Cinco: Lackey Missions

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I’ve mentioned in passing my haven rules for my homebrew heartbreaker Cinco! but never took the time to describe it in much detail. Remember that I don’t really fuck with wealth; instead, each item of treasure just has the value of “1 treasure”, and you spend that during downtime to do an activity (this is outdated, but you get the idea). One of those activities is havencraft where you invest 1 treasure to build a town and populate with your favorite NPCs you’ve met and recruited throughout the game. These are called lackeys.

Cost Type Population Ability Lackeys
2 Hamlet 100 +1 1
6 Village 900 +2 2
12 Town 3,600 +4 3
20 City 10,000 +8 4

Each season (generally speaking, or unless I fuck it up, a play-session), lackeys can either do a downtime activity on behalf of the governor or embark on an adventure. In the latter case, they can either accompany the crew on their own adventure and basically act like a back-up character, or they can be sent out on their own mission. The governor rolls on their behalf to see how they fare: on [20+], they accomplish their goal or make progress if it’s a more complex thing; on [10–19], they either make no progress or they do but are hurt; on [9–], they are hurt and make no strides. Hurt lackeys are in hospice for the next season.

The bonus to the D20 check in my case is one of the lackey’s ability bonuses, which are custom and specific to that character (and is usually a +4 if what they’re doing aligns with their major thing). However, in a more D&D-esque context, you could substitute that for their class level and perhaps you have to pay them in proportion to what experience they are supposed to have; e.g., a hero (meaning a fourth-level fighter) costs 8,000 silver or copper or whatever makes sense per mission and adds +4 to their mission check. I also have a rule that if a lackey gets hurt three times, they either retire or die; you could adjust that by class as well if it makes sense.

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