A player's plans for the restoration of Fort Rannick- Feedback?

One of my players.. a Cleric turned Prestige Paladin of Iomedae plans on renovating Fort Rannick.

Take a look and see what you think

My inclination is that the monthly upkeep should be absorbed by taxes and tarriffs. The Order of the Black Arrow had to be funded somehow. Right?

I'm not looking for a critique of the player's work.. Methenios' player put a lot of effort into this, and discouraging them isn't my goal. The player is fully taking on the role as Lord of Varisia by doing this..

But does this seem reasonable? I don't wish to bankrupt the player.

Particularly this player, they have plans to build a church of Iomedae in Sandpoint, and using the Leadership Feat to help provide that church's support staff (as opposed to tracelling companions)

Any comments from the Editorial Team are also, of course, welcome...

My inclination is that the monthly upkeep should be absorbed by taxes and tarriffs. The Order of the Black Arrow had to be funded somehow. Right?

I have a problem with the area being able to pay that much in taxes each month. So, I have two suggestions.

1. Have Magnimar pay part or all of the fee. They would do so because it was in their best interest. Not having ogres and such marauding thru the lowlands brings in much more money than the cost of the upkeep of the fort.

2. And/or, have a revenue generating resource on site. One that most do not know about. Perhaps a small adamantine mine, hidden behind the fort, in the caves. This would also explain the placement of the fort. If only the commander and maybe two others know about it, it would explain why it is still secret. They would only need to mine a bit of it each month to have the income needed to maintain the fort.

When my players get there, I will probably have a bit of both, with the Adamantine mine paying the monthly costs, and the Magnimar money going towards upgrades, special projects, etc..

One of my players.. a Cleric turned Prestige Paladin of Iomedae plans on renovating Fort Rannick.

Take a look and see what you think

My inclination is that the monthly upkeep should be absorbed by taxes and tarriffs. The Order of the Black Arrow had to be funded somehow. Right?

I'm not looking for a critique of the player's work.. Methenios' player put a lot of effort into this, and discouraging them isn't my goal. The player is fully taking on the role as Lord of Varisia by doing this..

But does this seem reasonable? I don't wish to bankrupt the player.

Particularly this player, they have plans to build a church of Iomedae in Sandpoint, and using the Leadership Feat to help provide that church's support staff (as opposed to tracelling companions)
** spoiler omitted **

Any comments from the Editorial Team are also, of course, welcome...

Great idea by your player, Watcher!

If the player is willing to invest his own money into the repair and fortification of Fort Rannick, I think waiving the monthly upkeep fees would be fine. It would show the kind of commitment to the region that the leadership of Magnimar want to see and cultivate.

Something else to consider is the fact that the church of Iomedae has one of the three strongest followings in Magnimar. That could mean financial support for the construction of a Sandpoint church as well, if the PC is in good standing with the clergy of Magnimar.

I hope that helps!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"

Great to see a player getting involved in this way! I concur with the responses thus far. I think you are thinking right that you do not want to discourage this activity in anyway.

Thanks for the feedback everybody! I was pretty pleased with the player myself...

I kinda wish there was a way to make sure this had some sort of impact on the future APs set in Varisia.. to give that long term "buy-in" into the setting...

Watcher,

Don't be afraid to let it have that sort of impact, it really is a great way to let the players feel tied in to the world. If a future AP or module brings the players through this region take a bit of time to point out that the travel is a bit safer due to the regions strong protection due to <character/group name>'s black arrows. Whether its something so small as simply making it clear that you aren't rolling a random encounter while they are passing through the territory that is being patrolled to allowing them to stop in at fort rannick to resupply, and even should this area come under threat again the players will feel that much more of a cause to protect it.

I've had some experience with something of this from both sides of the screen with Paizo's previous APs. During a run through of shackled city that I DMed, my players founded a mercenary group at a fair cost to themselves(both purchasing land for them, hiring them(though after a short time I allowed the team to pay for themselves) to equipping them with any goods they found(it was amazing how many 1st or 2nd level grunts were patrolling with gauntlets of ogre power and cloaks of resist since the group didn't need them and decided to add them to the unit rather then selling them).

Now, I am playing in a savage tide campaign that one of the players from that group is running and the mercenary company's legend from having accomplished all these great things in both previous paths has spread and is still an active part of the world. Two of the party members started off as recruits from the sasserine branch of the company, and one of the mercenary groups who plays a role in that story was changed out for our company to give them a greater role to play in the over all story.

Letting players see things they have done shape future events, even when they are different characters then really adds a great deal of cohesiveness to the story and makes the world feel very dynamic. Even if it requires some adjusting on your part to let it all fit in, I would certainly encourage it.

-Tarlane

To add my own thoughts to some of the great ideas already put forward:
I believe that a good deal of the Order of the Black Arrow's funding came from Magnimar (some of the garrison members were ex-convicts from Magnimar's jails, sent to serve a term doing something useful on the frontier if I recall correctly) and it may even have been Magnimar (I do not have Pathfinder #3 to hand at the moment to check) who built the fort to help protect their overland trade-routes. I think Magnimar's council would be interested in continuing to partially sponsor the keep- but with occasional strings attached, such as expecting the PCs to entertain important Magnimar dignatories who are travelling through the area, or to ensure that the son/daughter of a Magnimar councilman gets a 'term of military command' out at the Fort, to assist the son/daughter's future political career.
On the flip side of the coin though, some or all of the party members might become classed as members of Magnimar's 'social elite' (if they were not already such) and I would certainly expect the commander of the fort (and his/her boon companions) to be invited to dinners and gala events if they ever happened to be in Magnimar.

To assist with promoting security in the region, the PCs might want to weed out a couple of the other ogre(kin) groups operating in the vicinity of the keep; I think other DMs have added side treks to this end, and there may be threads floating around on this forum touching on this topic.

Great to hear about a group interested in keeping the Fort; so many seem to be reported as havin decided not to do anything with it, because it's so far out from Sandpoint, their preferred home.