My ladyfriend is not much of an RPG person. She enjoys a leisurely evening of D&D, but mostly as a social event. She’ll interject with a bit of goofy role playing now and again, but tends to just follow along with whatever the rest of the party wants to do. I’ve had a lot of people like that in my games over the years. Folks who are there because they enjoy hanging out. Maybe they’re more into the times we get together for board games, or maybe they went along with a significant other at some point, and enjoyed the atmosphere more than they enjoyed the game. Maybe you know someone similar, and maybe if you do, this’ll help you find something enjoyable for them to do.
It started a few years back when my ladyfriend accompanied me to play in a game where I was a 14th level character. She didn’t want to deal with the hassle of creating a high level character, so we got the referee to let her play all four of the Goblins from Paizo’s “We Be Goblins” module: Rita, Mogmurch, Chuffy, and Poog. It all worked out so well that we decided to use the same plan when she joined my ORWA game. But since this is an ongoing campaign, rather than a one-shot, I decided to put a little work into getting the goblins working.
First off, to remain setting consistent, the goblins aren’t goblins. They’re infant children who fell off a babycart (literally a cart where infant children are piled up for sale) and into a puddle of mutagen. This turned them green and gave them weirdly developed bodies, despite their size. They know how to talk, and call themselves Gobbos.
Gobbos can’t die the way normal characters die. They’re not invulnerable to harm, but they react to harm like a Loony Toon character. If a rock falls on them they get flattened, pop back into shape, and then scamper off to cry and lick their wounds until the next session, when they’ll have forgotten anything bad ever happened to them.
Gobbos also don’t get any share of the treasure, or any of the commensurate experience. In fact, Gobbos can’t level up at all. Players who are running the Gobbos will never need to worry about keeping their character sheet up to date, because it’s an (almost) entirely static thing. They also don’t need to worry about how to spend their money, and the other players never get annoyed at splitting their treasure haul with a quartet of characters who don’t contribute on the same level that they do.
(Though it should be noted that Gobbos are children. Sometimes they’ll see something shiny, and insist that it be purchased for them.)
Any time the other players are getting treasure, the Gobbos are free to scrounge around for something more in line with their own interests. The player they rolls on the “Gobbo Junk” table, which can be restocked by the referee as items are discovered.
The Gobbos Find a…
- Really really shiny, smooth rock.
- Plastic frisbee.
- Well used catcher’s mitt.
- Curly blonde wig.
- Hula hoop.
- Pair of boxing gloves.
- Basketball.
- Bowling ball.
- Potted cactus.
- Steel folding chair. The kind you find in a church basement, not the kind you find in your dad’s garage.
- Stepladder.
- Jar with holes poked in the lid, and 12 beetles inside of it.
- Metal wastebasket with a mesh pattern.
- Porno magazine.
- Bag of disposable surgical gloves.
- Big bag of candy necklaces.
- Rubber mask of Richard Nixon.
- Nice-ish briefcase.
- Fistful of indistinct sludge.
- Ball of twine.
- Doorknob.
- DD bra.
- Box of mousetraps.
- Roll of duct tape.
- Chair leg.
- Banjo with only 1 string on it.
- Conical dunce cap.
- Box of letters for a marquee style signboard.
- Bundle of plastic 6-pack rings.
- Paper bag of paper bags.
- Plastic bag of plastic bags.
- Rubber boot.
- Flip phone with plenty of charge, but no service.
- Box of paper clips.
- RC car.
- Barbie doll.
- Roll of wrapping paper.
- Ceramic cookie jar shaped like a pig wearing a chef’s hat.
- Stretch Armstrong doll.
- Tiger Electronics “Home Alone 2” tape recorder.
- Pair of Handcuffs.
- Ball gag.
- Flourescent light tube.
- Dozen eggs.
- Chicken.
- Housecat.
- Can of spraypaint. Blue.
- Disposable polaroid camera.
- Propeller beanie.
- Plastic toy sword.
- Bag of marbles.
- Tube of pogs.
- Huge bag of rice.
- Sleeve of printer paper.
- Dead bird.
- Dead Dog.
- Huge number “8” made of wood.
- Tacklebox full of fishing lures and hooks.
- Corkscrew.
- Pencil sharpener.
- Human skull
- Stack of newspapers.
- Wall clock.
- Padlock and key.
- Geode with a little pewter wizard inside of it.
- Binder with documentation for some kind of software.
- Pair of socks.
- Pair of nice slacks.
- Needle nose pliers.
- Standing, oscillating fan.
- Elementary school desk/chair combo.
- Bouquet of fake flowers.
- Bottle of hand sanitizer.
- Really neat spider with lots of cool colors on it.
- Metal shopping cart.
- Labelmaker.
- Sheets of scratch & sniff stickers. Of the “Grape Job” variety.
- Encyclopedia Britannica volume for the letter “O.”
- Catheter bag full of urine.
- Police file on someone named “Dave Bestfighter.”
- Empty jar labelled “Dreams.”
- Glow in the dark ceiling stars.
- Bag of party balloons.
- Bag of Frozen Peas. Still frozen, somehow.
- The poles to a tent.
- Baby rattle.
- Box of Mike & Ikes candy.
- Hand painted portrait of a randomly determined party member.
- The discarded highschool poetry of a randomly determined party member.
- Big red “Marks-A-Lot” marker.
- Yo-yo.
- Blender.
- Foam Jack-O-Lantern.
- Traffic cone.
- Box of matches.
- Car tire.
- Keyring full of keys.
- Bottle of really nice wine.
- Child’s devil costume for Halloween.
- Treasure map, drawn in crayon, to a toystore.