Ok -  Stage 2 of Trading and Developing Across Borders has a brief run down of the Towns and Cities that we know a bit about.

http://galinia.org.uk/business-and-trading-reports

Something about how of all the things to steal from a hotel, it's the rug that crosses the line and not, say, almost everything else that isn't nailed down, and even then...

It also sounds like a level 1 adventure for new PF players - 'Who's stealing all this stuff from the inns and how?!'

And the hotel owners never even commented on that rather heavily woven and oddly patterned suit you were wearing at the time ?   :>

You mean my coat of many pockets awkward lumps? It happens to be a family heirloom

And my final thoughts on Religious developments ...

http://galinia.org.uk/the-magic-economy

So, no real restrictions on Luxury Stores or Bardic Colleges, since they only produce Minor Magic?

In reply to Adoven Lodovka-Sud (msg # 805):

Correct.  Although the majority of the graduates will be Expert/Entertainers, bardic colleges will produce a few bards and a few Adept/Entertainers - who are capable of creating magic items at L3.

Luxury stores buy items in from all sorts of people such as Masterwork Crafters, and minor casters - and there are enough of those around in Tusk/Midmarch to meet your needs.

Did you spot the amendment to the Religious Development rules that allow you to roll back Holy Houses, etc?

No. But it's only if I choose to, correct? Somehow, I think the god of imbibement would be a welcome patron of merchants, as the wine trade is among the most profitable of goods.

Only if you choose to.

However, you have to work the religious expenditure so that it compliments one of these ...

Freedom, Ale, Wine, Bravery, Brewers, Vintners, Barkeeps, Innkeepers, Good Adventurers, Chaos, Charm, Good, Strength, Travel, Azata, Competition, Exploration, Ferocity, Love, Lust or Resolve.

What does that mean, 'work the religious expenditure'? And what is Azata?

The BP from the magic income  generated by the Holy House needs to be spent on something that fits those categories.

Azata are a sort of Angelic Being -  in this case this is a clerical subdomain that is associated with them.  I would suggest that Good and Azata (in particular) are really difficult to leverage.

The easiest ones to leverage are going to be

Ale, Wine, Bravery, Brewers, Vintners, Barkeeps, Innkeepers and, perhaps,  Travel.

If you build taverns in villages along trade routes (with the Magic Income generated by the Holy House)  you can hit  all of those 'easy' interests.

You can then spend the income from the taverns however you like.

Might it also be spent on vessels like fishing boats, shallops, or mule trains?

Building taverns along trade routes means dealing with local taxes, balancing out Economy with stability and loyalty in those places, and generally spending more than you make out of it.

Seeing as Travel is one of his domains -  then yes.

I have just added a few more buildings to the Urban Civic developments list.

http://rp.baileymail.net/doku....s2:strongholds:civic

I have to find a way to add some Loyalty to the mix - It is amazing what trying to build a city / city district in one go, can do for you. (you will be able to read about the expanded Restov soon)

I think, perhaps a couple of sporting area type things.  What was it  ... 'Beer and Circuses' to keep the masses happy?

Theater's? Shopping districts? ooh I know an outlet mall. That seems to work in the US.

However, I suspect they are all privately owned, and run for profit, rather than boosting Loyalty to the government / rulers.  They certainly are in this country.

 It can be a bit of a two-fer. Part of the glut of shopping malls in the US is due to an advantageous tax break that went on for a while.

 And don't forget the virtue of obvious government sponsorship of necessary services - a particularly beautiful example being the sewer pumping stations of London...

 ...no, seriously. Look at this glorious thing:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ness_Pumping_Station

Public transit???

I mean, as much as Pathfinder seems determined to remain in medieval stasis, there's no real reason why there couldn't be a form of public transport - a rotation of wagons on a schedule doesn't feel too crazy or 'unrealistic' given that Golarion has a half-dozen fantasy concept mashed into a single continent.

 Not to mention telecommunications.

 https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Clacks

Couldn’t they have a Riverboat? Or multiple boats traveling on a schedule?

And there should be some sort of old school postal service leveraging caravans, wagon trains and horses or magic of some means.

*grin*  Interesting ideas, and some of them are already written into the rules.

To some extent, tax breaks for Shopping Malls and even regular  transport systems are written into the tax rules.  You guys get the lowest tax rate and highest commercial profitability of all  the published areas/towns/cities.
Both have come to prominence (in the real world) with the rise of the Service Economy where countries shift their economic focus from farming and manufacturing towards hairdressing  interior design, the music / film industry (etc) shopping as a leisure activity.  Modern activities that need  peasants / commoners (ie you and me)  to have quite a lot of leisure time and a decent income.    That needs good technology,  long distance transport and communications (or an Empire) that gets you cheap food (etc) from abroad.  Anyway, enough philosophy …  I can go on all day about things like that, I find it fascinating.  If any of you are bored and need something to read -  see if you can find J D Bernal’s Science in History – It has some marvellous examples of technology from across history.  The ancient Greeks (for example)  had a mechanical Taxi Meter that worked out what to charge passengers, according to the distance travelled ..
But, enough of that.  You guys already have the tax breaks for that, built into the economic system.  Really good tax and profitability rates for businesses -  and there are  regular boats, ships, mule trains travelling between the various settlements.

We have sewers as well , actually two different ways of doing it.  Paved streets and good guttering are both possible.  If you look at the map of Tusk http://rp.baileymail.net/lib/e...egion:tusk:tusk3.gif  The sand-coloured districts have paved streets (the rest are just mud streets)  There are rules for surface drains, public fresh water fountains and street lights.

Underground sewerage systems (as per London’s sewers) are much more expensive  as you have to dig (at that is really expensive.    However, that does suggest that Night Soil collectors could be a public service  - and is possibly worth a couple of points of Loyalty.  I would be happy with any ruler who took my Poo away regularly (when there isn’t any sewage system)

As for telecoms, I have been looking in to it  :)   Magically, it is quite expensive, and I don’t trust the Kobolds to run the clacks.  (BTW, I have property deeds for a house in Treacle Mine Road here, somewhere.  That was an Xmas present from my son, a few years ago.)

I think I am tempted to add a ‘Public Arena’ as well -  Both the Greeks and Romans used cheap public entertainment to keep the plebs on-side – and I am sure that I can re-flavour that for Ancient Taldans ….

A stadium  (a nice Roman word)  that can host horse races , foot races, throwing contests, spectacles (such as a Military Tattoo and ‘Animal Hunts’) – Oh, and a regular Scrymball season where district teams compete against each other.  (And no, I am not joking)

Sounds like I need to recruit Harry King ("King of the Golden River") as an entourage to handle a potentially valuable service/business.

As for contests, Chariot Races are always fun to watch......

I wasn't thinking quite that big -   but flat out Sulky racing would work, around a small enclosed course.  It would be absolute mayhem ...   Just like a chariot race :)

Although I am not sure the druids would approve ....

Oooohh -  I think I have got magical 'land line' type connectivity down to about 15k per unit ....