I am looking to put together a generic bounty list of monsters that an adventures guilds would have available. anyone have something existing for this type of thing? Like 1 silver per goblin ear type things?
I don't have an existing template or list of the money system but I am running a (pretty generic) campaign involving an adventurer's guild in which the players are bounty hunters. I'd say this, and you can disagree if you think it doesn't quite work:
1. Don't base it on CR - it's like using Milestone instead of XP. Don't use it based on fixed numbers - instead, offer rewards based on how frightening the enemy is. If there is a bounty put on a Medusa, for example, and three previous employees of the guild were petrified in an unsuccessful operation to terminate the Medusa, then the heads of the guild might raise the price of the bounty if the players also manage to bring back the petrified employees (and possibly un-petrify them). 2. The bounty could greatly reveal things about not just the enemy but also the guild. Why is the price on this train captain so high - 50 gold pieces for a little gnome who runs the Astral Express!? Perhaps he is more powerful than he looks - or maybe the guildmaster has some old beef with this fellow that he wants you to settle? I'm just improvising here, but you get the gist. 3. This is almost the opposite of number 2: if you want a completely different sort of aspect to this, a more mysterious way to approach this could be by giving all enemies the exact same bounty. This way players don't know what they're up against and they have to risk it based purely on what they know of the enemy. 4. If the enemies that these bounties are placed upon are all big bad bosses, then perhaps the reward should be more than just a hundred gold - maybe the guildmaster is also willing to upgrade your weapons? But if the enemies targeted by the guild aren't all big bads, and some are just more of an annoyance than a danger, then set a fixed price on all enemies deemed "pesky delinquents" by the guildmaster(s). Perhaps include a ranking system - stand-alone enemies who are wanted for minor crimes have a bounty of 5-6 silver whereas a criminal gang might have a bounty of 2-3 gold.
These are just basic ideas. Since we both have this bounty hunter system in our games, maybe we could share more ideas and you could explain a bit more about your campaign?
I don't know that there is a hard and fast bit of advise to offer, but if it were me I wouldn't have it be a generic reward for a generic item.
The 1sp for a goblin ear could very quickly spiral into hunting boars a la World of Warcraft. It can rapidly become just massacring creature that can become a grind. To avoid this then I'd have the bounties be specific and timely. Goblins have been attacking caravans on the high road. A bounty is placed on the head of the leader of this goblin band.
There's a reason why bounties are only offered for specific things. In the real world there was a period where bounties were offered for each dead snake brought in. All such schemes that have been operated tend toward failure because some greedy person will eventually come along and instead start breeding snakes in order to claim massive amounts of bounties. I believe similar has happened with Snakes, Beavers and a whole host of other creatures around the world at different times.
I tend instead to think of bounties being offered for services that tackle a problem that the townspeople or residents of an area are either too unskilled or uninterested to deal with.
Of course your milage may vary and you may feel like the grind is what your players are after. I personally tend to worry that it can get boring quite quickly.
You don't want to turn it into a grind. I wouldn't have than about 20 monsters in a bounty and even then mix it up a bit.
For example if there is a bounty on the goblins that have been causing problems for the town there should be from a single lair containing a number of goblins and wolves a goblin boss and maybe a nilbog. Once they are destroyed there are none left to harass the town and the party move on to something else.
i understand those that mention turning it into a grind. its my job as a DCXM so make sure that happens, i am doing it to create flavor for the campaign setting and give a purpose of having an adventures guild, its part of the services that are offered.
There will be adventuring teams that jsut go out in the wilderness and hunt these monsters down but the PC's will not be one of those teams, there will be other quests that I will have them do. but in the process these are things that will be able to get some extra coin.
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I am looking to put together a generic bounty list of monsters that an adventures guilds would have available. anyone have something existing for this type of thing? Like 1 silver per goblin ear type things?
I don't have an existing template or list of the money system but I am running a (pretty generic) campaign involving an adventurer's guild in which the players are bounty hunters. I'd say this, and you can disagree if you think it doesn't quite work:
1. Don't base it on CR - it's like using Milestone instead of XP. Don't use it based on fixed numbers - instead, offer rewards based on how frightening the enemy is. If there is a bounty put on a Medusa, for example, and three previous employees of the guild were petrified in an unsuccessful operation to terminate the Medusa, then the heads of the guild might raise the price of the bounty if the players also manage to bring back the petrified employees (and possibly un-petrify them).
2. The bounty could greatly reveal things about not just the enemy but also the guild. Why is the price on this train captain so high - 50 gold pieces for a little gnome who runs the Astral Express!? Perhaps he is more powerful than he looks - or maybe the guildmaster has some old beef with this fellow that he wants you to settle? I'm just improvising here, but you get the gist.
3. This is almost the opposite of number 2: if you want a completely different sort of aspect to this, a more mysterious way to approach this could be by giving all enemies the exact same bounty. This way players don't know what they're up against and they have to risk it based purely on what they know of the enemy.
4. If the enemies that these bounties are placed upon are all big bad bosses, then perhaps the reward should be more than just a hundred gold - maybe the guildmaster is also willing to upgrade your weapons? But if the enemies targeted by the guild aren't all big bads, and some are just more of an annoyance than a danger, then set a fixed price on all enemies deemed "pesky delinquents" by the guildmaster(s). Perhaps include a ranking system - stand-alone enemies who are wanted for minor crimes have a bounty of 5-6 silver whereas a criminal gang might have a bounty of 2-3 gold.
These are just basic ideas. Since we both have this bounty hunter system in our games, maybe we could share more ideas and you could explain a bit more about your campaign?
If anybody would like my GMing playlists
battles: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2mRp57MBAz9ZsVpw895IzZ?si=243bee43442a4703
exploration: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0qk0aKm5yI4K6VrlcaKrDj?si=81057bef509043f3
town/tavern: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/49JSv1kK0bUyQ9LVpKmZlr?si=a88b1dd9bab54111
character deaths: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6k7WhylJEjSqWC0pBuAtFD?si=3e897fa2a2dd469e
I don't know that there is a hard and fast bit of advise to offer, but if it were me I wouldn't have it be a generic reward for a generic item.
The 1sp for a goblin ear could very quickly spiral into hunting boars a la World of Warcraft. It can rapidly become just massacring creature that can become a grind. To avoid this then I'd have the bounties be specific and timely. Goblins have been attacking caravans on the high road. A bounty is placed on the head of the leader of this goblin band.
There's a reason why bounties are only offered for specific things. In the real world there was a period where bounties were offered for each dead snake brought in. All such schemes that have been operated tend toward failure because some greedy person will eventually come along and instead start breeding snakes in order to claim massive amounts of bounties. I believe similar has happened with Snakes, Beavers and a whole host of other creatures around the world at different times.
I tend instead to think of bounties being offered for services that tackle a problem that the townspeople or residents of an area are either too unskilled or uninterested to deal with.
Of course your milage may vary and you may feel like the grind is what your players are after. I personally tend to worry that it can get boring quite quickly.
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In one of my campaigns there was a small town having a bountry of 5 gp per lizardfolk's tail.
Another i recall was 1 gp per orc's ear.
You don't want to turn it into a grind. I wouldn't have than about 20 monsters in a bounty and even then mix it up a bit.
For example if there is a bounty on the goblins that have been causing problems for the town there should be from a single lair containing a number of goblins and wolves a goblin boss and maybe a nilbog. Once they are destroyed there are none left to harass the town and the party move on to something else.
i understand those that mention turning it into a grind. its my job as a DCXM so make sure that happens, i am doing it to create flavor for the campaign setting and give a purpose of having an adventures guild, its part of the services that are offered.
There will be adventuring teams that jsut go out in the wilderness and hunt these monsters down but the PC's will not be one of those teams, there will be other quests that I will have them do. but in the process these are things that will be able to get some extra coin.