Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Conjurerjohn 03-02-08, 07:33 PM	Hello. A few weeks ago a gaming store opened up in town. I was asked to DM for a group of newbies, having played a couple of sessions of D&D myself a few years ago. I looked over the core 3 books to freshen up on the rules. For the last few weeks though it has been a struggle to remember them. Each session we remembered more rules and played more of a regular game. A couple weeks ago I started a campaign in the Forgotten Realms setting and have been making my own dungeons and planning my own adventures that will lead to the story line of the campaign. My group though is one of those group who will take every fork, plate and chair back to town in order to sell it or use it. My questions are... 1. How do you keep track of the price of "flavor" items that you put in your dungeon to set a scene and not really for the PCs to take with them? 2. Also can someone give me a appraise formula that is more easily understood by someone who is math savvy? Thanks for your help and patience, I know these are newbie questions but years of not playing or even looking at a D&D books has done away with most of my knowledge. Also sorry for the prolonged opening.
rickvoid 03-02-08, 08:27 PM	1. How do you keep track of the price of "flavor" items that you put in your dungeon to set a scene and not really for the PCs to take with them? Easy. Don't. Why would anybody want to buy the useless crap they found in the dungeon anyway? It's not like european medieval villages are full of pawnshops ya know. This just sounds like an excuse for the players to aquire more gold to save up and spend on magic items that are going to make the balanced challenges you throw at them way easier. Of course, I'd totally let them haul all that crap out of the dungeon, all the way back to town, then make the DC for the search check to find a place to pawn their junk something like 99. And when they fail, tell them that they are unable to find a place to sell their worthless junk. Then wait and see how long it takes for them to figure out that their plan isn't working. If they really want to make easy money, all they need is a bunch of 10' ladders. What's a 10' ladder? Two 10' poles and a half a days worth of firewood. How much do two ten foot poles cost? 4 silver pieces. How much does one ladder cost? 5 copper. Spend 1 gold piece to buy 20 ladders. Diassemble to ladders and sell the 40 poles. 40*2=80 silver, convert to gold 80/10= 8 gold pieces. Half that (they can only sell for half the base price) for 4 gp. Buy 80 ladders with that 4 gold. Make 160 poles. Sell for half price (16 gold). Buy 320 ladders with your 16 gold. Make 640 poles. Sell for 64 gold. Buy 1,280 ladders. Make 2,560 poles. Sell for 256 gold. Lather, rinse, repeat. It gets worse if they sell that firewood too. 1280 ladders makes 640 days worth of firewood, which is worth 320 gold pieces. :OMG! See. Things could be worse for you. I'm not in your game. :D
Neraagile 03-02-08, 08:42 PM	Easy. Don't. Why would anybody want to buy the useless crap they found in the dungeon anyway? It's not like european medieval villages are full of pawnshops ya know. This just sounds like an excuse for the players to aquire more gold to save up and spend on magic items that are going to make the balanced challenges you throw at them way easier. Of course, I'd totally let them haul all that crap out of the dungeon, all the way back to town, then make the DC for the search check to find a place to pawn their junk something like 99. And when they fail, tell them that they are unable to find a place to sell their worthless junk. Then wait and see how long it takes for them to figure out that their plan isn't working. If they really want to make easy money, all they need is a bunch of 10' ladders. What's a 10' ladder? Two 10' poles and a half a days worth of firewood. How much do two ten foot poles cost? 4 silver pieces. How much does one ladder cost? 5 copper. Spend 1 gold piece to buy 20 ladders. Diassemble to ladders and sell the 40 poles. 40*2=80 silver, convert to gold 80/10= 8 gold pieces. Half that (they can only sell for half the base price) for 4 gp. Buy 80 ladders with that 4 gold. Make 160 poles. Sell for half price (16 gold). Buy 320 ladders with your 16 gold. Make 640 poles. Sell for 64 gold. Buy 1,280 ladders. Make 2,560 poles. Sell for 256 gold. Lather, rinse, repeat. It gets worse if they sell that firewood too. 1280 ladders makes 640 days worth of firewood, which is worth 320 gold pieces. :OMG! See. Things could be worse for you. I'm not in your game. :D well, thats why theres the rules 0. You'd never get that trick past a sensible DM. Furthermore, who will be willing to buy all that stuff and for more than a coupple of coppers? (don't make it worth their while to drag all that stuff)
rickvoid 03-02-08, 08:58 PM	well, thats why theres the rules 0. You'd never get that trick past a sensible DM. Furthermore, who will be willing to buy all that stuff and for more than a coupple of coppers? (don't make it worth their while to drag all that stuff) That's what I'm sayin'. :D
Neraagile 03-02-08, 10:01 PM	That's what I'm sayin'. :D Indeed :pint: Just felt like pointing out the obvious logics of your post.
Kamin_Majere 03-02-08, 11:00 PM	Yeah i have to agree with the other posts on point one... you dont get paid for it. At most a random person might give them a gold for the whole lot... but its not something they sould be focusing on. Honestly i would have something attack and try to kill them as they talk about how to split the place setting's worth :rolleyes: as to point 2. Dont worry about it. Set a few DC's for easy, comman, hard to find, rare, extremely rare, unique; write them down in something and let the players make the DC's from there. If they get it wrong just make something up... if they fail by a little they go a few precent low or high, and if they fail by alot they go way off in left field. The math is a good thing to have, but honestly playing it by ear is alot easier in alot of these situations