[PnP] Economics, Inn Ownership

[Scott Adams]

At 09:22 AM 2/16/2014, you wrote:
>hello everyone, and happy new year.  It has been a while since I 
>last posted so I figured I may as well put out my simple notes on 
>some economics that I have had to figure out for my local game, just 
>in case others may have similar problems.
>
>Also, a good peer review never hurts...rip away. :}
>
>Incomes
>For my game I have been trying to normalize the economic system and 
>item prices by setting certain assumptions, then following those 
>assumptions through several iterations.  For example, the value of a 
>good equals the labor cost plus materials cost plus some overhead 
>cost for marketing and taxes.  An example would be clothing:
>         - A flax farmer must sell his crops and make enough to pay 
> his tithes to his
>           liege as well as purchase his food and other needs.
>         - A spinner takes raw flax and spins it into thread; he 
> must make enough to cover
>           his income, the cost of the flax plus taxes.  The thread 
> price is based on
>           the overall cost per pound, plus 25% for merchanting.
>         - A Weaver takes thread and weaves it into cloth; he must 
> make enough to cover
>           his income, the cost of the thread plus taxes, the cloth 
> price is based on the
>           overall cost per pound, plus 50% for merchanting.
>         - Finally, a Clothier takes cloth and turns it into 
> clothing.  Again, final overall
>           cost equals all other costs plus 50%
>

He..not PC? :) No Shes workers j/k :)



>
>My incomes are based a simplified set of values (all income needs are per day)
>         Station 0 - 1/2b
>         Station 1 - Labor (1b), Skilled labor (2b)
>         Station 2 - Crafter (5b), Master Crafter (10b), Tradesman 
> (5b), Uncommon
>                     Tradesman (10b), Pack Trader (10b)
>         Station 3 - Artisan (20b), Master Artisan (50b), Merchant 
> (20b), Master
>                     Merchant (50b)
>         Station 4 - Specialist (100b), Rare Specialist (200b), 
> Minor Nobility (100b)
>

Not sure I'd be low in this area.  Problem is it depends on 
nation.  City/Wilderness.  A Donaran city like Donara compared ot say 
some city in the swamps in the NW may not comapare.  There are BArter 
systems a swell.  Slavery thus no wages.  But for a typical city in 
middle class natoin (social level) then above is fine.  Though seems 
like some tweaking may be needed.  But its 3am so my brain is low power. :<


>For production occupations, the worker is assumed to meet his income 
>needs in 300 days -- this matches the GNI value of 3SC for a station 
>1 worker.  Crafting and trades make their needs in 240 days (which 
>allows for some play for lean or prosperous years).
>
>My production rates are probably somewhat subjective, but I tried to 
>base them on real-world data or "reasonable" guesses.
Weather.  Rebelion.  War.  Famine.  Disease all affect above.  Crop 
failures..etc.



>So, for the cloth example above:
>
>A Fiber Farmer (1b) produces 1200# of raw flax per year; A spinner 
>(1b) takes this flax and can turn it into 1200# of thread. Flax 
>Thread = 1/2b per pound.
>
>Weavers (5b) can turn 5# of thread into cloth each day (2# for fine 
>cloth). Linen cloth = 3b per pound (1-1/2b per square yard of 8oz 
>cloth).  Fine cloth costs double.
>
>Clothiers (5b) can produce 5# of clothing each day from 6# of cloth. 
>Linen clothing = 8b per pound (8oz cloth, 25b per pound for 4oz fine cloth).
>
>With this as a base, clothing prices can be re-figured, tweaked up 
>for dyes, trim or other improvements, and will mesh with the 
>incomes.  I figured (along the same methods above) that Station 1 
>eating costs 250b per year, so a station 1 person that does not work 
>extra has 50b per year to pay for other expenses. A 2# set of basic 
>clothing will cost 16b, so while a station 1 person will likely 
>patch and repair his clothing as much as possible, higher stations 
>can afford to have a wardrobe.
>
>I'm still in the process of working this all up, but when complete a 
>reasonable system of costs and values comes up.  A side effect of 
>this is that armors and weapons do not end up as way overpriced for 
>the effects (A bronze Blade ends up at 14CC per pound, so a 7# 
>great-sword is only about 1GC, not the 4GC stated in the book.
>
>Ok, with all that background (so you know where I'm coming from), 
>let me go to the meat of the article.
>--------------------------------
>
>Inn Economics for Owners
>Using "Medieval Demographics made easy" (google search), I used the 
>basic value of 1 inn per 2000 people.  A 4-person managed inn (4 
>adults, or 3 adults and 3 children) live at 5b/day, so they need to 
>make 20b/day in average income (720CC/year). Assuming the local 
>culture takes 20% in taxes, plus you as the owner getting a 10% cut, 
>dividing this out means the average Inn must pull in 10GC/year. At 
>the 1 inn/2000 rate, that 10GC/2000 equals 5GC of "Inn" per 1000 
>population.  For a city, increase the limit by 10% per road and by 
>20% if a port city. I also add an additional 10% for the capital 
>city For the city of Donara, at 36,000 people, this is about 270GC 
>of "innage".  I figure a small inn is worth about 5GC, a Large Inn 
>about 25GC.  If you go with a basic ratio of 10% large, 20% small 
>and the rest medium this comes out to roughly 10.5GC as an average, 
>so I think the ratio is good.
>
>So, what does this mean?  A player or group of players can purchase 
>a medium inn and pull in 1GC a year in profits (if the GM wants to 
>go with the average), or the GM can use this as an game hook when 
>the players try to find out why their inn is losing money. :}
>
>Looking at my worksheet I see I still have to work out the proper 
>construction costs, and thus update my "quick & Dirty" construction 
>rules. I'll have to do that and post them at a later date.
>
>
>_Rest seems fine.  Good work.

When Chris aka Ben'dar uses his $ to buy a ranch for horse breeding I 
did a document on that.  not too complicated.  But 
upkeep....maintence...average horses per month..etc..

Sorry not so detailed.  Off to bed since 3am.