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First post - hello!
I usually play and DM in the Living Greyhawk environment but thought the new Age of Worms adventure path so good that it would be worth experiencing DMing in a less structured environment.
I have 5 players with new 1st level characters ready to go and am preparing the campaign now and very much looking forward to it.
One big difference I face is shopping and I'd appreciate some thoughts regarding making this easy and appropriate.
The Wormfood in Dragon 334 gives lots of hints and some new items and the original background to Diamond Lake sets up a few outlets. This is an excellent start but down to the nitty gritty...
How do people keep a track of which shop/venue has what product at what price (some invoke a mark up to items)?
How do people keep track of new items in a shop or of items the PCs have already sold to the 'shopkeeper'? For instance, if they have sold lots of longbows previously, do they get less reward for bringing in another 10 longbows to the same shop?
How do people incorporate items not from the PHB / DMG? For instance, there are many useful drink related and alchemist fire related items in the aforementioned Dragon 334 which would work very nicely in Diamond Lake.
I was thinking of setting up some sort of spreadsheet; but is that a sledgehammer to crack a nut, or does someone already have something similar I could 'borrow'?
There are guidelines about more expensive magic items being 'ordered' from Greyhawk. Do people recommend limiting what can be bought through that method or allowing PCs to be able to order whatever takes their fancy in the DMG? In character, how would a PC know that there is an item called a 'periapt of wisdom +x'?
Finally, on shopping, how do people find a mechanism to sell spell books? Do I just sell them as separate spells as a scroll? Is there a reference about doing this in the PHB / DMG?
That's probably enough for a first post but a little appendix of thanks to the creators of this adventure path and all of the extra bits that are been added to the core adventures is appropriate. I especially like the little addition of a Greyhawk 'conversion' section and would encourage its continuation.
Cheers
Jason
First post - hello!
Hello right back at ya!
How do people keep a track of which shop/venue has what product at what price (some invoke a mark up to items)?
Keep it standard. The PHB and the DMG are made for a reason. Unless it's otherwise stated in the adventure itself.
If it's more a question of organization, use index cards with all the pertinent information.
How do people keep track of new items in a shop or of items the PCs have already sold to the 'shopkeeper'? For instance, if they have sold lots of longbows previously, do they get less reward for bringing in another 10 longbows to the same shop?
Hmmm... now we're roleplaying economics? I'd suggest that you could still keep everything standard for mundane items. For every bow they bring back, perhaps a local hunter buys that bow. There seem to be adventurers going in and out of Diamond Lake (or Daggerford, etc.) so it's a wash. Just to keep things simple. But if the boyer and fletcher are all stocked up it would make sense that the bows (in great supply) would go for less (less demand).
How do people incorporate items not from the PHB / DMG? For instance, there are many useful drink related and alchemist fire related items in the aforementioned Dragon 334 which would work very nicely in Diamond Lake.
There are more than enough non-named structures to give you the flexibility of creating an alchemist (or any other specialty shop) or use Benazel the Alchemist who's office is on the first floor of the Smelting House. Like the weapons sellers perhaps the Alchemist offers potions and alchemical items up to a 900 gp limit - with a few special items for the right price.
I was thinking of setting up some sort of spreadsheet; but is that a sledgehammer to crack a nut, or does someone already have something similar I could 'borrow'?
Sledgehammer.
There are guidelines about more expensive magic items being 'ordered' from Greyhawk. Do people recommend limiting what can be bought through that method or allowing PCs to be able to order whatever takes their fancy in the DMG? In character, how would a PC know that there is an item called a 'periapt of wisdom +x'?
The more expensive, the longer the delay. The more expensive, the more likely it will draw attention. Perhaps a side quest to the Free City to pick it up (it's too dangerous or powerful to send) or they escort their own loot back to Diamond Lake.
I always found it ridiculous that a character would refer to a magic item by its bonus. Instead, use the name of the spell that created it: Periapt of the Owl, or Fox's Headband.
Finally, on shopping, how do people find a mechanism to sell spell books? Do I just sell them as separate spells as a scroll? Is there a reference about doing this in the PHB / DMG?
Spellbook cost: according to the PHB page 179 it states that each spell takes up one page per level and each page (with a spell on it) costs 100 gp per page. That means that a full spellbook would have a value of 100 pages X 100 gp/page = 10,000 gp's or a resale value of 5,000 gp's. Go through a wizard's spellbook and figure out how many pages are used and multiply that by 50 gp's (half of 100 gp's) for the resale value of a spellbook.
Hey Jason,
I agree wholeheartedly with Timault. KISS (keep it so simple) should be your rallying cry. If you and your players really WANT to role-play out the complex economic system of a small town, you're welcome to it, but D&D doesn't really provide very many guidelines on how to do that. If you haven't before, read over the rules for communities in the DMG on page 136. A lot of the work has already been done for you with Diamond Lake, but it will give you some guidelines on how to deal with the purchases the PCs the make and how many assets the town has to spare. In general, follow the gp limit for the town and don't allow items any more expensive unless the adventure or town description says otherwise, or you wish to include something as a personal touch.
IMC I find that the gp limit is usually an adequate tool for small towns. I normally place a limit of 1d4 of most items being available at any one time in any community smaller than a small city. PCs can request NPCs make or order more but that takes time. For any larger community, the sky is the limit on inventory, but if the PCs want to buy a lot of any item or a particularly rare item (most magic items 500+ gp) they have to spend time locating this inventory as they hunt through shops. I simulate this with a Gather Information check, where the Difficulty Class is proportional to the rarity of the item in my campaign.
Hope that helps.