So, given that item sales are one of the best ways to generate BP, to a point where it causes issues, and that low level magic items rarely sell because the PCs wont choose them, I was thinking of a houserule to mitigate this. Having a random/semirandom determination of what item sells each turn. This way, the PCs wont always choose to sell the biggest thing, especially since they really shouldn't have any control over what sells and what does not.
I have a couple ideas, each with drawbacks and bennefits
1. roll randomly to determine what sells:
bennefit: easy
drawback: adding low level magic items is detrimental because it reduces the probability expensive ones will sell.
2. weighted roll:
favor higher magic items in your random roll so that the PCs do not want to stop building low level items. Its not as easy to set up though, and I don't know how to weight it. Maybe 1 for each BP it would produce, minimum 1?
3. Roll a GP ammount that purchasers have each month and select an item/items in that range. Base the random roll off of how many items total there are for sale (perhaps 2d12x1K for each major, 2d8x1K for each moderate, 2d4x1K for each minor). Not sure if I want to allow sale of multiple items this way, provided it does not exceed their limmit. I think I would.
Bennefit: This could encourage building the smaller shops to increase what can sell, especially if expensive things keep getting stuck in the major slots.
Drawbacks: slightly more legwork, and it may not be better than the PCs choosing in the end, and it could potentially be worse.
I like the flavor of option 3 the most. The more items that are available, the more money that enters into the system to buy things. More adventurers come here to spend their money.
Any thoughts?
I will use option #1 in my campaign.
I am currently playing in a Kingmaker campaign and have some thoughts on this subject, and the one item sold per city district combined with the fact that it has to be worth 4k or more seems limiting enough without it being randomly determined from our slots. While we have not yet reached medium item slots and are still very early on in the campaign(size 17) it has already caused my party great frustration because we are limited in funds at the moment and can't buy out the slots so something new will come up. The chances of a 4k item rolling on the random minor table is roughly 10%. 2 BP every 10 turns on a successful economy check every turn(per district which does affect size and thus consumption) doesn't seem too much to me.(thats if PCs don't buy the slots free).
When conveying our concerns to our DM, he came up with a compromise. Because as he claimed the item slots represent items that would be exceptional for the market(and thus brought to our attention) the items generated will now have a minimum price of our city's base value. This makes a huge difference for us now, but later on will not be extremely game altering. This was actually a very nice solution that everyone agreed with.
I am currently playing in a Kingmaker campaign and have some thoughts on this subject, and the one item sold per city district combined with the fact that it has to be worth 4k or more seems limiting enough without it being randomly determined from our slots. While we have not yet reached medium item slots and are still very early on in the campaign(size 17) it has already caused my party great frustration because we are limited in funds at the moment and can't buy out the slots so something new will come up. The chances of a 4k item rolling on the random minor table is roughly 10%. 2 BP every 10 turns on a successful economy check every turn(per district which does affect size and thus consumption) doesn't seem too much to me.(thats if PCs don't buy the slots free).
When conveying our concerns to our DM, he came up with a compromise. Because as he claimed the item slots represent items that would be exceptional for the market(and thus brought to our attention) the items generated will now have a minimum price of our city's base value. This makes a huge difference for us now, but later on will not be extremely game altering. This was actually a very nice solution that everyone agreed with.
Well, method 3 would make it so that if you have multiple low level items in a city they could be bought out. In fact, its likely that if you only have minor items, they all will be sold each month. I am more concerned with when they get larger magic items though, since they seem to be money making machines with no downside, and I don't like the flavor of high level magic items being the only thing they ever sell.
I do like your solution though.