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In my game, I let the players run and build whichever town their characters end up in. It's worked out pretty well so far. I was trying to brainstorm interesting/amusing shops and services the town could have, maybe to make the players laugh or find interesting or something else. It could even be an anachronism; the game took the oddest turn when I allowed a player to be a gunslinger, and now it's a Frankenstein monster of a setting; part Dark Ages, Part Roman Empire, part Steampunk part Western.
Any thoughts?
Well you cant go wrong with Super Genius' Krazy Kragnar. That goblin has shops all over my game world. His Used Chariot Imporium, and his Alchemical Surplus shop are stables in my main city, plus there is his Used Boat shop attached to his Chariot Imporium in which my character recently bought a slightly used War Galley (only had one previous owner...sailed only once...into battle...)
Game Store!
If it is in an evil town it only sells 4e.
In one of my campaign starting towns an old high level illusionist gnome runs a battle simulation shop where adventurers can go to battle illusions and get their party dynamic figured out without being exposed to actual danger.
In the same town there's a gnome run magical supply shop that sells only mundane tricks that would be used by an earthly magician.
And in a different town there's a fireworks shop that sells expensive pyrotechnics that can sometimes be useful in actual combat since some of the pyrotechnics mimic low level illusion spells, and others dazzle or hypnotize the viewer.
Then there's the sushi shop that sells poisons behind the counter.
One of my parties actually took advantage of the gnome illusionist services and they actually did learn how to work as a party better as a result. Was pretty cool.
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Madame Medusa's Memento This store sells exquisitely detailed little stone frogs and butterflies and doves and the like to collectors as conversation pieces. 'Madame Medusa' keeps her head hooded and veiled, and judicious use of prestigitation (to make the hood flutter) and the antics of her viper familiar (peeking it's head out) keep up the pretense that she's what she claims to be. In reality, she grew up in the town, and most of the locals know her quite well, as she's a bit of a free spirit, being a 4th level sorceress who found a flawed scroll of flesh to stone that only affects creatures of tiny size or smaller and 1 HD or less. Instead of discarding or selling the scroll, she learned it as one of her 2nd level spells known, and has built a career on it's power, supplying her shop with tiny animals, fish, etc. that she finds while exploring.
I once had a general store that was just a general store. What made it memorable was the shop keep. He was very much the sales man. “You’re adventurers right? You need ROPE! We have your standard 30ft long rope but what you REALLY want is the 60ft silk rope. Its lighter and you are less likely to get rope burn.”
Party: “No thank you.”
Shop Keep: “No? You sure my great uncle was an adventurer, he adventured for years until one time he forgot his rope and never made it back poor guy, my grams swears she can hear his ghost moaning at night “rope…if only…I had my … 60 feet of silk rope…”
Party: “Alright.”
Shop Keep: “Did you notice that we had chalk? It’s great for marking your way in a maze. My Brother in law was an adventurer. He never took chalk with him, he died pretty early in his carrier… I hear it was messy…”
At the end he sold the so much stuff that he pointed out they needed a cart. Once they had the cart he pointed out they needed animals to pull the cart. Then they needed feed for the animals. With all the gear and feed they didn’t have much room left for loot. But he had a bigger cart and would take their current cart in trade and they could just pay the difference.
As they ran from his store he yelled after them “Wait… What if a wheal breaks? You should get a spare!”
Two games later the fought off some orcs. One of the orcs broke one of the wheals on the cart, they didn’t have a spare. ;)
The Barbarians' Guild
I never got a chance to use this. At one time I was going to set an adventure in a city I called Snowmarsh. I had decided that Snowmarsh had a place called The Barbarians' Guild. The backstory was that it was just a normal bar with a quirky name, but barbarians started drinking there, and the owner learned the menu and atmosphere that the barbarians liked, and so they kept coming.
Snowmarsh is on an important trade route, where barbarians come down from the frozen north with exotic furs and gemstones, to sell for gold, and to buy goods from the south to take back up north. So a lot of money flows through the town.
Soon, the owner of The Barbarians' Guild started offering other services. He expanded the tavern into an inn with rooms. He installed a shrine to the barbarians' deities. He even got a license to hire women to take care of the clients' amorous desires (administered by the cult of Freya).
Snowmarsh is run by a noble Paladin who likes to keep law and order in the town, so The Barbarians' Guild started offering legal services to help barbarians who get charged with various misdemeanors. So barbarians and other visitors know that if they get into trouble, they can get help at The Barbarians', where the cooks know how to cook, the bards know how to sing, and the wenches know how to use axes.
added 1:08 am Saturday
This business became so successful, that the owner petitioned the duke for the right to be the exclusive owner of the name of his business, and he supervised setting up another such business in another town nearby. Thus, he invented the first franchise in this setting.
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Ahkuar's Magnificent Plumage The store, as far as adventurers are concerned, sells feather tokens. Sure, it sells lots of other stuff, in the fantastically appointed front rooms, filled with items of clothing embroidered with feathers from dozens of exotic avians, and a living peacock wandering around the rooms (occasionally screaming like a woman being stabbed to death and sending tender-nerved sorts into panic attacks). Hats with feathers, cloaks made out of feathers, exotic feathers half the size of a man and held by servants to fan the wealthy, etc. Akhuar has it all. Surprisingly, he wears only a simple robe, with some nice embroidery, but not a trace of feathers, not even a single feather in his dapper fez. He claims to his wealthy clientele that he is merely a simple merchant, not worthy to wear such finery, which is meant to adorn only those who soar above him in status. He curtsies, he serves chilled tea or hot cocoa, as the season dictates, he plays the simpering fop, and keeps his plain-spoken wife (who would sooner slap a condescending courtier than curtsy to him) to the back rooms, all to amuse and flatter the courtiers and socialites who frequent his shop during the afternoon.
Adventurers know to come before lunchtime, when he's brusque and businesslike, and he leads them into the back, where his wife produces the box of magical feather tokens, for their customers perusal.
In addition to the normal tokens, he also sells one that acts as a single use glitterdust spell when blown towards an area within 30 ft. (instead of glittering dust, the area is filled with downy feathers, that cling to invisible targets and sometimes prompt them to further give away their positions by sneezing...). He sells these tokens for 400 gp, and the effect lasts for 1 minute.
I once had a general store that was just a general store. What made it memorable was the shop keep. He was very much the sales man. “You’re adventurers right? You need ROPE! We have your standard 30ft long rope but what you REALLY want is the 60ft silk rope. Its lighter and you are less likely to get rope burn.”
Party: “No thank you.”
Shop Keep: “No? You sure my great uncle was an adventurer, he adventured for years until one time he forgot his rope and never made it back poor guy, my grams swears she can hear his ghost moaning at night “rope…if only…I had my … 60 feet of silk rope…”
Party: “Alright.”
Shop Keep: “Did you notice that we had chalk? It’s great for marking your way in a maze. My Brother in law was an adventurer. He never took chalk with him, he died pretty early in his carrier… I hear it was messy…”
At the end he sold the so much stuff that he pointed out they needed a cart. Once they had the cart he pointed out they needed animals to pull the cart. Then they needed feed for the animals. With all the gear and feed they didn’t have much room left for loot. But he had a bigger cart and would take their current cart in trade and they could just pay the difference.
As they ran from his store he yelled after them “Wait… What if a wheal breaks? You should get a spare!”
Two games later the fought off some orcs. One of the orcs broke one of the wheals on the cart, they didn’t have a spare. ;)
This is amazing.
In one of the campaigns I ran a while back I had a merchant's guild ran by kobolds. I gave them eastern accents and had 'em selling all sorts of exotic goods. Even had a group of kobold samurai protecting 'em.
In my experience the quirkier the merchants, the more fun my players have. Also makes for a more memorable game.
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I'm surprised no one's mentioned Crazy Hassan's Used Camel Emporium! There are many anecdotes of Crazy Hassan's legendary businessman-ism, such as:
"I once went to crazy hassan's for a camel, and he sold me what looked like a very poor fake camel, with two men inside.
So, I unzipped the camel, and as I expected. Two men, pretending to be a camel.
Enraged, I went back to Crazy Hassan, and confronted him about this f~@&ery. He made no reply. He simply unzipped the men to reveal two camels, pretending to be men pretending to be a camel."
Thread's here.
Crazy Achmed's Discount Weapon/Armor Emporium...it's a chain of Crazy Achmed's stores.
Also check out Crazy Achmeds Discount Camel Emporium. He has a camel for you. , small camels, angery camels for combat, talking camels for lonely desert treks, and a pair of dead camels on sale cause Achmed needs them to move. Also Achmed sells camel mulch and camel jerky.
Or the pet merchant. He offers to sell a party member a cute and friendly animal...and a additude ajustment stick. The animals are friendly and affectate to the customers and savage and vicious to the poor merchant.
"The little guy is so playful" the merchant says as he beats the animal in question unconscious..."look he's sleeping."
The Merchant is scratched, bitten and possibly bleeding still. Any animal treats the pet merchant as hostile and attacks, even familiars and animal companions.
The Cheese Shop from Monty Python
Had (as mentioned in a thread a while back) A Halfling who had the Master Craftsman feat, and made magical alcoholic drinks in his own brewery just a few miles out of a small trading outpost.
Only 7th or 8th level, but by the Gods did he have the local region under his thumbs. Dwarven maidens flocked from near and far to marry him and bring his recipes under the control of the various Brewing Clans, Elves offered him the lifespan of their own kind to come and live amongst their people, several nations offered him princely sums to come and brew for their Kings ....
And the PCs, who had befriended him way back at 1st level when he was still a down-on-his-luck Commoner who had just had his wagon and stock burned to the ground by Bandits, got free drinks and discounted magical ones for the rest of their career. Which incidentally sparked countless brawls with aforementioned Dwarven maidens, much to the PCs amusement.
[GM]"The buxom wench grabs you, and pulls you into a bear hug...."
[My Players]"Is my face level with her breasts?"
[GM].......*deep sigh* "Yes."
[My Players]"I don't put up too much of a fight."
[GM]"I hate you guys, sometimes."
