Part of me thinks the resistance to "buying" magic items is perceived loss of GM control over the players inventory.
In a "must find" campaign, the GM controls the magic items by choosing what they find or censoring the random results.
Additionally, the party is hobbled/stuck with random "useless" items, rather than the PCs getting exactly what they want.
Whereas, in a "can buy" campaign, some GMs may feel obligated to make anything available by some means. And players may expect to be able to get whatever item is in the DMG, for the right price.
This can irritate the "if the kid asks for a cookie, you don't give him the cookie" reflex that some of us have.
Personally, I have that reflex. I tame it by letting the computer tell me what's in the treasure, and what's in the magic shop. In this way, I avoid exerting my annoyance at your constant asking for a Ring of Regeneration. You get one because the world enabled it to happen, not because I chose to let you find one or because you just casually bought one.
I see 2 extremes. The idea that there is no way to buy a magic item, everything must be found by PCs is highly unlikely given real Demand for magic items, and PCs accumulating a Supply of having excess magic items over time. Economics pretty much says there WILL be a market for magic items of some nature.
Just as silly is the Magic-R-Us store that has every item in the DMG on its shelves. Given the high value nature and danger of the items, it would be hard to protect and improbable that such a rich inventory could be accumulated.
To me, it is more plausible that really simple items (potions, scrolls, very common low level items) may be randomly available in a shop that is highly secured (like a bank/jewelry store). Other items would only be available by private sellers, brokers, and actual exchanges would be treated like illegal drug deals, very cautiously and securely.
So I would use random tables to fill out what's in these "common magic" shops, with each shop being different. And I would use random tables to determine what's available on the private market at any given time (probably limited to 5-6 items by very different people).
In a "must find" campaign, the GM controls the magic items by choosing what they find or censoring the random results.
Additionally, the party is hobbled/stuck with random "useless" items, rather than the PCs getting exactly what they want.
Whereas, in a "can buy" campaign, some GMs may feel obligated to make anything available by some means. And players may expect to be able to get whatever item is in the DMG, for the right price.
This can irritate the "if the kid asks for a cookie, you don't give him the cookie" reflex that some of us have.
Personally, I have that reflex. I tame it by letting the computer tell me what's in the treasure, and what's in the magic shop. In this way, I avoid exerting my annoyance at your constant asking for a Ring of Regeneration. You get one because the world enabled it to happen, not because I chose to let you find one or because you just casually bought one.
I see 2 extremes. The idea that there is no way to buy a magic item, everything must be found by PCs is highly unlikely given real Demand for magic items, and PCs accumulating a Supply of having excess magic items over time. Economics pretty much says there WILL be a market for magic items of some nature.
Just as silly is the Magic-R-Us store that has every item in the DMG on its shelves. Given the high value nature and danger of the items, it would be hard to protect and improbable that such a rich inventory could be accumulated.
To me, it is more plausible that really simple items (potions, scrolls, very common low level items) may be randomly available in a shop that is highly secured (like a bank/jewelry store). Other items would only be available by private sellers, brokers, and actual exchanges would be treated like illegal drug deals, very cautiously and securely.
So I would use random tables to fill out what's in these "common magic" shops, with each shop being different. And I would use random tables to determine what's available on the private market at any given time (probably limited to 5-6 items by very different people).
