Slaves!

General ACKS Forums ACKS Core Rules Playtest
1

Many of you have requested rules for slaves. Here you go.

SLAVES
Slavery was an all too common feature in ancient societies. Slaves might be indentured debtors, convicted criminals, or prisoners of war. The abundant supply of slave labor was a major component to most ancient economies, and the mass enslavement of defeated peoples was justified as more merciful than the alternative of slaughtering them. Should the Judge wish to incorporate slavery into his campaign, the following rules will apply.
Types of Slaves
Slaves can be divided into 5 types: Slave laborers, slave soldiers, household slaves, pleasure slaves, and professional slaves.
Slave laborers do manual work, usually of the most unpleasant sort, such as farming on plantations, mining ore, or building pyramids. Slave laborers can be bought in markets at a cost of 40gp each. Slave laborers are generally able-bodied males captured in war or slaving expeditions. Individually, slave laborers can be used for any labor-related tasks. They cost 2gp each per month and have morale scores of -4. When used on a domain, treat every 5 slave laborers as equivalent to one peasant family for all purposes. If a domain’s population consists of 25% or more slave laborers, its domain morale is decreased by 1. If a domain’s population consists of 50% or more slave laborers, its domain morale is decreased by 2. If the domain is 100% slave labor, domain morale is decreased by 4. Historical examples include the helots of Sparta and the plantation slaves of Rome.
Slave soldiers are usually either born into slavery or enslaved in early childhood so they can be indoctrinated with loyalty to their ruler or owner. Historical examples include the Persian ghulam, Egyptian mamelukes, and Turkish janissaries. In realms where they exist (Judge’s discretion), slave soldiers can be bought in markets at a variable cost depending on their race, training and equipment:
Gp Wage per Month
Slave Troop Type Man Dwarf Elf Goblin Orc
Militia (spear) 40 - - - -
Light Infantry (spear, short sword, shield, leather armor) 185 - 315 100 150
Slinger (sling, short sword, shield, leather armor) 175 - - 90 -
Heavy Infantry (spear, sword, shield, banded plate armor) 415 675 815 - 250
Crossbowman (arbalest, short sword, chainmail) 450 825 - - 350
Bowman (short bow, short sword, leather armor) 475 - 1,000 175 300
Longbowman (long bow, sword, chainmail) 1,000 - 2,000 - -
Light Cavalry (lance, sword, shield, leather armor, light warhorse) 1,650 - 2,150 - -
Mounted Crossbowman (crossbow, short sword, chainmail, mule) - 1,575 - - -
Horse Archers (composite bow, scimitar, leather armor, light warhorse) 1,700 - 3,200 - -
Medium Cavalry (lance, sword, shield, lamellar, medium warhorse) 1,800 - - - -
Heavy Cavalry (lance, sword, shield, plate armor, chain barded medium warhorse) 2,500 - - - -
Cataphract Cavalry (composite bow, sword, shield, plate, chain barded medium warhorse) 3,000
Wolf Riders (spear, short sword, shield, leather armor, dire wolf) - - - 915 -
Slave soldiers enslaved as children have the same morale scores as normal mercenaries of their type. Slave soldiers enslaved as adults have morale scores of -4 (and are a very bad idea). All slave soldiers cost 3gp per month in upkeep. Supplemental pay, better food, access to women, and so on can increase morale.
Household slaves perform domestic chores such as cleaning, cooking, shopping, etc. Household slaves tend to live and work for their owners for long periods of time, and can be fairly loyal if treated well. Historical examples include Greek and Roman household slaves. Household slaves can be bought in markets at a cost of 100gp each, and cost 3gp per month in upkeep.
Pleasure slaves are young and attractive slaves specially trained in the arts of seduction, performance, and pleasure. Historical examples include the Greek hetaera (courtesan) and Ottoman odalisque (harem slaves). Pleasure slaves usually have 1 or more ranks in Seduction, Performance (dance), or Labor (massage). Pleasure slaves can be bought in markets at a cost of 100gp to 1,000gp, depending on age, beauty, and level of training. Truly exceptional pleasure slaves can command virtually unlimited prices. All pleasure slaves cost 12gp per month in upkeep.
Professional slaves are trained experts such as scribes, tutors, or accountants. In general, the cost of a professional slave is equal to 33 times a free professional’s wages per month, less 36gp. For example, a master blacksmith earns 40gp per month. Purchasing a master blacksmith slave would cost 1,284gp. All professional slaves cost 3gp per month in upkeep.
Household slaves, pleasure slaves, and professional slaves all have base morale scores of -2. Better working conditions, kind treatment, gifts, or extended liberties can increase morale (Judge’s discretion).

2

This goes really well with the idea of generating prisoners as part of a treasure hoard, which was something you’d always check for when using the original Arneson type A treasure tables (assigned to men and troglodytes, IIRC).

3

Slave rules? Awesome!

4

Couldn’t you buy militia slaves, equip them with leather armor and a shield and turn around sell them as light infantry for a big profit? Or are militia considered 0 level and other soldier’s 1st level?

5

Militia have a lower Morale than Light Infantry. Militia also can’t fight with leather armor. They don’t have the stamina and discipline to wear it comfortably, they take it off when the officers aren’t around, etc. By the time you’ve trained them to be comfortable fighting in armor, they are Light Infantry.

6

Interesting. Let’s say a sergeant instructor is the journeyman version of a light infantryman, and thus costs 12g per month (2x 6g).
You know the final price of light infantry (185g), the cost of the equipment (40g), the militia slave (40g), the instructor cost (12g/mo), and the upkeep cost of the slave (3g/mo), and the retail markup of your setting (say, 20%), you can either:

  1. Peg the number of infantry a single sergeant can train, and calculate the time required to train
    or
  2. Peg the time required to train, and calculate the number of soldiers a single sergeant can train
    Either way, the slave rules suggest some effects for the raising and training of non-slave armies, right?
7

Hey Charlatan, it’s not meant to be a secret! The rules for raising and training non-slave armies have already been published in Domains at War.
Slave soldiers cost more up front but are cheaper to maintain, as slaves needn’t be paid wages as high as mercenaries.
EXAMPLE:
Light Infantry Mercenaries cost 94gp and take 1 month to train. They cost 6gp per month.
Light Infantry Slaves cost 185gp each. They cost 3gp per month.
Heavy Infantry Mercenaries cost 127gp and take 1 month to train. They cost 12gp per month.
Heavy Infantry Slaves cost 415gp. They cost 3gp per month.
Heavy Cavalry Mercenaries cost 648gp and take 6 months to train. They cost 60gp per month.
Heavy Cavalry Slaves cost 2,500gp. They cost 3gp per month.
To spare you the math, it takes about 30 months to recoup the cost of a slave-soldier.
In general, ACKS is built around a 3% month rate of return. You see this in the domain rules. For instance, it costs 1,000gp to attract 1d10 families to a domain (average 5 families). In general, you earn about 6gp per month after costs from a peasant family. So you spend 1,000gp and get (5x6) = 30gp per month, or 3%.
Or you could buy 25 slave laborers at 40gp each, for a total of 1,000gp. 25 slave laborers are equal to 5 peasant families. 5 peasant families product (5x6) 30gp per month, or 3%.
From this we also know that a night with a truly beautiful pleasure slave, worth 1,000gp, actually only should cost about (1000x.03=30/30 days per month) 1gp. But then 1gp is 10 day’s wages for a common laborer, or a day’s wage for a master smith.

8

Looks very good. :slight_smile:

9

Making slavery overt in the rules has very quickly resulted in my players actions shifting from slaughter to taking slaves, and being wary of becoming enslaved. We’ve played other rulesets which featured slavery but ACKs does seem to be changing how we play D&D, not just in the planning, but in the gameplay, just by having the economic framework spelt out.

10

Sean - that’s awesome to hear! That sort of emergent play is my favorite part of ACKS campaigns.