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Leaning into the tropes
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<blockquote data-quote="Xetheral" data-source="post: 8260003" data-attributes="member: 6802765"><p>Adventurers' Guilds start to make a lot more sense in-fiction if you treat them as intended to <strong>exploit</strong> adventurers, rather than assist them....</p><p></p><p><em>"What? You're looking for a place to sell that magic sword to raise cash? Well, I don't know anyone in these parts who would want a magic sword, but the Guild is always happy to help out its members! I've only got a couple hundred gold pieces available at this Wayhouse, but I can write you a personal </em>(read: non-transferable)<em> letter of credit for the balance that you can partially redeem for services at any Wayhouse, or you can take to the Guild Motherhouse in the capital to cash out in full for coin."</em></p><p><em></em></p><p>It doesn't even have to be an outright scam. You're basically selling gift certificates (in exchange for heavy, unwanted treasure) to people with the life expectancy of carnival goldfish. What fraction of adventuring parties are actually going to live long enough to cash out their letters of credit? And when the rare party does cash out, well, the guild has this handy supply of magical items available for sale that were "fairly" purchased at market rates. Even if they resell the items at (or below!) cost ("As a service to our most valued members!") the Guild still comes out ahead given the low redemption rate.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Xetheral, post: 8260003, member: 6802765"] Adventurers' Guilds start to make a lot more sense in-fiction if you treat them as intended to [B]exploit[/B] adventurers, rather than assist them.... [I]"What? You're looking for a place to sell that magic sword to raise cash? Well, I don't know anyone in these parts who would want a magic sword, but the Guild is always happy to help out its members! I've only got a couple hundred gold pieces available at this Wayhouse, but I can write you a personal [/I](read: non-transferable)[I] letter of credit for the balance that you can partially redeem for services at any Wayhouse, or you can take to the Guild Motherhouse in the capital to cash out in full for coin." [/I] It doesn't even have to be an outright scam. You're basically selling gift certificates (in exchange for heavy, unwanted treasure) to people with the life expectancy of carnival goldfish. What fraction of adventuring parties are actually going to live long enough to cash out their letters of credit? And when the rare party does cash out, well, the guild has this handy supply of magical items available for sale that were "fairly" purchased at market rates. Even if they resell the items at (or below!) cost ("As a service to our most valued members!") the Guild still comes out ahead given the low redemption rate. [/QUOTE]
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