| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Mr_Miscellany |
Posted - 14 Oct 2010 : 00:08:50
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| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 15 Oct 2010 : 05:41:13
The "market" in a smaller town is typically just one or two merchants, often not specialists who deal in weird things like ancient coins, expensive gemstones, and precious art, but more of a "one stop shop". Almost every village and farmstead has a blacksmith, though that doesn't guarantee he runs a shop or knows a thing about crafting weapons and armor. These merchants will try to make a buck of course, but don't expect them to appraise unusual goods very accurately, and chances are you'll be doing a lot of bartering because they simply don't have the ability to make change for a 5000GP gemstone.
In larger cities there's more merchants, and more specialized merchants. They tend to form informal groups which (cooperatively or competitively) control prices in their corner of the market. If you offend one of the two gem dealers in Luskan, for example, then you'll be forced to deal with his competitor (who will probably inflate his profits a bit if he learns of your situation) or deal with the general merchants (fewer gems available for purchase and worse pricing than the gem dealer, since these merchants will ultimately want to sell your gems to the gem dealer you're avoiding).
In the largest cities every merchant specializes in some particular market. They form guilds; all the guild merchants have the same regulated prices, are on the lookout for the same items, and (given time) share information about particular customers and goods of interest. Sometimes they get greedy, of course, and try to undercut their guild; but they'll be canny and know every trick in the book so you'll have a hard time proving any "irregular" wrongdoing on their part. Still, hired thugs and thieves offer plausibly deniability, assuming you can trust them. If a character greatly offends the guild (usually something more grievous than just insulting a single merchant) then he'll either have to pay (in fees, services, or inflated price ripoffs) or take his money and goods elsewhere.
These are the merchants who will generally offer the best prices on things, and they can often access phenomenal sums of money from their guilds, given a little time.
Another option, of course, is for the players to try taking the middleman out. Find avid collectors of rare art or the last scion of the house depicted on your newfound heraldric shield or even a wizard or dragon who simply must have the particular goods you are trying to liquidate. These deals can involve some risk and intrigue but offer the highest prices.
I generally don't bother working out the economic fluctuations on, say, the price of chickens. And for the most part the basic PHB pricing with a few sweeping "+10%" or whatever changes on some items works fine.
But great influxes of wealth (dragon horde, etc) do spike the local economy into a inflationary frenzy (which usually dwindles away not long after the adventurers leave). Cities that are (or expect to be) in a great war, seige, invasion - or even close to one - will start buying up all the weapons and military gear they can, driving prices up and availability down. Conversely, in peacetime more of these things just sit on the shelves and the merchants can't get rid of them. Events like the mithril mines being reopened or trade caravans being attacked will have longer term affects on prices. Finally, it's not just the availability of materials which affects prices, but also the craftsmen and merchants who do things with them - and prices change in every city they move around. For example, say half the blacksmiths in Waterdeep leave for Luskan (to get a chance at working that influx of newly available mithril?) ... the remaining half will be able to command much higher prices for their services. |
| Ionik Knight |
Posted - 14 Oct 2010 : 20:28:06
They adapted by burying loot or toting it around in portable holes if they could. They would then dig it out to sell at a more opportune time. At higher levels they had a factor to handle unloading anything that was time consuming or cumbersome. By then they weren't hurting for cash anyways, they had a number of investments. |
| crazedventurers |
Posted - 14 Oct 2010 : 10:46:02
Of yes market prices fluctuate all the time dependant on what is avaiable and whom is buying.
For instance: the players last night found an old dwarven slate mine in the Thunderpeaks and have 20K GP of premium grade slate as treasure, so the local quarry and roofers will no doubt have a thing or two to say when the PC's finally get the product back to the market place 
Cheers
Damian |
| Ionik Knight |
Posted - 14 Oct 2010 : 01:23:51
Yes indeed, bloodstones fluctuate with the fortunes of Damara. Mithral dropped in price, briefly, after Mithral Hall restarted production, rubies bring more in Calimport, moonstones bring more in Silverymoon. In fact Into the Dragon's Lair had rules for how the hoard effected the local economy. |
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