what can you smuggle?

[ohako]

so...

a) Ameiko sold the Glassworks to the party in exchange for the giant helmet from Thistletop. (she's renamed the Rusty Dragon to the Giant's Helmet).
b) I'm using a modified downtime system to help the PCs raise money
c) One of the rooms is a 'secret room', formerly used by smugglers.

Okay, so, smugglers. Now, Magnimar does not have import tariffs (it says so in the back of the RotRLAE book). What sorts of things can smugglers smuggle into, to, from, or around Sandpoint? Or, another question: what could be smuggled that wasn't evil?

So, obvious answers: slaves, drugs. Those are bad, and the PCs might not turn a blind eye from doing that...or they might (one of the PCs is playing comically greedy). In real-life Olden Dayes, people smuggled things like tea, or cloth, or whatnot, because of tariffs or guild crap or taxes or whatnot.

[Wiggz]

Another reason to smuggle would be because a particular group has a monopoly on something, even mundane items, and perhaps that monopoly was attained by nefarious means - strong-arming competition, employing banditry to squeeze out competitors trying to get their goods to market and so on.

You've actually hit upon a potential useful and enjoyable hook if you feel like doing the extra work...

Spoiler:

The Skinsaw Cult needs to fund its operations somehow and with friends in high places (Ironbryar), they could easily have established a monopoly on some good or service - perhaps even commodities like iron or lumber. Agents wreaking havoc (like at the lumber mill in Sandpoint) could also be deliberately creating an artificial shortage which they are profiteering from and the city of Magnimar might desperately need an alternate source of these goods. If they're caught it might even lead to their first encounter with Ironbryar in an official capacity before they discover his corruption.

Just a few thoughts.

[MC Templar]

black market goods?

evil magic items that the church would see destroyed?

[slayer_of_gellcor]

What about alchemical reagents? Things that could be somewhat innocuous, but Pillbug could turn into poisons?

Artwork that's been found in less than scrupulous ways, such as Shoanti religious items that the Scarnettis want to use as conversation starters in their manor? Even as open as Magnimar is, that might be the type of thing that some want to keep out of prying eyes, particularly from the Shoanti sheriff.

Religious items? The temple is pretty open and accepting, but what about cults, both holy and less so?

More altruistic, what if you're smuggling slaves...out of Cheliax. Underground railroad style. I could imagine the proprietor of the White Deer might be interested in attempting to get his children free. I also wrote up that Bethana was a former house slave in Cheliax, and she would be most interested in assisting some of her kin getting out of bondage.

Or maybe smuggling firearms in from Alkenstar?

[ohako]

oh nice suggestions folks, thanks!

I really like the following

a) stuff that can be made into poisons
b) poisons themselves
c) robes from evil churches
d) magic items or scrolls that involve necromancy in some way (scrolls of animate dead, etc). I made a hook early on that Tsuto bought his gimcrack robe of bones from the necromancer whats-his-name from book 2. I think I'm going to re-write him to give him more gold and magic gear, because he's a real link in the pipeline (that the PCs are going to be part of!)
e) stolen archaeological goop

Less interesting is the underground railroad, because Magnimar isn't a slave country. An underground railroad only makes sense in an actual slave state (like Korvosa or Riddleport or Urglin or Kaer Maga etc etc) or in a nation-state that had a 'Dred Scott' agreement with a slave state. ie, the only reason the real railroad was actually in the northern US was because it ended at the Canadian border, not in Pennsylvania.

The thing with cornering the market on something...well, that's a maybe. The Seven have a nice sawmill in Magnimar. The Scarnettis have been lighting sawmills on fire in and around Sandpoint, in an attempt to corner the market there. Still, it's not like you could possibly corner the market on something so common as wood. The only way it makes sense is if you can control the creation of boards at scale (which is where ships come from). Hmm. This would mean that the Scarnetti family were secretly worshipers of Norgorber, specifically the kind that like to kill people for 'sacred' reasons. This is hard to actually pull off in a small town (what with the Chopper murders being a big deal), but easier in a big city.

I think this is a good idea. Here's what I'm going to do.

In my Varisia, when you encounter an elf in human society, chances are they're actually part of a human family, in a sort of 'nephew-cousin-uncle' role. I made Tsuto a full elf (because I hate half-elves outside of Tolkien), and he was Ameiko's 'cousin' by convention. When she got older he would have been a 'nephew'. I'll make Ironbriar cousin to the Scarnetti family! The PCs can find the note that takes them to the next set-piece, and they can also find correspondence with Titus Scarnetti! Then we'll have some fun searching his mansion and finding Saven robes and masks in his house.

he he he...

[Mark_Twain007]

Have they figured out that the waters of lamashtu from the pool under the glassworks turn into unholy water after an hour? They could start stocking up on it and smuggling it to Magnimar to sell. Pretty sure the church would not let that be sold in the open.

[ohako]

they sorta blew up the shrine to Lamashtu down there. they did this by recruiting the other priests in town to cast, oh, hallow or something on it (it's cool for a bag of priests to get together to cast some really big spell...once). This gave me an opening to introduce the elf priestess to Gozreh, who I used as Nualia's midwife.

I think someone in the party is going to try and turn the catacombs into a casino...if they pull it off, I'm not really sure I need to actually run part 3 at Turtleback!

[el cuervo]

ohako wrote:

they sorta blew up the shrine to Lamashtu down there. they did this by recruiting the other priests in town to cast, oh, hallow or something on it (it's cool for a bag of priests to get together to cast some really big spell...once). This gave me an opening to introduce the elf priestess to Gozreh, who I used as Nualia's midwife.

I think someone in the party is going to try and turn the catacombs into a casino...if they pull it off, I'm not really sure I need to actually run part 3 at Turtleback!

You might want to read ahead to Books 4 and 5 before you go forth with anything else involving the Catacombs of Wrath.

[S'mon]

ohako wrote:

s

Okay, so, smugglers. Now, Magnimar does not have import tariffs (it says so in the back of the RotRLAE book).

That seems very silly. If I were you I'd strike that line (indeed, I will strike that line in my copy). :) Then they can smuggle whatever stuff Sandpoint has import tariffs on, eg tobacco and liquor perhaps.

[Latrecis]

S'mon wrote:

ohako wrote:

s

Okay, so, smugglers. Now, Magnimar does not have import tariffs (it says so in the back of the RotRLAE book).

That seems very silly. If I were you I'd strike that line (indeed, I will strike that line in my copy). :) Then they can smuggle whatever stuff Sandpoint has import tariffs on, eg tobacco and liquor perhaps.

You can eliminate the elimination of tariffs but the no tariff structure for Magnimar is part of its origin story so it might have consequences for any future use of Magnimar as an adventure setting.

To answer the OP's question: in my mind the tunnels were not about smuggling goods to avoid tariffs but rather the Kaijitsu family's method to avoid paying profit-sharing from some of their business to the other members of the Sandpoint Mercantile League. Unless the players have been unbelievably circumspect about what they found under the Glassworks, the Mayor, the other noble families and the Sheriff are all going to insist on closing those tunnels and doing it far more effectively and permanently than the last attempt. Keep in mind, Ameiko knows the tunnels are there and have been broken open - she has no incentive to conceal that from her fellow nobles and plenty of incentive to see that they are never used again.

[ohako]

Here's what I ended up doing

1. Caizarlu Zerren secretly has the feat Create Wondrous Item
2. He made Tsuto Kaijitsu's robe of bones, and he'll craft scrolls of animate dead to pay the bills.
3. The Sczarni are involved with smuggling Caizarlu's magic items around to folks who want to buy them.
4. I'm mutilating the downtime system, and the PCs bought the Glassworks from Ameiko in exchange for the giant helmet from Thistletop (Ameiko has renamed the Rusty Dragon to the Giant's Helmet). The PCs do have a 'secret room' down in their basement, and they can use it to generate capital or cash.
5. The PCs are thus complicit with the Sczarni/Zerren necromancy smuggling pipeline (he's also the source for the Brotherhood's freaky masks).
6. Now, the PCs just managed to smack around Erin Habe, but when Zerren popped up, he turned around, because there was a create pit right in front of the stairs, and none of his spells (barring the gaseous form potion) could get around that.
7. So, now, the PCs have agreed to parlay with him!

heeheehee...

[Wiggz]

Haven't seen this mentioned, but you could always smuggle people. Not slaves, mind you, but people who want in or out of the city without being captured or even observed... could be anything from a high-profile government figure to a criminal or band of criminals seeking to escape justice.

[Peet]

I wouldn't look at it too closely. The economics of Golarion never really made much sense.

It doesn't really make sense for anything to get smuggled into Sandpoint. It's a small enough town that anything which is actually banned would not have a big enough demand to ever be worth smuggling there.

Likewise, Sandpoint doesn't exactly produce a lot of contraband, and there aren't likely to be enough stolen goods flowing out of Sandpoint to make it worthwhile.

Just say it grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Profession:Smuggler checks and leave it at that.

Peet