Justification for not having a Magic Shop
Posted 19th October 2009 at 06:20 PM by Janx
My last blog article justified the existence of magic shops. I'm going to look at the topic from the opposite.
First off, let's agree that a small community probably doesn't have a shop, as there is not enough demand or money to support it.
Nextly, let's agree that any magic shop is likely limited in its inventory. It is improbable that a shop could exist realistically, that had every item possible. It's even possible that all the magic shops in a region may still not cover all items (items may very likely have regional availability).
Those first two points bound the problem such that a PC should not expect to get whatever they want, whenever they want, just because they have the money. In short, if you are going to have magic shops, there are rational limits as to what they contain.
Let's cover the social barriers a magic shop would have to overcome.
A king might be leery of having unregulated magic items flowing through his kingdom. If he's not regulating them, he doesn't know what they are. If he doesn't know what they are, he doesn't know who has what items that could be a direct threat to him. That alone would encourage a king to restrict and regulate the flow of magical goods and services.
This means our magic shop has even less inventory, due to outlawing of certain products. It also means it can't buy or trade certain items, at least without permits and registrations.
All it takes to make this happen is a king of this mind-set (perhaps warned by a wizard advisor, who seeks to limit any threats to himself even). Then he sets up a regulatory board, maybe requiring a geas from people seeking a permit to posess, and things are rolling.
The church can also have a hand in things. In the real world, various religions considered charging interest on loans to be a sin, as the loaner was making profit, without doing work. At one point in history, the catholic church forced prices to be static on commodities, not yet being aware of the laws of supply and demand, nor the science of economics. It is entirely possible the church can condemn the use or ownership of certain items that it deems harmful to society.
Odds are good, the only things on the shelves of s magic shop would be low-threat items. Anything else would be black-market.
Lastly, let's consider the rogue element. Namely the 5 finger discount, referred to as shrinkage in the retail industry. A magic shop with rows of items on racks, particularly not behind a counter would be rife with stealing. New shop-lifting spells would have to be invented, because there don't seem to be any that can protect an entire store, not just single items. A building built for customers to walk in, would be a target for after-hours break-ins as well. Once again, requiring siginificant steps to protect against. It would take a high-level wizard to run such an establishment (which would justify the high value amount of gear he owns).
It may be possible that somebody is dealing in small quantities of items, sub-1000 GP perhaps. The risk isn't any greater than a jewelry store.
But larger stuff, is more likely to be black market, heavily regulated, or private transactions. All of it low inventory count.
Because you can easily protect that extra longsword +4 you're trying to sell. Not so easy is protecting a rack of wands, rods and staves, a shelf of armors, and rack of swords, a box of rings and a case of potions.
First off, let's agree that a small community probably doesn't have a shop, as there is not enough demand or money to support it.
Nextly, let's agree that any magic shop is likely limited in its inventory. It is improbable that a shop could exist realistically, that had every item possible. It's even possible that all the magic shops in a region may still not cover all items (items may very likely have regional availability).
Those first two points bound the problem such that a PC should not expect to get whatever they want, whenever they want, just because they have the money. In short, if you are going to have magic shops, there are rational limits as to what they contain.
Let's cover the social barriers a magic shop would have to overcome.
A king might be leery of having unregulated magic items flowing through his kingdom. If he's not regulating them, he doesn't know what they are. If he doesn't know what they are, he doesn't know who has what items that could be a direct threat to him. That alone would encourage a king to restrict and regulate the flow of magical goods and services.
This means our magic shop has even less inventory, due to outlawing of certain products. It also means it can't buy or trade certain items, at least without permits and registrations.
All it takes to make this happen is a king of this mind-set (perhaps warned by a wizard advisor, who seeks to limit any threats to himself even). Then he sets up a regulatory board, maybe requiring a geas from people seeking a permit to posess, and things are rolling.
The church can also have a hand in things. In the real world, various religions considered charging interest on loans to be a sin, as the loaner was making profit, without doing work. At one point in history, the catholic church forced prices to be static on commodities, not yet being aware of the laws of supply and demand, nor the science of economics. It is entirely possible the church can condemn the use or ownership of certain items that it deems harmful to society.
Odds are good, the only things on the shelves of s magic shop would be low-threat items. Anything else would be black-market.
Lastly, let's consider the rogue element. Namely the 5 finger discount, referred to as shrinkage in the retail industry. A magic shop with rows of items on racks, particularly not behind a counter would be rife with stealing. New shop-lifting spells would have to be invented, because there don't seem to be any that can protect an entire store, not just single items. A building built for customers to walk in, would be a target for after-hours break-ins as well. Once again, requiring siginificant steps to protect against. It would take a high-level wizard to run such an establishment (which would justify the high value amount of gear he owns).
It may be possible that somebody is dealing in small quantities of items, sub-1000 GP perhaps. The risk isn't any greater than a jewelry store.
But larger stuff, is more likely to be black market, heavily regulated, or private transactions. All of it low inventory count.
Because you can easily protect that extra longsword +4 you're trying to sell. Not so easy is protecting a rack of wands, rods and staves, a shelf of armors, and rack of swords, a box of rings and a case of potions.
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Comments
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I would be really amazed if a kingdom in which Pelor, Heironeous, and St. Cuthbert were prominently worshipped allowed the unrestricted sale of items that cast animate dead, protection from good, detect thoughts, augury, and scrying. On the other hand, I imagine a wizard's tower would almost be sovereign territory. You wouldn't tell a powerful wizard would he could or could not sell, but you wouldn't let him set up a shop in town, either, that trafficked in evil or dangerous magic or spells associated with espionage. Disguise self could be a particularly vile spell in some contexts.Posted 20th October 2009 at 05:20 AM by pawsplay
- also good points. I suspect that the sale of "unsafe, hostile" magic items would be restricted to black market.
Thus, you could go to a wizard's tower for some items. Sneaky or devious items, you'd probably have to meet somebody in a back alley.Posted 26th October 2009 at 04:33 PM by Janx
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