Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Guinea Drakes

Guinea Drakes are small saurian creatures, mostly scaled, but with some furry tufts around their feet and heads. They are kept as livestock by kobolds and other subterranean races. The guinea drake is a burrowing creature that in the wild will build extensive dugout systems in which to live. They eat primarily molds, fungus, roots, and whatever bugs they come across in their burrowing.

Groups of Guinea Drakes are known as "wheeks" due to their distinct vocalization. The echoing of a wheek of guinea drakes in their tunnels can carry for quite a distance and can be quite unnerving to anyone hearing it for the first time.


They shed their skins much like snakes, though intact examples are almost never found in the wild, as it is scraped off in their tunnels.


Their eggs are small, no more than an inch in diameter, but highly nutritious. While considered a staple of many diets, halflings can not stand the flavor.


They come in a wide variety of colors, with scaled hides ranging from greens to blues to purples, with a distinctive crest that runs from the middle of their head down to the end of their tails.


Different varieties can be found all over the underdark, and some breeders go to great length to achieve specific fur, scale, and crest combinations. The most uncommon version is the fur-less guinea drake, commonly known as "skinny-drakes". They are always albinos, with a pale red crest. Depending on the location, a live "skinny-drake" can fetch a very high price.


A few examples have come to the surface, and breeders have attempted to raise them, but the guinea drake's natural burrowing ability prevents them being caged outdoors.

While generally timid creatures, far more likely to run than to engage anything bigger than they are, they are also known to have generally foul temperaments, and a quick bite is often the result of trying to catch a wild one.



Today is the last day of August's RPG Blog Carnival here at the Tower. I want to thank everyone who participated. I'll be doing a big wrap up post sometime in the next week. Until then, let's welcome September's Carnival host John of Roleplaying Tips and get working on posts about Assassins!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Powerless

We came home from the wedding to a house with no power. BGE says it maybee Fri or SAT before it is restored. Posting will resume ASAP.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sunday Inspirational Image - D&D Lunch

My Lunch!


I've spent several lunches like this updating the monsters in Thunderspire. There are definitely worse ways to take your lunch break.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Off for the weekend

I'm off to a wedding for the weekend, but before I go I leave you with this:

Earthquakes, Hurricanes, _________, Oh My!

Fill in the blank with the next disaster that will strike the east coast.




August's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and then share the link!

Also, don't forget to vote on the poll to the right! Should I participate in Asshat Paladin's Short Adventure Challenge? Right now 100% of you think Yes!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Gaal

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday Thursday! Allow my to introduce you to Gaal of Earth 2.


Gaal, like many of Tim Curry’s characters is a villain. In this case his is a murderer who has been marooned on Earth 2 (aka Planet G889). The wonderful thing about Gaal is how archetypal a character he is. In Star Wars he could easily be a fallen or failed jedi, or even someone with just a hint of force ability. He’d work equally well in the Star Trek universe (outside of TNG anyway) pretty much as is. Classic Traveller? Easy. Alternity? Heck, that might work best of all! Just about anywhere you can put the PCs into a position where they’re stranded somewhere, Gaal can make an appearance.


There isn’t even any reason you couldn’t have Gaal show up in a D+D game. He’d work equally well somewhere deep in a megadungeon or on a desert island.

Gaal
Force Touched Criminal
Dexterity 2D+2
Dodge 3D+2
Knowledge 2D+1
Intimidation 3D+1
Survival 4D+2
Willpower 3D+1
Mechanical 1D+1
Perception 3D+1
Persuasion 4D+1
Strength 2D+2
Technical 2D
Control 1D
Sense 1D
Life Sense
Life Detection


Equipment: Bone jewelry, ragged robes

Background: Gaal is known to have killed over two dozen sentients in cold blood. He is ultimately dedicated to one thing: his own survival. Beyond that nothing else matters to him. He will lie, cheat, steal, and sometimes even tell the truth if it'll save his own skin.

Personality: Slick, smooth, and utterly malicious. He will use his "magic" and trickery to ingratiate himself with anyone he thinks is either a danger or has something Gaal wants.

Objectives: Survival, and escape

Quote: "You must remember, little one, there's no such thing as right and wrong. Not here."

Connection with Characters: Gaal will use the characters any way he can.




August's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and then share the link!

Also, don't forget to vote on the poll to the right!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Bucket (of dice) List

I got the idea for this list Norman of Troll and Flame who got it from John Four of roleplayingtips.com.

I don’t know a single DM who has run every module that they want to. Whether it’s the newest thing, or an old gem, they’ve just never gotten the chance. In spite of DMing a lot of D+D, and using a fair number of modules, there is still a lot I want to do yet...

This list is in no particular order, and is not limited to any specific edition or company. If I want to run it, I want to run it! I have however limited myself to modules for D+D or one of it’s clones/neo-clones/simulacrums/bastard children/etc..

B2 Keep on the Boarderlands*
Return to the Keep on the Boarderlands*
Red Hand of Doom
Tome of Horrors
Death Frost Doom
Stonehell
Dyson’s Delve
Vornheim**
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
Castle Amber

I actually thought that this would be a longer list, but since I did limit it to adventures that I haven’t run, rather than adventures that I want to run again... but that’s another post!

So what's on your list?

*I’d love to run these two back to back with the same group, playing the kids/heirs of the first group.
**Ok, not an adventure exactly, and I don’t own it, but that’s not the point.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Bits and Bobs V

Tim Curry Tuesday is postponed this week to Thursday, on account of the fact that I haven't finished stating it up the character for the different systems I picked this week. I should have it up on Thursday.

I'm considering doing Asshat Paladin's OSR Challenge: A September of Short Adventures. However I'm undecided. There is a poll off to the right, and you've got until Sunday night to help me decide. Leave a comment and vote, and I'll count both! If it's a really good comment, I'll count it even more!

August's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and then share the link! The response so far has been amazing, and I really appreciate everyone who has taken part. There is still some time to get your post up, so get those fingers typing!

Also, if anyone has anything specific about Birthright they'd like to know about, let me know. I'm not quite sure what to write about next for that.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Thunderspire Session 2 part 1

This session was played on 7/23.

Cory ran:
Human Knight (formerly the Dragonborn Paladin)
Ander the Halfling Rogue

Alex ran:
Barakas the Tiefling Warlord
Chan Lee the Human Monk

Some hours after the adventurers had left the Chamber of Eyes to return to the Seven Pillared Hall, a Bloodreaver slaver party returned to discovered their lair raided, their comrades dead. Revenge was plotted, and the trail followed. They weren’t hard to follow either. The warcaster sent word ahead to Brugg, the ogre enforcer of the hall, and he made himself scarce. Loading up the goblins with torches they ran for the inn, intending on burning it, and everyone in it, to the ground. Unfortunately the adventurers who had raided their camp reacted quickly.


Realizing the danger, the adventurers quickly focused their attention on the goblins, trying to take them down before they could set the inn ablaze. Unfortunately one of the little runts managed to lob his torch into the bar, smashing the bottles, and quickly spreading flames. The inn patrons were no help, and two were killed in the chaos, felled by hobgoblin blades. Other goblins tossed their torches indiscriminately setting fire to tables and stools, but amazingly not any of the patrons!

When the last of the Bloodreavers was killed the adventurers and remaining patrons rushed out of the burning inn to safety. Barakas organized everyone in sight to create a bucket brigade. It was a close call, but while the inn itself was saved, the common room was a total loss.

Rather than hang around and assist with the clean up they decided they’d figure out where the “Horned Hold” is. First they stopped by the Dugeur shop, and in a shocking display of restraint they managed to not start a fight or burn the building down. They were worried about Brugg, and what he was going to do to them since they were involved in a “fuss”. As they still didn’t know where the Horned Hold was they visited the overly friendly drow. For a small fee, he’d be happy to provide them with directions. 400gp later they had a crude map.

A couple of hours later they came upon a deep chasm, and in the distance they spotted a couple of bridges spanning it. Creeping closer they came to the Horned Hold’s gate, and spotted the orc guards before the guards saw them. They decided to bind the Monk’s hands and lead him to the gate.

“Who that?” the orc called out.

“We’ve got a slave for your masters.” the knight replied.

“We’ve already got slaves. Go away.”

“Fetch your master. We’ll deal with him.”

“He’ll be mad... You!”
the orc says to one of his companions “go get Urwol.”

A few minutes pass before the orc returns with a leather apron clad duergar.

“What!?” the grey skinned creature asks, his beard flaring like fanned embers.

“We have a slave for you.”

“We’re not buying, stop wasting my time.”
he starts to turn.

“We’re not selling. He’s yours. The Bloodreavers tasked us to deliver him.”

“Oh... well, in that case, tie him to the gate then begone.”


The knight tied the end of the rope wrapped around the monk to the gate, and the party retreated back around the curve of the path. Once out of sight, the orcs unlocked and opened the gate, untied the monk from it, pulling him into the gatehouse. Before the orc could finish closing the gate the monk tugged the rope end in his hand. Luckily for him, the trick knot worked, and the rope fell to the floor. With a spin the monk connected with the guard at the gate, and the orc next to him.”Come on!” He yelled out the gate, and his friends came running.

The fight was brutal and cramped. The small room prevented much maneuvering, and made things difficult for both sides. Urwol the smith managed to get one good use out of his powers and set the monk, knight, and rogue on fire before being pounded down along with his orc guards.


After catching their breath, they then scouted ahead, discovering the smithy that Urwol had come from. Within they could see several more duergar working on items with orc assistants. The adventurers launched into it, catching them by surprise. The adventurers had some trouble with the duergar turning invisible on them, and the knight was just having rotten luck. He managed to miss with 4 attacks in a row, by 1, with combat advantage!

At the end of the fight the adventurers all paused for a second, and everyone turned and looked at the far end of the room. A lone orc was fiddling with a door handle. He stopped, and looked over his shoulder at the 4 adventurers who had just wiped the floor with his friends. He flashed a big worried grin at them, threw the door open, and bolted. The monk followed, chasing the orc out onto a long skinny bridge, one of the 2 they’d seen before. He quickly caught the greenskin, grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around. The monks knee slammed into the orcs groin, knocking the breath out of him and doubling him over. The monk then grabbed him by the back of the shirt and tossed him over the edge of the bridge. It took barely a moment for the orc to disappear into the darkness. It took at least 4 before the monk heard him hit bottom.


To be continued...

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Phaelonian Exotic Pets

Location: A113
Store Type: Pet Store
Name: Phaelonian Exotic Pets

Hoots, howls, chirps, and tweets call passers by to turn an look into this spacious and chrome accented store. The front windows contain several different sections, each showing off a selection of the different pets they have available.


One feature that all the animals in the store share is their small size making them more suitable for more cramped space ships. In fact no creature for sale is bigger than a Terran house cat. The selection of animals will vary with every visit, though for some reason short haired golden hamsters are always available.

Raoul!

The proprietor is a sentient computer that roams the store as a chrome robotic arm attached to a series of tracks on the ceiling. At the end of the arms is a round sensor device with speaker attached.




August's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and then share the link!

Building a Better GM

Bedoo threw down the gauntlet by saying “something I'd like to see more bloggers discuss is their successful table techniques that translate into good games"

Ckutalik codified this with these 3 questions:

  1. Name three “ best practices” you possess as a GM. What techniques do you think you excel at?
  2. What makes those techniques work? Why do they “pop”?
  3. How do you do it? What are the tricks you use? What replicable, nuts-and-bolts tips can you share?
1. Be prepared. I’m not talking about knowing the rules, or having read through the module you’re going to run, that’s a given. I’m talking about being ready for when things go wrong. For example in my last session the players managed to take out a dragon in 2 rounds, making what should have been the big tense fight of the night into something that was at once awesome, and yet a bit of a let down. “Dragon” is half the name of the game! It shouldn’t be a 2 round encounter. Just... no!

But it happened.

We moved on, and they still got a big boss fight before we wrapped up for the night. Because of they way things went earlier I had an encounter that they skipped that I tweaked on the fly to beef it up a bit, and I dropped on them. It was everything the dragon encounter could have been.

Things are not going to go according to plan. Be prepared, mentally, to go with it.

2. Ham it up. This is Dungeons and Dragons, not Lord of the Rings. You are not a professional actor or writer of works of literary genius, you are a DM. Use funny voices, odd speech patterns, hats, props, and your hands. You don’t have to be (or even just look) crazy, but put some life into it. It’ll get your pulse going, which will get you more into the game. This will spread to your players, even if they don’t get in on the act. My players are almost pure 3rd person when it comes to their characters, but I can tell they respond better when I get into it.

3. Provide options and back doors. This goes back to point 1 - Your players are not following a script, and they especially aren’t following your script! Be sure that if you give them a situation that they can get into, they you give them a way out. I’m not talking about a free pass, but if you stick them in a room without any doors, windows, or anything else, no one is going to have any fun. Give them a door, but make it cost whoever opens it. If they’ve been stupid, maybe it costs a hand. Who’s going to sacrifice a hand to let everyone out?





This might come as a shock, but August's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and then share the link!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Review: Conan the Barbarian

As I’m sure everyone is aware, today is the release of the new movie Conan The Barbarian.


I only just recently read my first Conan in the form of the Conan The Barbarian collection from Barnes and Noble’s clearance shelf. The cover is terrible, the interior art sketchy and unimpressive, the paper thin, and in spite of what the website says about it, it’s actually a floppy cover; yet the stories reveal a Conan that is difficult, if not impossible to properly render on screen.


The tales included are: The Tower of the Elephant; Rogues in the House; The Frost Giant’s Daughter; Queen of the Black Coast; A Witch Shall Be Born; The People of the Black Circle; Red Nails; Beyond the Black River; and a background article for the stories, The Hyborian Age.

Prior to reading this collection I was only familiar with the 80’s Conan of the movies and the Conan the Adventurer cartoon from the early 90’s. Robert E Howard’s Conan is a very different character, and a much more interesting and complex one at that. While Conan is perfectly willing to kill and pillage, he does not do so wantonly. He is a very controlled character, in the same way a jungle cat is restrained.

The character of Conan is revealed though tales that are pulpy, generally short, and remarkably similar to Jack Vance’s Dying Earth in tone if not style. While Vance tends toward more grandiose language, Howard tends to keep things simple. In either case the worlds the characters inhabit are filled with strange and terrible things, dangerous and powerful, as well as many small and petty men. Death is easy and cheap, and the protagonists (I refrain from saying heroes very intentionally) must use a varying combination of force and wits to keep their heads. Another similarity is the wild swings of fate that both protagonists face.

How does this compare to the movie? No idea. I haven’t seen it yet. I’ll probably wait until I can use the free passes.  Especially since I have no interest in seeing it in 3D. (Edit: Oh no!  I was just informed that we are out of free passes!)

Thursday, August 18, 2011

RPG Blogger Carnival Update

We're still about 2 weeks from the end of this months RPG Blogger Carnival, but I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has participated so far. The response has been great, and I'm really enjoying reading everyone's posts.I was really worried that there wouldn't be much interest in Animals as a topic. You've all put that fear to rest!  Thank you!

Keep up the excellent posts!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Birthright - Economics - Expenses

Expenses are just as abstract as the revenue side of things. Basic upkeep is determined by adding up the total number (not level) of holdings (not counting level 0 holdings) and provinces, and checking a chart. You must also pay 1 GB per castle/fortified holding owned and per province occupied. Next you add up the upkeep costs of the standing army and navy (1-2GB/unit). Finally you decide how opulent you want this seasons court to be. If your court isn’t up to par, you suffer a penalty when making any diplomacy actions. If you don’t have the GBs to cover everything, you either have to disband your army, or you can spend RP (at a cost of 4 RP to 1GB) to cover those costs. If you still don’t have enough cash after disbanding your army, and selling off your assets... the rule book doesn’t actually address this. I would probably rule that you automatically lose levels of holding for any you can’t afford and/or provinces ruled would drop in loyalty.

Number of Provinces and Holdings Controlled
Maintenance Cost
1-2
0 GB
3-6
1 GB
7-12
2 GB
13-18
3 GB
19-24
4 GB
25-30
5 GB
31-40
7 GB
41-50
10 GB
51-75
20 GB
76-100
30 GB
101+*
1 GB / 3 Provinces + Holdings

I looked at the realms of the southern coast when checking on regency, and I’m going to focus on the same area for expenses. Unfortunately the box set only gives the description of the standing army of one realm on the coast. Roesone is the only realm on the southern cost given the the full 2 page write up. Even the Players Secrets Guides (32 page books on individual realms) don't list the standing armies...


Marlae Roesone, Baroness of Roesone rules 7 provinces with 7 law holdings. Base cost is 3 GB. She has a castle in her capitol city (1 GB), and a standing army of 3 units of archers, 1 artillerist, 1 knight, 3 pikes, and 1 infantry which costs an additional 11 GB, for a total upkeep of 15 GB per turn. On average Roesone collects 17 GB/turn in taxes, and due to her low level of control of the law holdings of her realm she may collect an additional 1 or 2 GB per turn from the guilds and temples. This means that depending on what actions Marlae decides to take during the turn, especially if she decides to hold court, she may end up having to tap into her treasury.

Medoere, a young theocracy is 3 provinces, of which the regent Archpriest Suris Enlien controls 3 temple holdings and 2 law holdings. She also controls a temple holdings in Roesone for a total of 9 provinces/holdings and a cost of 2 GB. There is also a temple in the capital, for a total upkeep of 3 GB. She can bring in 7-8 GB per turn in taxes and an additional 7 GB in Temple collection, and maybe an additional 1 from the guilds.


Ilien is a single province. It's ruled by Rogr Aglondier, a wizard who controls the law and source holdings of Ilien as well as source holdings in 8 other provinces, has an upkeep cost of 0 GB. Source holdings don't require upkeep! Rogr brings in a total of 6.5 GB/ turn in taxes! In addition he can probably claim 3-5 GB/turn from the guilds and temples.


The Impregnable Heart of Haelyn, a temple on the southern cost has 12 holdings, but one of them is a level 0, so doesn't count, for a total cost of 2 GB. It brings in 22.5 GB/turn, but it probably loses 5-7/turn from law collections. Still, without an army or castles to maintain, much of that will go into actions or the treasury!

As you can see, depending on the size of the realm, and the regents control of it, things can get very expensive very quickly!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Tim Curry Tuesdays - Hexxus

Welcome to Tim Curry Tuesday! Allow me to introduce you to Hexxus, a being of destruction that is toxic to all around it. Ancient stories first describe the blight in a distant tropical forest, but it has appeared numerous times in many places that were once verdant lands that are now toxic wastelands.


Hexxus
No. Enc.: 1 (0)
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 60’ (20’)
Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 10
Attacks: 1
Damage: 3d8
Save: L5
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XVIII

This being appears as a large black gooey mass, that is constantly surrounded by a cloud of thick noxious vapors. It is very intelligent and malicious, and seeks to destroy any natural vegetation it encounters. Hexxus can attack with a toxic swipe, which causes 3d8 damage with a reach of 10'. Anyone within 5' will automatically suffer an attack from the toxic fumes that surround Hexxus (class 3 poison).  If attacked with a flame based attach Hexxus may immediately expel a gout of flame 60' long that causes 10d6 points of damage to anyone hit (save for half). This causes Hexxus to lose the Toxic Weapon ability for 1 hour.

If encountered in a toxic or radioactive area (it's preferred habitat) Hexxus gains the ability to regenerate 1d4 hit point per round, and the toxic cloud grows to 10'.


Mutations: Reflective Epidermis (Radiation, Poison, Fire), Toxic Weapon (Gas Breath), Epidermal Sensitivity (Plant-based attacks)




This might come as a shock, but August's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and then share the link!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Sunday Inspirational Image - Sea of Shadows

In just a few hours I'll be running the next session of Thunderspire. The Sea of Shadows is a huge underground lake in a massive cavern, and as the name suggests, is a weak spot between the world and the Shadowfell.


This picture comes from the H2 conversion by Myrhdraak.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

This, that, and the other thing

Tomorrow I'll be running the next session of Thunderspire, and I still haven't finished writing up the assault on the Horned Hold.... So glad I took a lot of notes! Anyway, since it's been a while since I've done a link roundup, I thought I would take this chance to clear out some tabs and starred posts on my Google Reader.

Oddysey and Trollsmyth talk bout DMing styles, and how the rules only matter a little bit.

Here is a wonderful gallery of d6 era Star Wars art.

James of A Dungeon Master's Tale as finally compiled the PDF of his Sample Dungeon!

Noisms of Monsters and Manuals has been around since 2008, but I only just discovered him. Seeing as he has twice the number of followers I do, you probably already know he posts some great stuff!

Speaking of Trollsmyth and monster, he has compiled an incomplete list of some of the monsters from Taichara's Hamsterish Hoard.

Nevermet Press is offering up 108 free character portraits.

Blood of Prokopious offers up an idea for prestige classes for classic D+D.

Vaults of Nagoh offers up some criminal punishments for SBVD.

Huge Ruined Pile came up with some rules for gems of exceptional value. I'm adopting this for my megadungeon!

Fictitious Entry joined in on the One Hour Dungeon Map madness. I really like that his map has 3 distinct areas.



This month's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and share the link!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Birthright - Economics - Revenue

The economics of Birthright are fairly abstract, and significantly simpler than those presented in the Rules Cyclopedia*. Every domain turn (3 months/1 season) you generate revenue in Gold Bars (GB) based upon your different holdings. Province rulers collects taxes, while temples and guilds collect tithes and profits. Magic holdings provide no revenue forcing wizard regents to either collect money from other regents or to convert Regency Points (RP) into gold via a realm spell (if they have it!). Law holdings (distinct from ruling the realm) can be used to claim money from Temple and Guild Holdings.

Taxes

Province Level
Light Taxes
Moderate Taxes
Heavy Taxes
0
-
-
d3-2
1
d3-2
d3-1
d3
2
d3-1
d3
d4
3
d3
d4
d4+1
4
d4
d4+1
d6+1
5
d4+1
d6+1
d8+1
6
d6+1
d8+1
d10+1
7
d8+1
d10+1
d12+1
8
d10+1
d12+1
2d8
9
d12+1
2d8
2d8+2
10
2d8
2d8+2
2d10+2

Guild + Temple Collections
Province Level/Holding Level
1
2
3
4-5
6+
0
-
-
-
-
-
1
d3-2
-
-
-
-
2
d2-1
d2
-
-
-
3
d2-1
d3
d4
-
-
4
d2
d3
d4
d6
-
5
d2
d3
d4
d6
-
6
d2
d3
2d2
2d3
2d4+1
7+
d3
d2+1
d4+1
d6+1
2d4+2


Law Claim
Comparitive Holding Level
GBs Generated





1
2
3
4-5
6+
Law < Target
-
d4-3
d3-2
d2-1
d2-1
Law = Target
-
d3-2
d2-1
d3-1
d4-1
Law > Target
d4-3
d2-1
d3-1
d4-1
d3

In addition to revenue from holdings, Trade Routes can be created. These generate an income for the creator equal to the average of the two linked province levels. Linked provinces need to have a road running between them, and they have to be of a different terrain type. Coastal provinces can have sea routes, which provide half the provinces level in revenue. A province can only have a limited number of trade routes. Level 1-3 can have 1, 4-5 can have 2, and 6+ can have 3. The rules say that only someone with guild holdings can create a trade route, however the rules for what a wizard can and can't do with a Source Holding say that with a level 7 holding they can create trade routes.

Next Birthright post will address Expenses. I know you just can't wait!

*I remember late in one campaign when a name level fighter decided he’d try his hand at clearing and holding a domain, that the costs of upkeep, namely the staff, was simply exorbitant, and rather unrealistic for such a small realm. Almost immediately thereafter a Dragon Magazine came out with revised prices.



This month's RPG Blog Carnival topic is Animals and it's being hosted here at the Tower of the Archmage! How can you get involved? Easy! Write a post about animals, anything about animals, and share the link!