Baldur's Gate in ACKS terms

General ACKS Forums Ask the Autarchs
1

Hi all!

I’m running MiBG using 5e with ACKS economy model and a few other stuff (mortal wounds charts FTW) and I’ve decided to try and write down Baldur’s Gate in ACKS terms but I’m not sure how to do this.

Can someone help me?

Warder

2

Blackwarder, I am not familiar with MiBG, 5e, or Baldur’s Gate, so I don’t know that I could help you. You might post in General Discussion for a broader input.

3

I’m not very familiar with Baldur’s Gate, but as of 1479 DR it was a Class I market (population of 120,000-140,000 is 24,000-28,000 families, and anything over 20,000 families is Class I).

I don’t know if 3e, 4e, or MiBG get into trade goods, but the 2e Forgotten Realms Adventures (when Baldur’s Gate was Class II most of the year, Class I during summer), the major exports were fish, trade-coinage, lamp oil, and dye. Thus, goods with negative demand modifiers would be Preserved Fish, Precious Metals, Lamp Oil, and Dye & Pigments.

One unusual good that should have a high positive modifier are machinists’ inventions, since the temple of Gond will buy those. Other than that, I would generate demand modifiers randomly.

4

What I’d do:

  • Take the population number, divide it by 5 to get the number of families; derive the size and market class of the city from that

  • From the supporting text, decide if it’s a city-state sort of thing or if it’s part of a proper ACKS realm, with vassals and subvassals.

If it’s a city-state, see this post:

http://www.autarch.co/forums/general-discussion/worldbuilding-modelling-places-which-are-built-completely-different

From what I’ve read in the Wikipedia entry on Baldur’s Gate, you may find what you want in that post.

If you want to go the full realm/vassal route, decide at what level you want to abstract it. From the Villages/Towns/Cities Placement table on pg 231 you can derive what the population of the realm supporting it would be.

Alternatively, you can start divvying up that realm population into sub-realms with vassals, all the way down to the single-hex barony level.

  • Decide how large the domain that it resides in is - if the published maps support it, the Wikipedia entry states it was controlled by a cabal of farmers for a time, perhaps the hexes it controls are high-value farmland.

Also, remember you can adjust the hex sprawl of any domain/realm to better match the map by adjusting population density and urban demographics - you can shrink the size of the realm supporting Baldur’s Gate by upping the population density and going with an “Advanced, urban realm” as per page 23/231 - forcing more people into the city proper, and then the population density change will get the peasantry huddled up against the city’s hex.

  • The rest you can derive from published text - The Dark mentions how to decide trade goods. From the population of the realm numbers you can see how well the source text’s named NPC listings match up to ACKS demographics (pg 235) and adjust as necessary.

In general, things should work out. I’ve only skimmed 5E, skipped 4E, I know demographics haven’t been the strongest suit of DND lately, so some educated guesses have to be made as to what makes sense in light of the module text.

Your biggest issue may be what’s available for sale; I don’t know what 5E does but 3X was a little silly-pants on that; go with your gut with how your own game and group works.

5

Thanks guys!

Warder

6

Thanks guys!

Warder