Old Weapons and Safe Houses

What do your players /player characters do with their old weapons?  Many times my guys turn them back to the enchanters to get a few silvers back in their pockets.  But if you’re playing a high risk campaign where actions have consequences, sooner or later the PCs should find themselves under attack in their home city.  What do you do when the local police are staking out your home?  If you cut your way through them, you are vilified - for good reasons.  What would you do if you returned home from an adventure only to find your home city was under siege?  Sure, you have most of your gear with you now because you were out adventuring, but how do you take care of the logistics?  (food, water, shelter)

There may be (probably should be) times when the PCs are separated from their homes.  If done properly, maybe even separated from their main weaponry.  What do they do then?  Well, established adventurers would go to their safe house and grab their backups.  But what if you don’t have an established safe house?  and what do you stock it with if you are establishing one? 

I think whatever the last set of weaponry you had makes the perfect stock for a safe house.  Establish some type of apartment or something and place the last set of weapons inside.  OK, don’t just place them inside; they do need to be hidden in some manner.  You’d hate for common thugs to rob your safe house and come out adventurers.  But now - if you’re out to the taverns (of course without your armor and weaponry), and you’re being followed, you slip into your safe house, gear up and confront the morons who thought you were an easy target.  Take the time to go back to your fortress (or whatever) and you’ll find yourself ambushed along the way.

But why?  Well, establishing a safe house helps the players learn more about the city.  It helps them work to develop their own back story.  It forces them to consider what’s important - What are they going to need in an emergency?  It also serves to drain some of their money.  It takes some cash to buy a safe haven and a little more to maintain it - but that’s OK.  This might even lead to some short adventures - what if drifters start to live there?  What if thieves were to steal the supplies?  The more you and your players know about your world, the more fun it is to keep exploring.

This is the first post for the Small Bites project The Mercenary Vators of Myork edition.