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Hey Paizoites, I am going to get started DMing a Savage Tide game Sunday nights here in Salem, Oregon. I currently have 2 players (in their 20s & 30s), and am looking for an additional 1-3 players to round out the group. I am an experienced GM/Dm having most recently run Age of Worms in Eugene, and am excited about getting my hands dirty in the Pathfinder Beta test. Any interested parties should email me at: andrewibhunt@yahoo.com Thanks,
I am toying around with the idea of running a Dark heresy campaign. I used to play 40K back in the day (all through he 1990s) and while I would never want to play the table top game again, running in a RPG in that setting intrigues me. Here is the plot I have put together. Any advice on the system, plot, or anything else would be of great help. Thanks. Plot: Imperial Guard Commissar Kleitos has secretly fallen to Chaos. This was a process that started over 20 years earlier, when he was commander over an imperial guard force batting chaos. They traveled in a space ship now lost as a space hulk. Kleitos is planning to undermine the imperial battle in a system of planets, that if they fall, will leave an entire section of the Imperium ripe for the expansion of chaos. One world in particular, Ushas Prime, is of particular strategic importance, as it is placed on the crossing of space lanes, and is the largest and most benign world in the Girisha system. There is a large force of Imperial Guard stationed on Ushas Prime, with smaller forces stationed on Nala (only a few detachments), Valli (Mostly Irregular troops, with a couple Battalions), and Ushas Tau (A few Companies protecting each mining interest).
Locations:
Adventures
#2. Evidence of Captain Hengist possibly, accidentally or purposefully bringing the plague to Zayin station. Unsuccessfully track down Captain Hengist. Location - Ushas Tau – Mining Colony. Encounters - NCOs in the Imperial Guard, disgruntled miners, chaos infected (radiation poisoning) mine manager. #3. Track Captain Hengist to Valli. There on the forested planet, encounter with him, laying foundation for possible chaos taint. Locations - Valli – Main Colony . Encounters - Captain Hengist, imperial troops assigned to him. Eldar scouts. #4. Transport the body of Captain Hengist to Imperial ship orbiting Anil, for Inquisition autopsy, to be performed in another system. Locations - Space & Orbit of Anil. Encounters - High inquisitors. Space pirates? #5 Respite from main plotline. Location -Ushas Prime #6 Respite from main plotline. Location - Ushas Prime #7. Inquisition asks for them to investigate Commissar Kleitos, surreptitiously. Travel to interrogate members of his old unit, on an outer system. Location - Ahti system – Terraforming planets, full of retired Imperial Guard officers. Encounters - Retired Imperial Guard officers. Possible chaos taint. #8. Travel to an old battlefield, fought 5 years earlier, by Commissar Kleitos. Discover evidence of his taint. Locastion - Battlefield in other system. Encounters - Ghosts of the battle. Tainted animals. #9. Travel to find the Space Hulk that Commissar Kleitos commanded previous to his being promoted to the Rank of Commissar. Location - Space Hulk deep in space. Encounters - Terminator Space Marines. Tyranids and Gene Stealers. #10. Present evidence damming Commissar Kleitos to the Inquisition. Put him on trial, in abstantia. Locations - Inquisition courtroom on an imperial planet. Encounters - Lawyers (Sebastian mayhaps), the Inquisition court judges. #11. Attempt to find Commissar Kleitos at his Bunker. Discover his plans for the Imperator Titan. Location - Commissar Kleitos’ bunker on Ushas Prime.Encounters - Tainted Imperial Guardsmen. Lesser Chaos demons. #12. Assassinate Commissar Kleitos and foil his plans to give the Imperator Titan to the forces of Chaos. Location - Battlefield at Kutna Bastille. Inside the Imperator Titan. Encounters - Commisar Kleitos.
What do you guys think?
So I was just pointing out a Rigger the other night, and was reading the Shadowrun 4th edition Arsenal book. On page 108 I found the following interesting vehicle: Entertainment Systems Cyclops (Monocycle) With the advent of advanced gyro stabilization, the motorized
Okay...cool, its a monobike, gotta love the future and all those wacky ideas we have about it. Then I read this article, linked off Yahoo news, just a few minutes ago: Go to [url=http://www.goodcleantech.com/2008/04/uno_crazy_electric_unicycle_mo.php] Who knew that 2070 would arrive so soon. Man I love my motherland of Canada and all the wacky Canadian brothers and sisters that live there. Who wants to bet the kid has played Shadowrun?
Hey Chummers! So with all the 4e/3e shifts and changes, I decided to take a small break from D&D/D20 to make a side run in the old Shadowrun universe. I have played the game maybe a half-dozen times but never run it. I also am rather short on time, so I decided to raid my rather solid library of dungeon magazines (from 87-150). I reread the Shadows over Istivin and thought that it sounded like it had potential to convert to Shadowrun. Here is what I have so far. Any helpful suggestions or tips would be great as I have never GM'ed Shadowrun before. As a side note I am going to try and limit the amount of Matrix and Hermetic Magic use, to keep things simple, at least that seems like a good approach for my first campaign, maybe not? Oh and I am using 3rd edition, mainly because thats what we have played before and own the books of. Is 4th edition Shadowrun so much cooler that I should just not consider running in 3rd even thoguh it would mean more work for me? Shadowrun – Istivin City of Shadows
Istivin
Timeline:
2018 - Treaty of Denver. The city of Cripple Creek forms the South-West border of the Front Range Free Zone. This area becomes a Black Market trade zone between the Ute Nation, the Sioux Nation, and the Pueblo Corp Council. 2020 – Franklin Istivin discovers the Collins Load gold/something else? strike. 2021-2035 – The Istivin Gold/? Rush – Population grows from 1,000 to 63,000 by 2035. 2025 – Franklin Istivin dies in a mine collapse near Victor. Many theorize this was not an accident. Some fingers are pointed towards Eilservs Mining Corp. 2026 – Cripple Creek is renamed Istivin in honor of the Collin’s Load discoverer. 2031 – Eilservs Mining Corp. files for bankruptcy following a series of bad test mines. 2035 – The Gold Rush ends. From here on out all mines are owned and all mining is organized by the big three mining corporations:
2038 – The Oestral disaster strikes. A minor earthquake devastates their mines and kills the board of directors who were visiting the site. The company files for bankruptcy and it’s holdings are bought out by Querchard and Verbane. 2041-42 – Time of Troubles – The Elven Mage of the Eilservs family causes problems from within. Takes over the city, begins a mass slaughter in the center of the city. 2042 - Istivin devastated by the Troll Nomad Invasion. The city manages, with help from Denver to throw off the invaders. 2042-2050 – Istivin rebuilds. Verbane and Querchard expand operations throughout the entire region. Most buildings in the outer city date from this era. 2060 – Modern Day Major Players:
Major Locations:
Minor Players:
Minor Locations:
Oh and the Reason for the mining? Morphesium. Still not sure about magical effects as I am still reading the Shadowrun magic system. Morphesium – The Rock of Dreams Specific Density: 12.5 g/ml Mohs Hardness: 6.5 Absolute Hardness: 86 Appearance: Morphersium is a metamorphic mineral, formed when gold-quartz is exposed to heat (in excess of 1,500 C though less than 3,000 C), Pressure (4-10 Atm), and mystic energy. Because of the extreme rarity of these processes, combined with it’s rapid deterioration when exposed to the visible light spectrum, Morphesium is one of the rarer minerals mined on earth. When seen under normal light, before deterioration, it appears to have a slight surface iridescence quartz like crystal, rutilated with strands that appear strongly iridescent. Properties: Morphesium is a dangerous mineral to handle under normal conditions. It releases high frequency gamma ray radiation that can cause mutation in life forms when placed in close contact over a long period of time. These mutations tend to be associated with those created via awakening energies. Morphesium shatters into long rods when placed under duress. These vary from ½”-3” in width and 2”-14” in length. The number of sides varies from 3-12, depending on stress factures and purity of the sample. Handling: Morphesium quickly deteriorates when exposed to UV radiation. When purity levels are above 37%, if the sample is exposed to direct sunlight, detonation can occur, at a rate varying from 4 m/sec (37% pure sample) to 150 m/sec (99% pure sample) . The visable range of light causes a slower, though consistent deterioration of samples. Thus pure morphesium must be mined under conditions that limit the amount of light and specifically UV radiation from exposing the ore. Extraction mining is usually done via shaft-pit mines, with miners using nightvision goggles and low frequency infrared lighting.
Processing: Morphesium can be processed into a variety of chemicals and forms. The most common processed form, Istivin 4M, known on the street as Krystal-M or White Dream, binds crushed Morphesium with Zinc Oxide to create a fine crystalline powder that has a wide variety of uses for adepts in circles and spells. Istivin 4M causes a increase in both potency, duration, and radius of effect.
Price: Unrefined -
Hello Oregonians. I am an experienced DM/GM/Storteller and player living in the good old capital city of Salem, Oregon. I still run games sometimes with my old group from Eugene, but am looking for new players closer to home (gas is getting expensive). I have played and run D&D 3.5 extensively (having just completed running AoW) but would be up for just about any RPG that is out there, from Shadowrun to Call of Cthulhu to Serenity to whatever. If you are interested and in the area shoot me an email, andrewibhunt@yahoo.com
I know this has been discussed before, but I am wanting to expand on the idea of running the old Porphyry House adventure from Dungeon 95 as a prequel to my Savage Tide campaign (which will start in the Spring). I have been rewriting portions of the adventure, expanding it, and trying to rework the intro. As a general warning, the descriptions will be mature, not quite torture-porn though, like Nick writes. I hope not anyhow. I am having the players start on the dark side as it were, with 10th level characters, all N, CN, NE, LE, CE in alignment (I can keep doing this at least until 4E kills alignment, eh folks?).
Scene1 -
Josephine’s Doom – Type: Junk, Cargo: 160 tons, Sailing from Sasserine
Attacked by Captain Ustk of the Crimson Fleet.
Introduction:
Scene 1 Pirates!!:
Surprise Round – Ships at 400ft Distance
Round 1 – Ships at 300ft distance.
Round 2 – Ships at 200ft distance
Round 3 – Ships at 100ft distance
Round 4 – Boarding distance
Round 5 - Joined
Luts’k, the 1st Mate – Ogre 8th level Barbarian
Captain Ustk – Lemorian ½ Fiend, 8th Fighter/4th Legendary Captain Initiative+7 HP:106, AC:28, +2 Falchion - +20/+15/+10, 2d4+7,
10th Level Druid Pirate – Human
10th Level Wizard Pirate
8th Level Rogue Pirates - Human
Captain Luim, Human, Male N, (4th Bard/4th Expert/4th Rogue)
Lieutenant T’ces 1st mate, Human, Female, CN, (8th Druid), Initiative+2
Worthy Seamen – Half-Orcs, 3rd Rogue
Denouement:
Scene 2 - Scuttlecove:
For three days this is your lot. The pirates shove mouthfuls of bilge water down your throats as the sun sets each day, the foulness of it making you retch, yet your thirst pleading to swallow more. You awake hours later to hear the moans and screams of your fellow bound passengers, your arms and shoulders having long since grown numb, you body wracked and twisted in pain, each wound soaked in the salt spray, your skin blistered from the sun. “Oh Gods no…oh gods no! By the grace of Pelor no!! Not Scuttlecove!! NO!!!!!!!!!” The man hanging two down from you begins ranting and screaming, staring out into towards sea to the fore. Following his gaze you see that the ship is approaching a massive island, covered with thick jungle, imposing cliffs, whose air hangs with a dull miasma of smoke and grease. The image is gone as the ship tacks to catch the breeze, then returns with a starboard turn. A fleshy thumb is heard, with a soft crack, a slight spray of wetness splatters your cheeks, as a fist silences the man, you think forever. The inmate next to you, covered with bits of the far man’s teeth and blood, reaches out his parched tongue, and licks his sanguine face. You can clearly make out the crimson sails of the pirate ship leading a mile ahead, silhouetted against the isle. And beyond the ship, stretching to either side is a port, an opening in the jungle, a mass of jumbled buildings and rough, buckling fortifications. Only a few structures seem to rise above the chaotic mass, what appears to be an arena of some sort to the West, it’s wall rising high yet not smooth. In the center some sort of rough pyramid of wood and metal and other unidentifiable materials rises glistening and glittering in the midday sun. Near the Western walls of the city an elegant structure of stone rests, made from dark purple porphyry with four minarets rising from it’s corners, it stands at a contrast to it’s surroundings. And finally on the hill overlooking this foul pustule of a coastal inhabitation, is a blacked husk of a fortress, impenetrable as it’s form is untenable to the sane mind, the Palace from which the mad rule the foulest of capitals, the epicenter of horrors, the port-city of Scuttlecove. The shanghaied ship maneuvers it’s way fitfully through a maze of passages, winding between the perilous wrecks that litter the mouth of Scuttlecove. The waters of the bay are generally calm, partially because of these unnatural reefs, and thus are full of the filth and mire that the city produces. A thick slick of grease, bits of hair, and unmentionable flotsam cover the bay’s waters. The smell of the waters is almost refreshing compared to the miasma that wafts from the city itself, carrying with it the smells of a thousand filths, strange chemicals, and rot, both plant and animal. Your stomach begins to turn, even as you overhear pirates comment on the good smell of home, their speech barely rising above the dry retches of your fellow prisoners. Flies, mosquitoes, and other disdainful insects begin to fill the air, sometime congregating around a corpse floating in the waters, yet enough of them gaining interest in your vessel for you wounds to begin filling with swarms of bloodsuckers and egg layers. The buzzing they make crescendos as it merges with the sounds of the city to create a cacophony of terror. Screams, clanging of metal, cries of mercy, the creak of ships against docks, flesh yielding to steel, dull moans, this is the symphony of Scuttlecove. Your final destination. The pirates, expert seamen, maneuver the ship into position and dock it along the bayfront. The docks themselves seem to be in relatively good repair especially when compared to the collapsing ruins that are the cities finest homes. The nimble youths jump from the rails unto the docks, catching the ropes and tying off the vessel, then aiding the original Crimson Fleet ship to dock to the aft. The pirate officers confer for a few moments, fingers pointed, bodies, off loaded from both ships are dumped into a cart a wheeled off, after the man leading the cart pays a few gold coins to the tall Ogre pirate leading this venture. Finally manacles are brought forth, and the slow process of cutting loose the prisoners, you and your compatriots, begins. As each slave is untied, they are manacled to a gang line, each line linked by a thick, ancient chain, thus tying together 10 men. As each group is completed, they are led off by a group of 10 pirates towards a wooden platform, as tall as a man, made from sagging boards, found upon the beach. It seems that there a slave auction of sorts is being held. You are all in the second group to be untied. Each one of you is untied one at a time.
Your muscles scream at you in terrible pain, forcing you to double over, your legs failing to hold your weight, even as the slap the manacles upon you. Three well built sailors are at the front of you group, yet following you are a group of men beaten and wasting away, all of which carry at least one broken limb. Thats all I have written so far. I have the rest mapped out. They will be sold to a slaver, held in his pit's to prepare them to be shipped out to his plantation island. Within the pits, they will have to bareknucle fight for survival, then will be saved by Tyralandi, that is if they will sign a pact with Graatz to bring down the Porphyry House of Whor..err..Horrors. What do folks think?
So my campaign is quickly approaching the end (they are on the Kings of the Rift adventure right now), and the players have decided that they wish to build a kingdom of their own. They have even figured out the perfect spot, the isle of Tilagos! I am not seen that anyone has written about their players taking this particular course of action, but it would seem to make sense. In the adventure it writes that the Isle of Tilagos, upon their return is:
Now in the adventure map, the isle of Tilagos, is approximately 40-50 miles wide and 70-80 miles long. An estimate of it's total area then would be from 1,800 to 4,000 sq. miles, with it probably being around 2,800 sq. miles or so or 7,250 sq. kilometers. According to wikipedia this would make Tilagos a larger area than the 63 smallest countries in the modern world, just somewhat larger than Brunei and somewhat smaller than Puerto Rico. As far as islands, it would be just a little smaller than Corsica or Crete, and larger than Hawaii's Big Island (the island of Hawaii that is) or Prince Edward Island. Thus it is a rather large land mass, as presented. My players figured, why not build a kingdom on it? I mean here it is, located 100 miles from Alhaster, in the middle of everything (that is the Nyr Dyv) and totally uninhabited. Plus even though there are other powers that will immediately be interested in it, it's not like the players are push overs, they are both 18th or 19th level now, and have leadership, thus small personal armies, as well as the resources of their respective churches (Wee Jas and Hextor that is). Luckily I anticipated this, and made it such that the Island of Tilagos shrunk when it returned to the material plane, such that it was 'only' 10 miles wide and 20 miles long, in total 200 sq. miles or 500sq. km, of land (still larger than Andorra, and the 38 smallest countries in the modern world). Thus they have laid claim to the island and are beginning to build towns and watch towers upon it, both with muscle and magic. Of course I was not going make everything easy for them. The druids of the Bronzewood lodge arrived, and promptly blackmailed them for 1/3 of the entire island, as a untouched preserve. They said they would collect the large and most dangerous beasts and try and keep them in this area, in return for promises of no human interference or destruction of habitat/forests/animals, within that area. My one player, the Paladin of Hextor, was all for killing the druids, until it was pointed out that with the number of beasts that had survived transit from the demiplane, they were terribly outnumbered, and that there were some rather powerful druids backing the bronzewood lodge up, druids that could make life rather difficult on Tilagos, if they so choose. Thus the tri-nation of Tilagos was born, 1/3 Hextorian, 1/3 Wee Jasian, and 1/3 druidic. Long live the Isle of Law (as they christened it)!
I have a player who judiciously uses the Spell Compendium to boost his already powerful Cleric of Wee Jas. I have been interested by the power-up that this book gives to Clerics, a class that I never felt was necessarily wanting for power. Anyhow, I had a general question. While fighting in the AoW, a Assassin using Improved Invisibility Attacked this Cleric, and used her Death Attack. The Cleric failed his save, yet had cast Fortunate Fate upon himself. He said that since Fortunate Fate casts Heal upon reaching -10hp, or death from a type of damage that heal can mitigate, that he should be saved from Death. I ruled otherwise, saying that while the Death Attack is not a Death Effect per see (perhaps I am wrong here, I thought that it is not the type of thing that a Death Ward would prevent) it is a Death Attack, and thus cannot be stopped by heal. I gave the description that the Crossbow bolt hit the Cleric just below the Jaw and lodged in his Skull, even as he fell the entry hole healed around the edges of the bolt, but he was still dead. Was I correct in my ruling, ie. that Assassin Death Attacks (which are notoriously difficult to conduct and have a rather Low save DC) are not hindered by Fortunate Fate? Also on this point, the spell, Lion's Roar was used in the same adventure, by the same Cleric, at a latter point. From what I could tell it is WAY overpowered. The Cleric did 10d8 damage to all enemies within a 120FT. BURST!!! STUNNING THEM ON A FAILED SAVE!!! and dealing HALF damage on a successful save!!! WTF!!!!!????? That alone is more powerful than any wizard/arcane spell that I know of, not only for having the largest area effect of ANY damage dealing spell that I have ever seen, by three fold!! But also it Stuns, a massively powerful effect, that could single handedly change a vast battle between upwards of 900 enemy Combatants (if there were 900 friendly combatants in the other 900 5x5ft squares). But it does not end there!! It seems that Lion's Roar also gives all friendly combatants a +1 morale bonus to combat rolls/saves vs. fear effects, as well as a nice bonus 1d8+caster level HP (max 20, which it was maxed). WOW!!! So lets set up a potential scenario. There is Evil Wizard A, a 15th Level Wizard, who has hired a army of 900 10th level adventurers, a mix of Fighters, Wizards, Clerics, Rogues, and all, vs. Good Cleric B, a 15th level Cleric, who has hired an army of 900 10th level adventurers, a mix of fighters, ect.... They get into a big mess of combat, and the cleric and the wizard close towards the middle to Duke it out. The Cleric casts Lion's Roar, he raises his caster level using one of the many tricks available for this, to 20th level, Save DC 23 minimum, Fort Save. The 70% evil 10th level Clerics take 45hp of Damage (66% of their total, with a average roll) and are stunned for 1 round. 50% of the Evil Fighters would face the same fate (taking damage equivalent to 56% of their total HP) and be stunned. 95%! of the Rogues would fail their saves (taking damage equivalent to 95% of their HP totals) and of course be stunned. Likewise 95% of the 10th level Wizards would fail their saves (taking 121% of their total HP!!, thus leaving them at -8hp!). Conversely the allies would all gain a +1 to hit their opponents, and gain an average of 24 or 25 bonus HP. Evil Wizard A responds with hmm... maybe a 8th level Arcane Spell from Spell Compendium like:
In the end no spell a 15th+ level Wizard has access to even approaches this one Cleric spell in terms of area effect destruction. I mean at a 30ft radius this spell is overpowered, much less a 120ft radius. Thoughts?
So I was hoping to send this in as a submission, but considering the end of the magazines, I guess that possibility has been lost. I was trying to come up with an idea of a very useful adventure to write for Dungeon and I happened upon this: creating an epic adventure (22nd or at the most 25th level) that was set up specifically to be run after the end of any of the 3 APs, as they are currently written. While I have not even gotten close to finishing it (I was just starting to gear back up to writting more of it when the announcement came in April) I think that the basic idea is a good one. The working title is: The Trypich of Ur Here is what I have written so far: The Triptych of Ur An Epic Adventure for a Group of 4, 22nd level Adventures
In Depth:
Major Foes:
with 2 Advanced x2 Evolved Undead Nightwalkers (CR 22 each, CR 24 together 33HD each) CR 27 Encounter The Ur-Priests of Scuttlecove – Associated with the Savage Tides AP – Wanting to kill Olidamara. CR25 Encounter Kolyarut 2nd Fighter/10th Ur-Priest – Followed a oath breaker to the Far Realm, went mad (CR 24)
with:
Possibly the Ghost of Ssythar-Vassha – The Ancient Cleric of Merrshaulk, risen as a Greater Mummy, associating with the Ur Priests to bring destruction to the soft fleshed gods for their desecration of his tomb. Wanting to kill Wee Jas, because of her follower that brought destruction to his tomb. CR26 Encounter
with:4 Awakened Gargantuan Constrictor Snakes – HD: 33HD+ 6th Fighters (CR20)
Major Locations:
- On the Plains of Ysgard, hidden in a deep valley, near the Den of Olidammara - On a large Crystal Shard in Ocanthus Burrowed in the heart of the Shard Rewards:
1 Boon from the church of each God(dess), each boon is worth up to 50,000gp Estimated Length and number of Maps:
I realize that it is still rather in rough sketch form, but tell me what do you think.
Sorry just could not resist repeating the joke, I get good ones so rarely. I figure if Kyuss wins we can just call it catastrophic Global Worming. Maybe Al Gore can be represented by the Rain Man, the guy trying to warn us of the coming bad, (no disrespect to Al, loved the movie) and then the players would be like uber enviromental activists or scientists about to save all of our collective A**es, and then....wait who would Dubya and the heads of the international oil/auto companies be then......those Kyuss pod people? I guess you can only take the joke so far. Anyhow, thought we all could use a little humor, even if it is of my rather poor quality. have a good one folks.
Well it seems kinda odd to be posting again on the AoW with the big news on the transition and all, but I figure the game must go on, eh? I am about to run the Library of Last Resort and was going over some ideas on how to push and make even more hectic the last few adventures. one idea I have had for a while is making the demi-plane of the Library have a slower run of time compared to the rest of greyhawk, thus meaning that by the time the characters have returned victorious, the world has passed them by significantly. I am not planning to make it to drastic, my thoughts are to make it as follows:
Thus most likely a year will have passed while they are in the plane. This helps to explain the pace of work on the tower in Alhaster, spreads the AP over a longer time, and also explains perhaps why the enemies within the cult of Kyuss do not move against them as fast in the last 3 adventures, they think they are dead or gone, having lost track of them for a year. I am also planning to have a number of events occur while they are gone: - The Day of Night – During a solar eclipse. The rise of an undead army, lead by the Death Knight Raknian and his lieutenant, a powerful undead (a Kyuss Knight which was one of the players cohorts at one time). The army will attack and wipe out most of a city or town, perhaps Elmshire, maybe part of the Shield Lands. The reaction will be swift and most of the army destroyed, though Raknian and his Lieutenant will escape, leading many to think that the age of worms has been averted. This is however just a taste of things to come, as undead begin to rise from graveyards with a greater frequency (think ghost busters "the dead rising from the grave!") in towns all across the Flanness, harsher weather becoming more common, a late spring frost killing young plants and blossoms, a summer blight and drought, and a early onset of fall with a very harsh winter. (Hey it's global worming! I couldn't resist.) Thus the players will return to find most/many thinking them dead and gone, their homes empty and dusty, the world a darker and more apocalyptic place then they had left (think 5-10 times more rain barrel men) and the general feeling that the age of worms is Nigh! Any other suggestions for events that could occur while they are gone? What do you folks think?
I was writing up a Prayer to Wee Jas, a funeral prayer that could be either spoken by the dying or, with a slight variation, spoken to one dying, when I thought that this is one area I have not seen good fan work on. That is I have not seen many published prayers to different Gods and Goddesses. So I figured I would put the word out and see what others have written or could write up for different deities. Perhaps a prayer for the dead by a priest of Moradin, or Nerull could be interesting, or the Wedding Blessing of Obad-Hai or Farhalagn. Anyhow here is what I wrote. Lets see some others, eh? Spoken by a dying man or woman: “See Dark-Eyed Lady,
Spoken over a dying man or woman: “See the Dark-Eyed Lady,
There you go. or ov
Perhaps I am late in the game on this post, if so please direct me to the most recent post. I would have liked to have seen a side view of the Pirate-Ship-Tree extravaganza, hideout. In reading over each section very carefully, I have, I think, been able to discern how the whole is put together, but it is rather difficult (even more so than the anti-dragon Giants Fortress in AoW). If it is possible could we see an illustration on the online supplemental material, so that we can better understand the geometry of this most amazing building. Also a general sketch of it, for play aid, would be great as well. Thanks.
My players have just finished with the mass slayage that was the Spire of Long Shadows. After making a pit stop in Sasserine, and completing some left over business, they are going back home to Alhaster. But the one Cleric of Wee Jas was going to pick up some packages for a certain Halfling Merchant woman, who lives in Rooksroost (Mizen Mitchwillow). I had not done much interesting with the packages that they were going to take to Mitchwillow, mostly some rare woods, spices, and other goods that she had them trade for some similar, Northern, goods that they had taken down with them. But I got to thinking, I should have a less than scrupulous noble or merchant (perhaps Nemiem Roblach or Vanthus)hand them two magically sealed boxes to take to Mitchwillow and some other merchant in Alhaster, two Shadow Pearls. I would have the Sasserine fellow show them their cargo and then magically seal the velvet lined strong boxes, paying them 1,000gp to take them North. I figure this is a nice way to set up some unknown foreshadowing about the next AP, that I plan to run next year or so. It will be especially cool because neither of my players know anything about the next AP except that it has pirates, high seas, cool adventures, and the Isle of Dread. So it will be like 6 months or more until they see a shadow Pearl again, but when they do they will realize that their characters from the last game helped spread a secret horrorm to the hometown that by then they (the old AoW characters) now rule. I figure it will be a cool moment and will make their cargo a bit more interesting.
So I just posted this elsewhere, but I figured I would make a new thread for it as well, as it took me a hour or so to put together. Lets see what kind of profits the colony of Farshore can possibly rake from their hard labor. Lets look at the island. It is tropical. Tropical lands are very different than more polar latitudes. For instance the Bamiléké of Cameroon had family farms that averaged 3 Hectares or roughly 7 1/2 acres. And that is circa 1987. Two friends of mine bought 1 acre of land in the highlands of Honduras and have managed to pay the bills working just that 1 acre of land. They may live leanly (in fact it turns out when you farm 1 acre of land in honduras, you live like the guy next to you farming 1 acre of land, that is you are starving a little) but 2 or 3 acres would do them very well. That is becasue of growing seasons. In North America if you plant corn in a field you will get 1 crop of corn that year. Maybe you will plant a winter crop in the field, and get some yield from that,but more liekly you let the field go fallow for a year or two and then plant it again. Traditional farming that is. The crop rotation method. In the tropics, there are various means of farming, but especially good farmland, like that found in Costa Rica, can be planted and harvested upwards of four or five times a year. That is because there is no winter there. And dependant on rain patterns, you can grow rainy season crops and dry season crops. This vasty increases your yield per acre of land, and allows for the increased production of cash crops. That brings us to the more important point, cash crops. You are not going to be growing wheat to compete with other wheat growers, once set to market in Sasserine or beyond. In Farshore you are going to be growing rare spices. How rare and how much do/did these spices cost? Lets look at 14th century costs for spices in Europe. Saffron 1lb cost 12 shillings to 15shillings
And here are wages for a 14th century Thatcher and his mate.
1 shilling = 12 pence (d) So a Master Thatcher (which was a good skilled job back in the 14th century) would have to work 16 days to buy 1 lb of pepper. The same Thatcher would have to work 48 days to buy 1lb of Saffron (a rather large amount of said spice, but still). And just incase you were wondering about earlier times:
So the net result is that spices, because of their rarity, were an excellent way to make a small farm make big bucks. In Sumatra your average pepper plant yields 12lbs of pepper a year. Figure you have an Acre of said plants. Each plant needs a tree to be grafted upon (to grow it in Indian fashion). Figure 100 trees per acre. That means that you are producing 1,200lbs of pepper a year. Or in other words, you are producing wealth equal to the yearly labor of roughly 71 Master Thatchers or 210 Thatcher Mates. Thats a dang good cash crop. Now you will not be getting all of that wealth of course. You will get some, some will be reinvested into your farm, some will go to pay local taxes, a lot will be taken by the merchant who transports the spices to market, and a bit will be taken by the spice trader or spice seller in the market town. But still, even if you only get 10% profit, you are still making 7 times the living off of 1 acre of land that the average Skilled Tradesman is making back in Sasserine or Greyhawk city. And to top it all Pepper plants are grown along side other crops. In Sumatra the ground is cleared, ploughed, and sown with rice, and cuttings of the pepper vine are planted in September, 5 ft. apart each way, together with a sapling of quick growth and rough bark. In India they use trees with rough bark, perhaps such as fruit trees or nut trees, thus doubling the use of the land, getting both personal use food stuffs and a cash crop off of the same acre. Lastly, the thing to consider is other island populations. People went to the Orkney's to get away from it all, and to scrape out a living far from the eyes of the law. People went to the West Indies to get rich not to build small family farms. Thats why slaves were imported for labor. Huge plantations (compared to the amount of land needed to support a family) were set up and slave labor worked them to make one family very, very, very rich. In this case, Lavinia is not interested in slave labor (although if the players pick the evil tract, maybe that is somethign they should look into, getting folks drunk and loading them unto their ships, taking them to Farshore to work the plantations till they die....hmm....). Instead she is going to sell the lands, and make money off of transporting the goods. She will probably also run a large plantation on the island, but her main interest it seems is in shipping not farming. But she needs folks to farm the land if that is going to be the case. As another poster said there are about 12,800 Acres of land avaliable on the island. Lets say that only 1/3 of that is good arable land for spices, the other 1/3 left for timber, and the last 1/3 for pasture lands and sustenance crops. That means that the island could support 1,400, small, 3 acre farms, each raising 1 acre of spices and 2 acres of food stuffs, leaving 4,200 acres for a grazing commons. Now in the prairie west of the US, you want 15 acres per cow or 4 acres per sheep, meaning only 285 cows or 1,060 sheep could be grazed. Chickens on the other hand, according to modern “Free-Range” constraints are to be limited to 300-400 per acre, although this means using feed. But even if one were to limit it to 3 chickens an acre, that would still mean between 9-18 chickens per colonist family, more than enough to keep them in eggs and meat. But considering this is the tropics and there is a longer growing season and more productive land, one would probably be safe double or even quadrupling the number of animals that could be put on the pasture lands, meaning enough animals for the colony to not need to import leather, meat, and cheeses. And that would still leave 4,200 acres of timber that can be harvested for fuel, building materials, export, and medicines (natural remedies and what not). So it total, such an island, were it to produce pepper, in large amounts, could, in 14th century prices, produce 1.7 million lbs of pepper a year, worth 6.8 million shillings. Now even if shillings were equal to silver pieces, that means a total crop value for the island of 680,000gp. Heck even if they are equal to copper pieces you still rake in 68,000gp. I qould probably fudge towards the silver piece price. Figure 10-15% goes to Farshore (vastly incresing their finances), 25-40% goes to Lavinia (who has to take losses, such as building ships, losing ships dissapearing, paying crews, destroyed or stolen cargos, ect.), and the final 45-65% would be made by the Spice merchants of Sasserine, northern traders, and the small market sellers and stores that pander the spices to the individual consumers. Now you see why Lavinia and her parents, heck everybody is interested in opening and developing this market. And all of these numbers do not reflect the trade possibilities with native olmans, harvesting timber and spices from other non-inhabited islands, or even the more aggressive prospect of taking over the Olman lands. All in all I think that the prospects are good for the farshore colony. And I also believe that there are great reasons for folks wanting to leave Sasserine or the bitter North and come down South to start a new life and make a great profit, in the colony of Farshore.
So I was running the SoLS the other night and my player, who runs a Cleric of Wee Jas, and his cohort, both got infected by Kyuss worms at the same time. The Cleric cast heal on himself, I can't remeber if it was before or after the worms reached his brain, however I ruled that it did not stop them. thus his cohort was turned into a Knight of Kyuss (my ruling there as they were near the spire) and the cleric was saved by the Paladin of Hextor, who had just one remove disease. Was I correct in my ruling? Does heal effect the Kyuss worms before they infect the brain? After? As far as I have read, only two (maybe three) spells effect them: Remove Disease, Remove Curse, (and maybe) Neutralize Poison (can't remember off hand, that my be the one that slows them down.....hard to recall without a book on hand). What about more powerful healing spells like...Heal?
So I am currently at the Spire of Long Shadows in my AoW campaign, and will be the GM for Savage Tides as well. So I have started bringing in elements of STAP into my AoW to set it up for my players. I was wondering what other folks were doing, if anyone else is doing this. What I have done so far is as follows:
- In the SoLS, the players travelled to Sasserine, met with the temple of Wee Jas there, saw the sites in the city and got generally familiar with the place. They also learned the history of the city, in terms of the Sea Princes and the Scarlet Brotherhood. - After SoLS, the players will meet with the Vanderborens (still alive at this time) and transport some goods for them back North to the Free City or to Alhaster (their current home base). Has anyone else done this, and if so, what have you done?
I have had the fortune to be able to run the AoW AP with the complete, or nearly complete for the first few adventures, set of adventures printed, when I began. As such I decided to try and add even more foreshadowing and connections for the characters to have within the story to some of the later important plot elements. I figured I would share these as well as see waht other people have likewise done. To clarify, my two players are running as a Paladin of Hextor (LN) and a Cleric of Wee Jas (LN). - Starting from when they slept in the Whispering Cairn in the first adventure, the palyers have had regular dreams, odd and inconclusive, but that give portents of their future, and also move along their Weapon of Legacy plots. - The Paladin of Hextor was offered membership in, and joined, a secretive order of Hextorian Knights known as the Knights of the Crimson Law. As part of his rising in their ranks, just after the Paladin wins in the Free City Games, he is tasked with either turning Prince Zeech to the right path in the Redhand or replacing him, either or, within the next year. They tasked him with this because they think that Zeech has a good chance of losing the Redhand completly for the Church of Hextor to the Church of Iuz or possibly the Shield Lands Heironeans. - When the Cleric of Wee Jas wanted to buy/start a magic shop in the Free City, I had him run afoul of the powerful and VERY exclusive Thaumatulergical Guild that explained to him in very clear terms that he had no place in the city, and that he should try other places, such as the mage Imoandi in Alhaster who was selling her shop. - When said Cleric of Wee Jas decided to buy the shop in Alhaster, and take the Landlord feat, he wanted a patron as explanation for where the money was coming from. So along shows up a carved white box, with two dragons eating eachothers tales, in the doorway of his clerical cell, the morning after he wins the champions games. out from it the image of Lashonna springs, telling him of how she seeks to make even greater her once great city of Alhaster, and how she wishes to help such a great man as he, to purchase Imoandi's shop. Thus she foots the bill, or at least that is what he currently thinks. In truth she simply vamped Imoandi, and after turning the old witch into one of her slave guardians in her lair benath Alhaster, Lashonna just left a letter, austensibly from Imoandi, for the Cleric of Wee Jas stating that the shop was his, and that she had already left to enjoy her retirement. What fun he he have when they have to battle the Vampiric Witch Imoandi in the last adventure eh? - The Apostolic Scrolls. I have a previous post that has a copy of the Apostolic Scrolls that I gave my players ( Writing the Apostolic Scrolls ). Within the writing of the scrolls I tried to place imagery that foreshadowed the Spire of Long Shadows and especially the rise of Kyuss in Alhaster. I tried to mix in other, non-specific images as well to mix up the players, but I hope that they remember these passages when the time comes. So that is a good bit, though not all, of the foreshadowing I put into my AoW campaign so far. As I stated earlier, I had the opportunity to do this, since I started my campaign just after the publication of the Prince of Redhand, and so knew what was coming from a long way off. What do you think and what have other folks done?
I am just about to begin running the Spire of Long Shadows, and am thinking of tweaking Tenser's presentation in it. I am changing Tenser from being the busy, yet likeable Lawful Good wizard-Patron, to being the Paranoid, they-are-all-out-to-get-me, defense obssessed, step-brother of Dispater. He will still be Lawful Good (Or at least Lawful Netural, as my players are both Lawful Netural, one a Paladin of Hextor the other a Cleric of Wee Jas) and still be Tenser, but he will be running a different show. Partially this is based upon my exprience playing a 23rd level wizard in an Epic Campaign one time. I actually tried, using my spell list, to come up with a way to build a castle, with moats, outer walls, gates, and everything in one day. I manged to do it to, creatively using many spells to expand and shift/manipulate materials. With that in mind, I figure Tenser, as a 21st or 22nd level wizard has fortified Magepoint, making it a varitable impregnable bastion of safety for him and his few close associates. I am making Tenser so paranoid because of his colorful and intersting history. I mean he is a guy who has had attempts put on his life many times in the past, and has been killed by what he thought was one of his closest allies and friends (good old Rary), and has made enemies with some of the most powerful beings in existence (including the forementioned Rary, some demon princes, probably a duke or two of hell, and of course the DEMI-GOD Iuz!) I figure he is completely paranoid by this point. I figure he has proabably got a half-dozen 10th level wizard Simulacrum's running around doing his biding, pretending to be him (including one who is going to meet the PCs) as well as a sizable army of hireling soldiers and lesser wizards watching the gates of his castle, the causeway, it's gatehouse (something I added) and the 50ft high wall with 8 towers that sorounds the entire community (something else I added). I figure building a huge stone wall would not be hard for Tenser, as he could just cast wall of stone, and then Polymorph any Object, to turn it into a larger, thicker wall, shaped to his satisfaction (an intersting construction idea, IMOHO). A few days worth of casting those two spells and voila! a huge wall with a couple of great gate houses surrounds Magepoint. I am currently thinking of additional protections to give his palace/tower, perhaps a few golems, some summoning stones, and maybe a few other items from the stronghold builders guide. Any adivce or thoughts?
Here is a warband I developed for the Champions Games. There are four members of the warband, the leader, Duke Slaine the Half-Giant, Nori the Mithiral Marauder, and their backup, the Steinjotunen. Duke Slaine is a half-Giant, 2nd Fighter/4th Monk/2nd Reaping Mauler. He was born in Kongen-Thulnir. He was raised amongst a monastic group of giants there, associated with the Tiamikal Nul-Shada. His monastic order was devastated by the recent civil wars in the giant city, and he has left to find not only new converts, but also money in order to rebuild the monastery (I would place it on area D on the map of Kogen-Thulnir). Nori the Mithiral Marauder is a Warforged, 9th Monk. He is an ancient relic, left over from the days of the Clockwork empire in the north. He awoke recently, hearing the call of the Clockwork Fortress again, yet sought his own path rather than return to the place of his birth. He traveled South, and eventually to the city of Kongen-Thulnir. There he studied the monastic rites of the giants, alongside Duke Slaine. He is working with Slaine to rebuild the lost monastery, and find new recuits. The Steinjotunen are two stone giants, who until recently lived in Kongen-Thulnir, and were associated with the monastic order there. Here are the Stats for Nori and Slaine with NPC treasure levels: Nori the Mithiral Marauder
Attacks:
Skills: Climb+9, Hide+10, Jump+5, Listen+11, Move Silent+10, Spot+11, Tumble+12 Feats: Improved Grapple, Mobility, Mithiral Body, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Unarmed Strike, Deflect Arrows, Weapon Finesse, Spring Attack, Weapon Focus, Improved Trip
Slaine the Half-Giant Duke CR:9
Attacks:
Skills: Balance+8, Climb+12, Escape Artist+12, Jump+12, Know (Arcana)+4, Tumble+12 Feats: Improved unarmed Strike, Deflect Arrows, Improved Grapple, Still Mind, Earth’s Embrace, Cleaver Wrestling (+2 vs. larger creatures), Improved Bull Rush, Mobility, Improved Initiative, Flying Kick, Power Attack, Weapon Focus
The Steinjotunen – Stone Giants (2) I am planning on having these NPCs show back up either during or after the siege at Kongen-Thulnir. Duke Slaine will then try and assert himself as the new ruler of the Giant City.
Here be the tale of Lugdush the Bold and Sam Herrick the Grim, two warriors who fought rising of the Age of Worms. Lugdush the Bold was born of an Orc Father and a human mother. He studied in the Citadel of Strife, learning the way of Hextor, eventually promising his sword as a Paladin of the God of Tyranny. Sam Herrick the Grim was born a farmer, of human heritage, in the lands outside Diamond Lake. After losing his family to the Red Plague, he joined the Cairn of the Green Lady, as a cleric of Wee Jas. Here is the addie to our Yahoo Group:
Chapter 1 - Pre-history
Lugdush had been living at the Fortress of Iron Tears in the Free City of Greyhawk, until recently. There he had been studying the ways of Hextor, battling lesser men in the arena and keeping the novices in line with fist and heel. This all changed when he was gifted with a meeting with the grand priests of Hextor in the Free City, Father Harlen & Lord Bishop Arl-Khan. In this rare meeting with the great hierachs of the Church of Hextor, Lugdush was given a secret mission. It had come to Father Harlen’s attention that a rot had begun in the church of Hextor, a heresy amongst the priests and flock. While many powerful agents were at work discovering and routing out this heresy in other, more important locals, Lord Bishop Arl-Khan ordered Lugdush to torture and slay any heretics he might find amongst a small but strong church of Hextor that was located in Diamond Lake. Their autocrat, a Priest of Hextor named Theldrick, has been rumored to have taken up with the heretical Ebon Triad. While Lugdush need know no more about the Triad, he was told that they are the foulest of heretics, and are working to bring down the entire structure of the church, and perhaps Hextor himself. If this is discovered to be the case, then Lugdush make all haste to wipe clean this heresy, separate the wheat from the chaff, and burn out the sacrilege.
I will first admit that I was not person to come up with this characterization of Allustan's personality, but I have come to like it more and more as I approach running EaBK and later adventures with Allustan such as GoW. To Quote:
It kinda makes sense to. I think that cowardly personalities, or people that develop into cowards are an often under used personality type in D&D. Take for instance a 8th level wizard. By 8th level you have gathered together a fairly large amount of gold, say about
By 8th level you also are also pretty dang powerful. I mean who is going to mess with a wizard who can stay invisible while casting fireballs, flying, and protected by eldritch fields? Basically nobody! Finally by 8th level you have also probably seen a couple of your best buds take one for the team and buy a one way ticket to the outer planes. Looking foward to your future prospective enemies such as beholders, liches, and dragons, I could see a lot of wizards figuring that they are better off living the good life being a big fish in a small town pond, then ending up the next meal to some horrid abberation. Anyhow, I am planning on making Allustan a cowardly wizard, hoping to live a good, nice, boring bachelors life, spending his days writing treatise on cyclopean cairns and other such maginalia. Anyone else (other than, but including the poster quoted above) take this route with Allustan?
So I have read Gary Gygax's rules for Dragonchess (it reminds me of the 3-D chess of Star Trek Fame) but have found them wanting for a in game experience. So I have written up my own rules and background to the game. I tried to work in the history of Oerth (as I understand it, I am new to Greyhawk, old to D&D) as well as Khelleck's particular point of view as a Seeker.
“Hmm, have you ever actually played Dragonchess before? It is not a game for children, nor for simple minded farmers. It is a game that represents all that we do and are, it represents life itself. If you wish to play against me, I will not turn you aside, for unfortunately there are no worthy players on the road tonight.”
I have built upon my ideas of trying to figure out how productive the free city arena is by trying to figure out how much gold my player who is about to open a old collapsed mine in Diamond Lake, might make. I looked up Iron Ore purities (although I fudged the bog ore, but I love the idea of mining Iron both below Diamond Lake and at the Swamps, it extends the setting). I further looked at the price rate in the players handbook between the weight of mostly steel weapons/armor and their price. I also tried to figure out wages, additional costs, and a resonable amount of wealth being made off the mines. It seems that the mine managers are wealthy but not just vastly so, at least in comparrison to high level adventurers and other powerful Free City Merchants. So here it goes. Please tell me what you think. Economics of mining in the Greyhawk area: Dagger – Cost: 2gp, Weight: 1/2 lb Iron, 4gp per pound
I decided upon a rough estimate of 1sp+3cp per pound for the price of Iron that blacksmiths of the guild pay in the free city. Independent smiths, and those in smaller towns would of course pay much more. 1sp+3cp per pound Iron price means that for a blacksmith to make say 8sp per day (higher lifestyle than most artisans) they would have to produce and sell a dagger a day. Of course there would be guild fees, costs of hiring/boarding less skilled smiths/apprentices, and just the higher cost of living being in the big city and all, so most likely a Free City blacksmith would need much more than 8sp per day. But I digress. 1sp+3cp per pound - Price of Iron Ingots to a blacksmith of the Guild in the Free City 1sp per pound - Price paid for Iron Ingots by the Blacksmith’s Guild of the Free city 1cp per pound – Transportation cost of Iron Ingots from Diamond Lake to the Free City 5cp per lb – The rate per Ingot lb for ore refinement at the Diamond Lake Smelter (roughly half the profits, the backdrop did say that Vulgan Durtch is one of the richest men in the whole town, and of course he has expensive fees, licenses, and employees to pay). 1cp per 100lbs – Transportation cost from the mine head to the Smelter 5lbs x (Str+Con) – The number of pounds of Ore an average miner can mine per day. I just came up with this number but it seemed resonable, if even a little high, considering the amount of work it would take to get impure or extraneous rock out from around a purer vein of ore. The Purities of Ore found in Diamond Lake:
Of course it is hard to get a pure ore so each pound of ore is actually only ½ ore and the other ½ other impurities. So 1 regular human worker can mine 100lbs of ore, which on average is Siderite. Of that 100lbs only 50lbs is actual siderite which will in turn produce 24lbs of Pig Iron
So the avg. mine makes after wages, smelting and transport costs – 9 sp per miner/day Minus from that the costs of hiring guards (average 1 per 10 miners or 1sp per miner/day) And the cost of scribes, mine upkeep, and equipment (1sp per miner/day) And the average mine manager is making a profit of 7sp per miner/day Minus from this the 500gp yearly fees for registering as a mine manager. This is something I made up for my players. It seemed resonable though. Minus from this the 300gp yearly property tax on the mine. So:
Take from this 33% in taxes from the Free City and Diamond Lake, and the average mine manager is making 2,000gp per year in profit from a mine that employs 20 miners. A mine owner that owned 5 mines might make 10,000gp per year (think Smenk) or possible even more, especially if you upper the miner/mine ratio, as fees are based upon single mines not how many are working them. What do you think? I am crazy or what?
Ok so here goes my second attempt at this. I was adding up some figures, and trying to figure out how much money Raknian and his financial backers were making off the Free City Games. What follows are my figures. I figured that there would be fees for licensing of the licensed managers. I pulled a number out of thin air and figured it would cost a manager anywhere from 2,000gp to 5,000gp to register. This amount would depend on how many warriors were in the group, how powerful they seemed, and how popular they were. Thus the players with a Initial Rank of 3 would only cost Ekaym about 2,000gp for him to become a licensed manager. Auric's band on the other hand would cost their manager about 5,000gp. I figured by looking at the Initial Ranks, that the fees would average out at 3,000gp. Added to this would be a 100gp registration fee to be paid by each member of the gladiatorial teams. With 4 members of a team being the average, there would be roughly 100 warriors enrolling in the competition. Thus the fees would bring in a total of 82,000gp. These fees would serve two main purposes as follows: The main purpose would be to offset costs. I added up the total prizes given away to the winners, and it added up to 70,000gp (71,100gp to be exact). Thus the fees would bring in about 11,000gp of revenues beyond paying for the prizes. Any modern entrepreneur would recognize this as a good way to get rid of overhead expenses and would put the arena well on the path of getting into the black. The second purpose of these fees would be social. Because of the high cost of licensing, those managers that could afford it would be seen as being able to flaunt their wealth, and thus gain status and prestige amongst the rich and powerful of the Free City. This would also make the management an exclusive club, limiting membership to the rich and powerful, something aristocratic societies such as Greyhawk would find to be a positive outcome. Ok so that puts them in the black, but what would the other fees be? Well page 37-38 of Dungeon 128 indicates that Raknian has hired at least 32-2nd level warriors as his Arena Wardens. Lets double that number to add two shifts, and add another 64 guards for other functions/areas. This totals out at 128 Arena Wardens. Lets add in some more, just to beef up security, and total it out at 150 guards. If each guard is being paid 6sp per day (as indicated on page 149 of the DMG), and each guard is working for 5 days, then the total cost would be 450gp. Lets add in another 50gp for bonuses and holiday pay, for a grand total of 500gp. Page 38 also indicates that Raknian has hired a bunch of low-skilled ruffians to supplement his normal security, known as the Pouncers. Lets say there are 200 of them (they only work 1 shift as indicated, so we don’t double them). If each is paid 2sp (as per a 1st level mercenary), the total cost is 200gp. Lets add in another 50gp of extra fees, for a total of 250gp. Then there are Raknians personal guards. These are highly skilled 5th level fighters, not cheap for sure. I found in the Arms and Equipment guide a ratio for paying upper level hirelings, 2sp x level /day. Instead of 1gp per day though, lets say that Raknian pays a premium for these top level fighters in the, lets face it, rather expensive city of Greyhawk. So lets say that he is paying them 5gp per day instead. That totals them out at 750gp. Then there are the artisans and unskilled laborers. Lets say there are 50 skilled artisans, with an average wage of 6sp per day, and 100 unskilled laborers, with a average wage of 2sp per day. That totals to 250gp, but lets double it to 500gp for rush jobs and the like. Add in some highly skilled workers such as animal handlers and alchemists, and lets add another 500gp, for a total of 1,000gp. Then there is Madtooth the Hungry! Let say he sets back Raknian about 15,000gp (a number pulled from the air), possibly paid to the Noble Henway. That means that wages and what not cost a total of about 17,500gp. Now lets look at some revenue. Page 36 indicates that there are 18,000 seats, although only 10,000 are filled on the first 4 days. Lets even lower that by assuming that only 9,000 show up for the second day, as no major battles occur that day.
On the 5th day it is indicated that the arena is sold out so that would be as follows:
Thus the Total door would be – 97,500gp Add to this an average of ½ ticket price in betting proceeds and ½ ticket price in food and other revenue from each audience member. This is obviously a gross underestimate (just think how much you spend on food at a minor league ball game compared to how much the ticket price is) but I figure it averages in people who sneak in food and those who do not bet. Thus we would average in another 97,500gp in revenue. Let’s be even more conservative though, and lower that to 70,000gp (who knows maybe gambling isn’t that big in the Free City, or Medieval hot dogs don’t cost that much at the arena). Finally lets figure that the Lords of Greyhawk impose a 20% luxury tax on the revenue of the games and add in another 10,000gp of incidental fees (Ulgurstasta baby food and what not). Thus the total costs would be – 88,600+20% of the Revenue or 50,000gp
Thus I would say that not only are the Champion's Games in the black, but that Raknian and his financial backers (can we say the Church of the Ebon Triad) are all making a huge killing on this event. Considering that the other years events must have been smaller, and excluding any other profits that the arena makes throughout the year (maybe this is the only one and the others just pay the bills, who knows) one could figure that Raknian has brought in nearly 1 million in gp over the past decade, probably making the Free City about 300k in direct luxury taxes as well. Now I know why he is so beloved by the citizens and nobles of the city. I mean damm what a money maker eh? By the way what do you think of my figures? I know they are really crunchy, but as a Social Studies teacher I have a love for economics. I wrote some history to the event outlining that in past years, the normally smaller events had prizes that totalled out at 38,000gp rather than the 70,000gp of prizes given away at the bigger, better, badder, 10th anniversary Champions Games. |
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