Explorative History Lessons

[Nytmare]

I am looking for other people's insights as to how a situation like this might be handled.

Two allied, fledgling, city states are bordered by a roughly 200 mile wide expanse of inhospitable, infertile, badlands. They pool their resources and hire a group of explorers to map and establish a trade route across the barren wasteland. They know what's on the other side of it, they just want a safe and fast way to get from where they are to it, and vice versa.

The explorers, played by a handful of modern-thinking, capitalistic, Americans, immediately attack the original contract with a vengeance and want cold, hard, figures to denote what percentages they can expect from whatever claims and prospecting rights they can grab up during their adventures.

At this point, neither one of these cities really has much interest in expanding their borders, and depending on where the hypothetical resources are, I can't see either city wanting to expend the resources needed to claim, protect, and gather them.

Is there any kind of precedent for something like this in the real world? What would even begin to make sense in a situation such as this? I had been expecting to let them keep whatever it was that they found for themselves, but their expectations of only being able to keep a small fraction of what they find has led me to believe that I'm being overly generous.

 

[Gilladian]

The cities would pay them a finder's fee and then sell rights to develop the resource to some of their citizens.

The PCs should get some small percentage of what the overall resource's value is projected to be over the first decade or so of development. For example, if they found a silver lode, the mine might be (projected to be) worth 10,000 gp value (clear profit) over 10 years time. Therefore, the PCs could expect to be given 200 gp for the discovery, if they were offered a 2% take. OR they might be offered a 1/2% yearly share in the mine's ownership. But if the mine goes bust, they're out.

Otherwise, yeah, they could try to claim the mine themselves, but then they have to recruit people to work it, get them to the mine, protect them, get the mine established, bring out the ore, sell the ore, etc.... Sounds like a LOT more work to me.

 

[Loonook]

Read this.

The Adventurers are going to need money to sponsor their voyage... And could sell off stock and trade offerings for their time in the breach. They will need laborers, craftsmen, miners, foresters, teamsters, masons, smiths, accountants, and soldiers to be able to make anything of it.

As I only have one dimension of the location I cannot tell you how much it would cost to do anything, nor do I know what resources are available in the region. It is a major project to realistically know what you may have there. How many acres of timber? How many mines (and of what quality, material, and longevity)? If the timber is cleared and the area assarted is the land arable? What kind of creatures are there here?

Hire a company of men to go into the land with you for a year of full-scale exploration/clearance is going to run you quite a bit. Then you have to figure in laborers, and purchasing the rights to establish villages within the Wastes. Is there an ability to trade? Can your fledgling kingdoms support the necessary food costs of the individuals as they travel within to do the work?

Hiring hunters, trappers, etc. will help if the location can support it. If the group moves at half speed (12 miles/day) through the Wilderness and has skilled huntsmen (lvl. 3 Experts in Survival, with Self-Sufficient) can help to feed themselves and four others on a 10.

If you send some men along with them to make Wisdom checks they can bring back more food... As I've said before figure 8 individuals maximum, and each of them can forage as part of his check to help bring back their own food.

So if you have a Company of 100 men plus their Leadership, ranging on horseback, they can let the rest of the men move forward on rations. If they have a cart they can make their checks for a few days, ride ahead, feed the troops... Then rinse and repeat. It will take about two and half weeks to cover the land... And if you have your men spread out to Sight range they can survey land in this way in a pretty broad swath. I would not suggest this tactic, and keep the group together.

Keep cycling your men in and out of the ranging group, and send your fastest men and horse forward to establish possible sites of interest in groups of five or ten so you know what to look at. Again this is basic trailblazing, and you're probably looking at much slower going if it is a deep, dark, unknown place. You'll lose men, and equipment, along the way.

And then after that you need to build your outposts (probably palisades around a tent city, basic latrine ditches downwind)... and begin to range from there. A nice outpost would have vantage over the area, and allow your men to have a safe place to return to.

That's what I would have for now.

Slainte,

-Loonook.




Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Well, according to the rock-solid research I conducted at Wikipedia, Columbus was promised a cut of the action if the new trade route worked out. Basically paying for something like that on a commission basis seems like a good idea if you're backing a risky venture.

If the party wants to argue percentages, let them. Start out as stingy as you think you can be. Let them counter offer. Then you agree to some compromise and let them feel like masterful negotiators.

Just keep in mind, no matter what you settle on, they will end up with a ridiculous amount of money. There's always a hare-brained scheme that pays off. Or they'll just skim off the top. Or they'll find a way to get multiple people to pay them to do the same job. Don't be afraid of it though. Let them get filthy rich and then let them see how many problems they can buy.