Paymaster's Chest Campaign Idea

 Now for something shorter.

Anonymous: Payment of Salaries to the Night Watchmen in the Camera del Comune of Siena

Domain play is an aspect of tabletop games which I have found elusive. More popular systems of the current day rarely encourage it, and I am not the first to observe that collecting pets seems to have gained popularity over gathering retainers. There is nothing wrong with pets, but they do not normally betray the players or demand a raise. Lack of mechanical support is one reason for the decline of followers, player culture and experiences another, but our main cause for this is just how long it takes to afford a cadre of hirelings. At early levels my players have hired guides and translators, but never more than one or two companions. They simply lack the funds for more, though I know for a fact they enjoy outfitting and strategizing when they do have access to followers as we have had great fun planning the defense of cities and such.

Stefano Della Bella: Baggage Train

The solution seems simple then, if the players cannot afford hirelings until later levels then just give them a bigger payout to start with! This is tempting, but there is always the fear that they would rather spend their money on magic swords or bulk chickens. And therein is the great conundrum of tabletop role-playing. The appeal of TTRPGs, to myself at least, is that there is a greater freedom and immersion possibility than any other medium of entertainment, but at the same time that freedom is easily abused to damage the immersion. ("Our Dwarf has died? I'll start eating him!") However, removing that freedom is just as damaging to the immersion. Talking to the players about campaign expectations is all well and good, but it sets boundaries upon the game which are always visible thereafter. In my mind an ideal campaign is a lot like sailing in there is control over where you can go, if you have the knowledge and skills to control your ship, but the tide waits for no one. You cannot see the tide, and only roughly predict it, but it is still quite possible to escape to the wider ocean. And even there you must contend with winds and currents. Are scheduling conflicts equivalent to barnacles in this metaphor? I might have lost the plot.

What I am getting at is that I prefer a softer touch. If I want a campaign focused on hirelings, then the premise should encourage that idea. Have the players start in a mercenary company as guards and adjuncts of the paymaster. The company is hired for a war, loses a battle, and in the chaos of the retreat the paymaster and captains are slain. The players now find themselves holding a set of four to five keys, depending on player count, which together open up the nigh-impenetrable paychest. It has enough coin for a month or two more, but the surviving mercenaries are demanding some of their payment immediately. While the argument is ongoing a scouting party of the enemy force is seen, sparking panic. And then, the campaign begins. The players are stuck with mercenaries who want money, but also the opportunity to control them through the access to the chest they have. Even if they want to take the money and run, they have to contend with their fellow players, and no matter what they have to command the mercenaries for at least the first encounter or two to deal with the enemy force. Hopefully after one or two successful skirmishes, and the looting thereafter, they are convinced to stick with this mercecnary business for a time.

I think it has promise as far as premises go.

Jan Theodor de Bry after Barthel Beham: The Baggage Train with the Sergeant-Major