Players are likely going to want compensation from the town if the Sheriff and Mayor ask them to do stuff for them over and over.
I'd run it with the rules for Profession to make money? Probably a Profession Guard, or Profession soldier, assuming 1 rank in the skill. Call it a total of +5 to the check, average about a gold a day for your average guarding duty. For going into explicit battle situations, I figure they get double pay as hazard duty, but thats not likely to happen much for your average Sandpoint Guard.
As for quest rewards, go through the loot they'd get from it, take something out and make it's value a cash reward.
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I'm just imagining the Sandpoint guards killing a giant and demanding an extra five gold a month, a new dartboard and a kettle...
Players who aren't interested in helping Sandpoint for the sake of helping Sandpoint are going to have trouble getting motivated at several points in this AP, so you may wish to request players make characters who care about helping their hometown.
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Elegos is correct; what any town guard would make would be on par with a profession check.
What the PCs are asked to do in Rise of the Runelords are NOT guard duties, and the fact that there's murders and goblins and giants and what not going on in town is NOT normal for Sandpoint. Those are not every-day things that the guards have to always deal with before or after the PCs get involved, so it's not really logical to assume that there's a standard rate of pay for guards fighting giants.
Hey what exactly is a guards responsibilities? Like obviously they break up the big bar brawls, guard the safety and property of people against active threats, but are they cops as well? Do they investigate crimes they don't witness or is that done by someone else?
Players are likely going to want compensation from the town if the Sheriff and Mayor ask them to do stuff for them over and over.
I'm having similar issues with this kind of attitude, even when i asked my players to build altruist characters.
I'm solving pretty well this kind of situations with this solutions:
1-Use different types of motivation and adventure hooks. They may have more desires than just gold.
2-Make them feel like the heroes they are for their neightbours, that use to encourage them to keep helping the people who love them.
3-If they totally refuse to help without gold in return, do as Elegos said: take the items from the NPC'S they are about to fight and offer them the half (selling price), of course, they will get paid when the job is done, and not before. This can cause some trouble, because if they defeat the NPC'S you cant suddenly make the weapons and magic items dissapear. Well, change that buffs from items to spells, (pots they drunk before the fight) and you can keep going.
4-If the characters press Belor, Deverin or any other NPC who's asking for their help, to take all the gold they can, make them react like the group is just a whole of mercenarys. Let your group see how other groups of real heroes appear and take all the treasure, gold, and admiration. This will only go well with people who enjoy rol playing and are not inmmature players. This is the solution i dislike the most.
5-Speak to them "off role" and remember your friends that this campaing is about fighting for good and helping your neightbour even when you dont get nothing in returm of them. You will get a lot of treassure anyway from your adventures.
6-Wharever happens, just remind to keep track of their sins, it seems that your group is having some points in avarice.
Also, there's a lot non material rewards you can offer, be it free room and board at the rusty dragon, a promise of healing should they need it in the future, stuff like that.
This was something that came up last time I ran this AP (sadly never even got to finished book 2), so I wanted to be prepared if it comes up this time.
My plan, if they ask, is to have the Mayor/Sheriff gladly offer them a gold a day or whatever to join the town guard, but then inform them that if they're working for the town guard that any gold/treasure they find would technically belong to the town.
If they're "adventurers" who are just lending a hand, all of that gold/treasure would be theirs to keep.
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... if they're working for the town guard that any gold/treasure they find would technically belong to the town.
If they're "adventurers" who are just lending a hand, all of that gold/treasure would be theirs to keep.
This logic might go over better if it's comes with a nudge and a wink from a fellow adventurer, like Ameiko (who might then sweeten the pot by offering free room and board at the Rusty Dragon)
This logic might go over better if it's comes with a nudge and a wink from a fellow adventurer, like Ameiko (who might then sweeten the pot by offering free room and board at the Rusty Dragon)... if they're working for the town guard that any gold/treasure they find would technically belong to the town.
If they're "adventurers" who are just lending a hand, all of that gold/treasure would be theirs to keep.
That's a good point, might make them feel like they're getting one over on the Sheriff by not taking/asking for a salary.
Better yet, have shalelu do it. After all she's introduced as an "unofficial member of the guard" and smirks.