Trading - What do we do with all this magic?

One of the great dilemmas of a long term D&D campaign is the magic. Often magic is used as a way of rewarding the players, along with frequent hand outs of experience. Of course there are other ways of rewarding the players such as status and titles hence me going for a feudal campaign but more often than not it frequently comes down to magic.

Even if we keep the magic to the levels recommended in the books the characters can end up with more +1 swords than they can use or an arcane spell caster can end up with a suit of armour just because nobody else needed it. Of course you could argue that magic is such a valuable resource that it should never be unwanted but by the same reasoning it should always be put to good use.

So when items can be swapped amongst the player characters all is well and good. The players can make their own decisions and resolve the relative values of the items despite what the book says of the value in terms of GP value. However, what happens when an item can't be readily used by any player character is it not reasonable that there may be an NPC out there that could use the item and exchange it for something useful to the PC?

If this situation arises occasionally then the DM can play the part of the NPC and resolve the trade but there will come a time when the DM doesn't want to play every NPC trade encounter and just wants to get on with preparing the next part of the session; for this purpose I invented the trade system.

 

Decide how many traders there are today

For each trading session roll a dice defined by the size of the population of the town or city. If you run a campaign with more or less magic than I do then this is where you would make your adjustment with smaller or larger dice. (You could also have trading take place in other locations such as merchants caravans or with friendly adventuring parties so modify the system to suit.)

1,000 to 10,000	1 NPC
10,001 to 20,000	D2 NPCs
20,001 to 30,000	D3 NPCs
30,001 to 40,000	D4 NPCs
40,001 to 50,000	D5 NPCs
50,001 to 60,000	D6 NPCs

And so on…

At this point it is best to make a note of the details for each NPC. Just a few lines for each NPC should be enough.

Determine who the traders are

Now determine the class of each NPC. (To keep it simple think of them as single class only, if you want to you can come up with a system for multi class traders but remember the object of the exercise is to trade off the spare magic for useful magic so don't get too hung up on the details of the NPCs.)

Barbarian	01-10
Bard	11-20
Cleric	21-30
Druid	31-40
Fighter	41-50
Monk	51-60
Paladin	61-70
Ranger	71-80
Rogue	81-90
Sorcerer/Wizard	91-00

I've combined sorcerer and wizard only because it divides 100 by 10 and any arcane spell casters should be the same for trading purposes but just adjust any of these definitions as you see fit. Alternatively you could use the Random NPC Class table from the 3.5 DMG page 110 but this divides the NPCs by alignment and in most cases we don't need to go into that much detail. Also it might not be that apparent what class an NPC is from appearance so for the sake of simplicity don't bother.

It is worth determining what race each NPC is as they will only accept items that they can use. (Either allocate a race to the NPCs or use the tables on the 3.5 DMG page 111 and 112.) A human fighter will not accept a small suit of armour and a Wizard will not accept a dwarven urgrosh.

Decide what the NPCs wish to trade

I usually say 1d3 items per NPC but you should decide this yourself. You might think that each NPC might only have one item to trade but it makes it more interesting if the trades are made up of multiple items each of which has to be acceptable to both player and NPC.

Now determine each item that the NPC has to trade. You can do this using the standard magic item list. There may be some items you want to restrict such as high value items or items that could unbalance your campaign but you need to decide that for yourself. However, it is worth remembering that any class could potentially have any item for trade. Don't fall into the trap that only arcane spell casters will have swords to trade (because a fighter would always want one) or that a wizard would never trade a crystal ball. A fighter might have found more swords than he can carry and want to trade the spare sword for something more portable. A wizard might be in a tough situation and decide that trading his crystal ball for something more offensive could give him a better chance in his next adventure. If you allow the system to generate the items randomly you will find that back stories emerge as explanations for the odd combinations being traded by the NPCs. You might even decide that one of these back stories is gives you an idea for the next adventure. Serendipity is the best plotting tool I've come across so far.

So now you should have a few NPCs, each with one or two items to trade. You could work them out in more detail but I don't bother. Remember that, normally, after the trade is done they will walk away out of you campaign and never be seen again.

Performing the trade

Let's imagine a single NPC, a human fighter. I've chosen this as an example as it's straight and unambiguous, he doesn't get spells at higher levels and we can think of him having the base combat based abilities no matter what level he is. Note we don't bother to define his level as that complicates things too much.

Human fighter with the following trade items:

Ring protection +1 (2000 pg)

Suit of leather armour +3 with light fortification (16,160 gp)

Rod of Meta Magic Lesser Empower (9,000 gp)

The trade session should last a specific amount of time set by the DM. This might be until the DM is ready to continue with the next part of the game, until the pizza has been eaten or a set time limit determined by the DM. You'll get a feel for how long trading should be allowed to last but give it time as it can turn out to quite frustrating for the players if there is an item a player wants but can't get the NPC to accept a deal.

1.   Determine the base value of acceptance for the item offered by the PC

Item Offered	Base chance of acceptance
	Fighter, Rogue, Barbarian	Cleric, Druid	Sorcerer, Wizard	Monk	Bard, Ranger, Paladin
Sword	20%	20%	5%	5%	20%
Armour	20%	20%	--	--	20%
Shield	20%	20%	--	--	20%
Misc Weapon	20%	20%	15%	15%	20%
Protective Device	25%	25%	25%	25%	25%
Scroll	--	25%	25%	--	15%
Potion	10%	10%	10%	10%	10%
Wand	--	20%	20%	20%	15%
Staff	--	20%	20%	--	05%
Rod	15%	15%	15%	15%	15%
Ring	10%	20%	20%	20%	10%
Wondrous Item	10%	10%	10%	10%	10%

These levels of acceptance seem a bit low but they are adjusted by the value of the item offered by the PC. This also reflect the situation that sometimes a character may be able to use an item in some circumstances such as a ranger or paladin being able to use some of the abilities of a staff. The more a PC offers the more chance it is accepted by the NPC. This encourages the player to offer items above the value of the item being traded by the NPC and has the affect of actually removing excess magic items from the campaign.

2.   Add the value of the specific item offered by the PC

Add +1% for every 1000 gp value of the item offered by the PC to a maximum of +74%. This way not trade can ever be more than 99% chance of acceptance by the NPC. PCs might have to make quite a lot of offers before an NPC accepts the trade.

When offering multiple items for trade the NPC should make one acceptance roll for each item offered. The trade will not be final until the PC has offered enough items to be equal to or higher than the value of the item the NPC is trading.

3.   Determine whether the NPC will accept the trade

So in our example above our NPC fighter has a Meta Magic Rod Lesser Empower that he is currently using as a back scratcher. A PC wizard wants the rod and offers the fighter a suit of +3 chain mail.

Armour base acceptance chance                                 20%

Plus value of chain mail (9250/1000 round down)     +9%

total chance of acceptance by the fighter                   29%

So the chance of this trade being accepted is low but this reflects the fact that the NPC might already have a suit of armour. Most trades are not accepted because most NPCs are choosy wanting specific items in the same way player characters do.

However, if the wizard offers the fighter a +3 keen sword it works out thus:

Sword base acceptance chance                                   20%

Plus value of sword (32,312/1000 round down)        +32%

Total chance of acceptance by the fighter                  52%

In this instance the wizard is offering over the given value of the wand because he values the wand more than the sword. The sword is worth 32,000 the wand is worth 9,000 but this reflects that the NPC is looking for something specific rather than just trying to make a profit. (If the PCs were trading with a merchant this might be different.) Furthermore, for the PCs to get a really high chance of acceptance they have to offer way over the odds which gets high value items out of the campaign.

If the NPC fighter accepts the sword the trade can be made there and then, alternatively the PC wizard might think it's too much off a loss and decide that he wants to offer something else. The important point is that once an item is rejected the NPC will not change his mind. If the NPC accepts the item the player can go through with the trade straight away or at any time later in the same trade session.

Trading multiple items

This time we have a human rogue PC who has a whole bunch of things to trade with the fighter and he really wants the leather armour.

+2 longsword (8,315 gp)                   28% acceptance by a fighter

Ring of the ram (8,600 gp)                 23% acceptance by a fighter

Boots of Elvenkind (2,500 gp)           12% acceptance by a fighter

Potion bull strength (300 gp)              10% acceptance by a fighter

In this instance none of the items is worth the value of the leather armour however the ring of the ram and the +2 longsword add up to 8,915 gp. To make this trade the NPC fighter has to roll both 28% to accept the longsword and 23% to accept the ring. The NPC rolls 15% for the ring meaning the fighter will take the ring as part trade, however, he rolls 43% for the longsword meaning he probably already has a sword. Unfortunately the rogue has to accept that he can't get the armour as none of his other items add up to sufficient to trade for the armour. This also has the result that a PC cannot simply dump a load of low value items on an NPC in return for a high value item as each item has to be accepted individually. The more items offered for a single item the less chance of a successful trade.

Thirty years of D&D and look where it's got me!

I first played AD&D first edition in the early eighties using the original Gary Gygax Greyhawk Campaign. In those days that was all there was as this was before Forgotten Realms and the campaigns that came later. You either ran Greyhawk or you made up your own setting. I never got around to using the later developments such as Greyhawk Wars or whatever they were.

As a player I played in other campaigns such as Ravenloft, Oriental Adventures and Dark Sun but with an established campaign, with multiple player characters embedded in the world, I never felt the need to branch out.

Later, when Third Edition came out, I fancied running a proper feudal campaign with orders of knights, lords, earls and dukes, etc., with a king at the top of the pile. However, feudal settings are incredibly complex to invent as you have to create all the various dynasties, family structures, political wranglings and power struggles. You've only got to look at Game of Thrones to see how much detail you have to create to build a world such as this. However, I'm from England so there was a simple (or at least simpler) possibility.

adventures

So about ten years ago I started to create a campaign world based on England in the late 14th Century. Choosing the period is quite important as the D&D books include elements that range from the time of the Norman Conquest through to the Elizabethan period and even beyond. Many published adventures will describe situations like a treasure hidden in a cushioned sofa that simply wouldn't have existed in medieval times. Just look at the clothes in Peter Jackson's Hobbiton and you can see that they are clearly not living in the medieval period. Of course D&D is a fantasy but if you are going to base a campaign in a historical setting then you might as well stick to what was available at the time.

The late 14th Century is about right for a number of reasons. D&D has always included plate armour, variously plate mail, full plate or other variations. D&D without the classic knight in shining armour, dressed from head to toe in metal, just wouldn't be D&D. Also a feudal campaign with the chance that a character can become a member of an ancient order of knights sort of requires plate armour. Orders existed before this time but armoured cavalry is part of the fantasy genre. Plus I couldn't run a game without giving the players the chance to say, "Clank, clank, I'm a tank." So that puts the period at least in the mid 14th Century. There were some great historical figures such as The Black Prince or later Sir Harry Hotspur that just fit this perfectly. A nice touch that I discovered was that, while plate armour was available in the late 14th Century, it was only manufactured in Germany and Italy. Having this sort of heavy armour available but extremely difficult to get hold of makes it all the more interesting.

cannons

Picking a period later than the 14th Century begins to get into the development of guns and cannons. Certainly by the time Henry VIII there are cannons and that simply don't exist in the Players Handbook. (There were some primitive guns at the time of the Battle of Crécy but they were as likely to kill the user as they were the target, not dissimilar to the mention of guns in the DM's Guide.) So the books seem to suggest the second half of the 14th Century.

In 1348 the Black Death swept across Europe and this had some dramatic influences on the way society operated. With the death of large swathes of the population labour became scarce and the restrictions of movement of labour began to break down. This was, in fact, the beginning of the end of the feudal system. This sort of solves a problem for the DM because having a truly feudal society would place restrictions on the movements of the player characters that would cramp the adventuring spirit. In a feudal world peasants are, largely, tied to the estate of their lord. This makes adventuring problematic unless the adventures are right on the doorstep. However, with the drop in population land owners had to begin to allow people to move about a bit more and this freedom works better with a D&D campaign.

enemies

The other thing that makes a feudal campaign interesting is the politics. Of course politics is just the background, while the bread and butter of the game is chasing orcs and the like. However, when your lord is a member of an alliance that is the enemy of the lord in the next county then the whole background comes alive. With politics as it was in that period you might want to consider who you ally yourself with as alliances were constantly shifting and friends could so easily become enemies. The late 14th century was also the time of the Hundred Years War, a time of intermittent campaigns between England and France, so there's plenty of scope for word of battles overseas and people returning with plunder which might include spare sets of plate armour. It's also worth remembering that at this time the nobles were still able to fight and lead an army so the chances are that if you met a Duke or Earl he would be a proper warrior, possibly using one of the NPC classes from the DMG or a mixture of NPC and Character classes. Much later in history you couldn't imagine the King or one of his nobles riding into battle, which probably ceased with the death of Richard III. By then they were blowing each other away with cannons as well as archers and mounted combat.

So in the end I plumped for 1390 as the starting point. Royal politics was particularly interesting at the time. The feudal system was still in place while not being too restrictive and the Hundred Years War was in a lull but could kick off again at any time. Plus the age of chivalry was just about still alive although it was beginning to be seen as a golden age that was passing away.

novels

At the time of writing this I'm still developing the campaign but I have ambitions to, one day, publish it as a series of PDFs on this blog, but at the moment it contains too many holes and my priorities are to work on my Hidden Masters novels. However, one day you might see the release of the campaign if I ever get the time to finish it, but there is a lot of work to do.

Of course there are many other considerations in such a campaign, such as how to integrate the races, magic and not least the gods, plus where do you locate the wilderness areas and the like. However, I'm using medieval England merely as a starting point from which you have to make some pretty radical decisions but I'll describe that in future blogs or the eventual release of the campaign as a whole.

In the mean time I'll probably post some rule expansions that I've used over the years as and when I get round to tidying them up suitable for publication.