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Buying magic items vs. finding magic items
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<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 6155330" data-attributes="member: 8835"><p>On the line of discussion about "industry", I don't think Umbran, Danny or myself are advocating that a robust modern-like industry of making and selling magic items in a Walmart would exist in a stereotypical D&D campaign (or even at all). The examples each of us gave were specifically small scale and NOT "industrial"</p><p></p><p>I think we're all acknowledging that under the lessons learned from Economics class, there is at least one NPC/PC in virtually every D&D world who wants a magic item, and at least on NPC/PC who will try to Supply that Demand.</p><p></p><p>If magic items do not exist, there may still be somebody who makes items they CLAIM are magical in order to meet the demand of ordinary folk. If you don't believe magic exists in the real world, then why do shops selling magic stuff exist in the real world? There is Demand, and a Supplier has arisen with an alternative product to fulfill the Demand opportunity.</p><p></p><p>Using Umbran's early rocket example, in the event of it being too expensive to build the product (rockets that cost too much to pay for), then Demand exists, but the Supply of actual rockets is Zero. There is still a "market" for rockets to space. Somebody will be motivated to find a way to create that Supply more cheaply. And thus, one day, it will be possible to by a rocket at an affordable price, even though it isn't possible now. The economic principals still apply, even if the quantity is zero or the price is infinity.</p><p></p><p>The lesson I got from Economics is the numbers don't matter. Merely that Supply and Demand form an X on the graph and that human behavior as a group/market can be predicted when you map things to either Supply or Demand, then alter one of those variables, ceteris paribus.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As to Alzrius statement that the GM can plausibly negate this in his campaign, I would say, "maybe". A GM can of course say anything is so, and it is so. But there is a line of plausibiliy set by each player that if the GM crosses, he loses that player. A player can accept that the world has dragons, but if the GM insists that the player cannot sell his Longsword +1 for anything but exactly 1/2 of the book value, the player may decide that belies common sense and be done with it.</p><p></p><p>That may be a small thing to quit a game over for, but the thinking a GM has behind that ruling may be cause to avoid a future pile of conflict.</p><p></p><p>We can't expect the GM to be an expert on everything. So an Econ major as a player may need to chill out on some on the GM's misconceptions, just as the MD player needs to ignore the GM's silly "wounds" rules. However, it would help the GM save face if they were more careful about restrictive rulings on topics in general, and on topics they don't actually understand.</p><p></p><p>I may never have an obvious way to buy a magic item in a campaign world, but I will never say it is impossible to buy a magic item in that world.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Janx, post: 6155330, member: 8835"] On the line of discussion about "industry", I don't think Umbran, Danny or myself are advocating that a robust modern-like industry of making and selling magic items in a Walmart would exist in a stereotypical D&D campaign (or even at all). The examples each of us gave were specifically small scale and NOT "industrial" I think we're all acknowledging that under the lessons learned from Economics class, there is at least one NPC/PC in virtually every D&D world who wants a magic item, and at least on NPC/PC who will try to Supply that Demand. If magic items do not exist, there may still be somebody who makes items they CLAIM are magical in order to meet the demand of ordinary folk. If you don't believe magic exists in the real world, then why do shops selling magic stuff exist in the real world? There is Demand, and a Supplier has arisen with an alternative product to fulfill the Demand opportunity. Using Umbran's early rocket example, in the event of it being too expensive to build the product (rockets that cost too much to pay for), then Demand exists, but the Supply of actual rockets is Zero. There is still a "market" for rockets to space. Somebody will be motivated to find a way to create that Supply more cheaply. And thus, one day, it will be possible to by a rocket at an affordable price, even though it isn't possible now. The economic principals still apply, even if the quantity is zero or the price is infinity. The lesson I got from Economics is the numbers don't matter. Merely that Supply and Demand form an X on the graph and that human behavior as a group/market can be predicted when you map things to either Supply or Demand, then alter one of those variables, ceteris paribus. As to Alzrius statement that the GM can plausibly negate this in his campaign, I would say, "maybe". A GM can of course say anything is so, and it is so. But there is a line of plausibiliy set by each player that if the GM crosses, he loses that player. A player can accept that the world has dragons, but if the GM insists that the player cannot sell his Longsword +1 for anything but exactly 1/2 of the book value, the player may decide that belies common sense and be done with it. That may be a small thing to quit a game over for, but the thinking a GM has behind that ruling may be cause to avoid a future pile of conflict. We can't expect the GM to be an expert on everything. So an Econ major as a player may need to chill out on some on the GM's misconceptions, just as the MD player needs to ignore the GM's silly "wounds" rules. However, it would help the GM save face if they were more careful about restrictive rulings on topics in general, and on topics they don't actually understand. I may never have an obvious way to buy a magic item in a campaign world, but I will never say it is impossible to buy a magic item in that world. [/QUOTE]
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