4DJ: Merchants and Barter

Inspired in part by https://hexculture.com/2019/12/home-again-home-again.html

The empire and the remnants in the cities use golden currency, usually in fragments of golden rods. The remnants elsewhere prefer bartering and gifts. In the Ten Merchants table below, the barter value for goods is listed, but later on the article also lists the typical cost in rods.

• In a community, roll a d4, d6, d8, and d10 to establish which merchants are present
• In a city, roll a d4, d6, and 6d10 to establish which are present. They sell objects at their standard cost in golden rod fragments and buy them for half their value.
• In a dungeon, roll a d10 to establish which are present

Each merchant has no more than 1d4 of a given item for sale. Though they typically won't purchase items beyond what they want, canny PCs can make gifts in the form of sharing wine, food, offering jewelry, or other appropriate items. These contribute the total barter value of the gifts plus 10% (minimum 1) for negotiations, but only if the gifts are given well and with no overt expectation of recompense. A merchant might make other gifts to the PC to try to ameliorate this, but most people are happy to make friends. Still, there's no accounting for personality.

art by Boris Groh

Ten Merchants

1. Host- his first guest eats nothing, but his second guest eats for cheap

• Offers: food (1/2/3), cosmetics (7), candelabrum torch (3), clothing (2)
• Wants: wine (1), fabric (1), lamp oil (3)

2. Smith- his caste predates even Dek’s people in the land

• Offers: swords (5), tools (2), seal (4), chain (2), ash (1), random soldier weapon (7), horseshoes (3)
• Wants: metal (1), charcoal (2), wood (1)

3. Husband- butler to his kine, bully to his family

• Offers: meat (2), skins (1), feed (1), tent (5), dung (1)
• Wants: tobacco (3), kine (varies), reeds (1), straw, (1) goad (2)

4. Vintner- the invaders permit vintners for the time being, but a wine-maker thinks ahead

• Offers: wine (2), grapes (1), lamp oil (3), wineskin (1)
• Wants: jewelry (4+), goblet (1), cart (4)

5. Farmer- when nothing grows, he gets into trouble easily

• Offers: food (1/2), lantern (6), rope (4), straw (1)
• Wants: incense (8), coffin (30), ploughshare (3)

6. Carpenter- he fells forests of abandoned furnishings and plants short-lived pieces

• Offers: staves (4), ladder (5), saw (3), ark (6)
• Wants: wood (2), tongs (1), nails (1)

7. Lender- the spiritual center, he says he’ll be rich when the hostages come back one day.

• Offers: kine (varies), loans (varies), lock and key (10)
• Wants: writing supplies (6), wick trimmer (6)

8. Ranger- When he comes into town, they ask what he saw and he only shakes his head

• Offers: snares (5), poison (18), yellow chalk (1), shells (1)
• Wants: whistle (2), resin (12), tent (8)

9. Cupbearer- hopeless attempting to regain his master’s estate

• Offers: lock and key (10), horse brush (8), saddle (40)
• Wants: horses (varies), scroll case (4), dye (10)

10. Scholar- how wonderful to love learning when the land has become an abject lesson

• Offers: writing supplies (7), brazier (6), reading and copying (varies), vitriol (1)
• Wants: organs (2), phylactery (20), ash (1)

Items (inventory points/cost in rod fragments)

Almanac scroll (1/35)

Ark (2/30)

Axe (1/14)

Basket (1/14)

Bell (1/10)

Belt (0/6)

Bracelet (0/40+)

Brazier (1/30)

Brooch (0/40+)

Candelabrum torch (1/10)

Cart (14/100) Counts as 4 slots when pulled by a draft animal

Chain (2/20)

Charcoal (1/6)

chisel (1/6)

Cloak (1/30)

Coffin (20/200)

copper scrap (1/7)

Cord (1/8) ten feet

Cup (1/5)

Diadem (1/100+)

Drum (1/16)

Dye (1/50)

Earring (0/50+)

fabric (1/5)

File (1/7)

Goad (1/7)

Goblet (1/7)

Grappling hook (1/20)

hammer (1/12)

Handpipes (1/18)

Harp (1/16)

Headband (0/4)

horse brush (1/40)

horse feed (1/5)

Hurdy-gurdy (1/20)

Incense (1/25) Cost multiplied by most recent Plague roll. Negates chance of harm from plague for one encounter

Jar (1/6)

ladder (3/25) 15 feet tall

lamp oil (1/10)

lantern (1/30) can have a hood or other attachment for another 5 fragments

lock and key (1/50)

Mortar and pestle (1/8)

nails (1/6)

Onyx (1/60)

Phylactery (1/100)

pick (1/20)

Pitcher (1/12)

Ploughshare (3/14)

pole (2/10) ten feet long

reeds (1/4)

Resin (1/60)

Ring (0/60+)

Rope (1/20) 30 feet, well oiled

Saddle (0/200)

Saw (1/14)

Scissors and pliers (1/15)

Scroll case (1/20)

Seal (1/20) usually commissioned, not resold

Sickle (1/10)

Soot (1/1)

Straw (1/6)

Tambourine (1/14)

Tent (3/40)

Tobacco (1/10)

Tongs (1/6)

Trumpet (1/18)

Veil (0/20+)

Vitriol (1/8)

Waterskin (1/4)

whistle (1/10)

Wick trimmer (1/30)

wood (1/5)

Writing supplies (1/30) scribes can use these

Yarn (1/5)

Yellow chalk (1/4) anyone can use this

Kine

Alpaca (-/110)

Bull (-/240)

Cow (-/200)

Level 1 Horse (-/300)

Level 2 Horse (-/400)

Pig (-/50)

Pony (-/120)

Sheep (-/60)

Provender

avocados (1/5) Heals 1

Beans (1/5) Heals 1

Beef (1/10) Heals 2

Blueberries (1/5) Heals 1

butter (1/4) Heals 1 when added to a meal

Cashews (1/5) Heals 1

cassava (1/10) Heals 2

Chestnuts (1/5) Heals 1

cocoa (1/10) Heals 2

crab apples (1/5) Heals 1

cranberries (1/5) Heals 1

Cream (1/6) Heals 1

Curds (1/5) Heals 1

gourds (1/5) Heals 1

Manna (1/12)Heals 2, double on holy days

Milk (1/5) Heals 1

Mixed nuts (1/5) Heals 1

Mutton (1/10) Heals 2

onions (1/4) Heals 1 when added to a meal

papayas (1/5) Heals 1

peanuts (1/5) Heals 1

Peppers (1/5) Heals 1

pineapples (1/5) Heals 1

plums (1/5) Heals 1

potatoes (1/9) Heals 2

poultry (1/10) Heals 2

Pumpkin (1/5) Heals 1

Raspberries (1/5) Heals 1

Soup (1/14) Heals 3 the day it’s made, otherwise 1

squash (1/5) Heals 1

strawberries (1/5) Heals 1

sunflowers (1/5) Heals 1

sweet potatoes (1/10) Heals 2

tomatoes (1/10) Heals 2

wild cherries (1/5) Heals 1

wild rice (1/5) Heals 1

Wine (1/10) Heals 2

Weapons (Cost divided by the most recent result of the Sword roll for an expedition.)

Cruciform Sword (2/40)

Sling (1/20)

Spear (3/60)

Kukri (1/40)

Halberd (3/65)

Flail (2/50)

Fauchard (3/65)

Billhook (3/65)

Smallknife (1/20)

Cosmetics (1/40)

Poison (1/100) Most people refuse to trade in poison

Staff (2/20)

Snare (1/20)

Gonne (4/300) Fetches one-tenth the price to someone who doesn't know how to use it