Magic Shops
Do not let magic become a commodity. Magical items should never be bought and
sold like milk and eggs. Allowing PCs of any level to simply purchase magical
items, or even to purchase magical supplies such as quills and inks for writing
scrolls, takes some of the mystique away from magic and makes the whole world
seem a little more commonplace.
It is not necessary to stubbornly forbid the buying and selling of magic; the
key to keeping magic fanciful is to make sure that any transaction is an
adventure of a sort.
Magical supplies should never have clearly marked prices and be sold from
neatly arranged shelves—that’s too such like a modern supermarket. Instead, things
such as spell components, quills, and exotic inks should be available only at
specialty shops run by would-be wizards or retired adventures. Barter or intense
haggling should be the norm. Of course, the only guarantee as to what the PCs
are actually getting is based on the proprietor’s reputation. (Is that really a
cockatrice quill or did it just come from a large chicken?) A PC who needs a
specific ingredient for a potion or scroll ink might have to choose between
several similar items; only a series of careful questions about how each item was
acquired reveals which one the PC should choose.
When it comes to purchasing magical items, make the PCs buy “pig-in-a-poke.”
Characters generally sell only magical items they cannot use, so they really
have no idea what they do. In most cases, mere cash is not sufficient. The seller
wants a service of some kind, or wishes to barter for another magical item the
character can use.
Player characters might occasionally wish to sell an item for cash. A harried
DM can find gold piece values in the Encyclopedia Magica™ books, however, the
values given there are more useful as a way to establish relative values between
items. The market value for something as powerful and useful as a magical item
is highly variable and hard to calculate.
Finding the right buyer should be an adventure in itself. A magical item for
sale draws thieves like flies, and those thieves could range anywhere from the
neighborhood fiend to the local tax collector. Perhaps a vampire drops by one
evening and tries to charm the item out of the PC’s hands. In most cases, the
buyer is wary, because determining an item’s true powers is a difficult task, and
the buyer can never be sure exactly what he is getting.
Shops that sell magical items are a bad idea for several reasons. First, the
quest for magical treasures is what drives the game. It’s true that high-level
characters tend to have more magical items than they really need, but such
characters often desire specific items to assist with whatever task happens to be at
hand.
For example, it is known that Lord Mayor Charles Oliver O’Kane of Ravens
Bluff™ (in the Forgotten Realms® campaign setting) is seeking a cube of force so he can deal with a troublesome dragon. The DM could allow the character to
walk down to the local magic shop, hand over a pile a coins and gems big
enough to choke the dragon, and get his cube of force, but a clever DM seizes upon
the character’s desire as an opportunity to create an adventure. Several
different adventures could arise from the mayor’s search:
A charlatan might appear and offer the mayor a fake cube of force; some well-placed illusions might convince even the most skeptical buyer that
the false item is genuine. Even if the mayor detects the hoax, actually
catching and punishing the charlatan could prove to be difficult.
The character might locate a damaged cube of force. The cube might be completely inoperative, but repairable under some special
condition that the owner might be able to bring about. Alternatively, the cube
might be partially functional; perhaps it works at less than full power or
randomly deactivates itself. The new owner might learn the cube’s quirks through
trial and error.
Someone might have a cube of force he can live without. The owner, however, refuses to sell the cube for mere
cash and wants another powerful magical item in trade. Perhaps the cube’s owner
knows where the other item can be found, but believes getting it would be too
risky. The cube owner, however, would gladly reveal the other item’s location in
return for a promise to trade the item for the cube.
The dragon might learn about the mayor’s search for a cube of force and decide to pay the mayor a visit. Perhaps the dragon would be willing to
negotiate, or perhaps the dragon opens hostilities before the mayor is ready.
Another powerful character, perhaps a political rival, offers to loan the
mayor a cube of force, for a favor to be named later. If the mayor accepts, repaying the favor
might prove especially difficult or embarrassing. Refusing the loan might prove
equally difficult or embarrassing, especially if the dragon damages the city and
the rival lets it be known that the mayor refused an offer that might have
defeated the dragon.
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