Owning a Business

When you’ve been playing in a well-developed campaign for some time, there’s the opportunity to have just as many enjoyable sessions that can happen outside a dungeon and within the confines of a city. Many a DM will spend the time building a rich and detailed city, especially if the characters use that location as their base of operations, spending their time in the city when they are not out on the road, slaying monsters. Many times such a place can lead to some of the most enjoyable role play, as the interaction with the citizens can produce a wide range of results, from a person of questionable morals trying to rope the party into assisting him to finding the love of your life and getting married….just make sure they aren’t a Bard.

So why not invest some of that hard earned gold and invest it in real estate, or better yet, a business that can generate another source of revenue for you. In our previous campaign, two of the characters purchased a closed tavern, did a full remodel, added rooms for rent, and hired a chef. Rebranded as the Tipsy Mouse, it provided us with a base of operations, generated revenue for the two characters, and was the place where many of our funnier adventures began. There was even food critic who did a review of the Tipsy Mouse, which the DM wrote out and provided to the party one session. It was a really bad review as the reviewer had ulterior motives. One of the player-owners was pissed and almost killed him (and was mad at the writer out of the game for a little bit). We put down roots in the city, took an active interest in what was happening in the city, and in turn the entire world that we were playing in.

Taverns and Inns are the most popular establishments that players are normally interested in, but with so many different backgrounds and kits available to characters in 5e, the variety of different businesses available is only limited by one’s imagination. What character with an urchin background wouldn’t want to own their own business, knowing they have a steady source of income after living so long in squalor. Expertise in a brewers kit could lead to your very own winery or microbrewery. For those with a loose sense of morality and are proficient in gambling, as casino or gambling hall where some of the games are rigged in your favor isn’t out of the question. With all the opportunities to start you’re own side business it is a wonder that more people aren’t doing it!

Why would I want to open my own business? I’m busy killing dragons.

In a world where you are hunting down monsters, exploring new lands, and possibly even saving the world, doing something as mundane as opening a jewelery shop seems like a fool’s errand. Dungeons and Dragons is a capitalist society and money makes the world go round, just like the real world without the kobolds. What wizard doesn’t want a steady source of income to help cover the costs of their research and reference materials? A ranger could easily turn their knowledge of all things nature into a herbalist shop. Those are just a couple of examples of how a character has the potential to benefit from investing in a modest business. You’ve risked your life to acquire your riches, so investing in you’re own future is a logical choice to make. Plus, you can’t keep killing monsters forever and if you’re lucky enough to live through it all, you’ll have a business to keep you busy in your ‘retirement’ years.

Characters also have numerous expenses throughout a campaign and often they do not have the money to cover them. Many of the higher level spells all have pretty costly material components you’ll need. Even those important lower-level spells, such as Revivify require you to have diamonds worth 300 gold, and once you cast the spell, the diamonds are history. Having a side business can assist in covering the cost of such items, which you’ll need when your barbarian tells the party they’ve got this and wades into the horde of 200 kobolds.

Then there is the cost of the eventual Resurrection spell you’ll need a cast on a party member at some point. The local temple doesn’t provide its services for free and it can get very expensive, very fast. Even if after emptying the till at your tavern you may not have enough gold to cover the cost of bringing back the foolhardy barbarian. Owning a business gives the savvy business owner options that were not available before. You could have the temple hold the title of your business in place of upfront payment. If nothing else, even the shadiest of moneylenders will give you a loan if you can provide documentation of ownership for a legitimate business.

There is also the potential for new storylines and adventures that revolve around your establishment. Exploring the nearby dungeon is fun and exciting, but you’ll fight harder if it’s to protect the place you’ve put your Blood, sweat and tears into. In the campaign where the Tipsy Mouse Tavern was purchased, our arch-nemesis throughout the campaign opened a nearly identical establishment directly across the street. Tempers flared, harsh words were spoken and plans were made on how to increase business and shut down our new competitor. Throughout two sessions we plotted and schemed ways to drive him out of business, taking the matter very seriously, but having fun doing it. We hired a band for entertainment, figured out how to market our new live entertainment, and spent money to spruce up the place. The best part was when things went completely off the rails. To make a long story short, one of the party members finally had enough, walked across the street, and firebombed the tavern. That led to guards showing up, people getting arrested, almost executed, and costly fines for all the trouble he caused. It was awesome.

Getting started

So you have decided to take the plunge and become a small business owner, but where do you start? The DMG is no help for your new start-up, as the information it supplies is only for building a stronghold and other large sized building, which are extremely expensive depending on the type and size you want to build. I probably won't need a building the size of a trading post or guildhall, as my jewelry shop only needs to be 20X 20 square feet. It also doesn’t take into consideration several things, such as a change in construction costs based on location, availability of skilled workers to construct your building, and scarcity of building materials.

The first thing I recommend is finding a suitable location for your physical space. You’ll need to buy or possibly lease the land, so that’s an additional cost you’ll need to consider. Now you can always attempt to purchase an existing establishment and renovate it, but the character still has to pay for the land it is on, and remodels aren’t cheap. Another option is to see if there is a space available for rent depending on what sort of business your character is going to open. Just remember to factor in the fixed monthly cost. Building from the ground up will take a longer construction time, as you are creating a tailor-made space, but this can be very useful in bringing the player’s vision to reality.

During construction, you’ll need to find staff for the business, unless you do not want it to be open while your character is out killing monsters. Being closed during that time would greatly reduce the amount of gold your business will bring in and the character may find it difficult to even cover their monthly fixed. Hiring a competent person to run your business when you are not there is critical, and locating someone that has the necessary skills required to run it may take some time depending on the location. Additionally, this person needs to be trustworthy or you can find your profits aren’t what they should be since they could be skimming off the top or not charging for some services rendered. Additional day-to-day staff is also required and the number of skilled and unskilled persons needed depends on the nature of the business. The DMG (pg. 127) has a chart listing out how many skilled and unskilled employees (called hirelings for some strange reason) are needed for various types of properties, along with the total maintenance cost. This is your daily fixed cost, including such expenses as paying your employees, repairs, and various expenses you’ll need to run your business on a daily basis. This does not include the cost of the inventory of materials or supplies you create/serve your patrons. A tavern needs food and alcohol to serve its guests and a winery needs to buy grapes, bottles, etc. The good news is that you only pay out these expenses once a month, but the bad news is once a month you’re paying out a ton of gold. Finally, how much to charge for the services provided needs to be determined. Research needs to be done since you’ll want to be competitive in the market. If you opened a tavern I hope your liver is ready for a long few weeks. That doesn’t mean you have to charge the same prices as everyone else. If you are using higher quality ingredients or materials you may want to charge a premium. Just remember to to price yourself out of the market.

So now the construction is complete, you’ve got your employees, and inventory has arrived. Now its time to make some money!

Revenues and Your Success (or Failure)

Some businesses are open every day, all day, such as your local inn. Others may work mainly on a commission basis, as someone like a jeweler could focus on making mainly custom pieces for rich patrons. The main question for your character is how much gold am I going to make on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. How do you determine how many drinks are served at the tavern you just opened or how many kegs were sold of that new microbrew you spent months developing?

The DMG has the Running a Business chart (pg. 129). A character rolls a d100 and adds the number of days spent working the business during downtime days, and the table provided tells you how much you’ve made during that time. Rolls between 01-40 result in the business losing money during that period, 41-60 you break even, and 61-00 you make a profit of anywhere from 5 and 150 gold per day. This method is so simple it’s insulting, especially considering how much time and effort you’ve spent working on your business. It feels like they are saying that while you may be great at slaughtering goblins on the battlefield, your ability to run a business is shit. The chart doesn’t take into account any profits the business may make while you are not actually at your establishment, which makes no sense. What the heck are you paying the general manager of your tavern for if you’re not going to make any gold while you are away?

No one wants to have to figure out how many sales were made each day, the average amount of gold per sale, daily inventory and fixed costs, and so on. Taking the business mechanics to that extreme would take so much time and effort it would take the joy out of the entire process. But there needs to be some sort of middle ground between these two extremes, especially since the character has poured their heart and soul into the business and wants to see a return on their investment. The creation of an economic system for your business needs to be created that makes sense, and who knows, maybe we will be the ones to do it!

Owning a business can be fun and add a dimension to the campaign that you never thought possible. That said, it’s not as simple as buying a bar and expecting the gold to start pouring in. A business is like a baby; you love it to death, but it takes a lot of time and effort to take care of. Be prepared to spend your downtime days dealing with issues that arise while you have been out saving the world….and don’t give away too many free drinks!

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Header Art Credit - Lee Mingi