mercantile trade - help needed

[Beholder Bob]

...I would add would be to roll the 3D8 on the buying side as well, allowing the market to drive both ends of the spectrum...

I wanted to reduce the number of rolls, though it could be added. The only problem I see with this would be the extremes roll, say 3-6 for purchase price, followed by 20-24 on the sale price - grossly inflating the profit. Currently, I'm assuming each city/port would have a base price index (oh dear god!) - So the city of brass is known for its lamps, a major product there. Merchant checks to purchase it get a +4 circumstance bonus, while the city of darkness sells lamps with a -4 circumstance penalty. That same bonus would reverse when selling that product in that city - it would be a hard sell to ship in lamps to the city of brass, while the city of darkness will eagerly buy all you have. Gold town sells gold ore cheaper then lead town, but it offers a poor price for it, but pays more for lead. I still have to play with this, but the hope is to have a minimum # of data bits needed to describe a trade area (you only list items/goods with modifiers, not all of the +/- 0 products trade rate, so most towns will have 1-5 values). If the number simply reverses (+2 becomes -2), the data is tighter/smaller then if it buys at -2 and sells at +1. Perhaps not as accurate....

...For easing the math a bit, I would also have the merchant skill check reduce the purchase price by an amount equal to the skill check minus a DC, in this case 10...making it possible to *increase* the price....

You easily could add such a mechanic, though I was hoping to minimize the number of rolls.

...With the step drops due to time, I think Base could be by month, Worked by week, and Rare by Day. Most game worlds are large enough that a month travel time from the mine to the main city is not uncommon....

The time step is certainly open to discussion! I even considered making the price/time fluctuation product based - though imagine carrying 3 products with gather info suggested prices, each with a different rate of devaluation! Hmm - I'd say it really depends on the scope of the campaign! Also - reality suggests that adjacent cities would have similar/equal product demand. With 2-4 days apart, it makes since that the natural admixture of product to market would stabilize the prices quickly. If town A and B are adjacent, they will quickly reach a price equilibrium in regard to each other.

Oh well - this is certainly still in the development stage - so suggestions are definitely wanted!

BB

 

[Pyrex]

My biggest question is, mechanically speaking, how much time to you want to spend tracking inventory, supply, demand, haggling over prices, etc?

I want to play Dungeons & Dragons, not Ledgers & Lawyers, so if my PC's wanted to make money through trade I'd have the lead PC make a Profession(Merchant) check, the rest of the PC's roll Profession(Merchant) to assist, give them a circumstance* bonus to the roll based on their investment and then call it a day.

*Something along the lines of +2 for 250gp of inventory, and then an additional +2 each time they double their inventory.

 

[Aristotle]

Not every campaign is identical. A system wouldn't be necessary for a standard campaign, but if you were running a campaign where trade were the focal point (i.e. The players are smugglers or run a caravan), it certainly makes sense to have a basic system in place to keep that aspect of that particular campaign interesting.

The beauty of a cap system is that it expands an area of play that some people want without bloating the core mechanic or forcing that aspect of the game on folks who don't share that playstyle.

 

[Arnwyn]

I'm looking for a system for mercantile trade.

So am I - for over 10 years now.

Still waiting...

 

[Beholder Bob]

So am I - for over 10 years now.

Still waiting...

Ok - so what does your desired system have?

BB

 

[Vlos]

I like it and have been looking for similar ideas.

For different types of routes, the adjustment times should dependant. For example travelling to another city up the coast is one thing, but as stated sailing to another continent or islands should have different modifiers.

Maybe?

Price Drop by Route
Type:............ Land ..... Sea .... Other
Base.material....1/week....1/month...1/month
Worked...........1/day.....1/week....1/week
Risk.............2/day.....2/week....2/week

Other would be for like over mountain pass or maybe even planer.

 

[Old One]

Greetings!

I haven't updated this in forever, but here is a fairly simple d20 Economic System I came up with shortly after 3E came out. Gez reformatted it some time ago, but it is badly in need of an update. It works at a number of different levels and might be useful for you with some modification.

~ OO

 

[General Barron]

Haven't read all the posts in this thread, but I'm with Primitive Screwhead. DnD is about adventure, not making money. If the players think they can make some money without adventure, they are flat wrong! This is a perfect opportunity for a change of pace.

Historically, sea-trading was an extremely profitable business--but it was also extremely risky. This makes it perfect for DnD. If your players want to buy some silk from port A, bring it to port B, and make a tidy profit, then fine; there isn't a huge need for dice rolls, although you could throw some skill checks in there to give the PCs a better profit margin (from proper research/haggling, etc). Let em make a great 'profit'.

However, the PC's shouldn't just get to make a few dice rolls, and then rake in some cash, all the while only risking a little money. Booooring. Again, sea-trade was risky, and in a DnD world, it would be even more risky. Pirates, sea-monsters, ghost-ships--there are tons of great adventure ideas you can come up with. Lots of good roleplaying opportunities are also there in the form of interaction with the locals at each port-of-call (bribes, side-plots, political power plays for important trade goods ala Japan, etc).

Again, tons and tons of great adventure opportunities abound. So the profit from the trade goods turns into the cash reward for the adventure. The PCs think they will be getting some free money, but instead they get what they always should: a good adventure with a reward at the end.

 

[Beholder Bob]

Of course adventure finds the PCs! No, all I'm talking about is a mechanic to determine what they make at the end of the journey. I'm simply looking for a system to make it easy on a GM without them just making up numbers whenever this is attempted.

BB

 

[warderbrad]

Working on a system myself

Hey,
I have never posted to Enworld boards before but I thought this would be a good place to do so. I have been working on a economic model and system for a while due to a world I created that is mostly sea faring and the idea of trade is too plausable. I am kinda stuck in one point. I have taken and devised a list of raw materials and resources. The idea is that you would list the kingdoms that you have in your world, then under each kingdom you would list the cities that trade and their tech level. You can then detail the natural and intelectual resources for each city. While the set up of this system would take a little while once done the system should keep everything straight by itself. My idea is to detail each item listed in the PHB broken down into the main "ingredients" used to make them and the percentages of each. For example a backpack would be made of leather and iron (for buckles), at about 90/10 respectively. Then the value of leather and iron in the city (fluctuating due to trade and other factors) would determine the end value of the item. I have planned to make it possible to represent disruptions in trade or mining/gathering of materials and what not. THe place I am stuck is with the breakdown of the item in the books. If anyone would like to help with this or talk to me about helping in other areas my email is Warderbrad at hotmail dod com. Sorry for the strange way of putting it there but I don't like putting in my email addy straight out. I am very encouraged by the fact that this discussion is going as well as it is, and I would like to use some of the ideas presented here in my final product if it is alright.

Brad Sumner