Stores in your game

[Tinker Gnome]

I have a feeling this thread will turn into a mgic shop thread, but we will see. What kind, if any stores are in your game? Are there produce stands? Do butchers sell meat in bulk?

One store I am thinking of introduing is a curiosity shop, which is run by a Gnome and sells all kinds of stuff from his inventions to just stuff he picks up. I have never heard of this type of store in a D&D game, so I am going to try and put one in.

Hmmmmm, and are....no, I am not going to say it...MAGIC SHOPS?

 

[Crothian]

Most shops are small mom and pop like places. I have wood carves and carpenters shops, small produce stands and farmer markets, metal shops , gem shops, and the pawn shop like places. Magic shops are actually found only in places that have a strong magic guild but the occasional misc shop does happen upon a magic item here and there. THough they do not advertise the fact.

 

[Turjan]

Hmmmmm, and are....no, I am not going to say it...MAGIC SHOPS?

Of course, there are magic shops! You should see the eyes of the players, when they have the Helms of Brilliance in the bargain bin !

Seriously, there were nice examples of curiosity shops in Dragon magazine .

Butchers? They look like those butcher shops I saw in Eire, with lots of half sheep and cows hanging from the ceiling. The smell is nothing for spoiled Safeway shoppers, though .

 

[Imperialus]

I once DM'd a spoof campaign where there was a chain called "Magi-Mart" selling everything from groceries to you guessed it magic items. Never had any helms of brilliance in the clearance bin but there were a few +2 longswords on sale as "managers specials". The overall goal of the campaign eventually had the players discover that the reason Magi-Mart had managed to undercut the magic item costs so much is because they had a whole bunch of wizards chained in the basement of their corprate headquarters. They had to fight their way through legions of "security associates" wearing bright blue breastplates.

I'm thinking of doing a simmiler campaign based around "Castle Depot" at some point

 

[kigmatzomat]

I tend to go have few shops with significant stock. The majority have a handful of (relatively) high demand items and samples of other products. Typically the artisans' store, shop, and home are the same. Herbalists and alchemists are the closest to having a regular stock. Butchers, chandlers, and the like are only present in walled cities of significant size.

And, for the record, there are no magic shops IMC despite the fact that items are readily available.

 

[Storyteller01]

I run a dragonstar campaign, so we have a bit of everything. One of our best moments is when the players went to spend the loot! Everyone went to get weapons and armor, and our sorcorer (a fairy with a ring allowing her to become human for a limited time) went to the local equivalent of Rodeo Drive. She had to fudge the security to let all of her stuff (carried by shop employees) onto the ship!!

I don't have magic shops per sey. There are magic societies and guilds. They make magic items, but it's special order only, and mark-up is at least 25%-50%.

 

[Wombat]

Most are shops owned by small-time crafters, with a couple of apprentices. A few deal with large, bulk commodoties (usually timber or grain), but in many cases it would be concievable, and rather annoying, for a PC with a large haul to buy up everything a single merchant has in his shop.

Lately I've been including shops where PCs can order items, rather than just pick them up. They can have things made, but it will take time, both in talking to the craftsman about what you want and then having him actually make it. A suit of clothing might take a couple hours for measurements, fittings, and decisions on fabric, in addition to the time to actually sew the item; very little ready-to-wear on hand, except for the most lowly smocks.

Essentially, I'm trying to return to pre-modern shopping.

 

[Dagger75]

In Shadowrun we had a fast food restaurant chain that wasn't found in the upscale parts of towns. It was called Tom's House of Spicy Beans. It started out as a joke but turned into a meeting place. Tom did expand his empire to Tom's House of Spicy Beer.