Teas, Opiums, Poisons and Kojos: use in play and a few examples.

Someone on Discord wanted to expand their use of opium in a Yoon-Suin game.  I thought about sending them my notes, but then I realized I could clean said notes up and make a post out of them instead!  Two birds in one stone etc.

I have to admit something though - these were not a big hit with my players.  But I think it's not because of the "flavor" of the items (although some players distrust drugs, probably for good reason).  Rather, most of my players will be thrilled to get a consumable item and... never use them. Potions of strenght, heroism etc remain unused.  Interesting, items that are more  utility than combat oriented see more usage, but even then many items get on a character sheet and are promptly forgotten.  Some bloggers have suggested that there is a "too good to be used" phenomenon going on.  Basically, players feel "sure I could use this potion now to help me fight the ogre, but there could be a giant next week!"   And when they meet the giant, it's "but there could be a dragon tomorrow!" etc.

So you know your group - do they use consumables or not?  If they don't, don't put too much effort into these.  (EDIT:  Wombat from the OSR Discord server suggested that these should have a shelf life - use it or lose it in other words.  I never implemented this, but it seems like a good idea...)

So with that cheerful intro, here is what I've used in my Yoon-Suin Campaign so far (I've tried to exclude the examples from the book, but I might have missed some?)

TEAS
Tea of the Third quality:   day to day black tea that almost everyone drinks
Tear of the Second quality:  Green tea, quite nice
Tea of the first quality: there are usually almost never any of this tea as a "generic", everything is "special"

- Emerald Green:  1 rupee per *cup*.  Brilliant green tea, excellent.
- Fighter's brew:  Deep brown tea.  Caused lethargy and the drinker to sleep almost a full day. However, healing dice have advantage and double amount gained.  2 gp per pot
 - Mountain's delight:  Pale orange tea.  Intriguing flavor with a mineral tint.   1 Paisa a cup
 - Amethyst Jasmin, a deep purple brew with aphrodisiac properties.  Cost a staggering 80 rupee a pot as it is grown in a single farm and contains amethyst powder.
- The Yellow Tea.
- The Unseen Brew.


KOJO STICKS
- The Kojo of inner fire:  This reddish tobacco increased energy, removing up to two levels of exhaustion.  Not recommended before bedtime (and eating a solid meal is a good idea too).
- The kojo of beneficial health:  This pale grey tobacco speeds up natural healing.  All hit dice healing rolls get rolled twice and keep the highest (eating also recommended).  This effect last one day.
- The kojo of bliss:  This dark green tobacco makes you blissful for 2d6 hours.
- The Kojo of Yoon:  This dark purple kojo stick reeks of Yoon, the common purple spice used by almost everyone.  Smoking this kojo makes the smoker immune to hunger for a *week*.
- The kojo of the moon.  This brilliant white kojo stick is almost without odor and burns with an invisible flame.  Gain advantage on perception for 1 hour.
- Black Kojo:  a particularly strong kojo, no magical effect
- Pale Kojo:  a very smooth one.  No magical effect. 
- Orange Kojo:  Flavored with orange rind
- Riverweed Kojo: everyday kojo, a bit uneven in quality.
- Kojo of Endless Air.  The smoke of this Kojo is almost flavorless but tingly.  It loads the body with oxygen, allowing one to go without air for 1d3 hours (great for water exploration, also for high altitude sickness)

No prices were set for these, as they were obtained and traded with Lamarakhi clans (small rewards, favors etc)... and yet never used :(

OPIUMS:
- The Brown Imp:  A brown opium, smoked in a pipe.  Acts as relaxant tea. Save vs poison DC 12 or see demons cavorting at the periphery of vision (this save can be failed on purpose, as many users find the cavorting entertaining).  Addictiveness:  14%, DC save 10 to half the % .  Costs 7 rupees a dose.  Produced in large quantities, but expensive due to its popularity, frequently on the menu at slugmen parties and social functions.
- Jasper Judge, a black poppy:  Eaten in the left mouth.   Cause lack of sleep and keen judge of moral character.   Potency 6 (16%), save DC 11.  Costs 5 rupees a dose.  Often used by negotiators.
- Fierce Heart: A red poppy, which is smoked into a pipe.  An aphrodisiac and a stimulant, it boost energy (+1 damage for 1d6 hours).  Potency 19, save DC 14.  Costs 9 sp per dose. 
- The Rainbow Storm:  A purple opium, crushed and then mixed with boiling tea.  Hallucinogen, colors are super bright and chaotic (disadvantage to many checks) for 1d4+1 hours.  Addictiveness:  Potency 6.  DC save 10 to half the %.  Costs 4 rupees a dose

(the rules for potency and addiction can be found in the Yoon Suin book).

POISONS
- Sea's blight: onset 1d6 minutes, debilitation 1d3 days/1d3 hours, a squid that hunts sea snakes (local product), uncommon (IN 5e, debilitation is 3 levels of exhaustion... there is a 5e "poisoned" effect with is sufficient for most poisons though) . DC save is 13
- Alchemical Jug Basic poison. Skin contact onset 1d4 minutes, DC 10. Injury onset immediate, DC 12. 2D6 dmg, poisoned, check every 4 hours until pass.
- Foe-stopper: A somewhat weak poison obtained from the boxfish toxin. Save DC 12, Poisoned 1d4 rounds. A weapon-applied poison, immediate onset. Weakens muscle for a short period of time

- Black Centipede poison: Injury immediate onset, DC 13. Damage 1d10. Poisoned (save every round)

The main use for these were not by the PCs, but by the *foes*.  Brigands using poison on their arrows can really spice up a fight!

Slugman-onomics

So, your PCs have grown in power and influence, and they want to start their own Slugman house, or they have taken control of one etc.  They wonder about the budget.  How do the numbers look?

Pretty big.  So big in fact that we need a new unit of currency to make the numbers manageable.  For Yoon Suin, I propose the gold talent, which corresponds to 26 kg (!) of gold.

(Because I'm a stickler for details in my game a  talent is worth 6771 gp.  I recommend a more manageable number if you want to do this yourself, but I'm doing the work for you so you don't have to suffer)

The 5e PHB tells us that the aristocratic lifestyle costs 10gp+ per day - this includes fancy dwelling, fine foods and clothing, servants, guards etc... so essentially, you can multiply 10 X # slugmen X 365 to get the yearly cost of running a slugman house - this isn't even any "special projects", this is just keeping your slugmen fed, housed, and served upon.  A medium sized (100 members) house has therefore the *alarming* expenses of about 54 talent a year (ie 365 000 gp)! If we round this up a bit, we end up with 0.5 gold talents/year/slugman, which is a huge value *but* facilitates calculations.  So the House of Leaves, with 56 members, requires at least 28 gold talents a year to break even.

The easiest income source for slugmen is rent collection, as they own all buildings in the Yellow City. - in fact, rent is the main form of "taxation".  Using a modification of these numbers (185 gp yearly income for non-slugmen citizens), an average size of 4500 people in an average wealth district, 40% rent (but only 30% collected - the missing 10% is for expenses, maintenance of buildings etc), you get about 37 gold talents a year.  This is fine if you are a small house, but what if you're the house of White and Black with 200 members?  You need other business ventures.

Here are a few examples.

Pottery smuggling ring:
1 ship carrying 200 tons dropped off on an island, 4 shipment a year.  1 item of pottery = 1 gp.  1 item = 1 pound but packaging etc, so 1 ton = 500 items = 500 gp.  Duty is 30%, you avoid it but you have expenses so your profit on the smuggling is 15%.  Total about 9 talents a year.  

Tea importation.   
100 river boat loads a year.  Based on my research, that's about 500 tons a year (this is a realistic number.  I figure that the Yellow city consumes at least a ton a day, so add slugmen excess, exports to Xian etc...).  1 tea brick =4 rupees and slightly over a pound, or about 112 talents.  Slap your monopolistic 30% duty on it, and that's 34 talents.  This is why the Council House are so wealthy. 

Quicksilver mine.
For that we can thank Pliny the Elder.  If expenses are included already in that price, we are at about 3 gold talents a year, not that great (edit: previous calculations were wrong), but this is in net profit, and if you slap a few duties on export, you can probably squeeze a few more talents.  The main weakness in using Pliny is the lack of knowledge about how well his prices line up up with Yoon-Suin prices.  The scale is interesting here.  3 talents a year is a lot of money, and yet it's barely sufficient to sustain 6 slugmen!  

Hair transplant services.
You laugh, but my players *actually did this*.  At its peak, the business was pulling about 3 talents a year, which is really good for a small shop offering slugmen of discerning taste the unique experience of having hair.  This is not sustainable (fads end) and relied on having a unique artefact, but it shows how a clever adventurer can get *much more* out of a quirky item than by simply auctioning it off... 

Lastly, I will note that the GDP of the Yellow City would be about 10 000 talents a year *were it a city of average wealth* - as we know it's a wealthy place due to its position as a the sole port of entry for the entirety of Yoon-Suin, it could be triple that.  The slugmen, at 3% of the total population, consume 1/6 of the resources... 

The Grain District - a part of the Yellow City

On the Western Isle near the Gulf of Morrays, occupying the middle third of the Island, is the Grain district.

Of middling wealth, the district owes its name to the Great Granary, made of large topaz-flecked stone blocks.  This immense warehouse faces the God River on the eastern shore of the island, and its docks can accommodate both sea fairing vessels and Laramarkhi river-boats.  The granary was built upon order of the Council as a ward against famine, and is controlled by the House of Quartz (which, of course, takes a cut of every transaction).  It contains over 3 millions bushels, with vast quantities of rice, lentils, chickpeas, barley, wheat, and other grain, and it is said it could feed the entire city for a year.

The granary is currently operated by the slugman Wu Yi (holyman of Boxeos, the North Wind). The House of Quartz is noted for its infighting, and Wu Yi worries constantly that house rivals will try to embarrass him. He has spent considerable funds increasing security, but his fears persist, as his increased security measures triggered false rumors of a planned heist. He is assisted by the human foreman Veer, a noted gambler, and the dwarven warrior Barak, who lost an eye during a squidmen attack and now serves as head of security.

Near the Great Granary is the shrine to Parkij, the Crane of hunger.  Every morning the  priests ritually curse the granary.  They are quite disliked, but Parkij teaches the value of endurance.  

Other notable temples and shrines include the Temple of Red Waters (recently dedicated to the Beetle of Mislaid Memories) and the shrine to the Lady of Lentils and Grief, who provides funeral services to the poor.  

Abutting the great warehouse on the north western corner is a much smaller and modest building made of clay bricks: the Hall of Blessed Waters.  This tea house, operated by the retired club fighter Van Dan and his wife Ma Ga Na, provides services to the workers of the Granary and the priests of Parkij.  Also working there is the startlingly beautiful waiter, Alo Bak. He is quite glad to share his extensive knowledge of the area.  Regular patrons include the slugman adventurer Po Befi, holy-man of the Memory Tree and his companions, the shoe maker Pab Has, the matka-runner Kala with her smile and sharp knife, the recently disfigured assassin Aspru, and the golemist Kavela, who enjoys shocking the holy man Chit du Ban with heretical ideas concerning apotheosis.  

The teahouse serves flatbread, fish curries and lentils, as well as the following teas:

- Humble tea of the Third Quality (buy 2 pots get one free. One free cup with every meal)
- Caterpillar sleeper: 3 rupees per pot. Refreshing and revitalizing (5e: gain 1 hit dice in reserve.  Glog:  gain 1 hp (but only 1/day))
- Emerald Green: 1 rupee per *cup*. Brilliant green tea, excellent.
- Figher's brew: Deep brown tea. Caused lethargy and the drinker to sleep almost a full day. This results in 5e: healing dice have advantage and double amount gained (GLOG: heal all hp). 2 gp per pot
- Mountain's delight: Pale orange tea. Intriguing flavor with a mineral tint. 1 Paisa a cup

Located on the western side of the Grain District is a great arboretum, with well tended trees from all over Yoon Suin and beyond.  Its most famous specimen is the Memory Tree, a great and ancient pippala.  Its leaves move constantly, even in the absence of wind.  It's fruit is said to fortify the memory, allowing one to remember long forgotten facts, but also retain new knowledge.  The holy men tending the tree dress in pure white, and water its roots with blood.

In the center of the Arboretum is the palace of the House of Leaves, a scholarly slugman House of modest power specializing in the study of plants.  Their wealth comes from their production of rare plant extract and of rent income (in the Yellow City, as humans are not allowed to own property, they must pay rent. The rates are quite high and are used instead of taxation).  

The House of Leaves' spellcasters are noted herbalists and their skill is respected (Glog: Garden Wizards).   The House fixer is old Loma Ku, wily but perhaps too curious about human mating practices.   The House is not warlike, but recently several members were involved in a battle along side Bo Befi's gang vs followers of Garlok, Lord of Pain.  Pali Kali, clever with a bow, distinguished themselves, and the mage Vo La died, an experience they would rather not repeat. A blackwood staff, studded with teeth, was claimed as trophy and occupies a place of honor.  The House is also defended by a modest contingent of guards and well over 100 animated bushes. 

In the middle of the Arboretum are the ruins of the once fabled Red Bridge. Immediately north of the Arboretum is the New Bridge, a much more modest wooden bridge over the westernmost arm of the God River, which leads to the Red Bank district, popular with the Lamarakhi.  As the bridge is in frequent need of repair, both locals and Lamarakhi operate water taxi services.  To the south of the Grain District is the Pointed Dock District, and to the north is the Old Clays.  

Rumors:

- A new gang, led by a stout man named Karang, is extorting money from merchants and even cockroach clans.  Said clans have left and refuse is piling up

- The mage apprentice Dubi Gan is looking for a few stout souls for a short exploration mission

- Someone has tried to poison the head mage of the House of White and Black (in the Pointed Dock District).

- Some shopkeepers have stopped accepting anas (a small silver coin).

- The shoemaker, Pab Has, has won Matka a lot lately... 

- There is a huge bounty of 50 rubies placed by the Cult of the Demon Elephant on the head of an exiled prince of the Hundred Kingdoms.

This entry was created as part of a GLOG challenge.  Here are the other entries:

Ortish Colony by Words for Yellow
Nahemot and Ezra, the city of noise by Alone in the Labyrinth
January by the Benign Brown Beast
A living, moving city  by Parasites and Paradoxes
Stones, a refuge in Hell by Two Goblins in a Trenchcoat. 
A village on the river Sword by The Whimsical Mountain (this one is almost an adventure waiting to happen!)  

(more to come)  

Post Scriptum.

I know my entry is not an entire city.  A very wise author once said that the Yellow City "should not be planned out: its vastness does not bear close cataloguing".

click to enlarge!

Grown in Darkness

The other day as I was surfing the internet, I stumbled upon this story:  

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20190424-the-english-vegetable-picked-by-candlelight

In brief, someone discovered that if you forced rhubarb to grow by candlelight, it would force them to draw upon their resources and become much sweeter.  I'm not sure if I'm being a botany geek here, but this seemed remarkably like a... very Yoon-Suin thing to do.  Sure you grow bizarre vegetables in the dark in D&D but in the real world?  No way...  

And yet, here we are.

So in honor of forced rhubarb, I guess I have to force myself to write down a few ideas I had about the power of darkness in Yoon Suin.

First, yet another god!

Lyla, the dark soap mistress.  This peculiar cult is not very popular due to being... strange, even by the Yellow City standards.  The goddess takes the shape of an odd Beetle-octopus, and appreciates the sacrifice invertebrate.  The sacred color is black, and the cult takes the devotion to this color to an alarming extreme.  The priesthood is composed entirely of  human women who dye their skin black. The more advanced the holy woman, the deeper and more total the shade (teeth, eyes etc become black too).  Other cults consider this concern over color to be over the top. 

The high priestess has become so dark that she is but a silhouette, appearing not as a black shape but almost as a human-shaped hole in the universe (Look up vantablack to get an idea).  She is said to be one of the most powerful holy woman in the city, and slugmen sometimes pay great fees to consult her on various matters.  

High rituals of the cult includes sleeping in ink, sometimes for very long periods.  Other strange rituals include very long washing (most people aren't "holy enough" to withstand this, skin gets irritated, although certain slugmen say it is just *the thing* to get over an opium addiction).   Soap is seen as holy because it reveals (the sheen of soapy water gives substance and detail to very dark objects/people) , but also the soap is needed to keep dust etc at bay that would keep true blackness from being possible.  

Besides the high priestess, another cultist gained some notoriety - the would be successor, Chi Da Mat, was banished for her greed.  She relocated to Ras Bolon and quickly took over  the cult of the Black Lotus, a different goddess concerned with magic, women and the harvest.  She is said to wield not inconsiderable mystical and temporal power, and charges dearly for her services.

Second, a peculiar tea:

  

The unseen brew.

This black tea is grown in the shade, on steep northern slopes in Sughd that never seen the sun.  It is the harvest process however which is most particular - only on moonless night, cloudy if possible.  The harvesters are "honored" slaves, who are born and live in perpetual darkness, only coming out of their lightless halls to perform the harvest.  The same slaves perform the post-harvest processing, fermentation and packaging in complete darkness.  Each packet is carefully sealed against light contamination, and is sold for 10 rupees (2 gp) per packet (one packet being sufficient to brew one teapot).  

The tea is said to taste best if brewed and drunk in complete darkness, and is the preferred brew of cynics.  It is also used by serious-minded slugmen who wish to ponder "what could go wrong" with a project, as it blackens the mood and strips the drinker of unwarranted optimism.  It is also said to be a suitable base medium for various types of darkness magic.  

(edit:  this was in part inspired by the imperial silver tips which really should be part of yoon-suin anyway.  )

Cheating death in Yoon-Suin

Slug men do not live long... in theory. Their natural life-span is perhaps 50 years. However, the Tea Masters have long ago discovered the secrets of a life-extending tea. A slugman who drinks a cup of this elixir daily can expect to live 150-250 years. The slug-men call this simply "yellow tea" - their near dependence on it is a well kept secret.

There is now enough yellow tea for every slugmen... But it wasn't always so. Initially, the yellow tea was reserved for wizards. As supplies increased, the tea was given to other spellcasters as well. Today, the core of the tradition remains and is sacrosant: a slugman must demonstrate that they can wield magic (without items) in a short but critical ceremony called "the Proving" so that they can earn the right to yellow tea. Cheating invites exile.

Those who pass this important rite of passage gain access to a long life and the full privileges of being a slugman. Slugmen who fail to Prove themselves are second-class citizens, doomed to die early and aforded few chances to breed. Some become resigned and hedonistic petty officials. Others become driven, determine to find magic, or live life to the fullest. They often resort to crime, as they fear exile less than other slugmen - who fear losing access to the special tea. There is no time limit for a slugman to "Prove" themselves - if one manages to master magic later in life despite failing earlier, perhaps by finding a new (or ancient) form or magic, or by forging a pact with some petty god or entity, they will gain access to the yellow tea.

Some slugmen who haven't proven themselves take to eating large quantities of solid tea in hope to extending their lives and it somewhat works (gaining 10-15 years); this behavior is explained as "tea addiction".

Scholars have noted that the support of slugmen who fail to master arcane magic and who start worshiping various gods (and thus become holymen) plays an important part in maintaining the large number of shrine to obscure gods in the Yellow City - a single slugman's patronage can ensure a failing's cult survival.

The yellow tea does not work properly for humans. It halts aging for a decade or two, invariably followed by a fatal wasting disease. Some other alchemical means can prolonge human life for some times, but amongst archmage, these are insufficient.

The choice remaining are lichdom (wich few take), or undergo the ritual kown as Enftebtemang's Palmastic Transformation. This complex procedure results in the mage losing his head, and faces appearing on his palm. This may damage sanity somewhat, but does extend life by several centuries. Some say that when the two palms are joined together, the face changes, and Enftebtemang can speak through.

(See page 259 and 262 of the book for notes and illustration of such an archmage)

Design note: This was inspired by the notion that "all slugmen are magic users or holy men." Why are slugmen so eager to learn magic? Because it's a matter of life and death

Coinage - it's complicated

D&D coinage tends to be very simple.  1gp = 10 sp = 100 cp, with sometimes platinum and electrum thrown into the mix.

However, this is not very historically accurate.  Things were often much more muddled than that, and some games have attempted to emulate this.  Warhammer frpg for example uses a 1 crown = 20 shillings = 240 pennies, which does have some historical basis.

In my experience over the years, I've discovered that while a more accurate and complex coin system can be satisfying for the GM to research, design and use... unfortunately in actual gameplay, it's kind of a pain  (the above Warhammer example is about as complex as you want to get).  Your players probably won't like the bewildering array of coins and strange ratios, and it slows the game down.  

So what to do if you do want a complex coinage system anyway?  You use "a unit of account".   This is a unit of currency that is widely used to measure value, even though actual coins of that value may be rare, or non-existent even.  The actual specific coins used for this are not important, but the PCs know instantly what the value is.   This level of abstraction speeds up the game, and the various coinage can fade in the background *until* they becomes important because of a plot or logistical issue.

For example, a specific coin is being forged.  The PCs are investigating.  Or the PC found a fortune... in Oxide Ingot , the fortune weight tons, what to do?  

In my Yoon Suin campaign, the unit of account is the Rupee - a big fat silver coin that has a fair amount of prestige associated with it, but is rarely seen in circulation.   So if the party is offered a 10 000 rupee reward to undertake a dangerous mission, they will probably paid in a mixture of gold and silver pieces.

All the players need to know is 1 gp = 5 rupee = 10 sp = 320 cp 

The actual values:

1 mohur = 3 gp = 15 rupee

1 gp = 5 rupee = 10 sp

1 rupee = 2 silver pieces = 16 anna = 64 paise = 192 pie

1 sp = 8 anna = 32 paise = 96 pie

1 anna = 4 paise = 12 pie

1 paise = 3 pie

The coins

The Mohur is a large, rare gold coin minted in the Yellow city.  Being paid in actual Mohur is a privilege, and people prefer hoarding them than spending them, keeping them out of circulation

The "standard" gold piece is a small piece of gold, used by merchants and the wealthy, mostly minted in the oligarchies and the hundred kingdoms.  (3.84 g)

The rupee is a large silver coin, as noted above, and being paid in actual rupee has some prestige.  Like the Mohur, it is frequently hoarded.  A rupee/day is the "minimum wage" - what a free laborer can expect to get, although they probably will be paid in a mixture of silver pieces, annas and paises.  

The "standard" silver piece covers a large array of mediumish silver coins that have over the centuries being somewhat standardized to be worth half a rupee.  The half-rupee coin itself is uncommon but isn't seen as special.  A lot come from the hundred kingdoms, the oligarchies and the Mountains of the Moon.  These coins are in large circulations   5.4 g on average

The Anna is a very small silver piece, minted mostly in the Yellow City.  It's frequently debased and forged, and as such the anna is not accepted for large sums and is seen as suspicious.  "Being paid in annas" is a euphemism for doing unsavory deeds for money.  However there are many in circulation. (0.675 g)

The Paise is a large copper coin with a hole in the middle.  In the Yellow City, the majority (easily recognized due to the square hole) are imported by merchants from far away Xian.  This is a coin frequently used by the poor but unlike the Anna it is seen as "honest money" and is in very large circulation.

The Pie is a hardened lead coin of little value, seen as fit for children and beggars, and is minted in the Yellow city.  However it is rarely counterfeited (why bother?) and can still buy you a cup of tea, so it's worth something :)

Another form of "currency" is the tea brick.  A tea brick of "the third quality" (the most common) is worth 4 rupee and weights slightly over a pound.

Lastly, there are the is the silver and gold talents, an enormous mass of precious metal (26 kg!) that only the ultra wealthy deal with...  (1 gold talent = 6771 gp)    1 silver talent = 2 407 rupee, about 2 476 cm3)