How do wandering merchants survive?

[Voss]

Wont the smart merchants go where the money is? The smart merchants will invest their capital in merchandise that they can sell at a high mark-up.
.

Yes, they would go where the money is: cities. I haven't gotten the impression that the default 4e setting has scads of adventurers running around. More like a few. Possibly just the PCs, depending on how you take some of it. That isn't a market. Thats the merchant being an idiot and risking death to find a couple of folks with ready spending money.

Wandering about and hoping that the next group of people you run into are adventurers with phat lewts rather than bandits isn't a business plan.


But honestly this thread probably ought to be merge with the general economy thread, since its the same discussion.

 

[roguerouge]

Those 1 HP minions are not going to be a lot of help in guarding the magic item caravan, that's for sure.

 

[Jack99]

Easy:

Wandering merchant is an epic destiny

 

[Grazzt]

Those 1 HP minions are not going to be a lot of help in guarding the magic item caravan, that's for sure.

Im pretty sure merchants IMC will institute a 'no minions as bodyguards' rule.

 

[katahn]

I'd compare wandering merchants somewhat to modern smugglers - both face considerable danger in getting their "product" to a market where it will make a large profit. The latter are dealing with border guards, vicious competitors not afraid to kill, police forces, and so on; the former would be dealing with all of the hazards of a D&D world. Since we can see the latter happening it is reasonable to assume the former is possible.

Wandering merchants won't be carrying items that locals can make for themselves, they won't be carrying high-volume-low-profit items except very rarely. They'll be like the ancient spice merchants: carrying low-volume-high-profit items and counting on those high profits to cover the costs of doing business (hiring guards and such). They may be making the rounds through border towns looking to acquire product (magic items and other high-value-low-volume items) from adventurers to bring back to the bigger cities to sell to the wealthy. If in doing so they happen to stumble on a wealthy borderlands adventurer willing to pay 20-40% more than a wealthy noble back in town would then so much the better right?

The one thing is they wouldn't be common. A wandering merchant arriving in a typical PoL border town would be a once or twice a year event unless said town was on a major trade route, especially close to major civilization, or in a relatively danger-free area. In these cases said little bordertown would likely be seeing growth that would turn it into a city of its own within a few decades at most anyway.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

The wandering merchant model is useful, but a bit hard to reconcile with the Points of Light setting. If the environment were safe enough for small caravans and peddlers to go from town to town frequently, then the centers of civilization would merge together pretty quickly.

I don't find it hard to reconcile because I'll be working on the basis that whatever is good for the story is what happens.

I'm not going to be spending time working out how many peddlers there are, how many survive and what happens to the others (or indeed why trade isn't flourishing and bringing forth civilisation) UNLESS it directly impacts the players.

Small caravans and peddlers don't go from town to town frequently, but they do go frequently enough (and with accompanying tales of how unpleasant it was) that the PC's can meet one occasionally.

Heh, now I'm getting an idea about the PC's saving a caravan from an attack of orcs (or whatever), and then trying to cut a deal with the merchant for a discount on his prices...

"A discount? DISCOUNT? You think this is the first time I've been attacked? I wouldn't be Klint Thurlstone, successful Merchant, if I let every group of people that 'rescued' me get a DISCOUNT!"

 

[Ipissimus]

I'm starting to wonder how real merchants survive...

I think partly, people are taking to PoL setting far too literally. The only real reason a population puts up with any form of government is fear. Fear of both the government and those who wish to take away their hard earned wealth without giving something in return. In any such situation, you're going to need well maintained roads to get goods, services and troops to where they're needed. It's just that in the PoL setting, all those roads end where the princedom can no longer exert control through violence.

So, Kingdoms are just a brighter point of light than normal. Theoretically, Merchants who wish safer journeys with less risk would stick to one Princedom/Kingdom/Whatever while those who don't mind more risk would brooch the darker areas of the world.

It's interesting, we're probably looking at adopting a more "Wild West' mentality to the world than we're used to with the more established worlds like GH, FR, EB and DL. Except that, unlike the Wild West, Uncivilization can actually fight back effectively. Interesting concept.

 

[Wormwood]

Merchants survive because I need them to.

 

[Enoch]

Yes, they would go where the money is: cities. I haven't gotten the impression that the default 4e setting has scads of adventurers running around. More like a few. Possibly just the PCs, depending on how you take some of it. That isn't a market. Thats the merchant being an idiot and risking death to find a couple of folks with ready spending money.

Wandering about and hoping that the next group of people you run into are adventurers with phat lewts rather than bandits isn't a business plan.


But honestly this thread probably ought to be merge with the general economy thread, since its the same discussion.

Well the reasons the city is there is because of trade, which requires travel. They make their way from city to city, the further away from their source the more money they make. Might as well lighten the load on the way. Passing through villages is sort of a requirement to get to a city.

My game will have mainly water merchants. I'm imagining that the common stereotype of the halfling will be that of the merchant. Crusing along the river stopping and selling trinkets at each village, maybe taking on passengers for the right price.

Sea travelling merchants will not be common in coastal villages just because it is easier to travel directly from city to city.

Ground travelling merchants will have many of the things that are not readily available near navigatable water sources. Furs, metals, dwarven and elven crafts.

I don't see a problem. But I also don't think of PoL as so deadly that stepping outside the village borders means instant death.

-Joshua

 

[WhatGravitas]

They are probably travelling with many bodyguards and usually only carry the high-demand things as well as less valuable assets with them. The REAL stuff (permanent magic items) are probably in a safehouse - and they usually tell adventures: "On my next trip, I'll bring it. Wait a few weeks."

Cheers, LT.