On mining gold (On Golden Pond)

From: Michael A. Derry <derry_at_jugenstil.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 12:02:53 -0700

When gold mines are found, even in a world of magic, how do you know in advance how much gold is there? Unless the yield of the mine is know in advance, expeditions to take it or how much to spend defending it are somewhat problematic. (Somewhat problematic because gold and silver mines still usually mean big money.)

The situation of how to mine and protect a gold mine came up in a campaign I ran called the Majorca Campaign (non-Gloranthan). The players were members of a merchant family in the middle of the power structure on an island. The leader of their family had secret knowledge of a potential gold mine and was orchestrating a way to begin mining it.

Previously on the island, a very valuable gold mine was controlled by another merchant family that successfully took over control of the island and fought off all interlopers with the help of the islanders, local nobles, some mercernaries, and powerful local spirits. The mine eventually ran out after a couple centuries of mining.

This new mine would be assumed to be just as valuable by those who could take it, so the problem this time was how to mine the gold and hold onto it when everyone is assuming it is worth a huge amount of money. The goal of the campaign was to cement relationships with the rest of the power structures on the island and forge new relationships with others off the island and with external mercenaries who could help the family once the mining started. Without the support/control of the local power structure, the players felt their family could never survive the mine going public.

The players never knew how valuable the mine would be, but were planning on having a very strong defensive force, loyal to the family alone, to protect the operations, just to limit the risk of being double-crossed. One advantage the players had was that the head of the family was willing to expend the entire family fortune to solidify their relationships and control of the island, because if they succeed they get the gold and if they fail they die. The other merchant families on the island (the main threat) need to be much more conservative with their money.

By the time the campaign ended, the mine has still not been mined yet and the players were still working on increasing ties to the other powerful nobles in the region who could impact their control of the island.

URL-Ref: <http://www.jugenstil.com/derry/rq/levar/> , see the Majorca Campaign

Michael Derry
408/973-1162 hm
408/974-7388 wk

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