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Gaming Vacation

More like "Infinitely Scewing Around On The Beach"
The post schedule around this blog hasn’t been the smoothest as of late. Between life’s pressures and unexpected tragedies such as rock legends (and personal heros) dying, it's not hard to imagine how that would impact a regular day. Unfortunately for our dear readers, one of the things that has kept me from writing over the past few weeks is vacation. Though, while one might expect they'd get more writing done on a vacation, the fact of the matter is that taking your whole family on a trip, even limited to those living in your own household, is something of a job in itself. Vacation is what I want to talk about this week, though, so perhaps it works out after all. While I may have previously talked about gaming while on vacation and finding inspirations in your trips, or even taking a vacation from your weekly game,  this week I want to look at something a bit different: giving the characters a vacation. 

Time to Party

Our characters in tabletop roleplaying games and \other media, likely have some motivation for their adventuring. Perhaps they’re out to save a princess, seek glory for their family, vengeance for a fallen loved one, justice for a wrong, or just trying to ferret out some riches... any number of (probably cliché ) reasons at this point. Is that really all there is these characters' lives, though? Hack. Slash. Loot. Repeat. These people must truly hate their lives if all they ever do is work, work, work - or rather: adventure, adventure, adventure. A single-mindedness in attaining loot, achieving revenge, finding the long lost macguffin, vengeance, reaching a desired status, revengence, etc. Sure, we get a vacation from them - we’re likely only visiting them for once a week, month, or some other periodic installment. They’re not getting a vacation, though. It's time for those characters to party! Heck, even Star Trek has Risa. So let your characters go on vacation, darn it!

Even by the third season, they knew fans wanted Picard in a Speedo
What do they get out of it? 

Vacations in the real world are a little easier to understand. We get away from our day-to-day lives and enjoy a different locale. We might actually take in an adventure ourselves, but otherwise it's a chance to relax and recharge - even when it is just a "stay-cation" of sorts. No matter how we’re vacationing, it can be difficult to go back to that day-to-day, but it does seem a bit easier to handle after we’ve been away, as opposed to keeping at it every single day. How does that work for our characters, though? It doesn’t seem right to let them lounge at a resort or lay out on a beach, and then level up, afterwards. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.. right? A "level" does seem like a lofty reward for some lazing about, but let's not forget that a character bonus can be temporary, not unlike those fleeting upbeat feelings we get after our vacations. Consider granting a temporary boon, or perhaps a one-time use souvenir, as a reward for a successful vacation for the characters. How do they earn those rewards, though? 

Vacations aren't without their costs, even "staycations." Any vacation is likely to have a monetary value, and a vacation in your tabletop game shouldn’t be any different. It should cost the characters something, and how much that's going to be depends on the vacation they’re going on. Vacations are aren't short with their own complexities and challenges, even when it doesn’t turn into a murder mystery or a situation where the characters have to stop some terrorists from destroying a weather control device, there are still things to take on. What will the characters do for food... and will they enjoy what they get? Accommodations, entertainment/activities, transportation to the destination... there are all sorts of things to consider as non-standard challenges. Let your players decide how they want to vacation, you get to come up with the challenges, and the players get to have fun solving them for their characters. Perhaps their shuttle gets delayed, or the waitstaff at the hotel are extremely rude. Maybe the food is terrible. Every choice can increase the "enjoyment level" of the characters. Then, once the trip is over, consider what character or characters may have "enjoyed" the most on their trip . Let that be a guide to the temporary boons you hand out, and everyone will have had a good time. 

Do characters really need to go on a vacation? Probably not, but it adds new possibilities to your gaming tables. You still can throw in the odd murder mystery if you like (or your players are begging you do to one), but sometimes a vacation can just be a vacation. If the characters are traveling, though, and spending their hard earned gold/credits, make sure there's some sort of reward at the end to keep things fair. Until next week, folks, I hope all of your vacations. in-game or otherwise, have great weather, delicious food, and relaxing accommodations. Take care, enjoy your tables and your dice. 

- A

Send question, comments, and games based on those "local attraction" pamphlets you get at rest stops to neversaydice20@gmail.com.

 

When I was a kid, I didn't know that the worm thing was mezcal, not tequila. Now I'm irrationally angry about it.

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