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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MaxKaladin" data-source="post: 982101" data-attributes="member: 1196">Commerce and Caravans, huh?  Sounds cool.  Looks like it will almost certainly address one of the three most common economic questions to come up in my campaign.  They are:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Well, we're going to the other side of the empire anyway, let's see if we can't find a profitable cargo to take with us." </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Hey, I've got a bunch of money and I want to buy some property that will generate money for me.  What will it cost? "</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"Now that I have property, how much am I going to make off it?" [/list=1] I'm pretty sure you've got #1 covered.  I don't know about number two.  There are a couple of income systems out there, but they seem to cover medieval manors and dodge the idea of buying land or income sources entirely.  Instead, they rely on getting grants of land and stuff like that.  That's fine unless you're running a more Renaissance (or Roman, in my case) campaign where lots of buying and selling of property went on.  Especially in the Renaissance.  I'd like to see a book that talks about buying property and what you can expect to earn off of it.  After all, not everyone can be the merchant moving goods around.  Some merchants are going to be supplying the goods and some are going to be buying them.  A broad range of commercial activity should be covered.  After all, how well does medieval feudalism really work for most D&D campaigns?  How many of us have NOT at some point had the PCs decide to hire workers and run the gold mine they just took from the bad guy themselves or something like that?  Another good thing to cover might be a section for DMs/Worldbuilders telling them where particular types of goods can be found.   Information could also be included about demand for various goods with advice to help DMs create logical trade routes.  Perhaps some guidelines could be added about the sorts of population figures or wealth levels needed before certain goods will be in demand and so on.  Magic will have to be addressed.  Both the effect of magic on trade and why some kinds of magic are not practical.  For instance, I just got done writing up a little treasie for my campaign explaining why teleportation magic is generally either impractical or unprofitable for trade, not to mention dangerous, unless shortened delivery times are worth a huge premium.  On the other hand, merchants with access to long distance communication magic would have HUGE advantages over those who don't.  Stuff like that.  I imagine you'll already have to address the values of various trade goods, caravan supplies and wages.  One of the things I see glossed over in other treatments of the subject (rare as they are) is the cost of maintenance and upkeep.  Usually, folks try to address this subject with some sort of blanket number like 1% of the cost of the ship or something.  I'd like to see something a bit more specific, like what it costs to maintain a person or an ox or a horse for a day or month or whatever, what it costs to keep up a ship or wagon or building of a certain size and what warehousing costs and so on.  I realize a fair bit of generalizing is necessary, but I think things could at least be in two or three categories rather than the one blanket one that  many systems use.  One reason I ask this is because it helps folks like me who find themselves trying to work out various things for themselves.  For instance, knowing how much it costs to feed a person can help calculate the overhead for all sorts of things.  (Yes, I know there are prices for upkeep in the DMG.  The problem is they're intended for PCs who are living transient lives, renting temporary lodgings and, except in the case of the poorest one, buying food already prepared.  Most caravans, for instance, will not be providing lodgings since they're camping and will buy food in bulk and have a cook prepare it, which is cheaper than buying pre-made meals in an inn.  Those numbers in the DMG do not cover this sort of upkeep.) Finally (for now), this strikes me as a good place to address something long griped about in D&D.  The price list.  Most people agree the price list has little to do with what goods actually cost in relation to one another given an pre-industrial economy.  Perhaps an adjusted price list of some kind could be included.  As I mentioned above, I imagine you'll already have to include some prices to address the values of various trade goods, caravan supplies and wages.  Why not include a complete revision?.  Perhaps you can present it as an appendix with alternate prices so as to give people a choice and not force them to adopt a new price scheme.</li> </ol></blockquote>

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