How to spend several tonnes of gold?

[Pomphis]

Originally Posted by Jovus

This is a way to give the players most of the gold while disabling them from using it,

Not really. Either the loss of a little bit of all that gold causes the ship to crash - than a single hit from a ballista will crash the ship. Or it does not - then the PCs can simply break off a few ounces for sale whenever they need cash.

[PseudoFenton]

Originally Posted by William

{ship stuff}

Originally Posted by aesir23

{ship stuff}

Originally Posted by Pomphis

{ship stuff}

These are really useful, thanks!

Originally Posted by Jovus

Looking at it from the point of view of your problem, rather than, "What would the Flying Dutchman actually look like?"

Good ideas, although I also need to take into account the factor of "what will the dragon have", as the players will likely be trading directly and not commissioning a flying boat from scratch (plus the dragon would never waste his time building something for someone else).

Originally Posted by RyanW

Also, gold is the sun metal, the sun flies across the sky, therefore gold can fly across the sky. QED.

Although, now that I think about it, the sun god union may not take too kindly to scabs.

Heh, I approve! I'm thinking *coated* in gold works just as well, and means you still have wood on the inside which makes it less hot in the sun and more easily damaged in general.

I've got ideas for how to fit this in now, and how it'll be made (and the associated costs, just needed a few rough figures to slap down really). So that should be it!

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Pomphis

....Or it does not - then the PCs can simply break off a few ounces for sale whenever they need cash.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Think about it....:)

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

OK, when you told me that they were going to BUY magic items from the dragon with the gold, I thought it made perfect sense, as they wouldn't get anywhere near the local economy and had a very good chance of keeping their new toys secret. But now you're talking about buying an expensive magical construct with the money, and all my quibbles are back. The local ruler will hear about these rich people commsioning a flying ship and will be asking himself where they got all that gold. soon he'll be asking the PCs. Local robbers will hear about them too with predictable results.


Hans

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by Hans Rancke-Madsen

OK, when you told me that they were going to BUY magic items from the dragon with the gold, I thought it made perfect sense, as they wouldn't get anywhere near the local economy and had a very good chance of keeping their new toys secret. But now you're talking about buying an expensive magical construct with the money, and all my quibbles are back. The local ruler will hear about these rich people commsioning a flying ship and will be asking himself where they got all that gold. soon he'll be asking the PCs. Local robbers will hear about them too with predictable results.


Hans

Gnomish airships are a known (though rare) product of the famous yards of Yarlidingkoop. Normally they are only sold to governments/used to equip the Gnomish Academy of Practical Science expeditions, but for (say) 500% markup, the yards are willing to sell the PCs their next ship to come off the production line and push their normal orders out a couple months.

Of course, this WILL annoy some people, but the PCs.and the shipyard should be mostly keep the news under wraps until a few weeks before they take possession of the ship.

This also means the PCs get the ship you give them, instead of being able to request one with cannons or whatever you don't want them to have.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Hans Rancke-Madsen

OK, when you told me that they were going to BUY magic items from the dragon with the gold, I thought it made perfect sense, as they wouldn't get anywhere near the local economy and had a very good chance of keeping their new toys secret. But now you're talking about buying an expensive magical construct with the money, and all my quibbles are back. The local ruler will hear about these rich people commsioning a flying ship and will be asking himself where they got all that gold. soon he'll be asking the PCs. Local robbers will hear about them too with predictable results.

Except now they are selling the gold to the dragon, who knows a guy that has an airship (or can build one, or something) that owes him a favor. The king can tax the dragon, of course. Or at least he can try.

[PseudoFenton]

Originally Posted by Hans Rancke-Madsen

OK, when you told me that they were going to BUY magic items from the dragon with the gold, I thought it made perfect sense, as they wouldn't get anywhere near the local economy and had a very good chance of keeping their new toys secret. But now you're talking about buying an expensive magical construct with the money, and all my quibbles are back. The local ruler will hear about these rich people commsioning a flying ship and will be asking himself where they got all that gold. soon he'll be asking the PCs. Local robbers will hear about them too with predictable results.

An understandable concern Hans, one I had myself when this was first conceived, however the players have managed to do a lot to the local landscape already and have friends in high places (well middle places, but high for the area). It will certainly attract a lot more attention (somehow, they're already the centre of a lot of attention) and further polarise opinions of them (some people like them a lot, others... significantly less so), but that seems to be how the group likes to play on the social front (stumbling from one social disaster to the next).

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Except now they are selling the gold to the dragon, who knows a guy that has an airship (or can build one, or something) that owes him a favor. The king can tax the dragon, of course. Or at least he can try.

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

This also means the PCs get the ship you give them, instead of being able to request one with cannons or whatever you don't want them to have.

As for the ship, sir_pudding and Crakkerjakk have already outlined my answer! It will be an old ship, already made and entirely not up for customisation of any sort by the dragon, it will not be commissioned or created on demand. The gold which was used to obtain it will be in the dragons hoard and there will be nothing to tax or even proof that gold/coin was used to get it.

Flying ships in general will be rare, but not entirely unheard of and specialised individuals/places will have a few. There will also be different sorts of flying ships, this one will being a particularly fancy "model". The ship will have a reputation for those who have records from the time it last flew, and it's sudden re-emergence will be of interest to some, while its old and now unique design will be of interest to others. Again, this is just more opportunities for quests and more bite-sized hand outs if they let people study it, but also makes it more vulnerable to loss depending on how they handle it.

The only reason the dragon has the ship in the first place is because of its significance and will be resistant to giving it to the players at first (hopefully they'll still take the bait and try and negotiate for it). Succeeding in obtaining it will put the players (once again) into the dragons debt. Which is where the dragon likes them, so they become an asset of the dragons and will no doubt be sent to do something else quite suicidal which requires the ship to complete (after they've gotten use to it and it suits the dragons plans... he obviously has plans for it/them after all).


I understand that keeping the ship will be a task in itself, but this is fine, it becomes a quest hook magnet! They'll have to be very careful in how they use it, where they park it and be wary of others trying to take or destroy it. This should even encourage them not to just leave it parked out side of town and instead use it to explore (away from the people who know where it is), which is even better!

They'll also probably get an invite from the King of the lands soon, they've been making quite a stir and they've already made themselves noteworthy individuals - so they might find the ship claimed in the name of the King if they're foolish in how they handle that (which wont put them in very good favour with the dragon anymore, and make his next quest much harder).


Ultimately yes it will kick up a fuss. But its a big cool toy for them to play with, which is very easy for them to lose through a number of different events if they're unwise.
If it causes too many issues it isn't hard for the ship to fall out of their ownership. If not then its the perfect high expense investment I need them to take to offload their wealth, but in a way that actually helps forward the plot and elevate their place in the world.
They're meant to be the "heroes" of the world, so they should draw a lot of attention and make a reputation for themselves - even if its just as 'the guys who lost that awesome ship that one time' =D.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

The only ones making reliable money were those selling the mining equipment.

That was pretty much exactly my point - it was mostly vaporware, but people would cross the length or bredth of the continent to have a shot at it. I don't see them getting any less excited at the enormous puddle of gold in record setting quantities.

[jason taylor]

Well, to begin with, have you figured out how to get all that gold out of the dungeon? You are probably going to have to spend a lot of it on portage.

[D10]

A wizard with a few picks and a bunch of zombies could mine it but it wouldnt be easy