Interim 1

On blowing money

Anyone who wants to squander wealth in classic sword and sorcery fashion can do so by rolling on the Carousing Table on DMG pg. 128.

This downtime can pay off in the form of 1 Reroll of any Attack Roll, Ability Check, Saving Throw, or Damage Roll of your choice during Episode 2. (Note: can't project it outward to make others reroll).

When posting the use of this benefit during play, you title it as "Carousing Recharge."

To get this bonus, you have to:
1) spend a minimum of 333 200 Crown Mark (gp) value,
2) take 1 month of interim time,
3) make the announcement to the crowd here, and
4) roll publicly on this Interim 1 thread. (Don't forget to add the character's level to the roll)

We'll see what the result is and work it out from there if it calls for more story details.

The amount of times you Carouse is only limited by your total funds and time available, but you can only earn the Carousing Recharge benefit a maximum of 3 times during Interim 1.

Yeah, exactly this. If she hadn't nipped that in the bud he certainly would have.
By Crom, yes!!! I was tossing around ideas about something meaningful Ivor would have done during the interim (returned to Nangh Stuc (the site of his home village)? Convinced someone (maybe Shen Lai) to help him hunt down and kill Pollo, the Gaeirmundi slaver who sold him in Pylos? But no, Ivor would have stuck with Kray, learned a thing or two from the Mercon fighters, maybe taught them a thing or two as well. And yeah he would have blown whatever money he'd earned for sure.

Oh and you might want to check this out: DOWNTIME.

Kray would mos def pay out as promised. The crew that took the ziggurat is a crack team and a worthwhile addition to the mercs of House Mercon.

And no doubt Ivor, an ex gladiator blood and guts machine, could exchange combat techniques and styles with Mercon mercs.

DM Progress Grants: Episode 1

You guys will be updating characters in the coming weeks. I wanted to contribute a small boost, of something that I hope can help expand on how we all see these characters developing and changing.

This is guided by my viewing of how you played the character. I hope it reflects something that you are conveying (intentionally or not) or something that I saw happening around your character that caused him to adjust or change in maybe ways that you did not plan for or expect.

Also, full disclosure, it is contrived to AVOID areas of development that I know that you are addressing on your own with the Ability Modifiers and Feat progressing by Class Level. No doubt.

Lastly, I just want to see these characters become legendary in the longer haul, if they make it. In that long road, every little boost helps.

Yes, it is DM intervention in character development. Controversial? Of course, but when has that ever delayed anything around here? And on that, if it is a problem, I offer this exact solution: Don't accept the DM Progress Grant if you don't like it. (Haha)

Below are Episode 1 DM Progress Grants, listed by character with short commentaries on each:

Bryn:
After being stranded deep in the Drakkenmire when his entire party was killed by the Hive, Bryn lived among the Tcho-Tcho for most of the past winter. During that time, he was often forced to run sprints, climb, leap, and even swim (in freezing water), all to follow the Tochoans traveling through the region. These strange hosts were for some reason not supportive of Bryn's departure, but were generally friendly and welcoming. Later he joined the mercenary club, infiltrated the Black Ziggurat by a legendary underwater gauntlet and participated in an extremely long marathon of near-endless melee, mostly while on the run. I think overall that was a season of crossfit training with a final competition event that Bryn placed in. I'm convinced that he is a bit stronger forever.
+1 STR

Ivor:
I really thought that I might see Ivor open up a bit in Ep 1, maybe Jabes lets him become more open to integration with others? Let his guard down? Show his willingness to engage with people? +1 CHA? Fuck no. Not the way Ivor is heading. He can fight beside people just fine. He did that in the gladiator pits and back home as a young Dannein warrior. But absolute zero interest in adjusting his viewpoints about how to get along with people on the broader sense of personal give and take. Not interested in being more outgoing, unless it’s his trident going out in a strong forward thrust and introducing itself into someone’s ribcage. What I did see though is Ivor digging deeper into his own brand of strong will and inner certainty on how things just are the way they are. He strikes me as a guy of common sense that is based on what he has seen and experienced. A lot of his previous viewpoints (druids and witches are deceptive and traitorous, life is generally about suffering and fighting, cheating death and dealing death and you get ahead by being good at it) were even reinforced. To me, Ivor has a pretty sound stance on understanding the way of things and his place in this dark world.
+1 WIS

Kray
I think this must have been the easiest for me. Kray is cold, calculating, logical, strategic. His decision-making is measured and deliberate. I think he would do really well at Dark Sudoku. Overall, he is an extremely smart guy. Problem is in game terms, INT we all know does not translate out to good payoff for sword fighters and the skill group there isn’t the most interesting for a certain kind of build. Doesn’t matter – I think Kray is building up cold, hard intelligence.
+1 INT

Maeriks
A lot of change in Maeriks’ life, but one of the biggest is that he became part of a group. And in the group his contributions were accepted. He wasn't denigrated or physically assaulted if he performed poorly. It seemed like people cared about him. Also, and this I think was off camera or in a Note or PM, Rutcranna did a ceremony with Maeriks at the witch hut on Old Island to take a lifetime hex off of him! The hex was put on him by his mom when he was a kid, and it made him have great difficulty speaking (or at least this was the perception of Maeriks because that is what his mom had said she had done). When it was lifted, Maeriks felt an immediate relief and his speech improved right away. Throughout the series of events that followed, he had to quickly get out of his comfort zone and engage with everyone around him. Maeriks still has a long way to go on developing interpersonal skills, but he is definitely improving.
+1 CHA

Thorn
The zen swordsman, a natural warrior, but he has a strong and highly developed conscience. He has an empathy that won't be suppressed and always displays a willingness to see people in their humanity, even when they are at their worst. He understands the struggle of the human condition, the brotherhood of all mankind even. I think it that makes him come across as actually a very kind, sincere guy - hard to say it any other way. I think he is likable. I think that although he is often quiet and slow to interject, he can be very persuasive when he speaks. Both traits because he is genuine. This one was pretty obvious to me too.
+1 CHA

So cool. Dig it.

Right on! I love it!

With Ivor hitting Fighter 6 I'm having a hell of a hard time picking the weapon group for DT Weapon Specialization! Given Ivor's style he could go Axes, Poles, or Thrown.

Bro, how can Ivor not go Poles? That Trident is his signature. He tosses a net - catches a dude for the kill, then net gets jammed up here and there next rounds. He pulls out a hand axe to make a toss at some dude running off to the side. Hits the guy in the head for the side-bar kill. etc etc

But ALWAYS goes back to the Trident for the whole long show of the Episode! Crowd favorite.

Pole Mastery FTW.

I think the technical term for the guy in the video is pole smoker?

Ivor will travel to Seetan to get that special training.

Speaking of pole dancing, here's my Carouse roll.

Ivor with romance. Must be one hell of woman to pair with him. Lmao.

+1 INT is dope track for Kray.

Ivor meets a mysterious master who is a 4th Level Bard College of Dance / 10th Level Rogue Pole Smoker.
OMG! Is this guy who Ivor had the Carousing Romance with!!!!

Y'all, I'm getting drawn into a Carousing Guidelines Development Project. The fun factor on this material demands a second look.

One thing to highlight first: the rules in the DMG (Jabes posted the pic above) say that you add the character's level to the roll! I just noticed that, so thought I'd share.

In that case Jabes, you could shift out of the "Whirlwind Romance" section and into the "Modest Winnings" result. Wow. Broke even, huh? Now THAT. Is. Exciting.
If you didn't want to bore us to sleep though on your way to getting that Carouse Recharge, you could tell us a little more about what could have been an awesome fucking story of your wild romance that burned down to a crashing train wreck in Dark Vegas! Pics appreciated.

Hey I think this would be Ivor's summer fling theme song with his girl while things were going good.

Also, is this the theme song of the nights out or the breakup?! (Wow. That video really gets out of hand. Didn't really expect that, but too late now - I'm leaving it on).

Back to my Carousing Guidelines revamp...

I need to adjust prices. Downward. I think there is an upcoming fire sale on Carousing tours.

Looked at PHB pg. 157, a reminder on "Lifestyle Expenses."

Wealthy living is 4 gp per day.
Aristocratic living is minimum 10 gp per day.
Somewhere in the middle is 7 gp per day
30 days of Carouse binge at that rate 7 gp per day is 210 gp.
So let's make something like that the unit of cost and time required to buy/experience the Dark Vegas level Carouse Recharge benefit.

Will adjust the original post accordingly.

On lifestyle

Visiting more thoughts on the Lifestyle Expense page.

You guys, with the loot that you have, wouldn't really have to work a single day over the course of 14 months if you didn't want to.

Just as reminders of the idea of wealth. Here is a 1 year cost of lifestyle for a few levels:
Squalid Living 1 year: 36 CM (gp)
Poor Living 1 year: 72 CM (gp)
Modest Living 1 year: 360 CM (gp)
Comfortable Living 1 year: 720 CM (gp)

So keep this in mind how rich you guys are with the contract money, the loose change scooped up, and those Sky Gems if you sell them (thanks Thorn!).



We've established through Commitment to Contract guidelines on Mercenary Code of Conduct, that guys like you are extra motivated when they get a job that pays 60-70 CM a month on a regular guaranteed basis or 600-700 CM within 30 days. There is another marker for us to gauge from.

That would also suggest that they would still be generally happy making some level of less than that. When you think about it, even half of that is still at the Modest Living rate.

What about making normal money?

Since I'm going down this road, and the only normal employment proposed so far has been working as a mercenary retainer under House Mercon, I'll explore that in terms of living and money.

The job at House Mercon, as a normal everyday job, is probably an even split between providing cash and providing a place to stay and 3 square meals a day. Classic military set up. Barracks and food for normal soldiers, plus they get some spending money. Or maybe some senior guys that just want to get away off hours, so they just take coin pay only and make their own way.

So I want to boil it down to these 2 options for that program, if anyone is interested:
1) Off-base housing: pay provides a Modest lifestyle. You get paid coin, but you pay all of your own housing and most food, plus all of the normal expenses of a Modest life. Then for extra cash, you can save up a squalid lifestyle of savings, so that's 3 CMs per month.
2) On-base, barrack housing: you get a Modest lifestyle in the form of a place to live (includes some privacy but not maximum privacy), all meals. That's it for normal soldiers, but for high rate troops, they get paid some extra that allows them to gradually have a normal surplus of coin that is equivalent to a Squalid lifestyle of money to blow, so that too is 3 CMs per month for the senior troops. But beyond this too, with you guys assumed to be in Nobleman Kray's inner circle, I think you guys can talk Kray into upgrading you to the nicer rooms on the housing situation. He can provide some preferential treatment to a core squad who is identified as his prime contubern (which is like a squad or small guard unit). On extra pay, that means you pocket 6 CM cash per month, which is an upgrade to Poor lifestyle on spending money after all normal expenses paid. In normal Dark Thrones life, that's swimming in regular paycheck ca$h plus benefits!

Both options assume that you get some basic weapon, armor, and equipment maintenance coverage. We can talk about that in more detail as necessary, but mainly that means armor around 50 CM (gp) value and a couple of regular weapons that aren't excessive on expense.

Freedom to develop other story

Again, the normal pay detailed above is basic everyday guard and soldiering and security and training work. It's paying the bills entirely - way more than the normal peasant on the street and in the field - but you are not getting rich doing it day in and day out. If you want to make up parts of your interim story in the Conflict, Success, Loss entries for example that had the character operating within a high-pay contract for a limited time or something like that, I think that is easily in play.

Plus, mentioned plenty already I guess, you still have your own money that you made and loot gathered on Ep 1. So you can still be Big Willie spending on the town, living large as you see fit, even if you don't necessarily want to go full-throttle Carouse.


Overview

Just throwing this out there to keep perspective. I don't want to bog down on counting coins or spend excessive time on monitoring equipment in down time etc. Just hoping to have this as a reference, for myself as well, to remind us some range of what it means to be financially stable, moderate, excessive, filthy rich, etc.

Also a reminder that it should still be worth listening when someone says "I'd like to pay you 100 Crown Markes each and hire you to...." . And when you see some gems worth 150 CMs each, it's pretty freakin exciting.

On planning the in-world timeline

For the above, set up whatever you want as sort of "normal time" during the Interim stretch lasting about 8 months (mid-Raskine to mid-Galan).

On the Nadrilian-Yuoric Calendar, that means the guys go through spring, summer, and most of autumn doing whatever you say. You can calculate money, carouse, work on projects, travel, do any or all of your conflict, loss, success stories, etc.

During the last days of fall in 860 DV, near the end of the month of Galan, something will happen that I want to detail further. It is approaching the winter months, and developments in the region begin to intervene in the lives of the characters. They will be pulled into a series of events, reunited for a time (if they were separated), and the winter will be one to remember.

More to follow later, but plan for a time block of occupied months at the end of 860 / beginning of 861 DV.

There will be a short block of time after this, in early spring 861 DV, that will also be an abbreviated variable time break. So you can insert some of your story points there as well if desired, especially applicable if you want them to be the most recent events.

We will pick up Ep 2 coverage in late spring 861 DV.

J, would it be possible, given the extracurricular smuggling activities with Shen Lain, to hook up the contubern with a bonus of some sort? Say maybe 100 CM or so? Kray's a big fan of making sure the contubern is well paid.

On making some extra

Yea. I can buy that.

Quick expansion on what that entails:

Shen Lain and father Chingas are robbing bitches out on the high seas. Waylaying ships in the trade routes, and taking their stuff at the price of "on the house."

They bring it back to Ruacht for quick cash at the Longhouse.

Ruacht uses Murrough boats and labor to move it across Lake Azan.


Then Bardh clan movers, sanctioned by Chief Rine, help Ruacht's group move the goods through the Draw Gap, up to Melig Trade and eventually to the East Gate at Caerlleon.

There at the gate, goods are identified by controllers who work for the Baron and also serve interest of local craftsmen. If there are foreign goods, the owner/seller has to pay steep tax to "buy through" and take the goods into the Jeresian markets. What Kray can do is keep down any confrontation with the guards and the Danneins. He can also, with cheaper bribes, pay off the artisan observers at the gate and get the goods through as "not foreign" material, so avoiding the skim.

Even after paying everyone along the chain, House Mercon pays for all the stuff at the Gate and gets everything at a fraction of normal value. Then all of the sales at the market are extreme high profit, at least for trade goods like this.

So Kray and Thorn can direct these teams around the Gate and including trips out pretty regularly to Melig Trade, maybe Low Creek every once and again. Make sure everyone is getting things through with no trouble along the route and good relations between all of the personnel involved.

It's pretty steady pay when it is all divided up after House Mercon gets the main cut. Over the spring, summer, and fall, the extra proceeds can come up to an extra 100 CM per teammate involved, like you said.

So whoever wants to say they are involved in such a plan ...: 100 CM (gp) for seasonal work in logistics and wholesale acquisitions projects.