Boy I was psyked as I´ve seen the carousing activities. I made a Cyberpunk RPG once, where I wanted to simulate 1) that money is especially important and 2) where the players blow their riches between adventures. So I tied many positive effects to money spent between adventures. As I have seen that Conan does this as well, in this get-rich-and-spent-everything-to-to-get-rich-again-universe, I knew I was in love. But I think there could be vastly more of them. As I may be an experienced GM, but not an experienced 2d20 GM, I would be grateful if you could look at these carousing events and give feedback (costs, usefulness, like/dislike). If you have more ideas, just post them here, maybe we can collect quite a list of new carousing events. So, here are my first ideas, what do you think:
New Carousing Activities
Whores, Song and Wine
The character blows his money away for the joys of life without looking back.
He can pay 1 gold per momentum that goes directly into the momentum pool. Maximum is 6 and one of them normally fades away after every scene.
He can pay 2 gold per personal momentum. Personal momentum does not fade away and can only be used by that character it belongs to, maximum of personal momentum per character is 6. When the character wants to spent momentum out of the pool, he MUST draw from his personal pool before he may draw from the group pool.
Luxury
The character spends his wealth for soft beds, good food and warm baths. He may pay 3 gold for every fortune point he starts in addition to his starting value up to his personal maximum.
Staying in shape
The character spends his wealth to train and to pay for instruction and advices. He may spend 2 Gold per 50 XP, 200XP is the maximum he can get in this carousing phase.
Taking a tour
The character can pay 3 Gold to get to know the region the next adventure will be start in, as long as it is a civilized region (such as a city) and the character has several days to explore it before the adventure starts. For the rest of the adventure, the character rolls 1 additional D20 when making tests concerning orientation or public knowledge about this region.
EDIT: Lowered the “personal momentum cost” to 2 Gold.
The character takes care of his body and/or his mind. He reads books or religious texts, spends time doing meditation, getting massages, visting public bathes etc. For every gold he spends, he gets 1 point of “temporary vigor” or “temporary resolve”. He can buy a number of points up to his current vigor and/or resolve. This “temporary points” do not regenerate, but they cancel damage to vigor or resolve until they are spent. “Temporary points” do not count for the rule of getting 1 Harm when getting 5 damage. Example. The character has Vigor 9 and 3 temporary vigor points. When he gets 5 damage, his 3 temporary vigor points cancel three damage, so he has Vigor 7 and he does not receive 1 harm, as he has actually only gotten 2 damage to his vigor.
EDIT: Raised the points you can buy from 50% to 100% of your vigor/resolve
You can pay 2 Gold to start the next adventure groomed and cleaned. You have bathed, you are maybe perfumed, have oiled or cut your hair, wearing attractive new clothes and are clean shaven (either face and/or legs). You may reroll 1D20 of personality tests until you get dirty or went to sleep 2 times.
Sorry had not much time before. Not a native speaker, but I meant with “groomed” especially well cleaned, shaven and styled (Luxury groomed, disco groomed, court groomed). This is the reason it only last two days, it is assumed that the hero had groomed himself several times in the carousing, and now as a coincidence did that as well at the start of the adventure.
Your definition is how I understood your use of “groomed.” Well done.
I know you’re not asking me, but I haven’t looked close or thought deeply about your other Activities. I find it interesting that you are attracted to this project. I see you hope to crowdsource it more. Do you perhaps hope to gather enough for a supplemental/alternative table with results from 2-40, or maybe just 1-20?
Do you have many of the “campaign” books, i.e., Conan the Thief, Conan the Barbarian, etc.? You might be interested that many of those—maybe all?—contain alternative Carousing tables according to the campaigns being emulated.
I have in fact access to some of those books, but so far, I “only” found Carousing events (which I appreciate very much), but so far, I failed to find additional Carousing activities. I am a big fan of the idea that heroes in the Conan universe, who value live and don´t think of tomorrow, throw their money away to live life to the fullest. In fact, even in other fantasy universes, I think that would be a realistic tendency many people would have who chose the life of an “adventurer”.
I am very attracted to the idea to simulate this by tempting the players with small buffs to spent their money instead of hording the money or raising the upkeep costs. I think, for the players, this is much fun to spent their money like a Rockstar and get rewarded with fleeting, albeit useful bonuses. With this, they don´r feel punished and have fun like Conan to throw their money away.
But the collection I got from all the books I have access to is imho lacking. In my opinion they need a great collection of things they can access to keep this thing interesting, especially in long.term campaigns.
So, if you know a book where I can find additional activities please let me know and if you homebrewed something up, just post it here. The more, the better.
While patrons are big sponsors, it can be valuable to know people on the streets. The character may spent 2 gold per combat die he rolls. For every effect he rolled, he gets a contact in a kingdom he is traveling through in his Carousing phase. Don´t define the contact just yet, define only the Kingdom he is in. If you are in that Kingdom, you may say to the GM that you want to meet one former contact and say what he could be useful for, the GM may refuse. Contacts are not close friends, but they like you in a way and when they appear, they are always useful, albeit they maybe want to be paid or share the loot. If the GM refuses, you may keep the contact. They can be for example informants, reinforcements, traders or anything else you can imagine.
Example from “The devil in Iron”: The PC plays Conan and is leading an army against an evil sorcerer, from whom he knows nothing about. In his former Carousing phase, he met 2 contacts in Khoraja and noted on his sheet: Contacts: “Khoraja: 2”. The player asks the GM: “I want to know more about the sorcerer. Could I meet one of the contacts that can tell me more?” The GM agrees and tells the player, that a thief of Zamora he knew comes to his fire and recognized the sorcerer from a coin he found and gives him more information (which I don´t want to spoil, read the story, it is great). After the scene, the player notes on his character sheet: “Khoraja: 1 Contact + a thief of Zamora (+ the name of the contact).”
No, I don’t know of another book. I totally misunderstood your project!
This is a great idea, and you appear to be filling a niche that might have been lacking. Well done. If I think of any others, I will post here. But I expect my ideas will come from my players, and all I got going right now is a slow, mostly-PbP on Discord. I expect it will be awhile before Downtime.
And here´s some more hyperborean fun & entertainment:
Fortune Tellers
You can spend 2 Gold to go to oracles and charlatans to get divinations like palm, card and tea leaf readings. It´s just for fun, right? Or is it? Once in the next adventure, you may say to the GM that this situation reminds you of one of the cryptic messages (but surely this is just a coincidence). You get one of the following bonuses:
When you fail a test, you may choose to succeed instead.
You get 1 Momentum, either to spent immediately or for the pool.
You may ask the GM to give you a cryptic message one of the fortune tellers have given you that contain a tip for the adventure. The GM may refuse.
You commission a big place for you to rest after death. You need to have 5 Renown and either own holdings or have a patron that grants you building it on his land. Spent 30 Gold, you may pay it gradually, but you must pay 6 Gold per momentum phase, or the project is abandoned. If you want, your next Conan character gets +1 on one of his attributes at the final calculations. This is a monument and you may only profiteer with your next character from one monument.
Statue
You commission a statue to remind the world how awesome you were. You need to have 5 Renown and either own holdings or have a patron that grants you building it on his land. Spent 20 Gold. Your next character gets +1 talent. This is a monument and you may only profiteer with your next character from one monument.
Chronicles
You write or let someone write your life down, so later generations can learn of your exploits. You need 5 renown and must pay 20 gold. Your next character gets +1 focus and +1 expertise to a skill of your choice. This is a monument and you may only profiteer with your next character from one monument.
If a player of yours has cooked something up, ask him if you may post it here. I look forward to get more ideas, hand my players the list and watching them have fun to think about how to have fun with wealth this time! Thank you for your interest.
Spent 1 Gold for an especially awesome tattoo, piercing, branding or the like. It gives you no specific bonuses besides you obligate the GM in the next adventure to at least describe one time how awesome it is or have at least one NPC amazed by it (for example looking at it astoundingly or compliment your character). This can lead to opportunities.
Spent 2 Gold to get a trinket, a piece of jewelry, a book, a talisman or the like. Something worthless but pretty or important. You don´t have to define what it is just yet, just note that you have one. If you like someone or he/she likes you (not necessarily in a romantic manner), you can give it to him/ her as a symbolical gesture, you should define now what it is. Note that this is a present for someone who is emotionally connected with you (either you with him/her or he/she with you or both), it will not work when you give it to someone random. You get 1 additional 1D20 on personality or command checks when rolling against that person for the rest of the adventure.
Spent 4 Gold. You learn a language of a Kingdom you´re traveling through in your carousing phase. Albeit you will talk with an accent (like Conan), you will be considered “fluent” in the language for linguistic tests.
If you are a Herbalist , you can spent 2 Gold to become “familiar” with the plants in the region the adventure starts in (see the rules for harvesting and preparing herbs in the “Book of Skelos”.
Buy Herbal concoction recipe
If you are a Herbalist, you can buy a recipe of your choice by paying two times the lore difficulty of the concoction in Gold. You can buy receipts you have never attempted before or from which you have failed the Lore test before.
Exceptions: A “Basic concoction” costs 1 Gold. The “Golden Wine of Xuthal” can never be bought with this activity.
Buy Herbal concoction
If you are a herbalist you can buy one dose of a Herbal concoction by paying the Lore difficulty in Gold, , which you have with you at the start of the next adventure. This may simulate your expenses to make one yourself or to buy one from another herbalist. When you are not a Herbalist , you must pay twice the Lore difficulty in Gold to buy one.
Exceptions: A “Basic concoction” costs 1 Gold. The “Golden Wine of Xuthal” can never be bought with this activity.
You gained a general feel of the region you are in. If you have a homeland talent that is restricted to your homeland and if you pay 5 Gold, you can use your talent in the land you are currently in for the rest of the adventure.
Home is where the heart is
You found your true home in your travels. Once in your lifetime, you can spent 11 Gold to acquire the homeland talent from the region you are currently in permanently. Remember that RP wise, your character loves this land, don´t buy it just for the bonus.
You have made religious gestures like prayers or offerings or bought lucky talismans, “spells” or similar charlatan things in this carousing phase. You don´t have to be religious or superstitious for this, maybe you did it just out of custom. But it had an effect. Spent 4 Gold. For the rest of the adventure, you can forbade a Doom spent once for the rest of this phase. The GM may do the spent again, but all the points he tried to spend are lost without effect. Because your character doesn´t see what hasn´t happened, he´ll never now that the universe (or the Gods or magic) once did something for him.
A bit pulpy sword & sorcery plot element to sell. Use at your own risk:
Companion
Spent 3 Gold. You gain a companion that follows you for a while, this may very well be a lover or someone who just likes you. This companion is a civilian with nothing to show for adventuring wise. But he/she may be good looking, clever and maybe even nice. You will have to look out for your companion, but maybe he/she will do something useful in the adventure. After the adventure, you part ways when you don´t pay this cost again.
This activity is inspired by the girls that accompany Conan in Howard´s stories at the beginning of the adventure like in “Xuthal of the dusk”.