Best way to revitalize the economy of a town in D&D

[Herobizkit]

What has the silver dragon been up to? Is it possible for her to help with the repairs of the airship?

Well, crap! I didn't know there was a Silver Dragon with whom you could negotiate deals!

Silver Dragons have a HUGE store of loose treasure. I would offer some kind of service to the Dragon in exchange for some protection and some spare change. Most Dragons wouldn't let their precious gold slip away unless you offered something better in return... like the extermination of an orc tribe, maybe? Since it's Lawful Good, why not tell it flat out about your attempt to stabilize a town, emphasize your Good influence and church, and ask what you could do for the Dragon to help it help you (Say it with me: Help me help you).

 

[Whisper72]

Hmmm.... on one hand, not enuff data to give pointed advice. In general however:

- what the heck you need 20K gp per month for? In a medieval village, costs for stuff like road repairs etc. were not that massive. Also, ppl tended to build to last, so upkeep on buildings etc. are also not major cost centers (except maybe city walls, usually not that many other public buildings besides military related stuff like barracks, the central keep, city walls, maybe a bathhouse...), the main costs would be wages for servants, guards etc., well, shift some of the guard duties from hirelings to militia, let the villagers care more for themselves...

- if in a frontier town, stimulate the coming of adventureres... they bring loads of cash, and you can let them loose on the various threats from the wilderniss and the orcs...

- make sure that there is plenty for these adventurers to waste their money on: weapons and armor, supplies, simple magical / alchemical items (potions of healing, low-level scrolls etc.)

- definately reopen the mine.... allow ppl to work in on a concession basis (i.e. they keep half of what they mine, the rest belongs to the municipal coffers...) let THEM take care of any security issues by hiring adventurers etc, only helping out if really necessary (hey, as ruler you have better things to do then act as guards...)

- scout out other forms of resources: other mines, wood, animal furs etc. how is the food situation, can sell surplus or do you need to import...

- maximize profits (also in terms of taxes) by reselling finished products in stead of raw materials, up those margins -> attract skilled labourers to settle in your city to produce quality materials -> high value / low volume, easier to trade...

- repair the sky-ship, is a pretty safe (well, except when there are unfriendly dragons about) way to establish a trade route to the nearest (major?) city, especially if mainly smaller, more valuable things need to be transported...

- introduce licenses, for example on services such as spellcasting, a special adventuring license, the right to carry arms...

- if the town provides protection, then all who enter must pay an entry fee (for the upkeep of the walls)...

 

[Sigurd]

What is the city spending so much money on? Profit and spending are two sides of the same coin. Work with the DM to make sure all your solution doesn't have to come from only one side.


If the chief expense is defenses ask the kingdom for help. Does he want to help you pay for defense or see you fail as a protection for his kingdom?

If you can't afford salaries or duties see if you can remove them or convert them. Try to reimploy people in better ways you can afford.

You have a silver dragon and a broken air ship. Are there any places around you can make money with the air ship? Have the dragon find out for you. You might make sure the dragon can polymorph to conceal his/her identity.

You have a copper mine in the area -- are there copper merchants aplenty? If there is a market, you might make things out of the copper.

Can you use your party and existing resources to buy out\acquire any things you plan to make wildly successful - while everyone thinks they are failures .

What is your town income like in comparison to the other towns of the kingdom and in comparison to the king? You may not be able to sustain too high a profit. Especially if you are a basically benign party you have to make your changes basically improvements - ie sustainable.


S

Can the party do some heroic and extrodinary thing that will result in extrodinary profits. Like I said before, bring it back to the strengths of the party.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Can the party do some heroic and extrodinary thing that will result in extrodinary profits.

Well, yeah - they can adventure. The classic D&D reason for a DM to give the PC's a castle or town is to make them something to spend their cash on. Keep in mind that this may be his intent. I do fall into the camp of those wondering how even a small city can be spending 20K a month. Is your DM the type to be a stickler for realism, with solid logical reasoning behind that figure, or is it jsut as likely he pulled a number out of his (hat)?

 

[haakon1]

I'm sure we could establish trade routes, assuming we can find something to trade. The city is on a river with a modicum of fishermen. Once the mine's back up, we can trade the copper. I like the idea of trading with tribesmen to the north. There must be non-orcs around, and setting up good relations with them could be very useful.

-The Souljourner

I was going to say: buy some cows, but you seem to have a city rather than a village on your hands.


A river, eh? That's like being on a superhighway. Milk it:
- River tolls, just like on the good old Rhine. That's where the word "robber baron" came from.
- Ferry service across it, freight service down it. If your expenses are mostly military, the troops could do that kind of work, instead of sitting in the barracks all day. The secret of the Roman legions: when they were in garrison, the troops did work -- making equipment, building infrastructure, or making stuff to earn money for them or the legion.
- Mills. A fabulous source of wealth in the Middle Ages.
- Use it for transport. Is your wilderness forested? Not for long -- put the troops to work clearing the forest and floating it down the river -- money from lumber, land for more peasants, and less places for orcs to hide.

 

[The Souljourner]

Here's the balance sheet in pdf form:
http://home.comcast.net/~nate.finch/Durrotek_Balance_Sheet.pdf

And here's a transcribed list of expenses:

Expenses			
		Cost per Month (gp)	Number of Occurances	Monthly(gp)
Total Expenses							22045
Palace Upkeep							1979
Household Servants	3			25		75
Cooks			3			8		24
Chef			9			1		9
Palace Guards		6			20		120
Butler			6			1		6
Gardeners		3			12		36
Alchemist/Physician	30			1		30
Food (pp, servants)	12			67		804
Building Maintenance	500			1		500
Food (Lord, Advisers)	125			3		375

Military Expenses						9642
Barracks Maintenance	75			2		150
Soldiers (infantry)	6			200		1200
Soldiers (archers)	7			100		700
Officers (Lieutenants)	12			20		240
Officers (Captains)	25			8		200
Officers (Commanders)	50			4		200
Hedge Wizards		150			6		900
Equipment Maintenance	4			332		1328
Food (Soldiers)		12			328		3936
Food (Officers)		24			10		240
Blacksmith		12			4		48
Horses			20			20		400
Stables			50			2		100

Civil Administration						1656
Courthouse Maintenance	200			1		200
Judges			50			2		100
Court Clerks		12			6		72
Public Defender		40			1		40
Bailiff			6			6		36
City Records 
Office Maintenance	100			1		100
Administrative Assistant 12			8		96
Tax Assessor 
(including hazard pay)	24			12		288
Harbor Upkeep		600			1		600
Harbor Master		100			1		100
Dockworker		3			8		24

Ancillary Expenses						8768
Royal Tribute		4000			1		4000
Entertainment		1000			1		1000
Seasonal Heating 
Expenses (amortized)	500			1		500
Hunting Grounds 
Maintenance		250			1		250
Falconer		6			1		6
Huntsman		12			1		12
Debt from 
250,000gp loan		3000			1		3000

And Income:

Income				
	Gross Commerce (gp)	Numbers	Tax/Tariff Rate (%)	Monthly Sum (gp)
Total Income							9930
Tax Income							4890
Dry Goods	9000		  1		5.0%		450
Food		12000		  1		2.0%		240
Luxury Goods	3000		  1		15.0%		450
Entertainment	15000		  1		10.0%		1500
Property	1800		 250		0.5%		2250

Tariff Income							5040
Logging		8000		  6		8.0%		3840
Mining		1200		  4		25.0%		1200

 

[The Souljourner]

Well, crap! I didn't know there was a Silver Dragon with whom you could negotiate deals!

Silver Dragons have a HUGE store of loose treasure. I would offer some kind of service to the Dragon in exchange for some protection and some spare change. Most Dragons wouldn't let their precious gold slip away unless you offered something better in return... like the extermination of an orc tribe, maybe? Since it's Lawful Good, why not tell it flat out about your attempt to stabilize a town, emphasize your Good influence and church, and ask what you could do for the Dragon to help it help you (Say it with me: Help me help you).

Juvenile silver dragon. Her hoard fits in a dresser drawer right now (literally).

About fixing the airship... problem is that the wizard of the party is pretty sure it's going to take a powerful wizard to fix it (it's not a matter of patching holes in the hull, it's fixing the magic that helps it navigate... right now it can't actually turn, just go up and down and forward and back).

I posted the balance sheets... have at it The expenses are pretty detailed, the income much less so. I see two huge things making up a majority of the deficit: the 4000gp a month tribute to the crown, and the 3000gp a month payment on the 250k loan.

-The Souljourner

 

[LostSoul]

With the tribute and your loan, you've only got around 3k to work with. Not a good situation.

Let's see what we can cut.

Household Servants
Butler
Gardeners

Fire these guys. Hopefully they can find work elsewhere. If you feel bad about throwing them out on the street, let them stay where they are and keep feeding them, but don't pay them (or force them to work).


Alchemist/Physician
Blacksmith
Harbor Master
Dockworker

Let these guys work for themselves. Then you can tax them.


Palace Guards

Salary cut. Pay them 12 gp or so.

Building Maintenance
Barracks Maintenance
Equipment Maintenance
Courthouse Maintenance
Office Maintenance
Harbor Upkeep
Hunting Grounds
Maintenance
Entertainment

Stop doing these things.

Officers (Captains)
Officers (Commanders)
Food (Officers)

You only need 2 Captains. Debatable if you need a commander or not. You've only got 2 companies of troops. That will cut down on the cost of their food. Spend less on their food at any rate. (Say 18gp per unit.)

All that should save you 5k a month. Hopefully you'll get some extra in tax from the workers who are working for themselves.

 

[LostSoul]

Okay, now to make money:

What are your soldiers doing? What if you told them to start logging? They might not be good at it, but at least they are doing something. If they decide to quit and just become loggers, that's okay, you can tax them.

If you don't need all your soldiers, you could hire out 1/2 of them as a mercenary company.

You can get those hedge wizards to start making money for you by selling services to the people. Tell them to cut their rates in half so that people can afford things. Even if they go around and Mending things, you'll still make some cash. If they can cast Arcane Lock, have them do it for everyone who wants "the ultimate in home security". Unseen servants could make good (or decent) cleaners.

Hmm. Does anyone in your party have a good craft skill? You could start making masterwork items. Get those blacksmiths to make a load of items. Then sell them either in your city (preferred, less costs) or a nearby city.

If there is anyone under your employ that is not doing anything on a regular basis, get him working.

 

[Shallown]

What does your royal tribute get you?

I would think if you are passing money along to the king of the land he has the responsibility to deal with the orcs?

I would clarify this arrangement.

I tend to agree if your paying this much for soldiers they shoudl be doing something especiialy to cut down on your maintenance expenses.

Later