Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Da Dinictus 04-11-05, 06:34 AM	So one of my players has managed to save money and be crafty enough a dealer (and deceitful enough to get him a bit more than others through rather legal means) that he is starting a small enterprise of his own. Already he has gotten himself a mine from a local crazed magician/toymaker, who wants certain gemstones and metals from my player for his crafts and research while he supplies his employees with healing potions if they need the healing. Now, this mine has several gemstone deposits that have been left rather untouched due to an Earth Whisper's intervention (though that one is dead and done, by now), so now there's emeralds, rubies and perhaps silver to be mined. How to work out revenue? Profits? Trades? Also, the PC's managed to anger (bloody censor!) a young Blue Dragoness. She differs from her own deceased mother by running more legal businesses to make her hoard grow. Indeed, I am planning to work this into our campaign as well, if I first get that damn mine fully worked out, so she may finally get some pay-back to that damn party of would-be heroes. Revenue. Yes, how to work this out? Any experienced DM's that could help out?
Da Dinictus 04-11-05, 12:41 PM	My threads seem cursed. :bump:
Phrennzy 04-11-05, 01:36 PM	Now, this mine has several gemstone deposits ... emeralds, rubies and perhaps silver to be mined. How to work out revenue? Profits? Trades? Revenue. Yes, how to work this out? Any experienced DM's that could help out? Simple - the mine produces what YOU as DM decide it does. I would decide on how many "man hours" the mine could be worked - basically how many men can work in the mine, and for how long each day? Let's say that the mine can be worked by 20 men for 8 hours a day. (The owner could also work 60 men in 8 hour shifts to tripl the production). So each six day work week, 960 man hours are produced. (That's 20 men, 8 hours a day, for seven days). Now, let's say that the PC is 5th level and I don't want him to become super wealthy right away. So I'll say that every 1000 man hours brings out rubies/emeralds/silver worth 1000gp. That means that if he runs the mine full time, he makes 1000gp each week, minus what it costs to run the mine (pay the laborers/guards). If he hires more workers, and runs it round the clock, he can make 3000gp each week. To make it even easier, I would tell the PC that the mine can accomodate 20 miners, and then each week give the player a different total of gems/silver mined, keeping it within 20% of 1000gp - with a chance of hitting a good lode and a chance of a current lode drying up. A good lode might double the output for a limited time, and a drying up might decrease it by half. It really is all up to you as DM. Go with what you feel is appropriate, knowing that you can increase or decrease the amount as time goes by.
Da Dinictus 04-11-05, 01:51 PM	Ah, thanks there Phrennzy. This does help out quite a lot. I'm rather happy the player is as involved into the world as he is right now, and he has aspirations for his character to help the nearby city prosper greatly. Quite an establishment for a beginning DM as myself, I must admit :P Well, this is a nice base. I will discuss details with him concerning the people he has hired and the work being done. I would expect most will, however, involve mining and not immediately finding gems right away. Persistence'll pay off, though. Again, thanks for the base.
Phrennzy 04-11-05, 07:54 PM	Whenever the Player gains something - a business, castle, mine - it's loads of fun for the GM. Now you have a place for Xorns, Purple Worms, all kinds of things. Not too mention the very cliche but always useful "Minig excavation discovers lost ruins". Sweet.