I need money. [Archive] - Wizards Community

I need money. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
stanleyx2002
12-28-05, 02:35 PM All right, here's the deal. A player in mygroup won't be available for about two sessions, but we're impatient and going to play anyway. We want to just think of something interesting to do, preferably a way to make money. We are also looking for a steady income to fund everything we do. So, if any of you could throw some ideas at me, that would be very helpful.
btw, my party consists of a Half-elf bard with the mark of storm, a shifter swashbuckler(those two are the masterminds of many operations), a warforged artificier (does business with Merrix frequently), and the two other characters don't really matter because..well..one isn't going to be there and the drow is the DM's PC. And if it helps, we have our own airship, we have ties in houses Cannith and Lyrandar, contacts all throughout Sharn, and our airship crew consists of possibly every race on Khorvaire.

once again, any ideas would be helpful. Just not anything TOO evil, we won't be allowed...and feel free to throw stupid ideas, we've done some unthinkable things.

thanx
Gaile d'Lyrandar
12-28-05, 02:53 PM a couple of quick ideas are 1) become cargo runners for house Cannith
2) become mercenaries
3) raid xen'drik or the mournland
igotsmeakabob!!
12-28-05, 02:53 PM what level be ye?
stanleyx2002
12-28-05, 02:54 PM what level be ye?
10th level
stanleyx2002
12-28-05, 02:56 PM a couple of quick ideas are 1) become cargo runners for house Cannith
2) become mercenaries
3) raid xen'drik or the mournland

yea, we've done all of those, actually. but thx.
Grymar
12-28-05, 03:13 PM Become air pirates...raid other airships, sell the ships and cargo on the black market and ransom the crew back to their families.

You didn't mention your alignments! :)
Drath'ri
12-28-05, 03:20 PM the party is Chaotic Good for the most part. I would know.

I'm thier DM =)
Edymnion
12-28-05, 04:08 PM Wait until the Drow goes to sleep.

Tie him up, and take all of his gear (its a DMPC, chances are it has better equipment than you do).

Put him in a cage (an anti-magic cage if he's a spellcaster), and charge admission to see the mysterious savage dark elf from the jungles of Xen'Drik.

A Drow in Khovaire is about as common as an undisguised dragon walking down the streets of Sharn, and its just a DMPC (something thats generaly a no-no to begin with), so no harm done, and it kills three birds with one stone. You get your money, you lose the DMPC, and you don't have to travel around with a highly xenophobic drow anymore (or a stereotypical "all my people are this way, but I'm the opposite!" drizzt-esque drow).

Its win-win! ;)
Drath'ri
12-28-05, 05:54 PM Wait until the Drow goes to sleep.

Tie him up, and take all of his gear (its a DMPC, chances are it has better equipment than you do).

Put him in a cage (an anti-magic cage if he's a spellcaster), and charge admission to see the mysterious savage dark elf from the jungles of Xen'Drik.

A Drow in Khovaire is about as common as an undisguised dragon walking down the streets of Sharn, and its just a DMPC (something thats generaly a no-no to begin with), so no harm done, and it kills three birds with one stone. You get your money, you lose the DMPC, and you don't have to travel around with a highly xenophobic drow anymore (or a stereotypical "all my people are this way, but I'm the opposite!" drizzt-esque drow).

Its win-win! ;)
(yeah i must say that was a bit harsh) *deletes*

but yes, Lumis, get some ideas.
igotsmeakabob!!
12-28-05, 06:02 PM Ouch.. a bit harsh, he was kidding Drath.
maollelujah
12-28-05, 08:18 PM If you have an airship and you want money, just get into the transportation business. There is a ton of money to be made that way. A fully loaded airship transporting goods a thousand miles earns something like 60,000 gp. So find a large city without lightning rail access that has something that Sharn wants and bingo you are wealthier than any adventurers can be. For action you get to fight off House Orien and Lyrandar attempts to put you out of business....
Edymnion
12-28-05, 08:46 PM (yeah i must say that was a bit harsh) *deletes*Darn, I missed it :weep:
Drath'ri
12-28-05, 09:26 PM Darn, I missed it :weep:
Please, don't make me hate you more then I already do.
Siran Dunmorgan
12-28-05, 09:57 PM If you have an airship and you want money, just get into the transportation business. There is a ton of money to be made that way. A fully loaded airship transporting goods a thousand miles earns something like 60,000 gp. So find a large city without lightning rail access that has something that Sharn wants and bingo you are wealthier than any adventurers can be. For action you get to fight off House Orien and Lyrandar attempts to put you out of business....

"A large city without lightning rail access that has something Sharn wants..."

"A large city without lightning rail access..."

For some reason, reading this, the first city that came to mind was Haka'torvhak.

But if you're just trying to make some gold, and don't want to have to deal with an insane half-fiend great black wyrm, his lizardfolk minions, and his millenia-spanning task of preventing people very like you from making off with the treasures of his city, Zarash'ak would work too... aye: cruise in, fill your airship to the rails with Eberron dragonshards, and head back for Sharn.

Of course, the straight route there and back takes you over Droaam, but if it was easy, anyone could do it, yes?

—Siran Dunmorgan

P. S. For some reason, the actual first thing that came to mind reading the original post was that the players wanted to spend a couple of weekends making money, rather than the characters; I was going to suggest something like a rummage sale or bake sale.
The Necromancer King
12-28-05, 11:17 PM Have you noticed that your characters are of a high enough level to whomp Three, King Boranel's personal guard, with ease? That you could probably take Boranel himself with only moderate difficulty? Assuming that these two are the highest-level characters in Wroat, your party should have only a bit of difficulty in kidnapping the King of Breland.

They call it a King's Ransom for a reason...

At tenth level, in Eberron, you should have no problem making money. People should be (figuratively or literally) beating down your door to offer you jobs of various difficulty, for huge sums of money. Mercenary work. Espionage. Guarding high nobles. Kidnapping high nobles. Killing nobles, guild leaders, rival gangs, entire tribes. I mean, comparatively speaking, you're on an equal level with this world's biggest heroes. You should be treated like it.

Right now, my group is kicking around 6th - 8th level. They're celebrities, and people treat them as such. They're recognized everywhere they go, from articles in the Sharn Inquisitive, the Korranberg Chronicle and an interview they did with Naughty Elven Maidens (Quarterly). They never get to do anything without someone noticing. If they go out to pick up the news in their skivvies, it's front page news. They're some of the up-and-ups working with (not even for; with) the Boromar clan, and Saidan Boromar himself sees them as a significant threat to his power. Guilds, mobs, private investors, noblemen; all have had the group do something for them at one point or another. Your group should have people comming to you, offering you money to do stuff. If not, kidnap a king or two.
Zelk
12-28-05, 11:19 PM a warforged artificier (does business with Merrix frequently)

hey thats me!

anyway, im like obsessed with going to Xendrik, since anything can happen or be found

so Drath.. Im still waitin for my wings :waits:
Dex
12-29-05, 12:20 AM What you could do is set up a mine (gold, silver or dragonshard) with warforged workers. The high-profit business with low-cost worker = win!. Or just nick lightning stones and sell them back as ransom. :devil:
Kalanth
12-29-05, 12:29 AM I hate to say it, I absolutely hate to say that I agree with Edymnion, but the DMPC Drow just does not fit in the way he seems to exsist. That does not really matter anyways, because its not my game, just thought I should get that out before I suggest anything.

((I apologize before hand, I am at work and do not have any of the books on me, so I can't aim for accuracy here))

Now, what about the hunt that happens in Sharn? I can't think of the name off hand, but the Red Cloaks seem to win this thing every time and maybe your group could go in and be the first new champion in ages.

The is always Xen'drik, or even exploration of sunken ship wrecks with the aid of the submersible vessals that were presented in the last Eberron module.

Maybe you would just want to spend some time establishing a guild under your name, build a castle, inn, restaurant, or some other type of buisness that could be considered legitament. Ok, this one can be a bit more boring than others, but who knows, right?

Maybe you can take your airship and go off in search of the dragons, that one should be fun. :)
stanleyx2002
12-29-05, 03:36 PM well first off i'd like to thank everyone for the replies, since this is my first post.
Anyway, about the people beating down our doors for jobs. We do occasionally get that, but only from the few VIP's in Sharn (we don't visit other nations much). And about people thinking of us as heroes. Some do, and some don't, we've probably got more enemies than friends, and most of those enemies have significant followings. We actually have doe the trading thing, but it was a one-time thing. Umm..yea, i can't remember what else i was going to say.
well keep 'em coming plz.

p.s. LEAVE MY ****ING DM ALONE...*****.
(he told me to say that)
Inkling
12-29-05, 05:56 PM Wait until the Drow goes to sleep.

Tie him up, and take all of his gear (its a DMPC, chances are it has better equipment than you do).

Put him in a cage (an anti-magic cage if he's a spellcaster), and charge admission to see the mysterious savage dark elf from the jungles of Xen'Drik.

A Drow in Khovaire is about as common as an undisguised dragon walking down the streets of Sharn, and its just a DMPC (something thats generaly a no-no to begin with), so no harm done, and it kills three birds with one stone. You get your money, you lose the DMPC, and you don't have to travel around with a highly xenophobic drow anymore (or a stereotypical "all my people are this way, but I'm the opposite!" drizzt-esque drow).

Its win-win! ;)LOL! I had an image in my mind of the drow breaking free of his cage, running rampant on the streets of Sharn, climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, and shouting "Ho ha!" at the airships above.
Edymnion
12-29-05, 07:16 PM LOL! I had an image in my mind of the drow breaking free of his cage, running rampant on the streets of Sharn, climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, and shouting "Ho ha!" at the airships above.A dire were-ape drow with Enlarge cast on him! :D
Gurv
12-29-05, 07:43 PM LOL! I had an image in my mind of the drow breaking free of his cage, running rampant on the streets of Sharn, climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, and shouting "Ho ha!" at the airships above.
I don't know about anyone else, but I am from now on going to describe the drow of Xen'drik as "remember the natives from the King Kong movie?"

I -half- agree with Edymnion. I don't think that drow in Khorvaire would be quite as rare as an undisguised dragon. But I do think it would be rare enough that it would blow all hope of traveling unnoticed. And I do agree that if there is going to be a drow, it should act like a drow. There are a few reasons a drow might travel to Khorvaire...but those reasons should involve something more than "just wanting to explore". Use the Eberron drow flavor instead of explaining why you removed it.
Edymnion
12-29-05, 07:55 PM I don't know about anyone else, but I am from now on going to describe the drow of Xen'drik as "remember the natives from the King Kong movie?"Ooh, I like that :)
cmanos
12-29-05, 09:19 PM Become air pirates...raid other airships, sell the ships and cargo on the black market and ransom the crew back to their families.

You didn't mention your alignments! :)

Actually....become priviteers.....pirates under the hire of the crown.

do you have an airship?

Or maybe a wheelbarrow and an apocaypse cloak?
Inkling
12-29-05, 09:32 PM I don't know about anyone else, but I am from now on going to describe the drow of Xen'drik as "remember the natives from the King Kong movie?"

I -half- agree with Edymnion. I don't think that drow in Khorvaire would be quite as rare as an undisguised dragon. But I do think it would be rare enough that it would blow all hope of traveling unnoticed. And I do agree that if there is going to be a drow, it should act like a drow. There are a few reasons a drow might travel to Khorvaire...but those reasons should involve something more than "just wanting to explore". Use the Eberron drow flavor instead of explaining why you removed it.Or you could have a changeling imitating a drow.

I can see the sideshow now: "Step right up folks, see the demon elves that lurk in darkest Xendrik!" Have some normal animated skeletons dressed up as "Authentic Karnathi Skeleton Soldiers". Definitely lots of way of skinning a sawbuck from the rubes. As the Great Trickster said: Never give a sucker an even break.
The Necromancer King
12-30-05, 02:55 AM It's not a question of people seeing you as heroes; your characters are famous/infamous, and will likely be getting jobs of all sorts. Those that see the characters as heroes will ask for help in the form of various good deeds (rescue my missing daughter, overthrow the evil usurper of the crown, locate and disable the Horrible Device That Kills Everyone). Those that see the characters as villains will ask for the opposite kinds of help (loot villages, kill innocents, amass armies for the Forces of Doom). Occasionally, enemies are forced to work together toward similar goals, only to try and kill one another when the goal is reached. Often, that goal is money.

My players never have a day's peace. They've learned to dread the daily tapping on their front door, as it always is always accompanied by their patron with some new thing to do. Usually, those things are brought to him by third parties who need things done. When the job is done, they get paid.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
stanleyx2002 12-28-05, 02:35 PM	All right, here's the deal. A player in mygroup won't be available for about two sessions, but we're impatient and going to play anyway. We want to just think of something interesting to do, preferably a way to make money. We are also looking for a steady income to fund everything we do. So, if any of you could throw some ideas at me, that would be very helpful. btw, my party consists of a Half-elf bard with the mark of storm, a shifter swashbuckler(those two are the masterminds of many operations), a warforged artificier (does business with Merrix frequently), and the two other characters don't really matter because..well..one isn't going to be there and the drow is the DM's PC. And if it helps, we have our own airship, we have ties in houses Cannith and Lyrandar, contacts all throughout Sharn, and our airship crew consists of possibly every race on Khorvaire. once again, any ideas would be helpful. Just not anything TOO evil, we won't be allowed...and feel free to throw stupid ideas, we've done some unthinkable things. thanx
Gaile d'Lyrandar 12-28-05, 02:53 PM	a couple of quick ideas are 1) become cargo runners for house Cannith 2) become mercenaries 3) raid xen'drik or the mournland
igotsmeakabob!! 12-28-05, 02:53 PM	what level be ye?
stanleyx2002 12-28-05, 02:54 PM	what level be ye? 10th level
stanleyx2002 12-28-05, 02:56 PM	a couple of quick ideas are 1) become cargo runners for house Cannith 2) become mercenaries 3) raid xen'drik or the mournland yea, we've done all of those, actually. but thx.
Grymar 12-28-05, 03:13 PM	Become air pirates...raid other airships, sell the ships and cargo on the black market and ransom the crew back to their families. You didn't mention your alignments! :)
Drath'ri 12-28-05, 03:20 PM	the party is Chaotic Good for the most part. I would know. I'm thier DM =)
Edymnion 12-28-05, 04:08 PM	Wait until the Drow goes to sleep. Tie him up, and take all of his gear (its a DMPC, chances are it has better equipment than you do). Put him in a cage (an anti-magic cage if he's a spellcaster), and charge admission to see the mysterious savage dark elf from the jungles of Xen'Drik. A Drow in Khovaire is about as common as an undisguised dragon walking down the streets of Sharn, and its just a DMPC (something thats generaly a no-no to begin with), so no harm done, and it kills three birds with one stone. You get your money, you lose the DMPC, and you don't have to travel around with a highly xenophobic drow anymore (or a stereotypical "all my people are this way, but I'm the opposite!" drizzt-esque drow). Its win-win! ;)
Drath'ri 12-28-05, 05:54 PM	Wait until the Drow goes to sleep. Tie him up, and take all of his gear (its a DMPC, chances are it has better equipment than you do). Put him in a cage (an anti-magic cage if he's a spellcaster), and charge admission to see the mysterious savage dark elf from the jungles of Xen'Drik. A Drow in Khovaire is about as common as an undisguised dragon walking down the streets of Sharn, and its just a DMPC (something thats generaly a no-no to begin with), so no harm done, and it kills three birds with one stone. You get your money, you lose the DMPC, and you don't have to travel around with a highly xenophobic drow anymore (or a stereotypical "all my people are this way, but I'm the opposite!" drizzt-esque drow). Its win-win! ;) (yeah i must say that was a bit harsh) deletes but yes, Lumis, get some ideas.
igotsmeakabob!! 12-28-05, 06:02 PM	Ouch.. a bit harsh, he was kidding Drath.
maollelujah 12-28-05, 08:18 PM	If you have an airship and you want money, just get into the transportation business. There is a ton of money to be made that way. A fully loaded airship transporting goods a thousand miles earns something like 60,000 gp. So find a large city without lightning rail access that has something that Sharn wants and bingo you are wealthier than any adventurers can be. For action you get to fight off House Orien and Lyrandar attempts to put you out of business....
Edymnion 12-28-05, 08:46 PM	(yeah i must say that was a bit harsh) deletesDarn, I missed it :weep:
Drath'ri 12-28-05, 09:26 PM	Darn, I missed it :weep: Please, don't make me hate you more then I already do.
Siran Dunmorgan 12-28-05, 09:57 PM	If you have an airship and you want money, just get into the transportation business. There is a ton of money to be made that way. A fully loaded airship transporting goods a thousand miles earns something like 60,000 gp. So find a large city without lightning rail access that has something that Sharn wants and bingo you are wealthier than any adventurers can be. For action you get to fight off House Orien and Lyrandar attempts to put you out of business.... "A large city without lightning rail access that has something Sharn wants..." "A large city without lightning rail access..." For some reason, reading this, the first city that came to mind was Haka'torvhak. But if you're just trying to make some gold, and don't want to have to deal with an insane half-fiend great black wyrm, his lizardfolk minions, and his millenia-spanning task of preventing people very like you from making off with the treasures of his city, Zarash'ak would work too... aye: cruise in, fill your airship to the rails with Eberron dragonshards, and head back for Sharn. Of course, the straight route there and back takes you over Droaam, but if it was easy, anyone could do it, yes? —Siran Dunmorgan P. S. For some reason, the actual first thing that came to mind reading the original post was that the players wanted to spend a couple of weekends making money, rather than the characters; I was going to suggest something like a rummage sale or bake sale.
The Necromancer King 12-28-05, 11:17 PM	Have you noticed that your characters are of a high enough level to whomp Three, King Boranel's personal guard, with ease? That you could probably take Boranel himself with only moderate difficulty? Assuming that these two are the highest-level characters in Wroat, your party should have only a bit of difficulty in kidnapping the King of Breland. They call it a King's Ransom for a reason... At tenth level, in Eberron, you should have no problem making money. People should be (figuratively or literally) beating down your door to offer you jobs of various difficulty, for huge sums of money. Mercenary work. Espionage. Guarding high nobles. Kidnapping high nobles. Killing nobles, guild leaders, rival gangs, entire tribes. I mean, comparatively speaking, you're on an equal level with this world's biggest heroes. You should be treated like it. Right now, my group is kicking around 6th - 8th level. They're celebrities, and people treat them as such. They're recognized everywhere they go, from articles in the Sharn Inquisitive, the Korranberg Chronicle and an interview they did with Naughty Elven Maidens (Quarterly). They never get to do anything without someone noticing. If they go out to pick up the news in their skivvies, it's front page news. They're some of the up-and-ups working with (not even for; with) the Boromar clan, and Saidan Boromar himself sees them as a significant threat to his power. Guilds, mobs, private investors, noblemen; all have had the group do something for them at one point or another. Your group should have people comming to you, offering you money to do stuff. If not, kidnap a king or two.
Zelk 12-28-05, 11:19 PM	a warforged artificier (does business with Merrix frequently) hey thats me! anyway, im like obsessed with going to Xendrik, since anything can happen or be found so Drath.. Im still waitin for my wings :waits:
Dex 12-29-05, 12:20 AM	What you could do is set up a mine (gold, silver or dragonshard) with warforged workers. The high-profit business with low-cost worker = win!. Or just nick lightning stones and sell them back as ransom. :devil:
Kalanth 12-29-05, 12:29 AM	I hate to say it, I absolutely hate to say that I agree with Edymnion, but the DMPC Drow just does not fit in the way he seems to exsist. That does not really matter anyways, because its not my game, just thought I should get that out before I suggest anything. ((I apologize before hand, I am at work and do not have any of the books on me, so I can't aim for accuracy here)) Now, what about the hunt that happens in Sharn? I can't think of the name off hand, but the Red Cloaks seem to win this thing every time and maybe your group could go in and be the first new champion in ages. The is always Xen'drik, or even exploration of sunken ship wrecks with the aid of the submersible vessals that were presented in the last Eberron module. Maybe you would just want to spend some time establishing a guild under your name, build a castle, inn, restaurant, or some other type of buisness that could be considered legitament. Ok, this one can be a bit more boring than others, but who knows, right? Maybe you can take your airship and go off in search of the dragons, that one should be fun. :)
stanleyx2002 12-29-05, 03:36 PM	well first off i'd like to thank everyone for the replies, since this is my first post. Anyway, about the people beating down our doors for jobs. We do occasionally get that, but only from the few VIP's in Sharn (we don't visit other nations much). And about people thinking of us as heroes. Some do, and some don't, we've probably got more enemies than friends, and most of those enemies have significant followings. We actually have doe the trading thing, but it was a one-time thing. Umm..yea, i can't remember what else i was going to say. well keep 'em coming plz. p.s. LEAVE MY **ING DM ALONE...***. (he told me to say that)
Inkling 12-29-05, 05:56 PM	Wait until the Drow goes to sleep. Tie him up, and take all of his gear (its a DMPC, chances are it has better equipment than you do). Put him in a cage (an anti-magic cage if he's a spellcaster), and charge admission to see the mysterious savage dark elf from the jungles of Xen'Drik. A Drow in Khovaire is about as common as an undisguised dragon walking down the streets of Sharn, and its just a DMPC (something thats generaly a no-no to begin with), so no harm done, and it kills three birds with one stone. You get your money, you lose the DMPC, and you don't have to travel around with a highly xenophobic drow anymore (or a stereotypical "all my people are this way, but I'm the opposite!" drizzt-esque drow). Its win-win! ;)LOL! I had an image in my mind of the drow breaking free of his cage, running rampant on the streets of Sharn, climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, and shouting "Ho ha!" at the airships above.
Edymnion 12-29-05, 07:16 PM	LOL! I had an image in my mind of the drow breaking free of his cage, running rampant on the streets of Sharn, climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, and shouting "Ho ha!" at the airships above.A dire were-ape drow with Enlarge cast on him! :D
Gurv 12-29-05, 07:43 PM	LOL! I had an image in my mind of the drow breaking free of his cage, running rampant on the streets of Sharn, climbing to the top of the Empire State Building, and shouting "Ho ha!" at the airships above. I don't know about anyone else, but I am from now on going to describe the drow of Xen'drik as "remember the natives from the King Kong movie?" I -half- agree with Edymnion. I don't think that drow in Khorvaire would be quite as rare as an undisguised dragon. But I do think it would be rare enough that it would blow all hope of traveling unnoticed. And I do agree that if there is going to be a drow, it should act like a drow. There are a few reasons a drow might travel to Khorvaire...but those reasons should involve something more than "just wanting to explore". Use the Eberron drow flavor instead of explaining why you removed it.
Edymnion 12-29-05, 07:55 PM	I don't know about anyone else, but I am from now on going to describe the drow of Xen'drik as "remember the natives from the King Kong movie?"Ooh, I like that :)
cmanos 12-29-05, 09:19 PM	Become air pirates...raid other airships, sell the ships and cargo on the black market and ransom the crew back to their families. You didn't mention your alignments! :) Actually....become priviteers.....pirates under the hire of the crown. do you have an airship? Or maybe a wheelbarrow and an apocaypse cloak?
Inkling 12-29-05, 09:32 PM	I don't know about anyone else, but I am from now on going to describe the drow of Xen'drik as "remember the natives from the King Kong movie?" I -half- agree with Edymnion. I don't think that drow in Khorvaire would be quite as rare as an undisguised dragon. But I do think it would be rare enough that it would blow all hope of traveling unnoticed. And I do agree that if there is going to be a drow, it should act like a drow. There are a few reasons a drow might travel to Khorvaire...but those reasons should involve something more than "just wanting to explore". Use the Eberron drow flavor instead of explaining why you removed it.Or you could have a changeling imitating a drow. I can see the sideshow now: "Step right up folks, see the demon elves that lurk in darkest Xendrik!" Have some normal animated skeletons dressed up as "Authentic Karnathi Skeleton Soldiers". Definitely lots of way of skinning a sawbuck from the rubes. As the Great Trickster said: Never give a sucker an even break.
The Necromancer King 12-30-05, 02:55 AM	It's not a question of people seeing you as heroes; your characters are famous/infamous, and will likely be getting jobs of all sorts. Those that see the characters as heroes will ask for help in the form of various good deeds (rescue my missing daughter, overthrow the evil usurper of the crown, locate and disable the Horrible Device That Kills Everyone). Those that see the characters as villains will ask for the opposite kinds of help (loot villages, kill innocents, amass armies for the Forces of Doom). Occasionally, enemies are forced to work together toward similar goals, only to try and kill one another when the goal is reached. Often, that goal is money. My players never have a day's peace. They've learned to dread the daily tapping on their front door, as it always is always accompanied by their patron with some new thing to do. Usually, those things are brought to him by third parties who need things done. When the job is done, they get paid.