New DM - NPC shops and wares?

[Jurble]

Hey guys,
so as of tomorrow my group is kicking off our first campaign which im really excited about (so hard to organise everyone to be in one place at one time!!) Its my first time DMing D&D (and playing hehehehe) but done alot of NWN DMing on a big RP server as well as some other places and ive been goign over stuff for a few months now so i think im ready for it.

ANYWAY (i shoudl stop babbling ) i was thinkiing through the first part of the campaign, first session or two of play trying to work out how what when etc. I ran into abit of a problem when i started thinking about the NPC shops in the main town they are starting in.

Basically im not sure what to do in terms of stocking the NPC, do i make a list of items he will have on sale or is there a book i can pull that sorta thing out of? Gotta look at pricing items as well (at least non-basic items)

ALso its a middle eastern sort of continent they are starting on so im going to try and give it a feel of its own (maybe make greatswords and larger swords rare, with more emphasis on smaller curved blades, staves and archery weapons?)

havnt even thought about armoursmiths meep!

Anyway any suggestions would be fantastic. Thanks guys!

Jurble

 

[Jdvn1]

If it's a big enough city, I'd assume they could find it in stock, assuming they have enough money to pay for it in the first place. If not, you could determine a price limit that he'd likely have in stock (maybe certain types of items will be more common than others, maybe not) and roll percentile for everything else, based on the price.

 

[Crothian]

For sake of ease, I'd just make availible the items in the PHB and don't worry about limiting them. Perhaps some items like the great sword can be rare and be few while items like the scimitar are mor ecommon.

 

[derelictjay]

Lets see, I usually wing whats in the stores. I let the player tell me what they want, and then decide if the shop has it or something similar, I might put percent die roll to see if its there or not. For example, you want to do a shop that makes greatswords rarer, so I might arbitrarily say that 25% of the time the shop carries a greatsword. For the most part just put a theme on the shop (this guy makes lots of metal armors, this shop is for picking up unique gear, etc.) and stick to it. As for pricing, lets take your rare greatsword idea, since greatswords are rare increase the price 10-20% from listed in the players handbook, more common items like the scimitar, maybe reduce the price by the same amount. Now magic items are always dicy, I usually have wands and potions of level 1 or lower spells readily available, while making other magic items, very rare, or very expensive.

BTW, good luck tomorrow

 

[Jurble]

sounds nice and easy.

THe other thing im abit unsure of in this area is magic weapons. Basically, when i should be fgiving out magic items to players but keeping it balanced so they dont become overpowered.

I guess excepting those i give out as loot, those in stores will be expensive (ill use the DM rules for price) and see if anyone wants to take one?

I guess my biggest worry in that department is when to give them a +1 scalemail or a sword with 1d6 fire dmg etc.

Any thoughts on when new items are appropriate?

tnx for the help

Jurble

 

[Jdvn1]

Look at the NPCs in the DMG. Their sample equipment is what I use as a guide -- the players should be a bit above that.

Each creature they fight gives them an amount of xp and money. If they can afford it, then let them buy it. You don't always have to hand out everything. You can also scale it along the way. If you think the party is a little underpowered, give them a couple items or some more gold. If you think they're a little overpowered, scale down on the money a bit.

 

[arwink]

If you follow the treasure guidelines and prices in the DMG, this should take care of itself. There are always an exception to the rule, but generally the money the PC's earn roughly gives them the ability to buy stuff about the time they start needing it.

If you want to keep things more limited, this kind of situation is why I initially wrote House of the Transformed Toad as a low-level item store catering to PC's. It could serve as a rough guide for the kinds of things that are useful for players at low level, without simply turning over the DMG and letting them buy stuff you're uncomfortable with.

Edit: I'm generally uncomfortable about pimping my wares on general messageboard threads, so to make it a tad more palatable I've attached a coupon to the link that lets you pick up the PDF for .50c between now and the 20th of April. You may get hit with a processing fee if it's the only thing you pick up, but that should still keep things under a buck if it sounds useful. If you want to check out the product description rather than heading straight to the checkout, click here.

 

[Aftersox]

I just give my players starting gold (the average starting gold as stated in the DMG or PHB) and let them thumb through the DMG and get whatever they can afford.

The only limit is they can't buy something that's worth more than half of what they started with.

From then on, I'm pretty careful how I dole out items and gold.

 

[Jurble]

hmmm great responses thanks guys (and for the good luck as well!)

Im pretty sure it will go ok, its a group of friends and they all know its my first time so while the firrst few sessions will be abit slow for all (few new players, few oldies and a new DM) im hoping it will take off. got what i hope is a solid storyline for them (and hopefully malleable enough for them to blow holes in hehehE)

Since my characters are starting at lvl1 can wands be dangerous in terms of overpoewring them at first or do you think thats stopped by the prices on them (im guesisng they wont be able to afford very much at first). Going over the pricing rules now

Last question i want to put to you guys is about the inevitable magic shop my magic users will want to check out (psion and sorc). How do people handle magic shops in terms of spells/scrolls/items etc.? Theres so many possible magic items and wands, scrolls etc. im alittle intimidated by the prospect of working out a list and i think it might take awhile to create a magic staff or something on the spot if my players are looking into those sorts of items?

how do you guys handle that sorta thing? Thanks so much for all the help. it hink tonight im going to be doing alot of reading! (also think im going to check out that PDF thanks for the link!)

Jurble

 

[moritheil]

Oh, for crying out -

No wands, no magic shops, no psion shops. Just put really good things on really tough enemies. It feels better too, as a player, to loot a sword off a guy you fought a hard battle against and wield it yourself after.

Once you settle into the campaign, then start putting wands and the like up. First get used to running the party without a plethora of additional magic items.

hmmm great responses thanks guys (and for the good luck as well!)

Im pretty sure it will go ok, its a group of friends and they all know its my first time so while the firrst few sessions will be abit slow for all (few new players, few oldies and a new DM) im hoping it will take off. got what i hope is a solid storyline for them (and hopefully malleable enough for them to blow holes in hehehE)

Since my characters are starting at lvl1 can wands be dangerous in terms of overpoewring them at first or do you think thats stopped by the prices on them (im guesisng they wont be able to afford very much at first). Going over the pricing rules now

Last question i want to put to you guys is about the inevitable magic shop my magic users will want to check out (psion and sorc). How do people handle magic shops in terms of spells/scrolls/items etc.? Theres so many possible magic items and wands, scrolls etc. im alittle intimidated by the prospect of working out a list and i think it might take awhile to create a magic staff or something on the spot if my players are looking into those sorts of items?

how do you guys handle that sorta thing? Thanks so much for all the help. it hink tonight im going to be doing alot of reading! (also think im going to check out that PDF thanks for the link!)

Jurble