Some adventurers might want to pursue a second profession in their downtime, sometimes working with a successful businessperson, other times choosing to start enterprises of their own. The following are a set of rules for establishing and operating your own business in one of the DT safe zones.
With DTDM agreement, Business can be done anywhere.
This might have to do with a tool proficiency your character has, or could be simply an idea you have for something your local town needs. Either way, the first step to creating a business is deciding what the business does. Ideally this will lead to a brief recount of the events leading to the decision of starting a new business.
You’ll need somewhere to run your business from. This will vary depending on what you are doing. If you want to open a smithy, you will need somewhere with a forge and a shop front. A bakery will need a shop with a properly equipped kitchen. If you want to make and sell potions, you will need space for your equipment. Generally speaking, the larger, better located and more specific your premises, the more expensive they will be.
You have two options when securing your premises: buy or rent. If you buy, you will have to meet the total cost up front, which can be quite significant (a small shop in Daring Heights for example starts at around 2,000 gp). The DTDMs will ultimately determine whether buying premises for your shop is possible and at what cost. If you rent, your business will have a higher Upkeep, meaning a bad month could wind up being very expensive.
The Business Expenses table is a guideline to the costs associated with running your business and includes the value of the property, the monthly rent for each sized property, the minimum number of hired Staff you would need to run the business and a brief description of the kind of space it affords.
Downtime Inspiration and Monthly Business Rolls
If you run your own business, it is important to note that the Monthly Business Rolls do not count as a DTA Check. They are a unique check type, and as such the Downtime Inspiration bonus does not apply to these rolls.
The Downtime Inspiration bonus only applies to DTAs that call for a DTA Check.
Size | Property Value | Rent Value | Expenses | Staff | Description |
Tiny | 500gp | 15gp | 5gp | 0 | A small stall in a market to sell services or products from. |
Small | 2,000gp | 50gp | 25gp | 0-1 | Small property with a store area and some small rooms for lodging or storage. |
Medium | 6,000gp | 175gp | 50gp | 1-5 | A medium-sized workshop, a store area and a couple of rooms. Some properties of this size might also include a small yard area or be barn-like |
Large | 15,000gp | 375gp | 100gp | 6-10 | A Large building with rooms and a sizable yard. Rooms have a variety of uses |
Huge | 30,000gp | 750gp | 300gp | 11-15 | An expansive property, like a manor house or a complex with land. Likely to include an outer boundary wall. |
The hired Staff used in your business will be able to help keep things running while you are away on your adventures and you may hire more if you wish. Hiring more will increase your monthly expenses but will also add potential for the business to be more successful.
Specifically for the small Property, if no staff are hired, you will need to spend at least 1 Light DTA slot each week to keep the business running. (Your business can not be successful if it’s not open!)
For each member of Staff you hire, they will accrue a wage expense of 10 gp per month. Expenses reflect the costs of materials and/or general maintenance of the property.
Based on your premises, location and overheads, the DTDMs will determine the Upkeep of your business. Your Upkeep is the most important figure associated with your business, and will be crucial in determining how much you earn or lose operating it. It represents the rent, taxes, staffing costs and materials required to operate your business.
When you found your business, you must pay Startup Costs equal to 4 × Upkeep to cover the initial cost of setting up the business. If you purchased your premises, you must also add the full cost of that purchase to the Startup Costs.
To determine your Upkeep value, you will need to combine the costs of:
Your monthly rent (based on the property size)
The wages of your staff
The associated expenses for your property size
Each month, you must spend this value in order to keep your business running. If you do not make this payment, in full, each month, it may have detrimental effects on your next Running Business Rolls you make, such as a negative modifier or rolling at disadvantage. If you do not pay your upkeep for multiple months in a row, you may be evicted or your business forced to close.
If you have chosen to purchase the property rather than rent, you will still use the rent value to determine your upkeep value when calculating the startup cost and when making a Running Business roll, however, when you pay your upkeep each month, it will be deducted from the amount you pay.
Arkadius is running his business from a Medium-sized property that he rents, with 2 paid members of Staff. Arkadius' upkeep would therefore be made up of:
Rent costing 175 gp
Staff wages costing 20 gp
Expenses costing 50 gp
Thus, the total Upkeep of Arkadius' business would add up to 245 gp per month.
Once a month—on the first Monday of each month—you roll a d100 to determine how well your business did the month before using the Running Business table. There are various activities and circumstances that can modify the Running Business Roll.
The DTDMs might rule that a specific set of circumstances in game modifies your Running Business roll for the month. For example, when Daring Heights was quarantined during the plague known as the Lassitude, it would have been difficult for a smith to receive the materials they needed to perform their work. However, an apothecary or doctor might have found their business increase significantly! Also, during their adventures, characters might curry favour with patrons and influential people that can help their side business.
Running Business Roll Table
Roll | Result |
1-5 | The business suffers a major catastrophe. It generates no income (though you must still pay its Upkeep cost each month) until you pay 5 x its Upkeep to fix this problem. At the DMs discretion, this may cause further complications, requiring an adventure or some other Downtime interaction to fix, and could permanently alter the Upkeep value of your business. |
6-15 | The business suffers a minor catastrophe. You must pay 3 x Upkeep to get things back on track. |
16-25 | The business suffers a setback. You must pay 2 x Upkeep to get things back on track. |
26-35 | The business makes no profit this month. You must pay its Upkeep cost out of your own pocket. |
36-50 | The business covers its running costs, but makes no profit this month. |
51-60 | The business has a mildly successful month, covering costs and generating 15% of its Upkeep as profit. |
61-70 | The business has a mildly successful month, covering costs and generating 30% of its Upkeep as profit. |
71-80 | The business has a modestly successful month, covering costs and generating 60% of its Upkeep as profit. |
81-100 | The business has a moderately successful month, covering costs and generating 90% of its Upkeep as profit. |
101+ | The business has a spectacularly successful month, covering costs and generating 150% of its Upkeep as profit. At the DTDMs’ discretion, this may have additional consequences, such as a bonus to next month’s roll, a |
Your staff are far less skilled and diligent than you. If you spend DTA slots taking over the day to day running of your business, you gain a bonus to you next monthly roll. This bonus is equal to +2 for each Light DTA slot spent and +5 for each Taxing DTA Slot spent. This modifier still applies if you are running a small business with no paid staff.
The maximum benefit that can be obtained from this feature is using the equivalent of 4 Taxing DTA slots.
Being Absent
If you are running a small business with no paid staff and do not put time into running your business, your business will suffer as a result.
For each week you do not spend any time on your business, there will be a −10 modifier to your next Running Business Roll. If you spend no time that month running your business, you do not need to roll as the business has been shut but you must still pay your full upkeep.
If you have made contacts either through the Carousing Downtime Activity, you can call in a favor from one of these contacts to give you a bonus to next month's business roll. This might be a tip off on your competition’s plans, a better deal on materials or the easing of a particular tariff or tax.
The bonus is +3 for a Low-Class Contact, +6 for a Middle-Class Contact and +10 for an Upper-Class Contact. You may call in as many favors as you like in a single month, but keep in mind that the contact is spent and cannot be used again.
You may find some NPCs may be willing to enter into business with you when starting your business and become a part owner. When starting up your business, speak with the DTDMs if you would be interested in having an NPC partner for your enterprise.
NPC’s in this position, however, will play a significant part of your business and will expect an equal share. When you start a business with an NPC, they will own 50% of the business with you. When making monthly payments toward your business, you and your partner will split this cost equally between you. Likewise, when the business generates Profit, this will also be split equally between you.
Having an arrangement like this may make starting and running a business easier for you but will also mean there will be a reduced income as a result!