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Author
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Helderik
Memunite
(10/1/03 9:39 pm)
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Temple funds...
Hey guys, hopefully you can help me again with my (next) question...
My question is about money. There is this evil cult trying to remain hidden while plotting the jailbreak of Tharizdun. They are holed up in some sort of old volcano and have a pretty large force of humanoids and monsters. My question: how do they pay all these soldiers and equipment while remaining hidden from the world.
This means no big raiding party's and no large scale trading. Also the mines are inactive now, so no diamonds comming from that source. I guess most of the priests and some of the more insane followers will offer their services for the cause. Also, most of the monsters won't cost them anything. However, forces like the spider-eaters probably won't work for free. And what about the four smaller temples? Who pays for their soldiers? They seem to be doing it themselves. But what's their source of income?
I guess some of the clerics could create and sell magic items. However, I suppose this won't be enough to feed their pretty large force.
Is there something obvious I'm missing here? Is there an easy answer to this question? Hopefully you guys are able to help me with this one...
Helderik
www.student.tue.nl/H/e.j.a.manders/
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Thrommel
Runechild (mod)
Council of Magisters
(10/1/03 9:58 pm)
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Re: Temple funds...
While Tanbrosh may be cheap in Rastor, I bet it's a real high-priced commodity once you get to a big city like Verbobonc.
Plus, once per month they can create a magic item that's worth up to 50,000gp. And it's tainted with the evil of Tharizdun.
50k buys you a lot of spider riders.
-Thrommel, who's just hoping the orcs don't unionize.
~Council of Magisters~
~ Arcana Unearthed ~ |
Helderik
Memunite
(10/2/03 4:50 am)
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Re: Temple funds...
I agree about the 50k item... That should provide a lot of cash. But what about the 4 temples? Except for the fire temple, their not able to sell these items... And.. they probably won't sell powerful items because they need the items to compete with the other temples...
Also... there doesn't seem to be a facility where they make tanbrosh.... So there is no sign of a large scale tanbrosh drugdealing plan. That would also draw attention from the local governement.... So the Tanbrosh situation doesn't seem to be a likely source of income when you want to remain hidden...
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smetzger
Memunite
(10/2/03 5:11 am)
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Re: Temple funds...
Here are some ways they could pay for everything. Feel free to pick and chose...
1) They have rich benefactors who are secretly giving them money.
2) Although presently the mines are not producing any more riches... they have a store of diamonds etc. from the past that they are using up...
3) All or most of the masterwork items and magic items currently in the mines could have been from the dwarves.
--- here is my favorite ---
4) The economy of the CRM is self sustaining. The flunkies are paid and then the flunkies spend their money on food and beer. Its not like they are going out to Raster and Verbabonc and blowing their gold. When a red-shirt dies his gold and equipment is given to the new recruit. Any flunky or humanoid that comes to work at the CRM never leaves; most die and some get promoted up the ranks and become 'true believers'.
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Thrommel
Runechild (mod)
Council of Magisters
(10/2/03 6:53 am)
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Re: Temple funds...
Quote:
there doesn't seem to be a facility where they make tanbrosh....
Not to get too bogged down in making RL comparisons, but the corporate headquarters for Betty Crocker doesn't sit on top of a giant cake factory either.
This is one of those areas of the module where the DM will have to fill in the gaps. The theme of the Doomdreamers' role in the local economy is not one of the highlights of the module, so we're going to have to heavily extrapolate on some tenuous aspects of the adventure.
Note that the four temples are definitely dependent on the Outer Fane. In fact, Hedrack's letter to Tessimon in CRM 120 explicitly mentions pay (3 sp per day). Using this number, the proceeds from one 50k magic item would keep 450+ guards employed for a whole year.
My party didn't worry about it too much -- it's a pretty standard convention in D&D that Evil(tm) is somehow self-sufficient. But combined with some of the other suggestions here, I think the Doomdreamers could plausibly run their little operation without making a huge, obvious footprint in the economy.
-Thrommel, who for the record prefers fairy cake to giant cake. After all, with a piece of fairy cake you can see your place in the entire universe. Throw in a warm cup of tea and you can travel it as well -- assuming you have a heart of gold.
~Council of Magisters~
~ Arcana Unearthed ~ |
amerigoV
Memunite
(10/2/03 8:57 am)
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Re: Temple funds...
Quote:
1) They have rich benefactors who are secretly giving them money.
2) Although presently the mines are not producing any more riches... they have a store of diamonds etc. from the past that they are using up...
I use both ideas in my campaign. The campaign I set this in had a BBEG that was exiled from another plane and trapped on this particular world. He has been searching for the "diminsional anchor" that keeps him here but has been unable to find it. When he discovered a doomsday cult that was looking to end the world, his analysis concluded that he would be freed from this world if they succeeded (answers the question of why would anyone contribute $ to a doomsday cult).
I also presumed the mine was still producing diamonds on a scale enough to support the TOAC. The mining complex is below the main CRM detailed in the maps, and the access to complex is where ever the PCs failed to explore. The Fanes work with the BBEG in the previous paragraph to get the diamonds out and on the market.
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Caedrel
Malakite
(10/2/03 8:38 pm)
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Mmm...
This is starting to feel like DM overkill here - is this hurting the suspension of disbelief of the players somehow? It isn't in my group (not that we've played in over 2 months!!!  ), so I'm not going to try and figure it out for the my own sake.
Most PCs are probably more interested in taking out the cult the conventional way (ie. kick their butts) than by cutting off the flow of funds that support their operation  Of course, the said PCs would probably be interested in gaining control of said source of funds too...
Caedrel, who will make his PCs roleplay EVERY aspect of running a diamond mine if that's what they start doing...
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Helderik
Memunite
(10/3/03 3:55 am)
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Re: Mmm...
Thanks guys... I guess a combination of those factors will probably pay for everything... And yes Thrommel, I do agree with you that a Tanbrosh "production plant" shouldn't have to be present at the CRM so that could well be another option (didn't think about that one).
My group isn't planning the financial destruction of the cult in any way. I was wondering about this because I like to set up a nice internal struggle between the 4 small temples. I do think money could be a real nasty component and a nice goal in this struggle because money=power.
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Kenmis
Memunite
(10/3/03 4:51 pm)
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Re: Mmm...
I too wondered about money especialy for the 4 temples. Mainly because i was doing a lot of behind the scenes roleplaying for the temples, and i needed to know how much money they had/got over time, so i could determine what they could spend on new guards, scrolls, hired assasins, etc etc.
eventualy i just decided to wing it with a generic "each temple has about 1,500 gold at it's disposal". that seemed to work out nicely.
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