I played some D&D back in 3.5 days, but not hardcore. I wanted to get back into it so I got the new starter set and guilted my wife and another couple we hang out with into at least trying it, with me taking the role of DM for the first time ever. They all absolutely LOVED it, like a lot. Seriously, they were asking us to come over and play almost every night.
So now they are about half way through Wave Echo cave, the final dungeon of LMoP and have invested a fair amount of time & energy into the pre-gen characters they each chose. I've asked what they want to do when they finish this up and it was unanimous that they want to keep these characters and continue this story.
I've already whipped up more than enough side content to keep them busy until my copy of Hoard of the Dragon Queen is delivered.
My problem comes from Wave Echo Cave itself and the ruins of Tressendar manor back in Phandalin. They know that Gundren Rockseeker is willing to give them 10% of the profits once the mine is functional again and they have already asked me how much money they would need to buy and repair Tressendar Manor & begin the process building up Phandalin since they re-gen characters they chose are pretty much all invested in the restoration of the town.
I don't want to bog things down with too much petty detail, but at the same time I know they are looking for more than a hand wave and me telling them "You now own a beautiful mansion that overlooks the fully restored city of Phandalin."
I have no idea how to handle this, any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Offer some hard choices. If they earn their share of the mine, they can:
- Restore and maintain Tresendar manor indefinitely, but run into problems with unscrupulous Tresendar heirs, tieflings who want to reclaim the property through both legal and illegal means; or
- Invest in Phandalin businesses and infrastructure, become pillars of the community, just in time for the resurgence of the orc horde that ravaged this area 500 years prior; or
- Trade the share for a map leading to the forgotten ruins of an ancient city rumored to be untouched since its fall and loaded with riches and magic.
Choose wisely!
How would someone go about rebuilding a mansion though? Roll a d20 and see if you hit the nail to drive it all the way in?
How do you experienced DM's handle the players wanting to build\buy a house or land?
I'm thinking of not actually giving them any money from the mine, but say that it's being used to cover the cost of construction. Every time they go on an adventure, they return to a slightly more built mansion.
I was already planning for the Many Arrows tribe to become the new big bad danger looming in the distance, led by a new warchief who has united the orc clans. I was the only one in our group to play any Warcraft\WoW games, so they might not recognize the massive plagarism.
The rules of D&D don't really cover building mansions or buying houses or land. They're meant for resolving tasks and conflicts in fantastical situations. For this sort of thing, I find abstraction is key. Like you said, don't give them a hard number cash value - just say it covers this or that expense or provides this or that benefit. Then what you do is you complicate the situation in some fashion that drives further adventure, perhaps by threatening their holdings. (Just be sure they're interested in those kinds of stakes before doing it.)