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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Grompi" data-source="post: 1433505" data-attributes="member: 15403">Gold!As a first-time acquaintance of mine on these forums once said, “This is astute.” The idea that magic items are commodities, more than mere products is a great place to start when designing a system of governance for their distribution and acquisition by PCs. However, this seems to hint at a lower-than-average power campaign world, because…Azlan isn’t wrong here. In a society where magicians are common, magic items will be more common as well. Aas many have pointed out, the rules have built in control…There are a few problems with even this model, though….Great, but one question that arises from even this simple assumption is: Why would a wizard, who knows his rivals can gain actual spell knowledge from scrolls, sell anything but the most common spells? Some magicians would be loath to carry potent scrolls on themselves when traveling for fear of such an item falling into enemy hands. Even scrolls can be very powerful. It could be that….This is a great solution if the world is such that players understand this is how things actually occur, and it makes sense within the framework of a character’s reputation and ally structure. The latter question, however, is easily answered by the (sorry) fact that most established/published campaign worlds have magic shops. At least the mainstream ones do. This is probably just to make things easy on the DM and players “outside of the dungeon”. It’s assumed (probably rightfully) that most groups don’t want to spend a lot of time “shopping” in-game.It could be worse, though….But, as others have said, this largely depends on the culture in question.I think the real problem is not whether magic items are for sale or not, but the whole idea that anyone would actually have enough raw cash to purchase some of these things. There’s simply too much money in typical D&D treasure and campaign worlds.VictorSims’ idea of summoning mercane merchants is a great structure within the core D&D cosmology, but many here are eschewing that cosmology it seems. Some (including me in this post) suggest this is for ease of play and the lack of “fun” in item acquisition (that is, roleplaying shopping). This is an unfortunate example of great opportunities missed.Economics, like any other part of the game, can be fun if treated thoughtfully and reasonably. You’re right that such minutia of societal detail isn’t for everyone. My players can’t stand, for the most part, a world where you walk into a shop and by a +3 scythe of frost. Then again, I’ve played with those who want so much magic that one could walk down the street and accidentally kick a low-charge wand of magic missles out of the sewer grate.It’s a matter of taste.Making magic items, or acquiring any unique item in the game, can be a rich source of high-adventure gaming. One just needs to think in logical terms when a campaign begins. Magicians are unlikely to sell very dangerous items, or even accept a commission (to summon a mercane, or otherwise) for such, unless the PC is question has something else about him or her that fits with the “commissioned” NPC’s own goals and/or outlook.Add power components to your game, for example, and the fact that the hireling is not going to be the one to go get the rare Chartreuse Lotus of Abu-dabu. What do you have then? The PCs have to find where the lotus is and acquire it. It once flourished in the remote hills of the dry land. That it can now only be found in the personal, desert garden of a selfish and mad blue dragon…well, too bad.Add a law that prohibits the sale of martial weapons on the open market. When your reputable PCs want one, they have to get it from a legitimate authority. Less scrupulous PCs have to get it through less scrupulous means. For the do-gooder, throw in a local lord who is corrupt, but obeys the letter of the law (LE). The PCs might be relieved of their martial weapons upon entering that lord’s domain. Then they find out how evil the lord is….Anything can be a source of adventure. It just depends on what you want from the game. The richer and more dynamic a world, and the harder it is to find dangerous and powerful items, the more opportunity there is for adventure. When the PCs end up with whatever they sought, the satisfaction will be greater.In other words, whatever you choose to make detailed in your world can make it more satisfying to play. Even economics. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />EDIT: Added some space!</blockquote>

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