After a conversation with some friends about how various spells - arcane and divine - could be used to benefit economically from them, instead of just purely combative uses.
And influenced by my playing Fallout New Vegas a lot, I came to wonder if a campaign best described as "Adventure Caravans" would be doable.
1.) The players start as caravan guards/hired hands/low to mid-level in the campaign hierarchy
2.) They work their way up to actually owning the caravan (should happen around level 2-3 at the latest, 'cos it's the fun part)
3.) Establish and negotiate trade routes for first their own caravan, then other caravans running in their name
4.) Renovate an abandoned trade post that is strategically well-placed, but just too far out for NPCs to renovate and make it their player hub
5.) Soon afterwards, start to actually build a city
Between arcane casters with spells like <a href='http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/f/fabricate' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Fabricate </a>and skill ranks in, say, weaponsmithing (creating masterwork rapiers out of steel in an instant to sell at profits) and a Bard with a <a href='http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/lyre-of-building' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Lyre of Building</a> (sing sing sing for 4800 man-hours of work per hour), they could make a city of splendour in time.
Using Decanters of Endless Water as their city's water eternally fresh water supply, circumventing much of the setting's inconsistencies about ubiquitous magics yet eternally-low populations - this entire idea was sparked when I read Cheliax, Empire of Devils, and saw that Egarian itself only had 82000 citizens - in the process.
Doing that - and other unconventional uses of magical items that savvy players would inevitably spring on whoever I could convince to GM this - would be pretty much it. Build first your trade empire, then an actual empire.
Sources I drew inspiration from when I cooked up this idea:
1.) Fallout: New Vegas (Caravan-running in dangerous environments)
2.) Traveller (Trading for fun and profit; I love the Speculative Trade section)
3.) IRC discussions with friends about the ridiculousness of some spells (re: Stone Wall, to fortify your trade outpost in no time at all) and artefacts (Decanters, to circumvent the necessity to guard your wells)
If you have any suggestions - such as potentially powerful/cool/ridiculous combinations of spells, magic items and/or both, general setting suggestions (should it be desert-ish? Plains? European heartland-like? etc etc.) or anything you believe is relevant to this, be a champ and drop your suggestion here.
And influenced by my playing Fallout New Vegas a lot, I came to wonder if a campaign best described as "Adventure Caravans" would be doable.
1.) The players start as caravan guards/hired hands/low to mid-level in the campaign hierarchy
2.) They work their way up to actually owning the caravan (should happen around level 2-3 at the latest, 'cos it's the fun part)
3.) Establish and negotiate trade routes for first their own caravan, then other caravans running in their name
4.) Renovate an abandoned trade post that is strategically well-placed, but just too far out for NPCs to renovate and make it their player hub
5.) Soon afterwards, start to actually build a city
Between arcane casters with spells like <a href='http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/f/fabricate' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Fabricate </a>and skill ranks in, say, weaponsmithing (creating masterwork rapiers out of steel in an instant to sell at profits) and a Bard with a <a href='http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/lyre-of-building' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Lyre of Building</a> (sing sing sing for 4800 man-hours of work per hour), they could make a city of splendour in time.
Using Decanters of Endless Water as their city's water eternally fresh water supply, circumventing much of the setting's inconsistencies about ubiquitous magics yet eternally-low populations - this entire idea was sparked when I read Cheliax, Empire of Devils, and saw that Egarian itself only had 82000 citizens - in the process.
Doing that - and other unconventional uses of magical items that savvy players would inevitably spring on whoever I could convince to GM this - would be pretty much it. Build first your trade empire, then an actual empire.
Sources I drew inspiration from when I cooked up this idea:
1.) Fallout: New Vegas (Caravan-running in dangerous environments)
2.) Traveller (Trading for fun and profit; I love the Speculative Trade section)
3.) IRC discussions with friends about the ridiculousness of some spells (re: Stone Wall, to fortify your trade outpost in no time at all) and artefacts (Decanters, to circumvent the necessity to guard your wells)
If you have any suggestions - such as potentially powerful/cool/ridiculous combinations of spells, magic items and/or both, general setting suggestions (should it be desert-ish? Plains? European heartland-like? etc etc.) or anything you believe is relevant to this, be a champ and drop your suggestion here.