Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Buying magic items vs. finding magic items
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 6152697" data-attributes="member: 8835"><p>Part of me thinks the resistance to "buying" magic items is perceived loss of GM control over the players inventory.</p><p></p><p>In a "must find" campaign, the GM controls the magic items by choosing what they find or censoring the random results.</p><p></p><p>Additionally, the party is hobbled/stuck with random "useless" items, rather than the PCs getting exactly what they want.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>This can irritate the "if the kid asks for a cookie, you don't give him the cookie" reflex that some of us have.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Janx, post: 6152697, member: 8835"] 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). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Buying magic items vs. finding magic items
Top