[Any][+/-] Magic Item Shops - Yay or Nay?
By Airos:
Inspired by another
thread, (or rather, the musings of a member as an aside to the main topic of
another thread), I'm interesting in reading what folks think about magic item
shops in a "typical" D&D setting.
I say
"typical" because there are settings in which such shops clearly
don't belong, and others where they would be a foregone conclusion. I'm not
particularly interested in debating the merits of settings at the extreme ends
of the spectrum, and I will preemptively agree that if a DM is consciously and
deliberately running a low-magic, "magic items are rare and unique"
setting, then magic item shops don't belong. Similarly, if a DM is running
Final Fantasy: the TTRPG obviously such shops are a core component of such a
setting.
Gee, I think you’ve pretty well
covered the subject by using a lot of words to say, works in some, doesn’t work
in others.
What I am interested
in discussing the merits of is both what it means to the setting and what it
means to the game to include or exclude magic item shops. How does it impact
the difficulty of encounters? What does a world look like with such a shop in
every city? How are the lives of the common folk affected?
And the answers to those questions
are . . . depends on the setting.
From 2097:
Thematically, I'm
concerned that such shops will make magic items into something... "ho hum,
oh you found something weird, so what else is new?" less treasured.
Hi! Welcome to fucking Dungeons
& Dragons! Enjoy your stay!
From Leonaru:
I'm okay with both
having magic shops and not having magic shops, but be consistent. Don't do it
like 2e and claim that a magic economy doesn't exist in the DMG only to bury
the party under ten Swords +1 in the first dungeon. Claiming that magic items
are too precious to ever be sold is not how humans work.
Ayup. Pretty much.
From Airos:
In a setting where a
magic economy is embraced, how would you approach it? Would there be a
"one stop shop" where all things magical are bought and sold, or
would it be "the blacksmith is the only place to find magic swords, the
leatherworker is the only place to find magic cloaks"?
Would such an
economy be self-sustained outside of "adventurers", or would
"shops" simply be adventuring parties selling the things they have no
use for to other adventuring parties, (a.k.a. a Swap Meet)?
Christ, you’re really not getting
this are you?
Depends. On. The. Setting.
From Kyrel:
Also, I find that it
cheapens the roleplaying experience when magical items are simply something
that one can buy, rather than have to adventure in order to find, or IMO far
more interestingly, have to create themselves.
That just means you don’t know what
roleplaying is.
From Leonaru, who continues to have the right of it (much as I hate to
admit it):
That may be true,
but most D&D magic items were never special. Some (like intelligent swords
with multiple spell-like abilities and stuff) are, but the vast majority are
just weapons that are a little better than a common 15 GP sword. Many of them
are cheaper than mundane plate armour too. Being run-of-the-mill is how D&D
handles magic, a game where (depending on the edition) all core classes expect
for fighter, rogue and maybe monk are casters.
Pretty much. You’ll see this
argument come up a lot in D&D magic item and spell discussions. Basically
“magic items should be rare and special” and “spells shouldn’t be so
reproducible”. Both are fundamental misunderstandings of how D&D has always
been. In D&D, magic has always
basically been another type of science.
From Nemigar:
Setting, AD&D.
AD&D isn’t a setting. It’s a
set of rules and guidelines. Greyhawk is a setting. Forgotten Realms is a
setting. Kara Tur is a setting. See the difference, learn the difference, know
the difference.
From Airos:
I suppose a better
question is, once we start looking at a magic economy which could be sustained
outside of adventurer involvement, have we crossed the threshold from
"standard" D&D to "high-magic" D&D?
Awwww for fuck’s sake!!!!!!
Jesus, dude. Just go read Eberron
and a couple other post 3E third party settings. Fuck.
From Bupp:
So the general idea
I'm seeing here is it depends on what edition you are playing and how prevalent
magic is in your campaign.
Yeah, pretty much (and by that, I
mean 100 per-fucking-cent).
Snide posts
From 2097, Join Date 2008, post count 2248:
The one definition
says ”mocking”. I'm trying not to mock anyone. I want to make friends.
That’s a lie.
The other definition
says ”deceptive". I'm trying not to
deceive anyone. I want to be understood.
Again, lies.
But I was talking to
the mods. Isn't that what the red text is? For meta talk, talking about the
posts formally?
You’ve been on site for 7 years.
You damn well fucking know that is not the case.
You’re a fucking lying troll. Please
get better at it, or stop.
Players going off on tangents
So, what do you do
when your group goes off on a tangent?
Try to enjoy it.
How long should you
wait before getting things back on track?
Totally depends on the tangent, and
what was happening in game at the time it occurred. If it’s amusing, and not in
the middle of something important, I’ll let it go for a while.
What do you do to
keep it from happening in the first place?
Nothing. I’m not down with using my
recreational time to fight human nature.
I think we may have a new contender for Worst RPG ...
It's by Varg
Vikernes, a name that may ring a bell to people who've been following the
Scandinavian metal scene. I haven't read, let alone played, it and hopefully
never will.
Note that I’m not including the
link, because fuck the guy who created it. Short version, it’s a game create by
a Norwegian murdering neo-Nazi.
By Michael Parish, Join Date January 2014:
I've always admired Vierkenes'
music with Burzum. This game could have been a solid entry in the mythological
genre had he omitted the presence of non-nordics and non-pagan religions. If he
really wanted to pay homage to Viking/Norse mythology (an excellent premise for
a game) why would he include Semitic religions and non-Scandinavian peoples in
the first place? Thematically and aesthetically they're very ill fitting and
out of place.
No, wait, I’m sorry. That’s the edited version of his post. Here’s the
shitbag’s original, pre-edit post:
I've always admired
Vierkenes' music with Burzum, and as an apolitical nihilist relish the butthurt
he causes to leftists and SJW's. They don't realize it but their reactions to
this are directly equivalent to Christian conservative hand-wringing over Ozzy
Osbourne in the 1980's. While I won't be playing this game (I was debriefed on
its' development by a friend a number of years ago) I appreciate the lulz
factor of its' existence.
Note how he claims to be
apolitical, but then goes on to talk about leftists and SJWs, and then builds a
false equivalency strawman between reactions to this and the Satanic Games
Panic. What do we learn from this? That most likely, Michael Parrish is a
shitstain racist scumbag.
From Baeraad, apparently a moron, in reference to someone asking for
people to not buy this game, even to give it a scathing review:
Will he become less
of a racist Nazi murderer if he's poor?
Nope.
I'm thinking not,
and so I do not see that as a valid consideration.
That’s because you’re a stupid
mother fucker.
From Vatican Broadside, in reply to Baeraad:
I honestly don't
give a fuck if he's rich or poor. I give a fuck about people knowingly choosing
to give money to someone who is a literal racist Nazi murderer. Why only donate
to those charities when you support a Nazi? Why not support them without giving
money to a Nazi?
Not really anything I can add to
that.
And then the thread goes into a
couple of different tangents, dealing with wind speed, Vikings, and some Nordic
word. Oh, and Arilou being a stupid
douchebag. Then Greedo (join date April 2015) jumps in with some tired old
absolutist free speech bullshit. But then he got a threadban.
The thread ends after one jackass
starts to argue over the difference between “murderer” and “murdering”. That jackass is LatwPIAT.
Until next time.
