[quote="DrPete"]
How about something combining these concepts? We're the leaders of a troupe of ruffians trying to establish/hold onto a small fortress on the edge of the frontier. Some military stuff, some finance stuff (can we trade with the natives or is it all war?) Maybe there are rumors of the equivalent to the fountain of youth (or whatever) to go questing after, too.
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A fortress, somewhat dilapidated, reclaimed from a previously failed attempt at settlement (war, winter, drought, disease...) on a new shore; the sunset lands beyond said to be chock full of the ruins of an unknown empire, full of indescribable treasures, now ruled by beasts and beastmen; the children of that empire lost in disparate and desperate tribes.
Interest again begins to stir in the known kingdoms; can a small group of like-minded mercenaries make their fortunes before the old crowns set anchor to lay their claims and their taxes?
A secondary element, but if we’re talking about the ruins of an ancient empire, what flavor of that do we like? The ruins of ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, Indian, Thailand, Africa, Mayan…? A million flavors of ancient empire
To summarize the latest discussion, your troupe is an expeditionary group of opportunistic adventurers seeking a base from which to expand your operations, ideally a keep (on the borderlands).
If this is your choice, the final step in discussing your troupe is considering any initial purchases of a “household”. Excerpted from my original post:
“… each player may contribute as much of her starting budget as desired to the Company, or the reason that brings the players’ troupes together. This combined budget may be used for a one-time initial purchase of the Company “household” at half the normal price.”
Your desired household would seem to be a “keep” or similar. I see two obvious possibilities:
One or more of you price out a “keep” (dilapidated/incomplete or otherwise) you can afford with contributions from each Adventurer’s budget.
Your troupe’s first adventure will be to secure a keep, an expedition likely requiring your troupe’s full complement.
That's an interesting dichotomy - on one hand, you're spending your money on an already owned keep, and you can stat up the rest of the troupe as a group ready to begin operations - exploration, diplomacy, trade.
On the other, you may be spending that starting money on troops and creating a troupe that is more fixed towards the initial goal of taking a stronghold, which I think may skew the party composition away from the softer skills & spells. (not discounting the possibility of taking the keep via diplomacy, but, worst case)
So, if we're shooting for a keep that can secure at least a 6-mile hex, we're looking at a value between 22500-30000 GP, depending on if we're in a borderlands or wilderness hex - or we're looking for a keep that's fallen beind on upkeep, and has a remaining value of at least that.
Per Player
4
5
6
7
8
Wilderness
30000
7500
6000
5000
4286
3750
Borderlands
22500
5625
4500
3750
3214
2813
% of Starting GP
Wilderness
30000
20.8%
16.7%
13.9%
11.9%
10.4%
Borderlands
22500
15.6%
12.5%
10.4%
8.9%
7.8%
Ruined Percentage
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Wilderness
30000
33000
36000
39000
42000
45000
Borderlands
22500
24750
27000
29250
31500
33750
Obvs. the keep can be valued much higher than that.
I think we can combine the "have a keep" idea with the "silk road" idea with judicious keep placement by the Judge and an interest in providing the specialists needed to find/collect resources by the troupe - there could be some set of the troupe doing the work of the mercantile ventures back to civilization at the same time another part is exploring the area around the keep.
Or if the keep is in the wilderness betwixt two civilized areas, we can be a stop on the silk road as well, and trade in both directions.
The above keep sizes are sitting around a unit capacity of 1 to 1.6 (or less, depending on state), or, at platoon scale perhaps, 4 to 6.4 platoon units. Depending on the actual state of the keep and it's defensive posture, and how much of the wages for units we'd need to prepay, if we can gather enough troops at the start and maybe a catapult for laughs that may be an initially cheaper option at the cost of putting more into the keep at the start - 2 platoons of heavies, a platoon of lights and bowmen would be...1170 on the month?
I kind of like that idea though - there's a keep that would be a great stopping point for various caravans, and would stand to profit itself from trade, but it's currently held by some sort of raubritter who needs eviction.
I expect the group may post lightly through the New Year. At your convenience, let’s take a roll call to see who’s still in, and please vote “Gold” or “Iron” for the Company’s keep. Then, I’ll request forums be set-up for our game!
With a Gold vote, you begin with a keep you can afford. There will be dangers around the keep, but it’s yours, home sweet home.
With an Iron vote, you begin by acquiring a keep. As Adventurers, I see this as an adventure to clear squatters from “your” keep. However, I’m all ears if you have a plan to Conquer an occupied keep, or use Kingly diplomacy to convince someone to give you a nice keep.
I have decent STR, INT and CHA. I was thinking either an Elven Courtier or an Elven Spellsword. The Courtier would have some overlap with your Venturer. If you decide to go that route, I'm fine with playing a Spellsword.
Actually, it’s the latter, drop and shift. Referring to the original description of the method, you can drop, shift, then swap, or swap first, then drop and shift, or just drop and shift (the swap is optional).
I hesitate to say, um, no. Not sure what you have in mind – your fellow players might be more concerned than me. As long as the class meets the rules, I’m probably good.