Against the Shadows IV - A Faded Glory Story Hour

[Old One]

Lela - That Quote is About Right!

If there's one thing I learned while doing the Fight Club stuff, it's that you NEVER do a long post w/o a Word Processor.

NEVER.

You see, as per Merphy's law, the only time the boards go wacky is when you need to make a long post and don't use Word.

Mabey it's Microsoft, trying to make sure you use their product. Mabey it's the Table playing a trick on the DM.
My belief, Morris just loves hearing people scream in agony from accross the country:

Old One: "Aggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!"

Morris: "Was that one ours?"

Eric: "Let me check the server." Types for a second, "Yes."

PKitty: "Yes!!! That makes three today!"

Morris: "Time for the Happy Dance!"


Sceen Deleted by those of us who are sane.

I think I did say "Aggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!"...followed by a few unprintable comments! Normally, I do everything in Word, then paste over, but my disk with the rest of Session 12 on it was at my office...it was Sunday AM...I figured "What can go wrong?".

What a pain!

Old One

 

[Rel]

That look of raw joy on the faces of the player when they get their first real chunk of monetary treasure is priceless. Almost as priceless as the look they have when you find a way to wheedle them out of the cash later on.

Congratulations to the party on finally getting paid!

Just so I'm clear, Old One, it appears that while you have been giving out only meager amounts of monetary treasure (roughly 10% of normal if I recall), you are giving them approximately the normal DMG values on the magic items. Do I have that right? If so, what, if any, effect do you think this will have on the economics of the party as they continue their adventures?

 

[Old One]

About that money...

That look of raw joy on the faces of the player when they get their first real chunk of monetary treasure is priceless. Almost as priceless as the look they have when you find a way to wheedle them out of the cash later on.

Congratulations to the party on finally getting paid!

Just so I'm clear, Old One, it appears that while you have been giving out only meager amounts of monetary treasure (roughly 10% of normal if I recall), you are giving them approximately the normal DMG values on the magic items. Do I have that right? If so, what, if any, effect do you think this will have on the economics of the party as they continue their adventures?

Rel -

Thanks for stopping in! On monetary policy...

The campaign uses a silver standard, but the prices stay the same (in general) as listed in the PHB, so something listed at 10 gp would cost 100 denarii. Each of the PCs started play with 1,000 denarii (although several had family heirlooms), so they were pretty poor.

I apply a "market factor" to most goods and services, which takes into account supply, demand and rarity with varies the cost from -50% to +1,000%, depending on circumstances. Magic items are particularly tricky, since direct conversion is a tad difficult. Most of the items I use IMC are custom items, so I have a pretty good idea of what price they will fetch.

In this case, Lonic (who deals in Curios) had an interest in several items, but not in others. There is no "ready market" for magic items...it is more like dealing in "fine art"!

Hope that helps and feel free to query further!

Old One

 

[Darklone]

CASH

Hah, there's nothing like some players who are in a real big shop of magicks from many different countries and they scrape together a few thousand coins and are merely able to buy a few lesser gimmicks... and then they sell something they think is utterly useless and the shopkeeper first wastes two lvl6 scrolls on it to identify then pays them 35K goldcoins...

Right Dougal?

Too bad they were not shocked when they heard later the merchant sold it for 150K....

QUINTUS: What familiar do you want? Is Rose going to intimidate with a throwing axe soon? Is Sextus finally buying a pipe of the sewers (love that thingy)? Will Brother Lew see the light? Will Rowan be bonding with a blade instead of Maxima?

 

[Rel]

I understood the silver standard. I was mainly referring to the fact that the party had to "scrape up" the 1,000 denarii (100 gp) to have Lonic ID their items. And that was just the down payment.

For most parties of this level, the 100 gp for Lonic (or the same amount for Quintus' familiar) would be fairly trivial. I can appreciate the fact that the party has been kept fairly poor (by normal D&D standards, not the standard for your world). I think it makes what they find all the more precious.

But when you quoted prices for the items they had Identified by Lonic, the prices seemed closer to the normal D&D standard (I cite the +1 Ring of Protection as a specific example where they are potentially getting the full DMG value for resale - certainly reasonable given the utility of the item).

There is certainly nothing wrong with this. But do you think it will have a significant impact on the feel of your campaign for the party to go from being veritable paupers to being wildly rich by the previous standards?

 

[Old One]

But how will the handle it?

I understood the silver standard. I was mainly referring to the fact that the party had to "scrape up" the 1,000 denarii (100 gp) to have Lonic ID their items. And that was just the down payment.

For most parties of this level, the 100 gp for Lonic (or the same amount for Quintus' familiar) would be fairly trivial. I can appreciate the fact that the party has been kept fairly poor (by normal D&D standards, not the standard for your world). I think it makes what they find all the more precious.

But when you quoted prices for the items they had Identified by Lonic, the prices seemed closer to the normal D&D standard (I cite the +1 Ring of Protection as a specific example where they are potentially getting the full DMG value for resale - certainly reasonable given the utility of the item).

There is certainly nothing wrong with this. But do you think it will have a significant impact on the feel of your campaign for the party to go from being veritable paupers to being wildly rich by the previous standards?

Rel -

Great insight! Of course, it MAY be part of my evil DM master plan <insert evil DM laugh>! Will they spend it all on "ale and whores" (apologies to DWARF) like Rosë wants to? Will Quintus look for a way to buy himself into local politics? Will Sextus buy his own tavern? Will Lew donate it all to the Church? Will Rowan start a home for wayward country girls? Will the dastardly RBDM allow them to savor great monetary wealth for a few short hours, then take it all away? Answers to these and other pressing questions lie just over the horizon!

Seriously, I am actually very interested to see what the PCs do with this relatively large windfall. They have a large number of potential directions to go and although the roughly 5,000 denarii per PC seems like alot, just remember that several of them have a "training backlog" to clear. Another is in the process of cross-classing, Quintus will summon his familiar, Rowan is researching the "bonding ritual" for his sword and just about everyone wants better arms and/or armor. Given all that, I foresee a rapid depletion of the bank account, baring additional major hauls. Plus, they have a l-o-o-o-n-n-n-g-g-g way to go to get anywhere close to the Swords of Glynden in wealth!

I actually think the "step-up" on the wealth ladder will have a postive impact, since it will give the PCs more options...but we shall see!

Old One

BTW - We play again this weekend...I am going to try to get at least the first part of Session 13 posted before then!

 

[Galfridus]

Re: Lela - That Quote is About Right!

I think I did say "Aggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!"...followed by a few unprintable comments!

That is the sound of ultimate suffering. I last heard that sound when my next-door neighbor lost her thesis. It's not a pretty sound!

I find myself wondering how favorable Lonic's prices were; if the characters had snooped around a bit, could they have received better prices? A good use for Gather Information, I would expect...

 

[WSmith]

Maybe they could use it to refurbish Fortress Scipio.

I have to say I love the feel that it took them this long to come into some loot and a small amount of magic items. Certainly, this isn't Faerun, and it feels good.

I keep checking the website to updates. What happend to the map? I can't seem to find it, or is it still being transfered?

 

[Old One]

Truly The Sound of Ultimate Suffering...

That is the sound of ultimate suffering. I last heard that sound when my next-door neighbor lost her thesis. It's not a pretty sound!

I find myself wondering how favorable Lonic's prices were; if the characters had snooped around a bit, could they have received better prices? A good use for Gather Information, I would expect...

Galfridus,

Thanks for stopping by! Yeah, that really sucked ...

When Abbot Patroclian recommended Lonic's Curio Shop, he failed to mention that the Church gets a 20% kickback on all transactions it refers

Old One

PS - Just kidding guys!

 

[Old One]

I'm a Slacker!

Maybe they could use it to refurbish Fortress Scipio.

I have to say I love the feel that it took them this long to come into some loot and a small amount of magic items. Certainly, this isn't Faerun, and it feels good.

I keep checking the website to updates. What happend to the map? I can't seem to find it, or is it still being transfered?

WSmith -

Thanks for stopping by! When do you leave the Left Coast? Having DM'd in the FR for years, this campaign is Definitely not the Realms!

Unfortunately, I owe O'berton more updates than I can count on fingers and toes! I have lots of "stuff" - ie, reams of notes, doodles, rough maps and other things - that I have failed to upload to the web folder. I think he has given up on me ! I actually picked up "Fractal Mapper" over the holidays to supplement the CR2 mappers I have been using. I have made several attempts at mapping the whole world and each effort gets closer to what I want.

If my life ever becomes less busy (like after I win the Lottery), then I will get off my @$$ and get some additional stuff done!

Old One