Please build a stronghold for me

[Morrus]

[UPDATE! There's a new version - it's in the downloads area for ease of updating.]

I've attached the current Strongholds chapter from the O.L.D. RPG manuscript. It's missing lots of flavour text, but that'll come later. Right now it's just about getting the system in place.

If you have the time, I'd be really grateful if you ran through the process and built a quick stronghold. I just need to see if the system "works" before I start polishing and tweaking it.

For your convenience (though you don't have to use it - just thought it might be useful) here's a blank template. I think you should be able to just copy/paste it, but if not maybe quote the post to get it? Not sure!

NAME

Description

STRONGHOLD SIZE Buildings: Grounds: Defenses: Total​ Quality: Staff: FEATURES: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ​ Guards:

FIELD BENEFITS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ​

Total cost:

Incidentally, you don't have the Monsters chapter here, so here's a few quick costs of a small assortment just to try out:

• Human guard - 140gc
• Goblin - 20gc (small)
• Human thug - 30gc
• Wolf - 80gc
• Grizzly bear - 160gc (large)
• Ogre - 260gc (large)
• T-Rex - 930gc (enormous)
• Monstrous spider - 4650gc (enormous)

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[DMZ2112]

This system looks like a lot of fun, Morrus. I wish this request wasn't coming at the same time as the D&D5 adventure contest. My leisure hours are a bit locked up just now.

 

[GlassEye]

I was ok with the rules until it came to size and quality. Things became a little less clear but I figured out most of it as I worked through.
Pg. 181 - It isn't clear what the +1d6, etc. on the High, Superior, etc. chart is for.
Pg. 181 - The example of the tiny library (5 squares, 340 gc) doesn't seem to fit the chart (1/2 of 9 squares & 900 gc). The temple cost also seems off (I calculate 6,000 gc).
It would be nice if the Special Features descriptions were alphabetized but I understand, alpha version.
Do the Special Features take up space within your stronghold or does it add extra space to your stronghold?
Not sure I agree with the Furnishing price that must apply to the entire stronghold. I could see reasons for furnishing portions of a stronghold in different levels of quality. Not a big deal, though.
Superior Locks could be of 'high', 'superior' or 'mastercraft' quality. To avoid confusion this should be named something else that isn't a particular level of quality.
I have to say, as much as I like dancing and as appropriate as it is for a ballroom benefit, it seems somewhat underwhelming for an adventurer. Some sort of social standing benefit seems like it would be more useful although that could be equally applied to a high quality of furnishings. In fact, I would probably add the furnishings as a special Special Feature just so I could do that. EDIT: I see that furnishings provide a bonus to Diplomacy so you already have this.
I would also like to have one staff member minimum regardless of stronghold size. Even for the smallest of properties it could be explained as a major domo, a farmhand, a housekeeper, or the widow from down the street who stops in once a week to straighten things up for you.
I hope you add more special features. That was the most fun portion of the exercise.
I also very much appreciate the hand-waved maintenance. Another recent system of this nature has players making a roll for each day of game time. Ridiculous!
It would be cool if this were abstracted out to a city/kingdom level.

The Taproom

Abram Sharps survived the war in Corvish between rival gangs and bought a burnt out building that he rebuilt as a tavern and set up as his own headquarters for his own burgeoning criminal organization. The Taproom is decently constructed but furnished in low quality style (with Sharps' clientele there isn't a need for better). The structure itself is two stories with Sharps' office and private chambers on the top floor. The Taproom contains a common room, a few rooms for a handful of live-in thugs and bodyguards, a storeroom, and a secret strongroom where Sharps stores his ill-gotten earnings and which he guards with the best quality locks he could buy. Sharps also claims the adjacent Crookshank Alley and takes a portion of any deals done there.

STRONGHOLD SIZE Buildings: Small (50 sq; 5,000 gc) Grounds: Tiny (10 sq; 250 gc) Defenses: Total: 50 sq​ Quality: Frugal Staff: 0 FEATURES: small Banquet Hall (12 sq; 680 gc) tiny Barracks (capacity 5; 10 sq; 1,500 gc) small high-quality storeroom (18 sq; 720 gc) small strongroom (superior quality lock; 1 square; 1,800 gc) superior locks (high quality; 100 gc) ​ Guards: 5 human thugs (150 gc)

FIELD BENEFITS one bonus contact (one adventurer) trade goods fro 40% of market value ​

Total cost: 10,200 gc

Notes: Sharps would have to hire a staff to run the place.
Maintenance/Revenue Generation: Illegal Activities

Sorry for the jumbled nature of my notes at the top of this post.

 

[Morrus]

Thanks! That's really helpful - it highlights little things I need to fix. Just to answer some quick questions:

Pg. 181 - It isn't clear what the +1d6, etc. on the High, Superior, etc. chart is for.

Ah, yes, that makes sense in the context of the book. All equipment etc. uses that scale and it has a full explanation earlier in the book. Quality levels add bonus d6s to a die pool made when attempting a related activity. So in a lab, you'd add those d6s if you were trying to brew a potion; in a library you'd add it if you were trying to research some information, etc.

Pg. 181 - The example of the tiny library (5 squares, 340 gc) doesn't seem to fit the chart (1/2 of 9 squares & 900 gc). The temple cost also seems off (I calculate 6,000 gc).

Ooops!

Do the Special Features take up space within your stronghold or does it add extra space to your stronghold?

They take up space. The available squares indicated are what's left to put features in after general stuff (hallways, kitchens, bedrooms etc.) are taken into account. That provides a space "budget" you have to spend.

I plan to add a section on what happens if you run out of space. Basically, you can build another building as long as you have the grounds.

Sorry for the jumbled nature of my notes at the top of this post.

No problem! Thank you for the help - I appreciate it!

 

[Morrus]

There's a new version - it's in the downloads area for ease of updating. Thanks to [MENTION=40413]GlassEye[/MENTION] for the feedback!

 

[Katharine Williams]

My stronghold is down below. In going through the creation rules, I ran into much of the same confusion an above poster mentioned. I had no idea what the d6's were for on the quality table. At first, I thought adding special features would increase the total sq. footage. It was only after I went looking for the rules to calculate such an addition that I realized it was a square footage budget.

There are a variety of special features listed which add rooms to the building(s), but only a few which add special features to the grounds (Sacred Grove, Docks, etc.) Here are some others I might suggest: Gardens which could provide varying bonuses depending on their type. An herb garden might provide bonuses to alchemy. A flower garden that is designed and well-tended might provide social bonuses similar to a ballroom. A vegetable garden would provide income for the household I suppose. For a Farm, it would make sense to have tilled fields, or tended fields. I don't know if something like this would need to be specified, but perhaps a higher quality "Field" would provide income bonuses.

Also, after writing my description of this house - which ended up being character-centered - I realized that, especially considering the emphasis O.L.D. places upon the significance of age, you can't immediately determine who is the PC. It is Fintem, the daughter, but Mikael could also easily be a PC with a long and storied history behind him.

Firecatcher’s Townhome

Description: Fintem Ashborn has assumed responsibility for her foster father’s town home, a modest dwelling in the university district of Athyn, in the Isles of Arro. Her foster father, Mikael Firecatcher an aging and once renowned wizard, still lives there, tended by an apprentice, and spends most of his time in the library, in the workroom fiddling with magical gadgets or brewing potions, or tending to the gardens which include a wide variety of herbs ranging from the common to a few that are particularly rare and sought after. Mikael routinely pesters Fintem to keep an eye out for rare herbs on her farflung adventures. Mikael’s memory has become a bit spotty over the last few years, and he seems to forget himself every so often. As such, Fintem has hired on an apprentice to ensure that Mikael doesn’t summon any fire elementals and inadvertently burn the house down. Despite the disease which clouds his former genius, Mikael still helps generate some revenue for the household through crafting and other magical services, peddling them from the front parlor to a small, select clientele.

STRONGHOLD SIZE Buildings: Medium (100 sq. ft.; 10,000 gc) Grounds: Small (50 sq. ft.; 1,250 gc) Defenses: Superior Locks (100gc) Total: 11,350gc Quality: High (2,500 gc) Staff: 1 Staff (Mikael’s Apprentice) FEATURES: Library, Large (36 sq ft.;2,700gc; 4 Sections: Herbalism, Arcana, Religion, History) Laboratory, Medium (3,600gc) Storeroom, Small (360gc) Total: 6,660gc Guards: None

FIELD BENEFITS Storeroom: You are assumed to be superbly equipped in the field. You are always assumed to be carrying any item you need from the general equipment list. Library: You gain a +1d6 die bonus to lore-based checks when in the field. Laboratory: Alchemical concoctions take 50% of the usual time to make.

Total cost: 17,710gc