Let’s talk about RPG towns. And Town Mode. And an eensy weensy, tiny widdle pwoblem I ran into recently while building a town. For Town Mode.
The problem? I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.
When I started writing this Town Mode s$&%, I thought I had it all figured out. Well, I thought I had it mostly figured out. Figured out enough. And I figured I’d use my recently reincarnated AOWG to work the rest out before I had to write the next Town Mode article. The one wherein I actually explain what a Town Mode town looks like. Building my own Town Mode town would let me take the nebulous s$&% I thought I knew and make it into a concrete thing.
Now, don’t panic. This ain’t the disaster it sounds like. It’s not like I don’t know how to Town Mode at all. And I’m not canceling the series. It just took me some extra time to work out the problem. And fix it. And if I hadn’t put my AOWG on hold for health reasons, I’d have gotten it done sooner.
But get it done I did. Which is why I’m writing this today. This here’s another Supplemental Bulls$&% article about Town Mode. It’s about how no one knows how to handle Training. And why that’s an important thing to know. And why I had to figure out how to handle it right.
Word of warning, though? This here’s another incomplete system. It’s the start of something I’ll need to fully codify later. It’s codified enough to get through the Town Mode thing. But I’ll come back and recodify it more once I’ve finished this Town Mode thing, okay?
Sorry. This is just how my stupid brain works sometimes.
Every Town’s a College Town
A long time ago — I don’t remember when — I argued that training’s good for fantasy roleplaying games. I don’t mean it’s good to train people to run games. Though that would be good. I mean it’s good for fantasy RPGs if the characters have to spend downtime between adventures training. That is to say, it’s good if level gains aren’t automatic. When a character earns enough XP to cross a level threshold, they’ve got to go back to a civilized locale and spend time and money turning that worldly adventuring experience into enhanced skills and abilities. Training.
From a narrative and gameplay perspective, Training does a lot of good for the game. Enough to easily balance the fact that it requires a bit more bookkeeping and that players hate it. I’m not going to waste time explaining this s$&% again though. I know I’ve explained it before. I just can’t find it anywhere.
Let’s just pretend I’ve got lots of good reasons for saying Training’s better than Not Training, okay?
Anyway…
When you think about it, Training is the sort of de facto center of the Town Mode orbit. It’s something the players want, something they can only get in Town, and something that forces them to interact with Town. Regularly. If the characters level up every two or three adventures, that means they’ve got to Train at least that often. Right?
As such, Training helps you build Town Mode towns. When you get down to it, a town’s just a container for all the s$&% you want to happen in Town Mode, right? Just like a dungeon’s a container for monsters and puzzles and treasures, a town’s just a place where Development and Interaction happen and Information is obtained and all that other Town Mode crap. Right? Building a Town Mode town’s actually about taking all that crap and turning them into locations and characters the players can interact with.
When you build a Town Mode town, you’ve got to make sure it provides all the s$&% the players need, right? And you’ve got to present that s$%& as things in the world. Well, one of those things is Training. The problem is, none of you seems to know what Training looks like. And frankly, neither did I.
But I do now…
Professional PCs
Here’s the thing: I’ve fielded a lot of questions about Training since I started singing its praises. Especially in my supporters only Discord server. And one thing I’ve discovered is that you’ve all got a really limited understanding of Training. Specifically, y’all conflate Training with mentoring. Or apprenticeship. Or one-on-one instruction. An expert— a Trainer — educates a less expert up-and-comer — a PC — in a given skill set. Teaches them new skills, tricks, and techniques.
The problem with that view is that every Town Mode town must contain a high-level Barbarian, a high-level Bard, a high-level Cleric, a high-level Druid, a high-level… you get the f$&%ing picture. You need a trainer for every class in every Town Mode town. Or at least one for every class in the party. The World of Warcraft approach.
Many of you have pointed out that’s really contrived. It strains credulity and verisimilitude and all those other fancy ways of saying it makes for a dumb-a$&, gamey world. And I agree. Me? I see Training differently. And I’ve said so. The problem is, I haven’t been able to say exactly how I see Training. Because I’ve been handwaving the whole thing in my own game.
Here’s the thing: back in the Dark Days, I was an accountant. And to keep practicing, accountants — like many professionals — had to do something called Ongoing Professional Development or OPD. Apart from just, you know, being an accountant, you had to spend a certain amount of time networking at conferences and taking classes and studying journals or even teaching courses. You had to immerse yourself in the profession.
This is really common s$&%. Most professions and trades have similar requirements. Even professional athletes don’t just play games. They work out, practice, drill, run plays, work with trainers and coaches, and so on.
The point of OPD isn’t just to learn new stuff. Some of it is. Tax laws change every year and there’s new developments in every field. But even when there’s nothing new to learn, it’s still useful to immerse yourself in a skillset without actually exercising it in the high-pressure situation of a Super Bowl Game or an IRS audit. It’s about synthesis. It’s about absorbing. It’s about building contacts. It’s about seeing things from different perspectives. It’s about experimenting and trying s$&% out. It’s about deepening your connection to your professional and recharging your professional batteries before the next tax season.
PCs aren’t apprentices. Maybe at first level they kind of are, but they’re not. They’re experts in their fields. Professionals. Journeymen at least. They know what they’re doing well enough to function in high-pressure situations. So training and practice between adventures aren’t so much about learning the skills as it is synthesizing and evolving and experimenting and connecting. It’s Ongoing Professional Development.
A fighter doesn’t need someone to teach him to make a whirlwind strike. He just needs a chance to practice the thing he accidentally did against the ogre that was sort of a whirlwind strike to see if he can do it consistently and pull it out whenever the chips are down. A wizard doesn’t need someone to teach him how to cast a fireball. He knows how to throw fire already. Given time and some research material, he can work out the formula. A cleric just needs time to reflect on his experiences and his connection to his god. Find some peace, center himself, meditate, reflect, and reconnect to the ideals that make him who he is.
Thus, the Angry view of Training is a pretty personal one. Every character does Training differently. This is why the Angry Approach to Training has thus far been handwaving that s$&%. I just say, “okay, you go off and do Training.”
From a Town Mode perspective, the Angry Approach to Training totally f$&%ing sucks. Seriously. It sucks worse than the World of Warcraft one trainer per class approach. And that’s why I was struggling to build a Town.
Trainers as a Townbuilding Checklist
As I said above, Training’s a useful Townbuilding tool. Because the need for Training provides players with a destination. A goal. When the players hit Town, they go looking for certain things, right? Places to sleep, places to eat, places to sell loot, places to buy potions, and places to Train. And those places — those Essential Services — basically work a Townbuilding checklist. They’re the places you know the PCs are going first. So they’re the first places you build.
But on the list of Essential Services, Training’s special. Inns and blacksmiths and leatherworkers and apothecaries are fun little places to create and populate. But they’re impersonal. They ain’t keyed to any specific character or role. Not the way Training is. Training facilities don’t just provide Training. They provide role-specific interactions. They provide leads to specific resources. Even adventure hooks tailored to specific roles. Training anchors individual character roles in the Town in a way few other destinations do.
See why handwaving this s$&% sucks? It doesn’t give you — the GM — anything specific to build destinations around and it doesn’t give the players anything to go looking for. See, if the players don’t know what Training actually looks like — in the world — they can’t actually look for it. And if the players don’t know what they’re looking for, they don’t know how to explore Town. If Training is an abstract, handwaved thing characters go off and do, the world interaction begins and ends with, “I go Train.”
When it comes to building, running, and playing in Town, Training’s important. Way too f$&%ing important to handwave and abstract away. But the World of Warcraft class trainer in every Town approach sucks from a narrative and worldbuilding perspective. Fortunately, as I noted, it’s the product of a limited view of Training as mentorship and instruction. If you take the broader view — Training as Ongoing Professional Development — that it’s about synthesis, experimentation, reflection, interaction, and deepening one’s connection to one’s skills in non-life-or-death situations, then maybe there’s a way split the difference.
Maybe…
Defining Training… But Not Too Definitively
Nice sell, right? Come on. You know when I say, “maybe there’s a way to get everything you want…” you know what’s coming next. “There is a way! And I found it!”
Well, guess what? There is a way! And I found it!
The key is to break Training down into different classes. Not game classes. Classification classes. Kinds of Training that are specific enough that the GM can build characters, locations, and interactions around but not so specific to a bind the GM into providing a class trainer in every Town. Classifications that can be linked to character classes and backgrounds and proficiencies. But not, like, one-for-one links.
So, first, here are Angry’s Five Training Modes.
Academic Training
Academic training includes research, study, experimentation, instruction, and consultation with experts. It’s the sort of s$&% PCs do in libraries and labs and archives or with sages and scholars. Money spent on academic training buys office supplies, experimental reagents, and consumable materials. It acquires books and equipment. And it pays fees or bribes to access private book collections or pays scholars and experts for their time.
It’s also the sort of s$&% PCs can do on their own with their own lab equipment and book collections, especially if they have a safe place to build a lab or library over time.
Martial Training
Martial training includes exercise, physical conditioning, sparring, target practice, drills, forms, martial instruction, and even brawling or pit fighting. Any physical activity that builds muscle, coordination, reflexes, and that kind of crap. Most towns have spaces set aside for conscript militia training and exercise and barracks for military training. And friendly outsiders may be welcome to participate. That’s putting aside things like back-alley brawling circles, gymnasiums, and monasteries. And money spent on martial training can buy access to such facilities as well as training partners. It also buys and maintains practice equipment, which breaks frequently, and covers fees to buy into street fights.
PCs can also engage in martial training on their own. All they need is an open space. But the more equipment they’ve got — like dummies and archery buttes and crazy mechanical obstacles — the better they can train.
Networking Training
Networking training involves interacting with others. And that can take a lot of forms. Professionals — like criminals and artisans — hang out with other professionals, especially in guild halls, and trade gossip, professional secrets, rumors, leads, and access to materials. But networking isn’t just about spending time with members of your own profession. Criminals benefit from rubbing shoulders with honest citizens like merchants, members of law enforcement, and upper-class types. Minstrels and performers get a lot of inspiration by chatting with travelers and mercenaries and sailors. They learn news from foreign lands and hear new stories. Priests deepen their connection to the divine by ministering to their flock. By going amongst the people. All that s$&% constitutes networking.
Money spent on networking mostly gets spent in dribs and drabs on food and drinks and gifts and bribes and finders fees and dues and that sort of s$&%.
By its nature, networking training ain’t the sort of thing a PC can do without a community around them. But there is a difference between networking with a professional group — a performing troupe or a guild — or just networking with folks about town. And a PC with a nice house can host enough events to bring the networking to them.
Practical Training
Practical training is even more varied than networking training. It involves practicing a skillset. Wilderness survival, for example, or artisanship or burglary or con artistry. Basically, it’s engaging in a profession. What’s the difference between doing that s$&% as Training and as part of an adventure? In a word: safety. Committing a few minor crimes around Town with a gang is much safer than delving dungeons full of monsters. And hunting in the local forest with a few buddies isn’t the same as trekking across the Sludgewater Swamp for a week trying to keep the party’s idiot gnome bard alive. Of course, hunting and burglary are more dangerous than putting in some hours at the smith’s guild filling orders.
Because practical training varies from skill set to skill set, so does the money spent and facilities needed.
Ritual Training
Ritual training is about ceremonies, vigils, rites, meditation, reflection, arcana, and spirituality. It’s about connecting with something. A deity, a supernatural force, an ideal, ki, chi, whatever. Priests spend days in prayer and meditation and reflect on the scriptures. Knights sit vigils and reaffirm oaths. Monks fast and meditate. Warlocks hide in basements with their cultist buddies inhaling hallucinogenic vapors and listening to heavy metal. That kind of s$&%.
Money spent on ritual training obviously pays for ritual materials. But it can also pay for access to ritual spaces. Either in the form of fees or in the form of donations.
PCs can engage in ritual training on their own easily enough, provided they can get long hours of safety, quiet, and privacy. And they can definitely benefit from constructing their own sacred spaces and ritual facilities.
Wait… That’s It?
And that’s it! That’s the Angry Approach to Training! Awesome, right?
F$&% no! Of course it’s not awesome! I know it’s not. It’s just five little descriptive keywords. But really, that’s all I need it to be. All you need it to be. At least for now.
Look, I was just trying to make a Townbuilding tool. A little checklist a GM could use to stock a Town Mode town with Essential Services and describe them in the world. Those five keywords do exactly that. All you have to do is assign each PC one or two Training Modes — based on their class, background, and skills — and build people and places where the PCs can engage in them. Which is all I’m doing right now.
Actually, I’m assigning each of my PCs — well, I’m working with each of my players to assign each of my PCs — a primary and a secondary Training Mode they can use to level up. One they benefit from the most and one they can settle for in a pinch.
And that should get your noggin’ joggin’.
I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s a bigger thing here. I keep differentiating s$&%. Drawing lines between things. Like, I talked about how PCs can train on their own or train with others. And how they could build their own facilities. And how some kinds of training carry extra risks that others don’t. And I’m differentiating between primary and secondary Training Modes.
Obviously, I’ve got fancy plans and pants to match.
This whole Training thing could be way more interesting. Once you define something — even if you only define it just definitively enough — you can differentiate it. Once you can differentiate it, you can build choices and strategies and tools and consequences around it.
Imagine there’s a cleric in my game that benefits primarily from Ritual Training but can also benefit from Networking. Proselytizing. Tending the flock. Doing good works for the people. And suppose, in my game, Training works better in established facilities with other professionals. Training on your lonesome is always worse. Got it?
In the past, this cleric has always cloistered himself in temples to his god wherever he goes. But now, he’s in a town with no temple to his god. Does he worship in private, setting up a little shrine in his inn room, or does he go out among the people and network? Might he get different benefits from each choice? Might there be a tradeoff?
When I started making noises about this Training s$&%, someone in my supporters only Discord server asked how the hell I’d even differentiate different kinds of Training. The fact is, I already do. In my AOWG, I treat solo training and mentored training differently. Some of the benefits are pretty specific to D&D 3.5, but if a PC Trains with a mentor instead of on their own to gain a level, they gain a 10% XP bonus on their way to the next level. They learn faster until they level up again.
And that’s just with me handwaving this Training s$&%. With this approach, I can differentiate Training Modes in all sorts of ways. Some require more time or less time. Some are cheaper. Some are more expensive. And maybe that varies depending on where the PCs are. Some might not even be available in every locale. This is why everyone must have two Training Modes.
Some Training Modes might provide extra benefits. Academic training might provide extra information or adventure hooks or access to non-core spells from my secret library of sourcebooks. Professional training provides the chance to make money on the side. Some Training Modes carry risks. Like arrest or injury. But the payoffs for those are probably better.
By defining Training the way, I have, I’ve suddenly got a bunch of little hooks I can hang Town Mode s$&% on. But not so many that it’s unmanageable. But I need to tinker and fiddle now. See what I can really do.
The point is, yeah, this is all… for now. It’s enough to build Town around. And that’s the point. But is there an Angry Approach to Training coming down the pipeline? You bet your a$& there is.
Very cool. What I’ve been doing lately is:
It will take 3d6 full days of training minus a number of days equal to your Intelligence bonus.
However, having (or not having) access to a mentor modifies this base result.
• If you do not have a mentor (typically, but not always, a member of your class) to train with, the required downtime is doubled.
• If you have a mentor that is in the same tier but is at least two levels higher than you, the time is reduced by 1d4 days.
• If you have a mentor that is in a higher tier than you, reduce the amount of time by 1 day per difference. For example, if you are Tier 1 and you mentor is Tier 3, the required time is reduced by two days.
It’s simple, but reasonable. Seems like I’d worked out costs as well, but I’m having a hard time finding those notes just now. But I’m definitely looking forward to learning more about the Angry Approach to Training!
That made a lot more sense when I re-read and saw “3d6 full days” rather than “365 full days.” Subtracting one’s INT mod from a year seemed a little nitpicky =D
Interesting…
To some extent I have gone down the same road as Taliesin but felt there was more to be had. I think you have scratched that itch…
Undecided on the primary vs secondary method with bonus to XP gain. In part because I am lazy and that is bookkeeping (easy stuff but still bookkeeping) to carry over multiple sessions etc.
My thought was to reduce the time by the method selected (letting the town size/capability dictate some aspects) and gatekeeping some levels.
In the first, can level up anywhere solo but maybe it takes a week. Travel to X location enables NT (which is half the time) is available the next town over but requires travel/expenses/etc. Want to cut the time in half by MT? Find or build a “gym”; maybe that takes 2 days but training is only 3 days so net saving of 2 days with interaction(s) to build etc.
The second enables “mandatory” aspects. Want to be a special subclass at level X selection? Find that mentor, and if I don’t allow that subclass then no mentor. Want to learn those new Battle Master moves? Gotta learn them from either a book or trainer. Only applicable at certain levels varying by class.
Granted, it all takes prep work so not really saving total work time but I find prep is easier than carryover work. YMMV
Oh, and leveling/training time is dependent on level: 4X hrs per previous level with each training day being only 8 hrs. So easy at the start and harder/longer the higher level.
I considered doing a number of days per level, but in the end, abandoned that line of reasoning, because the characterÆs current level is always relative to the next level. So, yeah, training for 9th level is hard, but you’re already 8th level, so…
That’s why I went with a flat 3d6, regardless of level. YMMV.
I’m not sure where the bookkeeping comes in. Wouldn’t you just give them XP equal to 10% of the XP needed to get to the next level as soon as they finished training?
That’s a really smart point. (I mean that sincerely) However, I wouldn’t do this because I think it would feel very differently for the player. It would feel like they got a huge chunk of XP just for finding a mentor, (And technically, that is what’s happening) but I would rather it feel like they get a little extra XP each time they practice what they’ve learned, because they had a good teacher.
I’m currently way oversimplified compared to Angry, my town mode runs in 1 week intervals so it takes a week to train, and you need a set amount of money based on your level to train, and you can define how you train.
Wine, women, and song in a week of R&R is definitely allowed.
Donation to your church plus meditation for a week is definitely allowed.
Training with a mentor is allowed.
But I’ve done nothing as yet to differentiate these other than a bonus (extra capabilities gained) being available for really powerful mentors.
It’s explicit that personal training costs get less significant as you level, but that you may need to help your henchthings with the cost.
I love the idea of requiring training to advance. The five modes with a primary and secondary mode for each character is something I plan to incorporate after reading this – and especially as a useful tool to nudge characters from one region to the next as they exhaust what could possibly be learned by those in the area. I also like the idea of incorporating non-core things as rewards for pursuing this – going to get some use out of my third party supplements for sure.
The noggin’ is joggin’. I can see how this is an absolutely vital ingredient for getting investment and engagement in town mode. Thank you for the article!
As I’m about to make a new Town™ for my players, this series has been very helpful.
I have been requiring my players 1 day/level to level up (if you are going from 1 to 2 you need 2 days of training, but from 10 to 11 you need to settle for 11 days). I’ve toyed in my mind with changing from days to weeks, months or years, for campaigns with different feelings (changing it to years would make so that by the time a human reaches level 13 he is already on his 90s, and so you usually wouldn’t have a human archmage, for example).
But I’m not yet tinkering with payment. You have already mentioned that a few times, but I find it hard to implement that because I’m playing 5e, where money is worthless. Maybe I should try? I don’t really remember you explicitly talking about why training should be a thing (I think this is one of those things you have sprinkled on several articles but never really formalized) but I get that in the end of the road it’s about choice, agency and opportunity cost. As such, I will think in these terms and fiddle with things a bit.
Thanks for the inspiration, Angry.
Why do you think money is worthless in 5e?
There are very few things to spend it on, after the first few levels. There is no simple market economy for magic items, and there are no mechanical benefits for other purchases. It is not entirely worthless but the 5e ruleset makes it very hard to spend; the players and DM must suggest/provide viable purchases.
I know I’m late to this article, but I wanted to point out that it still FEELS like a cost to the players, even if everyone knows they will always have enough money
Hi. Love it. Gets me thinking…
A potentially illustrative example of something that probably doesn’t matter, but might:
A party of 3 are levelling up to level 8. The Wizard and the Fighter just get ASI, so they seek out library for new spells, materials to experiment with, something specific depending on the AS they are boosting (dojo, mage convention, hotdog eating contest), potentially some more training if changing manoeuvres. The life cleric gets ASI and does the same as above, but at level 8 also upgrades destroy undead (might look for necromancer to summon CR1 undead for him to study and destroy) and divine strike (might find some tough guy with radiant damage resistance to hone this skill).
The question: if training is interrupted in some way, might the cleric get the ASI and the destroy undead upgrade but have to wait on the divine strike? I think the answer has to be yes or it makes no sense in game.
Another question: it’s probably fine for training to take a different amount of time depending on the level, right? In the above example, the cleric needs more time and it’ll cost him more money this time, but at other levels the spellcasting focus will be on the other foot. That way the fighter can sell stuff and the wizard can look for a necromancer while the cleric is whacking someone divinely.
I’m keen to hear any input 🙂
“Another question: it’s probably fine for training to take a different amount of time depending on the level, right?”
I’d say this depends on the pacing you want for your campaign. Do you want escalating events? Maybe it takes less time at higher levels. Do you want big changes to build in the background? Maybe it takes more time. A month, a season.
I was meaning more would it take more time for the Cleric at level 8 than for the Fighter and Wizard at level 8, because the Cleric gets more stuff. I think I like the idea in terms of pacing to have more training for level 5 for example and less for level 9.
I do like the idea of the time taken being relative to the campaign type. I think my next campaign will be slower, so training will take longer.
When you mentioned training methods that might work across classes, I immediately thought of the 4e power sources. Arcane, divine, martial, and primal powers could develop through different approaches appropriate to the power source.
I much prefer having a primary and secondary training method per character, though. Even in 4e, a bard is a closer match to a rogue than a swordmage which itself is closer to a fighter, despite crossing power sources. There’s some interesting characterization here as well, the traditional wizard locking themselves in a tower to research is different from a wizard who attends seminars and swaps notes at a magical college, even if they bring the same mechanics to the field.
Great article. I think one of the most interesting part is how, by defining training types and various ways each training types can be done, you can create ways in which training interact with other Town Mode objectives and activities. Networking among the merchant could net you a patron to fund your next expedition, preaching and helping the poor could help you undermine the tyrant who rules the city, etc.
This could further deepens the strategic aspect of Town Mode, as you could choose a training method that is less efficient to actually gain your level, but gives you some other sort of benefit. It would be harder to find those kind of side benefits to isolated training, but maybe that’s a feature? Training with others is more efficient because it creates relationship you can rely on later?
Lots of food for thought there, that’s for sure. Can’t wait to see how you flesh out this concept!
How bluntly do you tell your players about the different types of training? I can imagine a lot of my players never even thinking about networking as a type of training.
I like it though. It gives me some ways to expand the ‘You spend some time training’ sentence.
For those of you presenting multiple ways to figure a training timeline (Xdays x Ydice or what have you) Why? What are you doing to make that time matter? What is happening during that 3d6 days versus the 365 days (as someone misread) that makes the time away from the dungeon training count?
Because you are applying a day/week time pool to introduce complications during downtime. Not to mention that deadlines for plot hooks and adventures themselves that Angry mentioned in his previous town article. Time should always matter, and everything you do should have a time cost, or it is pointless like you say.
1. Bumming around Town costs money. The longer the players spend in training, the more they’ve got to pay Lifestyle costs.
2. Training costs money too. The more time it takes to Train, the more it costs.
3. Bumming around Town raises the possibility of Complications. Every day the party spends in Town is a chance for something to go wrong.
4. Bumming around Town allows Threats to grow. Every day the party spends before they take on an adventure might make that adventure worse.
Time should ALWAYS count. Whether it’s in the dungeon or outside of it. How it counts varies. But it always counts.
For 5E, it might be interesting to let characters do their level-up training for free (so they don’t ragequit) but give them the option of spending extra gold during training to gain feats, optional features or non-core spells.
Bring it up in session 0. If anyone ragequits because of this then you know they don’t want to play in a good game of pretend elves, they want to play look at my cool character build
If someone ragequit over something like this, good riddance.
If someone ragequits over ANYTHING, good riddance. Adults do not ragequit. Toddlers ragequit.
Well said. Very well said.
And on an unrelated note, I’m very interested in what you mentioned about access to non-core spells and features being a reward for some training modes like Academic Training, and how we might implement that.
Super interesting ideas here. I’ve been working on prepping a campaign with 1:1 time and plan to use the abstracted training time in the DMG, but I really like the idea of creating some more interesting hybrids of training + X like you’ve got going on here. A Wizard with the right laboratory could work on spell research AND leveling-up at the same time, taking more time than either one but less total time than doing each independently. Or a Bard with access to a high-society performance gig could be sowing rumors AND leveling-up simultaneously.
It also helps me envision other hybrids of downtime activities that might be interesting to explore.
Tying access to these things to a minimum Lifestyle requirement can start to make gold management an true complication.
‘Ping! Choose new ability/skill/feat; Long Rest. On with the dungeon.’
Versus
“So, on return to town, you feel ready to develop some new skills. How do you want to go about doing that?”
How much more literal can character development be?
Seems really similar to xanathars downtime rules.
Angry, what do you think about using Tension Dice during Town Mode?
To me it feels appropriate, especially knowing that Tension Dice should only ever bring annoying complications and therefore not actual Adventure Hooks. Though why not even do that every once in a while? Hmm.
I think Angry mentioned this in a comment on the post about randomising adventure hooks. As you say tension dice are for complications only and shouldn’t be used for rewards (and a hook is a reward as they don’t have to go looking for work).
That’s the reason for building a new system for using dice to determine hooks. Tension Dice should be used in Town Mode, but only for what they are for (determing complications).
Tension dice are used when you need to build Tension. It’s in the name. Town mode is when your safe from the usual threats you encounter during adventures and as such you probably shouldn’t be trying to build Tension, at least not in the same way that you do during adventures.
Tension Dice should definitely be used during Town Mode. Or whatever you use to mark the passage of time and make it cost something. And you’re right that Tension Dice should only make the PCs lives more complicated. Not offer rewarding adventures.
Recently I have been taking a break from 5e to run Scum and Villainy (a sci-fi mod of Blades in the dark) and one thing I like about the system is how codified downtime (aka town mode) is. For those that don’t know, downtime actions are a limited resources that players get access to in-between adventures to perform specific game mechanically important duties. They include healing wounds, recovering stress, building or purchasing rare weapons or items, or gaining bonus exp through training. There’s also an action called “start a long term project” which is intentionally vague as a way for players to fill in the blank with whatever they want. Interestingly, while the system has defined the mechanics of these actions, the players are free to flavor how each action specifically looks in-universe. Reading this article, I’ve noticed that my players really enjoy being able to add their own flavor to help define their characters in the world, and have developed preferences between actions they want to do, versus actions they need to do.l based purely on the ways they have chosen to flavor each action. What’s especially interesting, and relevant to this article, is how the ways they flavor their downtime actions cleanly slot into each of the 5 training types you’ve defined here (even for things that aren’t training). One player character is all about getting into low stakes brawls (martial training), and building connections with weapons dealers (network training), another has started a cult that they are invested in growing (network training), another player is constantly off on his own tinkering and building new weapons (academic training), another has been trying to build an run his own private bar (professional training), and another just wants to spend their time quietly taking care of their sickly Grandma (ritual training).
All of this is basically a very long winded way of saying that I have anecdotal evidence that this is definitely something that players want, even if they don’t know it, and that players will naturally develop their own preference between the five flavors of training, even if there is no mechanical difference.
That said, having different rewards depending on which type of training you do could be interesting too.
Exactly the article I needed, exactly when I needed it!
Bravo!
An emergency interrupting you training is like a wandering monster interrupting your rest, it is not a reward, and a suitable outcome of the tension pool.
Training takes as long as it needs to. It must be adjusted for the flavor of the game. Mekton had rules for self taught and instructor lead skill development, and Mage had time and cost rules for being taught, but neither of those are necessarily relevant to your current pretend elf game because your elves are not mecha pilots or reality cheating edgelords. A medieval authentic game will have a different training regiment from an over the top action fantasy even if both use the same engine.
I suggest that this is a job for the Any Stat. How far along on training are you, what are you doing to train now, and how well did it go? Congratulations, you started at one and gained two points toward that strength increase by helping out the blacksmith during your stay. There is also a case to be made for differentiating between being taught by a trainer, reverse engineering something that one encountered, and original research; “I will teach you a skill,” “how did he do that,” and “I wonder what I could come up with if I…”
There is also a question whether training progression or up keep needs to happen on adventure. Has the party been getting their homework in while traveling, or was there regression.
I think the article where you talked about Training was Navigating the Gamerspace (https://theangrygm.com/navigating-gamer-hyperspace/).
This reminds me of a Tom Holsinger article in issue 10 of Dragon Magazine.
I like the 10% XP bonus for having a mentor. This has me thinking that great teacher give a higher % bonus, which is why people travel from all over to find them, possibly giving us a quest/adventure hook or motivation/choice.
I really like your five types of training. I’ve never required training in any of my games but I like this idea enough that I want to incorporate it. I don’t really love the idea of a primary and secondary training style for each class though. If one type is objectively better then another then there isn’t really an interesting choice for the player to make, they just feel bad if the “good” training isn’t available in that town.
I’d rather see different types of training provide different bonuses to the PC. A wizard training in the library might discover a new spell while a wizard that does some practical training might find a way to enhance one of their lower level spells, perhaps increasing the AC of their Mage Armor to 14. It would be interesting to find a way to allow each class to gain a benefit from each type of training though that might not be feasible.
Feeling bad happens. That isn’t a good way to judge a game mechanic. Sometimes, things don’t go your way. Also, sometimes, the “objectively worse” mode of training provides a bonus that, in a given situation, appeals more. Which is why such things exist. Because when a thing becomes an incomparable, it is no longer “objectively” anything.