Character Idea

I've been thinking about making a character in the merchanting business. For example, he creates his own 'brew'  and makes trips to and from red storm east, and to whereever his secret ingredient is. But I'm wondering how this could be done?

It would most likely need imm involvment.

Unless... You begin selling empty cups in allanak, sell bushells of hay in red storm east, and make it craftable with the third mystery item?

Anyway, I'm wondering how this would work, if I would get support, and if there are any suggestions to it.

[Gazarsgo]

If you're talking about making alcohol specifically, the code for this has been classified as 'in the works' for a while.  You might inquire if they need help writing up recipes, but it was previously classified under the brew command/skill rather than under crafting...

Yeah, I guess I forgot about brew.   Guess you can't make booze without knowing how to poison them. Forget my idea then, I'll stick to pkilling.

[John]

I'm curious though, will the Imms get sick of us if we try to create a character who works in an inn?

Whether they're a booze salesman, a damn annoying bard, a waistress/waiter, bouncer, a cook or any other idea you can think of.

Now let's pretend we do manage to convince the barkeep to pay us, will the Imm be willing to do this? Because basically we'll be wishing up whenever we it's payday.

If Imms are willing to do this, I could see a lot of opportunities opening up. Such as The Barrel get's some new food that my character is required to craft X amount of them, for the tavern to continue to keep it on it's menu. So when my character dies/stops working, they have to take it off the list.

Or a waitor starts walking taking orders so 10 different nobles don't call the poor half-elf over at the same time.

Of course it would all depend on whether it's IC as well. I personally couldn't imagine the Gaj suddenly hiring waitors, a bouncer maybe, but not waitors. And maybe none of the inns are willing to pay for a Bard, but you never know, maybe some bard might be able to badger the barkeep into it.

[Samoa]

I'm curious though, will the Imms get sick of us if we try to create a character who works in an inn?

This was an idea of mine a long time back, and as I asked around the concensus was this, more or less.  What might be best for you is to use barter, buy things for cheaper, then sell them to the customers - top that off with tips, and you'll do fine.  People are always buying drinks, and if there's a PC around there -selling- things, people will do it to interact with you.  Perhaps you could special app for the higher barter?

[Savak]

The main issue with this from a staff point of view is, of course, work.  While we're generally happy with people coming to work for NPC's in various taverns, we're less excited about having to keep track of who is owed what and when, particularly if we also have to keep track of how much "actual" work your character is doing.

This is one of those roles with nice neato factor and good ambiance factor, but retains potential for a disproportionate amount of staff work.  You MIGHT find a staff member here or there able to sponsor something like this, and I don't think it would hurt to ask around.  Some alternatives might be for a character to obtain employment through a noble or templar, then get a staff member's nod to allow an innkeeper to hire the PC via the noble/templar.  It's not quite IC'ly ideal, but shifts much of the "work" to a PC noble/templar, who is can then mention it to whatever staff member is -already- giving them a regular city stipend.  (It's not uncommon for us to try to encourage nobles and the like to do such things and giving them extra funds.)  I also don't think it out of line to use something like 'barter' to act as a go-between waiter in a tavern, perhaps "working" there to pay off a night's stay or the table you broke in the last barfight -- although if you work there regularly I'd expect at least an email to MUD so we can note what you're doing.

Some thoughts, anyway.

-Savak

[lukie]

Bud

Wise

Err!

[naatok]

I think pcs who have acquired small fortunes should spend their fortunes by starting up businesses...or purchasing businesses.

PCs could 'purchase' say, the Gladiator and Gaj tavern and hire other pcs to run it in different shifts (corresponding with pc playing times).  Any shifts not covered by pcs could have npc bartenders/wait-staff/etc.

Invest that 500,000 'sid you've managed to accumulate in the friggin' Nenyuki bank!

[John]

I don't like the idea of someone owning the Gaj. I don't know why it just doesn't fit right with me. If a player wanted an Inn I reckon they should have to build their own inn, don't forget Allanak is teeming with Virtual Inns.

But I agree with the fact that rich PCs should own more business's.

[Rindan]

I think the biggest problem with player owned establishments is that players have a nasty habit of dying.  Further, I don't think that there is a great deal of code to track how well a store/inn is doing.  That said, I would love to see player run establishments in the future.  Someone owning, or at least managing the Gaj would be a massive boon to commoner RP in my opinion.  With a person in charge of the Gaj, they could hire PC waitresses and entertainers.  If the code was smart enough to track how well the business is doing, then such a person might be willing to go out of there way to make the tavern a more attractive place to visit.

I think the biggest obstacles to a player run establishment is finding a way to smoothly transfer control to a new player, insuring that owners do not die often, and tracking profit and loss.  There really needs to be a way to do these things with minimal support.

One option is to do what Harshlands does.  They have a bunch of player run store.  I really am not an expert on the game, but my understanding was that if you want to own an establishment, you start out apprentice to someone.  Only after becoming a master in your craft, which takes many IC years, can you own your own business.  The result is that the person have the IC knowledge to do their craft, and has shown that they are able to keep a character alive.  Perhaps someone who has played there more could explain it better.  I would be curious to know how they handle it and how well it seems to work out.

[lukie]

I was going to make a player-run brothel myself. Problem is, I didn't have the time, energy, building, or empty character slot to do it. When my character dies, who knows? You might be able to hire yourself a ho in Allanak. Maybe the traveling 'homobile?' Nah. That sounds like a gay car. Maybe just the 'skankmobile'. Yeah.

[Plazgoth]

Lukie,

Great idea. It has been done before in 'Nak and it was done well, but the people involved have since moved on. So good luck to you pimpdaddy!