Hi there, my players have plans to buy land but I don't really have any clues how to price this. Any suggestions from the fine crowd at these boards would be helpful.
Don't recall what term a normal "unit" of land is called in english (acer/acar?), so help me decide how much land 1 unit is and the price.
Thanks.
Hum. In medieval times land was not much sold and bought as the ownership was tied to noble rank and much more valuable than simple gold (and the land usually comes with full set of serfs etc.)
So you wouldn't be off by just saying to the PCs that no land is for sale. Or of course you might come off with a story of a noble who has sudden cash flow problem and could be negotiated to sell small piece of property...if the buyers are nobility of course. Feel free to stamp an outrageous price.
Best way is still doing a mission for the king and get granted that land as part of becoming nobility.
The players are in a very remote area with only one large city nearby. They alreday have some land they got as a reward and want to buy more. And as the DM I like this, but have trouble putting a price on it.
Hi there, my players have plans to buy land but I don't really have any clues how to price this. Any suggestions from the fine crowd at these boards would be helpful.
Don't recall what term a normal "unit" of land is called in english (acer/acar?), so help me decide how much land 1 unit is and the price.
Thanks.
The word you're looking for is acre, pronounced "A-ker". One acre equals 4,840 square yards. As has already been mentioned, the price (or whether buying land is even an option) will depend on how your world is set up.
You mention they are in a large city surrounded by wilderness if I remember correctly. You also mentioned they have already been given some land as a reward and want more. Was the land they received in the city or the wilderness? Who gave it to them (as in, who owned it to begin with)? How is the city goverened? Does anyone own the land outside of it or is it unclaimed? It's a question of who owns that land now and whether they would be WILLING to sell.
If your world is based on feudal systems, as mentioned above, then it's not likely that ANY would be for sale as nobility is tied with the land... though a PC could get permission to build a stronghold and rule a small area in exchange for loyalty to the area ruler granting the land. I have old resources on the cost of stronghold building, I just haven't come across cost of the land to build it on. I'm guessing because it's assumed it was taken by force (yeah, that's what you do when you adventure) or given as a reward.
|
I agree with what has been stated before. If the system of government is a feodality, then the characters should
1)be able to hold the land and establish order
2)be able to generate some form of output (crops/porkbellies etc) from the land
3)be able to send their lord a tax revenue
4)be able to send soldiers to defend the lord in his endeavors/whatnot.
In a system of feodality, generally land is never really bought and sold, it is all under tenant agreement. It is "state owned" if you will.
If, on the other hand, the economic basis is more democratic/capitalist, there are many models that could be used to value real estate. Sounds like you are frontier land; the land itsself could go very cheap, like 50gp per acre. It's 'raw land.' But remember, everybody should know the pc's have money, and get inflationary on them. Figure out how much money they have, and quote them a price of 2% of their entire savings per acre; they'll end up with a nice 50 acre plot. Also, remember, they'll have to pay property taxes...
Important rule of munchkindom if the DM goes for historical accuracy: at least one of the characters should have Noble Born feat, it makes things so much better :)
Assuming a feodal country, if the land in question is indeed wilderness, distant from capital and strategically unimportant, it can still be controlled by either king or some high noble who hasn't yet managed to unload the area to anyone for a good deal (if it is close to capital, near large city or strategically important it shouldn't be negotiable...gaining control of that would be story event).
Typical deal is providing number of soldiers for the higher-up in exchange of using the property, gaining noble title, becoming tax-free etc. Other similar deals of loyalty can be thought instead of simple cash payment (cash can be used to hire mercenaries to fill that deal, however...).
For example in medieval France crown controlled directly rather small amount of land and thus king didn't have much direct power. Land was divided to use for his vassals who again had their own vassals who could have their own vassals...resulting to large amount of small pieces of land. Naturally every now and then some kings would get rid of some of the vassals to get more direct power, until the next king having again cause to do some deals...
Land is not simply some acres of field or forest, land is undiluted political power.
If the property of interest is inside a city, different rules naturally apply as cities are not run by nobility but bourgeois. There land can be assumed to have monetary value (though it might also require belonging to an established guild...)
Lots of questions depending totally on the structure of the society, but this might make interesting political twists in a campaign for those who enjoy them...
hey,
feodal!? I thought that it was feudal. Is there a difference? Or is this the difference between US and UK spelling?
igi
Ah, true, I think it is feudal in English...feodal is closer to spelling on my mother tongue so I tend to write it :)
Thanks for the discussion all, and think I will go for 50gp/acre.
This is how the campaing is set up: The city the players was inside during a siege got moved to a distant continent in a big valley with hot springs. All around the valley is snow.. snow.. and more snow.. and some more snow and a very big glacier.
They have met some dwarves while they were exploring, but so far the only major settlement is the city. They got some cheap land after some successful adventures and have started a lumbercamp/farm.
Now they are interested in starting a mining operation, and turn the camp/farm into a small village (they moved the labores families there after a plague in the city).
This is the first campaing in a long time that nobody have died in over 6 months of real gaming time, and have gone from 3rd to 7th lv. Most campaings have ended after a tpk in a couple of months time, but this one looks good :)
Have fun all.