So ever since my party and I aquired the abandoned mine office my mind has been ablaze with ideas for it. My first idea was that we could turn it into an store but I wasn't sure weather to have a store where we'd sell the items that we picked up on our adventures or actually make it into a store in Diamond Lake that sells things not currently available. Then after asking the DM I was thinking of using the land around the mine office to raise Goats or Cows or something then use them to start a meat/leather industry. You know. Do some good for the community. Then after going into the lizard man lair we picked a bunch of those spotted luminescent mushrooms and was thinking of growing those, though not to the port where it would be an industry. So those are my main ideas. Does anyone have any other ideas/things that your PCs have done?
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The trouble with using the abandoned mine office as a place of business is twofold:
Your first problem is location. An hour outside of town (depending on what references your group chooses to use) is quite a distance to expect customers to travel unless you're offering something they can't get any other way. Transporting your goods into town is an option, but unless there's a particular reason to use that specific property, your group would save travel times and make things more convenient for themselves simply by using the Land farmstead as their base instead.
There's also an issue of ownership. In my campaign, one of the PCs discovered he had inherited the old mine office at the beginning of the first session, but there's nothing like that written into the adventure itself. Someone certainly owns that land...and if it isn't one of the PCs in your group, you're in for a hard time if you try to profit from it. You might come to the attention of the Governor/Mayor, or to a Lord of the Free City, or even to Balabar Smenk if he happens to own it. (Most failed mine properties tend to fall into his possession when the original owner goes out of business.)
If PCs try to use a property that isn't theirs by law, they may end up in a legal (or even physical) battle for rights to it. What happens when the rightful owner shows up, demanding that the PCs get off the property? What if he demands a share of all their profits? What if he shows up with the Sheriff, demanding that they be thrown into the lockup for trespassing? What happens when the Lord with sovereignty over the region shows up with his knights and demands a tithe of everything they own, along with questions about how they came into such prosperity?
In any case, the PCs will have to deal with the issue of taxes if their occupation of the land becomes known. The government might look the other way on other charges if the PCs pay taxes on the land and business without any hassle...better to collect taxes from people illegally using the land than to get nothing from a legal owner who is leaving the property to rot.
To make things interesting, as a DM I'd have the title to the abandoned mine and land come into the possession of Balabar Smenk, who sends out surveyors to measure his holdings. When the surveyors locate the whispering Cairn and find the PCs squatting on his new property, much conflict may follow. :)
Depending on the nature of your DM, you might want to be watching out for some of the above technicalities.
Well in our campaing basically for these run down properties the deal is if we fix up the place the property is ours. So we've been given the deed to the property and it's ours to deal with.
So ever since my party and I aquired the abandoned mine office my mind has been ablaze with ideas for it. My first idea was that we could turn it into an store but I wasn't sure weather to have a store where we'd sell the items that we picked up on our adventures or actually make it into a store in Diamond Lake that sells things not currently available. Then after asking the DM I was thinking of using the land around the mine office to raise Goats or Cows or something then use them to start a meat/leather industry. You know. Do some good for the community. Then after going into the lizard man lair we picked a bunch of those spotted luminescent mushrooms and was thinking of growing those, though not to the port where it would be an industry. So those are my main ideas. Does anyone have any other ideas/things that your PCs have done?
If you really want to make money, establishing a business to sell the things you find on your adventures is the best route. As a DM, I would make my players purchase a business license or something and have to renew it annually, as well as deal with tax assessments every year on their business. However, this would still be profitable, because you'd be able to sell your goods at the full market value rather than for half price selling them to another shopkeeper. The issue of location is legitimate, though. An hour outside of town is along way for folks to walk unless you've got something that A) Everyone needs and can afford, and B) No one else in DL provides. Recovered magic items certainly cover part B, but part A is a real problem. Not many folks have much use for miscellaneous magic items and weapons; that's the forte of adventurers, and those aren't common in DL anymore. Now, if you have someone in your party with high ranks in the Heal skill, access to healing magic, can create useful alchemical items with Craft (Alchemy), potions of curative/restorative spells, or any combination thereof, you could probably make a small fortune by turning the place into an inexpensive "clinic" serving the general populace. Cut prices on services and items by about 25% so that they're relatively cheap and affordable to common folks while still making a profit from them, and you should be in business. Plus, you get the added benefit of providing an altruistic service to the community, which could make you really popular with the common folks, and that goes a long way towards keeping your back-end covered in a place like Diamond Lake.
Hmm. That sounds pretty good. There was something in the Ghost watch book that piqued my interest. A store that buys and sells everything. Don't think that would be too profitable but it still sounded interesting. I think I might go back to the cairn and get another sample of that edible slime. Then we could/grow produce that and the mushrooms. Sell them in town on a every other day basis or something.
My adventurers really dont have time to run a business... being busy with adventuring and all. But you could have a lucritive deal with the shop keeper in DL which would allow your PCs to sell thier loot.
One of my old characters did something like this and the DM was game. Finally we figured the name of the game was 'Dungeons and Dragons' not 'Tariffs and Taxes'. The DM may wish you to purse this avenue as he/she may use future adventure hooks in with your mercantile pursuits.
D&D is escapism. If you want to detail a shop as a character, then write it up, come up with reasonable costs (say from the Stronghold Builders Guide) and have the DM read through it and sign off.
Try not to eat up valuable DM time, DIY (Do It Yourself). Remember our DM has to assess experience, run a campaign, plus real world commitments.
My 2 cents
One of my old characters did something like this and the DM was game. Finally we figured the name of the game was 'Dungeons and Dragons' not 'Tariffs and Taxes'...
I'm with Matt. If it's cool for the players and doesn't disrupt the campaign, let 'em do it.
If it does disrupt the campaign, maybe the DM should think about it anyway. The enjoyment and success of the players is the point :)
Jack
I think this situation would actually be a very interesting way to make use of the low-level followers provided by the Leadership feat: put them to work minding the store. They handle the mundane, day-to-day operations while the party & any cohorts continue to explore and adventure, bringing back new and exotic merchandise periodically while the more highly trained amongst the followers (people with ranks in Profession and Craft skills, possibly even minor item creation feats, such as any 1st level Wizard would have) provide the general stock with their own hands. Base this endeavor in a major city, such as the Free City, and you've got a really cool base of operations to return to, a strong cash flow for those high-level challenges, an almost limitless money-pit situation if the DM thinks you've got too much cash, and deep roots into the campaign's world and its events.
Actually that's exactly what I was planning on doing. Pick up Leadership and leave my cohort at home base to run the shop. We come back, he's sold some stuff, we take the gold, we say "Hey man good job on running the store. Here's your share." and hand him his share then say "And now we're off again!".
There's also an issue of ownership. In my campaign, one of the PCs discovered he had inherited the old mine office at the beginning of the first session, but there's nothing like that written into the adventure itself. Someone certainly owns that land... and if it isn't one of the PCs in your group, you're in for a hard time if you try to profit from it. You might come to the attention of the Governor/Mayor, or to a Lord of the Free City, or even to Balabar Smenk if he happens to own it. (Most failed mine properties tend to fall into his possession when the original owner goes out of business.)
If PCs try to use a property that isn't theirs by law, they may end up in a legal (or even physical) battle for rights to it. What happens when the rightful owner shows up, demanding that the PCs get off the property? What if he demands a share of all their profits? What if he shows up with the Sheriff, demanding that they be thrown into the lockup for trespassing? What happens when the Lord with sovereignty over the region shows up with his knights and demands a tithe of everything they own, along with questions about how they came into such prosperity?
In any case, the PCs will have to deal with the issue of taxes if their occupation of the land becomes known. The government might look the other way on other charges if the PCs pay taxes on the land and business without any hassle...better to collect taxes from people illegally using the land than to get...
This is exactly what I did with the group I'm running through AoW right now. The PCs renovated the old office and were trucking along nicely, until one day a messenger showed up at their door with a summons to meet with Smenk's lawyer. They went, were treated like crap, and told that the Sherrif would be out at the office tomorrow to evict them unless they could prove their ownership.
And, they could... more or less. One of the PCs had a deed to the property (albiet an old one), which they brought before a law clerk, who compared it to Smenk's. As it stands right now, the PCs have a week to prove they are related to the former owner, and Smenk has to prove his purchase was legit.
Big deal, right? Would have been save that the party's rogue broke into Smenk's house and made a scene - trying to find dirt on Smenk to use as leverage. I had the dubious pleasure of coming up with Smenk's residence on the fly - so I just used the house from The Godfather :)
A minor B&E isn't that bad, right? Not really, until the LG Paladin of St. Cuthbert picks a fight with the sherrif and lands in the clink for a few days. The rest of the party has no idea where he is (he was supposed to be at the church), until one day he turns up nailed to their front door, with a nice brand covering his naked chest! I was thinking of killing him off, but decided to give him a second chance.
All in all, the players took this legal fight with Smenk pretty seriously. While it detracts from the core AP, it's a lot of fun, and keeps me on my toes - since most of my time is spent improvising people they talk to, and new areas they visit.