Interior Design in Waterdeep - Refurbishing Trollskull Manor

[Bjarkmundur]

My players successfully rescued Floon and are moving into Trollskull Manor at the start of the next session, which they chose to use as simple base of operation and home.

Design Goals:
- Create an attachment between my players and their new home.
- Immerse the players as real parts of the city and its community
- Have the players use gold to help the learn the value of the in-game currency.

Since they are going to be use it as a home I want to have them design the manor's interior. This includes renovation and furnishing. This is something my group will find extremely fun so I want to enhance that experience as much I can. For me as a player I would find this pretty dull, but my player expressed genuine excitement for making the Manor their own and started talking about (ugh) interior design and what they are going to do with each room in the house. I was thinking about handwaving the whole thing, just let them go nuts at no price, but I think the players will get more attached if I create an associated cost.

Trollskull Manor:
Four stories:
2 common rooms
1 Kitchen
4 bedrooms
2 baths
3 other rooms
Pantry
2 Privies
Cellar and turret

Thread Answered, Questions Removed.

Turning Trollskull Alley into a fully functioning Tavern costs around 1200gp. Since my players are planning to use it as a home and not as a business I've decided to cut that number in half to renovate and furnish the entire house: 600gp. My players pay a monthly lifestyle cost, which goes up to most of the important repairs, such as windows, privies, bathhouses and roof. The only number I need is a per-room gold cost. I've decided that each room costs about 50gp to take from its current state to whatever the players have in mind. I'll adjust the cost based on what the players have in mind. A simple bedroom will only require renovation (25gp) and simple furniture (10gp) while a fully stocked library will require renovations (25gp) and a shipload of books (100gp). I'll try to keep the finished cost of everything around 600gp. This should create a fun little base-building session for my players. I'll report back to tell you all how it went.

I'll tell you it's really tricky to give my players a sense of the value of gold when I myself have NO idea what things are worth in-game. If I'm going to be asked what a table of various qualities cost I'll probably just break down and cry xD

[Chrizzt]

I think somewhere in the dungeon masters guide there are price guidelines for how much GP an abbey, a castle etc. costs. Because I am a player, not a DM, I have not read the section, but perhaps something fits your image of the Manor, and you could ask for 20% renovation costs or something along these lines.

[Bjarkmundur]

I think somewhere in the dungeon masters guide there are price guidelines for how much GP an abbey, a castle etc. costs. Because I am a player, not a DM, I have not read the section, but perhaps something fits your image of the Manor, and you could ask for 20% renovation costs or something along these lines.

20% is a great starting point! Thank you so much!

Alright, the smallest building on p128 is a Trading Post (5000gp). Renovating Trollskull Manor into a fully-functioning tavern is 1200gp. I'm definetly gonna use the smaller of those two numbers. Since we don't have to make it buisiness ready, only habitable, I'll cut that number in half: 600gp.

With 3 big floors, we can say each floor is 200gp to renovate and furnish. With 4 rooms to renovate and furnish on each floor, that's 50gp per room. I'll divide that into two, once for renovating and one for furnishing. I can then adjust that number up and down based on my player's plans and the size of the room.

That's a great price! It's not so high that my level 2 players won't be able to afford it, and not so low my characters will just do the entire thing in one fell swoop.

Thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction!

[Sigreid]

If you want to get a feel for the value of money, look at the basic goods, eggs, milk, bread, etc. That's really the only way to compare the real value of money.

[Pex]

My character is interested in buying the stuffed beholder Xoblob to make it into a chandelier with the lights coming out of its eyes.

[Bjarkmundur]

My character is interested in buying the stuffed beholder Xoblob to make it into a chandelier with the lights coming out of its eyes.

Yes. Do it. Trust me, I'm a DM.

[DerficusRex]

If you want to get a feel for the value of money, look at the basic goods, eggs, milk, bread, etc. That's really the only way to compare the real value of money.

Pretty good way to look at it, although the list prices of things in the PHB are kind of all over the place in that regard. As a very rough rule of thumb, I usually figure 1gp to be between $50 - $150 in most places.

Stuff you can get for 1 gold in the PHB:

A goat
Two days lodging at Modest expense level
Half a day's work from a skilled hireling
A bedroll
A spear
20 arrows

[Sigreid]

Pretty good way to look at it, although the list prices of things in the PHB are kind of all over the place in that regard. As a very rough rule of thumb, I usually figure 1gp to be between $50 - $150 in most places.

Stuff you can get for 1 gold in the PHB:

A goat
Two days lodging at Modest expense level
Half a day's work from a skilled hireling
A bedroll
A spear
20 arrows


In older editions they explained that as you were paying mining town prices. So the basics for the locals to live weren't that bad, but to outfit your gold rush miner (adventurer) the prices were jacked up through the ceiling.

[Chrizzt]

You're welcome, glad to help! Unlike Ad&D and 3.5 there is no such thing as a stronghold builders guidebook, but those were sometimes ivercomplicating things (and making them too expensive) anyways ^^

[HappyDaze]

In older editions they explained that as you were paying mining town prices. So the basics for the locals to live weren't that bad, but to outfit your gold rush miner (adventurer) the prices were jacked up through the ceiling.

If that explanation were still valid, the Folk Hero should be able to get a hefty discount by having locals buy for them.

[Sigreid]

If that explanation were still valid, the Folk Hero should be able to get a hefty discount by having locals buy for them.

Well, food and farming implements would be cheap enough. After all, there's no money in you if you starve to death either. What's expensive is your mining tools, in this case swords, armor, shields, backpacks etc.

Edit: In short the idea is to keep the miner/adventurer working hard and walk away with most of what they find.

[JackPhoenix]

If you want to get a feel for the value of money, look at the basic goods, eggs, milk, bread, etc. That's really the only way to compare the real value of money.

That doesn't really work, because D&D economy isn't real world economy, or real world medieval econony. In fact, it's no economy at all, it's just a bunch of (semi)random values for the purpose of a game, and not an attempt at economic simulation.

[Sigreid]

That doesn't really work, because D&D economy isn't real world economy, or real world medieval econony. In fact, it's no economy at all, it's just a bunch of (semi)random values for the purpose of a game, and not an attempt at economic simulation.

It can give you an idea of what things not on the price list should cost though. A ball park, if you will. Just as a yard is not a meter, but when I need to visualize a distance given in meters using yards in my mind is close enough.

[Sandeman]

You could also let players reduce the cost of renovation if they do part of the work themselves.
It would require the correct tool proficiencies, like carpentry.

[Chronos]

On the other hand, if the players aren't members of the guilds, the guilds would probably frown on them doing the work themselves. Maybe not as big an issue if they're just using it as a home, but could be more of one if they're planning on re-opening as a tavern.

What did they do with Lif (the poltergeist)?

[Sandeman]

On the other hand, if the players aren't members of the guilds, the guilds would probably frown on them doing the work themselves. Maybe not as big an issue if they're just using it as a home, but could be more of one if they're planning on re-opening as a tavern.

What did they do with Lif (the poltergeist)?

A conflict with the Guilds could make for an interesting adventure hook.

[truemane]

Metamagic Mod: finding a skilled Thread Necromancer is also a good adventure hook.