While out for a walk yesterday I started thinking about how to make Freebooters campaigns naturally progress beyond the 10,000 silver mark. The characters would be rich enough to retire, but they wouldn’t want to for some reason – but what could they do with it?
What came to mind, among other things, was nobility. A character or two could be appointed lordship by a king or sultan or something, preferably on the border of civilized lands. They’d still have a reason to go exploring – protecting their subjects from things just outside their borders, or being dragged away for a while as a diplomat to a distant land.
Unfortunately, I doubt my players will progress beyond 10,000 silver. I’m willing to bet we’ll either start over with new characters or try a different system (although I’m loving Freebooters and would love to return to it in the future). It did, however, give me an idea for two new moves, centering around a single noble character in the party:
For Nobles:
Once per player per session, when you give an order, clear or implied, that a party member refuses, mark XP.
For Subjects:
Once per session, when you accept an order, clear or implied, from the noble character, mark XP.
This would encourage there to be a dynamic between the noble and subjects – they’d have a reason to follow, he’d (or she’d) have a reason to make them not want to. And, of course, the only bonus is experience. You don’t have to follow the orders or give ones they don’t want to follow. You’re just encouraged to in order to drive the story forward.
I think “per player” might need to be removed, however. In my current group that would mean up to 5 XP per session, which would roughly double the XP gain per session if the noble player really capitalized on it.