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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ydars" data-source="post: 4686534" data-attributes="member: 62992">I handle shopping just like any other part of roleplaying. First, magic items. If you want a magic item, you have to find someone who can trade them or will sell them. This usually means a high level wizard. So you have to find a wizard (they never live in towns or close to people) then convince them to grant you an audience and then deal very carefully with them (they are not tame, they are really rather dangerous).  I would handle this whole thing as an extended skill challenge, where the PCs have to get 3 successes in Gather information to find the wizard and then use insight, diplomacy etc to gain his trust and get him to charge a reasonable price. Any failures with the information gathering phase attract "unwanted attention" i.e someone hears that the PCs want to buy magic items, work out they have money, feed them false rumours to get them somewhere remote and then try and ambush them. Failures at the negotiation stage entails undertaking a "task" for the wizard to get him to co-operate and sell or trade the items.  For mundane stuff, I weave a story: if the PCs are shopping, I would have attempted pick-pockets, witnessing petty crime, hearing rumours etc interweaved with shopping, stop a brawl, witness a arguement that is later followed by a murder, or chase an escaped bull that has run amok etc. Just cut back and forth very quickly between the PC who is trying to shop and those who aren't and give the ones who aren't a microstory to play out that is in some way intriguing. Sometimes, it is as simple as the chapman (travelling seller who carries goods on his back) trying to swindle the PCs and sell them substandard goods. If they don't notice, the item they purchased fails during the adventure and gives the PCs a personal "connection" to the NPC who sold them the goods. I would usually use this for "tinker" type sellers to give it some annoyance value and later my PCs would try and find this wandering merchant with a view to teaching him a lesson. The lesson: a shop is never just a shop, it has an associated set of baggage by the time I am finished. EVERYTHING is a story. You often just need some local colour that gives some idea of personalities or backstory. You can then invent all kinds of stuff, like the store-keeper is an alchoholic who drinks all the time when he thinks no-one is watching, or the armourer who is having an affair with one of the Mayor's daughters. It can all be weaved in and gives rise to some surprising backstories if you give it a bit of thought. I find that doing this sort of thing works very well and makes shopping etc another enjoyable part of the game, but YMMV of course. You, as DM, have to make sure you don't let your energy levels drop when you run this part of the game, or else it doesn't work: buy the rope, ho-hum etc.</blockquote>

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