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
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Magic Bazaar Blues
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="fourthmensch" data-source="post: 1781511" data-attributes="member: 16723"><p>D&D is an extremely equipment-intensive game. Magic items are not simply a luxury or an enhancement, they are necessities, especially as one progresses to higher levels. Many monsters have very high ACs, damage reduction, or other special powers that virtually necessitate a fair stock of magical items. The DMG acknowledges this with the NPC tables, in which each class has a level breakdown for the appropriate arsenal of equipment that any given NPC should be expected to have. </p><p> </p><p> After a while, this starts to bother me on several levels.</p><p> </p><p> 1. Every NPC has a +2 stat booster, a <em>ring of protection</em>, an <em>amulet of natural armor</em>, and magical weapons. I have tried to work around this by giving NPCs a more diverse arsenal, which is 1) time consuming for me, and 2) it unquestionably leads to NPC opponents who are less effective and therefore less threatening. Without the standard magical items, they are too easy to hit, have too few hp, have spell DCs that are too low, etc.</p><p> </p><p> 2. It is extraordinarily difficult for me to preserve the mystique of magical items. Because of #1, my players have gotten used to assuming most rings are of <em>protection</em>, most amulets are of <em>natural armor</em>, etc.--and even then, when they find more exotic items, the mystery is only an <em>analyze dweomer</em> away from being revealed. This seems far too mechanical for my tastes; however, I see no easy solution.</p><p> </p><p> 3. This prevalence of magical equipment leads ineluctably to the Magic Bazaar effect. Because the PCs naturally harvest the equipment from their fallen enemies and then eventually want to sell it. I cannot for the life of me find a satisfying way of handling these transactions of massive amounts of magical items. If they are difficult to sell (I make NPCs unwilling to buy, for example, or try to prevent them from visiting areas with enough liquid assets to afford to buy, etc), then the players become frustrated--and justifiably so, since they earned that treasure with their sweat and blood, and they deserve the rewards. If I try to retain some measure of versimilitude--forcing the PCs to visit various vendors, who only purchase items of interest to them--then this is not only frustrating to them, but time-wasting as well, since I am forcing everyone (including me!) to go around like merchants instead of adventuring. If, on the other hand, I make the process too easy, then it gets the game back to the action, but with weird and awkward transactions with people who, for no particular reason, say, "sure, I'll buy everything in your three <em>bags of holding</em>."</p><p> </p><p> 4. Somehow the thought of these mercantile side-trips occurring at all irks me, since it strikes me as so incongruous. Heroic adventurers racing against time should not be making all these forays here and there in order to sell every last knickknack that they scavenge, like battlefield opportunists, off of every fallen enemy. And yet, I know that they have to in order to afford the items that will help them survive the next round of heroic adventuring. </p><p> </p><p> I don't really have a point to all this... its kind of a little frustrated rant, I guess. What I would like, ideally, is to lessen the importance of equipment, so that the PCs (and players, more importantly) have no problem felling a dozen foes and then racing on to the scene of the next action without picking them clean, feeling very heroic all the while. But it seems to be a fundamental assumption of the D&D system. </p><p> </p><p> Any thoughts? Do others find they have the same experience, and the same reaction? Has anyone altered anything about they way that they play, or handle treasure, or anything else, that helps to ameliorate this problem? I would love to hear any suggestions, because I am plumb out of ideas.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="fourthmensch, post: 1781511, member: 16723"] D&D is an extremely equipment-intensive game. Magic items are not simply a luxury or an enhancement, they are necessities, especially as one progresses to higher levels. Many monsters have very high ACs, damage reduction, or other special powers that virtually necessitate a fair stock of magical items. The DMG acknowledges this with the NPC tables, in which each class has a level breakdown for the appropriate arsenal of equipment that any given NPC should be expected to have. After a while, this starts to bother me on several levels. 1. Every NPC has a +2 stat booster, a [i]ring of protection[/i], an [i]amulet of natural armor[/i], and magical weapons. I have tried to work around this by giving NPCs a more diverse arsenal, which is 1) time consuming for me, and 2) it unquestionably leads to NPC opponents who are less effective and therefore less threatening. Without the standard magical items, they are too easy to hit, have too few hp, have spell DCs that are too low, etc. 2. It is extraordinarily difficult for me to preserve the mystique of magical items. Because of #1, my players have gotten used to assuming most rings are of [i]protection[/i], most amulets are of [i]natural armor[/i], etc.--and even then, when they find more exotic items, the mystery is only an [i]analyze dweomer[/i] away from being revealed. This seems far too mechanical for my tastes; however, I see no easy solution. 3. This prevalence of magical equipment leads ineluctably to the Magic Bazaar effect. Because the PCs naturally harvest the equipment from their fallen enemies and then eventually want to sell it. I cannot for the life of me find a satisfying way of handling these transactions of massive amounts of magical items. If they are difficult to sell (I make NPCs unwilling to buy, for example, or try to prevent them from visiting areas with enough liquid assets to afford to buy, etc), then the players become frustrated--and justifiably so, since they earned that treasure with their sweat and blood, and they deserve the rewards. If I try to retain some measure of versimilitude--forcing the PCs to visit various vendors, who only purchase items of interest to them--then this is not only frustrating to them, but time-wasting as well, since I am forcing everyone (including me!) to go around like merchants instead of adventuring. If, on the other hand, I make the process too easy, then it gets the game back to the action, but with weird and awkward transactions with people who, for no particular reason, say, "sure, I'll buy everything in your three [i]bags of holding[/i]." 4. Somehow the thought of these mercantile side-trips occurring at all irks me, since it strikes me as so incongruous. Heroic adventurers racing against time should not be making all these forays here and there in order to sell every last knickknack that they scavenge, like battlefield opportunists, off of every fallen enemy. And yet, I know that they have to in order to afford the items that will help them survive the next round of heroic adventuring. I don't really have a point to all this... its kind of a little frustrated rant, I guess. What I would like, ideally, is to lessen the importance of equipment, so that the PCs (and players, more importantly) have no problem felling a dozen foes and then racing on to the scene of the next action without picking them clean, feeling very heroic all the while. But it seems to be a fundamental assumption of the D&D system. Any thoughts? Do others find they have the same experience, and the same reaction? Has anyone altered anything about they way that they play, or handle treasure, or anything else, that helps to ameliorate this problem? I would love to hear any suggestions, because I am plumb out of ideas. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Magic Bazaar Blues
Top