Retirement and Funerals

The inspiration for this article came from Funerals for the Fallen by James Young.

It's just a simple, easy rule, with the potential for a tremendous impact on the game, in case of character's death.

Funerals for the Fallen
by James Young
In essence:
Take a dead character's remains to a safe place with a church (or cultural equivalent) and you can buy their experience points on a 1:1 silver-for-exp basis.
This represents money spent on funeral rites and memorials and bar tabs and other things purchased in their memory. The player spending the money does, of course, say what they're spending it on.

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It encourages the retrieval of your buddy's corpse from whatever horrific death consumed them, accomplishing my favourite little trick of merging the intentions of player and character together.

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On that note, higher level characters "deserve" more lavish send-offs than their lower level brethren. Nobody's going to do much for a level 2 Thief, but that seventh level Cleric is getting a whole damn church raised in his honour.

Getting a corpse back out of the dungeon is interesting logistically, especially if you didn't manage to kill the thing that killed them. I had players venture, against their better judgement, into a spider lair to retrieve a corpse. A corpse! Usually I only see rescue missions to retrieve still-living hostages!

[...]

https://tenfootpolemic.blogspot.com/2015/09/funerals-for-fallen.html

As you can see, a simple rule brings to the table a couple of very important topics:
- The challenge of bringing your friend's dead body back to civilization, with all that implies (managing resources and weight, deciding to go back instead of pushing forward)
- Expending a certain amount of money (a lot if possible), proportional to the level of the dead and, presumably, proportional to the strength of the friendship and bonds with the deceased

This is done by granting XP for gold spent on the funeral, but while the rule is clearly in the "gaming" space of the players' mind, it achieves something which has a powerful "story" impact: taking risks to bring back to civilization the dead body of a fallen comrade, and spending money to give it proper burial and a funeral service.
In other words, it reinforces a certain behavior by the characters, using XP as a leverage.
This approach is described already in the Gaining XP (number 1) post.


While death signifies the end of the game for a certain character, there is also the topic of Retirement mentioned in the title.
This is a slightly different topic, but it still means that the character is out of the game.

So let's see a traumatic option first: what happens when the character is forced to retire, not because it ended a successful career as tomb-robber, but when retirement is used as a replacement for death.
The first post makes use of a Death and Dismemberment table, as in the link below.

MY FAVORITE MONTH IS DISMEMBER

by Arnold K.

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>CLICK HERE TO GET IT<
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http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2016/01/my-favorite-month-is-dismember.html

This is instead the actual post; as you can see Arnold is using retirement as a substitution for death. Combat with the above rules is harder, nasty wounds may bring a character to retirement.
I find these rules a bit overcomplicated, but the main point is actually using retirement as a way to give characters a way out (a forced way out, in this case) which is not just get-rich-or-die.

Death, Trauma, and Retirement: I'm Gettin' Too Old For This Shit
by Arnold K.
[...] Trauma
PC retirement is a replacement for PC death, not an additional risk.  I'm making death less likely in order to make retirement more likely.  Retired characters are more interesting and more useful than dead ones.  (And a lot less demoralizing.)
For example, ". . . and then he bought a turnip farm and swore never to leave it" is more satisfying end to a character's story than ". . . and then he died in a filthy hole, and the rats nibbled his eyes until he was quite dead".
And of course, forcibly retiring a character still accomplishes the primary punitive aspect of dying: you lose the opportunity to play your character.
So here's my first draft:
Whenever you have a near-death experience (roll higher than a 10 on the Death and Dismemberment Table) and survive, you gain a point of Trauma and put a question mark next to it (if a question mark isn't there already).
Whenever you return to place where your character could conceivably retire, erase the question mark and roll a d20.  If you roll equal-or-less than your Trauma score, your character decides to retire.  You cannot stop them.

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Retirement

[...] Retirement is just retirement from adventuring.  It can be literally anything they way, as long as it's not adventuring and they do not continue on as a player character.  They become a friendly NPC instead.  If they retire with enough loot, they can become a friendly and powerful NPC.  You can retire at any time, not just when Trauma forces them.

Inform the players about everything in the last paragraph.  This rule needs to be mostly transparent.

1. When a player retires, ask them what sort of retirement they intend, and how much wealth they are retiring with.

2. Multiply the wealth by the character's level, and look up the result on the table below.  Adjudicate the details of the new NPC using your vast prowess, using the numbers below as a guide.

Level x Wealth = Retirement Points (RP)

Less than 100 RP - Probably going to die in a nearby gutter.

100 RP - A chance at a normal life.  Apartment, job, loans, loyal dog, relationship problems, taxes.  Just a citizen. [...]

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A Softer Death Table

[...] And anyway, I think the forced retirement thing (see below) will help drive them away from adventuring without gimping them towards the end.

Because one of the reasons why I liked the idea of players losing arms and legs, is because it would (a) motivate them to go find a cool new hand, or (b) encourage them to retire their character and roll up a new one.  In practice however, I find that players tend to just drive their characters until they fall apart like an unlubricated Corolla.

So why not create a mechanic that takes a straight path route to that goal, and forces characters to retire directly?

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http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2017/04/death-trauma-and-retirement-im-gettin.html


Skerples does the same thing here, which is actually the original post which inspired Arnold.
Note that Skerples encourages even to re-roll and follow-up on the retired character(s) relevant or interesting, or when the players ask.

OSR: Death and Dismemberment Table + Early Retirement Tables

by Skerples
[...] At Level 5, and every time you level up past Level 5, you can retire your character to safety. This means I won't torment them anymore. If they can afford it, they can buy a or rent some land, set up a shop, teach at a wizard college, or beg in the gutter. They won't affect the plot anymore, but the plot won't specifically affect them. General disasters (fire, plagues, war, demonic invasions) will still affect their lives, but they are safe from almost anything else. Feel free to organize your character's retirement ahead of time. You can try and buy a castle, a tavern, or a political position.

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Whenever it feels relevant or interesting, or when the PCs ask, I've been rolling on Tito's Retirement Table to see what Tito's got himself into now. Spoiler alert: it's not going well. 

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Generic Farmer Retirement Table [...]
1. Prosperity. Extra food, good weather, or good luck.
2. Rumour. May have 1 interesting rumour for the PCs.
3-7. Stability. Just on the edge of starvation.

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Generic Monastic Retirement Table [...]

1. Tranquility. The PCs hear a distant rumour of their former companion. They are doing well.

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Generic Criminal Retirement Table [...]

1. Escape. Stole enough to start again. The ex-PC vanishes. One day, in a distant land, they might see their old companions and nod slyly.

2-6. Edge of Starvation. No change, but the outlook is bleak.

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Generic Beggar Retirement Table [...]

1. Head Above Water. Food, a warm corner, a position in the local hierarchy of beggars, the favour of the local Church. Might even lead to some minor position out of the rain.

2. Minor Improvement. New pants, a hat, a few more coins than last week.

3-6. Edge of Starvation. No change.

[...]

https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/07/osr-death-and-dismemberment-table-early.html


Actually, retirement from adventuring is somehow the goal of the adventuring itself. It would be its most logical conclusion in OSR games, where also high-level characters might risk a sudden death in an unbalanced encounter, because of a deadly trap, a bad decision, or an unlucky turn of events.

A successful OSR character does not have to reach a very high level and keep risking its life...
A successful OSR character earned enough money to retire, in safety and wealth - adventuring is like accumulating your pension funds when you have no skills for a decent (safer) job.

So, what rules do you use for retirement? Do you have rules or a random table for characters making enough money or that are better off with a new, less risky life, which you want share?


Design notes:
- Bring the body of a fallen character back to civilization, earn XP for gold spent on the funeral rites
- It reinforces the fiction and risk taking (care for the fallen, effort to save the body, expenses on the funeral) with an XP reward
- About retirement: retirement from adventuring is somehow the goal of the adventuring itself
- Make enough money and retire from taking all these risks; retire in safety and wealth
- But another option is using retirement as a substitution for death; it gives shades of grey in the outcome of a character's life, it's not just rich or dead any more
- Mix nasty wounds, death and dismemberment tables and early retirement tables
- Perhaps allow subsequent re-rolls for retired characters when it feels necessary or when there is a request from players or circumstances change