Bartering System

[Matafuego]

Hi everybody =D

Does anyone know of a Bartering System Supplement?
Or any game that has good rules on Bartering?

One of my players is playing a Merchant-Wizard and since I like to encourage out-of-fight encounters he's really setting his mind into buying cheap at one city and selling expensive in another. Since it's a not frequently travelled world he could make a big profit (with great danger) for himself and the group, that's why I wanted to develop a system to make it clear (other than by level) that he's becoming a better merchant over time. So I was looking for inspiration

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance =)

 

[Buttercup]

There are rules for this in T20 Traveller. They're sort of complicated, and built for a SF setting, but I think you could adapt them.

Traveller has both Broker and Trader as skills, but you wouldn't have to do that. You can transport someone else's cargo or buy your own. In either case, you roll to see what's available, then roll to see how much of it, and at what cost. At the other end, you roll to see how much you can get for it.

That's a very abridged summary, but hopefully it's enough to help you decide if you want to spend time looking at the book.

 

[Thanee]

Not sure, but the FRCS at least lists what kind of goods are produced where and along which routes they are transported. So, if you were playing in the FR, you would have at least some idea on what goods are available and needed where.

Bye
Thanee

 

[arwink]

Try checking out Blood and Space - although it's a sci-fi toolkit for D20, I've had no trouble porting its merchant rules into fantasy games.

 

[Matafuego]

Thanks a lot I'll try to ask around / check them out. I hop the translation from Space / DnD is a not to hard one =\

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

A basic D&D Gazetteer- The Republic Of Darokin- had rules for this sort of thing, and even a merchant class to do it (though the rules and class don't need to be used together). Essentially, they listed a group of cities and what goods were commonly available in the cities. Goods were rated on a point system (say -5 to +5) to illustrate whether it was overpriced or underpriced in that area.

Essentially, the system worked just like you're speaking of- the merchant bought low in one city, then transported the goods to a market where they sold at a higher cost. There were also some basic rules on transport, weather, local market conditions, and haggling- probably about ten or twelve pages altogether. I don't have my copy handy so I can't give you any more detail, but I've used in games before and it worked out pretty good- though you'll want to keep an eye on things and make sure that the character isn't going to get too far ahead of the rest of the party in wealth, if you're worried about that sort of thing.

Anyhow, the book is available in ESD from RPGnow.com, just do a search on "Darokin." This way, you won't have to worry about converting over the goods from sci-fi to fantasy, you just assign the cities in this book to some cities in your campaign and you're good to go.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Hi everybody =D

Does anyone know of a Bartering System Supplement?
Or any game that has good rules on Bartering?

Chapter One: In the Marketplace of Goods and Gear: the Ultimate Adventurer's Guide has rules for bartering, as well as degrees of craftsmanship, inflation, taxation, trade, marketplace frauds, scams and swindles. The book is filled with tons of useful info, if I do say so myself.