The art of running a successful business extends beyond mere financial transactions. Flourishing enterprises are built upon the foundation of assembling a skilled and dedicated team, each member contributing their unique talents and expertise. From seasoned craftsmen forging magical artifacts to astute traders navigating mystical markets, the success of a business lies in the synergy of its members. Time becomes a precious commodity, invested not just in the work at hand but also in fostering relationships and honing the craft. The alchemy of teamwork and dedication is the key to unlocking the true potential of a thriving business venture.
Business Costs
The cost to run a business is made up of four things: Owner’s Lifestyle + Employee Costs + Goods Cost
- Owner’s Lifestyle: A business of a given Lifestyle quality is assumed to cover as part of its expenses the Lifestyle costs of its owner – it is rather part of the point of running a business.
- Employee Costs: A business must have workers in order to run. Skilled workers cost 2gp per day (60 gp per month) and Unskilled workers cost 2sp per day (6 gp per month).
Establishing a Business (Downtime Action)
Initiating a business venture involves a meticulous Downtime Action. This kicks off with the calculation of the Business Cost, a pivotal factor determining the subsequent time and coin investments essential for the establishment of the business. Following this financial groundwork, the entrepreneur must select a strategic location within a district for the business and decide on its Quality. Only after these crucial decisions are made and both time and coin are invested does the business officially open its doors to the world. Notably, players are restricted to overseeing a single business per character, emphasizing a focused and deliberate entrepreneurial journey.
The Business Roll
Business Roll
Once a week (every 6 real life days), a business owner may make a business roll.
- Bonuses:
- A Direct Hand (Bonus): This gains a +1 per day of downtime the character dedicated to working on the business exclusively.
- Plentiful Employees (Bonus): If you have more employees than you need, your business can run more smoothly. For Skilled employees, gain a +2 if you hire more than you need; this becomes a +5 if you more than double the requirements. For Unskilled employees, gain a +1 if you hire more than you need; this becomes a +3 if you more than double the requirements.
- Advertising (Bonus): Hiring criers and putting up printed leaflets for your business can provide a boost. For each 1 gp you spend on doing so (to a maximum of 3 gp), you may add +1d4-1 to your roll. It is possible (though rare) for this to generate a negative number, the result of bad timing, lazy criers, and the like.
- Penalties:
- Insufficient Employees (Penalty): If you do not have the proper number of employees to run your business, you gain a -1 to the roll per Unskilled missing, and -5 per Skilled. If you have Unskilled employees covering Skilled roles, that penalty becomes a -2 per Skilled employee missing. Skilled employees can easily cover Unskilled roles, however.
- Other:
- Other Events (Bonus or Penalty): Other events occurring in or around your business can affect how it runs. Bonuses include city festivals, booking excellent entertainers, one’s services or products becoming in fashion, and the like. Penalties can include violence or damage to the business, smear campaigns against your business, seasons where your services are less in demand, and the like.
Quality
Every business is assigned a Quality, delineating the predominant Lifestyle tier of its customer base. Engaging in less expensive business ventures proves to be a simpler avenue for earning coin, albeit with more modest profits. Conversely, delving into pricier business endeavors carries the potential for substantial profits, albeit with increased complexities and challenges. The Quality designation serves as a compass, guiding entrepreneurs toward the most suitable ventures based on the desired balance between ease of earnings and potential for lucrative returns.
- Squalid: Base cost of business is reduced by 50%. Gain a +10 to the Running a Business roll. Reduce any profit by 50%.
- Poor: Base cost of business is reduced by 25%. Gain +5 to the Running a Business roll. Reduce any profit by 25%.
- Modest: Profit, Running a Business roll and profits are normal.
- Rich: Base cost of business is increased by 100%. Gain -10 to the Running a Business roll. Increase any profit by 100%.
Business Costs
| Skilled Hirelings | Unskilled Hirelings | Goods Base Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Farm | 1 | 2 | 2gp |
| Feasthall | 2 | 10 | 100gp |
| Guildhall | 5 | 3 | 5gp |
| Inn | 5 | 10 | 80gp |
| School | 5 | 5 | 5gp |
| Service, specialized | 0 | 3 | 15gp |
| Shop | 1 | 0 | 100gp |
| Tavern | 1 | 5 | 25gp |
| Cathedral | 10 | 10 | 30gp |
| Temple | 2 | 0 | 5gp |
Business Roll
| d100 roll | Result |
|---|---|
| 01-20 | Disastrous: You must pay 150% of business’s Total Business Costs. |
| 21-30 | Hard: You must pay 100% of the business’s Total Business Costs. |
| 31-40 | Difficult: You must pay 50% of the business’s Total Business Costs. |
| 41-60 | Fair: The business covers its own Business Costs. |
| 61-80 | Good: The business covers its own Business Costs. You also earn a Profit of 1d6x5 gp. |
| 81-90 | Excellent: The business covers its own Business Costs. You also earn a Profit of 2d8x5 gp. |
| 91+ | Windfall: The business covers its own Business Costs. You also earn a Profit of 3d10x5 gp. |
Criminal Businesses
Criminal businesses can be more profitable, but can also result in being discovered by the law or running afoul of rivals.
- Profits: Double the normal profits if a business is a criminal enterprise.
Dealing with the Law
As a criminal enterprise goes through its business, it attracts the attention of the law.
- Law Rating: Each district has a Law Rating, rated 1 – 100.
- Legal Attention: Each business has a running tally of how much attention it has garnered from the law.
- On each Running a Business check, add the result of the 1’s die (before modifiers) to the business’s accrued Law Results.
- Legal Reprisal Check: When a given business’s Legal Attention rating exceeds the Law Rating of the district in question, it triggers a Legal Reprisal – see chart below. Add the following modifiers to the check, based on the profitability of the business: Poor (-20), Moderate (-10), Comfortable (+0), Wealthy (+10), Aristocratic (+20)
- Reducing Legal Attention Rating: A character may spend active efforts to reduce the amount of legal attention his criminal enterprise is earning by one of two ways: subtlety and bribes.
- Subtlety: This scaling back the operation, increasing security, and being more subtle. The criminal chooses how much to reduce his Legal Attention rating by, and on his next Running a Business roll, he reduces his die roll by the same amount.
- Bribes: At any given time, the criminal may enact bribes to the Watch, as long as he has a Contact with the Watch, has Information Network (Defense), or has a Secret of knowing who in the Watch to bribe. With this, the criminal may pay a certain amount of gold and roll to reduce the amount of Legal Attention: for every 5gp paid out in bribes, the criminal may reduce the Legal Attention by 1d4. The price of the bribe is subject to a multiplier based on the Quality of the Business: Squalid (x.25) • Poor (x.5) • Modest (x1) • Comfortable (x2) • Wealthy (x4)
Criminal Businsses
| Skilled Hirelings | Unskilled Hirelings | Goods Base Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burglary | 1 | 0 | 10gp |
| Drug Trade | 1 | 5 | 100gp |
| Fencing | 2 | 10 | 50gp |
| Smuggling | 3 | 0 | 25gp |
| Gang of Pickpockets | 1 | 5 | 10gp |
| Thugs & Legbreakers | 1 | 2 | 5gp |
Legal Reprisal
| oll | Result |
|---|---|
| 00-20 | None: Rumors trickle about, but the Watch finds nothing worth investigating about you. |
| 21-40 | Peaked Interest: Investigations reveal enough to spark interest. Double Legal Attention gains for the next 1d6 checks. |
| 41-55 | Active Investigation: The law begins taking a closer look at your affairs. Gain +10 on your next Legal Reprisals check. |
| 56-70 | Special Interest: The law is fairly certain it has something worth noting on you. Gain +20 on your next Legal Reprisals roll, and double your Legal Attention gains for 1d6 months. |
| 71-85 | Interrogation: You are wanted for questions by the Watch. They begin looking to bring you in. |
| 86-100 | Arrests: You are wanted for arrest by the Watch. |
| 100+ | Raid!: Your operation is raided by the Watch. |
Dealing with Rivals
As a criminal enterprise grows and is successful, it attracts the envy of enemies and rivals. Each time a criminal business generates a profit, make a Rival Reprisal check.
- Money Makers: Reduce rolls by -15% for Poor businesses, -5% for Modest businesses, +0% for Comfortable businesses, +10% for Wealthy businesses, and +20% for Aristocratic businesses.
- Dealing with Rivals (Downtime Action): For each day a character deals with rivals, reduce the check by 2%.
- Leery of the Law: Legal Attention can sometimes cause rivals to step more carefully, reducing Rival Reprisal checks.