After just one session our amazing players have starting pushing the narrative of Tales from the Buzzin' Meeple in lots of great directions. Our dwarves are building an Almshouse, a paladin is starting a town watch (typical), the ranger is out hunting and the wizard has sequestered himself away to research rumours. With so much going on I starting to think to myself "how will we keep track?".
Introducing Clocks!
Clocks are a way for us to keep track of all the projects, opportunities and dangers which are going on around The Outpost. As time progresses and our heroes put effort into different areas the clocks will tick up. When they get full, something happens! For example if the "Food is Running Out" clock gets full.....then food has run out and players will start to feel exhaustion until they can find a reliable source of food.
The number of sections a clock has will depend on the clocks difficulty or severity, for example building an Almshouse from scratch will take some time and effort, thus 6 sections. The players actions can also change how many sections a clock has. Originally the "Food is running out" clock had 3 sections and starvation would hit the town after 3 sessions, however thanks to the hunting skills of our ranger Rhaenys we've added additional sections to the clock as she buys the Guild more time.
The rate that a clock fills will be determined by the actions of the players. Two dwarves are working on building the Almshouse, they are both experienced craftsmen and in the last session they found a reliable source of stone. Therefore they will fill 2 sections of the clock for each session of downtime they spend building. If more people pitch in, or if they find any other way of speeding up production, then the sections will fill even quicker.
Clocks will be updated on the Tales from the Buzzin' Meeple website after each session.
Website: https://talesfromthebuzzinmeeple.obsidianportal.com/wikis/clocks
So what are peoples thoughts? Any other ideas for things you'd like adding to the campaign?
Love this idea. It's great to see something player created, like the Towns Watch, have its own clock. Really gives the feeling of player agency over the world. You're doing a great job buddy and I'm really enjoying the sessions. Keep it up!
DWARVES! We get the job done!
Sounds good! The clocks are ticking.....