1001 Hopeful Hirelings
1001 Hopeful Hirelings are looking for work¸ and the work they want is to make your game more interesting! There are numerous reasons your players might want to hire someone¸ from men-at-arms to laborers. Now they have choices¸ some good and faithful¸ some disloyal¸ some just plain crazy¸ complete with the details that you can put together to create character background.
1001 Hopeful Hirelings
The adventurers¸ having paid the town crier to advertise that they were hiring some men-at-arms¸ look over the collecton of would-be hirelings who have come to the inn to seek employment.
GM: Five people have come looking for work in response to your call.
Party leader: Which one is highest level?And has the best loyalty rating? That's the one we want.
GM: Well¸ that's not so easy to figure out. There's a man who keeps whistling off-key. There's a woman with a limp and a very hostile expression. There's a man who seems to have some sort of... creature... that keeps popping in and out of the hood of his cloak. There's another man who¸ frankly¸ smells. Worse than usual¸ that is. And there's a girl who can't be more than 15 half hiding behind the door.
Party leader: So... interviews
Welcome to the "1001 Things" collections!
Hirelings of all sorts are so important to the game that even many of the earliest RPG rulebooks had listings of the types available and average pay. As a GM¸ you know there are all sorts of reasons your players might need hirelings -- they decide they want a local guide¸ for instance¸ or they need to hire some guards for those large¸ awkward items they hauled out of the ogre "king's" lair. As a good GM¸ you want to have more than just a list of stats; in fact¸ you know it's more interesting to have two NPCs with identical stats but different personalities than it is to have two with the same (non-existent) personality but different stats.
That's where 1001 Hopeful Hirelings comes in. Here you have a thousand possible hirelings¸ some good and faithful¸ some disloyal¸ some just plain crazy. They're all different¸ and all interesting. The little details about them¸ with a moment's thought¸ can come together to supply a character background. Why does the former poet have a death wish? (given that he's a poet¸ probably unrequited love) What did the laborer do that he seeks to atone for¸ and does that have anything to do with his nightmares? These 1001 NPCs are just waiting for you to tell their stories.
This is the perfect list to keep in your GM's notebook (or its computer equivalent¸ nowadays) and have at hand when you need a would-be hireling. You can roll 3d10 to select one¸ take the next one off the list¸ or pick one (or more) that look interesting to you.
They're all looking for work¸ and the work they want is to make your game more interesting!
Look for more things in the 1001 Things series¸ with convenient¸ ready-to-use items for your roleplaying games.