For houserules and summaries of 13th Age things that not everyone is familiar with yet. Any races or classes with immediate effects are probably going to need houseruling, if only because play-by-post doesn't really allow for instantaneous back and forth.
Having played in hvg3akaek's Crown of the Lich King, I've gotten used to several of his houserules which have smoothed out the play of 13th Age on the forum. I feel no shame pilfering from a wiser and more experienced GM.
A big part of this game is the fact that players have a whole lot of narrative control. I don't want to hear things like 'can I do this?' Assume the answer to be "yes", and explain why this makes sense for your character in your post! Make it interesting and I'll be on board. If you can work a way to cross that river using your intelligence and your background in doughnut baking, then explain how in your post, make it interesting, and roll up those dice.
[Starting] Gold: The Midderlands has a slightly different form of currency than the usual 100 copper equals 1 gold piece of 13th Age. This means your gold is actually worth more than usual (double), while the electrum half-quid piece is actually appropriate for what a 13th Age gold piece is worth. Assume from here out that anything that says "gp" in the 13th Age SRD is actually "ep" (electrum pieces).
Bats of Saint Abbans: Since you're probably going to need some extra supplies, either here or in St Abbans, I'll let starting gold stand, which doubles how much you can spend. I'll double check (pun sorta intended) the math and give you a final tally in my post.
Welcome to Great Lunden: Your starting gold is whatever your class says it is, but it is in electrum pieces, not gold pieces. We are going to have the 'ep' be the basis for our economy. Gold will play into things as we go. Basically we're transmuting the 13th Age 'gp' into electrum, both in handouts and in price lists on the 13th Age SRD. I plan to rewrite price lists in a market thread to keep everything square.
Assist: Spend your action to grant a +2 assistance bonus, like the fighting in spirit action but for skill challenges or one-off tricks outside combat.
Last edited by Aethera; May 12th, 2023 at 02:55 PM.
Buying a Home or Starting a Business in Great Lunden
Whether you're looking to settle down or open a new business, there are buildings aplenty for you to move into—in fact, most of the available land in Great Lunden has already been built upon. (Truly building from scratch is unlikely, unless you move further outside the city.) Either way, the mechanics will be an extended Skill Challenge (see the 13th Age intro post for a quick explanation) during which you will be roleplaying all the work that goes into your new place. If you roleplay something particularly creative or special in the process, you may earn bonuses to your dice-rolling.
N.B. It is almost impossible to walk into town and acquire a permanent place in one of the Inner Wards of Great Lunden, within the protections of the defended walls. You may try, but your checks will be very hard, regardless of any numbers written below.
You have two primary methods of acquiring property: purchase an existing intact building or build upon whatever abandoned or destroyed building you find that's in the right place. A few of the points below stipulate either buyers or builders, and this is what it's referring to. Builders won't get away with no purchase price, as the lot will have its own value, but you'll see how it lays out. Different sections in the skill challenge—indicated by the underlined headers—will need to be performed in sequence, or you'll lose your progress.
Your checks are the dice-based representation of your appeal as a buyer, the amount of money you have on hand (rather than make either of us keep an exact ledger), and any other aspects of your person which might help you to close the deal on a building of your choice. The attribute you include in your skill check will relate to whatever your primary attempt is; if you're relying on your pretty face and fast-talk skills, you're probably rolling a Charisma-based check. If you're relying on facts and information, you may want to make an Intelligence-based check. (If you're going to attempt to strong-arm or intimidate the current owner, you might get away with a Strength-based check.) Rather than simply granting you the lot of land, the dice add a random nature to how it comes about. Either way, you'll end up with property, but the dice will have given us a clue whether it's the primary place you wanted it to be or not, if there's criminal activity nearby, and so on.
Please keep track of your progress in your Private thread somewhere close to the opening post, as my notes do occasionally fail me and my memory is worse.
The Building
Day One - Ward Check. (Full day task.) The different wards of Great Lunden have differing purposes and some are harder to find an open building in than others. The Ward Difficulty Check, the number to try and roll higher thanDC I give you (list to come) represents a combination of how many empty buildings there likely are, how desirable those buildings may be, and regular old luck. (For builders the DC will be different but represent similar aspects, just with abandoned structures you can refurbish or chance events like fire that may have wrecked a building.) This also includes how well you can wander around looking without someone calling the Peekers (city watch), other security (if any), or the local criminal enterprise, whatever might be appropriate.
If you fail your Ward check, you'll have to try again on another day. Failing by ten or more means you probably pissed someone off or got arrested for loitering. Depending on the results of your check and roleplay, you might want to wait or find something else to do with yourself before trying again.
Buyers, you'll have a harder check to make to confirm that you have enough money to purchase a building in the ward you've selected. Assume it will be a hard check (DC 20) at minimum.
Builders, your harder check will come later. The lot you want is abandoned, wrecked, or otherwise unusable in its current state, which is costing the owner money. They want to sell to you, so make an easy check (DC 15).
Day Two - Owner Check. (Full day task, potentially more.) Either I'll name a DC for you to beat or I may roll the same check opposing you, and whomever wins comes out on top. This is a check for getting the current owner to sell to you (or the bank's representative if the property was foreclosed, etc). Things like whether they truly want to sell at a reasonable price or not, if they like/hate/fear the looks of you, whether they're happy about what you want to do with it (for homes, this is more about whether they will be judged for selling to a[n] whatever-you-are).
N.B. If you fail the owner check by a significant margin (to be established), this owner now really doesn't like you, and you're going to have to start over again to find a different property, because Hell will freeze over before they'll sell to you. That said, if you succeed the owner check by a similar significant margin, they're enamored of you and will sell to you on the spot, meaning you can progress to the next task immediately, with a glowing recommendation to the neighbors (or whatever group might hold similar import in your near future).
Day Three or Four - Building Inspection Check! (Full day task, potentially more.) Enter some purely random luck! I'll have you roll a d% (that's a d100 or one-hundred-sided die, for those of you not used to the d% shorthand) which will determine whether you get any "surprises" from the building. These may require attention now, later, or may open new opportunities for plots to come.
"Normal" unpleasant surprises: foundation crumbling, pests, water damage, mold, nosy neighbors, noisy neighbors, stench when wind blows from a particular direction;
"Unhinged" surprises: bodies in the cellar, former owner was a serial killer, criminal stash house they insist you keep up for them;
"Green" surprises: hauntings, ley line conjunctions, green ooze/mist in the basement or from the pipes, anything paranormal of the Midderlands variety.
Congratulations, you are the proud new owner of a square on a big map! You've acquired the lot of land, and the deed of ownership has been signed over. (Land deeds in our game aren't what they are today, but there are a signing-over and money-exchange aspects that are the same.) You can take a break to deal with other plot hooks if you like, it won't affect your purchase of the lot.
Land Ownership
Day Five or so - New Landowner Check. This will depend on which ward you're in (and some GM machinations behind the scenes). The Peekers (city watch) might show up to inform you of building taxes. A guild of the type of shopkeeper you are might send a representative to tell you now owe dues to the guild (whether you want to join or not). Perhaps a criminal family tries to make you pay "protection" money.
Maintenance Check. This is where the paths of those who want to build will diverge from those who just paid cold hard coin up front. Most buildings will need a little bit of maintenance. This is something you can hire a carpenter to do or do yourself if you don't mind getting your hands dirty. Abandoned buildings or wrecked buildings purchased for a much lower price will require considerably more work.
Buyers: make a normal check (DC 15) to accomplish your maintenance. This can represent the ease with which you hire someone or how well you do on your own. Failure means you find it's a longer task than you thought, whether you hired a worker or are doing it yourself. (Don't critical fail here.)
Builders: your check is going to be harder, and will depend on how well you did earlier. Assume it will be a hard check (DC 20) at minimum, and there may be more than one if any of them go badly. (Also don't critical fail here.)
Whether you purchased a home or shop, you're now in possession of it, repaired to a suitable standard. Since you're coming from out of town, you don't really have furniture or other big belongings, which means you need to furnish your building with anything that wasn't included in the deal. This too, will be a check, but not a hard one.
Furnishings Check. Your choice. Do you want the basics (DC 15) and that's all? Do you want to fully-furnish (DC 20) your building? Do you want some creature comforts or luxuries (DC 25)? Failure just means you're going to have to try somewhere new or come up with a new angle. You may roll your check and claim whatever level of comfort you succeed at, there's no need to aim for something specific.
Homeowners, you're finished! If you are selling goods you already own, you are also finished. If you need to locate vendors to supply your shop, repeat the Furnishings Check to finish your ownership marathon.
Here ends the wall of text.
Last edited by Aethera; May 28th, 2023 at 11:15 AM.
May 18th, 2022, 04:07 PM
Make it interesting and I'll be on board. If you can work a way to cross that river using your intelligence and your background in doughnut baking, then explain how in your post, make it interesting, and roll up those dice. 
You've acquired the lot of land, and the deed of ownership has been signed over. (Land deeds in our game aren't what they are today, but there are a signing-over and money-exchange aspects that are the same.) You can take a break to deal with other plot hooks if you like, it won't affect your purchase of the lot.
hauntings, ley line conjunctions, green ooze/mist in the basement or from the pipes, anything paranormal of the Midderlands variety.![Show Printable Version [DO NOT USE]](images/buttons/printer.gif)
