Increase Your Players’ Immersion by Using a Home Base

When you run a game, you want your players drawn into the world you present. The literary term for this is _verisimilitude_, and it’s powerful when you pull it off. One powerful way to accomplish this is to establish a home base for the player characters.

I game mastered for a long time before I ran into this knowledge, due mostly to the style of games I play and my predilection for not running pre-built adventures. But, I went ahead and bought Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk for D&D 3.5. This was a modern revision of the original adventure by Gary Gygax. The adventured consisted of a major dungeon nearby the city of Greyhawk. Because the player characters weren’t traveling much, they always returned to their home base, the Green Dragon Inn.

The Green Dragon Inn was very well developed, with a large cast of characters, each with personalities and plot hooks. Near the Inn was a collection of shops where the players could get everything they needed, from weapons to magic items. These shop-keeps were also developed characters, with conflicts among themselves. The result being a very rich and dynamic environment that my players spent hours playing around it. They loved it.

How to Do It Yourself

The first thing you need to have is a place the character’s always return to. This means that the home base method doesn’t work as well with traveling adventures, unless it takes the form of a ship or caravan.

NPCs are the heart of a home base, so make the place itself a location with a lot of people passing through. An inn, dance club, mall, castle, keep, or trading post are all possibilities. All of these require NPCs to run their daily operations, such as barmaids, guards, owners, disk jockeys, and chefs, which is a valuable opportunity for your players to befriend them and get perks. In addition, all the visitors allow opportunities for adventure to come to your players.

In addition, you want NPCs nearby to provide for the character’s needs. Player characters need weapons, so make sure a weapon-smith is nearby. They may need elicit materials, so have a black market dealer hang around. Rumormongers and spies can provide information for a price, and nearby masters can provide training. Take some time to come up with NPCs that provide equipment, training, entertainment, information, and hirelings.

NPCs have Needs

You already know how to make a good and engaging NPC, but a home base gives you a few other things to consider. First, your NPCs have relationships with one another. Take some time to seed friendships and conflicts among them. All of these can be turned into adventure seeds at a future date.

Secondly, develop a plot seed for each significant NPC. These can be thought of as loyalty quests. At some point, each of these NPCs will need the player’s help, and accomplishing a goal for them should grant the players their favor, and possible some other benefit. Some of the NPCs might also be antagonists. For them, provide two possible quests, one for their loyalty, and one to bring them down. Each has it’s own rewards, and provides the players with support for whatever they decide to do.

Putting it all Together

Now you have a rich, deep environment, filled with an interesting cast of characters and plenty of adventure seeds. Let your players wander and engage in their home base, developing loyalties and believing that wherever they go, and whomever they talk to, it is a path to adventure.

Your Comments: Help our readers out.  Give them some various ideas for use in their own home base.  The more abnormal, the better.