Basically, it allows characters to gain XP by wasting their money (in a fixed or variable amount) on vice and celebrations after an adventure. It is typically a downtime activity, and often leads to entertaining misadventures and complications. In fact, the best part about carousing house-rules is not the rule(s) itself, but the one or more random tables of possible complications.
Carousing has become a fashionable system to award XP to characters. In most cases, carousing may have rules that either:
- Grant additional XP
- Replace (at least in part) the treasure for XP rules
In the first case, as in JEFF RIENTS article below, Party like it's 999, carousing is used as an additional source of XP. Your character brings home 1,000 coins (gold, silver, whatever your standard is...) and gains 1,000 XP for the purpose of leveling-up.
If that money is spent regularly (i.e. to buy equipment, set aside to buy a piece of land or a headquarter for the party later on, spent on bribes or in the normal upkeep costs of retainers, etc.), that's all. One thousand coins, one thousand Experience Points.
The obvious design drive behind this sort of rule, is that money spent wisely brings regular XP.
Money spent carousing, though, is "wasted" but charming - so if you spend your treasure carousing like any respectable adventurer would do, you gain extra XP. It's again encouraging players to make a choice so that they get additional XP.
Carousing is good, of course. It helps to give some depth to the characters, to show their flaws, their spirit... it spices up downtime and offers a chance for other adventures, to meet new NPCs, and so on. It makes the characters feel alive between adventures. It is, as said above, a reasonable thing for adventurers to do...
Moreover, it may keep the characters broke or nearly so, or anyway avoid or delay the moment where they have so much money that they don't know what to do with it... Accumulating wealth for the sake of getting XP is not so funny... wasting it in meaningful, entertaining carousing which gives you a great story to tell about the adventures' weekend? It's great!
Party like it's 999
by JEFF RIENTS
[...] Under my draft Labyrinth Lord house rules players can opt to earn some extra XPs by carousing. At the beginning of a session if a PC is hanging around Ye Olde Village Inne with nothing better to do, they can roll 1d6 and spend 100gp times the roll on liquor and/or lechery. The character gains experience equal to the gold spent. The d6 x 100 standard applies to villages only. A PC could travel to a town or city and debauch much more efficiently. Towns are worth d8 x 150 gp/xp and cities d10 x 200. The city of Hautville is worth d12 x 250 owing to its extreme wickedness. [...]
If the die roll is equal to or less than the character’s level, the result is a rousing good time and no harm done. Rolling above the character’s level indicates things got out of hand one way or another and the poor sucker must roll d20 and consult the chart below. If a character cannot afford the carousing they have rolled, they also must consult the chart and they only gain XP equal to half their money [...]
Carousing Mishaps
1) Make a fool of yourself in public. Gain no XP. Roll Charisma check or gain reputation in this town as a drunken lout.
2) Involved in random brawl. Roll Strength check or start adventure d3 hit points short.
3) Minor misunderstanding with local authorities. Roll Charisma check. Success indicates a fine of 2d6 x 25gp. Failure or (inability to pay fine) indicates d6 days in the pokey.
4) Romantic entanglement. Roll Wisdom check to avoid nuptials. Otherwise 1-3 scorned lover, 4-6 angered parents.
5) Gambling losses. Roll the dice as if you caroused again to see how much you lose. (No additional XP for the second carousing roll.) [...]
A more drastic approach is to say that treasure counts for nothing unless it is wasted on carousing. In his article, Well, I was a wee bit tipsy and... Extended Carousing-Mishaps, our ZAK SABBATH does just that.
See this? "Normally, PCs will only get x.p. for monsters"
by ZAK SABBATH
[...] Normally, PCs will only get x.p. for monsters. However, once they get to a Big City, they may trade g.p. for x.p. by blowing it on various forms of strong drink.
Exchange rate is 1 to 1 and must be exchanged in chunks of at least 100 g.p. per PC. Resulting X.p. is divided evenly among the players.
However, for every (total # of PCs) x 100 x.p. exchanged, one member of the party (the party may choose who) must carouse excessively.
The excessive carouser must then roll d20 on the Modified Carousing Mishaps Table below. [...]
Complex results are resolved at the beginning of the next session:
1-As original chart .
2-Random pub brawl. Whole party faces number of brawlers = # of PCs. Resolve as normal combat but overcarousing PC is at -2 for being drunk.
3-As original.
4-Wake up in bed with someone... roll on subtable below.
5-Gambling losses. Gain o x.p.. [...]
Wake Up In Bed/Smitten Subtable (d12)
1. Succubus
2. Dead albino elf
3. Apparently normal attractive member of orientation-appropriate gender
4. Randomly determined other PC (neither remembers anything)
5. S/he's ugly. You're married.
6. (Roll again on this table.) You're married. [...]
In another articles, we can find additional random tables, divided for example by topics, such as Philanthropy, Drinking/Orgies, Study/Research, and Gourmandising, etc. or rules with a focus on characters deciding how they spend money on carousing:
- On Cities, Part III, by Courtney Campbell
- Carousing and other ways to go mad, by Gieljan de Vries
- Downtime Activities + Carousing Table, by Arnold K.
- Party Like You Mean It: A Gathoxian Carousing Table by Jesse Goldshear
- Bacchanalia - Enhanced Carousing Tables by Aleksi Nikula (link to Gdocs since there is no blog post about this)
- d30 - DRINKING, CAROUSING AND GENERAL MERRYMAKING by Shane Ward (added January 2019)
So, when it comes to carousing, if you want to adopt any of the systems presented or you want to design your own rules, consider these notes:
- Is carousing the source of additional XP, or is it the only way to convert treasure into XP?
- Is it based on a random, or partially random amount? Can it introduce debt?
- What do you want to insert in the random table for carousing?
- Do you roll every time, or only in certain instances (i.e. a failed save, or too much money spent)? Do you want to introduce variables to this roll (i.e. based on the amount spent or based on success/failure cases)?
A thought, now, on the original gold-for-XP design... If we look at the original XP rule of 1 coin equal 1 XP, we notice that carousing adds a layer of complexity... or more than one layer if we start to consider random amounts, debts, multiple tables, rolls to save, etc.
What is it better? The simplicity of 1 gp for 1 XP, or carousing rules and random tables?
Well, in a sense we could say that carousing adds complexity, but gives you also a lot of flavor and opportunities, so if you're looking for a very simple and straightforward game, 1 gp for 1 XP is ok, but carousing seems like a very good option if you can manage its overload.
On the other hand, someone could argue that a good GM does everything that carousing do, without the need of formal house-rules. A GM could keep the standard 1 gp for 1 XP rule and then:
- Enforce the payment of upkeep costs and perhaps just add a certain (even variable) amount to spend for the characters (which takes care of reducing the accumulated treasure and perhaps introduces debt)
- Roleplay not just the dungeon, but also the downtime. A skilled GM could introduce anything that is on a carousing random table, and more, as complications, and could do it with all the flexibility that a random table cannot have (i.e. present opportunities with NPCs, romance, complications, etc. which are tailored to the specific character or perfect for the situation)
In a sense, I now have the feeling that having rules for carousing would be good, especially if you're planning on long-term play. The upside of having interesting actions occurring in downtime, the fun and opportunities of random tables, are worth the price of additional complexity. And while a good GM could come up with better events perfectly suited for your characters, and obtain the same results without the need to tie this to the XP system, all the carousing material remains a valid source of inspiration.
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