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From my provincial background here in Sweden, adventurer (äventyrare) is basically anyone who goes out of their place and class of origin and out into the wide wild world. I guess this idea of what an adventurer is comes from the 19C, a time of colonialist opportunity for Europeans. Further...

I come back to my favorite DMG1E quote (from memory). When trading with another magic-user to be allowed to copy spells from their spellbook, you may have to give them a minor magic item, such as a girdle of giant strength. :D

Most of your post is excellent, I am just nitpicking. If I recall, you get 20% of your investment back when you reduce items to residiuum. This means that magic marts selling used magic items are still worthwhile, there is room for each part of the supply chain to take out a premium to re-sell...

Depending on the number of items in your game, I'd advice balance these effect around the premise that all characters have their full allotment of magic items attuned, because this is most certainly going to be the default situation. This makes de-attuning an advantage, rather than punishing...

This is the reason I am not too fond of many magic items in 5E. In 3E magic items were assumed, and if you didn't have them, you'd not perform as well as expected. In 5E, the opposite is the base assumption. If you have no or few magic items you are on the standard power curve, if you have loads...

3E (including 3.5 and Pathfinder) actually had a scaling that helped this to not immediately explode. Summoned critters could not teleports, so you had to use Planar Binding/Ally. A Lantern Archon/Imp has unlimited use of Greater Teleport, which allows a cargo of 25 lbs. per trip. This is a lvl...

Despite all I've said about having magic shops in my setting, playing 5E I've come to the conclusion that lots of magic items is not a good thing in this game. So, how to combine these conflicting ideas? What I am planning to do is to say that there has been an inflation of magical items. Most...

In my version of Greyhawk I created an organization called the Blue Brothers. This started as a religious organization serving Boccob, the god of magic, who very much works to profligate magic in the world. Over time, this network has become less religious, tough they still honor Boccob. This...

This also gives PCs a reason to strive to become kings! Back in 1E, fighters were expected to became landlords at about the same time magic-users learned to make permanent magic items.

About using components to replace Xp costs for magic items. This is something that DnD fails at. I'm playing Ars Magica now, and a long time earlier there was a tiny little RPG called Swordbearer, In both, the principal loot from monsters are magical components. Seems I remembered the name of...

Half-orcs rule as martials in BG 1 and 2! No need to roll those pesky percentile dice for Strength! A single point takes you from +1/+2 to +2/+7. :)

For some reason, traps are always horribly expensive, making this really profitable!

I have returned to Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 recently. In the version of AD&D there, slings always get damage equal to your full Strength bonus. Pretty impressive! This is just a tangent, not relevant to the greater thread.

Actually, the xp cost can be quite sufficient, if you're playing the team mage and enchanter, making items for the entire team. By the rules of 3E, if you lag one level behind, you get a lot of compensation. Its worth it.

And I thought this was about friction in the Clausewitzian sense. :)

Just be sure to tell your players beforehand. :)

Some of the things I feel are important to the discussion. Worldbuilding: Does it make sense that the world features magic traders. in 3E I felt it very much did so. An international network can exists with Lantern Archons that safely transport magic items weighing up to 25 lbs to any spot in...

This is important. In addition, players should make characters that want to participate in the story as explained at session zero. Games that failed around here mostly did so because the GM did not get his setting ideas across at session zero, which led players to make characters that were not...

One aspect of visible clocks is that they make the situation more real. Anything that has an actual game mechanic for it somehow becomes more real in my experience. So if the GM has a "Skyscraper launches like a rocket into space" clock ticking, letting the players know this makes this dramatic...

I admit you are right in principle. BitD games work best with a tight focus. But that doesn't mean you HAVE to play with a tight focus. In my Princess Kingdoms game, the PC kingdom is sponsored by the Sparkle Union, which is basically the Chaotic Good faction - poor, undisciplined, but with lots...