Item Availability Option

[bobcat_grad]

Got a question for the community.

There's something I'm going to be doing for a campaign I'm preparing in a custom world, but there's two different ways to approach it. And since I'm preparing all of the material for the world, I'd like to figure out which way players would prefer this thing to work so I can proceed with my preparations. I've asked this of my group, but I though I'd see if I can get others input as well.

Basically, as you travel through the world, you will come across settlements ranging from small village up to huge cities. All places have vendors of course, but the quality of what you can find and the chance of finding it will vary. You wouldn't expect to find a level 28 sword in some backwater town, and you most likely won't. So, when the party comes into a settlement, the party will be given a sheet about that place. On that sheet is a description, map, key locations (if it's a city I've prepared), population breakdown, and item availability.

The mechanic for Item Availability will work like this:

When looking to make a purchase, state the item you’re looking to buy, and roll a percentile. If you roll a number under the percent you’re trying to hit, you found a vendor who is selling what you want. If you fail, you may look for the item again in [time varies on settlement size]. Some locations have Black Markets. If the location you're in has one, you or a willing ally may add their Streetwise skill to the target number and roll again. If you hit with that roll, you find the item, but you must pay a Black Market premium of [depends on town]%.

The item availability will break items into categories and levels and display a corresponding chance to find it. The question comes down to what is displayed - numbers or chance. As an example, I've included a shortened version (only 3 categories of things) of both approaches.

NUMBERS:

Level 1-10​

Level 11-20​

Level 21-30​

Light Armor

80​

55
​

10
​

Heavy Armor

90​

70​

20
​

Shields

70​

60​

25​

CHANCE:

Level 1-10​

Level 11-20​

Level 21-30​

Light Armor

Good​

Average
​

Slim
​

Heavy Armor

Great​

Good​

Slight
​

Shields

Good​

Average
​

Slight​

The question comes down to, as a player - would you rather know the exact number you have to hit to 'find' the item you're looking for before you roll? Or would you rather make the roll and have me tell you the result?

Thoughts?

 

[weem]

I would rather (as both a player and DM) use the descriptors (slim, average, good etc). It is a better way (imo) of presenting such a system and takes the mechanic away replacing it with an in-game way of representing it which is cool.

Now you are roleplaying the search for items as opposed to simply letting them roll out numbers for a few minutes based on a list of possibilities. Sure, you will end up rolling this for them behind the screen but that's as it should be (again, imo).

I don't like the idea of saying, "Ok, you are in the market... start rolling and YOU TELL ME when/if you find what you want".

I think it's a cool idea

 

[weem]

One more note as well.

I was just thinking about how I would use this (if I did), and it got me thinking I would not want my players to sit there going down a huge list asking "what about this? and this? and this?" etc so I might tell them that they can ask for a few, but if it starts to get excessive, word can get out that someone is in town looking for a lot of magic items (implying that it would be known they have a lot of money).

Or maybe I would not mention that and instead see how it goes and if they overdo it some time, then set up something where they are attacked/ambushed, or questioned, or robbed while making it obvious they were marked for their blatant flashing around of gold.

This is more of an idea of a way to make it interesting I guess, but I thought it would be fun, hehe.

 

[bobcat_grad]

You know, I like the idea of 'if they try too much to find something, they may get ambushed on their way out town.'

I'll have to keep that in mind when using this.