D&D 5E An Underdark Market

[Gilladian]

Help me design an Underdark Market, please. The PCs have stumbled across a fairly significant crossroads in the underdark, where a group of Lawful Neutral fey dwarflike creatures of my own devising (based on Pech, but not exactly the same) have created and run a more-or-less monthly market. What sorts of creatures would come here to sell their goods to each other? What would they sell, and what would they buy? Note that there are no Drow in my campaign world, so you can skip them. Sources to pull from: all DnD 5e WOTC books, Frog God Games' Fifth Edition Foes, and anything that's easy to link to online.

 

[Boneguard]

Well in the Menzobereanzan Boxed set they had an underdark markek with the Drow, in one corner, the Svirfneblin in the other, the Duergar in a third corner and a Surface ware in the forth corner, with diffferent stall in the central cave.

As you do not have drow you could change it for another underdark race, maybe mind flayer or kuo toa.

 

[Ancalagon]

Well in the Menzobereanzan Boxed set they had an underdark markek with the Drow, in one corner, the Svirfneblin in the other, the Duergar in a third corner and a Surface ware in the forth corner, with diffferent stall in the central cave.

As you do not have drow you could change it for another underdark race, maybe mind flayer or kuo toa.

If you can get your hands on that resource, do, I highly recommend it, even if it's drow-focused.


General ideas what would be sold:

- food, general (from surface to underdark) - not that much to go around in the underdark. Livestock too, I would expect goats to be particularly popular as they aren't too big and sure footed, so the surface dwellers could sell them to under-dwellers, who would them bring them back to their cities (and then quickly consume them before the goats eat all the fungus!)

- Spices and specialty foods (going both ways)

- Minerals (from underdark to surface). There are specific examples of mineral that would go from the surface to down under (amber, coral, pearls) but most metals and gems would be more abundant underground

- Slaves (from surface to underdark). This would be the grimmest reality of such a market

- Magic (going both ways). This would be mostly components, spells with a few magical items. Having a magical item market is in general a bad idea in 5e, but if they do exist this would be it. I would expect the power of the items to be somewhat limited, as very powerful items would simply not be sold this way.

 

[Gilladian]

I didn't make one thing clear - there's no direct, easy surface contact here. The only surface access I'm aware of is a day's travel away, and goes through a significant orc lair (the PCs bribed their way past, and the orcs claimed not to know of the deepearth connection, though I may alter that). So this is more-or-less "all underdark".

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Food
Clothing
Fuel
Nick-nacks
Weapons

Food - mushrooms; meat (dead); meat (live); water; booze; bread.
Clothing - including armour
Fuel - wood, coal, oil; luminous rocks; magical illumination
Nick-nacks - jewellery, clocks, toys, furniture, tools
Weapons - metal if forges available; stone otherwise; possibly obsidian

 

[ChrisCarlson]

Most importantly: What are you interested in giving your PCs access to? Include that.

 

[Ancalagon]

I see. This is a market controlled by the Fey-Dwarves, who maintain/impose peace and provide a trading area... I have an important question on how this work. Is it

A: The Fey-Dwarves are the middlemen. They buy everything, and they sell everything. It is impossible (for example) for the deep gnomes to trade with the Kuo-Tua directly. The Fey-Dwaves have significant warehouse capacity where they store purchased goods, waiting for the right buyer to come along.

B: The Fey-Dwarves maintain the trading area, acting as peace keepers, guards, enforcers and arbiters. They charge for their services - a 10% sales tax? But in this area, the Deep gnomes will come, open a stall, sell their wares, buy from others who happen to be there (the Kuo Tua?) and then leave. Some races may have a permanent trading post with caravans going to and from their city, while others will have a more occasional presence. The market could also be periodic - every 50 days everyone meets to trade.

C: Something I didn't consider

 

[CapnZapp]

Help me design an Underdark Market, please. The PCs have stumbled across a fairly significant crossroads in the underdark, where a group of Lawful Neutral fey dwarflike creatures of my own devising (based on Pech, but not exactly the same) have created and run a more-or-less monthly market. What sorts of creatures would come here to sell their goods to each other? What would they sell, and what would they buy? Note that there are no Drow in my campaign world, so you can skip them. Sources to pull from: all DnD 5e WOTC books, Frog God Games' Fifth Edition Foes, and anything that's easy to link to online.

Are you talking about magic items, or are you talking about market goods?

What kinds of references from sources do you expect? (Are you thinking of exotic races from those books, or...?)

 

[Tiles]

Salt would be an item that could be routinely provided to the surface world and expose opportunities for more trade.

 

[Gilladian]

I see. This is a market controlled by the Fey-Dwarves, who maintain/impose peace and provide a trading area... I have an important question on how this work. Is it

A: The Fey-Dwarves are the middlemen. They buy everything, and they sell everything. It is impossible (for example) for the deep gnomes to trade with the Kuo-Tua directly. The Fey-Dwaves have significant warehouse capacity where they store purchased goods, waiting for the right buyer to come along.

B: The Fey-Dwarves maintain the trading area, acting as peace keepers, guards, enforcers and arbiters. They charge for their services - a 10% sales tax? But in this area, the Deep gnomes will come, open a stall, sell their wares, buy from others who happen to be there (the Kuo Tua?) and then leave. Some races may have a permanent trading post with caravans going to and from their city, while others will have a more occasional presence. The market could also be periodic - every 50 days everyone meets to trade.

C: Something I didn't consider

Mostly B, with a small amount of A. They will buy some things (mostly foodstuffs) that they can then find a ready buyer for. Sometimes they buy from folk who are just passing through and have something "interesting" to sell at a time when the market is not in full operation. But generally, they are just the providers of space and maintainers of the peace.

The real reason the market exists is because I will be providing the PCs a chance to get involved with a trade gone bad; the Urd who live nearby stole an item of importance from the troglodytes who live down "that tunnel"... and sold it to a group of adventurer NPCs who were passing through. The trogs have now shown up, and are demanding that the Pech return their treasure to them. The Pech and the Trogs regularly feud, as the trogs are not friendly neighbors... so there are already bad feelings between the two groups. The Pech deny having the item, and the trogs refuse to believe them, and are attacking the Pech gates when the PCs return to the area after their first trip by, a few days earlier. The market was ongoing when they first visit, and they will have a chance to explore it, get to know the Pech and some of the other groups, learn a bit about the quest they're on, etc... So when they come back, I'm hoping they'll get involved, in some way, with the dispute. Or not; it really is up to them.

A second reason for the market is to introduce to the PCs that there's a whole WORLD of races, of places, and of threats and possible rewards, that they know nothing about; if they want to explore further, they can, or they can retreat back to the surface and ignore the whole thing. But in some future campaign, they may choose to remember what they've learned now (the players, not the characters).