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Elfcrusher wrote:Nice list, Rich. I like the flavor it adds.

Rich H wrote:... Improvements finished:

HOLDING IMPROVEMENT TRAITS
The following section lists the various Improvement Traits that may be selected by the player when a character improves the rating of their Holding. These traits describe the raw materials available to the holding, the trade or occupation of residents of the Holding, or the actual goods produced by the Holding in question.

Apiary
An apiary is a bee colony. Their presence will enhance all the crops, and provide honey to sell or make into mead, and wax for candles.

Artisans and Craftsmen
The Holding has improvements relating to artisans and/or craftsman; skilled manual workers who make items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items and tools. Artisans practice a craft and may through experience and aptitude reach the expressive levels of an artist.

Artists and/or Performers
The Holdings is the home of artists. These individuals or groups may produce song, paintings, poems or other such expressive arts often travelling, both to neighbouring communities and further afield, in order to perform for others and to finance their endeavours.

Charcoal-making
Using nearby forests and woods, the Holding produces charcoal to use, and sell to other communities, as a source of fuel to warm hearth and fire smithies.

Coneygarth
This is a large artificial enclosure, surrounded by water (since rabbits do not like swimming), with prepared “pillow mounds” where rabbits and/or hares nest and reproduce.

Dovecote
This is a large “birdhouse” that attracts a hundred or more pigeons for protection and nesting. When it’s time for squab on the menu the cook goes out and opens up a little door in the back of the nest and grabs a few. This is an especially useful way to get fresh meat in the winter.

Farm and/or Farmstead
A farm is a collection of fields and buildings used to cultivate various crops and vegetables to feed the general population, animals, and also to trade for other goods. Ranging in size from a farmstead (a farm housing and sustaining an extended family) to the larger farms found within the Dalelands these of vital importance to the well-being of the cultures they support.

Fishing
The local area has a significant river or pond where fish can be caught, saving a portion of their catch for local consumption with any left over for trade to the surrounding communities.

Foraged Foods
For those with such knowledge and training the wild can provide an abundance of forage able foodstuffs such as nuts, fruits, fungi and herbs for both cooking and medicinal purposes. These foods are often consumed by those who forage them but can be exported to surrounding areas and further afield if they are dried or preserved.

Gardens and Allotments
Including the expertise to tend, gardens are an area of ground for growing flowers, bushes and trees simply for delight and pleasure, Allotments are small holdings for growing vegetables not usually mass consumed and herbs oft used for cooking.

Horse Herd
Located in large corrals, horses are bred and used for labour, travelling or war. Highly valued by commoner and lord alike they provide a valuable service and source of income to any Holdings that has them.

Hunting Lodge
A hunting lodge is a cabin in the woods or wilds that is suitable for a couple of nights stay. A resident caretaker keeps it repaired and tidy, and always has a small supply of food on hand in case his lord shows up unexpectedly.

Inn and/or Public House
Generating income from those travelling through the lands of the Holding, and therefore only available to those places on established routes, inns and public houses also provide the local community with news and information from the patrons that frequent them.

Kennel
Used for hunting, herding or as watch dogs, etc. This large kennel is a formal structure with many pens, runs, a dog master and includes training dogs, equipment like muzzles, collars and leashes, etc. The average kennel will have 25 or so dogs, plus specialised hunting breeds. The kennels of the Woodmen are impressive structures and house their Hounds; the greatest of all the hunting dogs of Wilderland.

Livestock
Livestock may comprise of cows or sheep. Such an improvement constitutes a large herd of a couple of hundred cows or several hundred sheep. Cows are raised to produce milk, cheese butter, meat and hides for leather. They are tended by cowherds, milked by dairymaids, and require a fairly large staff to exploit fully. Sheep are raised for food, wool and parchment. They are grazed on Wastelands, guarded by shepherds who also milk them, and shear them in the spring.

Logging
Wood and forest The wastes may be logged. It is an occasional activity. Harvested trees are sold in the and used for lumber, barrels, staves, weapons and ships. Reckless logging will permanently ruin this resource.

Mews
This is an elaborate collection of pens and cages, a variety of hawks and falcons, and workers to take care of them.

Mill and/or Millstones
A Holding needs only one mill, to which all the farmers in the surrounding area bring their grain to be ground into flour. A mill may be water-driven, wind-driven or ox-driven. In smaller, self-sustaining hamlets, each family may use their own millstone instead of a central mill.

Mine
Found within mountainous or hilly regions a mine usually provides iron, gold or silver through the veins that are discovered therein. Such valuable raw materials are sold on to smithies and artisans alike for various uses.

Orchards
An orchard is a large grove of fruit trees. These may be apple, pear, cherry, plum, chestnut, walnut, etc.

Pipeweed
Grown predominantly in the Shire, Pipeweed is a tobacco that is farmed and dried and used by hobbits and others to smoke within their pipes. The cultivation and exportation of this herb is a key industry in the Shire, especially in the south. Popular varieties of pipe-weed included Longbottom Leaf, Old Toby, and Southern Star.

Smithy
A specific type of craftsman. Smithies may range from the production of weapons and armour to the shoeing of horses and other beasts of burden.

Trading House
Merchants use trading houses as part of their business; the front is employed to receive other traders in order to negotiate and finalise deals and the rear is often a warehouse used for storing stock purchased and/or transported from further afield.

Vineyard and/or Vintners
A Vineyard is an expanse of land given over to growing grapes. Grapes are delicate fruits, hard to maintain. The grapes can be used in a Winery instead of as income. A winery makes wine out of grapes. The materials needed are specialised. Furthermore, a real expert is necessary for continued success. The Dorwinions are master Vintners and have yet to be surpassed by any other culture within Wilderland.

... In my opinion these provide much needed flavour and guidance for players when developing their Holdings. Hope they are of use to people.

This is great, Rich. I love it, and I know at least one of my players has his eye on one day having a Manor so he will be pleased. But I'm not sure it works for all types of holdings. For example, if a player owned an Inn or a Public House in Lake-town, what sort of Improvements could a player use? I started thinking about this because one of my players has the Minstrelsy trait and owns a musical repair shop in Lake-town where she makes and repairs musical instruments. Maybe I'm over thinking this...

beckett wrote:This is great, Rich. I love it, and I know at least one of my players has his eye on one day having a Manor so he will be pleased. But I'm not sure it works for all types of holdings. For example, if a player owned an Inn or a Public House in Lake-town, what sort of Improvements could a player use? I started thinking about this because one of my players has the Minstrelsy trait and owns a musical repair shop in Lake-town where she makes and repairs musical instruments. Maybe I'm over thinking this...

zedturtle wrote:This is my only reason for not wholeheartedly endorsing Rich's idea. When you tell everyone to make it up, you sometimes get more meaningful results than just making people choose something off a list. Of course, some players will need the list and not feel comfortable with making something up.

zedturtle wrote:Both Rich and I are drawing strongly off the Book of the Manor for Pendragon but that has the advantage of just representing one type of Holding for one culture (well two if you differentiate between Pagan and Christian).

Rich H wrote:That was something I considered and my current take on it is that the player would pick the inn (trait) multiple times up to some kind of maximum. Perhaps there could be some kind of additional trait to support this ("Size") so that a Holding which was solely an inn could be developed from small (rating 1), to medium (rating 2) and finally large (rating 3)? That way it allows for Holding's to be expanded in their sole 'trade' but also limits them somewhat, which I think makes sense in some instances (ie, an inn) but not necessarily others (ie, a gold mine)!

Rich H wrote:No system is ever going to be a perfect fit but as long as what gets created allows for LMs and players to bend it to their own preferences, or bolt on elements, then I'm happy with them. I think TOR does an excellent job of this, by the way. It's why I love tweaking and changing it!

beckett wrote:That's a good solution. Perhaps the maximum is limited by the character's Standard of Living? I think Zedturtle had a similar table related to Standard of Living?

beckett wrote:Side note: I owe you an email, Rich. I haven't forgotten.