Adventuring Companies

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Persimmon
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Adventuring Companies

Post by Persimmon »

One thing I started doing quite awhile back and still do for longer (or projected) campaigns is create an adventuring company stocked with a diverse pool of PCs. Then, the players for a particular session/adventure will choose from the larger pool to assemble the actual party for that adventure. I like doing this for a number of reasons. First, especially at lower levels, there's the very real chance of character death. So this provides replacements with built-in plausibility. Second, it gives players the chance to try out different classes. Usually our groups are small so most players run at least two PCs, but this gives the option to swap characters in and out. Third, along these lines, groups can be tailored for specific adventures or missions. So if it's an information gathering adventure, maybe all the stealthy types go. If you need help from the elves, maybe leave those dwarf PCs at home or vice versa. Fourth, when I create PCs for campaigns I always provide a small hook linking them to planned events giving the adventures more depth and customization. Of course players can bring their own PCs, who can just be dropped into the company, but I've found that most of my players actually prefer going with the pre-gens. Finally, I love rolling up characters with interesting, but short, backstories. So this lets me do that. I also create NPC companies as competition or for flavor, usually with fun names like "Gnomes Alone," "Cha-Li's Angels," and "No Missed Stakes," a group of vampire hunters.

So below is a sample adventuring company, Agents of Fortune, that I've created for an upcoming campaign I'm sketching out. The group will be based in the City of Kalas, which I've situated on the coastal trade routes that run along the south of the main continent in my setting. The idea is that they'll start with a few short town adventures, then I'll run the group through modified versions of the U (Saltmarsh) and A (Slave Lords) series, which will have clues and links to the meta-plot. After those, the main campaign arc will begin with the survivors/favorites, still swapping in and out as needed.

Agents of Fortune
Thorondir--Male Wood Elf Ranger Guardian of the Mistsparkle Woods
Huiyuan, Male Human Novice of the Purple Lotus Sect (Monk)
Little Elk, Female Human Barbarian of the Elk Tribe of Hyperborea
Niannor the Aeromancer, Female Grey Elven Wizard
Anyanka, Human Priestess of Freya (Cleric)
Windrose, Female Halfling Druid
Percival the Armiger, Human Divine Knight of Apollo
Saladrin, Male Halfling Archer & Axebeak Jockey
Franz Foehammer, Male Dwarf Warrior Priest
Jak Knife, Male Gnome Arcane Bard
Gwon Yul, Male Human Sohei (Foresworn)
Morfindien, Male Half-elf Mountebank (Illusionist/Thief)
Silvermoon, Female Human Oathsworn
Saigo Katsumoto, Male Human /Astral Ronin Ethereal Knight [Father was an Astral Ronin; a Swords & Wizardry Monster/NPC]
Boudicca, Female Human Skald
Glorfyndal, Male Human Wood Elf Fighter/Magic-user & Heir to the Throne of Earthstar

Should be enough to get us started. Anyone else use adventuring companies?
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jahydin
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Re: Adventuring Companies

Post by jahydin »

Really cool idea!

I've been thinking of doing something similar in order to get games started quicker and also to help a "Game Over" situation when characters die.

For mine, I'm thinking of starting the game with players rolling up characters, but only being able to choose from the main four (Fighter, Cleric, Rogue, Wizard). This makes getting into the game pretty fast after rolling Attributes. Max party: 4

Then after the first dungeon, the PC's can start their Company with maybe 8 characters. They are still rolled up by them and can be of any class in the Player's Handbook. Max party is now 8.

Then as the game progresses, even more classes can be "unlocked" (Adventurer's Backpack mostly) and NPCs added to the Company. Maybe gold can be used to for this purpose too? Maybe even use gold to level up characters via training up to the highest PC level? Not sure...

Oh, and if at any time there isn't anyone left in the company, then it is "Game Over" and a new campaign is started.

Haven't tried any of it yet, but I can't stop thinking about it...

serleran
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Re: Adventuring Companies

Post by serleran »

I do not typically use them but for one adventure a long time back now, I made an entire NPC party as an item a player had could tap into their abilities/memories, and so I needed a lot of details (and it would not have worked well on the fly, as I would have forgotten stuff.)

I don't recall all the names, but one was a half-orc fighter/ranger (not either but a combination I was calling a Stalker) named Groin.

Even as a player, we do not often form a "company."

The closest I can say I have regularly used is to transplant the Flaming Fist (of Forgotten Realms) as a merc unit in virtually every game I run. Somewhere. I guess I just like the name and the theory of them... not necessarily the actual details.

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Captain_K
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Re: Adventuring Companies

Post by Captain_K »

My OLD High School group, thanks to the magic of the internet, mobile phones, and fantasy grounds or video chats are gaming again.. just four of us. Each player rolled up two PCs... each CK does a short adventure that takes the other six PCs to the next level while their PCs "rest it out" for some reason or other.... then the CK swap and the next six PCs go at it for one level... adventure based leveling, but also two PCs incase one is in the back or gets wacked, or hurt... but I love the idea of having an even bigger pool to choose from incase of actual PC death, has not happened yet, but darn close.
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Re: Adventuring Companies

Post by Lurker »

I don't have a company per say, but in my girls' face to face game they have a village they are operating out of and I do have a pool of NPCs they have access too, so far an orphan girl thief, a guardsman fighter, a scout ranger, and the daughter of the local herbalist healer, and a traveling bard (well 2 of them but one thanks to some bad CHA rolls has become a sarcastic thorn in their side in the evenings at the pub so one probably isn't on option as an extra NPC in the pool)

Also, on their last night gaming I split the healer off from the group doing a separate search for extra herbs etc while the main group hunted 2 herds of swine, so for the healer's time I had to rest of the group run generic fighters and scouts with her (2nd lvl fighters or thieves) and they rolled the worst possible random encounter - a wholly rhino to close to avoid interacting with it (btw wholly rhinos in 1e were 10 HD brutes so NO joke of a beast) so they had to be very careful and not escalate it into a fight or there would have been a lot of dead low level NPCs !

I had an idea for a historical noble's 'Affinity' or extended entourage that would be usable as a company or pool for the group. Never fleshed it out just some rough ideas.
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Go0gleplex
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Re: Adventuring Companies

Post by Go0gleplex »

Back at the end of the 80's into the mid-90's our group had a common world that was split into four areas. Each area was under the dominion of one of the four DMs (I had the lower SE coast). The party formed the 'Guardians of the Sapphire' (based on a massive star sapphire we had found in one of our earliest adventures) and eventually had bases in each major city of each quadrant. When the party was adventuring in an area, the character of the DM running that zone was 'back in town dealing with party admin stuff and running the numerous orphanages and businesses we had going. It also gave us legitimate reason to have multiple characters, some of whom were specifically for a particular area of the world. I think that's about as close to an adventuring company as we ever got.
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Re: Adventuring Companies

Post by Rigon »

My high school group formed the Various Artists Adventuring Company outside of the Dales region in the Forgotten Realms. We each had multiple PCs of various levels in the company. That way we could play different levels as we wished. The original group founded a city around their manor house, called Happytown. 30 years later and we still make all of our starting PCs as members of the Various Artists or from Happytown. The OG characters are all now demi-gods and the second tier characters (the first group we made after establishing the VAAC) run things.

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Captain_K
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Re: Adventuring Companies

Post by Captain_K »

We have done the same to allow many DMs, each has a sphere of control, be it as small as the North side of London, but not the orphanage which is actually a secret Monk set.... you get the point, multiple PCs, all share a world where multiple DMs have to have PCs come and go. We liked having a home base and a way to swap PCs in and out of the group, up to the new DM to explain where their PC had to go and why new ones came and went too. Also works for nights when folks could not be there or leave early.... magic door or portal items are nice. One group has two cloaks that are opposite ends of dimension doors of near infinite length.... one hangs on a rack in an elven university in Southern England (Isle of White actually).... the other one PC wears...
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maximus
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Re: Adventuring Companies

Post by maximus »

My son's party is considering getting a charter from the City of Greyhawk as an official adventuring company. Not sure where that's going to lead, but it sounds like fun. They have already taken on quests for several lords, so they have somewhat of a reputation already.

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Persimmon
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Re: Adventuring Companies

Post by Persimmon »

And here is my over the top adventuring party for my apocalyptic storm the Infernus campaign. We've never finished it, though I did have a group make it pretty far back in college. Obviously, this is primarily for fun at this point, given the huge party size. I did run a couple sessions in college with 20 players, but that was nearly impossible. The group that made it the furthest consisted of 4-5 players, running several PCs each. Most of these characters are conversions of 1e characters from way back in the 80s-90s. A few are newer additions. As you'll see there are a few variant classes and a couple home-brewed ones. All PCs have a signature weapon, several of which are unique items. And I decided to give each a mount or animal companion, which got pretty fun as well. So think of this as like the C&C equivalent of the Avengers.

1. Persimmon, King of Earthstar
Male Wood Elf Fighter/Wizard
Weapon: Anguron, Flamberge sword of sharpness+6 (Flames on command)
Mount: Greycloud the Hippogriff

2. His Martial Grace, Father Gondolin, High Priest of Ukko
Male Human Cleric
Weapon: Silver Mace of Demon Slaying +3
Mount: Goldspire the Unicorn

3. Boramon, Court Bard of Briarwold
Male Half-elven Arcane Bard
Weapon: +4 Shortsword of defense
Mount: Summer the Mare

4. Crom Thistletoes, Bounder of the Ardentshire
Male Halfling Ranger
Weapon: +5 Elven Shortbow that doubles arrow damage
Mount: Gripper the War Hound

5. Kanda, Arch Battle Priest
Male Dwarf Warrior Priest
Weapon: Runic Morningstar +3
Mount: Steelmane the War Pony

6. Talani, Knight Commander of the Queen’s Thorns
Female High Elf Knight
Weapon: Elven Longsword+4
Mount: Huorn the Megaloceras

7. Sir Goltar the Lightbringer
Male Human Paladin
Weapon: Spellbane, Holy Avenger Broadsword+5, +10 vs. Chaotic Evil
Mount: Lightning the Dragon Horse

8. Branar Bloodaxe of the Jarldoms
Male Human Barbarian
Weapon: Axe of the Barbarian +3
Mount: Grund the Mammoth

9. Aelrik Alebane, Champion of Thor
Male Half-ogre Berserker
Weapon: War Club of Thunderbolts+6
Mount: Baleronth the Mastodon

10. Mayonaka, Lady Midnight
Female Human Ninja Assassin
Weapon: Ninja-to+4
Animal Companion: Kuro the Fox

11. Guan Yunchang the Loyal
Male Human Wuxia
Weapon: Green Dragon Cresecent Blade+6
Mount: Chitu the Red Horse

12. Dorinthorm the Master Alchemist
Male Dwarf Runegraver
Weapon: Mithril Runehammer+4
Mount: Bloodfang the War Boar

13. Tolbert Goodburrow the Scout
Male Halfling Fighter/Rogue
Weapon: Rapier & Main-gauche+3
Mount: Arod the Pony

14. Karnaag the Windtalker
Male Half-orc Witchdoctor
Weapon: Great spear, Frostbrand+3, +6 vs. fire creatures
Mount: Iron Claw the Polar Bear

15. Myojong, Master of Autumn of the Purple Lotus Sect
Male Human Monk
Weapon: Naginata+3/Open Hands & Feet
Mount: Jinfu the Yak

16. Aryanna Starbrow the Aeromancer
Female Grey Elf Wizard
Weapon: Staff of Thunder & Lightning
Mount: Silvercloud the Pegasus

17. Brutus Braveheart the Slayer
Male Human Oathsworn
Weapon: Gladius of Quickness+3
Mount: Misty the Horse

18. Aeollyn Windflower, Great Druid of the Vale
Female Human Druid
Weapon: Scimitar of Eterrnal Redemption+4
Animal Companion: Moon the Owl

19. Konishi Yorinaga, Shugo-daimyo of Mimana
Human Male Samurai
Weapons: Katana+5 of Defending; Wakizashi+1
Mount: Zhui the War Horse

20. He Xiangu, the Lady Adept
Female Human Adept (Wuren)
Weapon: Demon-quelling Knife+3
Mount: Bailei the Giant Crane

21. Rupert Dwimmerlake the Mountebank
Male Gnome Rogue/Illusionist
Weapon: Shotsword+2,+5 Troll Slapper
Mount: Mini sleigh pulled by Jackalopes

22. Enhuadanna, High Priestess of Ishtar
Female Human Cleric
Weapon: Flail of Glory+4
Mount: Frampton the Camel

23. Khutulun the Princess
Female Human Archer
Weapon: Short Composite Bow+3 with everfull quiver of magic arrows
Mount: Skymantle the Steppe Pony

24. Cymantha of the Blade
Female Human Pirate
Weapon: Cutlass of Zaifang+4
Animal Companion: Marsalis the Spider Monkey
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