Tavernkeeping Houserules

BASIC RULES: RUNNING YOUR TAVERN

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist includes rules for operating your tavern as a business (see “Open for Business?” in chapter 2). This section replaces those rules with a simple alternate that's quick and easy to use. Your tavern makes money by selling food and beverages, but you must also spend money on running costs such as ingredients, wages, building maintenance, and guild fees. If more money comes in than goes out, you make a profit. If you spend more than you make, you end up with a loss. To simulate the basic operation of your tavern, at the end of every tenday you must make a business results roll based on the overall quality of your tavern (i.e. Squalid to Aristocratic). Roll percentile dice and consult the Business Results table below to determine your profit or loss for that period. Your expenses are already factored into the result. If your tavern makes a loss, you must pay that money out of your own purse. Conversely, any profit goes into your purse. If you're unable or unwilling to pay the loss, you must subtract that number from your next business results roll (after all, if you don't pay for basic expenses such as ingredients and wages, your business will soon collapse). If you want to keep things simple, you can simply roll against the table every tenday. Unless your tavern is poor or squalid, you should find it turns a profit over time. ADVANCED RULES: TAVERN EVENTS The following advanced rules enable you to actively manage the business through making decisions and dealing with random events. It enables you to turn a greater profit through superior business strategy. Every tenday, roll once on the Tavern Events table before rolling on the Business Results table. You can make the following investments before you roll to mitigate certain results and improve your profit margins. Preventative Maintenance. A sensible tavernkeeper invests a little extra to keep things shipshape and in good order. Spending 10 gp on extra maintenance may reduce other expenses later. Insurance. Building insurance costs 10 gp and covers you against damage caused by fire, storms, floods, earthquakes, and subsidence. Extra Security. Improving the safety of your patrons means hiring bouncers to help when you're busy. Spending 20 gp on extra security reduces risk to you and your patrons. Extra Service. Hiring extra serving staff means your patrons receive better service and are more likely to come back. Spending 10 gp on extra service adds a +10 bonus to your next roll on the Business Results table. TAVERN EVENTS The local tavern is one of the busiest and most exciting places in a city or town. Many curious events tend to happen there: some good for your business, others not so good. Every tenday, roll on the Tavern Events table before you make your business results roll. These results assume the adventurers are not present. If they are present to intervene, the results could be quite different.

ADVANCED RULES: TAVERN CONSTRUCTION

The following rules allow you to upgrade your tavern using earnings from adventuring and business profits. Each new upgrade increases the overall valuation of your business and unlocks a new downtime activity for you to exploit between adventures. BUYING UPGRADES Upgrades have three costs that represent the level of luxury afforded. A cheap taproom has spit-and- sawdust floors, worn tables, and cracked mugs; whereas an expensive taproom would have polished floorboards and crystal glasses. Spending more on upgrades improves the overall valuation of your business and thereby increases your profits. If you improve an existing upgrade, you only pay the difference in cost between the two levels. For simplicities' sake, each upgrade takes a tenday to install and only one upgrade can be developed at a time. To start your tavern business, all you need is a taproom (minimum 200 gp). Thereafter, each new upgrade has a prerequisite; for example, to construct a coach house you must first construct a stable. To value your business, add up your valuation score and consult the following table. The quality of your establishment determines which column you use when rolling on the Business Results table. TAVERN UPGRADES TAVERN UPGRADES The following upgrades are available for purchase. Beer Engine. A beer engine is a mechanical apparatus that propels cask ale from the cellars to hand pumps at the bar. Invented by dwarves, these devices allow the busiest taverns to serve customers at greater speed. Beer Garden. When the weather is fine, outside seating allows customers to escape the smoke and grime of the tavern interior. It also raises the respectability of your establishment. Brewery. Brewing your own ale is a must if you want to escape the outlandish rates that private brewers charge. If your brew is good, you can even supply it to other taverns in your area! Cellar. A stone-lined cellar allows you to stockpile wines and spirits at temperature and hold reserves of ale inside giant storage barrels. Coach House. A coach house is the last word in lodging services, transforming your establishment into a full-blown coaching inn. This puts you on the map for wealthy customers traveling between settlements. Dancefloor. A dancefloor fitted to your saloon bar or taproom lets your patrons revel late into the night and work up a profitable thirst! Its success depends on the quality of your minstrels, so it carries a considerable startup cost. Distillery. A distillery allows you to distil your own brands of gin, rum, or whiskey, for sale on and off the premises. Fiery branded liquors are vital for raising your tavern's profile and boosting revenue. Feasting Hall. If your fare is fine, investing in a dedicated seating area with table service is sure to open your establishment to the wealthier upper classes. Guest Bedrooms. The presence of bedrooms transforms your humble tavern into an inn. Patrons can now use your establishment as a base to explore the region, turning over a steady stream of profit as they come and go. Kitchen. All this drinking is sure to cook up an appetite in your customers! Providing food is the very first step to better service. Larder. A storage area for wholefood supplies with a cool room for perishables. Any establishment looking to improve its fare should start with one of these. Lavatories. Most taverns make do with an outhouse, ditch, or screened-off chamber pot for patrons to relieve themselves in. Building a lavatory indoors is the height of luxury and sure to make your tavern a talking point around town. Office. An office provides a secure space to manage your business, containing a strongbox, writing desk, and a bookcase for ledgers and paperwork. Saloon Bar. A separate bar for guests who are prepared to pay a little extra, with comfortable seating and table service. Saloon bars typically offer some form of entertainment to boot. Snug. The snug, or “smoking room”, is a private room for paying patrons. It's not solely the preserve of the rich: servants often pop into the snug for a cheeky drink while running errands in town. Stable. Most taverns provide posts for hitching horses, but a dedicated stable provides extra security for patrons staying overnight. It's also an additional revenue stream: aside from basic stabling charges, patrons can pay extra for their horses to be fed and brushed down. Stage. A stage is a raised platform for minstrels, storytellers and actors, typically nestled to one end of your saloon bar or taproom. Taproom. The taproom is the heart of your tavern, containing your bar, a fireplace, and seating for your guests. Without this, you have no business! OUTFITTING TROLLSKULL MANOR Chapter 2 of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist awards players their own stronghold in the city: TroNskuN Manor and its abandoned first-floor tavern. Players are encouraged to renovate the tavern and reopen it for business. Appendix A contains a full-color map of the premises suitable for printing or digital display. If you choose to use the tavern construction rules from this guide, Trollskull Manor starts with the following upgrades after renovation: • Taproom (Cheap) • Kitchen (Cheap) • Larder (Cheap) • Cellar (Cheap) These upgrades give the establishment a starting valuation of 4, making it a squalid business. To make it shine, the characters need to invest more coin! ADVANCED RULES: DOWNTIME ACTIVITIES The following activities are unlocked by upgrades in the “Advanced Rules: Tavern Construction” section, but the DM can choose to allow them outside of those rules if you're not using them. Some of these activities assume you're using the investment rules from “Advanced Rules: Tavern Events.” Players must choose to invest their downtime as a group i.e. characters can't split up and spend downtime on separate activities simultaneously. Some activities can only be performed a limited amount of times per tenday, as specified under the “Frequency” header. Unless specified otherwise, each day of downtime that you spend working on these activities adds +1 to your next roll on the Business Results table. BARBECUE SEASON Frequency; Unlimited Prerequisite: Beer Garden The spring and summertime months are perfect for outside cooking: a spit roast perhaps, or sausages chargrilled over coals. Each day that you spend on this activity grants a +2 bonus to your next roll on the Business Results table. Due to the risk of fire, double any losses that you accrue unless you've also paid for insurance. BANQUET Frequency; 1/tenday Prerequisite: Feasting Hall Laying on a banquet for the crust of society requires careful sourcing of fine food and wines. Each banquet you host takes a day to prepare and costs 10 gp to finance. After engaging in this activity, roll percentile dice on the Banqueting table to determine the success or failure of your event. BEER FESTIVAL Frequency; 1/tenday Prerequisite: Beer Engine Celebrate local brewers by featuring their casks in a festival of beer drinking. This activity takes a day of downtime to prepare. Roll up to 6d6 (one for each guest beer) and add the result of the roll to your next roll on the Business Results table. However, heavy drinking invites damage. If you didn't take out preventative maintenance and extra security, you receive a repair bill equal to the sum of any matching dice you roll (e.g. rolling three 4's yields a repair bill of 12 gp). BREW BEER Frequency; No more than 5 concurrent batches Prerequisite: Brewery Brewing your own ale is a sure-fire way to turn extra profits, assuming your brew is good. Each day that you spend on this activity costs you 1 gp in ingredients (e.g. bitters, fruit, spices, coffee beans, etc). Note down the brew date and any special ingredients you included. Exactly 40 days later, roll on the Brewing Beer table to determine the results. ENTERTAINMENT Frequency; Unlimited Prerequisite: Stage Good entertainment attracts a crowd, but it can be hit and miss. Each day you spend on this activity costs 2gp. Roll a die for each day: on an odd result it adds a +1 bonus to your next roll on the Business Results table and on an even roll it adds a +3 bonus. FEAST Frequency; Unlimited Prerequisite: Kitchen The best taverns regularly offer a special menu of hearty grub to turn every meal into a feast. Each day that you spend on this activity costs 1 gp in ingredients and grants a +2 bonus to your next roll on the Business Results table. INFORMATION GATHERING Frequency; 1 roll/tenday Prerequisite: Stable Opening your inn to travelers brings news from distant lands and rumors from the road. For every day you spend in this activity, there is a cumulative 5% chance that you benefit from the effects of a commune spell, with the restriction that the questions you ask must feasibly be answerable through information gathering. JOIN THE STAFF Frequency; unlimited Prerequisite: Taproom Being present for the day-to-day running of your taproom means you'll be on hand to deal with any issues your staff may struggle to resolve. Each day you spend working with your staff grants a cumulative 10% chance that you'll benefit from free Extra Security (see “Tavern Events”). MAKE CONTACTS Frequency; 1 roll/tenday Prerequisite: Saloon Bar A saloon bar attracts distinguished clientele who you can tap for useful contacts. Each day you spend carousing in your saloon bar costs you 3 gp. After engaging in this activity, roll percentile dice on the Making Contacts table to determine the success or failure of your efforts, adding a +2 bonus for every day you invested. MARKETING Frequency; unlimited Prerequisite: Office Marketing can take several forms. You might print and distribute leaflets, put an advertisement in the local newspaper, or pay for the town crier to promote your tavern. Each day that you spend on this activity costs you 1d3 gp and grants a +2 bonus to your next business results roll. RARE INGREDIENTS Frequency; max. 10 batches Prerequisite: Larder Superior food and beverages prompt patrons to spend more and spend more often. Each day that you spend sourcing rare ingredients for your tavern's larder costs 1 gp. After engaging in this activity, you gain one batch of rate ingredients. You can spend one batch of rare ingredients to add a +10% bonus to any one roll on the Banqueting, Brewing Beer, or Distilling Spirits tables, or to grant a +4 bonus to your next business results roll when using the Feast downtime activity. RECRUIT HIRELINGS Frequency; unlimited Prerequisite: Guest Bedrooms As guests come and go, you'll brush shoulders with a variety of skilled professionals: mercenaries, artisans, healers, armorers, and many more. Chapter 5: “Equipment” of the Player’s Handbook contains costs for recruiting hirelings. Each day you spend on this activity lets you recruit a hireling of your choice for any term of service you can afford. Hirelings recruited via this activity are always trustworthy and reliable. SNUGGLING Frequency; unlimited Prerequisite: Cellar A cellar can store more than just booze. If you open your tavern's trapdoor to criminal enterprise, you earn coin at considerable risk. Each day that you spend on this activity grants +4 to your next business results roll. After resolving your business results, roll on the Smuggling Table, taking a -5 penalty to your roll for every day spent smuggling. SOCIAL CONNECTIONS Frequency; 1 roll/tenday Prerequisite: Coach House A coach house attracts a higher caliber of guest. Schmoozing with these travelers increases your chances of climbing the social ladder. For every day you spend in this activity, there is a cumulative 5% chance that you'll receive an invitation to dine with a local lord or dignitary in your region. Consult with your DM to determine how this meeting plays out. SPYING Frequency; 1 roll/tenday. Prerequisite: Snug Your snug attracts guests who sometimes have something to hide. For every day you spend in this activity, there is a cumulative 5% chance that you'll learn some information about one of the factions in your area. Roll percentile dice on the Secrets table to determine which faction is affected.

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