SPOILERS:
My players have just made it through Burnt Offerings. They've defeated Naulia, but were almost wiped out, trying to defeat Malfeshnekor, though they all escaped with their life, thanks to a clever webspell and some frantic dragging of unconcious teammates.
Now they've returned to sandpoint to restock items and lick their wounds. At Thistletop they decided to spare Lyrie Akenja, but had let it slip that Tsuto was in custody at the Sandpoint Garrison. When the players returned, Lyrie had sprung Tsuto from his cell and I intend to use them both again at some later stage.
Now here is where Kaijitsu manor comes into it:
Lonjiku Kaijitsu, as you know, was murdered by his son, Tsuto. The estate is then passed on to Ameiko (Not Tsuto, seing as how he is a fugitive), but since the Kaijitsu's were very much a broken family, I thought it would fit quite well with Ameiko's down to earth character if she did not actually -want- that old wound reopened. Prefering instead to continue the life she had created for herself, she gets and idea and goes to consult with the mayor for a day or two. When the heroes returned, Ameiko was finaly able to offer them what she thought was a suitable reward for saving her life, AND get rid of the burden of her family home, being her responsibility.
So now my players are the legitimate owners of Kaijitsu manor.
That was a long lead-in, sorry, but I thought some context would be good.
So here's my questions:
1) What would the upkeep of the house be? Maintenance, taxes (we're going the assume the house was paid in full, and that Lonjiku didn't have any debt) and the refitting of the house to include stables for 6 horses and 6 beasts of burden?
2) What would be the prize of refitting a house that is essentially decorated like a Minkai house, for the players own tastes? A guess at the price for poor, average and good decoration would be very much appreciated.
3) Do you think this was a good idea? Do you foresee any problems arising from this decision? I am not that experienced GM'ing and I would like some feedback on this :)
Thanks in advice
-Nearyn
I don't foresee any problems in your decision. Quite the opposite actually. As you said it will give the party a greater motivation to defend the town during any of the threats that befall it. The other great thing is it gives your party a base of operations. All parties I have ever played with usually end up with a base of operations where all of their adventures are launched. As a GM I feel this gives a sense of home that is necessary. For example, in an effort to cause a sense of unease and confusion I took that away from my players recently in a World of Darkness game where they are now hunted by the FBI and they can't go back to the company they worked for (their base of operations despite the fact they already had homes around the city).
As far as cost is concerned think about it like this: The local economy probably is based on a silver standard, meaning the average Joe Farmer requires a silver piece a day to afford his meager lifestyle. Consider the prices for food, lodging, and stabling in the Core Rulebook and you can then extrapolate out from there what the average adventurer would spend on their lifestyle per day. This, of course, is considerably higher than Joe Farmer. Consider this like the difference between living in an apartment and going grocery shopping to staying in a hotel every night and eating three meals a day in restaurants. This can give you a rough figure to guess at what a moderate lifestyle would cost per month. You can then scale up or down in brackets and achieve a small table giving the monthly costs for each lifestyle choice (Shadowrun style).
This is just a rough way of looking at things that might give you an idea of what to charge your party on a monthly basis for home maintenance, food, taxes, etc. It doesn't have to be exact and it certainly doesn't have to be 'realistic,' it just has to be fun. You can do out some detailed math or you can just wing it as long as you guys keep enjoying yourselves. it certainly shouldn't become a chore for any of you. Who wants to play a game where you just sit around filing your taxes?
Whatever you do, don't try and base it on real-world historical economy. Medieval and Renaissance economy had wild differences between poor and wealthy. The game world is different in that it scales appropriately for game balance and logic purposes.
I hope at least some part of my rambling has been helpful. I've been running games for about 20 years now so feel free to throw any questions you have at me and I'll do my best to give you decent advice.
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I'd be tempted to shift to the cost of living rules:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/gamemastering.html#cost-of-living
Thanks for the feedback guys :)
The cost of living rules seems like a good baseline to work from in the future, though I think I will lower the cost this time, in keeping with the advice from EATERoftheDEAD.
This way it should feel like they are getting an actual manor and that there WILL be expenses tied into it, but it would not really be a hindrance to their personal economy.
I will make sure it feels like they've been given a gift and not a responsibility :)
They've already contacted me since last playsession with questions of what it would cost them to get amulets of word of recall :) I take this as a mark of success.
Again, thanks for the feedback :)
That chart is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about. I didn't know Pathfinder had anything like that floating around.
Glad I could help. It sounds like you guys are having fun and the players are getting attached. Those are both good things. :D
As an afterthought you could always scale up their cost of living as they advance in level. It makes sense that as they get richer they will start spending more money on nicer food, decor for the estate, etc. That way it can still feel like a reward because it will still have an impact on their funds, not a significant one, but still noticeable.
Also be careful when you get to the bit about the fort in part 3. From what I gather the adventure gives the fort to the party but most groups abandon it as a base of operations. This would also take away from the estate they already have, if they bothered to ever go back there since it's no where near Sandpoint.
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On a Related Note. My PCs have been wanting to buy a manor, and the Kajitsu Manor just became Uninhabited with Tsuto now in Jail and Ameiko at her tavern. What would be a fair Price to buy it?
It apparently costs 1k gold a month to live in a mansion according to that chart, but this is hardly a lord's mansion, and it's "the Smallest of the Sandpoint mansions" So how much would it cost to buy the place? I've looked all over but surprisingly the core rulebooks don't seem to have a pricing for buying mansions and castles.
On a Related Note. My PCs have been wanting to buy a manor, and the Kajitsu Manor just became Uninhabited with Tsuto now in Jail and Ameiko at her tavern. What would be a fair Price to buy it?
It apparently costs 1k gold a month to live in a mansion according to that chart, but this is hardly a lord's mansion, and it's "the Smallest of the Sandpoint mansions" So how much would it cost to buy the place? I've looked all over but surprisingly the core rulebooks don't seem to have a pricing for buying mansions and castles.
This is pure guesswork on my part, but since you ask, you'll get my 2 cents ^^
Lonjiku Kaijutsu was the wealthiest man in Sandpoint, and quite wealthy even by big-city standards. As a results, his manor and land would be worth quite alot, not simply because the house is likely top notch, but simply because of the prestige tied to the location.
I'd say the price of the place should not be under 15k, but if you want your players to have the place, you could give it to them for a steal (that is, IF they've made themselves popular to Ameiko or the mayor or both)
Just my opinion though. :)
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Ameiko gave it to them in my campaign as well, exacting only the promise that they would treat the place with respect.
In my campaign, I also took into account that the servants that were employed by Lonjiku were also employed by my players. By the time that I gave the mansion to the PCs, though, they were 5th level or so, and had money to spend on upkeep. They also, kept it at a minimum, closer to the Wealthy lifestyle than Extravagant. So I was lenient on the upkeep cost. As long as the servants were taken care of, I didn't bother too much with the other stuff...