Friday, January 18, 2019

Finishing touches (Fantasy Friday #31)

Next, a camel to help carry stuff and get around ~ that’s another 150 gp ($30,000-$75,000).  With a Strength of 18 and being a Large quaruped, camels can carry up to 900 pounds, with 300 and 600 being the maxima for light and medium loads, respectively.  Buying a medium tent for Kavvuraz (and maybe a friend) to live out of and a pavilion to serve as zir refozev, or court, sets zim back another 115 gp ($23,000-$57,500).  Finishing out Kavvuraz’s tools for living with a bedroll, a blanket, a tent cover, and a folding chair costs 17 gp 6 sp ($3520-$8800).  We’re down to 187 gp 4 sp ($37,480-$93,700) and, since the quissians are nomads, we need to track encumbrance as well.  The lightsaber is 2 pounds, the ceremonial armor is 4 pounds, and the cloak is 5 pounds.  Carrying zir home puts another 113 pounds on the camel’s back, adding up to 124 pounds, plus Kavvuraz’s naked weight, for that noble and ill-tempered animal to carry across the sands.  Speaking of, Mythic Races notes that quissians weigh between 250 and 350 pounds (there’s no die-roll chart, sadly).  That means our camel is already at a medium load.

A lamp and 54 hours’ worth of oil (which is to say, 9 pints) costs a gold piece ($200-500) and weighs 10 pounds.  Desert nomads don’t expect to easily find fresh food while wandering, I would imagine, so Kavvuraz probably keeps, let’s say, 4 weeks of trail rations (28 pounds and 14 gp, or $2800-$7000).  Animal feed is heavier, so let’s only give Kavvura’s camel six days of food (60 pounds and 3 gp, or $600-$1500).  You know, with the load on the camel, it won’t be moving all that much faster than Kavvuraz would on foot, so why don’t we just throw a pack saddle on it and use it just for carrying things?  That’s 15 pounds and 5 gp ($1000-$2500), and a harness and dandy brush cost another 2 gp 2 sp ($440-$1100) and 4 pounds.  New totals: 230 pounds (armor, cloak, and weapon would be carried by Kavvuraz, naturally) and 162 gp 4 sp.  Huh, the decision to not have the refo riding the camel might mean we could have space for significantly more feed!

A book of religious legal commentary (treat as an adventurer chronicle (religion)) sets zim back 50 gp ($10,000-$25,000) and a pound, and a book of letters covering the subregion bounded on one side by the Dragon Coast and on another by the Pearl Coast also seems highly appropriate.  It also costs 50 gp, but weighs 3 pounds.  Of course, what kind of refo would go around without a copy of their holy text?  Well, to be fair, the worship of Time isn’t a textual religion, but there are a few compilations of famous writings on the faith by famous teachers that function similarly to a holy book.  That takes 25 gp ($5000-$12,500) and 2 pounds.  A couple ounces of ink cost 16 gp ($3200-$8000) and a pen to use it is 1 sp ($20-$50), while 10 sheets of paper to use it on is 4 gp ($800-$2000).  A case to carry all those sheets in is 1 gp ($200-$500) and a half pound.  Kavvuraz, like everyone, starts with a free outfit ~ like many Scarhasi, ze chooses a 4-pound hot weather outfit.  Let’s give zim a signet ring, too, to mark their status as refo ~ that’s 5 gp ($1000-$2500).  I almost have Kavvuraz buy a bunch of water, but then I remember that quissians don’t need it!  Everyone needs coffee, however, so let’s give Kavvuraz a couple pounds of ground kahve, maybe 3 pounds actually, which would cost 4 gp 8 sp ($960-$2400), and a coffee pot and 2 cups (4 pounds and 5 gp, or $1000-$2500).  I guess some waterskins are necessary after all, for the coffee-making.  Let’s go with 4 waterskins, for 16 pounds and 4 gp ($800-$2000).  New totals:  270.5 pounds and 5 sp.

A simple but sturdy board game could set Kavvuraz back 2 sp ($40-$100) and 2 pounds.  I also want zim to have a deck of fortune-teller cards, because I can’t imagine a Time-floater without a deck (or, as with tarot nowadays, fifty).  Let’s trade in 2 days of trail rations for a common deck (Kavvuraz, it seems, is humble in terms of his things); that incidentally saves his camel a pound and a half.  It occurs to me that another two days of rations should translate into a flint and steel to light the lamp, and the coffee will need an actual fire to heat, so let’s add, say, 3 days’ worth of firewood for 3 cp ($6-$15) and 60 pounds.  Kavvuraz finishes at 329 pounds (barely a medium load) and 0 cp.

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