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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1692954" data-attributes="member: 3146">Well that's an interesting contention. I assume you've seen the opening bazaar scenes in Blackhawk down where the delta force soldier is walking through a bazaar that is chock full of assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades and probably has a few surface to air missiles in there as well. My understanding is that, throughout much of the middle east, Asia, and Africa, that kind of a market, while not exactly common isn't unheard of.Historically, full-grade military hardware was not a state monopoly either until the late 19th century at the latest. The British and Dutch East India companies maintained their own armies and navies though they were practically states in themselves in some regards. In general, however, merchant ships were able to buy top grade military weaponry for defense against pirates. The distinction between a merchantman and a man of war was not always clear cut and where it was, it generally had more to do with the amount of space dedicated to cargo vs. the amount dedicated to weaponry and the training of the crew than the quality of their weapons. I seem to recall reading of at least one private army in the American West as well.That is not to say that the "Magic Shoppe" is a viable economic model (personally, I think it reflects DM and a lack of player interest in the economics of adventuring more than anything else). However, it is to say that this particular argument against it is flawed:And as to the "Achilles didn't have a magical grab bag..." argument, well, according to the Illiad, Ajax or Diomedes (I forget who) killed himself when Odysseus got Achilles' armor instead of him. So there was obviously something special about, at the very least, Achilles' armor and shield. However, if you read the Norse sagas, it seems that most characters have at least one item that is special or magical and Beowulf goes into a lot of detail about all of the arms and armor of the hero at the various points of the story. There are entire Arthurian tales about questing for various bits of loot (Cuwllych and Olwen comes to mind).For that matter, if Tolkein went into any more detail about the various gear his characters got, the poetic sections would be nothing but laundry lists of "eyes were sharp/spear was keen/shining helm afar was seen." To take just one example, by the end of the book, Pippin had the following:Helm of the tower of the guard, mail of the tower of the guard, blade of westernesse, cloak of Lorien, belt from Lorien, lasting effects of the waters of the ents, a horn given to him by the king, and I think he had a shield from somewhere. For fiction, where minor items don't merit mentioning because that would take too long and make the story read more like a character sheet or a treatise on the various components of ancient armors, that's quite a bit. On the other hand, it's not exactly unusual for a LotR character either.The idea that the literary and legendary roots of D&D aren't full of items doesn't bear up to scrutiny.</blockquote>

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