Success: 20+
Type: Domain, Character
Base Costs: 1 RP, 5 GB

Introduction:

This action is an expansion on the Exploratory Trade domain action from the Havens of the Great Bay expansion, and is mainly to put together to stop that action being abused by players, and to provide more role-playing elements for the DM. This actions allows a thief or guilder regent (not other classes) to send out a fleet of vessels loaded down with goods in the hope of them returning with a good profit in exotic products. The original Exploratory Trade action should be at least read before using this one.
However I have made many changes to this action to make the journey a little more exciting, and to cut down on the vast amounts of income that can be generated with the standard Exploratory trade action. Like the original action a seaport can only send out one expedition each year (4 domain turns), however this action also only allows for one expedition from a guild each turn, so if a guild has holdings in many different ports they will still only be able to do this action once each turn.
There regent is also not permitted to spend GBs to improve success, although if he personally accompanies the fleet then he may spend RPs. Instead the success of the action is determined by the following chart.

Table 1: Modifiers to Success

Based on this table you should be able to work out the basic chance of success for this action. However in case you can not then here is an example. A trade fleet of 4 ships sets out from Ilien, bound for Brechtur. El-Hadid who has sent the fleet accompanies it personally giving it a +2 bonus. The ships are all galleons so the fleet gains a +1 bonus, and there are 4 ships so that is another +1 bonus. El-Hadid has however not used this action before so the chance of success is reduced by 2. This brings the base chance of success to 18+, however because the regent is along on the mission then he can spend extra RPs to ensure its success.

Size of Fleet:

Before setting out on a journey then the size of the fleet must first be determined. I have already mentioned above that a guild may only use this action once a turn, and a seaport only once a year. The guild can not muster enough goods to set aside for exploratory trade to send out more that one expedition a turn. The size of the fleet is also limited by the size of the seaport, and the size of the guild's holding in the sea port. The following table shows the number of ships that can be sent by the guild depending on their holding and the size of the seaport. A guild with a 0 level holding in a port can not send out a expedition at all. Any ships sent out must be loaded with goods equal to the capacity of the ship (6 GB for Galleons).

Table 2: Province Size Vs Fleet Size.

Based on this table it should be obvious that only the really large guilds can muster a large enough fleet to make any sort of real profit.

Destination:

Once the size of the fleet has been determined then it is necessary to work out the destination. The voyage much at least travel 2 cultural region, with each region (Anuire, Rjurik, Khinasi etc) taking one month of travel time. So the minimum the voyage can take is 2 months, which is the same as the original action. However this action also allows for longer and possibly more profitable journeys if the regent is willing to risk a trip to Aduria. Below is listed the regions and their distance in cultural regions from Anuire.

Table 3: The regions and their distance from Anuire

The region chosen as the destination will determine several things, the profit, the chance of pirate attack, as well as the time taken to complete the journey, with each step taking 1 month's travel time to go there, trade, and then return. For other areas of Cerilia the you should be able to work out the possible destinations based on the above table. All other regions can travel to all parts of Aduria, and two regions of Cerilia.

The Success Roll:

Once the size of the fleet and the the destination have been determined then it is time to roll to see if the mission as been a success or not. As mentioned above RPs & GBs can only be spent to improve the success of this action if the regent personally goes along on the voyage. If not then there will be a much reduced chance or success, but the regent will be free to do other actions.

One a natural roll of 1, disaster strikes and the entire fleet sinks in a freak storm. The regent and any lieutenants may survive depending on their blood abilities, and/or spells and magical items. The DM may wish to use the destruction of the fleet as an opportunity for an adventure, surviving on the high seas and battling your way back home again sort of thing.

If the die roll fails, then the voyage has failed to produce a profit, this should only usually occur if the regent sent out a lieutenant instead of leading it himself. This will usually mean that no one was willing to purchase the goods, or they could not be sold for a profit. Any GB's invested in the cargo are returned after the voyage. Rolls will also need to be made for the chance of pirate attack on the table below.

If the die roll beats the success number, then the regent's gamble has paid off and they have made a profit from the voyage. After checking to see if there was a pirate attack during the voyage skip to the section on profits.

Chance of Pirate Attack:

As with all journeys there is always the chance of an attack by pirate, and this will be greatly increased if your ships are carrying loads of valuable goods. Once the ship arrives at its destination then it will begin trading, and during this time the word may spread to local pirates and an attack may be made with the hope of capturing the rich cargo. There are two ways to handle any attacks that occur, and they are to either accept the losses on table 4 below, or to fight out the battle using war cards or other ship to ship combat rules.

Table 4: Loses from Pirate Attacks.

The chance of a pirate attack of course varies with the region selected as the destination. The table below lists the chance of pirate attacks.

Table 5: Chance of Pirate Attacks.

Of course each region will have a different sort of pirate, and the following info can be used to run an encounter if you wish, instead of using table 4 above.

Anuire: Generally Anuirean pirate attack single ships. The pirates fleet will consist of 1d3+1 caravels, with a 20% chance of a galleon with a wizard and pirate chief on board. Each ship will also usually have a single unit of pirates on board (see pirate info in separate file).

Rjurik: There are few pirates in Rjurik, but if any attack occurs then it will usually consist of 1d6 longships from Rjuvik, perhaps even led by Fulgar the Bold or one of his Jarls. 1d3 units of Rjuvik raiders will also be present.

Brechtur: The nation of Grabentod is a dangerous force in this region and many merchant vessels are lost to their raiders each season. The pirates of Grabentod also seem to have an uncanny ability to learn of large fleets of merchant vessels sailing out and are able to arrange a meeting with their own fleets. A pirate attack in this region will usually consists of 2d4 cogs with a unit of raiders on each, and the possibility of a larger roundship with 2 units of raiders and a major leader onboard. They may also send more vessels depending on the size of the trade fleet.

Vosgaard: Any attack in this region will come from a small fleet of 1d3 Drakkars. The Vos pirate do not usually attack large fleets.

Khinasi: The Khinasi pirates are well organised and equipped and in some cases sponsored by various nations. A pirate fleet in the region will usually consist of at least one Zebec, possibly as many as 3, as well as some smaller vessels to carry off the booty.

Northern Aduria: Along the east coast of northern Aduria is a powerful nation of pirates with fast raiders that can strike and withdraw before other vessels have a chance to strike back. They commonly raid any vessels travelling through the region, so any trade here could not be considered very safe at all. Any attack from Bir-Warqu will usually consist of up to 10 of these raiders, backed by a large transport ship to carry off the plunder.

Neha: The Nehalim Empire stretches along the entire west coast of the Adurian continent. Few nations in the region support much in the way of fleets, so pirates are not common. If they do strike then the attack will usually come from a small fleet of 1d4 scout or raider vessels, backed by a war galley.

Halwan, and Subriya: These two seafaring nation regularly patrol the seas of their coast so little in the way of pirate activity is every recorded. If it occurs then use the info for Neha above.

Adurian Empire & Juh: The Adurian Empire has little in the way of pirates, but rather the empire its self will occasionally capture and "tax" rich looking vessels in the port. In this case no ships a lost, but 2/3 of the cargo is gone and the mission should be considered a failure. Goods are still be taken back home, but they will not fetch a price more than the original cargo.

Southern Aduria: Pirates are common in this region, but so is merchant traffic. The pirates along the southern part of the continent will usually only strike at fleets consisting of 1 or 2 vessels, large fleets are usually left alone. The pirates here usually only have 1 large warship, although occasionally a group of 2-5 vessels will join together to attack large fleets.

Thaele: Pirates are not known in Thaele, however occasionally ships from Rjurik may get wind of a rich trade fleet and attack

Sahirde el-Mehar (Goldern Archielago): The waters around the Golden Archipelago are home to large numbers of pirates, both official and unoffical. They even occasionally raid the shores of Khinasi and Djapar. An attack in this region will consist of 3-4 Zebecs as well as smaller raiders, each ship will usually also carry a unit of raiders.

Dargon Isles: Few ships travel to this region. The natives are not friendly and ship have a tendancy to disappear with near the Dragon Isles. There are no pirates as such, but ships are still in danger.

Djapar: Little is known about this land, even less that Aduria. However the people are thought to be rich. Pirates in this region are generally thought to be similar to the Khinasi lands, although the DM is free to rule otherwise.

Profits:

Now profits are of course the whole reason that this expedition was under taken, and the one thing I did not like with the original action. In my opinion the profit was too high for an action that could be altered with RPs until it almost always succeeded, so I have changed a few things around to make the profits less. If the trip is successful then a profit will be made, but the size of the profit will depend on a more random system than just the size of a province and the amount of money you send out. Also there will be a maximum profit available for each region per turn as shown on the table below.

Table 6: Maximum Income each turn.

Now that is the maximum amount of income that can be generated from a region in one turn due to Exploratory trade. The DM is free to rule that other lands have send expeditions as well if he wishes. This will happen if PC regents start bringing back large profits on their trips. Soon everyone will want a piece of the action (especially the pirates), so if this action is used too often then the DM is encouraged to reduce the amount of money available. The table however lists the maximum amount that can be gain from exploratory trade to each region.

The actual income however depends of the types and numbers of vessels sent (less any lost due to pirates as described above). Table 7 below shows how to determine the income gained. This is money on top of that invested in the mission.

Table 7: Actual Profit Achieved.

So taking our example of El-Hadid and his 4 Galleons bound for Brechtur. He manages to avoid the pirates of Grabentod and arrives safely in Müden, his ship loaded with Anuirean products. His Galleons have a cargo capacity of 6 GB, which means that the maximum profit he can achieve is 36 GB. The dice rolls are very good and his profit is 30 GB, not a bad haul, but he has spent two month on the voyage. He can return safely to Ilien his ships full of goods to sell at a large profit to the people of Ilien and other lands.

So looked at the whole action it is not one to produce vast amounts of gold for a kingdom, but it can be used to lead into an adventure for your regent in another land and can expand your game across all of Cerilia and even to Aduria (if you like my Adurian Expansion). As too why I created this, well I wasn't interesting in what was on TV the night I worked on it and in my PBeM game there are a couple of players who were about to look on the Exploratory trade action as one to generate vast amounts of gold to fund their war effort, so my choice was to either limit the original action to only 1 ship or come up with a new one, and this is it.

By Ian Hoskins

This page hosted by Geocities. Get your own free page!