Archive

Tag Archives: fantasy

Step-Based Compensation in Faerûn: Paying Your People the Guild Way

By
June 10, 2025
Uncategorized
Leave a comment

In the cities and strongholds of Faerûn, coin doesn’t just flow through markets and mead halls, it flows through payroll ledgers. Whether you’re an apprentice scribe in Candlekeep or a battle-hardened inventory porter in Waterdeep’s lower docks, your pay is determined by a system that’s as structured as a dwarven fortress: step-based compensation.

This isn’t just a civilized form of gold distribution. It’s how guilds and trading companies standardize pay, encourage career growth, and keep labor disputes from devolving into fireball-flinging protests.

What Is Step-Based Compensation?

Step-based compensation is a tiered wage system where workers earn more as they progress through defined roles. Most guilds structure this into five steps, with each level tied to experience, certifications, or sometimes just surviving long enough to tell the tale.

These ranges aren’t static. In cities like Luskan, where danger clings to every crate, hazard pay bonuses may boost compensation by up to 50%. Some occupations also carry premiums depending on magical risk, rarity of skill, or guild scarcity.

Why the Steps Matter

In a continent bound together by trade routes and teleportation circles, consistency in compensation helps prevent chaos. Guilds enforce minimums, reward growth, and create expectations across the Sword Coast and beyond.

Step-based models also:

  • Support career progression that’s visible and motivating.
  • Enable structured training programs and certifications.
  • Allow for easy workforce budgeting in tools like Dynamics 365.
  • Prevent the “random NPC wage” effect from breaking immersion.

Common Faerûnian Pay Ranges

Here’s a sample from across guilds and corker classes:

These roles often reflect local conditions. A Potion Sampler in Amn may fetch higher rates due to alchemical guild demand, while an Inventory Porter in Mirabar might earn less thanks to automation by enchanted pulley systems.

Moving Up the Ranks

Progressing through compensation steps usually involves:

  • Time served in a guild or under contract
  • Performance evaluations from senior corkers
  • Certifications and formal skill tests
  • Survival, especially in hazardous roles like wild magic waste disposal

Guilds like the Grand Artisans League and the Arcane Artificers Union publish detailed advancement criteria, while others—like the Free Mercenaries League—prefer the “prove it or perish” method.

Standardizing Pay in Dynamics 365

For trading companies like the Waterdeep Trading Company, these steps are modeled directly in Dynamics 365 Human Resources:

  • Job levels and skill requirements mapped to compensation bands
  • Automated progression workflows tied to review periods
  • Reports and dashboards showing wage distribution across sites
  • Integration with guild dues and hazard premiums

This ensures your compensation structure reflects both fantasy logic and enterprise accountability.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re enchanting potion bottles in Baldur’s Gate or hauling siege ballistae in Scornubel, step-based pay ensures that work in Faerûn is as structured as it is storied. It builds morale, supports retention, and ensures that even the lowliest apprentice has a path forward—ideally, one with fewer explosions.

Looking to implement your step-based compensation strategy (with or without beholder hazard pay)? Start your journey at adnd365.com/start and request access to the public demo of our Faerûn Dynamics 365 setup at https://public.adnd365.com, logging in with

Username: npc@adnd365.com

Password: N0nPl@yC#822!

The realm pays well—if you level up right.

Tracking Magic Charges with Catchweight Inventory in Dynamics 365 at the Waterdeep Trading Company

By
May 6, 2025
Uncategorized
Leave a comment

“One wand, five charges. One careless wizard, zero left.” — Greta Ironfist, COO, Waterdeep Trading Company

In the bustling arcane economy of Faerûn, inventory isn’t just about counting barrels of ale or bolts of cloth — it’s about precision tracking of the power inside the product. At the Waterdeep Trading Company (WDTC), that includes magical items like wands, staves, and devices that are finite in function, possessing a specific number of charges.

This is where Catchweight Inventory Management within Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management comes into play — blending the tangible and the magical to enable better control, traceability, and profitability in the sales and management of charge-limited magical goods.

What Is Catchweight Inventory?

Catchweight inventory allows a product to be managed using two different units of measure simultaneously. It’s commonly used in food and beverage industries (like meat sold by the piece and weight), but at WDTC, we use it for something more… spellbinding:

  • Inventory Unit: 1 Wand of Fireballs
  • Catchweight Unit: 5 Castings

This means we can stock, ship, and invoice the wand by the piece, but track its actual usable magical value — its remaining charges — through a catchweight unit of measure: castings.

Why Use Catchweight for Magic Items?

Magical devices are powerful and pricey. But what happens when a wand is only half full? Or a device has just one charge left?

Using Catchweight, WDTC can:

Implementation Example: Wand of Magic Missiles

Here’s how WDTC configures the Wand of Magic Missiles in Dynamics 365:

When a wand is sold with only 3 of its original 7 charges remaining, Dynamics 365 recognizes both:

  • 1 wand shipped
  • 3 castings recorded for invoicing, pricing, or valuation

Integration with Inventory Dimensions

To further improve management, WDTC associates batch and serial numbers with each magical item. The serial number tracks:

  • Enchantment origin
  • Recharge history
  • Usage logs (via integration with spellcasting records)

This lets us prevent “wand fraud” — shady vendors selling depleted items with illusory packaging.

Reporting and Finance Magic

Using Power BI and native D365 reporting, managers can view:

  • Remaining casting capacity per warehouse
  • Average cost per casting
  • Most depleted items in circulation
  • Projected restock dates based on usage rates

This ensures Greta Ironfist and her enchanters make wise procurement decisions before the next dragon-slaying boom wipes out wand inventory.

Final Thoughts

In a world where a wand’s worth is measured not just by what it is, but how much it can do, Catchweight Inventory Management in Dynamics 365 gives WDTC the tools to balance commerce and chaos. From enchanted bolts to spell-laced scrolls, it’s the key to spellbook-accurate inventory and adventurer-grade profitability.

Want help configuring your own magical inventory system in D365? The arcane consultants at Waterdeep Trading Company are only a sending spell away.

Ready to level up your D365 implementation with a little magic?

Download the full Advanced Dungeons & Dynamics 365 guides and start your quest today at adnd365.com/start.Whether you’re managing inventory in Waterdeep or configuring workflows in Cormyr, these step-by-step tomes will equip you for legendary ERP success.

Of Rods, Barrels, and Castings: Units of Measure in Faerûn

By
April 15, 2025
Uncategorized
Leave a comment

When adventurers in Faerûn tally their loot, when merchants count their wares in the bustling streets of Waterdeep, or when a dwarven stillmaster measures out moonshine in the Underdark—there’s one thing they all rely on: units of measure. But unlike our modern world of liters, kilograms, and miles per hour, Faerûn’s systems are delightfully inconsistent, hyper-regional, and infused with centuries of tradition, trade, and even magic.

Let’s take a tour through the wonderfully eclectic system of measurement in the Forgotten Realms.

Quantity Units: From Pieces to Pallets

Faerûnian traders deal in discrete units when counting physical goods—especially when it comes to adventuring gear, weapons, fabric, or food.

Weight Units: Medieval Heft with Mystical Variance

Faerûn may lack precision scales in every village, but weight still matters—especially to caravan masters and tax collectors.

Different regions may also use local names (like “kiv” in Rashemen or “zenk” in Thay), each reflecting unique cultural needs.

Volume Units: Casks, Jars, and Magical Bottles

Alchemists, distillers, and apothecaries are fastidious about their liquids—whether it’s healing potion or dwarven ale.

Magical volumes may defy expectations—a decanter of endless water, for example, does not comply with any rational standard.

Length and Fabric: From Elves to Ells

Clothiers and mapmakers in Faerûn often measure in units both familiar and fantastical.

Some elven cultures use units like the “moonstep” (about 3.3 feet) or the “petal’s fall” (a subjective unit of time/distance).

Area and Agriculture: For Land, Fields, and Armies

Land grants, farming plots, and battlegrounds are measured in larger units.

Magic and Alchemical Units

The arcane arts introduced unique measurements for magical substances and energies:

  • “Casting” (cst): One complete spell effect, used in crafting and alchemy.
  • “Soul-shard”: A necromantic unit for capturing essence (not legally recognized in Waterdeep).
  • “Pinch,” “Smidgen,” “Dash”: Extremely small units often used in potion brewing and cooking—especially halfling kitchens.

Standardization… Or Not

Faerûn doesn’t have a single standards board—each city, guild, or kingdom may have their own versions of the same unit. Thankfully, major trade cities like Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, and Calimport have codified equivalents for inter-regional commerce. Some larger organizations—like the Lords’ Alliance—even issue measurement tokens to help travelers convert between standards.

Final Thoughts

Units of measure may seem mundane, but in a world of dragons, liches, and flying ships, they’re a grounding force. Whether you’re an adventurer dividing loot, a merchant measuring goods, or a mage crafting potions, understanding these units means operating safely and fairly in a realm where even the size of a spoonful could mean life or death.

And in case you’re setting up inventory in Dynamics 365 for the Waterdeep Trading Company—yes, we’ve mapped all these units into the Item Master for you in The Advanced Dungeons & Dynamics 365 book series takes you deeper into magical business systems with step-by-step setups, fantasy examples, and real ERP strategy.

Grab your copy today and contract with confidence at adnd365.com/start

Trade Promotions in Faerûn: How Discounts and Dragons Drive Sales in D365

By
April 8, 2025
Uncategorized
Leave a comment

In the world of Advanced Dungeons & Dynamics 365, the real heroes of commerce aren’t always wielding swords—they’re wielding spreadsheets.

Whether you’re a potions distributor in Amn or a magical cookware wholesaler in Waterdeep, running trade promotions is one of the best ways to boost volume, clear seasonal inventory, and gain favor with merchant guilds. But managing those promotions across city-states, planes of existence, and fluctuating economic zones? That’s where Dynamics 365 Trade Promotion Management becomes your best magical artifact.

Let’s unpack how it works, with a few scrolls from our campaign log.

What Are Trade Promotions?

Think of trade promotions as targeted campaigns that offer discounts, incentives, or bundled offers to specific customers—usually retailers, guilds, or channel partners.

Here’s what they look like in Faerûn:

  • “Buy 3 Healing Potions, Get 1 Free” in Baldur’s Gate
  • 10% discount on Moonshines for the Brewers’ Guild during Brewfest
  • Extra 2% off all scrolls shipped via teleportation (because logistics costs are lower!)
  • Flat rate rebates on armor bundles during wartime (high demand = high reward)

In Dynamics 365, these promotions are configured as Trade Agreements, Discounts, and Rebate Programs, tracked across customers, products, and timelines.

Setting Up a Promotion in Dynamics 365

Let’s say you’re the Trade Master for Waterdeep Trading Company, and you want to launch a “Potion Palooza” campaign. Here’s how you’d do it:

  1. Define the Offer
  2. Configure the Trade Agreement
  3. Add a Rebate Program (optional)
  4. Link to Promotions Calendar
  5. Monitor Effectiveness with Power BI

Why It Matters in a Fantasy World (or Real One)

Trade promotions allow you to:

  • Move inventory before seasonal demand drops (hello, summer furs…)
  • Strengthen partner relationships by offering exclusive deals
  • Drive competitive advantage in crowded marketplaces (especially in cities like Calimshan)
  • Track ROI on every promotion (you don’t want to offer discounts that eat your margin like a gelatinous cube)

And with D365, it’s not just about setting up the discount—it’s about controlling it, automating it, and analyzing the results across your financial and supply chain modules.

Ready to Power Up Your Promotions?

Trade promotions are just one of the many magical tools in your ERP grimoire. Want to learn how to blend economic models, regional pricing, product variants, and guild contracts into a single unified system?

The Advanced Dungeons & Dynamics 365 books are your spellbook. Whether you’re a merchant prince or a humble configuration wizard, these guides will show you how to run your kingdom (or company) like a pro.

Grab your copy now and charm your way into trade success: Buy the AD&D365 Books