Economic Based Campaign- feedback welcome [Archive] - Wizards Community

Economic Based Campaign- feedback welcome [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
brock samson
05-21-07, 08:11 AM Hello, all. I will keep this short, but wanted to get some people's thoughts on the matter.

My buddy and I are coming up with a campaign based out of one giant, sprawling desert city. The goal for this campaign will be to build ourselves a merchant empire, for better or for worse.

We came up with a vast economic system for supply and demand. We did this in order for the reprecussions of our actions to be felt throughtout our "sandbox city." For example, if his PC raids and destroys a convoy of iron ore headed for the city, steel would be at a shortage, and thus weapon prices would probably rise. I say "probably" because we have a quick formula to determine supply/demand fluctuations for events such as that, and the formula is based partly on a d100 roll. And, as we all know, the dice can swing things either way.

We pegged all "base" prices on the PHB price for goods, to keep it a little more simple.

So, the idea is to create a living, breathing, city in which to immerse ourselves, with emphasis on the economic benefits and repurcussions of adventures.

Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks!
Yayhya
05-21-07, 08:51 AM Sounds great, just um well its a bit hard to tell if you don't post the rules for it. I would love to have a look at them as a DM my self.
WotC_Huscarl
05-21-07, 11:24 AM This may be unhelpful advice if you've already put a lot of work into your rules, but I suggest finding an economic boardgame and ripping it off, at least as a starting point. There used to be lots of these, and some were quite good, though I haven't seen as many in recent years. Usually they have a science-fiction model with merchant ships traveling from planet to planet, but the ideas are easily portable. Trailblazer from Metagaming was a good one; Star Trader from Ares magazine; even the trade system from Traveller.

You'll probably need to expand your 'world' beyond just this one city to include the surrounding regions in at least a simple, abstract manner, because you need to know where your outside goods come from, where your exports go, and what's happening to prices in those places, too.

I think it sounds like a very cool campaign, BTW. I've always wanted to do something like this (PCs as budding merchant princes), but there's always been something more pressing to take its place. Let us know how it develops.

Steve
brock samson
05-21-07, 12:21 PM Great feedback, really appreciate it.

First, I'll respond to Yayhya. I don't want to give away our secret sauce formula for supply/demand, but just remember that there is a formula we initiate when any sort of event happens, be it in the adventures or not. Following the event, we will roll a d100, plug it into the formula (+/- any modifiers), then chart the final number to see the effect on the economy. This formula and it's effects are two fold: 1) we have to set up initial economic parameters before the campaign begins (a fleshed out world), then 2) to see the consequences of the actions we take during the actual adventures. I’ve been thinking about our economic models, rather than taking on the task of plotting out every market and set of goods/services, lets get the bare bones down (the word doc you sent around) and a system that calculates supply/demand and prices that we can transfer to any econ situation.

Not to give away everything, but here are some possible situations. Once the campaign starts (we're 70% through planning it), we will have a huge posting on these boards, outlining our campaign in detail. But, for now, here's the executive summary on the economic indicators (based on our formula):

60% chance of marginal price change: result stands for one month (grain example: -15%, price of grain is 15% lower than usual)

36% chance of either undersupply or glut (18% for each): requires explanation, result stands for one season (horse example: = +80%, horses cost 80% more normal, explanation – new religious leader among the Bedouin, decrees trade with the city dwellers to be a sin)

4% chance of either drought or bounty (2% each): requires explanation, result stands for one year (rent example: +480%, explanation – Qwam [prominant diety] is angry, no less than 30 volcanoes have erupted simultaneously and unleashed a flood of refugees, even the broad avenues of Al-Kad [the city] are stretched to the breaking point;
EXAMPLE 2: rent = -92%, explanation – PLAGUE has swept the city and the smoke from the burning piles of dead hangs over the city like a shroud)

Hope that helps some.

Second, WotC_Huscarl: glad to hear other people are interested in campaigns like this. My friend and I are spending a lot of time planning this. I will definitely update you on the progress once we start in a month or two.

My friend and I have tried to incorporate other cities into the mix, but it's a huge undertaking, and we are trying to keep it to a minimum. Since the city itself is so large and bustling (and in the middle of a desert), we think a majority of the goods and services can be self-sustaining within the city. However, everything that comes from outside the city (iron ore, silk, spices, etc.) will be fleshed out. Essentially, if we need something from outside the city, we will set up a "place it comes from", but try to keep it trim. Our economic indicators should give us a good idea of what's going on in that area.

For example, if we roll a "marginal price change" of -19% for iron ore, we can create a sort of backstory for the ore mines: iron ore's price is up due to a blight that has affected the ore mine workers. This will then set up one possible adventure for the PC: if he has a vested interested in steel (dwarf, owns a blacksmith shop, has invested in steel, needs lots of weapons, etc), then he can choose to have an adventure to the iron ore mine to try and get to the bottom of the blight and try to solve/cure the problem. Following the adventure, we can run our economic formula again (+/- modifier based on the outcome of the adventure) to see how his actions have effected the market for iron ore.

Hope this fleshes things out. Any more feeback would be welcome!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
brock samson 05-21-07, 08:11 AM	Hello, all. I will keep this short, but wanted to get some people's thoughts on the matter. My buddy and I are coming up with a campaign based out of one giant, sprawling desert city. The goal for this campaign will be to build ourselves a merchant empire, for better or for worse. We came up with a vast economic system for supply and demand. We did this in order for the reprecussions of our actions to be felt throughtout our "sandbox city." For example, if his PC raids and destroys a convoy of iron ore headed for the city, steel would be at a shortage, and thus weapon prices would probably rise. I say "probably" because we have a quick formula to determine supply/demand fluctuations for events such as that, and the formula is based partly on a d100 roll. And, as we all know, the dice can swing things either way. We pegged all "base" prices on the PHB price for goods, to keep it a little more simple. So, the idea is to create a living, breathing, city in which to immerse ourselves, with emphasis on the economic benefits and repurcussions of adventures. Any feedback would be welcome. Thanks!
Yayhya 05-21-07, 08:51 AM	Sounds great, just um well its a bit hard to tell if you don't post the rules for it. I would love to have a look at them as a DM my self.
WotC_Huscarl 05-21-07, 11:24 AM	This may be unhelpful advice if you've already put a lot of work into your rules, but I suggest finding an economic boardgame and ripping it off, at least as a starting point. There used to be lots of these, and some were quite good, though I haven't seen as many in recent years. Usually they have a science-fiction model with merchant ships traveling from planet to planet, but the ideas are easily portable. Trailblazer from Metagaming was a good one; Star Trader from Ares magazine; even the trade system from Traveller. You'll probably need to expand your 'world' beyond just this one city to include the surrounding regions in at least a simple, abstract manner, because you need to know where your outside goods come from, where your exports go, and what's happening to prices in those places, too. I think it sounds like a very cool campaign, BTW. I've always wanted to do something like this (PCs as budding merchant princes), but there's always been something more pressing to take its place. Let us know how it develops. Steve
brock samson 05-21-07, 12:21 PM	Great feedback, really appreciate it. First, I'll respond to Yayhya. I don't want to give away our secret sauce formula for supply/demand, but just remember that there is a formula we initiate when any sort of event happens, be it in the adventures or not. Following the event, we will roll a d100, plug it into the formula (+/- any modifiers), then chart the final number to see the effect on the economy. This formula and it's effects are two fold: 1) we have to set up initial economic parameters before the campaign begins (a fleshed out world), then 2) to see the consequences of the actions we take during the actual adventures. I’ve been thinking about our economic models, rather than taking on the task of plotting out every market and set of goods/services, lets get the bare bones down (the word doc you sent around) and a system that calculates supply/demand and prices that we can transfer to any econ situation. Not to give away everything, but here are some possible situations. Once the campaign starts (we're 70% through planning it), we will have a huge posting on these boards, outlining our campaign in detail. But, for now, here's the executive summary on the economic indicators (based on our formula): 60% chance of marginal price change: result stands for one month (grain example: -15%, price of grain is 15% lower than usual) 36% chance of either undersupply or glut (18% for each): requires explanation, result stands for one season (horse example: = +80%, horses cost 80% more normal, explanation – new religious leader among the Bedouin, decrees trade with the city dwellers to be a sin) 4% chance of either drought or bounty (2% each): requires explanation, result stands for one year (rent example: +480%, explanation – Qwam [prominant diety] is angry, no less than 30 volcanoes have erupted simultaneously and unleashed a flood of refugees, even the broad avenues of Al-Kad [the city] are stretched to the breaking point; EXAMPLE 2: rent = -92%, explanation – PLAGUE has swept the city and the smoke from the burning piles of dead hangs over the city like a shroud) Hope that helps some. Second, WotC_Huscarl: glad to hear other people are interested in campaigns like this. My friend and I are spending a lot of time planning this. I will definitely update you on the progress once we start in a month or two. My friend and I have tried to incorporate other cities into the mix, but it's a huge undertaking, and we are trying to keep it to a minimum. Since the city itself is so large and bustling (and in the middle of a desert), we think a majority of the goods and services can be self-sustaining within the city. However, everything that comes from outside the city (iron ore, silk, spices, etc.) will be fleshed out. Essentially, if we need something from outside the city, we will set up a "place it comes from", but try to keep it trim. Our economic indicators should give us a good idea of what's going on in that area. For example, if we roll a "marginal price change" of -19% for iron ore, we can create a sort of backstory for the ore mines: iron ore's price is up due to a blight that has affected the ore mine workers. This will then set up one possible adventure for the PC: if he has a vested interested in steel (dwarf, owns a blacksmith shop, has invested in steel, needs lots of weapons, etc), then he can choose to have an adventure to the iron ore mine to try and get to the bottom of the blight and try to solve/cure the problem. Following the adventure, we can run our economic formula again (+/- modifier based on the outcome of the adventure) to see how his actions have effected the market for iron ore. Hope this fleshes things out. Any more feeback would be welcome!