Looting villages can make you quite a bit of money.
It is worth spending 50 gold to find a ransom broker, absolutely. There are not any good nonlethal weapons that I know of, though, so don't rely on it as a main source of income. Prisoner management doesn't exist anymore, so holding prisoners is much easier. As always, prisoners are great for earning money. The profits look good, but ask yourself about profit/(time x danger). Generally, a good trade route will not take you all the way from London to Scotland. One of the best routes is silver, minerals, and stone from Wales back to England. If you kill a big herd, don't sell all the items in one city.
You have to trick deer you can't run them down unless you have a good riding skill and a really fast horse. Goats, boar, wolves, and donkeys are slow. The best way is with three sets of javelins and a dawn ray (or a bow/sling and ride to the next hilltop, shoot, and ride). You can do this as soon as you have a real horse (or even a donkey).
