Economy and Trade

FuryMaster

Mongoose
One of the most unique things about the Jeremiah setting is that its economy is totally based on trade for goods. There is no money or legitimate credit system in the world, at least not yet. Mongoose and author Scott Agnew have done a good job of simulating this in the RPG by providing a variety of items which they place in catagories and provide a Trade Value for each item. Availability and barter skill can also affect the value of the goods as well as regional concerns such as war or natural disasters. Furthermore the book provides a number of random tables that allow you to generate instant 'treasure' on the fly.

As I move forward in planning my campaign I realized that I needed to fill my markets with items. It just isn't going to work to have this situation:

*PC "what can i buy in this market"
*GM "well...what do you want"
*PC "um, um..i'm not sure, can i see the book?'
*5 minutes later PC "oh, cool..I want a rocket launcher"
*GM, rolls dice and without looking at the results "sorry, none available"
*PC "darn, ok, let me look some more" 5 more minutes

This situation goes on and then is repeated with all the other players...not a good thing. So, the markets must be predetermined to avoid wasting time.

I am currently working on a range of general stores as follows:

Class A: This is a well stocked store/market with a fairly wide range of goods-50 differnt types of items from nearly all catagories. Most non-rare items have extra stock (d20 common items). This kind of store will only exist in the larger, more organized communities where some kind of order exists.

Class B: This is a medium sized store/market with a decent selection. 30 differnt types of goods from many catacories. There is a modest stock for most of its non-rare goods (1d12 common items). These stores are found in larger communities and sometimes in smaller communities that are well organized.

Class C: This is a small but decently stocked market/store. There are 15 items of differnt types from a small range of catagories. The stock is much smaller in this type of store (1d6 common items). This vendor is found in all communities of all sizes..

Class D: This vendor represents anyone who is selling items non-professionaly. Most of the players who want to set up shop would fall in this catagory. For npc's of this catagory, roll up 10 items on the random charts on page 83-84 (5 from Equipment chart, 3 food chart, 2 liquid chart). For any common item roll 1d4 to determine its stock. These traders can be enountered anywhere in the world, wild or community and are the most common.

This pattern can be used for specialty stores such as weapon dealers, with class A having the widest variety and number of weapons.

If a character knows what they are looking for, i will simply consult the charts for the type of markets available in the area they are in. If the item is present on the list, they will find it. If the item is not on the list, i will give them a search check DC's as follows (Rare 25, Uncommon 18, Common 14) if they succeed at the check they will find a Class D trader with the item they are looking for---other modifiers may apply to the search DC depending on what it is (+6 for military hardware, ect).

I haven't drawn up the list yet, but i'll post them as I do em.
 
I did design a couple of charts with the aid of the random item charts on pg 84-85. I used them the first night of the game but not much since as our players have been embroiled in more action than shopping.

If you would like a copy post an e-mail address and i'll attach a copy of the word charts...don't expect anything to fancy though, they serve the purpose however.

FuryMaster
 
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