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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 5890196" data-attributes="member: 6669384">I notice that you keep using low profit examples, with no accounting for losses at sea.They also ignore the fact that your longsword cargoes can and will be competing against local production.Why would you waste magic hauling heavy, low profit items on a short, low risk journey? (Your original example was what, a week away?  That's under 300 miles by horseback, or 150 miles by wagon.) The only reason I can think of would be that someone *coughcough* is trying to come up with bad business models.  Why not haul sand?  You could make the numbers look even worse.For your sea voyage you account for level 1 Commoners for a crew.  Try sailing with a green crew around the Cape and you'll increase that transit loss above the 30% average.  And of course, if it's your ship that founders in the waters off the Cape, it's pretty much a 100% loss.The spice trade alone along the trade route I'm using in my examples,  yielded a 4000% profit margin (I'm not exaggerating) v the price of the cargo sent in exchange, even accounting for water damage and ships lost at sea in both directions.  That's 40 to 1, as opposed to your less-than 3 to 1 trade in swords.You say that magic isn't a "game changer".  I agree.  It's already there, the game is already changed.  We pretend that it isn't, that a typical medieval economic model would remain in place.  We lie to ourselves for the sake of good story.Or haven't you noticed that pretty much every game group has a "genius" player who acts like he's the first person to ever think of ways to make a fortune using magic?Also, if we do it like our players and drop the "trade consortium" idea and just look at the spell caster as entrepenure, your whole model comes apart.  Just because a caster could possibly get paid book rates to cast a spell doesn't mean that he's employed doing that all day, every day.  Most of his spell casting is for his own benefit, not being paid for by anyone.  So what's to keep him from investing in trade goods with his own money and getting rich?  Blip to China, do a bit of business and return in a few days.The economic impact of such actions on society would be pretty much the same as if it were a group of investors setting up a trade route.  Just faster and far more profitable for the individual.It's amazing that you haven't once considered that model, which presents itself in pretty much every campaign.  And which we have to find a way to squash every time, if only to keep the PC wealth levels in check.What's more amazing is that you keep arguing, trying to "win" a discussion that I've already conceded, twice.  You "win", remember?  If only by attrition.  I can only refute your bad examples and poorly concocted models for so long.  You win.Yet more amazing is that, at the same time, you've ignored my not-so-subtle attempts to derail the conversation back onto the original topic.  Maybe we could try talking about that for a while, hmm?</blockquote>

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