Forbidden Lands Stronghold

The Forbidden Lands box set was a welcome Christmas gift this past year.  I skimmed it and put it up.

Then I stumbled across this video from Hexed Press, and now I want to put it into practice and work through the Stronghold building rules - anything to procrastinate from #Dungeon23 progress. 

So here goes.

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First off is determining just who is constructing this Stronghold.  We'll start with a trio of successful adventurers and their retainers.

Syr Alayna (Human Fighter), Brand (Human Fighter), Arianna Starchaser (Half-Elf Sorcerer) are the PCs and stars of this show.

Their retainers consist of two Human Fighters (squires to Syr Alayna), a Human Hunter, a Human Minstrel, a Human Rogue, and a Human Peddler.

Local allies include a pair of Druids, Elf and Half-Elf, and a Dwarf Fighter. 

These are the principal builders and suppliers of resources and skills.

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While our heroes could repurpose a discovered/cleared/conquered stronghold and make it their own, we'll save that for later and instead build one from scratch.  Because sometimes I like making my life difficult.

If you want to build your stronghold from scratch, you must first build a wooden house, a stone house, or a castle.  The list on page 194 indicates how long this takes and which tools and raw materials are required.

So basically, Minecraft on paper.  Something I am totally down for. Note that the rulebook states that you can draw a map of your stronghold if you'd like, but it's not required in the rules.  Crazy stuff.

Having found a hill that has ready access to fresh water, a commanding view of avenues of approach, and only a week's ride from the nearest civilized location, Team Example has opted to build a Stone House, a Tower, and a Fort enclosing them.

So 30 gold + 20 gold + 250 gold, as well as 600 stone + 400 stone + 200 stone and 1000 wood.  It takes one month + two weeks + two months, so about four months, to build once resources are on site.  

Between them, the tools required are sledgehammer, pickaxe, saw, and hammer.  Did I mention Minecraft?

You know this Keep.  Artist NOT ME.

All 1200 stone requires a nearby Quarry (controlled by the ally Dwarf Fighter) and costs 2 copper apiece, or 2400 copper.  The 1000 wood requires a Forest or Dark Forest (the Druid allies) and costs 3 copper a piece, or 3000 copper.

So 5400 copper for resources.  And time.

Resources gathered, Team Example begins construction (and to be fair, I might be misinterpreting things, and stacking the three building types is wrong, and the fort would automatically add the other two buildings, but my gut says no.  That gut is filled with cheap red wine, though, so keep that in mind).

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In addition to generic buildings that serve as start points, there are specific areas with specific functions that can be added to the Stronghold.  Some of which are prerequisites for other areas.

The trio sit down and plan out necessities for themselves and their followers, and decide upon a Bakery, a Fireplace, a Forge, a Garden, an Inn, a Library, a Portcullis, Ramparts, a Root Cellar, a Scriptorium, a Shooting Range, a Shrine, Stables, Training Grounds, a Vault, and a Well.

After looking at the list, the fighters add the following defenses: two Guard Towers, a Portcullis, Ramparts.  A Moat is discussed, but decided against.

So in addition to the 1200 Stone and 1000 Wood, they will need 2550 Stone and 1050 Wood and 170 Iron, so 3750 Stone, 2050 Wood, and 170 Iron as a whole.  Note that Iron is 1 silver each. 

In the end, it looks like 7500 Copper for Stone, 3150 Copper for Wood, and 170 Silver for Iron.

Presuming my math is right - I am doing heavy mental math and mixing it with wine.

Note that these various improvements bring more than just costs.  Some boost reputation, some provide defensive bonuses, some provide XP bonuses, or a variety of other things.

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While it takes nearly 4 months to build the basics, the specific extras require an additional six days, sixteen weeks, and two months.  Figuring four weeks to a month, that is a bit more than six additional months.

This puts us at a year of building, more or less.

Once built, money must be spent to cover salaries (especially of guards) and upkeep of the buildings.

Salaries imply hirelings beyond the main retainers.  While there may be numerous extras among the NPCs in the stronghold, a few are necessary, require salaries, and as such, are important people to keep pleased... or at least paid.

Our heroes know that they need a baker, a smith, a farmer, an innkeeper, a handyman, a pair of hunters, and several guards.  This means a daily salary of 38 copper, and 1 silver for all but the guards.  A half-dozen guards would be 6 silver per day, so 38 copper and 7 silver daily total.

If cash reserves run low, a Master Builder can be hired to supervise construction while the adventurers galivant across the land, seeking out new sources of income.  His rate is 2 silver each day. 

As the various hirelings automatically make their assorted skill checks (that is what they are paid for), it may be wise to start construction with a Master Builder instead of risking it on a die roll.

Failing to meet salary means trouble and potentially rebellion. 

Or worse.

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That's it - a Stronghold according to Forbidden Lands.  All told, its fairly quick, as long as resources and cash are available.  The book includes a helpful worksheet for tracking all the bits, which is free to download from the Fria Ligan site.

Having yet to actually play Forbidden Lands, I have no idea how difficult it may be to acquire said resources.  Looking at the treasure tables and the included adventures, coins are few and far between.  Affording the resources and the daily salaries is going to require a substantial down payment or serious favors owed.

So it seems the trio of adventurers were quite successful before deciding to build.  Even so, a wiser course of action might be to space the construction out over years, rather than at one time.  Just like in real life.  Neat.

What this exercise has done is makes me really want to play some Forbidden Lands.

The damaged observatory reminds me of the Ruins on Bone Hill.  Source undetermined, but not me!

Monday MtG: Away Decks II

A new year means a new set of Away Decks to ship off to Ohio.  From reports, last year's decks perform well and have a high win rate, which only encourages me.  

The Ohio games are typically multiplayer 20 life, creature-heavy affairs with decks ranging from precons to piles and all points in between, to include a massive Battle of Wits deck.  In truth, some of the decks haven't been changed in 20+ years, so there is no telling what may appear.  That said, there are favorites among the various players, so at some point, Bob's elves, John's slivers, or Lisa's lifegain decks are going to make an appearance.

Other house rules to keep in mind are that mana burn often still exists (depending on whose house we play at), and all players have the option to substitute a draw to instead reveal cards off the top of the library until they hit a land.  The revealed cards get placed on the bottom of the library in random order and the revealed land goes into the hand.  

This last rule lets folks actually play their decks.

Like last year, I'll build three decks using Commander rules, knowing that they probably won't be used for Commander games, just casual multiplayer games of 3-8 players. Unlike last year, I want to keep costs low on these decks, while still keeping them viable.  

Luckily, a local store has boxes of poorly sorted cards at great prices: .10 a common, .25 an uncommon, and .40 a rare (although a few rares are in a binder at higher prices).  All I need do is invest the time to sift through several 5-row long boxes.

In fact, I have already been sifting, leaving me with solid removal for a GW deck: Generous Gift, Swords to Plowshares, and Beast Within.  The same box provided several other sweet uncommons for well under market value, as well.

This means that one of this year's Away Decks is GW.  As I am using all the colors again, I am opting for UR and B as the other two decks.  Now that color choices out of the way, all I need do is choose Commanders and start building.

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The Commander solution lies in all of the partial decks I have neatly stacked in my MtG closet. Yes, I have an MtG closet. There are other things in there, but the closet's main purpose is Magic.  It saddens me that my closet does not open into another dimension.  I guess we'll have Narnia that in this house!  

Looking at the various piles of partial decks, I see Niv-Mizzet, Parun, as well as Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn and Ayara, First of Lochthwain.  

These meet my color needs and promise variety, so it looks like these are my Commanders.  As I have partial decks, that will save money as I already own many of the cards that will be going into each deck.  Ideally, the sleeves will be the largest expenditure for each deck.  

I kid.  Cards will be - and have already been - purchased.  My goal is just not as much as last year.

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My thoughts are to make Niv-Mizzet a steal other players' stuff deck, utilizing Stolen Strategy, Etali, Spelltwine, Diluvian Primordial, and the like. This means that the deck won't overly rely on comboing out with Niv in play.  Yes, some of those cards will be in the 99, but they won't be my main path to victory.

The flaw to the 'play others' decks' strategy is that it relies heavily on the other decks in the game, which can be a dangerous reliance.  Still, it will be fun and, more importantly, different.

And that is really the whole point of the exercise.  

Just in case the stealing whiffs, the deck's backup plan will involve chaos and Dragons.  I'm tempted to lean into the UR spell-slinging archetype, but that makes me uncomfortable in regular Commander games, so my trepidation for the Ohio meta is even higher.

Regardless of how I go about it, I want this deck to draw and draw and draw some more, which means Teferi's Puzzle Box, Mindmoil, and Arjun; maybe Teferi's Ageless Insight as well.  Alongside this strategy are the myriad cards that expand my handsize and Elixir of Immortality, so I can draw everything again.

An expectation of blue is countermagic. Personally, I am a terrible countermagic player; I tend to put my hand down and visit or do other things when it's not my turn, so I've lost count of the times I could have countered a game-changing spell, but failed to do so, because I wasn't paying attention. Still, this is a deck for counterspells, especially if I lean into the UR cost reduction spells.

Enough counterspells makes Haughty Djinn a consideration.  There are lots of ways this deck can go, and I am excited to see what the final list looks like.

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Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn almost builds itself - creature beat down, supported with lifegain.  

As there is no guarantee that Lathiel will see play each game in Ohio - although if these were standard Commander games, she'd see play all the time - I need to make sure each card has an impact related to her, but not dependent on her.

Granted, all decks should be built with the thought that each individual card can stand on its own (sorry combo decks), but Lathiel really wants to see lots of counters and life gain, so this deck will feature more synergistic cards than normal - normal for an Ohio game, but about right for a Commander game.

To compensate, I am considering adding cards that are group hug or at least some form of politics.  After all, GW lends itself to hugs, with Selvala and Gluntch in its ranks. It's a shame that Primal Vigor is pushing $30ish, as it would be a perfect addition.

If nothing else, this is the perfect deck and meta for Capricopian.  It even plays nice with the +1/+1 counter synergies in the deck.

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Last, but not least, is Ayara, First of Locthwain.  In truth, this deck is already in draft form, and I am now in the 'choose 28 individual swamps with the same border but different art that I find appealing' stage - a part of deckbuilding that I spend far too much time on: selecting the right basic lands.

It makes me regret that I didn't buy up the APAC basic lands for $3-$5 each when I was stationed in Korea back in the late '90s.  I can still picture that table lined with the individual lands, particularly this mountain.  

My thoughts at the time were 'who would pay $5 for a basic land?'  Lots of folks, it turns out.  Now that same basic land will set you back close to $100.

Such is life.

Anyhow, my Ayara deck is currently sitting at 40+ creatures, with hints of reanimation, EtB, and aristocrat tricks. I am vacillating between adding several demons and Liliana's Contract or cutting those for other cards - this would free up nearly 10 slots in the deck.

Two cards not in the deck are Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos.  I own both cards, but won't be giving them up, as they are beyond the budget of replacing, at $28 and $15, respectively.  If this deck were for my use alone, both would be present, alongside other monoblack staples Cabal Coffers and Torment of Hailfire. 

How selfish of me.

I'm on the fence about adding Skullclamp.  This equipment lives for token decks, which Ayara basically is.  That said, Skullclamp is closer to $10 than not, and I've already spent a bit on Cabal Stronghold, Nirkana Revenant, Magus of the Coffers, and Bubbling Muck (it IS monoblack) for the deck, so this may not make the cut to keep costs down.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel is here though, as are other EtB all-stars and the means to continually recast or replay them.  This is a black deck, after all, so such should be expected. 

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Cards not found in any of these decks, nor in the first set of Away Decks, are the expected mana rocks (beyond Thought Vessel and Decanter of Endless Water - both included for the no hand size limit).  The meta these decks are intended for is not one where folks are racing to combo or racing to do anything, and the houserule about lands means mana-fixing is minimized (and also that MLD is easily remedied).

Sol Ring.  

Cutting out rocks (and keeping decks to one or two colors) frees up lots of space in the 99, and frankly, I find it refreshing.  Nonland tutors are not present either.  I appreciate the power of a Demonic Tutor, but when decks are played a few times per year, likely by folks who didn't build the deck, a nonland tutor means every card in the deck is read.

While that does allow everyone time to pee, grab food, or have a smoke, tutoring unnecessarily extends an already long game.  To compensate, all the decks I build have strong draw power, be it through green's burst draw, black's life-for-cards and creature-for-cards, blue's cantrips, or red's wheels. 

The last reminds me, I should pick up a Reforge the Soul for Niv-Mizzet, it is such a lovely card.  

Then again, it is close to $10, so it may not make the 99, after all.

Small Update

This has been an exciting month for me, as several Kickstarters have asked for their shipping.

Secrets of the Black Crag, Scourge of the Northland, and something else that I am not sure of.

That said, I did buy some add-ons from Barkeep on the Borderlands, and these add-ons (the coasters) can be used in my terrible beer-swilling YouTube channel, so I am extra happy.

It certainly wasn't the add-ons from City of Tears, because I picked those up today.  I added hardcopies of NGR rules, Gnomes of Levnec, and Gellarde Barrow.  Admittedly, I own PDFs of two of these, but hardcopies are hardcopies.  Now I can see and easily read my games!

Next up is hopping on the Yoon-Suin, Second Edition kickstarter before it goes away in about a week.  Yoon-Suin has always looked interesting, but I am a real-book junkie.  So now I can get my fix.

All the way from Britain.

So now I am international!

Last up for this month's budget is the Mutant Crawl Classics fan starter kit.  Granted, a hardback of the MCC rules would be better, but for this price, I won't complain, especially as it brings dice, rules, charsheets, and an adventure for a low price.

To be honest, these eat into March's budget, too, but I don't think I care all that much.

Anything to force me to not spend money on Magic singles - I don't play enough to justify buying all the admittedly awesome cards out there.

Even the cards I can afford!

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I reckon that this post means I need to go to confession for pride.