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The Merchant's Handbook or How To Succeed In Business
This guide includes the basic points covered in the main body of the SRC Charter for this topic, as well as additional rules, clarifications, and examples. This guide is considered part of the SRC Charter. This guide is subject to frequent revision, so please return at least monthly to be certain you are working with the latest available set of rules. Updated information will be added in the appropriate section of this guide. When an update for this guide is issued, the guide name and date of most recent update will appear on the Revisions page. Merchants actually earn more gold than experience for owning a registered SRC shop or tavern. In part this is due to the difficulty of setting up a fair and reasonable method for determining experience for certain types of businesses. Rules already exist for certain types of shops, and these will be detailed later in this section. Because every kind of business cannot possibly be covered here, if you have an idea for a business you'd like to register and an idea for a rational set of rules to go with it, we welcome your input. Further, if you can provide us with a more rational or feasible set of rules for some of the businesses already in place, and if we use any or all of your suggestions, you may be rewarded with a gold or experience bonus. Registering a Business Any business from which a character wishes to earn gold or experience must be registered with the SRC Minister of Commerce. A business does not necessarily have to be run from a chatroom, nor does it have to involve more than one person. For example, a tattoo artist need not set up a permanent "studio" in which to work, nor do they need to employ any other characters to help them in their business. A tavern, on the other hand, by definition must be run from a chatroom, and may or may not employ other characters. Additionally, certain businesses may require a minimum skill level in order to qualify for registration. For example, the owner of a shop dealing in Mods must be at least d60. As in real life, a well-run business can make you very wealthy, and a poorly run one can cost you a great deal. Businesses in general take a great deal of time to manage, so be sure you're willing to invest the time before you open a business. The application to register a business can be found in Appendix 1- Applications of the main Charter. In order to keep businesses competitive and able to make money, there is a limit to the number of registrations available for any given type of business. This limit depends entirely on the population of SRC. As the population fluctuates, new business slots may open, and these will be posted as business opportunities on the SRC website. If the population decreases, however, existing businesses will NOT be shut down or denied renewal of their registration on the basis of population alone. New registrations are available on a first come first served basis. Applications for new registrations may be turned in at any time, and added to a waiting list if need be. As slots open, qualifying applicants will be contacted to see if they still wish to open their business. Qualifying applicants are those whose applications would be approved, and whose business fits the slot that has become available (in other words, someone wishing to open a registered tavern would not be contacted if a General Merchandise slot opened). Additionally, business owners may sell their businesses at any point, as long as the registration is still valid. If a business is up for sale when the registration lapses, the owner may apply for a 10 day extension to the registration at no cost, however this may only be requested once, and no reasonable offer may be refused during the extension period. If the owner wishes to hold out for a higher price for the sale of the business, they should renew the registration. Characters wishing to sell their business may list the business on the SRC website as available for purchase. If they do so, however, it is their responsibility to contact the SRC Webmaster to see that the listing is taken down when the business has been sold. In order to keep characters from starting businesses simply as ways to gain experience without actually ever doing anything, a business must be registered with the SRC Minister of Commerce, and there is a fee for the registration which varies from business to business. Additionally, the registration must be renewed and the fee paid each month. If the registration lapses by 14 days without other arrangements being made, the business is considered closed, and any remaining inventory becomes Council property, which may be auctioned or sold. If a business is up for sale when the registration lapses, the owner may apply for a 10 day extension to the registration at no cost, however this may only be requested once, and no reasonable offer may be refused during the extension period. If the owner wishes to hold out for a higher price for the sale of the business, they should renew the registration. General Merchandise General merchandise as used here is a category to differentiate it from Services and Taverns, which are run somewhat differently. General Merchandise is probably the most involved of the businesses, both from the standpoint of the actual workings of the business, and from a paperwork view. A GM shop requires a large investment of time if only to keep up with records, and if the shop is run from a chatroom even on a part time basis, this represents an even greater block of time required. General merchandise shops deal in (for the most part) tangible items, things you see, buy, and take home with you. Within the General Merchandise category are the specialties, such as weapons, armor, pets, clothing and so forth. Note that no General Merchandise item is considered to modify die rolls. Mods are dealt with separately. Making General Merchandise items - In order to sell items you must be able to make or obtain them somehow. Shop owners may purchase items "ready-made" from other characters who make the items (and thereby absorb the cost of materials and deal with the problems of how many items can be made per week), which may solve a shop owner's problems of too few employees to meet demand. They should note that this can be more expensive in the long run. To make items, you "spend" your dice sides, and the number of items you can make or obtain per week is limited by your sides. For example, if an item costs 10 sides to make or obtain, a character with d70 could make 7 of that item per week. Or, they could make 5 items that cost 10 sides, and 4 items that cost 5 sides, or nearly any combination, as long as the total for the week does not exceed their 70 sides. Sometimes this will result in "leftover" sides. If the merchant employs more than one person to make items, the leftover sides from each can be combined to make an additional item. Shop owners may employ other characters to help make items, however any employee's dice may only be spent once - in other words, a character cannot work in two shops at once making items for sale. They can, however work in more than one shop as sales clerks. The sides cost to make items varies with the type of item, usually dependent on how common or valuable or rare the item is. In some cases, such as steeds and pets, the cost reflects the effort of obtaining, taming, training, and upkeep. Very rare or custom items cost double the normal number of sides to obtain or make. Additionally, there is a materials cost for making items, which varies with the type of item. Merchants may charge whatever they like for their goods, but a general rule of thumb is to charge roughly 3 to 4 times the materials cost, to be sure the item makes enough to cover the materials and the cost to make (paying the employees, in other words). The merchant will need to determine how many of what item they can afford to make each week, and must have at least the materials cost available before they make these items. Employees - The maximum number of employees a General Merchandise shop may have depends in large part on how many people the owner can afford to pay. There may also be a d60 minimum dice limit for those employed to make items, again depending on the difficulty. Employees who make items for general merchandise stores earn xp based on the number of sides required to make items times the number of items made x 5. A shop may also employ as many people as the owner can pay as sales clerks. There is no minimum-dice restriction for sales positions in any shop. Additionally, those who make items can double as sales clerks if the owner allows, as a way to earn extra gold. Modifiers As more and more proctors become certified and more willing to accept the use of mods in spars, the market for modifiers is likely to increase drastically. Mods are defined as any item that modifies a die roll. The most common are those used in spars to increase hits or decrease damage, but there are other types as well, such as perception and stealth mods, and healing mods. Making Modifiers - As with making general merchandise, characters spend their dice sides. In the case of Mods, however, the cost to make items is determined by the extent to which it modifies rolls. The present limit to Mods is +3, with a further limit of +2 on stealth and perception items. There are no mods which increase the number of sides, nor is there any plan to allow these items. For each +1 an item is, it costs 20 sides to make. This means a character must be at least d40 to make a +2 item, and d60 to make a +3 item. This represents the amount of magical energy that goes into enchanting items, or the intricate detail work required to create cybernetic enhancements. Further, because these items are so difficult to make, the minimum dice for making mods is d60. Lower dice characters can work in mods shops, but only as sales persons. Their dice cannot be used to make items. Sides can be used in any combination to make items, as long as the total number of sides used for the week does not exceed the character's dice. For example, a character with d90 could make one +3 item and one +1 item, OR four +1 items, OR two +2 items, OR one +2 item and two +1 items in one week. In cases where a character is d80 or higher, this will leave some sides unused, or "leftover". Characters can work together on items, and combine their leftovers to create a single item between them. For example, three d80+ characters could each create one +3 item, then work together to create single +3 item between them. Alternatively, each of them could create one +3 and one +1 item per week. Only three people may work together on any one item, so for example, a d90 still only has a total of +4 to work with. The materials cost for mods is 300gp per +1. In addition to making items, sides can be used to upgrade items. Because mods are already so expensive, it seems wasteful to have to give away, attempt to sell, or simply leave unused a +1 item because you've bought a +2 item. Therefore, if you have a registered +1 item (it must be registered in SRC, even if it came from another accepted forum), you can take it to one of the mods shops and have it upgraded to a +2 or +3. Note that the limitation on stealth and perception items still applies, and that other forums may or may not accept upgraded items as being valid. How Mods Are Used Offensive and Defensive Mods - Offensive mods add to the damage done to the target of an attack, assuming that the attacker rolls at least one hit naturally. If the roll fails, no damage is done. Damage is added to the total number of hits, not each die individually. If you attack with a +3 weapon and roll 55, 23, 17, and 42, the damage is 18+3=21, not 33 ((9+3)+(2+3)+(1+3)+(6+3)=33). Defensive mods subtract from the number of hits a target actually takes. As for offensive mods, this is from the total number of hits from the roll, NOT from each die individually. Using the example above without the offensive modifier, if the target has a +3 defensive item in use, the total number of hits taken is 18-3=15, not 9 (9-3=6, 2-3=0,1-3=0, 6-3=3, for a total of 9). The maximum number of offensive and defensive mods is +6. They can be in any combination, however, to allow for variation in style of play. You must also logically be capable of using the items together. Please note also that these are the SRC legal maximums. You may not be able to max your modifiers this way in all situations. Examples: You must state in each round what modifiers are being used. If they are not stated,
they are considered not to have been used that round. You may use offensive mods in split
attacks, however the damage cannot be split. If you use one +3 weapon, you cannot apply it
to all targets of a split. You must declare the target who will take the added damage
before rolling the attack. If you use two +3 weapons, you may apply the added damage to
two targets, but you must state this before rolling the attack. Perception Mods increase the chance of a target becoming aware of an assassin, thief, or kidnapper before the attack is made. Like offensive mods, these items adds to the number of hits the target makes, but only if the they roll at least one hit naturally on their perception roll. There are no "autospot" items - a perception check is always needed. Items of Secondary Awareness are available for bodyguards which allow them to modify their perception rolls on behalf of their employers. These work like primary perception items, in that the bodyguard must roll one hit naturally in order for the item to take effect. Secondary Awareness items are only valid when used on behalf of another - they will not help the bodyguard if they are attacked. Both primary and secondary perception items are limited to a total modifier of +2 per user. The target may have a +2 item, or two +1 items, and the bodyguard may have a +2 secondary item, or two +1 secondary items. Stealth Mods decrease the chance of a target becoming aware of an assassin, thief, or kidnapper by increasing the number of hits the target needs to notice the attempt. Stealth mods add up to two additional hits to the perception roll needed by the target. The maximum stealth modifier is +2, which may be in the form of one +2 item, or two +1 items. If the assassin needs to make an escape roll, they may add their stealth modifiers (again, no more than +2), which will add to the number of hits, as long as at least one hit is rolled naturally. Healing Mods increase a Cleric's ability to heal a victim. Some are specifically for Clerics, and some characters can buy against the eventuality that they will need to be healed. In order for any mod to add to a roll, the Cleric must roll at least one hit naturally. The highest allowed healing mod is +3, and the maximum a Cleric's die roll may be modified is +6. This +6 may be from the Cleric's items, OR the victim's items, OR it may combine the two, as long as the result does not exceed +6. Item failure - Modifiers do fail. In SRC, this is not as critical as in some other forums, because the item is not assumed to be broken. It has merely failed, and will not work for the remainder of the match. It is not lost permanently. The different types of mods each have their own failure circumstances. Offensive - If an attacker is using a +weapon or other offensive item, if any of the dice rolls a 1, that item fails. No extra damage is done, and the item is useless for the remainder of the match. If the character has two such items, only one item is affected, unless he rolls a 1 in another round, at which point the second item fails and may not be used for the remainder of the match. Defensive - If the attacker rolls one die at maximum against a defense item, the damage is said to go through the defense, and it is useless for the remainder of the match. For example: McDragon has +3 dragon scale armor. Bbadboy attacks him rolling 4d60. The dice come up 5, 33, 60, and 34. McDragon's armor failed because one of Bbadboy's dice was 60, his highest possible. All of the damage from this attack is applied (in this case, 18 points), and the armor may not be used for the remainder of the spar. Perception - If the target of an AA, TA, or KA uses a mod, if they roll a 1 on either die of their perception roll, the item fails. Further, it cannot be used again during that attempt, so if there is more than one assassin, that item cannot be used to notice the others (unless it fails on the last attempt). The same is true of secondary items used by bodyguards. Stealth - Stealth mods rarely fail. They cannot fail against the target's perception, though they can be overcome. If the target naturally needs 2 hits to spot the assassin, and the assassin has a +2 stealth item, the target needs 4 hits. If the assassin chooses to add their stealth mods to their escape roll, if either die in the escape roll comes up as a 1, the item failed, and no extra hits were added. Healing - Healing mods fail when a 1 is rolled while they are in use. If more than one healing mod is in use when the Cleric rolls a 1, only one of the items fails, however that item may not be used again for 24 hours. Each time the Cleric rolls a 1, another item fails, and so on, however more than one 1 in a roll is not counted. If a mod fails, any hits rolled naturally still apply, and the failure of a mod does not injure the victim. Livestock Because slavery can be an emotional issue among players, the livestock dealer's player should have an out of character discussion with the slave's player. This discussion should be logged by both players, and should cover such topics as whether the slave's player actually wishes to allow their character to be a slave, what the slave may be asked to do, how the slave is to be treated, whether or not they can later buy their freedom, etc. SRC does not condone or condemn cyber ---that is a personal choice ---however we do recognize it as a part of online life, and encourage players to be careful. For their own protection, players should make the attempt to learn the real-life ages of others they play with, and respond accordingly. however SRC has no authority over any player, and is not responsible for the actions of any player. SRC's official stance on the topic of slavery is this : If the situation makes you uncomfortable, leave the room or do not respond to the IM; if the language used is offensive to you, report it to TOS. ----- IT IS NOT BAD ROLEPLAYING TO REFUSE TO PLAY A STORYLINE OR SCENE THAT MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, ESPECIALLY IF IT IS ADULT-ORIENTED!----- And of course, all computers are equipped with an off-switch. The term Livestock in this case refers to any character that is either an animal of some sort, or a permanent slave. Most of the sales in this area will probably be from the latter, as few animal characters are willing to be "property". The term "slave" will be used for convenience sake throughout this section, but it designates any character who is considered property. Obtaining livestock to sell can be accomplished in several ways, all of them interesting to role-play, and most of them dangerous to the person doing the obtaining. Because permanent slaves are considered valuable property, they must be registered to an owner, just as mods are. If a slave is acquired via kidnapping, they cannot be registered to the new owner for 14 days after the kidnapping, in order to give the original owner a chance to rescue or reclaim them. Slaves that are purchased from another owner must be re-registered immediately. It is the buyer's responsibility to make sure that the person they are buying a slave from actually owns the slave in question. Livestock dealers are granted provisional registrations of slaves because it is assumed that the dealer's purpose in owning the slave is to sell them at a later date. It is the dealer's responsibility to be certain that the property they sell was actually obtained in a legal manner (meaning that the slave's player accepts the situation, that if the slave was obtained in a KA the KA was valid, etc) and has been properly registered. It is also their responsibility to see to the re-registration of slaves they sell to their new owners. Registered livestock dealers earn experience for each sale they make, and may earn an additional amount of experience by hosting an auction. Each approved re-registration of a slave earns the dealer 25xp. To claim experience for an auction, the dealer must turn in a log of the event. They earn 100 xp, plus 10xp per slave shown (whether they sell or not), plus the 25xp for the approved re-registration of each slave sold. Slaves in auctions have minimum bids based on the cost of upkeep, and if the minimum bid is not met the slave remains the property of the dealer. Sometimes this can be attributed to the slave's behavior on the block (or lack thereof), and the dealer is perfectly within their rights to reduce the slave's minimum bid for the next auction, or lower the slave's price in the showroom or tavern if such exists, or even give the slave away. The dealer may not lower the minimum bid during the auction. Taverns Because taverns must be run from a chatroom, and because a successful tavern takes a great deal of the character's time, owners of registered taverns earn 800xp per month as a base xp rate. For each employee log they turn in, they earn an additional 15 xp. They may employ as many additional people as they can afford to pay, but each employee may turn in only one log per day, and there may be no more than 5 employees working in the tavern at any given time. Tavern owners who work in their taverns may claim 75xp for their logs like any other employee. Employee logs are limited to one per day, and must contain no less than 25 lines of speech or action by the employee to qualify for any xp award. Since it can be very difficult to determine just how many drinks are being sold in a tavern, until a better method presents itself, the tavern can be assumed to earn 3gp per customer. A "customer" is anyone who shows up in either the owner's logs if they are bartending, or in any employee's log from their shift. Service Businesses Service businesses deal in intangibles for the most part, Included in this category are Cleric Organizations (hospitals, churches), Registry Services, Guard/Security Services, Investigative/Spying services, and schools. Cleric Organizations Cleric characters who work well together, or find themselves working together often may want to consider organizing into a hospital or church. These are registered as businesses, and charge for some or all of their services, but they do not earn extra experience for being registered businesses. They may be created and run by one character, however this is discouraged. It is preferred that these organizations have at least two members (owners, or an administrator and one or more employees). Hospitals and churches must have at least one public room, and should either have someone available in that room most of the time, or have a regular schedule (which should be posted on the SRC Website once the business is registered). Churches and hospitals take a lot of time, and those considering starting one should take that into consideration. Churches and hospitals can lose their registrations (and their administrators fined) if they are frequently unavailable during their posted hours. Note that the words "hospital" and "church" are used here for convenience and clarity, but the organization can be called whatever the creator wishes (clinic, parish, asylum, whatever). For business classification purposes, they are referred to as hospitals or churches. Hospitals A hospital charges for all healing services, and may also sell such items as drugs and medicinal herbs. It should ideally be owned/administrated by one Cleric with d60 or higher, and may employ up to 10 additional Clerics of any dice level. Employees may either be paid a salary, or may be paid on a case-by-case basis, where the Cleric who does the healing is paid directly for that service by the victim. Owners should be careful of paying salaries, however, as this can lead to situations where one or two Clerics of a staff of 10 actually do the work, while the other 8 sit back and get paid for doing nothing. A hospital must have at least one public room which should be manned for several hours daily, or at the very least should have regular hours during which it is open. It may have additional private rooms, such as surgeries or recovery rooms. The main room would primarily be like the waiting area or reception desk of the hospital, while the "work" would actually take place in other rooms. This setup is suggested so that 2 or 3 Clerics are not all working with different victims at the same time, making for very confusing (and easily miscounted) xp logs. The administrator may set a hospital up they way they choose---the additional room(s) is only a suggestion. Hospitals may also include pharmacies, thereby bringing in still more money. Administrators may find this more headache than it is actually worth, however, and should read the Merchant's Handbook carefully to learn what is involved. Like most of the General Merchandise items, drugs and herbs are provided for the sake of roleplaying rather than for the fact that they actually do anything (in other words, at present they do not affect die rolls -- this may change as the SRC system advances). Note on medicines: A Cleric can recommend that a patient acquire medication, however they cannot require or prescribe such. Certain mods add to the Cleric's ability to heal a victim, if possessed by the victim, however, and Clerics should familiarize themselves with these items and can recommend them to characters they find themselves healing often. Churches A church is any registered (as a business) Cleric or group of clerics who perform services on a regular schedule in a public room. The church must have at least one public room, and it is suggested that it maintain one or more private rooms in which such services as confessions take place. The church should provide a link to the main room in its listing on the SRC website. Generally, even though registered as a business, a church will make little or no profit, and may survive primarily on gifts from its faithful. Churches charge for some services but not for others, the same way solo Clerics do. For instance, they would charge for such things as weddings, but not for sermons. The administrator (High Priestess, call them what you will) may pay the Clerics who work for the church salaries, which are usually paid out of the total amount the church earns for the services they do charge for and from gifts, divided (equally, or based on experience, or however the administrator chooses) among the Clerics. As with hospitals, care should be taken in this case to be sure that one Cleric is not doing the work that three are getting paid for. Churches may instead pay Clerics on a case-by-case basis as described for hospitals, above, wherein the Cleric receives payment for each service they perform. In this case, any gifts to the church might be divided among the Clerics as a bonus. Churches may sell such related items as holy books or holy symbols (normal or mods, but if mods are sold, the normal mods rules must be observed). Most of these items are made available primarily for role-playing purposes, although some holy items are available that do modify die rolls. Clerics should be aware of these items if they relate to the Cleric's religion, or to any services they normally perform. Church administrators may find that the gain from the sale of such items does not significantly increase the amount of gold the church has available, and may in fact be far more trouble than it is worth, as the amount of paperwork involved can be rather daunting.As noted with hospitals and pharmacies, a church may wish to try adding a shop for holy items for a month or two; if it works, fine, if not, the registration can just be dropped the following month. Note: A Cleric or church cannot require a follower to purchase a holy item. They can only recommend it. Registry Services A registry service provides lists of persons or establishments who are registered to do business in SRC. Registry services earn more in gold than in experience as a general rule. Owners of registry services earn 10xp per list entry for registered (or Certified) businesses or persons that do not appear on the SRC website, and 2xp per entry for those which are listed on the site. This represents the time and effort spent seeking businesses who wish to list with them. An owner of a registry service may NOT acquire their list from the SRC website then attempt to charge the businesses they list for the listing. Most Registry services provide their lists free of charge to anyone who requests them; Their customers are those who wish to be listed, as they are basically paying for advertising. Registry listings should be updated at least monthly, and copies of each new listing must be sent to the Minister of Commerce in order for the owner to claim experience. Any false entries (the business or person is not registered or does not exist, but is listed as such) or unsolicited entries (the owner listed the person without their permission for the purpose of padding the list) can result in the owner's registration being cancelled and an experience fine of up to 10 times the experience claimed for the false list (this means the xp for the WHOLE list, not just for the falsified entries). Guard Services/Bodyguards These services arrange contracts between bodyguards and clients. They work the same way temp services work, in that those who wish to work as bodyguards join a guard service, which then matches up bodyguards with people who need them. When the service finds a contract for a guard, the client pays the service, and the service arranges a contract and pays the guard. The owner of the service earns part of the gold from the contract, and 50xp for each contract they arrange, and the guard doesn't have to do the legwork to find paying clients. Bodyguards who are under contract to an employer must make an effort to be near their client as much as possible unless otherwise stated in the contract, and must be willing to go to their employer if called upon. While the issue of availability is mostly one of honor, a bodyguard's employer may break the contract if the bodyguard is frequently unavailable. The maximum number of paying clients (contracts) a bodyguard can have is 4, as one person cannot effectively guard more than this. Being listed with a guard service does not count as one of the 4, as the bodyguard is not actually functioning as a guard to the owner of the service. No SRC member may have more than 2 bodyguards, registered or otherwise. Bodyguards can register with the Minister of Commerce if they choose. The only real advantage to doing so is that they can get a listing on the SRC website, and that some people will feel more confident hiring a "registered" bodyguard. The registration for bodyguards, unlike most other businesses, does not cost anything, but it does not pay anything either, in xp or gold. Investigative/Spying Services These are generally registered individuals, although it is possible and maybe even lucrative for them to work together as a business. Investigators and spies are hired to acquire logs. Registered investigators/spies earn experience for contracts, not for individual logs acquired, and these contracts must be turned in to the Minister of Commerce's office in order for experience to be claimed. A contract is an email from a client to a spy stating the information or type of log required, the screen name to be logged, and the price paid for the log. The email must be forwarded to the Minister of Commerce (or the appropriate person in that department) in order to be valid; cut and paste is not acceptable. A contract may also be in the form of a chatlog stating the same information as above. This log may be turned in as a cut and paste email. Some types of logs, such as those for AAs, have very strict requirements. By taking a contract for these logs, the registered spy is guaranteeing that the log they return will meet those requirements. If a spy sells an illegal or invalid log, they may face serious penalties, from losing their registration (minimum), to fines to possible exile. Terrorism - Spies must be careful what they say about their line of work. Simply saying to another character or announcing in a room that "So-and-So is paying me to get AA logs...anyone want to guess who I'm logging today?" can be construed as terrorism, even if the spy is joking and not actually collecting logs at that time. Threatening any character by saying or implying that they are being logged for an AA is considered terrorism. The minimum penalty for terrorist tactics of this nature is the loss of the spy's registration, and may be as severe as exile. Schools/Teachers Teachers may register individually, or as a school. Schools usually (though not always) have a regular meeting room and schedule, and sometimes employ more than one teacher. Teachers are required to be d60 or higher in order to earn xp for teaching, and if the subject is one that can lead to certification, the teacher must be certified (for example, only a Certified Assassin d60 or higher can teach a class on assassination, however anyone d60 or higher may teach a class on role-playing basics). The experience award for teaching is 100xp per logged, regularly scheduled
session times the number of students. Bonuses may apply, depending on the subject taught.
Only one scheduled teaching session may be claimed per day. Scheduled class sessions must
be announced no less than 72 hours prior to the class, via email or by being posted on the
website or in the announcement folder (the folder is pending at the time of this writing,
and may or may not become available). Any other class is considered impromptu for xp
purposes. Impromptu classes earn 25xp per logged session times the number of students. No
bonuses for subject difficulty apply, and the number of impromptu sessions per day is
limited to 4 per day. Artists This area includes fine art, tattoos, and related items. The artist earns xp based on how good their creation is, which in turn is based on their die rolls. The artist may make 5 rolls for any piece, using their normal sides, but only 2 dice regardless of how many dice they normally roll. The points scale is the same as the regular hit chart, with 15 being one point, etc. If the artist makes 15-29 points in 5 rolls, the piece is considered good. If the artist makes 30-44 points, the piece is considered excellent. If the artist rolls 45 or more points, the piece is considered a masterpiece. The artist earns 5x the number of points rolled, up to a maximum of 300xp per piece. Note that even a bad piece earns a little xp this way, since the artist learns from the mistakes. Setting Prices for Goods or Services General Merchandise Merchants may set item prices however they wish, however they should be sure to cover the materials costs and the cost of paying their employees. The table below reflects the number of sides needed to create 1 of each type of item (except where noted), along with the materials cost for 1 of each type of item. Note that there may be some variation within the types that should be reflected in the cost to the customer. A good rule of thumb is to charge roughly 3 to 4 times the materials cost. Be sure to check the Revisions section frequently---new items are likely to be added often, or costs adjusted.
Mods The materials cost for making mods is 300gp per +1. The shop owner may charge whatever price they wish. The UGC average price for magic items, as a guide, is 1000gp per +1. Shop owners should price their items by level, to make calculating the cost of upgrades easier. Upgrades (from +1 to +3, for example) should cost the difference between the original cost, and the cost of a new item of the desired modifier. For example, a +1 dagger might cost 1000gp, and a +3 dagger 3000gp; therefore the cost to upgrade a registered +1 dagger to a +3 dagger would be 2000gp. Items that have limits on the modifiers (stealth items, for example) cannot be upgraded past that limit, and no modifier can be upgraded past +3. Note that an upgraded item must be re-registered, as it is essentially a new item; the old one is considered destroyed. Cyberware and bioware should cost more than most other items because they must be surgically implanted. The price modifier is 350gp per +1, which guarantees the customer a proper implant. This modifier is actually a cost to the merchant (like the materials cost), and as such may either be absorbed by the merchant, or covered in the retail price. In either case, it is NOT claimed as profit. Customers can purchase cyberware and bioware and choose their own Cleric to implant it. If they do, the merchant should give them a break on the price, but be sure to explain to them that by paying the extra, they are guaranteed a proper implant, rather than being left at the mercy of a Cleric's die rolls. Cyber/bioware kits are being assembled which will allow a character to increase the number of dice they roll. These kits will NOT affect die rolls the way normal mods do, but rather will permanently increase the number of dice. The max number of dice is still 4. At the time of this writing, these kits are not yet available, however the introduction of these kits may changed the way cyber/bioware mods are sold. Suggested Prices for Livestock Livestock dealers may set any price they choose on their stock, and in fact may give away slaves or animals if they choose. It is in the dealer's best interest to sell their stock for at least enough to cover the upkeep. The table below shows the upkeep cost by type of stock, and suggests minimum auction bids and suggested sale prices for each type.
Tavern/Restaurant/Coffee Shop Prices Since it can be very difficult to determine just how many drinks are being sold in a tavern, until a better method presents itself, the tavern can be assumed to earn 3gp per customer. A "customer" is anyone who shows up in either the owner's logs if they are bartending, or in any employee's log from their shift. Because this is such an inefficient method of determining prices and income, this will be changed as soon as we can work out something that does work. From time to time, employees of taverns will receive tips. These are the property of the employee they were given to, and should not be split among the staff or considered as part of the tavern's income. Suggested Fees For Cleric Services Certain Cleric functions are not often paid services, unless the Cleric is employed by a church or hospital. The Cleric may set their own fees for most services, however there are some guidelines available. As a general rule for services requiring die rolls, services for which the Cleric earns 10xp or less per hit would pay 1gp per hit; services that earn more than 10xp per hit should pay no less than 2 gp per hit, but no more than twice the gold equivalent of the total xp awarded for the service. For example, if a Cleric heals a dragon (4d), they might charge 40 gp to do so; to resurrect that same dragon they could charge anywhere from 80 gp to 3200 gp. For services that do not require die rolls, a Cleric may not charge more than 10 times the xp value of the service. For example, a Cleric may not charge more than 1000gp for a wedding ceremony. Generally 1or 2 times the total xp value of the service is a good average fee. This keeps the costs reasonable to the characters paying for the services (thus bringing the Cleric more "customers") while still allowing the Cleric to make a little gold for the work they do. Suggested Fees for Registry Services Registry services are nearly as varied as people are, so prices should be set accordingly. The owner of the service may set their own fees. Owners of multiple lists should consider pricing the service based on the average income of the type of list. For example, because an ad with a registry service could bring an assassin 50k gp in a month's time, the average assassin who is not paranoid about getting their name on a list would probably be happy to pay 200gp for a listing for a month. A Cleric, who generally makes much less but who can actually work more frequently, may not be able to afford 200gp per month, but might be willing to pay a finder's fee, or perhaps pay a lesser fee per month. Because the list would have to go out in email, and may require a lot of time and work on the list owner's part, they should not price any list under 25 gp per month per listing. Suggested Pricing for Guard Services and Bodyguards At present, setting a price for a bodyguard contract is very difficult. Most bodyguards do the job for free in UGC and related forums, so while this is an established trade and there is obviously room for someone to make money at it, setting a "standard" is hard to do. As SRC grows, this will become easier, and rules and guidelines will clarify. Before starting a Guard Service, you should probably talk to several bodyguards, and several people who actually pay them, find out what the bodyguards are willing to accept, how much a client would pay. You will need to base your contract fees accordingly. It has been suggested below that bodyguards charge 500gp for a monthly contract. This sounds high at first, until it is considered that a bodyguard can die in the line of duty and not be resurrected in most cases. Beware of pricing yourself out of the market by taking too large a percentage of the contract ---ten to twenty percent is probably a good figure. Consider equipping guards who list with your Service with armor or other things they might need. Registered bodyguards should probably accept no less than 500gp per month for bodyguard contracts. There is always the chance that they will die in the line of duty, and in most cases they cannot be resurrected. A bodyguard, like all other merchants, is free to set their own fees. Note that if may actually work out better in the long run to trade services for mods items, such a weapons or perception or healing mods. Prices for Spy/Investigative Services Spies in SRC, unlike those in other forums, are not generally paid to get guild rosters. GCs may hire them to do so, however there is no real need for the information and in many cases, a guild's roster is posted on a website for anyone who is interested to find. SRC does not pay for this information, and further, SRC discourages multi-guild memberships (which is what it normally takes to get a roster). Spies, therefore, make their money from logs they collect. While at times they may be able to acquire a log that a client would find impossible to obtain (for instance, a well-known assassin may find it difficult to get anyone to acknowledge them outside a spar), for the most part a spy is saving their client legwork. They should also bear in mind, however, that most people who need logs collected are working against a deadline. A spy will almost never have more than 72 hours in which to collect the requested log. As a guideline, logs that would are valid for AAs should cost approximately 50gp. While the rules regarding these logs are very strict, the required information is also very clear, and the log itself is short - AA logs will be among the easiest to acquire. Most jobs will be difficult to quote, but generally speaking there are few logs worth more than 500gp. Teacher Teachers generally will earn more experience by teaching than they will gold. They can set their own prices for the classes they teach, If the subject will earn the student money or xp for having taken the class, the fee for the class should be higher than for subjects that are general interest. If the subject will save the student money, as in the case of certain magic classes, the class should also be priced somewhat higher than general interest topics. Topics that prepare a student for a certification must be taught by Certified individuals in that area, and they must be approved by SRC to teach their classes. These include Proctoring and Assassination at present. These two fields will require several teachers, each of whom will earn the experience noted in the section on teachers, above, and 30gp per student in any given class (so a classroom log of 10 students would be worth 300gp). They will earn an additional 25 gold for each of the 3 logs a student turns in toward completing their training, and 100gp for each of their students who actually become Certified. Using Certification classes as a base then, where the whole training course costs 430gp, most topics that will prepare students for moderate to high-paid fields should cost 200gp for the course, and other topics should cost 100gp or less. NOTE: Certified Proctors who teach are paid by SRC, not by their students; the proctoring course is free of charge. Assassin training, on the other hand, is paid for by the student. At a later date SRC may change the fees for assassin training, but at present we feel that a minimum of 430gp is not a large investment by comparison to the gold an accomplished assassin can make. Artists It is suggested that Artists (fine arts, tattoos, etc) charge by the size of the item and number of colors used. The sizes would be small (10x the number of colors), medium (20x the number of colors) and large (30x the number of colors). For example, a large 5 color tattoo would cost 150gp. Artists may, however, set their own prices. Paying Employees Except where noted under the various business types, employers are free to set their own pay scales. They should be careful to make their pay rates fair and competitive in order to keep good workers, but they will also need to remember that paying their employees may not be their only expense. Guidelines for paying employees will be published at a later date. The Paperwork - REQUIRED Reports Every type of business has reports that must be filed. Some have more reports than others, or may need to be filed more often. ALL businesses must be registered to legally earn gold or xp, and the registration must be renewed each month. The different types of reports for different businesses are explained below, and all can be found in Attachment 2 - Worksheets of the main Charter. Merchant Reports Merchants who deal in tangible items (as opposed to services, such as tattoos) must turn in three reports to the Minister of Commerce each week, and must, like any other merchant, renew their registration once per month. Forms for these reports are available in Appendix 2 - Worksheets of the main Charter. Inventory Report - The inventory sheet must show the number of items on hand, the retail price of each, and the materials cost of each. Sales Report - A separate report must show the week's beginning and ending gold totals, the number of items sold, and the amount each item sold for. It must also contain the SN of each employee, and how much that employee was paid that week. Purchase Order - This report is the proposed purchases (or items to be made) for the upcoming week. It must include the number and type of items proposed, the number of sides required to make each item, the SNs and dice of employees, and the total cost of materials for the items proposed. Mods Mods dealers are required to send in each the same reports General Merchandise must turn in. In addition, they will need to file item registrations for the items they sell, patent requests for new items they wish to have trademarked to them, and new item approval requests. Forms for these reports are available in Appendix 2 - Worksheets. Livestock Livestock dealers must file a a stock list, a sales report, acquire temporary registrations for stock, and file registrations for stock they sell to the new owners. They must keep records of stock acquisition on hand, to be surrendered for investigation by SRC on request. Taverns Tavern owners must file employee xp reports, and daily earnings reports. Further, while they are not required to keep the logs their employees turn in for pay and xp, they are required to keep a record of those logs, much the way a GC keeps records of spar logs for their members. Cleric Clerics normally turn in their logs to a GC, HC, or Mentor for xp, however they are required to report any resurrection in which they take part. Further, any cleric who is a hospital or church administrator must file an employee list, and if applicable all of the merchant reports. Registry Registry services must file copies of each list they release. They must keep, and surrender to an SRC official on request, the initial listing contract with every person who appears on their lists. Guard Bodyguards are only required to keep their registrations current and turn in logs to their commander or mentor. Guard services must turn in a list of contracts filled, and maintain copies of the contracts which must be surrendered to an SRC official on request. Spy Individual spies must file a record of the contracts they fill, and include the contracts themselves as text file attachments that include the email header. If more than one contract is filled in report period, copies of the contracts should be zipped together and sent at once. Investigative services (spies working together under an employer or administrator) are required to turn in a record of contracts filled and by whom, and the owner/administrator is required to keep copies of all contracts filled. The contracts do not need to be turned in unless requested by an SRC official. Teacher Teachers must log all classes and turn these logs in for experience. Additionally, they must turn in a schedule of classes they intend to hold no less than 72 hours before any given class is to meet. A list of students who successfully completed the course must also be filed, along with a list of applicants for certification if applicable. Revisions: 9-30-98 Rules for artists added. |
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Standardized Rules
Conference