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In the First Fantasy Campaign, Dave Arneson includes a system of “Special Interests” of which he writes, “Instead of awarding points for money and Jewels acquired in the depths of the Dungeon or hoarding items against the indefinite future, the players will receive NO points until they acquire the items listed below…”

What’s somewhat murky, in my opinion, is exactly what the provenance of this system is. Was it used from the very beginning? Implemented pre-D&D? Implemented as a post-D&D revision? The phrasing seems to suggest that that this system should be used as an alternative to “acquiring” or “hoarding” wealth, which only makes sense as a reaction to such a system already existing. But was that phrasing part of the original notes? Or was it added by Arneson in 1977?

And how was it used in actual practice (if it ever was; although, unlike Gygax, Arneson’s MO doesn’t seem to have included writing up elaborate rules he never used)? The most extreme interpretation is that experience points were ONLY awarded for spending gold pieces on special interests. The less extreme interpretation would be that this system is only meant to “replace” the current wealth-based XP system, while leaving the monster-slaying portion of the XP system intact.

Perhaps Daniel Boggs’ exploration of the Richard Snider Variant can shed some light on this.

For the purposes of running Castle Blackmoor, as you’ll see below, I’ve decided to go with the most extreme interpretation: The only way to gain XP is to pursue your special interests. (This is, again, not a declaration that I believe this to have been what was happening at Arneson’s table circa-1971. It’s just the most interesting choice to make as we explore alternative play dynamics.)

Unfortunately, the system as published in the First Fantasy Campaign is more or less unusable as it appears in print, including tables that are not explained, alternative generation methods which are described as being roughly equivalent but actually produce radically different results (suggesting that their explanation has either been mangled or that the material is actually an inchoate mash-up of several different revisions of the ruleset), multiple “examples” that all contradict each other and any version of the rules, and copious references to other sub-systems that have simply not been included.

As a result, the system below can be described, at best, as being inspired by the best ideas in Arneson’s system, liberally fleshed out with my own ideas. For example, the racial special interests are wholly mine as are all of the caravan guidelines (although not the idea of goods being brought in by caravan) and the hobby project rules, these latter being heavily influenced by Blades in the Dark because Arneson provided no meaningful mechanical insight for this and I didn’t feel like there was value in reinventing the wheel (pun intended).

GENERATING SPECIAL INTERESTS

• Roll 1d8 to determine a random Special Interest. Your character will have a 100% rating in this Special Interest.
• Add your Racial Special Interest (see below).
• For all other Special Interests, roll 2d6 x 10% to determine their rating.

D8	SPECIAL INTEREST
1	Carousing
2	Song/Fame
3	Religion/Spirituality
4	Philanthropy
5	Carnavale
6	Hoarding
7	Training
8	Hobbies

GAINING EXPERIENCE POINTS

• You only gain XP for GP which are taken out of the dungeon and spent on a Special Interest.
• XP is gained on a 1-for-1 basis modified by the character’s rating in the Special Interest. (For example, if you have an 80% rating in Philanthropy and you donate 1,000 GP, you would gain 800 XP. If you have a 120% rating in Carousing and spend 100 GP at the bar, you would gain 120 XP.)

COMPLICATIONS

• Spending GP on a Special Interest may lead to complications. For some Special Interests, these complications will be generated randomly. In other cases, they can be avoided with a saving throw (as indicated in the Special Interest description). Use a 1 in 6 chance unless specified otherwise.
• If a complication is generated, roll on the complications table for that Special Interest. [Note: Until these complication tables are generated, complications will be at the GM’s discretion.]

COMMUNITY LIMITS

• The size of the community that you’re pursuing your Special Interest in will limit the amount of money you can spend on a Special Interest per quiescence.
• This limit is per character (i.e., Lynmae could spend the community’s full GP limit for Carnavale, but that wouldn’t prevent Derk from doing the same).
• The limit is also per Special Interest category. (If Lynmae has spent all the GP she can on Carnavale for this quiescence, she can still spend additional GP on Carousing.)
• The community’s base value is often modified by specific Special Interests, as noted in their descriptions. Some communities might also have higher-than-usual or lower-than-usual limits for specific Special Interest categories or activities, and community investment will also change the values the GP limit of the town for different Special Interest categories (see below).
• Wards: Alternatively, the GM might model large cities and metropolises as a collection of wards. Each individual ward can be given customized GP limits and complication tables, reflecting the differing character of each section of the city. PCs who have “exhausted” one ward can simply continue their spending in another ward.

COMMUNITY	POPULATION	GP LIMIT
Thorpe	20	1d6 x 10
Hamlet	200	1d6 x 50
Village	1,000	1d6 x 100
Town	5,000	1d6 x 250
City	25,000	1d6 x 1,000
Metropolis	> 25,000	1d6 x 10,000

Quiescence: By default, this term is a synonym for the downtime between sessions played. (In other words, if you go back to the dungeon your spending limits will be reset.) The GM may decide to set the quiescence to a particular time period (a month, for example), or set a particular time period as a minimum (so that if, for example, a player goes many months between sessions played, they may be able to spend many times the normal community limit representing their character’s activities during that time).

BLACKMOOR – BASE LIMITS

• Base GP Limit: 1d6 x 100 GP
• Great Kingdom Caravans: 1d6 x 10000 GP limit. 10 + 2d6 days to arrive.

For the purposes of my open table (at least for the moment), I chose to simply abstract the origin point of all caravans as being the Great Kingdoms to the south. This is not dissimilar from what Arneson describes, with players simply needing to meet the caravans at the “edge of the board” and escorting them in town. (Because they were playing on the map of Avalon Hill’s Outdoor Survival game.)

CARAVANS

Expenditures larger than the community’s GP limit can be made by sending a purchase request to a nearby community. (This purchase is, of course, limited by the other community’s GP limit.)

• Time: The GM should calculate the amount of time it takes for the caravan to arrive (remembering to include the time it takes for the order to arrive and for the requested goods to be assembled). The PC does not gain XP from the GP spent until the caravan arrives.
• Cost: Caravans charge 10% of the GP value of the order. (This expenditure does not grant XP.)
• Collective: Multiple PCs can collectively ship their supplies on a single caravan.
• Community Stimulus: When large amounts of material are shipped into a community, it stimulates the local economy. When a caravan shipment larger than the community’s maximum GP limit in a category arrives, apply 1% of the difference to improve the GP limit of the community (as per a community investment).

Caravans – Jeopardy: Caravans are subject to brigandry, natural disasters, and eldritch fates of an even stranger character. In some cases, characters might also simply be scammed by unethical caravan masters who simply abscond with their funds.

• Basic: To quickly determine the fate of a caravan, simply roll on the Basic Caravan Jeopardy table. If goods have been captured, it may be possible to recover them from the lair of whatever bandits, robber barons, or creatures were responsible. (Generate randomly.)
• Hexcrawl: If the campaign includes a full hexcrawl, the GM can simply track the actual movement of the caravan (generating random encounters as usual and adjudicating the outcomes of those encounters to determine the caravan’s fate).
• Trail/Road: As caravans will usually follow the same trade routes (whether by road or otherwise), similar results can be achieved without generating a full hexcrawl: The GM can develop each route as a trail, with landmarks along the way and appropriate random encounter tables.

D10	BASIC CARAVAN JEOPARDY
1	Vanishes without a trace
2-3	Goods captured, but might be recovered (+1d10% loss of value per day)
4-10	Caravan arrives safely

Caravans – Protecting: If PCs decide to travel with the caravan in order to protect it, roll on the Basic Caravan Jeopardy table normally. The PCs, of course, will have a chance to directly respond to the dangers encountered by the caravan.

• Mercenaries: PCs can pay additional funds to hire men-at-arms to beef up the caravan’s security. (This expenditure does not grant XP.) In the basic jeopardy system, these forces provide a modifier to the Basic Caravan Jeopardy roll. (There is always at least a 1 in 10 change of the caravan going astray.) Continue rolling and resolving events until “Arrives Safely” result is generated.

MERCENARY MODIFIER	COST
+1	5 GP per day's travel
+2	25 GP per day's travel

COMMUNITY INVESTMENT

PCs may be interested in improving their community. They can do so by spending GP on community investments.

• Community Investments are generally targeted at a specific Special Interest category, but in some cases the GM may rule that a particular investment would have a positive impact across several categories (in which case its value is divided across those categories).
• GP spent on community investments do not grant XP, but the base value of the GP Limit of the targeted category is increased by 5% of the investment. (For example, Blackmoor has a base GP limit of 1d6 x 100 for Carousing. If someone makes a 1000 GP community investment in opening a new tavern, the village’s GP limit for Carousing would increase by 50 to 1d6 x 150.)
• The community investment system is abstract. Players are encouraged to explain where their investment is going and what tangible results it has. (A new wing at the School for Young Wizards? Improvements at the gladiatorial arena?)

Next: Special Interests