running an inn: what skills?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I've always handled it as Merchant, maybe Accounting, and social skills.

[...]

Despite all those hires, though, Administration ("the skill of running a large organization") seems like too much skill for anything smaller than a modern-day hotel with entire departments for business, hospitality, housekeeping, etc. I could see Accounting, however: Merchant suffices for day-to-day transactions, but in the era before professional accountants, Accounting manages wages, purchases, upkeep, etc., and is a better fit to the task than Administration would be.

But would Administration be usable for the task?

I've always used Administration as the go-to skill of managing a household with a staff, as opposed to personally keeping house (Housekeeping) and possibly dealing with a small group of employees with specific responsibilities (Diplomacy, Leadership and/or Psychology, often at default).*

So, butlers and housekeepers of Great Houses will have Administration skill, most likely an Optional Specialisation like Administration (Household). As will hands-on ladies who have such a household, but many will simply use their social skills like Diplomacy and Savoir-Faire (High Society and Servant have a mutual default) to resolve specific disputes, leaving the actual day-to-day management up to professionals.

For a fairly small household, which an inn with only a few rooms effectively is, I'd allow Merchant for most management tasks, but note that Leadership includes getting the most out of a team of people involved in long tasks as well as combat leadership and that any character in charge of a cooperative endeavor should benefit from having it (and benefit more for having it at high levels).

But I think that I'd allow anyone with Administration to use it for everything related to actually running the inn, except the commercial aspects of buying and selling. Clearly delineating responsibilities and duties, keeping paperwork up to date, organising duty rosters, tracking supplies and managing logistics all falls under Administration, regardless of whether it's being done for a mercenary company, government department, Great House or an inn.

In my opinion, someone with high Administration, but low Merchant skill would run a very organised and efficient inn, assuming that staff with the necessary skills was available, but might be paying more for supplies or wages than was sustainable or have other trouble with breaking even on the business. If Accounting was high enough, by default or otherwise, they'd know it wasn't sustainable, but not necessarily have the ability to find better prices and/or drum up more business.

*Anyone who doesn't believe that you need skills like Diplomacy, Leadership or Psychology to ensure harmony between someone like a newly hired high-strung French chef and a territorial British bulldog of an old family retainer who has strict views on 'her' kitchen has never read P.G. Wodehouse.

[Black Leviathan]

Administration - Hiring employees that are useful and dependable, keeping them motivated and loyal, ensuring all ingredients are in stock and no overstocked, accurately tracking expenses and low-tech marketting.

Merchant - Setting prices competitively, bargaining for stock for drinks and food, working out deals with entertainers.

Carousing - Creating a mood in your establishment that makes people want to be regular customers.

Profession- Bartender - Covered

Profession - Brewer - Makes your tavern distinct from others and lowers your operating costs dramatically.

Housekeeping - Regular cleaning of a tavern by someone who's methodical really makes a difference to patrons.

Woodworking - Tavern furniture wears out. Having someone on staff that can build or repair benches and tables is useful. If they can carve distinctive and attractive ornaments then they're probably worth it.

Animal Handling - If you have rooms for travelers you're going to need a stable for their beasts and someone to keep them.

Sex Appeal - A lot of patrons spend money at a tavern because of the wench.

[jason taylor]

Politics: This is for certain types of inns. Historically inns have been community centers often enough. An Innkeeper may be the head of a secret society, or more mundanely the local capo of an electoral machine. With that goes Ally Group; he might be in a position to throw some graft in the way of his neighbors and get some gratitude when the time comes. It is not a specific skill for innkeepers but one an innkeeper might be found to have.

CoH or SoD: Proper to an establishment maintained at the behest of a guild or similar sodality like the In and Out (Naval and Military Club) in London. Similar ideas go for a hostel maintained by clerics, etc.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

Animal Handling - If you have rooms for travelers you're going to need a stable for their beasts and someone to keep them.

This is a valid principle for a lot of campaigns, but not in this case. Nixies are an amphibious race and travel by swimming or boating. And while this inn caters to multispecies clienteles, men are scarce, and trolls and elves don't go in much for riding.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Kromm

On the client-facing side, Diplomacy is once again a leading option. Savoir-Faire (High Society) and Savoir-Faire (Servant) – yes, both – might work better in wealthier areas. Carousing and Streetwise would be a better pairing in rougher ones. If the inn is a thinly disguised brothel, maybe Sex Appeal and Streetwise instead.

I consider Diplomacy to be the essential "customer service" skill, since most jobs in that category involve soothing angry people, managing their expectations, and carefully manipulating them towards a satisfactory outcome for both parties, all while remaining polite and professional. Depending on the job, Fast Talk and/or Merchant are complementary skills.

For a really big hotel or resort, the manager might have Administration (Hotel/Resort Management). If the GM is willing to combine all the tasks associated with running a smaller establishment into one skill, Professional Skill (Innkeeper) might substitute for skills such as Cooking, Housekeeping, or Savoir-Faire (Servant).

For your stereotypical dungeon fantasy innkeeper who's a font of information, add some combination of Area Knowledge (Local Area), Current Affairs (Local News and Gossip), Expert Skill (Dungeon Monsters), Hidden Lore (Dungeon Locations), and Public Speaking (Storytelling).

For your more paranoid innkeepers, consider skills such as Detect Lies, Observation, and/or Psychology. That type is also likely to have a point or two in Crossbow, Guns (Shotgun), or an appropriate melee weapon.

[Black Leviathan]

I didn't want to list it before but Savior Faire is kind of a big deal for service work. If you don't have Savior Faire-Military the soldiers at the fort will probably spend their pay at the tavern that does. You won't attract that good clientele if you don't have Savior Faire-High Society. Maybe a skill dependent on your tavern.

I think of Area Knowledge and Current Affairs as useful but maybe not essential. Like if I was making a character who worked in a tavern I'd probably include them.

I had originally put Politics into that same category of useful-but-not-necessary, but Jason Taylor makes a really good point. Even if you don't want to support a political group by letting them plot rebellions in your back room while they buy your beer, it's very smart for you to identify what political ideologies are dangerous so your tavern doesn't get a reputation for being a den for the bad element.

[jason taylor]

Cultural Familiarity: Traditional Patrons

Way back when, there was an Inn or a Coffeehouse, or a Pub or some sort of hangout for every conceivable quirk, or specialty in London except femininity which is admittedly a reasonably large exception. Probably there still is with the exception gone though club culture may not be as much of a thing as it use to.

In my favorite Starbucks the customers tend to be college students and a quite civilized run of them including couples sweet talking each other adorably, studious students cramming on laptops, and once in a while a prayer group. In fact the best word to describe the place is just that: civilized.

The immortal Wayside Inn had a select group of elite literari come to spin yarns in the book. It was a bit off the way and probably aside from that, got farmers, tinkers, etc.

Quark pretty obviously likes the Federation better then the Cardasians and has enough ability to charm them. I don't know if he would get CF but certainly Savoire-Faire.

Barliman Butterbur certainly had CF. He could get along with Hobbits, indeed was almost one himself.