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Merchant emporiums

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
guest839176084
Aug 28, 2012 9:28:01 Does anyone know where I might find a good description of your average Athasian merchant emporium? I don't recall one from dune trader, other than the elven market map/key. As it stands, I'm envisioning something of a cross between a street market and Costco. But I'm curious if there is anything more "official".

Thanks,
Tom
#2
waxwingslain
Aug 28, 2012 16:00:44 Costco is a good analogue. Here's my (unofficial) description from when my players hit up House Shom's Tyrian emporium:

Caravan Way ends at Iron Square, making a loop around a large cluster of buildings in the center of the Square; a dozen merchant houses have their headquarters or maintain emporia here. The largest is House Vordon, whose giant warehouse and emporium dominate the Square; its offices are marked with a huge black iron diamond over the door, a lifetime’s fortune used as a sign. Shom’s emporium is impressive but smaller. Upon entering, the PCs see rows and rows of bins and racks full of all kinds of trade goods, but primarily huge sacks of Nibenese rice, stacks upon stacks of various woods logged from the Crescent Forest (including pricey blue agafari), and weaponry (or pieces of weaponry) made from bone, obsidian, wood, and even iron.

The 2E supplement "City-State of Tyr" includes some good official merchant house/emporium information on p.30-33.

I don't recall off the top of my head, but I'm sure some of the 2E adventures that feature merchant houses (such as Merchant House of Amketch) have some emporium descriptions.
#3
waxwingslain
Aug 28, 2012 16:02:13
From City-State of Tyr:

The Vordon emporium takes up a full corner of Iron
Square, lying to the left of Caravan Way as it enters the
square. A staff of 30 agents and guards serve customers
in the emporium. Steel tools and weapons
gleam from wall racks, bolts of cotton fabric rest in
another corner of the room, and precious works of
glass, stone, and gemcraft are displayed in a fine case
adjoining the central counter. The front of the building
houses the retail functions, while the rear consists
of offices and storage. Anyone entering the emporium
is greeted warmly by a Vordon agent who attends to
them personally for the entire time they are in the
building. Those wishing to make caravan arrangements
are referred to the companys main office.
Directly across the street from the emporium next to
the Nobles Quarter, House Vordon maintains its
main office and a large, very secure warehouse. A
small, fortified outpost used for storage of wagons and
pack animals can be found five miles south of Tyr.
With Tyrs trade on the rise recently, fewer wagons are
left idle for any length of time. Adventurers wont find
employment with House Vordon, but will be referred
politely to inquire at one of the smaller trade houses
down the street, House Troika.
#4
squidfur
Aug 29, 2012 3:03:11 Elves of Athas has a map (p48) and description (p51-56) of the Sky Singer's Market in Nibenay. The Silver Spring Oasis Market has a brief description given (p66 - "The tents of the oasis market are filled with cheap, gaudy goods that carry hefty price tags."...common goods and practices are then described).

Yesterday's Market, a mobile (and illegal) emporium in Urik, is described in Rise and Fall of a Dragon King (if I'm remembering correctly - it might be Cinnabar Shadows, or both; I'll have to search through later).

Shadow Square is described in City-State of Tyr as well (it is also mentioned in the Verdant Passage).

City-State of Nibenay (from the Ivory Triangle box-set) details the merchant emporiums and elven markets of that city (p20-22).

City-State of Gulg (also from the Ivory Triangle) has information about its marketplace (p20-21).

A description of Draj's trade district can be gleaned from info in City-State of Draj (from athas.org; p21-24).

The Wanderer's Journal (from the original box-set) makes mention of the Elven Market, and names Balic's Merchant Emporiums as the agora - which is a "real world" term for the merchant districts of ancient Greece....

...which brings up another source for inspiration: the trade emporiums of Earth (thinking of the bazaars of the Middle East, as an example).
#5
guest839176084
Aug 29, 2012 16:46:32 Yeah, the elven market is covered. I expect the designers back in the day figured this would be where players would do the bulk of their shopping. I'm surprised in all these years, no one has provided a map of an run-of-the-mill merchant emporium. Not that a map is really necessary, though a visual aid might be helpful.

I've seen the references squidfur makes to City State of Tyr and Ivory Triangle. Have not read the Draj sourcebook from Athas.org, however.

Right now, sounds best to go with a weird vision of a big box store. Visual, I'm thinking closer to a traditional caravansara. One to two floors of "booths" in the shaded interior, with kiosk-style tents set up in the courtyard. The warehouse portion is sealed and under heavy lockdown. "Windows" are in the roof, allowing air to circulate and keeping the place from becoming a big oven.

In a way, it could have an almost shopping mall like feel, with an emporium being a varitable village unto itself. This seems fitting with the merchant code. An emporium might not only host storefronts for different trade goods, it could host a hostel for members of the merchant house, a wine house for thirsty shoppers, and a handful of food tents in the courtyard.

I wonder how individual merchants would compete amongst themselves within the emporium? How much prestige, social position, and promotion is based on sales within the emporium? Hmm...

Also, anyone have ideas for random encounters/events/sights within a merchant emporium? Might be nice to have 10 or 12 of those ready.

Tom
#6
waxwingslain
Aug 29, 2012 23:29:06 Oh, I definitely didn't envision the various merchants competing with each other. I really have been running it more like a big warehouse and the center of House XYZ's power in that city; people can come in off the street and ask the guy at the front desk about buying a sword or whatever, but 99% of the business from these places comes from local non-house merchants, nobles (or their estate managers), businesses, military, templars, etc. buying in bulk. More likely people would come in, tour the shelves and observe the various stocks of grains and pottery, and then strike a deal to have a thousands pounds of rice a month delivered to their estate for the year, or something. I really play it differently than just the various shops on the street or the Elven Market or whatever.

in my game, the PCs performed an early service for House Shom, and were rewarded with 10,000gp credit at the Shom emporium in Tyr. This has given them some freedom to outfit themselves for travel (arranging kanks, water, even some valuable/easily transportable trade goods to bring with them to sell in their destination for cash) without being able to go wild and buy 200 healing fruits, or a pile of magic items, or a big fancy house in the Noble Quarter. (They grumbled at first about not receiving cash, but quickly realized that carrying around big piles of cash is dangerous and could result in them getting robbed into broke-ness). So they do go to the Shom emporium in Iron Square from time to time to resupply.
#7
jespley
Aug 30, 2012 15:18:52 Since you mentioned visual aids, here is a 2e era illustration I found somewhere (I have a collection of Dark Sun art that I've downloaded from Google searchs over the years).

imgur.com/KdU7i

Also, the 4e campaign setting has a couple of illustrations that are relevant. The one on the center bottom of the 2nd page of this link is nice.

www.wizards.com/dnd/article.aspx?x=dnd/4...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 guest839176084 Aug 28, 2012 9:28:01	Does anyone know where I might find a good description of your average Athasian merchant emporium? I don't recall one from dune trader, other than the elven market map/key. As it stands, I'm envisioning something of a cross between a street market and Costco. But I'm curious if there is anything more "official". Thanks, Tom
#2 waxwingslain Aug 28, 2012 16:00:44	Costco is a good analogue. Here's my (unofficial) description from when my players hit up House Shom's Tyrian emporium: Caravan Way ends at Iron Square, making a loop around a large cluster of buildings in the center of the Square; a dozen merchant houses have their headquarters or maintain emporia here. The largest is House Vordon, whose giant warehouse and emporium dominate the Square; its offices are marked with a huge black iron diamond over the door, a lifetime’s fortune used as a sign. Shom’s emporium is impressive but smaller. Upon entering, the PCs see rows and rows of bins and racks full of all kinds of trade goods, but primarily huge sacks of Nibenese rice, stacks upon stacks of various woods logged from the Crescent Forest (including pricey blue agafari), and weaponry (or pieces of weaponry) made from bone, obsidian, wood, and even iron. The 2E supplement "City-State of Tyr" includes some good official merchant house/emporium information on p.30-33. I don't recall off the top of my head, but I'm sure some of the 2E adventures that feature merchant houses (such as Merchant House of Amketch) have some emporium descriptions.
#3 waxwingslain Aug 28, 2012 16:02:13	From City-State of Tyr: The Vordon emporium takes up a full corner of Iron Square, lying to the left of Caravan Way as it enters the square. A staff of 30 agents and guards serve customers in the emporium. Steel tools and weapons gleam from wall racks, bolts of cotton fabric rest in another corner of the room, and precious works of glass, stone, and gemcraft are displayed in a fine case adjoining the central counter. The front of the building houses the retail functions, while the rear consists of offices and storage. Anyone entering the emporium is greeted warmly by a Vordon agent who attends to them personally for the entire time they are in the building. Those wishing to make caravan arrangements are referred to the companys main office. Directly across the street from the emporium next to the Nobles Quarter, House Vordon maintains its main office and a large, very secure warehouse. A small, fortified outpost used for storage of wagons and pack animals can be found five miles south of Tyr. With Tyrs trade on the rise recently, fewer wagons are left idle for any length of time. Adventurers wont find employment with House Vordon, but will be referred politely to inquire at one of the smaller trade houses down the street, House Troika.
#4 squidfur Aug 29, 2012 3:03:11	Elves of Athas has a map (p48) and description (p51-56) of the Sky Singer's Market in Nibenay. The Silver Spring Oasis Market has a brief description given (p66 - "The tents of the oasis market are filled with cheap, gaudy goods that carry hefty price tags."...common goods and practices are then described). Yesterday's Market, a mobile (and illegal) emporium in Urik, is described in Rise and Fall of a Dragon King (if I'm remembering correctly - it might be Cinnabar Shadows, or both; I'll have to search through later). Shadow Square is described in City-State of Tyr as well (it is also mentioned in the Verdant Passage). City-State of Nibenay (from the Ivory Triangle box-set) details the merchant emporiums and elven markets of that city (p20-22). City-State of Gulg (also from the Ivory Triangle) has information about its marketplace (p20-21). A description of Draj's trade district can be gleaned from info in City-State of Draj (from athas.org; p21-24). The Wanderer's Journal (from the original box-set) makes mention of the Elven Market, and names Balic's Merchant Emporiums as the agora - which is a "real world" term for the merchant districts of ancient Greece.... ...which brings up another source for inspiration: the trade emporiums of Earth (thinking of the bazaars of the Middle East, as an example).
#5 guest839176084 Aug 29, 2012 16:46:32	Yeah, the elven market is covered. I expect the designers back in the day figured this would be where players would do the bulk of their shopping. I'm surprised in all these years, no one has provided a map of an run-of-the-mill merchant emporium. Not that a map is really necessary, though a visual aid might be helpful. I've seen the references squidfur makes to City State of Tyr and Ivory Triangle. Have not read the Draj sourcebook from Athas.org, however. Right now, sounds best to go with a weird vision of a big box store. Visual, I'm thinking closer to a traditional caravansara. One to two floors of "booths" in the shaded interior, with kiosk-style tents set up in the courtyard. The warehouse portion is sealed and under heavy lockdown. "Windows" are in the roof, allowing air to circulate and keeping the place from becoming a big oven. In a way, it could have an almost shopping mall like feel, with an emporium being a varitable village unto itself. This seems fitting with the merchant code. An emporium might not only host storefronts for different trade goods, it could host a hostel for members of the merchant house, a wine house for thirsty shoppers, and a handful of food tents in the courtyard. I wonder how individual merchants would compete amongst themselves within the emporium? How much prestige, social position, and promotion is based on sales within the emporium? Hmm... Also, anyone have ideas for random encounters/events/sights within a merchant emporium? Might be nice to have 10 or 12 of those ready. Tom
#6 waxwingslain Aug 29, 2012 23:29:06	Oh, I definitely didn't envision the various merchants competing with each other. I really have been running it more like a big warehouse and the center of House XYZ's power in that city; people can come in off the street and ask the guy at the front desk about buying a sword or whatever, but 99% of the business from these places comes from local non-house merchants, nobles (or their estate managers), businesses, military, templars, etc. buying in bulk. More likely people would come in, tour the shelves and observe the various stocks of grains and pottery, and then strike a deal to have a thousands pounds of rice a month delivered to their estate for the year, or something. I really play it differently than just the various shops on the street or the Elven Market or whatever. in my game, the PCs performed an early service for House Shom, and were rewarded with 10,000gp credit at the Shom emporium in Tyr. This has given them some freedom to outfit themselves for travel (arranging kanks, water, even some valuable/easily transportable trade goods to bring with them to sell in their destination for cash) without being able to go wild and buy 200 healing fruits, or a pile of magic items, or a big fancy house in the Noble Quarter. (They grumbled at first about not receiving cash, but quickly realized that carrying around big piles of cash is dangerous and could result in them getting robbed into broke-ness). So they do go to the Shom emporium in Iron Square from time to time to resupply.
#7 jespley Aug 30, 2012 15:18:52	Since you mentioned visual aids, here is a 2e era illustration I found somewhere (I have a collection of Dark Sun art that I've downloaded from Google searchs over the years). imgur.com/KdU7i Also, the 4e campaign setting has a couple of illustrations that are relevant. The one on the center bottom of the 2nd page of this link is nice. www.wizards.com/dnd/article.aspx?x=dnd/4...