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Message: <blockquote data-quote="haakon1" data-source="post: 5170186" data-attributes="member: 25619">So by doing a magic shop with an inventory, I "screw over" my players, have an unfun game, and am being not nice to my players?  Could you turn down the wrongbadfun a wee bit?My reason for being detailed on the magic shop is that my focus is on story.  By answering questions like: how does it function economically/make a profit and why isn't it robbed, I think I add to the "suspension of disbelief" in my campaign.  By having specific items -- including stuff PC's have sold to it -- I use it to connect the different parties and players that have played in my campaign.  And it's just plain interesting to see if the discards from one party get picked up by another.The bazooka analogy is a good starting point to think through these issues (if you want to in running a campaign).  How does a bazooka -- or the modern version, the RPG (rocket propelled grenade), get sold?1) In places like Peshawar, they are sold by arms dealers in a bazaar, to and from tribal militias, terrorists, and people who want to protect themselves from the latter.  It's allowed because it's protected by the local tribes and payola to local authorities, and serves all sides.  Similar things happen with AK-47's in more countries.  This isn't all that different from a Points of Light setting, where anarchy and deathly threats surround most settlements.2) There are secretive high volume, high end international illegal arms dealers.  See the movie "Lord of War" for a dramatization of this trade.  It's done because there's money in it, lots of money, selling unneeded arms to people with gems, drugs, or other resources, and the desire to sieze more of them.3)  Official business.  Licensed arms manufacturers/dealers selling to the government and its friends -- but not it's enemies.The main magic shop in my campaign is most like #3, though the players might not have precisely figured that out yet.Right, that or provide services.  IMC, both magic shops do Identify spells and spell components too.  And their inventory has a certain amount of turnover, particulary for the Fast Moving Consumer Goods of a magic shop -- cure potions and low level scrolls.Where the capital comes from is another good question in designing a magic shop.My answer to this is that the limited capital of the shop DOESN'T belong to the sorcerer who runs it -- it belongs to the mage's guild, who own the guild monopoly on the trade, because of their cooperation with the government.Guilds, governments, monopolies -- all good medieval thoughts.  But not a reason NOT to think about this stuff.Nod.  I think logical, deeply immersive worlds where this sort of thing has been thought through and makes sense makes for fun gaming, rather than bad gaming.  If the players discover you've thought deeply about the magic shop, they may wonder about the reasons behind a lot of other things, which makes the game more exciting -- if they start asking "but WHY are the orcs here"/"how come the magic shop doesn't get robbed" instead of just assuming everything is "because I said so", things get more immersive and interesting, in my opinion.Your mileage may vary.</blockquote>

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