Slavers - A couple questions on how to run them

[Hyphen8or]

Hi
My campaign I am running deals with slavers capturing ships and selling the sailors to a single purchaser in order to be the workforce for his operations. How much gold should the slavers have in their base? They have captured 6 merchant ships so fare with about 24 crew apiece. They have delivered and been paid for 125ish slaves. How much do you think is a reasonable amount of gold the slavers would have on them?

[Chugger]

They should have as much gold as your current party should find.

If it's low based on the nature of their operations, then obviously some gold was shipped out somewhere else days before and is gone.

Never let your party earn too much gold or have it too easy. Back in the daze before AD&D (when you played DnD out of some pamphlets), we called too-easy campaigns "Monty Haul" after Monty Hall, the host of an old TV game show that was popular back then. It was a completely derisive name, and now a cultural reference that belongs in a museum! :D

[Temperjoke]

Some things to consider that you might have forgotten that could affect the amount of gold they have:

1. Cargo that was captured along with the crews; was it sold separately or given to the same merchant? Or are they stockpiling it in their base too?

2. What sort of expenses would these slavers have? They have at least one ship to maintain, a base to upkeep, members to pay, authorities to likely bribe

3. Did they keep the payment all in one location, or could they have it hidden in various locations?

4. How hard of a resource are slaves to acquire? If slavery is illegal in that location, that would make the new slaves more valuable, plus the cost of discretion. On the other hand, if the issue was quantity, then they might not have been worth as much.

As for a more direct answer to your question, it's hard to say. Why not avoid the issue and say that the slavers were paid in the cargo on the merchant ships, with a smaller fee in gold (the level that you want the party to have) to make up the difference in value? Then, when the ring is broken up, the party can return the cargo to the merchants who's property it was, and they keep the gold you want them to have.

[Hyphen8or]

They should have as much gold as your current party should find.

If it's low based on the nature of their operations, then obviously some gold was shipped out somewhere else days before and is gone.

Never let your party earn too much gold or have it too easy. Back in the daze before AD&D (when you played DnD out of some pamphlets), we called too-easy campaigns "Monty Haul" after Monty Hall, the host of an old TV game show that was popular back then. It was a completely derisive name, and now a cultural reference that belongs in a museum! :D

That makes perfect sense to me. I didn't want to gyp them by not giving enough gold, or to give them far too much. The party is comprised of 8 5th level characters, and they are splitting the loot with the crew of the ship that brought them to the island.

[Beleriphon]

That makes perfect sense to me. I didn't want to gyp them by not giving enough gold, or to give them far too much. The party is comprised of 8 5th level characters, and they are splitting the loot with the crew of the ship that brought them to the island.

In that case as much loot as you think each character should have, plus extra for the allied crew.

Then divide that number by 125ish sailors. Another thing to keep in mind ransoming a ship captain might be worth more than selling that same person a disposable labour. So that would be a at least six captives that haven't been paid out yet, and mind in fact lead to further adventure by freeing them!

[Hrugner]

More than likely, most of their stock would be in trade goods from the place they sell the slaves to. The slavers would turn to selling some other good if there wasn't something worth exchanging the slaves for. Gold is valuable for its ease of exchange, but to a trader it's more valuable to have goods with a variable exchange somewhere along their route. An easy option is always spell scrolls since they are worth a fair bit, easy to ship, and you don't always have the right caster in the area. It's also likely that they'd be exchanging for livestock since their ships are already outfitted for live transport, the problem being that human goods would likely be much more pricey than any other animals.

Gold would only be kept in sufficient amounts for wages minus the room and board that's coming out of their pay. Assuming one month of pay on hand that should be about 3sp per person per month.

The profits of course would never go to anyone active in the operation but to someone living like a king in some place that wasn't too suspicious about the nature of one's income.

[Chugger]

That makes perfect sense to me. I didn't want to gyp them by not giving enough gold, or to give them far too much. The party is comprised of 8 5th level characters, and they are splitting the loot with the crew of the ship that brought them to the island.

I'm glad I actually helped you. Treasure distribution has been a tricky thing since the game started in the 1970s (I played the original pre-AD&D version as a kid! I was there).

It's so hard to know if magic items should be for sale and so on, because players optimize stats and abilities and spells and cool multiclass combos that can be very powerful - and then you add the right magic item on top of that - and they kill too easily. Do you have them lose an item or two to dragon breath at that point (that's what used to happen a lot - but it was seen as very "mean" on the DMs part)?

Try to keep things fun and challenging and inspire your players to do more with less - to do amazing things in your world _without_ a pile of gold or powerful hirelings or crazy magic items. That's far more rewarding, and you feel like you earned something when you win a challenge through cleverness, and not by having a super-powerful magic item. Good luck with this - and also don't be too stingy. They do need to find some cool magic items and treasures. Balance - finding a healthy balance - is the key - but it's sometimes hard to find and achieve.

[KorvinStarmast]

More than likely, most of their stock would be in trade goods from the place they sell the slaves to. The slavers would turn to selling some other good if there wasn't something worth exchanging the slaves for. Gold is valuable for its ease of exchange, but to a trader it's more valuable to have goods with a variable exchange somewhere along their route. An easy option is always spell scrolls since they are worth a fair bit, easy to ship, and you don't always have the right caster in the area. It's also likely that they'd be exchanging for livestock since their ships are already outfitted for live transport, the problem being that human goods would likely be much more pricey than any other animals.

Gold would only be kept in sufficient amounts for wages minus the room and board that's coming out of their pay. Assuming one month of pay on hand that should be about 3sp per person per month.

The profits of course would never go to anyone active in the operation but to someone living like a king in some place that wasn't too suspicious about the nature of one's income.
Good answer, and a lot like a piratical group I ran (as antoginsts) in a 1e campaign.