One of the all-time problems in table-top role-playing games is why the characters are traveling around slaying monsters and gathering loot. "What's my motivation?" as the classic plea from actors goes. Many players establish elaborate backstories and long-term goals for characters, but rarely is the question asked: why are we going in this direction right now?
Well, I think I've found a good answer to that. I'm currently reading a great biography of Harald Hardrada who early in his life followed the river trade routes from Scandinavia through Russia to Constantinople. Other routes rand down to the Caspian Sea and on to Baghdad. The flow of trade in the 11th century was heavy and extremely profitable.
But it was a hard road. The trip one-way takes months; rowing up rivers, porting around rapids and between rivers, in some cases simply selling your boat at a settlement and carrying all your goods a few miles to the settlement on the next river where you buy a boat left by a merchant going in the opposite direction. Despite the claims of the rulers of Kyjevŭ (Kyiv), the vast reaches of the route are still harried by Bulgars and Pechenegs, and pirates are rife on the big lakes and in the Black Sea.
Sounds like fun, yes? Now add fantasy elements. I've always thought that the Pechenegs were a great candidate to be replaced by a goblinoid state. They were aggressive, hard to rule, and never became Romanized like so many other Turkic peoples. The wild forests of the Kievian Rus can hold orc tribes, strange cults, feywoods, and just mundane threats like river pirates. There are also social situations to deal with, like coming into a settlement where the local king just died, and the newcomers are asked to adjudicate the succession because the gods sent them.
So, who is traveling? Along with the merchant-captain and a crew of NPC rowers/spear-carriers, you have a chance for a Canterbury Tales collection of backstories and motivations. The key question is simple: why do you need to go to Constantinople? (or Baghdad.) Fighter types might be attracted by word that the Roman Emperor hires Northern fighters for an elite bodyguard that pays well in gold. A cleric might be carrying a report to the Patriarch, along with a gift of a holy book decorated in amber and gems. you might have a journeyman wizard returning to his master after his required year-and-a-day sojourn in the world. Bards bring new tales to tell, a rogue who is an escaped thrall. . .the key is to have them all have a reason for being on the boat, and a reason to have an interest in completing the journey.
After that, it's just adventures and encounters. This, I think, would be a great way to build a real team, rather than the old "you are in a tavern, and old man approaches you" style of bringing a group together. You can even establish lasting foes, allies, and long-term plots during the voyage. The best part is, no matter which route you take (and there were several) the PC's end up in one of the 11th century's great metropolises in a time of great change and challenges.
And if they decide to just get rich by heading back north. . . that's another adventure to be had!
As always, all comments and ideas are welcomed.
