon, or even leave camp, unless otherwise noted.

If the camp is attacked, roll a d6 per mook. If you roll their rating or under, they stick around. Minimum Rating is 1. Any special ability with a cost is optional. Whenever a roll is needed on their part, Rating is typically used.

Pack Mule
Rating: 1-5
Cost: Rating x 100 gold per week
Function: Can carry up to 10+Rating of inventory slots. Half rating of quick slots. This is person, not an actual mule.
Special: Paid To Be Here - Will enter the Dungeon, but will not fight
             Strong Back, Weak Mind - +2 inventory slots, +100 cost, -1 Rating

Steward
Rating: 3
Cost: 10% of the treasure or 450 gold per week
Function: Tends to the Camp, making it nice and seeing to general upkeep while their employers are gone. You know, stewarding. Only one Steward may be present in a camp at a time.
Special: Make Things Nice - +2 Refresh
             Managerial Experience - +3 personality to hire additional servants, +150 cost

Cook
Rating: 2
Cost: 200 gold per week
Function: Really? I gotta explain this one?
Special: Stone Soup - A favorite among murder hobos. +1 refresh

Camp Guard
Rating: 4
Cost: 10% of treasure
Function: Watches the camp while PCs do other things. Like sleeping. Not fond of Dungeons.
Special: The Hell is That? - +1 to Rating when attempting to make perception checks
            Death Yell - +5% to cost. Guard is able to give one final yell as he is suddenly Back Stabbed in the night, alerting PCs.

Blacksmith
Rating: 3
Cost: 200 gold per week for retainer plus cost of repairs
Function: Sets up a small forge on the edge of camp. Will repair things for you.
Special: Repair - Will repair things for cost
             Identify Material - Will identify material, if possible. 25 gold per chunk

Alchemist
Rating: 3
Cost: 200 gold per week for retainer plus cost of potion
Function: Sets up a small lab on edge of camp. Will make potions for you.
Special: Alchemy - Will brew potions at cost
              Poison - Able to make a poison if you supply ingredients. +150 to cost.

Lore Master
Rating: 2
Cost: 500 gold per week
Function: Carries a collection of grimoires. Knows some ancient forgotten knowledge.
Special: Read Scroll - Is able to translate ancients scrolls or strange moon language. Unless plot calls for otherwise, of course.
             Identify Item - Able to identify a unique object, mineral, or other thingajig which allows for their usage. Identification takes a while and the cost is variable.

Barber-Chirurgeon
Rating: 2-4
Cost: 750 * Rating gold per week
Function: Knows how to patch bodies back together. Well, most of them. Usually. They can probably fake it.
Special: Pretty Sure I Can Keep You Alive - Through their expert care, time to heal lethal wounds is quickened by Rating. Refresh is also increased by Rating.
             Shave and Haircut - 2 gold

Dog
Rating: 1-3
Cost: Rating * 500 gold out right
Function: It's a dog. It does dog things. While it understands some basic commands, a handle animal test would be needed to get it to do fancier things. Only 1 is keep-able by PC, unless class features over rule this. Will enter Dungeons.
Special: Who's a Good Boy? - Treated as having Rating 6 for Run Away rolls. As in don't bother rolling. It stays. Unless maltreated in some way.
             Tracking - Dog is able to track things occassionally, if given a proper scent to follow. +1000 to cost. What does the dog do with all this gold? I don't know. Dog things.

Skald
Rating: 1-4
Cost: Rating * 200 gold per week
Function: Tells tales, sings songs, plays pipes. Knows some history. Will record deeds of PCs and make their own songs and epics based on them.
Special: Play It Again - +Rating Refresh


More Refresh Jams
Equipment, too, can add to Refresh rates. Keep in mind, however, enough camp equipment will require wagons.

• Basic Adventure Tent: +0 to Refresh. Rolls up with bed roll for easy carrying. Sort of like a pup tent
• Really nice tent: +1 to Refresh. Thicker fabric, water proof, stronger frame. 
• Great Tent: +2 to Refresh. Strong carved A-Frame. Tall enough to stand up in. Requires Wagon
• Basic Ground Roll: +0 to Refresh. Rolls up with basic tent for easy carrying.
• Really nice cot: +1 to Refresh. Gets you off the ground. Has some furs on it.
• Great Bed: +2 to Refresh. Nice, strong bed. Plenty of warm furs. Requires Wagon to carry. 
• Adventuring Coffee: +.5 to Refresh. Gets you going. 
• Strong Ale: +1 to Refresh. Does add to Drunk rate. 
• Whisky: +1.5 to Refresh. Good old sipping whisky. Good for post adventuring. 

The basic thought behind "Refresh" is that the camp scene is nice and suitable for resting, unlike the Dungeon. Anything that would help with that would probably add to a Refresh rate. 

Hell, while I'm thinking of it:

Wagon

Has Ten Wagon Inventory slots. While a backpack also has ten inventory slots, 1 backpack takes up 1 wagon slot. Requires a beast of burden to pull. A person also takes up one slot (driver and one passenger not included) 

Covered Wagon

Has Four Wagon Inventory slots, but also functions as a Great Tent and can hold a Great Bed without set up/break down. Allowing for faster breaking of camp. 

Wagon Driver

Rating: 3
Cost: 500 gold per week
Function: Drives the wagon, takes care of the Beasts.
Special: Gopher - +2 rating, +100 gold to cost. Can be sent out for resupply or deliver messages if a town or village is close enough. Requires payment for supplies up front. Potentially vulnerable to attacks. Would be wise to send at least 1 guard. 

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