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Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh http://www.oerthjournal.com/webz/Southern%20Keoland.gif If you think that map is cool, check out the others at http://www.canonfire.com/cfnew//modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=4 http://ghmaps.net/

Re: Some basics of trade and the town/city of Saltmarsh I don't know how it would work out but.....What if trade rules were like combat, with something similar to OCV/DCV/DEF/DC? The first roll would determine finding a buyer and the second would be how successful the trader was in negotiating a price.

Re: Some basics of trade and the town/city of Saltmarsh Then shouldn't we add demand into the equation or would that be a separate thing? I guess that is where it gets tricky because the lack of demand may work either way as far as price. If you find those very few people who really want it...may not affect the price negatively. But if you don't.....

I am looking for some basic rules of thumb. Part 1. As from the previous thread, Saltmarsh will be an important port. While not as large as Seaton, it does provide a closer connection to the fort, a quicker way to the Yeomanry and could also provide a secondary port if Seaton was under bad weather. Part 2. I assume that there are two types of people who ship stuff via...well...um a ship. There are those who have a final destination planned past that of the port or those who sell their goods (wholesale bulk) at the port city. Part 3. Lets say we have a percentage of people who fall under "those who sell their goods (wholesale bulk) at the port city". Can we come up with a rule of thumb for prices? Can we go backwards from a retail price to arrive at a rough initial price of any item? Lets suppose a barrel of salted meat costs 10sp retail. The person selling the salted meat is not the person who cured the meat, but rather purchased it directly from the grower. What mark up is necessary for a normal retail operation to stay afloat? Can we assume some general rough rule that a retailer purchases items at some number like 50% of what they will sell it for? Likewise, if there are further middlemen, can we assume the same for them? My reason for asking, is that in the adventure I have forthcoming it is quite possible for the characters to acquire some merchant type items, like bolts of cloth, crates of dishes, barrels of meat, etc. It would be nice to give them option to either sell the goods locally for a very small amount or take the items to a city where such would be in demand, in order to get a better price. Not sure if I am making much sense. It has been a long week and the grey matter is a bit stretched and thin.

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh Either he started life with more character points or he spent them more wisely than the rest of us.

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh You guys are awesome.

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh Thanks, Captain O...perfect.

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh Piracy is one avenue. While my knowledge of history is not the best, I imagine it is not unlike Spain, Portugal or England during various time periods. I have not given the princes their due as far as research and development. But here is how I think it goes....Their homeland provides a good deal deal of wealth on its own. THere may be some issues with sufficient population or perhaps natural barriers that may make commerce via road between regions within the country somewhat difficult. Money made to maritime activities would probably be the following (from highest to lowest in generating cash). 1. Trade 2. "Protection" (they would "escort" the ships from other nations for their safety) 3. Smuggling 4. Piracy

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh Ok....next point of business. Lets suppose the "nation" to the south (Sea Princes) is very good a sailing, and has a higher caliber navy then does Keoland. Keoland has a some major towns and a city on the coast so trade and materials going through these ports is vital for them economically. Would the risk for Keoland be better mitigated if their ships did not sail far from shore (I mean a reasonable distance) where their navy could better protect and be protected?

Re: Help with a character Everybody is generating some good stuff.

Re: Help with a character Well, by civilized I mean such that one cannot openly commit murder against another family and not suffer serious repercussions. I am not saying that assassinations could not take place and they do happen. But even assassination would still imply some subterfuge in dispatching whoever. Lets say my family was murdered and I narrowly escaped certain death? If I was of a prominent family, why wouldn't I go to seek help from someone else that I knew instead of going into hiding? Unless this did happen and that the refuge family also made an attempt....or perhaps the killing attempts continued and he realizes that he was putting others in danger. The other aspect is - why kill an entire family? One reason might be to ensure inheritance would be diverted to somebody who would not otherwise be in line. Another reason might be a vendetta. Perhaps to the extent that the one who the vendetta was against was left living...thus would have to live the rest of their lives knowing they were in some way responsible for the death of their family members.

Re: Help with a character No magic spells for PCs (sword and sorcery) Just leather armor to wear. Keeping the CSLs at a manageable level. Not much in the way of monsters. I will use orcs, goblins and lizard men but there will likely be some twist where it will not be simply kill all orcs because orcs are bad.

Re: Help with a character That is cool except the PC is the one in hiding. Hmmmm, maybe the PC could be the one that perpetrated the crime? What makes this difficult is the question of why would someone have to go into hiding in a fairly civilized society? One reason may be related to crime. Another, being wrongly accused. Another related to espionage. Another may just be family members are being killed one by one (at first it seemed like accidents) until the PC is the last one left (I thought of this one)..at that point it wasn't hard to do the math. But the question is WHY?. If it is over ineritance it would be quite obvious when Uncle Jack is the last family member left alive after 12 people died under mysterious circumstances.

For my fantasy hero campaign i was asking the players about creating a backstory for their characters. One player wants his character to have been involved in some past intrigue. Here is what we know.. 1. The character comes from either a merchant or an upper class family. 2. Most, if not all, the family was murdered. 3. He, as a young boy, fled for his life and escaped certain death. 4. He moved away, changed his name and joined the military and is now mustering out. 5. While the character doesn't know this, it is possible that his brother is still alive and may be behind the tragedy in either a direct or indirect way. While I like the premise of this whole thing I need to wrap it around so it makes "sense". Can you help flesh this out so that it is plausible. I do plan to keep portions of this secret from the player, but I need his buy-in on the general idea.

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh Thanks all of you for posting to this point...the convention has thrown me off schedule and I will respond in a couple days....Great Stuff Guys!!!!

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh I imagine that most of the travel between towns is via horse/donkey/mule and cart. Active soldiers are given the right to a free ride on an cart not fully burdened. Paying hitchhikers may be a common thing as going back to the the home city with an "empty" cart would mean the loss of economic opportunity. As far as distances traveled in a day...I think a lot comes down to the existence of a road the condition of a road the phsical shape a person is in (if walking) how used they are to traveling the pace We walked an 11 mile trail in the Smokies. It killed my butt for days and I was shot afterward. But if i were to walk that way frequently it would not be that bad. No road Bad conditions of the "road" Reasonable shape Not used to conditions unencumbered. Good cool weather.

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh The plan is to make this more of a sword and sorcery tale. There will be no magic items and no magic mouths. My goal is to play up on the paranoia.... The original owner was a dabbling sorcerer who, with most of his servants (all Olman) died in his secret lab in the basement when a summoning went VERY wrong. One man made it out and when to town for help. He was panicked and excited (and can barely speak Keoish) and the towns people realize something bad has happened. They go there but cannot find anybody and everything seems like the people just disappeared. They do hear some unearthly shrieks but cannot find the source. They are a superstious people and they leave...post haste. The servant leaves unannounced and disappears. One his way back to home he sails with smugglers (Sea Princes) and tells them all. Time + alcohol + guilt loosens his tongue. What interests them the most is the secret access from the sea to the home and realize that this would make a perfect place to smuggle their goods. They kill the servant and threw him in the sea (close to land) ) knowing he would wash up on the shore. They also posed as merchants coming from Seaton and remarked about strange things happening on the property. They started playing a very shrill Oman instrument at odd hours that made horrible shrieking noises. The started killing animals and throwing them around the perimeter. Before this time people believed the place was haunted. A number of calamities that befallen people associated with the house (like those who went there that first night) were attributed to that place. Kids and others who went by the place reported strange and horrible things (imaginations gone wild). So when the smugglers came it took little effort to push the townspeople over the edge. The road that went past the property has been rerouted. The neighboring farmland goes unused. The owner cannot get anybody to work it. He (a merchant) hires the PCs to figure out what is going on.

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh Hmmm. Now I need to get find a copy since I don't own and have never read DMG 3.5. Thanks.

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh Heh, look at the map mister! The there is a fort to the west that borders the great Hool swamp. The town itself is not in a swamp and the road to the next town is in the direction away from the swamp. Now why the town's name is Saltmarsh, who knows?

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh Remember....there is an even Larger city Seaton about 30 miles away. A certain level must be achieved to be self-sufficient but not all trades need to be in force to support the city. Obviously the town would need carpenters, and plenty of them, but would it need that many of other trades. Plus we need to have a reason for trade...even if it is slightly exaggerated.

Re: Populating and fleshing out Saltmarsh So we can add flax derived textiles to the list. Dye could be derived from plant or shellfish....I think I prefer the plant. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lets says we have a population of about 1,300 residents in the town. How would that break down for the following: 1. Bars/Inns 2. Blacksmiths 3. Carpenters 4. Coopers (or would that be imported?) 5. Tanning (I imagine most of the leather would be imported) 6. Leather workers. I think there would be a business for mass preserving raw fish, perhaps serving as rations for sailors (smoked/salted). Somebody, somewhere stated that if you take the population of a town you could multiply that number by 3 to get a feel for how many people were in the town for any given day (thus adding people coming for business) The region is probably not very well educated. The author(s?) of the module state that the people are very superstitious and I am going to play that heavy for the module. I was thinking about staying that a group of Olmans were one of the original settlers along this region. They were not conquered so much as absorbed by Keoland and over time became marginalized. Originally the lived in small fishing villages but now play the role of servants and manual laborers. Their skin color and culture keeps them from integrating into the larger culture. I am not sure I will go this route...but it is a possibility.

I would like to run a game of THE SINISTER SECRET OF SALTMARSH. (yes I know there is a hero conversion out there) and the module writers give no details to the town or many of the personalities. I would like to flesh this area out. First of all - I imagine this portion of Keoland about the same climate/terrain as southern Louisana. The region is sort of bounded by a huge and humanoid populated swamp and vast untamed (goblin infested) forest. The nearest "country" has naval superiority (Sea Barons) and wishes to undermine Keoland. There is a nearby fort. THe town is described as having about 1,500 people...which is fairly good sized. That being said... I am thinking what would be the economy of the region and/or the town of Saltmarsh? *Foremost would be fishing. While whaling is an industry in Keoland the may be better reserved to a closer and larger city of Seaton. * The fort would cause a need for support (small crops, entertainment, alcohol, etc) much like a miliary base today indirectly inputs cash into a local economy. * Ship building would be a possible industry, but maybe focus on smaller boats rather than larger ships. * I am thinking about making this region a site for the manufacture of blue dye - derived from shells (or something like that) *Bricks - a lot of clay. *Nets *Sail making I imagine the following imports would be very important: * metals - to make into whatever * grain * grain alcohol * salted meat * stone * women * weapons * cloth What are your thoughts???

Re: Ideas for Radium Don't have it. But now that I think of it I do have the utlimate energy projector.. I will see what they have. I may work on a drain that takes a long time to take effect and "almost" never come back....Perhaps a drain taking place in 1 day, another in 1 week and another in 1 month and another in 1 year. Could be kinda creepy for the characters.

I would like to use radium for an upcoming game but he is not quite insidious enough as written. I am thinking about having a multi-form. The first being without a suit and the other with a suit. Without a suit he would be, well, radiating. No ability to shoot blasts but just a nasty area of effect. Also, I would like for his powers to somewhat more accurately represent what effect a person would have on others just walking around leaking radiation. Maybe accurate is not a good word, but how, without a suit walking down the streets of a major city could cause radiation sickness in passersby. Perhaps even a power to radiate something such that it would not be safe to come around it, without shielding. Any ideas, thoughts?

Re: Designing a Magic System - semi-wild elemental magic bump.