Pyramid #3/52: Low-Tech II Overview

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by nondescript handle

A Caravanserai on the Desert Road
An article I had great hopes for, but only half of it was fulfilled.
The description (and map) of the caravanserai (and its NPCs) are very good. It's a top notch location I will use repeatedly.
But: It's a caravanserai run by earth Arabs, who are clearly Muslims and speak Arabic. Not by Nomic tribesmen, who are polytheistic (Caravan to Ein Arris p.4) and speak Nomic or Lantrai. It's a historic (or alt history) or even Banestorm background, but not the setting of Caravan to Ein Arris.

It was intentionally written like this. The first half was about real historical caravanserais. The last half was modified to suit the SJG adventure. Change the imam and the shrine to any religion you want and it is ready to go.

Edit: nitpick - the terms and names I used are mostly Persian, not Arabic.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by nondescript handle

At this point in the series (I hope it's not the last part) it's still static: no mechanisms for improving the domain or bad seasons and so on.

There are a number of land improvements in the article in 3/33: terracing hillsides, irrigation, and so on.

Originally Posted by nondescript handle

One thing I did not like was the insistence that all cash/luxury crops/animal husbandry is owned outright by the over lord. No wealthy farmers or minor nobles here

You're reading "overlord" too narrowly. In the context of the article, it simply means someone who has some control over the land and has farmers providing him with a share of their produce. That most definitely includes minor noblemen and even wealthy non-noble farmers who have a couple of tenants on their land.

[nondescript handle]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

It was intentionally written like this. The first half was about real historical caravanserais. [...]

Yeah, I understand. It's just that I've just recently started a 1-on-1 campaign in the setting and was quite hyped to learn more about it.
As I said: the location itself is very nice.

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

There are a number of land improvements in the article in 3/33: terracing hillsides, irrigation, and so on. [...]

Good point.

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

[...] You're reading "overlord" too narrowly. In the context of the article, it simply means someone who has some control over the land and has farmers providing him with a share of their produce. [...]

But if I read the Cash Crops Table correctly the lord's share of these is always 100% (equivalent to CR6 in the Overlord Income Table), which I interpret as outright ownership. That's the reason the lord has to pay them their $375 per household for survival right?
For example the five households of shepherds in the TL3 example Village as written, get 11*$154.38 from the lord for their services, and the lord gets all (5*$836) the profits from the sheep.

My envisioned house rule for this village where the shepherds are actually well off freemen (CR2) who own their own sheep and pasture would be to let the lord keep the $1698.18 (because the shepherds buy their grain at the market), but the lord would get CR2 level taxes from their profits ($4180*0.33 = $1379.40).

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by nondescript handle

But if I read the Cash Crops Table correctly the lord's share of these is always 100% (equivalent to CR6 in the Overlord Income Table), which I interpret as outright ownership.

The article sets out values and procedures assuming that cash crops are the property of a landowner rather than individual peasants, yes. This was historically frequently the case. Most cash crops require a considerable capital investment, so peasant farmers, who had to spend most of their labor just producing enough subsistence crops to stay alive, were rarely able to produce economically significant quantities of more expensive stuff.

It's not impossible for that to happen, of course. You certainly could have a village which collectively owned and cultivated a small vineyard, a grove of tea trees, or what have you, and tax their total income accordingly. The pieces are all there if you're so inclined. It's just that the focus of the article is on the landlords and the settlements supported by agricultural hinterlands, not moderately well-to-do farmers.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by nondescript handle

As I said: the location itself is very nice.

Except for some doors vanishing between my initial draft of the plan and my final one. Each room in the SW corner should have a door leading from the central corridor. There should be an open doorway at the end of this corridor too.

[NightHawk]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Except for some doors vanishing between my initial draft of the plan and my final one. Each room in the SW corner should have a door leading from the central corridor. There should be an open doorway at the end of this corridor too.

Are you aloud to share your original version?

[Steven Marsh]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

Except for some doors vanishing between my initial draft of the plan and my final one. Each room in the SW corner should have a door leading from the central corridor. There should be an open doorway at the end of this corridor too.

Dan, if you send me tweaks of what's supposed to be fixed, we can patch it up.

[Steven Marsh]

And, as ordained by prophecy, the map has been updated. Previous purchasers can re-download the issue from their file list, while new customers will never know what the heck we were talking about. :-)

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Tzeentch

The new issue is out. Here's my initial impressions. A more complete review will be posted to RPG.NET

I don't recall seeing the RPG.net review. Did I miss it?

[Tzeentch]

It should have been, but I don't see anything from RPG.NET about it. I may have to re-write it :(