Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

Graham Bottley

Issue 2

Cover Illustration by Chris Waller

Internal Illustrations and cartography by Graham Bottley

First published March 2010

Based on the original book Maelstrom by Alexander Scott,

published by Puffin Books, 1984

Copyright © Graham Bottley, 2010

C o v e r Illustration copyright © Chris Waller, 2010
Internal illustrations © Graham Bottley, 2010
All rights reserved

Published 2010 by Arion Games (UK) under license from Puffin Books.
http://www.arion-games.com

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition
that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be le nt, re- sol d, hired out, or otherwi se
ci rc ula te d wi thout t he p ublisher's pri or consent i n a ny f orm of
b i nd i ng o r c o v e r o t he r t h a n t ha t i n w hi c h i t i s p u b l i s he d a n d w i t h o u t a s i m i l a r
c o n d i t i o n including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

 Inns, Taverns and Alehouses
The first issue of Maelstrom Quarterly focused on Tournaments, a major source of entertainment for
the upper echelons of society, even as far up as the King. This second issue covers a subject a little more
down to earth: Drinking establishments.

From large Inns serving the needs of travelling professionals to low alehouses and brothels, serving
thieves and ruffians, these places are both a place of refuge and a source of adventures. The locations
detailed in these pages will be an invaluable resource for any Maelstrom campaign, of whatever style.

Inn

Inns are hostelries that provide lodging, probably food and drink, and possibly stabling and other
services. They are often larger buildings, and often have a courtyard attached. The quality and service
provided by the Inn can of course vary widely, with some Inns being ramshackle and tumbledown,
offering only the most basic of services. At the other end of the scale are the large and well-appointed
Inns that offer everything a traveller may need. Inns are common in the cities and large towns, serving
the needs of professional travellers, and a primitive version of the coaching Inn can be found at regular
intervals on the busier roads. The main thoroughfares, such as the Great North Road, have Inns at
roughly 20 mile intervals, equating to one days travel. Rural Inns are often of lower quality than their
city counterparts, especially if in remote areas, but are a welcome site nevertheless for most travellers.

Structure

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

 An Inn will be built in the style and materials typical to the area, but will often be one of the larger
buildings in the area, and will have been built as an Inn. Most Inns have a courtyard, usually with their
own well. There may be outhouses, store-rooms, brewhouses, kitchens, stables and even coach-houses.
The better Inns will have a cobbled or stone-paved courtyard, and there will often be a stout gate, with a
lantern outside to be lit at dusk. The very best Inns will have a small room next to the gate to house a
porter whose sole job is to provide security for the courtyard and any horses and coaches lodged within.

The Inn itself will have a large ground floor common room, with one or more fireplaces to provide
warmth. There may be a bar area, or else a back room where drinks and food are readied for service,
connected to the common room by a hatch. There may also be a cellar under part or all of the main
building, possibly with an outside access in addition to the interior ladder or stairs. The cellars will be
mainly small areas partly divided by arches and support columns. The upper floors will be subdivided
into smaller rooms, and will generally also have at least one common sleeping room. Not all of the
rooms will have fireplaces, but those that do will be more expensive. The common room will always
have a fireplace.

The attic garrets will house the Innkeeper, his family and any domestic staff. Grooms and potboys will
sleep over the stables. There may be external stairs to the attic rooms.

The quality of the buildings will vary, with the lowest having few glazed windows, beaten earth floors
and loose fitting doors. These are not comfortable places to stay in the depths of a ferocious winter, but
of course they are preferable to sleeping on the street. The best will have fully glazed and shuttered
windows, flagged floors and tapestries on the walls.

The furniture will likewise vary, but will generally be worn due to the heavy use it receives. There will be
tables, chairs, stools and benches in the common room, and a bed and chest in the rooms. The common
sleeping room will have low pallet beds and straw mattresses, although the individual rooms may well
have flax- or even feather-filled mattresses. Beds will have blankets, although many travellers use their
cloaks and extra blankets to keep out winter cold.

Clientele

The clientele of an Inn will vary somewhat between the rural Inns, which will compose entirely of
travellers who will only stay one night where possible, and the Inns in towns and cities which will
accommodate people for much longer whilst they take care of business. In either case, travellers will
make up the vast majority of guests. There will be commercial travellers, on the road to buy or sell
goods or en route to a place of work. There will also be less salubrious folks, entertainers, mercenaries
and rogues. The Inns generally keep an eye out for known rogues, although some of the less scrupulous
Innkeepers actually encourage thieves and pickpockets, and split the takings!

Inns can be a good place to learn the latest news, as each incoming traveller is keen to pass on gossip
from the next town. In this way, news of momentous events can spread quickly from Inn to Inn.

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

 Services

Every Inn will offer accommodation, even if it is in a common sleeping room. The other services
depend on the quality, location and local competition, both from other Inns and also Taverns and
Alehouses. Inns may offer food, drink, stabling, messenger boys and, if high class, will even offer to send
out for craftsmen, tradesmen or professionals to provide services for its guests. At the other end of the
scale, Inns of very poor repute will offer various illegal or shady services to its customers, and will often
have professional gambling within the common room.

Prices

Private Room (per night) 8d

Dormitory Bed (per night) 1d

Stabling (per horse, per night) 8d

Grooming (per horse) 1d

Messenger (within town) 1f

Ale (tankard) 2d

Wine (bottle) 6d

Wine, Good (bottle) 2s

Light Meal 2d

Meal 4d

Lavish Meal (not always available) 1s

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Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9
 Tavern

A Tavern appears superficially similar to a tavern, but with one crucial difference: Taverns do not
routinely offer accommodation. Thus taverns are a place to eat and drink, and are usually located in
areas that do not see many travellers, such as villages, smaller towns and less salubrious city suburbs.

Structure

Taverns vary widely in their structure, but like an Inn will usually been built for that purpose. Most
Taverns were originally built strongly, although some will have decayed over time, and are also usually
quite large. Some Inns will have a spacious courtyard behind, and others will be built directly on a city
street with only an alleyway behind. These city Taverns will have a cellar beneath, for the storage of
Ale barrels and foodstuffs, whilst country taverns with a yard will have outbuildings.

The ground floor of a Tavern is where the vast majority of business will take place, and this area is often
one large room, divided only by vertical beams and some low partitions. Floors may be beaten earth
and rushes, wooden boards or stone flags, depending on the area. Some taverns will have a wooden
counter for serving ale and food, whilst others will have a hatch from a barrel room. This common room
will have benches, tables, stools and chairs for the clientele, and will have a large fireplace or two for
warmth and candles or oil lamps for light. Like an Inn, the best will have glazed windows and tapestries
on the walls, and the worst will have a leaking roof and badly shuttered windows.

The kitchen will be in a small room, often built onto the outside of the main building to minimise the fire
risk. Many taverns will also have their own brewhouse, built adjacent to the kitchen or in the courtyard.

The upper floors of a tavern will house accommodation for the tavern keeper and his family, and any
extra rooms may be let out individually to tenants. Living above a tavern tends to be noisy and smelly,
so these rooms are often a low cost option for many an apprentice.

Clientele

Whereas an Inn usually caters for travellers and strangers, most taverns will have their regular local
clientele. These will live fairly close, and will often be known by name to the tavern keeper. Because of
this, many taverns will be patronised by one or two types of profession. A tavern on the docks will cater
for longshoremen, sailors and fishermen, whereas a tavern built close to Butchers Lane will cater for
slaughtermen, butchers and animal herders. These often close-knit regulars can often be suspicious or
even aggressive towards strangers in “their” tavern. Taverns can however be a prime place to pick up
information about the local area, especially later on in the night when the patrons have had several
drinks and tongues are loosened. This time of night can also be profitable for an individual entertainer
or a troupe, as entertainment, of whatever quality, tends to be appreciated then.

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

 Services

A Tavern will always offer drink, and will usually offer food. This may be as simple as bread, cheese amd
apples, or as complex as a full menu of dishes. This latter type are occasionally referred to as eating
houses by the locals. Taverns may, depending on the availability of local Inns, offer a place to sleep on
the floor of their common room. This will be very cheap, but will also literally be a space on the floor.
No bedding or pallet will be provided, and the customer will have to sweep away any detritus on the
floor themselves. Taverns rarely offer any other services, due to the local nature of their custom.

Prices

Ale (tankard) 1d

Beer (tankard) 3f

Cider (tankard) 2d

Wine (bottle) 5d

Wine, Good (bottle) 2s

Claret (bottle) 3s

Spirit (tot) 2d

Light Meal 2d

Meal 4d

Lavish Meal (not always available) 1s

Bed (Common room floor) 2f

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Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9
 Alehouse

An Alehouse is, simply put, a room in a convenient building where people can buy alcoholic drinks.
Often in a domestic building, Alehouses are usually the lowest of this type of business.

Structure

An Alehouse is, in function, almost exactly the same as a Tavern. However, whereas a tavern is usually
purpose built, large and with its own brewhouse, an Alehouse is often no more than the parlour or
kitchen of a local house, opened to the drinking public. In this respect, an Alehouse then depends very
much on the local domestic architecture. One important note is that Alehouses are usually opened by
their landlord as a matter of financial desperation, and so are often located in somewhat decrepit
houses. A keeper with experience and some private wealth will usually be able to find an actual tavern
to rent.

An alehouse usually only has one public room, generally the largest on the ground floor of the building.
There may or may not be an external sign advertising the Alehouse, and the interior is often little
different to its domestic counterpart. There will obviously be more chairs and tables, but there is rarely
a formal bar counter. Most alehouses have their barrels on trestles at the back of the room, and the
landlord or barkeep will draw the ale direct.

It is not unknown for unscrupulous gentlemen to open up a house on the verge of collapse as an
alehouse, as they know that even desperate tenants will not stay long in upper rooms that shake and
sway. This problem is often not noticed by drunk customers on the ground floor, so the building makes
money right up until the time it collapses!

For the financial reasons given above, most of the furniture in a typical alehouse will be old and rickety,
although there are a few small establishments, especially in the smaller villages, where the business is a
sideline and the alehouse is actually of reasonable quality with decent furniture.

Clientele

The clientele of an Alehouse is even more local than that of a tavern. Urban alehouses will often serve a
single street or alleyway, and alehouses in a hamlet with insufficient population to support a tavern will
be the only place selling drink. Thus a stranger walking in to an alehouse will likely be regarded with
grave suspicion by all inside, staff and customers alike. Even patrons currently engaged in drunken
brawling will side with their sparring partner against a stranger. This paranoia is partly driven by the fact
that local taverns sometimes attempt covert or illegal means to shut down the alehouses who undercut
their prices.

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

 Services

An Alehouse will generally offer only one service: Ale. A few will offer some basic food, and many will
offer some spirits or other drinks, but a good percentage will only offer ale. The often transient nature
of most alehouses means that proper services never have a chance to develop.

Prices

Ale (tankard) 3f

Beer (tankard) 2f

Cider (tankard) 1d

Spirit (tot) 1d 2f

Light Meal 1d 3f

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9
 Brothel

Brothels are a place where prostitutes work, safer than on the streets, but sometimes only just. Many
of the London brothels are owned by Bishops and other high ranking clergymen and nobles. Some
brothels are of good quality and look after their employees through good times and bad, whilst others
will only house and feed a girl who can work.

Structure

Brothels vary widely in their form and structure, depending on the area they are located in. A common
city brothel will have a large common room on the ground floor, accessed from the street by a heavy
wooden door covered in spikes. These precautions are intended to discourage the frequent raids by the
city watchmen. In line with laws passed down by the King, all brothels are painted white on the outside,
and have a sign hanging on the front wall advertising the services within. During business hours, the
front door is usually open, with one or two of the employed girls standing in the doorway to try and
entice in passing custom.

The common room itself will be strewn with tables and chairs, although the quality of these will be in
line with that of the general area. Many brothels are gaudily painted inside, with bright curtains and
drapes, even though there may be no glass in the windows and the floors are of beaten earth. There
will also be a kitchen on the ground floor, doubling as a taproom. It is from here that the overpriced
food and drink are sold to the customers and employees alike. It is expected that the clients will buy
both food and drinks for the girl they expect to hire.

The upper floor will consist of multiple small rooms, each with a bed and a small chest in. This is where
the girls live and work, although of course a large percentage of their earnings do go on “rent”. Most of
these rooms will not have a fireplace, and so are heated by a small brazier in the corner.

The garret rooms will be the accommodation for the Brothel Keeper and any servants, such as cooks or
toughs (who keep order in the common room). These rooms are also sparsely furnished, as they are
really only spaces for sleeping in.

Clientele

The clientele of a Brothel is, for obvious reasons, almost entirely men. Whilst there are a few male
prostitutes to serve the needs of female customers, these are very rare. Otherwise, the clientele
depends on the location and its reputation to determine the quality of customers. Dockside brothels
obviously do a roaring trade whenever a ship comes in, but tends to be a rough and noisy place. Some
brothels have managed to raise their quality such that they are frequented by the better class of
merchants and minor nobility. It is of course possible to get almost everyone in a brothel, from
lowdown rogues and mercenaries, through tradespeople and craftsment, all the way to professionals
and clergy.

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

 Services

A brothel will, of course, offer prostitutes to its clients. In addition, over-priced food and drink will also
be served, with the expectation that the client will also buy food for the girl.

Some brothels will also offer various shady services, including many that the clientele would not require,
such as extortion, theft and blackmail!

Prices

Prostitute (per hour) 1d

Prostitute (per night) 10d

Ale (tankard) 2d 2f

Beer (tankard) 2d

Cider (tankard) 4d

Wine (bottle) 9d

Wine, Good (bottle) 4s

Claret (bottle) 6s

Spirit (tot) 4d

Light Meal 5d

Meal 9d

Lavish Meal (not always available) 3s

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9
 Running an Tavern etc

A character or characters may at some point desire to run an Tavern or Alehouse, either as an
investment of ill gotten gains or else as a means to an end. Although this product is not the place for a
detailed description of Tavern economics and operation, we do present a rough and ready system for
running an Inn.

It is down to the Referee to determine what is available for the characters to rent, but in most cases the
characters should require at least 3 months running costs to actually set the enterprise up.

Step 1 - Determine type and facilities

To determine the running costs per month for an establishment, simply add together the cost of each of
the following facilities present, and add to the base cost for an establishment of that type.

This total should then be multiplied by the appropriate multiplier for the quality of the establishment.
This final figure needs to be paid out every month for the business to continue. If this is not paid out,
then within a month or so, the customers will stop coming and the staff will leave.

Inn £16

Tavern £6

Alehouse £5

Brothel £10

Common Room £4

Stables £2

Kitchen £2

Brewhouse £1

Courtyard 10s

Cellars 10s

Coach House £2

Gate and Guardhouse 10s

Guest Room 10s

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

 Guest dormitory £1

Staff bedroom 5s

Terrible Quality x0.7

Average Quality x1

Good Quality x1.1

Excellent Quality x1.25

Step 2 - Staff required

To calculate the number of staff required to effectively run the business, simply divide the monthly
running costs in £ by 5. This is the number of additional staff (beyond the owner) required to run the
business. If there are not enough staff, reduce the total income by 15%. Outgoings are unaffected.

Step 3 - Monthly Income

The monthly income gained from the business is always as a function of the monthly expenditure. This
is also affected by the skill of the character who owns the business and random events (as determined
by the referee). The base income is equal to expenditure.

Thus, every month that the character actually runs the business, a saving throw should be made against
Knowledge. If the character is a Tavern Keeper by profession (Maelstrom Companion) a special bonus of
+40 should be added to this saving throw. A Vintner or servant character adds +15 to this check.

A Critical Success will result in a +25% modifier to income.

A Success will give a +10% modifier to income

A Failure will result in a 10% loss

A Critical Fumble will result in a 25% loss

The referee will then assign a modifier to this to reflect current circumstances. If the area is plague hit,
then the final total could have a -40% modifier. A huge fair in town could add a +20% modifier to this.

Once the final modifier has been calculated, this % should be applied to the expenditure to calculate the
monthly income. Of course, only the difference is the profit that is received in cash. There are still other
factors to take into account such as punitive taxes set down by the King or local authorities, protection
money to be paid to the local criminal underworld etc.

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

 Slang / Terms

The language in a tavern or inn will be punctuated with various slang terms, some of which are listed
here, to add flavour to your game. These terms may well vary from place to place, and the use of some
of them may well betray the origins of a character, if the term is not understood in a new place.

Ale-Bush - Inn Sign

Apple-Squire - Pimp
Ataunt - Drunk

Bawd - Lower Class Prostitute

Black Jack - A tarred leather drinking tankard
Boll - To drink

Bouse - An Alcoholic Drink

Canary - A fortified wine
Cates - Food
Caudel - Spiced wine
French Marbles - The Pox
Charger - A serving dish
French Welcome - The pox
Jakes - Privy
The Ordinary - The standard meal at a tavern, usually stew
Posset - A warm alcoholic drink
Pottage - Stew

Punk - Prostitute
Singlewoman - Prostitute
Stew - Brothel
Stewed Prunes - Prostitutes
Trencher - Dinner plate
Trugginghouse - Brothel
Trull - Prostitute
Winchester geese - Southwark Prostitute (most Southwark brothels are owned by the Bishop of
Winchester)

Thomas Powles (order #4005840) 9

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