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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CCamfield" data-source="post: 1276163" data-attributes="member: 8123">I just posted about this in the gambling thread, but I suspect you could make a (possibly funny) adventure out of the Dutch tulip craze in the 17th century.<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dotcon/historical/bubbles.html" target="_blank">http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dotcon/historical/bubbles.html</a>People in the capital city are obsessed with, of all things, buying new flower bulbs.  Prices are reaching huge levels and a wise man (perhaps someone who approaches the PCs) might see that some people are going to end up very poor when reality sets in again.  Why is this happening?  Is it entirely natural, or is some subtle magic at work?  Is someone trying to get rich quickly?  Ruin business rivals? Or perhaps they want to bankrupt as many people as possible, and buy up their lands on the cheap after the bubble bursts?  (If so, is there something special about their lands?  Perhaps a vast treasure is buried somewhere in the city, and the land grab would allow the villain to narrow down his search) Is the culprit the merchant who first started selling the bulbs, or is someone taking advantage of the situation?  Is it possible for the PCs to halt the craze in its tracks before even more people are hurt?</blockquote>