RE: Magical items for sale

[jonathan.w.ingram@exgate]

Some stolen items might be used by the thieves, of course, but those for
which the thieves have little use or which might be easily identified
would be sold. Hence, while the College of Sorcery might not sell
permanent items, IMO the black markets would generally have one or two
items for sale (most likely to those who will get them out of the
city...).

Jonathan

> -----Original Message-----
> On Fri, 30 Jan 1998, Darkstar wrote:
>
> > > * Are magical items for sale or not? If so, I think they should be
> > > expensive one-shot items. A permanent item, even a dagger +1,
> would
> > > carry a far higher price than a potion of healing....also to be
> > > considered is where the items will be sold? If there are just a
> few
> > > vendors, prices will be higher; if potions and scrolls are for
> sale
> > > everywhere, competition will drive down prices.
> >
> > I would doubt magical items would be sold on the streets or through
> > vendors. The CoS might have one or two items avalible (to raise
> money to
> > rebuild their tower etc), and perhaps there are a couple of private
> sale
> > each year when a noble family decides that they need the money.
>
> I tend to think of the medieval/renaissance Guild system in which to
> be
> acknowledged a "Master" of your Guild you had to produce some
> "Masterpiece" which would be judged by the other Masters, and if they
> thought it was good enough, they accepted you into their ranks. Seems
> to
> me that this would probably be the main way in which magical items
> would
> be generated in the City of Anuire, and that some of these, at least,
> would be auctioned off to raise money for College projects, like
> building
> a new tower, etc. However, this would mean that at most one new
> magical
> item would be made available for sale per year, and probably more like
> one
> per three years. Spoils from advenuring trips might make up some of
> these,
> but if there is a Christy's Autioneers in the City of Anuire, my guess
> would be that there would be only one auction of magical items a year,
> and
> that at most it would have 5-6 items at it.
>
> Actually, that sounds like a pretty interesting adventure idea. Hmm...
>

[prtr02@scorpion.nspco.co]

Be VERY VERY careful about selling magic items.

Remember the Khinasi proverb:

"Magical treasure is treasure indeed.
For True Wizards are rare,
and the products of their sorcery rarer still.
He who discovers a magical treasure
receives a gift far more valuable than gold." To paraphrase an Imam.

In a world where magic is rare, and gold is not (regents typically have a few
GB laying around) there should be no magic items for sale.

You should never allow magic to become a commodity in any campaign. In BR,
with all the gold available to PCs, it becomes priceless. It doesn't represent
much of a challenge to a "Hero-King" to subtract a few GB from the treasury and
get a permanent magic item. It cheapens the value of magic and lessens its
mystery.

Maybe at auction against other developed (ie the DM knows everybody's treasury
levels and plans for it) NPC regents, or gold in addition to political favors
or quests, but not just for the cash you've squeezed out of the good people of
the countryside.

Randax

[Geniver]

We are talking about a world where characters deal in gold bars. It is
doubtful that any thing desirable will be found on a shelf. In a
low-magic world like Cerilia, magic items are like Corvettes -- pre-sold
before they are stolen!

That begs the question. Does a city of 100,000 have a guild that will
steal to order? And if so, how long before the law contests their
operation? How much tribute do they have to pay?

I guess somebody should create a sword theft ring for the city, as well
as a detective agency :
> Some stolen items might be used by the thieves, of course, but those for
> which the thieves have little use or which might be easily identified
> would be sold. Hence, while the College of Sorcery might not sell
> permanent items, IMO the black markets would generally have one or two
> items for sale (most likely to those who will get them out of the
> city...).
>
> Jonathan
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > On Fri, 30 Jan 1998, Darkstar wrote:
> >
> > > > * Are magical items for sale or not? If so, I think they should be
> > > > expensive one-shot items.

[Trizt]

On 30-Jan-98, Geniver (geniver@his.com) wrote about Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - RE:
Magical items for sale:
- ->We are talking about a world where characters deal in gold bars. It is
- ->doubtful that any thing desirable will be found on a shelf. In a
- ->low-magic world like Cerilia, magic items are like Corvettes -- pre-sold
- ->before they are stolen!

- ->That begs the question. Does a city of 100,000 have a guild that will
- ->steal to order? And if so, how long before the law contests their
- ->operation? How much tribute do they have to pay?

I would think that a such organization is run by the leaders of the town or a
guilder who controlls part of the law in the area and can let his "armed
forces" to "search" for the thives which as usually have managed to "escape"
the city.

If they would pay a part of the money to the leaders, let say 10%-20% of what
they do get, that would already be quite alot money and if the victims usually
are new come adventurers to the city, then the city officials wouldn't care
that much about it.

- ->I guess somebody should create a sword theft ring for the city, as well
- ->as a detective agency :

[Geniver]

Trizt wrote:
>
> On 30-Jan-98, Geniver (geniver@his.com) wrote about Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - RE:
> Magical items for sale:
> ->We are talking about a world where characters deal in gold bars. It is
> ->doubtful that any thing desirable will be found on a shelf. In a
> ->low-magic world like Cerilia, magic items are like Corvettes -- pre-sold
> ->before they are stolen!
>
> ->That begs the question. Does a city of 100,000 have a guild that will
> ->steal to order? And if so, how long before the law contests their
> ->operation? How much tribute do they have to pay?
>
> I would think that a such organization is run by the leaders of the town or a
> guilder who controlls part of the law in the area and can let his "armed
> forces" to "search" for the thives which as usually have managed to "escape"
> the city.
>
> If they would pay a part of the money to the leaders, let say 10%-20% of what
> they do get, that would already be quite alot money and if the victims usually
> are new come adventurers to the city, then the city officials wouldn't care
> that much about it.
>
A situation in which the thieves own the province law, ala Al Capone, is
an invitation for intervention from higher up the food chain. The neat
thing about Cerilia is that the Emporer's chair is vacant at the moment!
If things get really out of hand, the result will be popular demand for
someone to fill the chair - like Napoleon. The goal of the guilds should
be to not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

> ->I guess somebody should create a sword theft ring for the city, as well
> ->as a detective agency :
> Think of the amount of money a thiefs guild would earn, first get paied to
> steal an item and then "trace" it back for the real owner :)
>
Birthright doesn't go into the details of individual transactions. It
calculates quarterly income based on province size and guild size.
Tribute is similarly calculated based on the relative sizes of the law
and guild. The rest is role-playing.

Anyhow, I still say that you won't find magic items on the shelf at the
pawn shop - in the front or in the back back. And as you point out, it
wouldn't be wise for lowly adventurers to hold on to them for long
either!!!

Kinda the way vanilla AD&D works with artifacts, "The DMiety giveth, and
the DMiety taketh away" :

[Trizt]

On 30-Jan-98, Geniver (geniver@his.com) wrote about Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - RE:
Magical items for sale:

- ->A situation in which the thieves own the province law, ala Al Capone, is
- ->an invitation for intervention from higher up the food chain. The neat
- ->thing about Cerilia is that the Emporer's chair is vacant at the moment!
- ->If things get really out of hand, the result will be popular demand for
- ->someone to fill the chair - like Napoleon. The goal of the guilds should
- ->be to not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

That should be the goal, but it's seldom what happens, most only thinks about
the short term conditions and tries to fill their pockets with as much money
as possible, wasn't that what Mona Sallin did?

- ->Birthright doesn't go into the details of individual transactions. It
- ->calculates quarterly income based on province size and guild size.
- ->Tribute is similarly calculated based on the relative sizes of the law
- ->and guild. The rest is role-playing.

Yuppz, I think everyone here knows that already. But it's easy to add on extra
income for special services which a guild preformes and stealing magical items
isn't what they will do every day, but maybe once a year or half year and
during that time they may get one or two extra goldbars if the action is
successful. I don't recomend that PC's should be allowed to form this kind of
guilds, I think this is more for the evil and corrupt NPC guild.

- ->Anyhow, I still say that you won't find magic items on the shelf at the
- ->pawn shop - in the front or in the back back. And as you point out, it
- ->wouldn't be wise for lowly adventurers to hold on to them for long
- ->either!!!

I agree that you wont find them in shops (if not as an adventurehook), but it
happens that the characters wants to sell or exchange magical items. I do
sometimes let the players sell/buy/exchange, but in those rare cases it's the
NPC's market, with other words if the PC's sells, then they don't manage to
get the full price and if they are the buyers then the item is really
expensive.


//Trizt of Ward^RITE

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