Aug 4, 2014

Subsisting in Bandar Karahc

This is yet another take on Jeff's excellent carousing table, only adapted for characters wishing to earn some quick cash in the city (or prevent perishing).

It's more or less a gamble to see if the work you put in earned you something. Like a Deck of Many Things, but for jobs. These jobs are supposed to be the kind that anyone can do without training or prior knowledge. Also, it's probably most useful for broke characters, just looking to get some cash right now.

Note: Since I forgot to include any money or ways of payment in my current game (it can happen), I'll use the term "BK" (for Bandar Karahcs) in the table below. If you happen to use this table you should probably replace that with gold/silver/copper pieces.

You roll twice: once for what type of job you did (list below), and once to see how many hours you could bare it (1d6).

The second roll is important because it determines whether or not you managed to work long enough to earn anything (or if you just quit in disgust).
Example: (+1 BK / 2 hours) means you'll get +1 BK for every two hours worked (round down). So if you rolled a 5 (meaning you worked for five hours), you'd earn 2 BK (5/2=2.5, or 2 rounded down).

Conditions may be stated as well in simple words (EXHAUSTED, ANGRY). These imply penalties to whatever type of rolls you do in your game (e.g. EXHAUSTED means penalty to all strength based checks). I guess you could allow a save for some of these penalties.
The only condition that's special is PICKPOCKET: roll another d6. If you beat the hours worked (for this particular job) you're good, otherwise you've been picked clean of any BKs you earned so far.

These activities are meant to take place during the day. The player may continue to "work" (by rolling again as stated above) until they're 1) tired, 2) the day becomes night, 3) the GM is tired. Just keep track of those hours worked.


JOBS

  1. Sort fluorescence fish at the docks. Hands are glowing brightly (random color) the next two days (+1 BK / 2 hours. REEK, ILLUMINATED)
  2. Barrel mover; roll them barrels all the way down to the docks. Don't think about opening any of them, even if the voice inside tells you to (+1 BK / 2 hours. TIRED)
  3. An old woman asks for help with carrying her invisible dogs (all three of them) around town, since their invisible paws are cursed and will burn the ground. She pays with invisible money. (0 BK / hour. ANGRY, TIRED)
  4. Keep the forge burning, keep the scary, cloaked, eyes-glowing-red, oversized blacksmith happy. (+1 BK / 2 hours. EXHAUSTED, NIGHTMARES)
  5. Food taster for Botros abd Diryaq, the paranoid cook. He doesn't trust his own cooking to not be poisonous. (+1 BK / hour. STOMACH PAINS)
  6. Go underground; the sewer's been clogging up at certain intersections. (+1 BK / hour. REEK, DISEASED)
  7. Abdul Tajriba, the promising potion brewer, needs someone to test his latest mixtures on since he's all out of mice. (+2 BK / hour. STOMACH PAINS, RANDOM POTION EFFECT)
  8. Animal wrestler for public amusement. (+1 BK / hour. EXHAUSTED, TORN CLOTHES, BEATEN UP, HOURS WORKED * 10 = HP LOST IN %)
  9. Help a sloppy tanner (+1 BK / 6 hours. REEK, EXTREME HEADACHE)
  10. Messenger by foot. Small parcels that smell of rosewater. Folded notes of unpleasantness where the letters bleed through (+1 BK / 3 hours. SORE FEET)
  11. Load and unload ships as a docker. More barrels, more back pain. (+1 BK / 2 hours. EXHAUSTED, PICKPOCKET)
  12. Rumormonger at the tavern by the docks. Tell them about abandoned limestone towers in the Al-Aalam desert, filled with treasures and tomes. Tell them about enchanted oases of blue-green water that makes you immortal. Tell them about the new menu. (+1 BK / hour. TIPSY, PICKPOCKET)
  13. Collect debts from the cleanest of establishments to the darkest corners of this town. (+1 BK / 2 hours. PICKPOCKET, WATCHED)
  14. Chase away the small djinns emerging from the tiny, southern sinkhole. The djinns are harmless but likes to scare small children. The djinnbusters won't catch them because they contain no fuel, but loud noises and arm waving scares them away (+1 BK / 2 hours. POSSIBLY TARGET FOR ECTOPLASMIC MISSILES)
  15. The proclaimed imp peddler (no imps around though) needs you to run a few errands. Mostly salt, candles and fresh chicken blood. (+1 BK / hour. SHUNNED BY SUPERSTITIOUS LOCALS)
  16. Where there's a caravan there's a camel. And where there's a camel there's... Grab that shuffle and get to work. These streets won't clean themselves (+1 BK / hour)
  17. Help the rat catcher rid these streets of vermin. For some reason, she calls them by name (+1 BK / 2 hours. DISEASED)
  18. Beg (+1 BK / 5 hours)
  19. Take work as a hired mourner (+1 BK / 2 hours. EXTREME HEADACHE)
  20. Scavenge the large pit of Jufra, in the middle of town. Old weapons and armor can be found here lumped together in an enormous pile, although most of it is rusted and bent and broken. The locals calls it Jufra Haram since it's said to be haunted and cursed. Most believe the pit is filling up with weapons from below, where two great djinn clans are fighting each other in an endless war. Climbing into the pit and searching for weapons is dangerous and tedious. (+1 BK / 4 hours. EXHAUSTED, SHUNNED BY SUPERSTITIOUS LOCALS)