Dungeon Master: Owning Property

There are many different kinds of rewards at the disposal of the Dungeon Master. Money and items are the ones typically thought of. However, player owned property is another way to reward players. They are also something players could spend their rewards on. Expanding and repairing costs money. This kind of versatility gives them the potential to be very interesting for players. However, it also makes it harder on the Dungeon Master, can end up less effective than desired or cause unforeseen problems. 

Purpose

I've found property works best if there is a reason behind its inclusion. Try giving your party that love nothing else but raiding tombs ownership over a tavern and see how often they'll use it. Like all rewards, property really only work if your players actually want it.

Of course, there are other reasons to give your players property. At the start of the game, a property can be a great source of resources. If your players start off as nobles who each have lands, collect taxes, and have castles, the scope and kinds of issues they'll engage in will be different. Even the simple inn can be a great source of resources. Any business that earns money helps provide a way for players to finance some of their more complicated adventures.

As a Resource

I've lightly already touched upon the idea of property as a resource. Typically, it generates money. Money can be spent on things such as ladders, chisels, and enough gunpowder (or similar substance that goes boom) to blow open a tomb. However, there are often other things that come along with them. If you have a castle, you'll probably have guards too. Those guards present an incredibly potent resource when used in the right way.

Beyond their game mechanics as well, they provide a resource for role-playing. Having something that anchors your character to the world generally helps with role-playing. It provides a motivation, and also somewhere to return to when everything is over. Sometimes, that “beyond the end of the adventure” can be one of the hardest things to role-play. Thinking about where the property is located also helps. Some will have employees, suppliers or similarly related people. All of these are potential story ideas or elements for a character's background. You also can't underestimate the usefulness of connections, such as a supplier of wine and food.

Liabilities

Coming along with property are responsibilities. These add a liability side of things. You don't want to make the property nothing but a liability or the players will just try to pawn it off. You can't really blame them for that either. However, castles generally need castle guards to prevent them from being attacked or looted. They also need staff to keep it in decent repair and to keep it clean. This means a player could start off with an amazing amount of financial wealth for a level 1 character, but be able spend very little of it because it's almost all tied up. As well, buildings are typically hard to move. This means that if there is some kind of war drawing closer to their property, a player may feel far more of a personal connection to the conflict. There may be times where a property is not doing very well and need to be supported by the player. However, there needs to be promise of good times as well or it just won't be worth it. Likewise, the liability and repair costs of larger properties should generally increase and the potential (best case) and general (likely case) returns should increase as well. Otherwise why even expand?

The Math

I don't like a lot of the math involved with properties, and running businesses. D&D 5^th edition has this problem as well. The thing is, the odds should be in such a way that they make sense. It's one thing to start off as the owner of a piece of property. However, it's another if you have to buy it first. Quite a few of the rules I remember reading will have your players die before they ever see a profit from a business they built.

I think it's generally a good idea to keep both sides of the equation in mind. You can increase the costs of a building or the potential costs if they have a bad period of business, but the earnings should increase as well. The average case, the best case and worst case are all important in this regard. The average case is particularly important to make sure things are viable in the long term. It's also affected by the prices in your campaign. Though I don't see it done too often, some Dungeon Masters like to price things their way. This, of course, includes property.

Focus

One of the issues with something like player property is that it can shift the focus. Something that big, profitable and important to the players naturally would. Unfortunately, I don't have much advice in this case. If everyone starts with a castle, you might want to think about if they will all ever get used. Some players are perfectly fine with a castle that is being run in the background by their advisers and they get to spend the money generated. Some will want to see it and have it take part in the action. If the plan isn't to have the action shift between the castles (it can happen with other properties but castles are what I've seen used most often), it may be a good idea to think of a way to have everything centered on a shared piece of property. Everyone being a relative of the real owner and currently no heir being named generally works fine the few times I saw it employed (though it depends on the inheritance structure of your world). You can also locate them all fairly close by and have them be part of the same tight network of defense.