So, stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Your players just completed a major quest, and now have some loot and money that is burning a hole in their pocket. So your next session, maybe more is going to be spent shopping.
And this is where things go off the rails, meaning of the following things are going to happen:
- Your players run around and start asking to buy magic items that they want but you don’t have prepared, or start asking for magic items you haven’t prepared.
- They are asking for things to be commissioned that you haven’t thought through or take time that now delays your game as players must wait for those items to be completed.
- You have to quickly create a magic item store complete with shop owner, inventory, name, etc on the fly. And keep track of it all.
- While one of your players wants to haggle, and discuss commission projects, everyone else sits around waiting for things to move on.
And in my experience this devolves quickly. So one of the best ideas I’ve found is to do what the world has embraced, FRANCHISING! So working with my players, we came up with a solution and it’s worked pretty great.
Mercurial Muriel’s Magic Mercantile! A franchise for every major city in your game world, and is owned by a trident named Muriel Maelstrom, an older woman who built her business by exploring the world to find and craft the world’s finest magic items.
Mechanically How does this help?
For my players, we use discord regularly, and use it to communicate outside of the game as well as inside the game. So I created a category in Discord with the following channels.
- Welcome: A general welcome message that describes it for new players. Only the DM can post to this channel.
- General Potions: A list of prices for standard potions they try to keep in stock, although there is no guarantee they will always be in stock, and in the numbers the players are looking for. But provides a standard price list for things like healing potions, water breathing, etc. Only the DM can post to this channel.
- General Scrolls: A reference list of general scrolls that are for sale, and how we figure out the cost and crafting time. Only the DM can post to this channel.
- Orders: Everyone can post here, and coordinate what they want to order, quantities, etc.
In Game, how does this work?
For me as the DM, I know that there are a handful of location in each major city, and those locations are going to be 1 of 5 maps I keep on hand, which makes it easier for me to maintain. I’ve then created a list of 12 NPCs that could be working in every store, and randomly pick 2 using dice rolls when the players arrive.
In game, behind the scenes, “The Back Office” for the mercantile is really a Demi-plane controlled by Muriel. In that Demi-plane, is a forge, wizards lab, vault and warehouse. And every location has a back door that is triggered when one of the staff opens the door and says the day’s command word. They then go in the back and get the order.
Becoming a member?
The first time the players come to the Mercentile, the manager will tell them the offer of being a member. If you pay 10 GP, you get a book which allows you to write down orders and message back and forth with the Mercantile (Explains discord), but orders can be picked up at any mercantile location when ready.
What this does is allows for out of game conversations about price and ordering and allows you as the DM to work on these in between game so that you can get a better handle on what they are looking for. You also won’t feel pressured to have answers on the spot, but it does require players to come and pick up and pay for their items at a location. It also means, that if one player wants to commission something, but the party needs to leave town, they could, and are able to pick up the commission anywhere.
The Store Experience?
When players arrive, for those who don’t want to plan ahead, you can have an inventory of magic items, and these show up as a collection of pages in a book, and that book is updated daily and shows what items are available for purchase. If the players find something they want, the players can buy it, the staff goes into the back and comes back with the item.
The inventory is the same for every location, and makes it simpler for you to maintain. But this allows for handling the players who want to shop inside of game or outside of the game.
What if I don’t know what I want?
For my games, I encourage my players that if they are looking for a magic item to help them with “X”, for example, “I want something to help with my stealth rolls.” Or “I want something to give me a ranged attack,” they can ask Muriel’s staff what they have, and the staff will get back to them. As a DM this gives me time in-between games to figure out what the pricing and offer will be.
Are there any restrictions?
For your table, you can put any restrictions you want, I generally have it that “rare” items are hard to find, and require time, and Muriel’s doesn’t carry legendary items. And my players know this going in so they don’t ask. You are not going to find a Vestige of Divergence just sitting in Mercurial Muriel’s. But you might be able to commission them for something. This is also a fun idea for a quest hook, Muriel might contract the party to go and retrieve an item for a high paying client. Just something to consider.
What happens if you cross Muriel’s?
So, this is something you can use to avoid murder hobo behavior. Because Muriel’s is a franchise, and because of the demi-plane, there are the following safeguards against them being robbed:
- If you try to steal the key to the “back room”, it won’t work. It is enchanted to work only for the people who work there.
- If you try to get passed the door, Muriel employs a defense system involving golems, stone guardians, and even an actual dragon to defend it.
- The dragon is actually named “Sythox”, and is an aquatic dragon who is friends with Muriel, and it has a deal worked out where it treats her vault as it’s hoard, and allows the commerce to continue in exchange for managing and securing it.
If a player crosses Muriel’s by trying to rob her, they are then banned from all locations, and this is enforced via an enchantment at every location. They will be removed from any store, and if they try to walk through the door, they will find themselves immediately leaving the building. This can be crippling to any adventurer and creates a strong incentive to play by her rules.