Back in the days of 2e, I used to love presenting my players with detailed inventories of shops. The presentation of equipment this way was a surefire route of having some control as to the items at the player's fingertips, and the lists encouraged the purchasing of more varied equipment as well as players would read the names of items and wonder as to their functions.
Now, with a thousand 3.x books, I'm about to start a short Christmas campaign. I'm trying to find a way to manage the inventory of shops without resorting to the common, minimal effort of saying that any item of a town's gp limit or lower can be found within an appropriate shop with little or no exceptions.
What I'm wondering is what everyone does to have a more specific inventory lists for shops. Does anyone still write them out in complete, or do you devise a sort of system for determining whether an item's available at a particular town or not? Thanks a lot for the help.
Now, with a thousand 3.x books, I'm about to start a short Christmas campaign. I'm trying to find a way to manage the inventory of shops without resorting to the common, minimal effort of saying that any item of a town's gp limit or lower can be found within an appropriate shop with little or no exceptions.
What I'm wondering is what everyone does to have a more specific inventory lists for shops. Does anyone still write them out in complete, or do you devise a sort of system for determining whether an item's available at a particular town or not? Thanks a lot for the help.