Hey /tg/
Recently my PC's bought a tavern, because why not. I wanted to implement a simple system for "property management". Based around investing a certain amount of gold, resulting in profit or loss based on circumstances. Business prosperity would be a multiplier.
Investment gold x Business Prosperity= Ending gold at the end of 2 weeks.
Example
50 investment gold x .5 business prosperity due to looting of lands etc.= 25 gold returned
100 investment gold x 1.5 business prosperity due to flourishing business= 150 gold returned.
. 25= Miserable
.50
.75
1= Stalled
1.25
1.50
2= Booming
Does /tg/ think this would work? Or can it be exploited? Post other idea for business management idea you folks have, I love reading that stuff.
For a strictly gaming perspective it's barely worth it. I'm not sure I would take it as a player.
It's a simple bet system with odds slightly in the favor of players (only if they get the booming result) ; unless the players action influence the result.
The main problem I have with it is that it's a linear investment system, where you just have to shower money at your tavern to gain more money. No business strategy, no reflexion.
Also, how do you intend to determine business prosperity ?
I'd rather have fixed investment and income, and have the players actions reduce the investment for the same income.
I.e your kegs of ale cost you 100gp each week and you gain 150 from sales (net gain 50/week), try to negociate with the supplier or find another one to drop the cost to 75gp (net gain 75/week).
Or since the mechanical result is the same : Buy better ale and sold it at a higher price (investment 125, income 200, net gain still 75)
On a sidenote, Far Horizons for Edge of the Empire has a quick system for shops on p.81.
Basically you can upgrade your shop and increase your weekly income with each upgrade, and gain other minor bonuses (security, specialized npc contacts, gear and licences...)
I don't think anything short of massive conglomerates can fluctuate that much in value.
A small business in a medieval society would only really change that much after big events happen. Such as a sponsored voyage returning with lots of treasure or bandits taking out multiple caravans.
2 weeks just isn't enough time for big changes to happen, especially on a regular basis. Unless the party is the group trying to make the business prosper.
Might as well go to a casino for faster returns and losses.
>>44185799
Increase the scale. Your low end is good but the high end increases in too small increments such that there is little if any purpose to doing as such.
Like if the only gain I get from investing 100 gold is 50 gold net return, and thats assuming that I try and make sure the land is safe for the business and so forth, Im just not going to bother to be quite honest.
On the other hand, if it offers the chance to just steadily gain profit without consistent investment needs (that is you need to pay to improve the ratio or raw amount etc but profit is produced on a weekly basis regardless) then sure.
Basically, Id say focus more on startup costs and renovations in return for constant profit. Then there would be a mechanical reason to do so, even if its only to return once a month and collect all the profit.
>>44185799
just go read pathfinder ultimate campaign
they have better systems than this
D&D 5e has a small bit on operating a business.
>>44186636
is it just me or does this result chart provide costs/profits irrespective of the scale of business being run?
Is there more to this?
>>44187410
Now that you mention it, it seems that running hunting lodges is the most profitable venture available. Unless there are some side advantages specific to each property.
brb, all shall bow before my cabins in the woods empire.
>>44187410
>Is there more to this?
It gets worse. The roll also ignores the PC's skills and abilities. Also, you notice how the negative results scale with time spent on the business, while the positive ones don't? Even with the bonus to the d100 roll, your business' profit per day decreases with time spent on the business.
Now let's do a little comparison:
The lifestyle rules actually compound the weirdness. Being a proficient performer earns you enough money to maintain a wealthy lifestyle (4 gp per day). Let's say you settle for a modest lifestyle (1gp per day) and save the remaining 3 gold because you're not a complete idiot who blows through all his cash on daily expenses. Over a 30 day period, that nets you a guaranteed 90 gold in your pocket. No rolls or anything required. But then again, if you're a bard, there's a good chance you're wasting all that cash on hookers and blow anyway.
Now due to expected probability maths, the expected profit on a business (hunting lodge specifically, for the best return) run every day for a 30 day period is... 40.25, regardless of your PC's skills, business acumen, or anything else. With a 20% chance to break even (zero profit), a 10% chance to get a net loss of 7.5 gold, and absolutely no chance to improve on it, no matter how long you go at it.
Of course, if you run the same business for just one day before closing, your expected profit is 16.86 gold, and the marginal benefit after that is less than 1 gold per day. You might as well open up your hunting lodge for exactly one day, then immediately drop it and start playing mandolin for the next 29 days until the business day counter resets. That gets an expected return of 103.86 (range of 86.25 to 250) in a month's time.
I feel your pain OP. I am having to come up with a system like this for a game i'm running in a different setting and system. But i'm reasonably certain that somewhere in the annals of 3.5 splatbooks there is something that could help you out.
>>44185799
It sounds like you're inviting your friends over to play D&D and surprising them with a game of Monopoly on the side.
>>44188126
That benefit of the perform skill is supposed to be from fringe benefits of gigs. For example, if you work as a dish-washer in a five-star restaurant then you typically get a free meal a day. That might be the equivalent of a $50 meal. You are by no means able to only eat half the meal and ask the restaurant for $25 instead.
>>44190201
What if I eat half of the $50 they gave me for the gig, then ask them for a $25 Meal?
>>44185799
LotFP has some simple but nice rules, that work hand in hand with its retainer rules
>>44193890
LotFP's rules work, but they never adequately answered what to DO with all that money. You could buy houses and hire people to take care of those houses and invest some money to get more money to buy more houses and hire more people and there was never any reason to do any of that. It seems the only useful (to an adventurer) thing you could spend your mountains of gold on was researching new spells and hiring cannon fodder.
>>44185799
>>44186636
>>44188126
Uhh do you really need like a chart to run a business in a pen & paper RPG
can't the players just give money to the bartender and the bartender says "thanks for the gold homies, I'll spruce this place up" and the next time you come back, there's a really cool wendigo head hanging on the wall and the bartender says "Business has been booming, boys!!!" and gives them a bit of the profits. or maybe he says "business has been shit boys, go kill the bandits that stole my dwarven ale shipment"
>>44196068
>do you really need like a chart to run a business in a pen & paper RPG
It helps if you care about having results that at least look plausible. If not, then sure, just have people hurl increasing amounts of gold at each other so the players can feel smart about it.
