Hi Folks
At the moment I'm running the Rise of the Runelords Campaign, and an interesting development has occurred. My players want to buy the Sandpoint Glassworks and use it as a supplemental source of income.
In my campaign Ameiko is going to sell the Glassworks since she has no desire to run the family business.
But my question is how much would she sell it to the player characters? Also how much would they receive from the business each month? I'm still trying to grasp the value of the Gold Piece. As in how much is to much.
Thanks for any advice.
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It really depends on your players and how much you want to play "Papers and Paychecks". Adventurers generally don't want to get pinned down to running businesses-- especially complex businesses like the Sandpoint Glassworks.
First of all, the property would be very expensive. Pulling pricing of buildings out the the recesses of my brain from the D&D 3.0 book The Stronghold Builder's Guide, the Glassworks property, including the land and all of the glassmaking tools therein, probably would cost about a quarter-million gp. So, if your PCs have 250,000 gp lying around, then they could buy the property outright.
If not, and they still want to buy it, I would have them go to Magnimar and contract a mortgage with the Bank of Abadar. They's have to come up with 50,000 gp of their own, and would have to borrow the rest. According to this amortization table, at 5% interest and a 15-year payback period, the PCs would have to pay the bank just under 1600 gp per month to cover the loan. I would have the Abadaran bankers make the PCs submit to a geas that they pay every month until the loan is paid off.
That said, I'd say that, taking into accoun the cost of running the place, raw materials, staff pay, taxes, etc... the Glassworks turns a total monthly profit of 3d10 * 100 gp. (i.e. 300 - 3000 gp per month). That's before the mortgage, of course. On average, that means the Glassworks would give the PCs (who borrowed 200,000 gp) about a 100 gp profit per month.
If the PCs wanted to spend their time marketing the Glassworks in Magnimar, Riddleport, and Korvosa, I'd let them use their Profession (merchant) skill to up that momth's profit by some amount... but that's time away from adventuring.
Bottom line: I'd discourage the PCs from running the Glassworks as a business. The game is about fighting monsters, exploring lost ruins, and stopping the rise of an anceint evil. Running a business is for NPCs with levels in the Expert class, not for PCs with levels in Fighter, Druid, or Paladin!
BTW, in my campaign, Ameiko went to Magnimar for a few weeks to hire a bunch of new employees, and also a general business manager to mostly run the place for her. She kept ownership of the Glassworks, and reviews the books and quality of the merchandise herself. In other words, she treats the place as if she were an investor, even though she is the actual owner.
Thanks for that, those are good points.
I don't think they have plans for running it themselves, but as you say to become investors, with a general manager and a new crew of workers.
I'm not certain the glass works is worth as much as you're assuming.
My understanding is that Ameiko's family founded the business using glass making techniques they brought with them from Tian. While some apprentices will have left over the years to have founded their own shops, with the loss of the bulk of the artists in Standpoint the pool of glass makers knowledgeable in the families techniques is likely quite small.
While the buildings and equipment are certainly valuable, the business itself is possibly quite dead.
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You can make it a recurring source of irritation for the PCs -- hopefully in a humorous, potentially running gag sort of way.
Firstly, has it been cleaned out yet? Not just with mop & bucket, but have the ghosts been exorcised yet? Start with the strange occurences and sounds, the constantly breaking glass, hijinx... Could be amusing sidequest/roleplay dealing with the frightened workers and later Magnimar's version of the ghostbusters (let us assume it is more involved than what the party's cleric can handle). Maybe instead of a mortgage, they are backed by mysterious investor partners...who of course insist on an inspection of the property before they contribute their final approval and cash on the same day the ghostbusters are there...
Then, once back in production, who is going to buy the product? Perhaps strangers come with peculiar requests for objects made from the murderglass...are they trying to establish a death cult in Sandpoint? If so, are they serious, or poseurs?
A side quest could be if the PCs are required to personally accompany a shipment and must ensure that the glassware arrives intact...but Murphy's law is enforced at every turn of the trip.
In short, could be the source of continuing diversions and minor side quests and roleplay opportunities. That quarter's profits then become the treasure awarded. The key I would think is not allowing the PC's money to work for them, but to make sure that the PCs work for their money.
There is certainly a third party source book on running players businesses, some googling and a search on the Paizo store should turn it up.
At the very least I would think they'd have to deal with Lonjiko Kajitsu's ghost/spectre/haunting.
Also, I don't think Scarnetti is simply going to let some nobodies take over a business in "his town" without opposition. If he can't force Ameiko to sell to him, he's going to ensure that nothing goes right for the PCs and they never make a profit.
He'd be a nice guy and would be happy to take such a kiss making venture off their hands I'm sure though ...
I don't know for sure, but PCs running businesses in their down-time sounds like a topic that will likely be covered in the soon-to-be-released Ultimate Campaign. (My pre-order is already in!)
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"Sorry, Ameiko. We need to keep your dad's body for a while longer. Once we get all of the secrets of glassblowing from him using Speak With Dead, we'll give him a proper burial..."
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Sorry for the thread necromancy but I came here looking for an answer myself and, not finding one, calculated it myself. I used the Building/Room rules from chapter 2 of Ultimate Campaign as well as the map/location descriptions from the Anniversary Edition of RotR. Naturally a lot of the rooms are approximations using similar rooms from UC.
The Glassworks breaks down as follows:
{snip}
Totaling to 5,250 gp or 128 goods, 7 influence, and 124 labor in capital terms. I excluded the Smuggler's Tunnel figuring that once exposed the Sheriff would probably insist it was collapsed. If you decide otherwise I would treat it as a secret room adding 220 gp or 5 goods and 6 labor.
Obviously this isn't exact science. Also Ameiko, assuming she survived, would very likely be willing to part with the Glassworks at a much lower price after all she has been through and all the PCs have done for her and the town.
This is exactly what my party is planning to do - buy the Glassworks not to run as a business, but as a headquarters. Your breakdown saved me a lot of time, Meangarr - thanks. In my campaign, Ameiko is going to give them a 50% discount because (a) she needs the money (and to get out from under the 200 gp annual property tax bill that's going to be due soon); (b) as Son of the Veterinarian suggested, she has no interest in going through the effort of finding glass makers trained in the secret arts of Tian; (c) she would rather get paid half of what the property is worth than sell it to that jerk Titus Scarnetti; and (d) the place is a bit of a fixer-upper - the big skylights are broken, which allowed the rain to get in, and several of the rooms are damaged (scorch marks, bloodstains, dents in the walls where goblin heads were smashed, etc.).