[Mor's End Discussion] Administration

[Buttercup]

See my post in the other thread. "A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe" from Expeditious Retreat Press has everything you need for that.

Sadly, I paid (via paypal) for this PDF several weeks ago, and still don't have it. I assume I'm supposed to get a special download URL, but so far, nada. In fact, I received an acknowledgement that they got my money last weekend, so I would think the product would be forthcoming. I'll give them a few more days before I start making a scene....

In the meantime, the website Medieval Demographics Made Easy makes things, well, easy. I've got a few other sources I can draw on too.

 

[Krug]

Sadly, I paid (via paypal) for this PDF several weeks ago, and still don't have it. I assume I'm supposed to get a special download URL, but so far, nada. In fact, I received an acknowledgement that they got my money last weekend, so I would think the product would be forthcoming. I'll give them a few more days before I start making a scene....

In the meantime, the website Medieval Demographics Made Easy makes things, well, easy. I've got a few other sources I can draw on too.

Buttercup, you should email Xpeditious Press immediately. They're on the d20 publishers a lot and have been very helpful. I'm sure they'll take care of this ASAP.

 

[Krug]

Sound good, Krug.
(Hey, you could be PRIME Minister!)

I'll set up a Governmental Affairs thread in this forum, starting with a abbreviated list of what has already been discussed.
Also, I just joined Enworld as a member!!! I work too much to get together and game as much as I used to so this site has been just great to keep me in the gaming mode.

Well welcome Wizard. First things, it's EN World.

And Prime Minister? Nah.. Krug is content being a trapmaker and mercenary and drinking beers with the commoners..

 

[wizardoftheplains]

EN World...got it.
Opps, made you Prime Minister. Can always change it
I also posted this in the Open city thread.

EN World City Project
I’m paraphrasing our list into a bit of a intro piece. It still needs some wordsmithing.

Mor's End

Summary
Known as the City of Crafts by some, and the City of Coins by others. It is an independent City-state in the region of Enheim. A self-sufficient city, known far and wide for it’s abundance of natural resources, rather large artisian community, and as a melting pot of races, idealogies, and professions from all over.

Built on the banks of the Mor River, an outpouring that is continually fed by Lake _____, Mor’s End stands at the conjunction of a number of trade routes, giving rise to one of it’s other nicknames, “The City of Coins”. For indeed, much coin does flow through the river town. With the nearby dwarven community of Kul Moran providing abundant iron ingots for trade downriver to the rare clays that are used in the special glazes are very sought after by craftsmen and nobles everywhere to the rare river sapphires used as spell ingredients to the unnaturally strong but beautiful fisher silk, Mor’s End has much to offer.

Some wonder why such an area was not already teaming with civilization when the founder’s of Mor’s End first topped the nearby hills and set eyes upon the plains below. The answer, says the locals, lies somewhere in the ancient warren rumored to be beneath the city proper. Perhaps time will tell.

Government
Such a chaotic city needs a strong ruler, and they have one in the person of Lady Kelvin, Matriarch of Mor’s End. Little seen in public these days, she nevertheless makes her presence felt through the actions of the city’s ruling council. This leadership body, lead by Prime Minister Krug, keep the diverse and sometimes anarchic city humming.

But anyone who has spent much time in Mor’s End knows that there is another force at work within the city. Two actually, in the form of the Glittering Brotherhood and the Merchants’ Guild. The Brotherhood guard the secret of cutting the river sapphires to bring out their magical properties, while the Merchants’ Guild are masters at contract negotiation and enforcement. These two rivals each seek to manipulate the council to their own ends. It is only the mind fo the Lady Kelvin, long trained in intrigue, that keeps the council one step ahead of the Guilds.

That’s all I have for now. Must go jogging to clear my head. Will check back later to see what you all think.
I tried to combine many of the items everyone talked about into story format.

gary

 

[Conaill]

Sadly, I paid (via paypal) for this PDF several weeks ago, and still don't have it. I assume I'm supposed to get a special download URL, but so far, nada. In fact, I received an acknowledgement that they got my money last weekend, so I would think the product would be forthcoming. I'll give them a few more days before I start making a scene....

See I started getting worried after I hadn't gotten the download email after one hour! So I sent an email to RPGNow. I got the automatic download emails an hour later, and another email with the download links from RPGNow customer service first thing the next morning.

Automated electronic transactions like this really shouldn't take days to complete. If you haven't gotten anything after a day, get in touch with them. I know RPGNow at least has a very good customer support reputation.

Re: the Medieval Demographics page... looks like these guys used much the same sources. Imagine that site expanded to 133 pages!

 

[Lalato]

Yes would like some generic NPCs, but since it'll be a contest, I'll leave it up to EN Worlders to create.

You can dig up the Iron DM thread to see how an example of a contest for NPC generation went. There were various categories used to judge. You can probably adjust them, tweaking here and there.

CR: 0 to 2 is pretty low, but if that's the level of NPC you want, I'll run the contest.

I just read over the most recent Iron NPC contest run by Nifft... The end result of the contest is a single winning entry... I feel that there should probably be more than just one CR: 0 to 2 NPC so I think I will run it a little differently...

One contest for each of the following:

Young Noble, Bar Maid, City Guard, Mage's Apprentice, Dwarven Miner, Street Urchin, Thief, Street Vendor, Local Celebrity, etc.

If this is too many NPCs, let me know now...

Contests will have 6 ingredients. All NPCs will be races from PHB. NPCs background must provide a plot hook for player characters to explore. Instead of head to head competition, each contest will be an open call for submissions. Minimum number of volunteers is 3, max number is 10... The best overall NPC will be chosen based on how well the ingredients were integrated into the background and plot hook.

Does this sound about right?

 

[Buttercup]

Hey, everybody, did we decide what the name of the lake creature was that produces the silk? Do you want me to make something up (I've never made up and statted a monster before) or were we going to use an existing monster and hammer it into the shape we want? Or did we even decide for sure on the water-silk?

 

[Krug]

CR: 0 to 2 is pretty low, but if that's the level of NPC you want, I'll run the contest.

I just read over the most recent Iron NPC contest run by Nifft... The end result of the contest is a single winning entry... I feel that there should probably be more than just one CR: 0 to 2 NPC so I think I will run it a little differently...

One contest for each of the following:

Young Noble, Bar Maid, City Guard, Mage's Apprentice, Dwarven Miner, Street Urchin, Thief, Street Vendor, Local Celebrity, etc.

If this is too many NPCs, let me know now...

Contests will have 6 ingredients. All NPCs will be races from PHB. NPCs background must provide a plot hook for player characters to explore. Instead of head to head competition, each contest will be an open call for submissions. Minimum number of volunteers is 3, max number is 10... The best overall NPC will be chosen based on how well the ingredients were integrated into the background and plot hook.

Does this sound about right?

You can raise the CR. I'm fine with that. How about NPC non-adventurer types, from the 6 core races?

I don't think we need to lock down the character types, and let the 'contestants' have free rein. What they come up with might surprise us, as there are characters who would definitely be a mix of the categories you named.

Yes, perhaps lets try a call for submissions instead. Definitely not a head 2 head thing. I agree to the plot hooks. Remember to tell them to use the d20 stat block.

Everything is try and fine-tuning to see what works with the very creative members at EN World.

 

[Krug]

Hey, everybody, did we decide what the name of the lake creature was that produces the silk? Do you want me to make something up (I've never made up and statted a monster before) or were we going to use an existing monster and hammer it into the shape we want? Or did we even decide for sure on the water-silk?

Perhaps lets call it the silk-fisher, for want of a better name. The material it feeds on is native to the lake, and it's a non-assertive creature.

You're the Minister of Trade and Craft, Buttercup. You have the right to decide what you think works best.

 

[Buttercup]

Well ok then. One final question. Do you want me to include magic shops and so forth in the list of businesses we need? Magic, IMO, probably needs to be worked into the city from the ground up, if we're going to have a college of wizardry or anything like that. But we haven't assigned anyone to it, so I'm not sure what everyone thinks will work.

Ok, I'm off to work. I'll try to check in at lunchtime.