Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="aramis erak" data-source="post: 9170019" data-attributes="member: 6779310">IRL, I've never seen a pawn shop with bars between customers and owner.&nbsp; The things of high value are in glass display counters, and/or hanging on the walls behind the counters. Most of the time, the proprietor has a (poorly) concealed firearm. The last one I was in? Not even bars on the outer windows... but steel rolling shutters inside the windows, closed outside business hours.In fantasy games, I also tend to not have pawn shops outside ones where they're canonical (WFRP), or the largest cities. Medieval economies are still largely barter; coins are used mostly in trade and cities; only in cities would loans be frequent enough to justify them.Rob a shop in a smaller town? Everyone gets pissy, and someone will gank one from behind... The local guild thief may even cut one's purse and divvy it to one's victims... The local guild may just disappear one.In a City? The watch comes for one. Resisting them is a death sentence. The bailiff notes, &quot;Enjoy your time in the stocks and time in the work gang... Sewers don't clean themselves, y'know.&quot; Resist, or have killed in theft? If one makes it to trial, the judge will order one to any of a number of severe punishments. Mutilation and/or execution are not uncommon for murderous thieves. Breaking on the Wheel, being tossed out a tower, being flayed alive... Remember: Public Executions were public entertainment.Heck, trial by combat was sometimes trial by unarmed fight with a major carnivore... More so in the Ancient world than the medieval, but it was still done in some places.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="aramis erak, post: 9170019, member: 6779310"] IRL, I've never seen a pawn shop with bars between customers and owner. The things of high value are in glass display counters, and/or hanging on the walls behind the counters. Most of the time, the proprietor has a (poorly) concealed firearm. The last one I was in? Not even bars on the outer windows... but steel rolling shutters inside the windows, closed outside business hours. In fantasy games, I also tend to not have pawn shops outside ones where they're canonical (WFRP), or the largest cities. Medieval economies are still largely barter; coins are used mostly in trade and cities; only in cities would loans be frequent enough to justify them. Rob a shop in a smaller town? Everyone gets pissy, and someone will gank one from behind... The local guild thief may even cut one's purse and divvy it to one's victims... The local guild may just disappear one. In a City? The watch comes for one. Resisting them is a death sentence. The bailiff notes, "Enjoy your time in the stocks and time in the work gang... Sewers don't clean themselves, y'know." Resist, or have killed in theft? If one makes it to trial, the judge will order one to any of a number of severe punishments. Mutilation and/or execution are not uncommon for murderous thieves. Breaking on the Wheel, being tossed out a tower, being flayed alive... Remember: Public Executions were public entertainment. Heck, trial by combat was sometimes trial by unarmed fight with a major carnivore... More so in the Ancient world than the medieval, but it was still done in some places. [/QUOTE]

Verification