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

[Fynn]

1) How does the King get paid his money? If you have to send it to him by mundane means... "I'm awfully sorry Sire; bandits appear to have stolen your money. Tsk such a shame; I don't suppose you could lend me some troops to help clear them out could you?" Now where are those Orcs hiding? Treat it as a 4000 GP loan - could probably only get away with this once or twice. If he still demands his money at least you get some time to put the funds to good use.

2) From the numbers it looks like the previous administration was pulling the wool over the eye's of the previous Lord. Get everyone in the same room and play cluedo - then hang the embezzler - make sure he's told you where the money is first however.


my 2cp worth

 

[Sanackranib]

the pesentry exists to PAY taxes. if you are spending too much then obviously you are not taxing the pesants enough . . . raise taxes to 30k per month and live like a king off the extra 10k

 

[Sigurd]

Population is where I'd concentrate first

BTW, I asked him what the size of the town is, it's 3500. A lot of people moved away before the big battle with the orcs, however, so we might be able to get some back (I'm going to guess 1000-ish, but that's really out of thin air).

I would direct some of my energies into population shaping and setting a goal for what the city should look like.

1) If there was an exodus of people who jumped ship before the orc thing - do you want them or people like that back?

2) Can you, in good conscience seize their abandoned properties and remaining possessions to pay for the defense of the city?

3) Can you arrange the remaining population into better planing with the temporary reduction in population pressure. Create official markets with better safety and tax potential. Remove barriers to good business while the cowards are gone. You might be able to make this fly with your city population at large if you can emphasize how everyone benefits from these seizures.

4) Some of the taken lands, perhaps only a token, should be given to heroic defenders of the city demonstrating the benefit of loyalty and your own generosity.

5) Do you have a map of the city and its major imports/exports?


Investigate holding a festival or market fair to celebrate your victory and distract the town from the restructuring you are going to plan. Make the fair cheap and don't plan on making much money from it. Consider it a political benefit if you can have it fly.

 

[Yxylu]

This is the Bard/Cleric/Lord checking in.

A lot of these ideas are good. Some of them are unworkable for reasons not yet discussed. For example, cheating the king is probably not a good idea - I'm set to wed his granddaughter in 2 months (there's another expense we have to carry - the ceremony).

Many of the people who left town prior to the invasion of the orcs and the dragon (more on him shortly) had there homes boarded up and branded "Deserter." We can probably confiscate some or all of those, and sell them to new immigrants. Unfortunately, prior to the invasion, there was an earthquake which we _may_ have caused (the jury's still out), so there was significant damage back then.

The previous lord was quite laissez-faire in terms of laws and whatnot. He apparently also was not very good with finances. He took out that huge loan from the bank of the capital city. I doubt we'll be able to do much with that, but we can certainly try.

As for that dragon that attacked us, before we knew he was a dragon, he tried to get us to run an errand for him in exchange for getting a thieves' guild off our backs. The task awas to track down a particular person who stole a lot of his stuff (basically, his hoard) and bring him back. This person turned out not to be a bad guy, and he helped us rescue a near-comotose elven woman from the dragon's lair, and that was enough for him to goad the orcs into attacking us. Fairly complicated stuff.

Anyway, thanks for all of your suggestions. I'll be chaking back here frequently.

Byron, Lord of Durrotek

 

[DonTadow]

This is the Bard/Cleric/Lord checking in.

A lot of these ideas are good. Some of them are unworkable for reasons not yet discussed. For example, cheating the king is probably not a good idea - I'm set to wed his granddaughter in 2 months (there's another expense we have to carry - the ceremony).

Many of the people who left town prior to the invasion of the orcs and the dragon (more on him shortly) had there homes boarded up and branded "Deserter." We can probably confiscate some or all of those, and sell them to new immigrants. Unfortunately, prior to the invasion, there was an earthquake which we _may_ have caused (the jury's still out), so there was significant damage back then.

The previous lord was quite laissez-faire in terms of laws and whatnot. He apparently also was not very good with finances. He took out that huge loan from the bank of the capital city. I doubt we'll be able to do much with that, but we can certainly try.

As for that dragon that attacked us, before we knew he was a dragon, he tried to get us to run an errand for him in exchange for getting a thieves' guild off our backs. The task awas to track down a particular person who stole a lot of his stuff (basically, his hoard) and bring him back. This person turned out not to be a bad guy, and he helped us rescue a near-comotose elven woman from the dragon's lair, and that was enough for him to goad the orcs into attacking us. Fairly complicated stuff.

Anyway, thanks for all of your suggestions. I'll be chaking back here frequently.

Byron, Lord of Durrotek

Wait, you got to pay for the King's daughter's wedding? Wait you're in good with the king. I'd let him know your town's situation and what condition the last idiot left it in. If he's cares about his daughter as much as you're implyinghe'll care where she'll end up and he maybe able to reliquish some of his fees. Tell him that at this pace you may not be able to afford to wed his daughter, which means he'll still be paying her dowry,... forever. He should come around. I think you should get in there and get to some serious negotiations. Its not going to be easy, but your town's livelihood is at stake.

Another Route" Plan the wedding to happen in the next month and you pay for it, but make it a big grand ole event. Charge peasants for coming to it. Make it a tourist attraction. Put a tax on everything. I"m talking superbowl prices. Fix those houses up. make your town seem like thep lace to be. YOu'll go in a bit more debt, but this is a all or nothing run here. If you're successful your town will bustle with new life like never before and people will see its a great place to live. OPen up a gambling hall ::casino:: and name it after the princess. Make it an upsale tourist joint. Sell souvineers and memorable cups.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I'm not sure I'd lean on King Granddaddy right now; the players should be showing strength & intelligence, not weakness.

Instead I'd start using those royal contacts to establish sweetheart deals with traders, guilds, and other organizations. In short, you give these organizations a long term break (~5years) on overall taxes or a monopoly (not both) in return for them providing a sizeable sum of cash up front. It may seem counterintuitive but think of it as a loan from the guilds/traders paid out via reduced taxes.

I would also consider using that sizeable military force (250 for ~4500?) as guards for the caravans to sweeten the pot. The kicker would be that the caravan would be responsible for their food/supplies/maintenance for the duration. This is a decent cost-sharing exercise that also puts your troops on the road where bandits can see them, hopefully encouraging them to be elsewhere.

This wouldn't work for river traffic but right now any river traffic should start generating income from the harbor which is a win for the city. Speaking of river traffic, since you have a significant timber industry, see if you can entice a boatwright to set up shop. You can give the boatwright a tax break and be sure to still increase your bottom line b/c he's going to have to hire several workmen who you can tax.

I would, with the assistance of your sizeable legal staff, immediately establish a completely lawful "land reclamation" process where the landowner must re-register their ownership with the courthouse. This should generate some profitable fees. Justify it by saying you have had to deal with squatters and possibly illegitmate claimants. Add an extra requirement that the lands cannot be sold without paying an additional fee within 2 years if claimed by someone other than the original owner (son, nephew, heir, etc)

I would immediately begin lootin...err salvaging the deserters' property. I would document what was found, check the tax estimates for value (what? Not declared on their taxes! Sieze it!), and put it in storage. Charge them a completely reasonable fee for the storage, pickup and collection. When the fees exceed the value claim the items legally. You can use those non-profit generating dock hands to do the work.

Found livestock should be treated similarly. On the plus side, most found livestock will probably have wandered off their original lands and have caused damages to someone. You can then assess fines to the owner which must be paid in X days or else the livestock is forfeit to the Lord. (Oh wait, that's you!)

Additionally, any useful farmlands, mills, etc should be worked by people you import. If the landowners get to keep their lands you cut them in for a small share of the profits (profit only! not revenue!). If they show up before harvest, charge them for your costs + expected profit + "protection" fees. Since you've started working the lands you've got that classic "possession is nine tenths of the law" on your side, plus the King's granddaughter.

I'd use the cash from the guilds to cover the costs of the farming efforts so you don't have any problems out of pocket.

 

[The Souljourner]

Just a quick point, asked the DM and the King is going to pay for the wedding, we just need to put the town into reasonably decent shape.

I love the idea of making the wedding a superbowl style event. Given that the king is paying for the actual ceremony etc, all we have to do is spruce up all those abandoned houses, rent them out for gobs of money, etc etc. The wedding is actually set for a couple (three?) months in the future, so we'd have time to get things cleaned up.

I definitely think making Durrotek the happening place to live is a good goal. We'll have to see if we can manage to make it look that way.

-Silas Mackenzie, Captain of the Guard of Durrotek

 

[DonTadow]

Just a quick point, asked the DM and the King is going to pay for the wedding, we just need to put the town into reasonably decent shape.

I love the idea of making the wedding a superbowl style event. Given that the king is paying for the actual ceremony etc, all we have to do is spruce up all those abandoned houses, rent them out for gobs of money, etc etc. The wedding is actually set for a couple (three?) months in the future, so we'd have time to get things cleaned up.

I definitely think making Durrotek the happening place to live is a good goal. We'll have to see if we can manage to make it look that way.

-Silas Mackenzie, Captain of the Guard of Durrotek

Can you tell I live in Detroit... and we have SUCH high hopes...
Whatever you do, don't buy a Navigator... er .. expensive war horse, your subjects won't be happy.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I love the idea of making the wedding a superbowl style event. Given that the king is paying for the actual ceremony etc, all we have to do is spruce up all those abandoned houses, rent them out for gobs of money, etc etc. The wedding is actually set for a couple (three?) months in the future, so we'd have time to get things cleaned up.

You should also make sure to include some of the building maintenance costs in the wedding figures. You know, you could fix up the south wall as building maintenance, but if you hold the reception in the great hall, you would need to replace that wall with a giant mosaic. And that would require fixing it up so that it's in proper condition to affix the mosaic to it. Similarly, you may need to replace one of the quays in the harbor in order to accomodate the king's barge. Wedding expense. (And since it's being replaced, you don't need to maintain it for that month). You can't go too wild on that king of thing, but I would imagine that you should be able to tranfer a portion of your ongoing expenses to the wedding expense account for the months of preparation. If you're clever, the redesign will be cheaper to maintain as well....

 

[haakon1]

Find a city within marching distance that has ample natural resources. Claim hysterically that they're secretly hatching dragons, which will come to slaughter the townsfolk if you don't act immediately.

Before anyone has a chance to verify or refute the claims, march over and invade, destroying everything in sight except the mines and treasury building. Make a point of razing temples, libraries and museums - anything which gives the inhabitants a sense of culture. You can give them a new culture which is more amenable to your goals.

Disband the armies and mark the tradespeople as potential traitors, then get your own troops and skilled labourers in to police and rebuild the place. Naturally, the defeated city will have to pay for those services with all those yummy resources.

Problem solved!

Hey, no politics, dude! And if that wasn't intended to be an allegory . . . oh my!