| ohako |
So, I figure if the PCs get a pile of downtime (1 PC probably goes off and trains a dire bat), then I was going to offer them the Glassworks to refurbish. I went through the downtime rules and built the glassworks room by room.
1 storefront
3 artisan's workshop (glassblowing)
5 capital-generating storage (one of which was converted into a cell)
5 non-capital-generating storage (the firewood room, the larder, the broom closet, etc)
1 capital-generating sitting room
1 non-cap sitting room
1 non-cap common room
1 kitchen
1 office
1 toilet
1 laundry
1 bath
1 bunks
1 secret room
1 secret passage (leads to smuggling dock and the now-busted Catacombs of Wrath)
(etc etc, I have this on my comp at home, I'm at work now, etc)
Now, a fair amount of this space has been trashed or looted by the goblins and by Tsuto (the bunks, the food pantry, the kitchen, the big workshop), but another fair chunk is in pretty good shape (the storage with all the paperwork in it, the sitting rooms, etc). If the PCs want the Glassworks to work, one thing they have to do is repair it.
I was going to do two things, and I could use some advice on both points
a) Ameiko would sell the Glassworks to the PCs (more or less) in installments. Price 2,500gp seem fair? They can use the revenue to pay the price over time, if everything's up and running this should take 3 years or so, not bad for a RL-ish loan (or the PCs could just buy it outright with adventurer treasure eventually)
b) I don't really like the rule that lets you generate revenue from buildings with no teams in place (very Erfworldy), so I was thinking that the PCs would need to recruit teams as well. Since everyone's dead, that's a fair amount of work/gold to pull off
1 bureaucrats to work the storefront and the sitting room
3 artisans to work the workshops
1 laborers to move stuff around, do cleaning, and get stuff to the docks
1 scofflaws (from the sczarni) to work the secret office/smuggling room
Now, the laborers should be easy, the bureaucrats nearly as easy, but all the previous Glassworks artisans are now dead. (and the scofflaws ties into a sczarni subplot with a different PC, if he goes for it). I'm thinking that to bring the works up to full speed, that I need some mini-hurdles (in addition to the team and repair cost) to recruit artisans.
I have some setup, but not payoff. How do I get these teams to help the PCs?
1 group can be fresh off the boat from Magnimar with Ameiko's other brother (he's setup fodder for Jade Regent, fyi). They want nothing to do with the place now, because the last crew was killed and eaten by goblins.
1 group can be former apprentices of Lonjiku's Glassworks. They always hated the old man for being such a so-and-so, and they're glad that he and all those other lickspittles are toast.
1 group can be newbies who don't have 4 levels of expert. They might be eager for the work, but not have the skill.
Any and all advice with this scenario would be greatly appreciated. I can use all of this later with that stronghold up in the mountains, I think.
Oh, I guess another idea would be to repurpose the whole building. Got any ideas on what that could be? It's not really well designed to be something other than a glassworks, like what else could you do with those really specialized ovens?
| Tangent101 |
Considering the people with the knowledge on glassblowing are all dead, how would you be able to run the place? Well, Ameiko probably knows a bit too, but would she tell? It's a family business after all.
| ohako |
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Well, so here's the thing, and this gets right into the difference between medieval economics and modern capitalism (ha!)
In the medieval system, you had guilds. They're like, groups of tradesmen, and they did things like
a) set prices
b) fix wages for their employees
c) standardize technology
d) keep secret techniques (for example, forceps, or wootz steelmaking)
In other words, protectionism. It so happens that a great way for guilds to get knocked around is by someone not in the guild coming up with a new technology, and disrupting the system to pieces.
The modern capitalism way works like this: Sandpoint is a small town, and Magnimar is a big city. Sandpoint has a famous glassworks, but it's probably true that it's not the only glassworks that supplies glass to Magnimar. In fact, what with the lack of paved roads or magic carpets, you'd probably want at least one glassworks in the city itself, as a competitor to Sandpoint.
So, your question, restated, is: Is there enough of an 'entrepreneurial spirit' in Sandpoint and Magnimar to absorb the loss of a single glassmaking business?
This is a subjective question, and I think it's best to answer on a city-by-city basis (as if that city were Sandpoint's closest market)
Korvosa, Janderhoff: You need a special writ from the queen to open a glassblowing business. Someone's already got this special paper, so if you want to blow glass for a living, you have to work at such-and-such. When everyone gets moidered at the Korvosa Glassworks, it's going to take a very long time to recover, because they were using a strict apprenticeship system. There may be apprentices waiting to go, but now there are no teachers.
Riddleport: Do whatever you like. If someone likes your work, you're likely to be robbed or enslaved. When everyone gets killed at the Riddleport Glassworks, pirates loot the place clean if the adventurers take their eyes off of it.
Kaer Maga, Mierani: wee ooo wee ooo wee ooo economics-huh?
Urglin: ::tinkle, tinkle::
Magnimar: You need a special writ from the lord-mayor to open a glassworks, but it's more like a 'seal of approval' than anything binding. Like, 'The bearer of this document is just trying to sell glass products, and is not a bandit'. When the Sandpoint Glassworks goes down, other glass makers will continue trying to copy the Kaijitsu designs and techniques. Some will eventually succeed. Many others will continue the workaday business of turning out serviceable, everyday panes. (This is what happens when you have a young, disruptive city like Magnimar)
In other words, I think it's really lucky that Sandpoint is close to Magnimar, and not any of the other big cities in Varisia. I imagine that there is a labor pool that's ready to step in.
| retiree |
Where would Ameiko find replacement workers for the 8 who were murdered by the goblins in Burnt Offerings?
There is her half sister in Westcrown but it appears as if the master glassblowers come from the Kaijitsu homeland.
I'm not sure whether Ameiko or Tsuto had any glassblower training.
In the Magnimar, City of Monuments pg. 30 in mentions there is a Glassblowers' Guildhall in the Naos section of the city.
Many thanks.
Retiree