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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 3508510" data-attributes="member: 18280">Do some more reading on economics.   <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" /> The idea that there is a "base cost" is largely an illusion of modern economic systems.  There is only actual cost.  For example, you just went and got lunch.  The guy behind the counter was an employee who worked according to the dictates of his employers.  He does what his employers ask, within a degree of reason, perhaps because he wants to buy a gold watch.  His money doesn't come directly from the sandwich; it comes from his providing service for his employers.Now, his employers gain their money directly from the sandwiches, and they have no other real motive.  So, they want to get as much as they can charge while keeping the costs down as low as possible.  There are a number of different means they can use to go about this, from having exceptional (but exceptionally priced) sandwiches to having poor (but cheaply priced) sandwiches.You really want a sandwich, and your needs determine how much you are willing to pay.  The guy behind the counter?  His needs determine how little he's willing to jockey sandwiches for.  The employers of the jockey guy?  Thier needs are to maximize profit, and absolutely affect how much that sandwich is going for.But we are in a culture whose economics are designed to prevent you from opting out, and most D&D worlds don't have similar economics.  The guy behind the counter needs cash to buy things, the employers need money to buy things, and you were at work before lunch to get cash to buy things.  You cannot build your own home and grow your own food without also making cash, because the government would take possession of your home for failing to pay taxes.Not so the D&D wizard living in the tower on his own.  He certainly needs food and shelter, but he has no need of you to give him money to get it.  He is self-sufficient in a way that modern people are not."Base Cost" is just someone's guess as to what someone might want for something.  This goes back to ancient Summeria, where clay tokens were made to indicate specific items for trade.  Ostensibly, a cow token was worth one cow, but the token didn't produce milk and couldn't be slaughtered for meat, bones, and leather.  If you examine something like ebay, you'll see that "Base Cost" is frequently what others were willing to pay for something.  And, like ebay, you may want to get item X from anyone, but the reality is that you can only get it from those who have it to begin with.  And you are competing against the needs of everyone else who wants that item.Of course, in a Guild Economy, the Guild sets the value (not the base value, the absolute value) of all services rendered and objects sold by the Guild.  In this case, the value is known, but the value is the same regardless of quality.  And, I would hazard, more than one Guildsman operated outside Guild strictures if the profit was high enough and the chance of getting caught low.I disagree here.  What the Don is doing is, effectively, forming an alternate Feudal government within the confines of another nation.  That other nation gets a bit peeved about it, of course, but how many D&D worlds have governments as strong as a modern republican democracy?  If you take ancient Italy as an example (or France, or England, or Almost Anywhere) you see the exact same mechanisms that the Don uses used as the means of legitimate government.In many ways, the D&D sellers have more at their disposal than modern sellers do.  Modern economics creates a buyer's market -- the person selling (whether an object or his service) has generally less power than the person buying.  Which is why, when I last bought a dishwasher, I was able to lower the price by $60 simply by being willing to walk from the sale.  The person selling is at an inherent disadvantage.In D&D worlds, the seller of objects is at an inherent advantage.  (This is actually why guilds regulated prices in the real world.)  He can easily meet the needs of his existence without the extras that your money brings.  He might be more interested in his own research than in making Gauntlets of Bling for you.  If he has any stature, he has others working for him to meet his daily needs.  He is almost a miniature government in himself.....And he wants to maximize both his profit and (equally important) his social prominence.Finally, contracts are worthless if they cannot be enforced.  If the king decides not to honor a contract, he has that right.  And so does the Lord Mayor of Smallville.  And the King will back the Lord Mayor.  And if the Blue Wizard chooses not to make the Glamthing of Almighty Poking, then he has that right.  No other wizard wants to step in -- unless you're under their protection -- because doing so limits their own rights in similar circumstances.And this is good for PCs because, ultimately, they get to be the Don.  (You should see players eyes light up when they realize the control their PCs have over the masses, and when n00b wizards start petitioning them for spells & magic items!  And, more often than not, the answer is No -- after all, no one gives away power without good reason!)RC</blockquote>

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