Alright folks !
In an effort to get something in place for the notion of
"Government Contract" prices, we are going to be trying
to use the basic numbers orginally put forth in the rulebook.
Our costs will be mased upon two factors :
The production chart listings for Production Cost and Artistic Value.
And a "craftsman markup" of 1/3/5 guilda for apprentice, journeyman, or master.
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The basic value of an item, when dealing with The Empire,
will be equal to the Production Cost total in Guilda, plus the craftsman markup
for <all> craftsmen who worked on the item. In the case of some items, it
requires more than one craft skill to make, so there can be multiple markups.
If you are making an artisan item - meaning most things not armor or weapons -
compare the Artistic Value and the Production Value and use the higher number.
Sounds confusing ? Not really ...
Example #1 : An Artisan Item
Take your basic Copper Cup.
The Empire is looking to stock up a bit, and puts a bid out for 10 apprentice grade copper cups.
For this item, they don't care about quality - they just want 10 cups to be given to needy casters.
To make a Cup, it takes
2 units of metal - so for a Copper Cup, it is 2 units of copper.
2 units of Copper require 4 SU to produce.
To figure the end value of said Cups, the Empire does as follows :
As this is an Artisan Item, compare the Production Cost vs Artistic Value.
For copper, that is Production Cost = 2 per unit, Artistic Value = 4 per unit.
So, we take 4, times the number fo units, giving us "8", and add in the craftsman
markup - in this case "1" for Apprentice grade. That means the Empire Contract
will offer 9 guilda per apprentice copper cup.
Example #2 : A non-artisan item
The Empire is seeking to buy some swords for the garrison.
They want apprentice quality weapons, these are just for the militia after all (???)
They specify Iron blades w/ wooden handles, and the offer is calculated as follows :
7 units if Iron, 1 unit of wood, 1 unit of leather : total SU needed per sword = 33 SU.
These items are not artisan items, so they use the Production Values,
so each sword has a basic value of 33 guilda. Add in the craftman mark up for
2 apprentice craftsman (bladesmith, bonesmith) - gives a total of 35 guilda per sword.
Example #3 : A "good" sword
The Empire seeks a presentation sword, and is looking for a Master Quality Longsword,
Steel Blade, Wooden Handle, with the Master Bonus to Disarm.
Total SU for the components : 40
Craftsman Markup : 5 per craftsman, total of 10
Final Cost of Blade : 50 Guilda.
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Now, let me say right off the top : This is a playtest.
We were seeking a method to have a fixed price calculation that we could use to
figure what The Empire would offer when contracting to buy stuff.
The players are NOT bound to this system !!!
This is just a manner that we (staff / plot) can use to attempt to buy things
from the players at a predictable rate. It also gives us a baseline that we can
use for NPC's to buy things with. We will use these numbers and tell and NPC
to accept a range of price - then the haggling begins ...
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There has been quite a bit of side discussion about all of this,
and I honestly am not entirely sold on this - but I want to try it.
What I don't want is to establish a situation where anyone uses a formula,
and says "A longsword is worth <blah> : You're charging too much."
In the end, I believe the values should be whatever the markets will bear.
But it has become evident that we need to push the NPC-side of the market
more, to support the game economy a bit better. We've done it on a wing-and-a-prayer
for quite a while now. We're gonna try this and see how it goes.
I would appreciate thoughts and feedback - most esp. after the upcoming event -
to know if it helps, hurts, or does not make any difference at all.
-Chris
