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Example Investments and Problems

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 165
This list of investments is not meant to be exhaustive; NPC ingenuity could open up all sorts of investments. Some research on medieval and Renaissance technology reveals many ideas the people of those times used to make their lives easier, and some of those ideas can easily become an investment opportunity for the PCs. This section details how particular investments might serve as plot hooks for the PCs involved.

Arts: The entertainers are more volatile or political than the investor had imagined.

Banking: The investor’s theoretically impenetrable vault is cracked and the valuables stolen.

Crafting: A labor strike, bandit activity, or an unscrupulous rival blocks access to needed materials.

Exploration: An explorer ends up being unreliable, greedy, or incautious, accidentally releasing ancient evils on an unsuspecting populace.

Granary/Mill: The building catches on fire, either from a simple accident or deliberate arson, and the aerosolized grain causes a massive explosion.

Guild: A rival guild targets the investor’s employees, friends, family, or buildings.

Imports: Enemies of the client see a shipment as an opportunity to humiliate or kill the PC and acquire valuable goods.

Invention: The invention fails spectacularly and dangerously, putting the surrounding populace at risk.

Protection: A client you’re protecting betrays an assassin’s guild, is branded as a heretic by an influential church, or insults a prominent member of the ruling elite.

Quarry: Miners discover a strange hazard such as mutation-inducing crystals or a cave complex full of dangerous monsters.

Research: The research goes awry, or falls into the hands of blackmailers, criminals intent on using it for evil, or rival researchers.

Stable: Sabotage or a deadly accident occurs, or a rustler steals the most valuable mounts.

Tavern: Overheard plans for an ambush spark rumors and property damage.

Archives of Nethys

Rules Index | GM Screen

Example Investments and Problems