Rules for Large Businesses and Worldwide Commerce

[DrowPiratRobrts]

I'm working with my DM (since it's his first campaign) to find/create a good system for PC business startups that are expanding rapidly. Note that I've read this article, which provides a great starting point: http://blogofholding.com/?p=6738

The two big businesses are Huey Vuitton and a currently unnamed ring of criminal activity (these are separate, but each serves its purpose for the party). Our DM enjoys rewarding us with lucrative business connections and anticipates giving us lots of opportunities to make money to pour into upgrades for our large manor we just got. The issue is, we don't have anything on paper for how much revenue we're generating or how much overhead there is for each business. The biggest questions are as follows:

1) How do we establish, on paper, a good but simple system for revenue, overhead, and growth (we hate the way the books do this in 5e because it makes it hard for large businesses to break even, much less profit the players)?

2) The two businesses are both starting to span different cities across the continent. What are some simple ways to track growth without getting too technical and "number crunchy." I think we all want there to be consistency here, but there should be room for risk and growth along the way.

3) What systems have you used in the past for businesses and large scale economics/revenue?

[Ventruenox]

I'm mostly interested to find out how that canal digging project is going. What name did your team settle on for the manor?

There is a fairly crunch heavy product on the DM's Guild that has a number of tables and guidlines for full on city development, and it ties business operation directly to those mechanics. Argol's Comprehensive Guide to Infrastructure (http://www.dmsguild.com/product/212859/Argols-Comprehensive-Guide-to-Infrastructure-A-Complete-Guide-to-Constructing-Cities-for-with-Players) has some decent reviews, but I have not used it personally. There is not a whole lot of published material out there on running businesses in tabletop RPGs, since that isn't the primary focus of the game. Most businesses usually end up being a GP allowance for PCs or plot hooks.

I could probably come up with some tables or charts, but they would be woefully inadequate without intimate knowledge of your campaign world. The best approach may be to write an equation for capital investment minus overhead, multiplied by a die roll, and modified by percentages determined by the popularity of the products and the political strife in your world. The brand name popularity and political strife variables could be affected by your adventuring accomplishments.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

I'm mostly interested to find out how that canal digging project is going. What name did your team settle on for the manor?

There is a fairly crunch heavy product on the DM's Guild that has a number of tables and guidlines for full on city development, and it ties business operation directly to those mechanics. Argol's Comprehensive Guide to Infrastructure (http://www.dmsguild.com/product/212859/Argols-Comprehensive-Guide-to-Infrastructure-A-Complete-Guide-to-Constructing-Cities-for-with-Players) has some decent reviews, but I have not used it personally. There is not a whole lot of published material out there on running businesses in tabletop RPGs, since that isn't the primary focus of the game. Most businesses usually end up being a GP allowance for PCs or plot hooks.

I could probably come up with some tables or charts, but they would be woefully inadequate without intimate knowledge of your campaign world. The best approach may be to write an equation for capital investment minus overhead, multiplied by a die roll, and modified by percentages determined by the popularity of the products and the political strife in your world. The brand name popularity and political strife variables could be affected by your adventuring accomplishments.

I'll take a look at this, and I just responded to the other thread. I thought it died because I wasn't getting emails anymore! I'm laughing so hard at work with some of these suggestions!

[JeffreyGator]

I am assuming you are doing this to fiddle with your gaming when not at the table correct?

The other option is that you are wanting your characters to get rich and/or have cooler toys and magic items and 5e generally works much harder to avoid that than say 3.5X or many other systems.

If you're not wanting to enjoy playing with spreadsheets and lots of papers and paychecks and dice rolling, I would hand-wave it as however works best for the story to encourage continued adventuring.

And even then I would hand-wave this unless your DM needs for you to have a money sink.

[DrowPiratRobrts]

I am assuming you are doing this to fiddle with your gaming when not at the table correct?

The other option is that you are wanting your characters to get rich and/or have cooler toys and magic items and 5e generally works much harder to avoid that than say 3.5X or many other systems.

If you're not wanting to enjoy playing with spreadsheets and lots of papers and paychecks and dice rolling, I would hand-wave it as however works best for the story to encourage continued adventuring.

And even then I would hand-wave this unless your DM needs for you to have a money sink.

While getting rich and sitting around doing nothing all day certainly seems like an enticing campaign, we're really just looking for some concrete ways to implement our backstories and good roleplaying (which has lead to a lot of business expansions for both of us) so that we can actually afford some of the more expensive things he dangles in front of us, such as an airship dock, poisoner's grotto, or barracks for a military. I know 5e doesn't "like" this. It shows in how stupid they made the RAW for businesses (i.e. that it's much more lucrative to own a small shack selling who knows what in the middle of nowhere than to have a decent inn in a large city). The latter typically puts you into staggering debt from everything I've heard when people try to follow the rules that Wizards gave.

My DM apparently has a more thorough system laid out than I initially thought though.