Training Between Solo Adventures

Not all of a delvers life is spent crawling through dark tunnels. Every delver has to return to a city, town, village, or even a small tavern at a crossroads to get some decent rest, a warm meal, sell some of his hard-earned treasures, and resupply for the next adventure. In this time, however, is the delver simply sitting around?

I like the idea of Phineas the Red spending his time at taverns drinking, eating, and telling stories. Consequently, I have removed most of his loose coins left over after reequipping as expenses from these activities. But shouldn't he get something out of it besides a full stomach and a pounding head the next morning?

So I had the idea of training or gaining Adventure Points for specific attributes in between adventures. Take the example of carousing at local taverns. When time spent in this type of activity, you will earn APs toward Charisma equal to a SR made on that attribute. Roll 2D6, doubles add and roll over. The total rolled is the number of APs earned. To earn any AP, however, you must make a SR level equal to your attribute/10 rounding down but with the minimum of a L1-SR. This makes the training more difficult with increasing ability. A failed SR means no APs are earned. Each time you do this, however, you must spend 3D6 gold coins whether you make your SR or not. But you may only earn a maximum of 100 APs or enough to increase your CHR by 1 (whichever comes first). This will prevent excessively wealthy delvers from gaining too many APs from this kind of 'training.' If your character does not have sufficient cash on hand before making the SR, then you must give up an item of equal or greater value.

The same may be done with your other attributes. Strength can be improved by training. Your character wouldn't be hitting the gym but could be carrying heavy loads, lifting wagon wheels, splitting logs, etc. Think of the training montage in Rocky IV. Dexterity, Speed, and Constitution could be improved in similar manners. Football training camps are designed improve these attributes of the players. Increasing Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution would also earn APs equal to a SR on the attribute being trained. The cost would be 4D6 gold coins per roll.

Intelligence could be increased by spending time studying in a library, museum, or university. Given the nature of the attribute and the special materials required, training your Intelligence costs 5D6 gold coins per roll.

Luck and Wizardry are the two attributes that cannot be increased by training. Luck is improved by, well luck. Wizardry is improved by casting spells under duress.

Here is a table summarizing the basics:

Attribute SR Level GP per SR
STR STR/10 round down 4D6
INT INT/10 round down 5D6
DEX DEX/10 round down 4D6
CON CON/10 round down 4D6
SPD SPD/10 round down 4D6
LK NA NA
WIZ NA NA
CHR CHR/10 round down 3D6

Flashing back to Phineas the Red after his adventure with Six Pack in the cellar of Mongo, he spends the night carousing moving from tavern to tavern chatting up the locals, buying drinks, and telling stories about his adventures. He makes a L1-SR on CHR (CHR 10) and rolls a 9. That's just below what he needed for a L1 success. Phineas earns no AP toward Charisma but spends 3D6 = 6 gold coins during the night.

While these ideas are specifically tailored for my own Level and Attribute Advancement system, it can easily be used with 7.5 or 5th edition rules. You would still earn APs, but these would go to the general pool rather than to each individual attribute.

This system would allow characters to increase attributes that might not have been tested on previous adventures. It also gives characters something to do with all of the loose change they have jingling around in their pockets as they wander through town. I am going to implement this system in my online adventures of Phineas the Red and later characters when his luck finally runs out.