Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Yes

9 (39.1%)

No

14 (60.9%)

Total Members Voted: 23

[RAM]

So what you are saying is that there are a whole mess of underground facilities that need to be exploited, and that we recently acquired a new workforce that is largely excess to requirements?
Translation:
A hoard of migrants turned up and they are all cheese-makers, we need to hand out some picks and strike the earth...

[Reese]

OK, so right now we have three things that need to get done...

a rough layout for walls and buildings- if we can get a rough map of the area we have to build in, that would be nice, but not necessary
we need to set up some farming if there aren't any on the estate already, or make some trade arrangements to buy food
we need to get at least one of the mines up and running- enough so that it can cover the costs of employee wages and any imported food

my recommendation is that we use a portion of the money we have to buy, oh, a month's supply of food that keeps well- grains, jerked meat, set the laborers and craftsmen to work clearing a site and building basic housing, and we should survey some of the closest mines

optionally, look in to getting some sort of food growing started, and figure out what the servants and maids are good for.

*sets jobs and mining designations* *unpause* go!

[RAM]

We need to do whatever is required to get some of the former mining sites recognised as our property. That may be as easy as a promise to invest locally and a high diplomacy check, or it may involve assassinating a score of potential rivals, spending vast sums of currency on permits, property, and bribes, and clearing the monsters, bandits, and cultists from our mining interests one dark, cramped, trapped tunnel at a time...

[Reese]

OK, I have the stronghold book open in front of me now, got a few questions:

what is the terrain/climate type?
how far away is the closest city and what size does it qualify as? (small city 17-48 miles away is the ideal size because it gives a small discount- except since the land is a gift as we are just building on it those costs might be different... the rough guideline from the book is 30% of construction costs are in labor, and we have some laborers on payroll already)

huh, lots of positive and negative modifiers... I don't think I can look at all that stuff tonight...

In any case, the book we're using for the stronghold uses 20x20x10 spaces for the purposes of building things- equivalent to one cottage or  1/4 of a small tower

If we are going to be sticking around to oversee the construction of our stronghold, I have several spells that can give discounts to building and furnishing the stronghold
(specifically: Fabricate, Stone Shape, and Telekinesis) and, additionally, the cost of a scroll of wall of stone would allow us to get hewn stone walls for roughly the same cost as masonry walls (masonry is 1 foot thick and has 90 HP, hewn stone is 3 feet thick and has 540 HP- it's assumed that hewn stone walls are produced by hiring someone to cast wall of stone for you)

[RAM]

Hmmm, What is involved in the castle being an intelligent item with the ability to use greater dispel magic, spell turning, guards and wards, and detect scrying?

I am thinking that it would be easier to enchant some sort of skeleton that runs throughout the structure...

[Reese]

so, some suggestions for rooms:

2 fancy kitchen blocks or one luxery kitchen (fancy kitchen can cook for 30 people, luxury can cook for 100 people)

multiple dining hall blocks (each single block seats 30 comfortably, level of luxury optional)

a chapel or two (how many gods would we want to make a chapel to?)

bedrooms for each of the players plus for guests, assuming we will have NPCs visiting for various reasons

Barracks for soldiers, servants' quarters, an armory

storage for food and drink

a training area/drill yard

a smithy

a stable

a rookery for the dragons

a library (level of fanciness determines how many knowledge skills the library can give a bonus to, how quickly research can be accomplished)

a magical laboratory

--edit--

went back and looked at the staff that Shonus said we inherited... 236 people, 3/4 of them maids and servants

the laborers and craftsmen are immediately useful for construction...

Shonus: How are they currently housed at this time, considering that the old manor has been (or is to be) razed to the ground?

[Lord Shonus]

Right now, it's tents and such. As for location, the main manor is 35 miles from the capital, which is the largest city size.

[RAM]

Meh, lets just dump all the cash into an over-sized stone golem with a door...

[Reese]

Meh, lets just dump all the cash into an over-sized stone golem with a door...

by any chance, have you heard of the Dragonmech setting?

[RAM]

Hmm, upon review, we should make it a clay golem, that way our house can go on a rampage.

Dragonmech doesn't sound familiar

[Reese]

Hmm, upon review, we should make it a clay golem, that way our house can go on a rampage.

Dragonmech doesn't sound familiar

It's a 3rd party 3.5 ed campaign settings that goes "What if the world were bombarded with showers of rocks every night and the only safe means of travel were giant robots that are powered by steam engines or magic (up to the point of having entire mobile humanoid shaped cities that necessitate the creation of about 5 additional size categories beyond colossal).  Along side steam and clockwork powered mechs, there are also giant golems and giant undead, which was why I asked...

In any case, I wouldn't recommend it because they are kinda broken. ;P

OK, serious question time for the rest of the party, what is the purpose of the stronghold we are building?  Just a nice place to live? the main camp for our army against the little girl and her god-mommy? A traditional estate fit for controlling the immediate vicinity and keeping it safe from bandits?  I've been poking around in the stronghold builders' book, getting a feel for things, and I think that, for about half the funds Shonus has given us for building, we can afford the walls for 50 to 80 stronghold spaces (and using the other half, actually furnish and purpose the rooms, buy doors and windows, and so on)

that's assuming we either use quality masonry walls or we get me a scroll of wall of stone and I contribute casting it throughout the construction of the stronghold (which will take 60 weeks if we used the entire 600,000 GP)

I think that we can support 100 soldiers for every 22-25 stronghold spaces (more if we have them hot-bunk)
(10) barracks
(4) armory
(2) kitchen (assumes the most expensive kitchen type, otherwise will need 3 1/3 per 100 troops, rounded up or 6 2/3 per 100, rounded up)
(5) combat training area (allows up to 40 to be training at any given time)
(1) storage (for holding the food we will be feeding them before it is cooked)

The total kitchen area will require 6 cooks (roughly) per 100 troops as well, though I may be making incorrect assumptions as to how many can be fed per kitchen if the troops eat in shifts.

--edit--

oh, yeah, and all those maids, cooks, and servants?

200 total / 6 per servants' quarters = 34 stronghold spaces

copperbottom's place must have been HUGE

[Reese]

So, is this week looking no or yes at this point?

[Lord Shonus]

Sorry, no.

[Lord Shonus]

Scheduling a session for this Friday.

[Heron TSG]

I do not know if I can make it tomorrow. I will keep you literally posted.