About building communities [Archive] - Wizards Community

About building communities [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Crebain
10-14-07, 04:35 PM Okay, so I heard alot of you asking questions about building communities so here is my complete guide to building a community. This is not from any source book but completely out of my head.

first you need to buy some land prefferably near a river, lake or other source of water. This should cost you about 100gp per acre. Then you need to build the main building. This can be anything from a simple house to a huge castle for you to live in. The size of the building detemines how much acreage you need to build it. A simple house should take about 1 acre and 330gp to build. A huge castle takes about 50 acres and 1/3 of a million gp. After that you need to create farms or other job opportunities. It costs about 50gp to turn an acre of land into farm land. Each farm should take about 3 people to tend it, so you have to build more buildings for your employees and you have to pay them about 1sp per day. As the community grows in size merchants and craftsmen will move in to your village as well and people will start building their own houses. After about a 3 months game time you can harvest your crops and sell them for money. Another option to consider is possibly taxing your villagers but if your tax too high they could rebel or move away.

I hope this helps if you have any questions please ask. And if you would like to critique it feel free.
Thevail
10-15-07, 01:39 AM Our characters ended up sort of reversing it. We bought land, then built several small houses and an Inn. Then we rented them out, watched the little town grow and eventually had enough money to employ local craftsman with a few imported specialists to build our keep.
p9522935
10-15-07, 10:33 AM Another way to do it is as follows:

Find a natural resource in an area not subject to external authorities. An ideal case would be a rich source of material components. Assume you need onyxes for zombie creation and you locate an onyx mine outside the laws of any civilized kingdoms, and preferably outside the extortion powers of any bandits.

Take a party there, possibly with a few skilled hirelings; clear out any dungeons or obvious threats (e.g. tribes of hostile humanoids, large monster lairs, etc.).

Use as many illusions as possible to prevent your resource from being found. Ideally you'll be consuming it yourself, so you won't need to export it. You'll need lots of defenses if you trade, but just good camouflage if you're hiding.

Ideally, zombies are cheap, effective minions. They don't require entertainment, pay, propaganda, etc. The starting materials are readily available in many campaigns.

Failing zombies, look into other absolutely controlled magical minions. Most of them are very expensive.

Consider using a persuasive cleric to found a fanatical cult. These followers are easily entertained and very loyal.

If worst comes to worst, you'll have to get ordinary folks. That means lots of lonely, angry young men (who want ale and entertainment, and eventually cash), lots of sincere young couples (who want security and opportunity for advancement, possibly forty acres each), or a hard-to-manage mix of specialized hirelings (who can cause unlimited problems).

As long as everyone is personally loyal to someone in the party, as a henchman or hireling, things are simple. There's no question of legitimate statehood -- the party is an employer. If you're extracting a resource -- e.g. silver ore -- you might be able to pay them without cash. (However, bandits have a way of finding isolated mining operations...)

Once you get to the point where you say you'll recruit any able-bodied person or family that's willing to farm, then you are setting yourself up as a government, and you need laws, legitimacy, taxes, and all the rest of it. That means foreign governments will start calculating whether they have enough supply wagons and infantry to overrun you, steal your stuff, and plant their flag on all your hard work.

With troubles like these, you might just want to magically create your own demiplane and live there... at least the neighbors have more trouble when they try to bother you ...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Crebain 10-14-07, 04:35 PM	Okay, so I heard alot of you asking questions about building communities so here is my complete guide to building a community. This is not from any source book but completely out of my head. first you need to buy some land prefferably near a river, lake or other source of water. This should cost you about 100gp per acre. Then you need to build the main building. This can be anything from a simple house to a huge castle for you to live in. The size of the building detemines how much acreage you need to build it. A simple house should take about 1 acre and 330gp to build. A huge castle takes about 50 acres and 1/3 of a million gp. After that you need to create farms or other job opportunities. It costs about 50gp to turn an acre of land into farm land. Each farm should take about 3 people to tend it, so you have to build more buildings for your employees and you have to pay them about 1sp per day. As the community grows in size merchants and craftsmen will move in to your village as well and people will start building their own houses. After about a 3 months game time you can harvest your crops and sell them for money. Another option to consider is possibly taxing your villagers but if your tax too high they could rebel or move away. I hope this helps if you have any questions please ask. And if you would like to critique it feel free.
Thevail 10-15-07, 01:39 AM	Our characters ended up sort of reversing it. We bought land, then built several small houses and an Inn. Then we rented them out, watched the little town grow and eventually had enough money to employ local craftsman with a few imported specialists to build our keep.
p9522935 10-15-07, 10:33 AM	Another way to do it is as follows: Find a natural resource in an area not subject to external authorities. An ideal case would be a rich source of material components. Assume you need onyxes for zombie creation and you locate an onyx mine outside the laws of any civilized kingdoms, and preferably outside the extortion powers of any bandits. Take a party there, possibly with a few skilled hirelings; clear out any dungeons or obvious threats (e.g. tribes of hostile humanoids, large monster lairs, etc.). Use as many illusions as possible to prevent your resource from being found. Ideally you'll be consuming it yourself, so you won't need to export it. You'll need lots of defenses if you trade, but just good camouflage if you're hiding. Ideally, zombies are cheap, effective minions. They don't require entertainment, pay, propaganda, etc. The starting materials are readily available in many campaigns. Failing zombies, look into other absolutely controlled magical minions. Most of them are very expensive. Consider using a persuasive cleric to found a fanatical cult. These followers are easily entertained and very loyal. If worst comes to worst, you'll have to get ordinary folks. That means lots of lonely, angry young men (who want ale and entertainment, and eventually cash), lots of sincere young couples (who want security and opportunity for advancement, possibly forty acres each), or a hard-to-manage mix of specialized hirelings (who can cause unlimited problems). As long as everyone is personally loyal to someone in the party, as a henchman or hireling, things are simple. There's no question of legitimate statehood -- the party is an employer. If you're extracting a resource -- e.g. silver ore -- you might be able to pay them without cash. (However, bandits have a way of finding isolated mining operations...) Once you get to the point where you say you'll recruit any able-bodied person or family that's willing to farm, then you are setting yourself up as a government, and you need laws, legitimacy, taxes, and all the rest of it. That means foreign governments will start calculating whether they have enough supply wagons and infantry to overrun you, steal your stuff, and plant their flag on all your hard work. With troubles like these, you might just want to magically create your own demiplane and live there... at least the neighbors have more trouble when they try to bother you ...