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Message: <blockquote data-quote="painandgreed" data-source="post: 1929947" data-attributes="member: 24969">Some answers to the above.Although the idea of a medieval economic theory with absolute value is interesting, I don’t think I could do it. Even if I did, I don’t think that the players would and they’d probably find a way to break the system. Instead, I just assume that such absolute values are included in the game system for playability since this isn’t a merchant game. Even games where PCs are merchants such as Traveller, the rules are grossly oversimplified. Rather than assume such a system, the point of this thread is to eventually work out a supply and demand system that is not too complicated and will work with D&D. That’s where we’re going eventually with the transportation costs, on to different markets and trade routes.Most things IMC (which all of this can be considered), are similar to RL unless acted upon by magic or otherwise changed to fit in with the fantasy world setting. With super high Intelligence and Wisdom scores as well as knowledge given via Gods, some things are known that were not known in RL. Basic germ theory is understood by those with healing skill for example, although nobody has actually built a microscope to see them yet. Some wizards have some basic idea about physics. Similarly, modern supply and demand economics will be understood by some merchants, nobles, and clerics of the god of wealth, or in other words, to those to whom they apply. Even so, many things are fixed socially by an authortarian governmental systems that are in place.  The relation of gold to silver to copper for example is not because they are present in that relation to each other and constantly are valued like that in the open market but because it is the ratio set by the major economic country IMC.The rules present a base point, but any actually deviation would depend too much on the individual campaign world. First off, many D&D players and DMs simply aren’t going to want to bother with it. To work out proper supply and demand, it’s going to require knowing where the areas of manufacture are as well as markets and trade routes, etc.  Add in changes for various customs and laws and it gets much more complicated. All of this is going to be highly dependant on the individual campaign setting, so there’s no real reason bothering with such in the main rule set.The cereal focus of the main example is a problem, but it works for what it is and can be used as a baseline. Someplace, I’ve got some estimates on how much land it takes for various livestock animals. Herding is definitly a large part of many societies including the standard D&D setting. There are also gross differences in the amount that can be grown due to weather/ecology and soil quality. Still, as I’ve said before, we’re not trying to make an medieval agricultural simulation here. We’re just trying to add a little bit of realism to our fantasy world setting so we’re convinced that it is at least internally consistent enough to satisfy the DM.As for the Appraise skill, my personal take is to give local (pr personal) knowledge of the value of an object, and if the check was good enough, inform them of any other markets or conditions that might modify this. However, without a good idea of the markets, it pertty much becomes just a plot hook.</blockquote>

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