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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Michael Dean" data-source="post: 5197110" data-attributes="member: 9199">Merchant campaigns are among my favorites to plan for, because there are so many different things to do with them.Some thoughts:1.  The Merchant family as the main focus: this type of campaign is good because you can have a central family plus cousins, etc., that will provide endless pcs and npcs, and not all of them friendly.  There can be internal strife as members compete to become the head of the family.  You can also set up a counter family operation that is the main rival for your characters and will be a fixture of future conflict.2.  The grizzled veteran Silk Road caravan guard makes good: I love this trope because it allows me to have a fighter accompany many caravans the length and breadth of the Silk Road, learning dozens of languages, getting into adventures at each stop in the Road, and picking up a detailed knowledge of trade so that he eventually goes into business himself as head of a trade group.  3. Political campaigns: I loooove political campaigns.  If you're going to have a character with high charisma so that his bluff, diplomacy, and intimidation skills are good, why not have him battling for a spot on the city council?  Backstabbing rival merchants and politicos will always be looking for ways to sabotage your operation; higher taxes levied specifically against your particular type of goods, confiscated goods, scaring stevedores and caravan workers from working for you.  You have to be able to speak in front of the council to sway votes in your favor or bribe city officials to look the other way.4.  Base of operations: I like to plan the actual home base for my merchant, which is usually a compound by the wharf with warehouses, offices, stables, reception areas, and living quarters for the whole extended family.  Make it big enough that there are plenty of hiding spaces or out of the way rooms for secret meetings and such.  Give your pcs an apartment to themselves for when they're home where they can hang their hat and be safe.  Also, the family's safe area can be storage for valuables.  The compound usually takes up a city block and on the first floor facing the street has plenty of businesses (which may be family operated or leased out to non-family) that will cover most of your characters' adventuring needs; leather goods, equipment, weapons, armor, gear.  As you expand your family's influence you can buy up more of the city buildings near you and increase your reach and power.5. Running secret operations for the crown: the King has been impressed with your family and has used your caravan trips as an excuse to ship secret documents and other things across borders.  One of your characters often conducts back door negotiations in foreign lands.  Your company has secret contacts in the major seaports you visit and every trip consists of you collecting the accumulated reports from your contacts in these cities in the months that you've been gone.  Sometimes, because of the information you've been given from your government, you realize that a night time raid or mission must be made in the foreign land.  Get in, get the mission done, and sail out in the morning with the goods you've contracted to pick up.6. Gypsies: I love gypsies (or Romani), and I like to work in a caravan/entertainment troupe that moves from town to town in my campaign.  They make the perfect independent spies/intelligence contractors, and if your company has made friends among the Romani, they can work together on missions.  If your characters ever get in a situation that they can't handle, the Romani make the perfect save-the-day device to get your guys out of trouble by sneaking them out or healing them or backup muscle to storm the big bad Liche Lord's lair.7.  I heartily second the earlier suggestion of buying Expeditious Retreat's Silk Road.  It is an amazing resource for merchant campaigns.</blockquote>

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