D&D 5E How would you handle a player-controlled mine?

[77IM]

I like it, but I think that your monthly profit may be a bit low for some of them. Consider a shop doesn't even pull in enough profit to provide for one person. If you considered someone was really rich and could own multiple shops, it would take that rich person owning 3 shops just to provide the income of one skilled laborer.

Yeah, I just made up all the numbers. I don't have a good sense of what is both realistic (in the context of the admittedly unrealistic D&D economy) and interesting; that's the kind of careful development work I expect someone else to do and put into the DMG for me. ;}

In my table above the monthly profits are pure profit, on top of the cost of labor, and that you don't have to do anything to get them. So 10 gp a month for doing nothing is not too shabby. I should probably add a line like, "While running a business you can maintain a comfortable lifestyle at no cost," similar to the rules for crafting. These rules might also need to better reward investing downtime days, to compete with the rules for crafting and similar. I dunno. This was more of an example of a system I'd like to see. My secret hope is that somebody else will develop it for me and then I can just buy it from them on DMsG. ;}

 

[Ahrimon]

Yeah, I just made up all the numbers. I don't have a good sense of what is both realistic (in the context of the admittedly unrealistic D&D economy) and interesting; that's the kind of careful development work I expect someone else to do and put into the DMG for me. ;}

In my table above the monthly profits are pure profit, on top of the cost of labor, and that you don't have to do anything to get them. So 10 gp a month for doing nothing is not too shabby. I should probably add a line like, "While running a business you can maintain a comfortable lifestyle at no cost," similar to the rules for crafting. These rules might also need to better reward investing downtime days, to compete with the rules for crafting and similar. I dunno. This was more of an example of a system I'd like to see. My secret hope is that somebody else will develop it for me and then I can just buy it from them on DMsG. ;}

I was just looking at it from the point of view as owning 3 stores gives me just enough to afford a butler or a general manager to manage the 3 stores. =)

It would probably be best for them to give vague numbers just like they do with magic items. That way the DM can tailor things more to their campaign. So a basic shop in a poor part of town wouldn't pull in as much as a basic shop in a rich part of town. Etc. But overall, I think this creates a great framework.

 

[77IM]

Actually an even more simpler system would treat the business as a type of investment, and have the monthly profit be a % of the principal. Then, if you want to actively manage the business, use the "Practicing a Profession" downtime activity in the PHB to represent that.

 

[Ahrimon]

I'm going to have to re-read that section.

 

[Gwarok]

Does anyone knows of rules for mining as a permanent activity for the profit of player characters? One of my PCs will probably get some land in the near future, including a silver operation, and I'd like it to be more than "ok, its production pays for the maintenance costs of your keep"; it should feel like a real treasure. I'm looking for written rules, but ideas of how to handle it would be great as well.

Sounds like a pretty cool idea. A bit more information would be useful regarding "my PC's will probably get some land in the near future, including a silver operation", such as how much land? Is it settled, like they were awarded a village and a title like Squire or Baronet and tasked with running it for a lord? Or are they starting from scratch, having to clear the surrounding area and attract settlers to really make use of things? Which could be fun.

Should be careful regarding such an asset, as even moderately sized precious metal mines are VERY lucrative and in reality once they are up and running well would basically provide PC's with enough money that most DM's would consider it game breaking. Especially as in some campaign you can turn cash into magic items pretty readily. How to deal with millionaire PC's? But done right that amount of prosperity can be played into the campaign for any number of issues, it's true what they say, mo money mo problems, you just don't have to worry about the price of gas or the basics anymore. Rival mining operations may want to take over or sabotage your efforts, and local lords will want to steal it or help you to ensure a strong tax base. But I find most PC's are into fighting and adventure, and actually running a business operation is well, work, and boring work at that if you're used to taking out orc strongholds for funsies. Maybe hire NPC's to manage it, provide the expertise, or take on partners to run it for you and just cut you a fat sack of profits every month.

The Basic DND "Companion Set" is one of my all time favorites, and actually had a simple rule system for PC's who started owning land. Population, resources, taxes, keeping your folks happy, random events like crops failing, stuff like that. If you can find an old copy of it, I think it might provide you some good inspirations on this. But trust me, unless your PC's are a little weirder than average, they are going to want to get back to honest adventuring over commerce pretty soon so I wouldn't get too bogged down in things. But it sure is fun to map stuff like this out. Good luck!

P.S. - If you haven't watched that HBO series "Deadwood", that is a pretty neat show about a mining town/operation and all the odd stuff that goes on in the background as those things spring up out of nowhere.

 

[MacConnell]

P.S. - If you haven't watched that old HBO show "Deadwood", that is also a pretty neat show about a mining town/operation and all the odd stuff that goes on in the background as those things spring up out of nowhere.

Kudos for the "Deadwood" reference, but we will forever ignore its concluding season.

 

[discosoc]

Do your players return every item they find? When they defeat the evil orc warlord do they then go and return all of the treasure and items that the orcs have looted and pillaged?

Often, yes. I mean, if there's orcs or bandits or other random bad guys looting and pillaging the area, it *is* expected that recovered goods are returned to the locals as best as possible. I'm not going to give the players an entire raiding season worth of random crap to sell back for gold. If the players decide *not* to, then there might be RP repercussions depending on how they went about it. A somewhat-recent example is that while investigating some goblin attacks, they uncovered a local who was actually a fence for the local thieve's guild, and had a ton of stuff still waiting to be moved. The party intended to notify the local Baron of their find (and were rewarded for it via CR 1-4 treasure horde rolls), but the rogue in the group failed to point out some of the better-hidden stuff and instead forwarded the find to thieve's guild. End result was the group got rewarded for doing the right thing, and the rogue gained a contact and trust with the local guild -- very much in character.

Are they looting ancient tombs and then returning the property to the rightful descendants? If not, I think you are being a bit obtuse about what you expect from players.

I generally avoid scenarios where players go grave-robbing. Diving into tombs is common enough, but actually plundering them generally results in a revenant or ten on their trail, striking at the worst possible time. Few things discourage grave robbing quite like a resurrection bill. As for being obtuse about what I expect from players: I don't think it's wrong at all to expect actual "role" playing. I do think RPG's should provide chances for character development that extends beyond stats. I can play board games if that's all I want.

I don't believe it's evil since they're not hurting anyone. The original owner abandoned the mine and they reclaimed it. End of story. It's a neutral action at worst, but a single action does not define an alignment. Even if you consider it a selfish or jerkish move that wouldn't make a character evil to me.

Of course a single action doesn't define an alignment. But setting up narratives where players are just murder-hobos without ever dealing with the consequences of their often misguided "good" actions just seems really boring to me. It also strikes me as more of a neutral or evil type campaign motivation, no matter how funny the cliche is.

 

[Gwarok]

What didn't you like about Season 3? It ended a bit abruptly, but series was cancelled I think and it is largely based on the events of the actual town of Deadwood, so it's not like they could just kill off Hearst and have a happy ending. I have really enjoyed watching that series again recently, although I could do without a few of the characters, but they can't all be Swearengen

 

[MacConnell]

What didn't you like about Season 3? It ended a bit abruptly, but series was cancelled I think and it is largely based on the events of the actual town of Deadwood, so it's not like they could just kill off Hearst and have a happy ending. I have really enjoyed watching that series again recently, although I could do without a few of the characters, but they can't all be Swearengen

LOL. I would not have advocated bumping off George Hearst just for the sake of entertainment. I was disappointed by the quick and unlikely closure which seemed readily evident of loss of funding. The series was captivatingly interesting up until the last couple of episodes. Deadwood is a great setting for everything that can go wrong with a mining town.