Hello there everyone, I'd like to get some opinions.
I am about to start work on an app to simulate magic item shops for Pathfinder campaigns. Something the GM of my group's campaigns finds tedious is deciding what items are in shops. He doesn't want the Ultimate Equipment book to work like a catalogue for the players to use to get whatever equipment they want, but at the same time he doesn't want to have to plan exactly what items are available. To aid in this I have decided to have a go at creating an app to simulate shops in a campaign. It would randomly generate (based on parameters set by the GM) the stock of a shop and then store it for later use. He has suggested that if I do create the app, other people might be interested and I might be able to make a little bit of money out of it.
So what about it guys? If I made this, would you be interested enough to buy it? Details of the app below.
The app would store information on shops created by the GM. Each shop would be given item types that it can sell (Weapons, Armour, Wands, etc) and other parameters such as the size of the shop, the relative wealth of the area in order to generate a stock list. Each specific type of item is given a relative rarity. So for example, in most campaigns that I'm in a longsword seems to be the most common weapon so they would have the lowest rarity setting, whereas a trident (also a one handed martial weapon) would be much less common. This rarity would be set in the design of the app by default but could be overridden by each GM. Parameters such as the size of the settlement the shop was in would be used to determine the maximum price of items in the shop. What's more, the distribution of item values could also be set here. Are +1 weapons the most common in this particular shop or is it exclusive enough that +3 items are the most common?
Please let me know what you think and be honest. If you wouldn't and can't see anyone else paying money for such an app please say. Conversely if you think this is a great idea, please say.
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
It already exists, and it's free: https://donjon.bin.sh/pathfinder/magic/shop.html
The only thing it doesn't do is save the results for future reference. I just cut and paste to word, often adding or modifying results I don't like, then print for player reference. Much more satisfying than letting everything be available.
Wheldrake wrote: It already exists, and it's free: https://donjon.bin.sh/pathfinder/magic/shop.html
The only thing it doesn't do is save the results for future reference. I just cut and paste to word, often adding or modifying results I don't like, then print for player reference. Much more satisfying than letting everything be available.
Interesting.
I for one would definitely consider an app but I would want it to be updated with the latest hardbacks and companions when new magic items enter the game and then I could select from which sources it would draw from.
Wheldrake - do you know which sources the donjon one uses?
Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber
No idea, but it isn't very recent. It's probably been unchanged for years.
I'm not saying you don't have a good idea, and an ipad/iphone app or web-based application wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea.
Would people pay a small fee to get it? Maybe. It won't make you rich, but it might find its niche.
I like that it adds random flavor text to each item. Keep something like that in your app if you go with this idea.
If it's web-based, you might be able to make a little cash from ads, without having to ask people to pay.
If you make an app, it would be wise to make it broader in scope than just generating random shop inventories. Once you have the database of items, gems, art objects and so on, you could also propose hoard generation, pocket contents, and various other minor uses.
Thanks for the feedback guys. Especially regarding donjon. I've seen this website before and whilst it's very interesting and cool, it doesn't offer nearly as much customisation as I had in mind.
Once I have created the database of items, this can serve as a default but GMs can change pretty much everything about it. Add new items, remove them, change restrictions on magic properties (I want to be able to have a +1 Greatsword of Disruption!), change the costs of items, properties, their rarity, which books you want to allow, etc.
Each of these could be specific to a campaign and saved. Anywho, now I'm just getting carried away thinking about features!
I'm going to have a go at making this app but only during my spare time, and given the amount of features I would like it's going to take a fair old while! Given what you've suggested - and what I'd suspected - I doubt I'd be able to make much if any money from this. Money certainly would have been nice, but not really a motivator for this project. I think what I shall do is probably make it specific to how the GM of my group would like it then extend it to the general case with more time.
I have a feature request:
Please have a setting that lets you select "core only" for those playing Core Campaigns.
It would be nice to be able to include/exclude various sourcebooks, but being able to run a 'basics' campaign is useful in getting new GMs started on Pathfinder. I think they might use this app a lot in their early GM career.
CrystalSeas wrote: I have a feature request:
Please have a setting that lets you select "core only" for those playing Core Campaigns.
It would be nice to be able to include/exclude various sourcebooks, but being able to run a 'basics' campaign is useful in getting new GMs started on Pathfinder. I think they might use this app a lot in their early GM career.
This will certainly be a feature. To start with I will be using just the Ultimate Equipment book for everything. Then if popularity grows I will add more sources. However, since you will be able to completely customise what's in your version of the app, adding a feature which sets the allowed items to be just the core rulebook items should be simple.
Thanks! looking forward to the app
Recent threads in Product Discussion
|
