Adventuring party shopping spree

[AyuVince]

Oh Roy, what have you done. As a longtime DM, I loathe sending my players into a town (unless it's an urban setting), because I know what will inevitably follow:

SHOPPING SPREE!

"I need to get my armor fixed." - "I'm gonna buy some provisions and rope." - "I'll try to pickpocket the merchants." - "I need some new spells, gonna look out for scrolls." - "Is there a shrine to my deity in town?"

Usually, I have to cut all of that, plus several weeks worth of item crafting, short by saying: "You accomplish everything, now hop along."

Do you ever get these situations in your campaigns?

[Ancalagon]

Yeah, opens great opportunity for some funny RP and nice talking...

[Optimystik]

Yeah, opens great opportunity for some funny RP and nice talking...

Hopefully with more potionomics! (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0135.html)

[Dreadon]

I just went threw this last week with my party. But I had fun with it. They went into a xenophobic city run by elfs and no one was an elf. It took them 10 min just to get a room at a tavern let alone buy any weapons or armor.

[Elfin]

Actually, I always have a lot of fun doing rest/shopping/crafting.
But that's just me.

[Optimystik]

I just went threw this last week with my party. But I had fun with it. They went into a xenophobic city run by elfs and no one was an elf. It took them 10 min just to get a room at a tavern let alone buy any weapons or armor.

So, a normal elf settlement?

[Silverraptor]

I have them trapped in a major city unable to leave. So, those shopping sprees are going to add up.

[AyuVince]

Yeah, opens great opportunity for some funny RP and nice talking...

Or, in the case of my group, tavern brawls and jail sentences. :smallcool:

Silverraptor, how do you prevent your players from leaving?

[Silverraptor]

Silverraptor, how do you prevent your players from leaving?

Well they *could* technically leave, it would just result in their death. The details would be hard to explain but I'll see what I can do.

Campaign setting: Major wizard war happened many years ago. Due to magic, the entire battlefield is similar to a nuclear fallout area except it's magic (You know, random spells pop out of no where, mutated creatures, etc.) Now the magic fallout area is very slowly getting better, but unfortunatley, similar to nuclear radiation, the magic radiation is spreading. Now some wizards managed to put a protective ward aroung this major city (that has it's own farms an stuff) but now the radiation is surronding the entire city, pushed up against the ward. So as soon as my party leaves that ward, I have the most fun at being a DM as possible. And they know what I'm like, so effectively, they can't leave.

[Gamerlord]

Always. Happens.

[Ancalagon]

Hopefully with more potionomics! (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0135.html)

Even more? :shiver:

[Berserk Monk]

Oh Roy, what have you done. As a longtime DM, I loathe sending my players into a town (unless it's an urban setting), because I know what will inevitably follow:

SHOPPING SPREE!

"I need to get my armor fixed." - "I'm gonna buy some provisions and rope." - "I'll try to pickpocket the merchants." - "I need some new spells, gonna look out for scrolls." - "Is there a shrine to my deity in town?"

Usually, I have to cut all of that, plus several weeks worth of item crafting, short by saying: "You accomplish everything, now hop along."

Do you ever get these situations in your campaigns?

Yeah, and they're great ways to have your PCs roleplay with non-hostile NPCs.

[Emanick]

Ahhhhh, bad memories. My group broke up partially because the party members wanted to raid every home in the area, despite being all 'Good' and 'Neutral' characters, and there weren't any NPCs in the area high enough level to stop them. I could have rigged up a zillion traps, but then they would have just gone for the less wealthy homes instead, and it would be hardly logical for a middle-class home to have cutting edge security.

There are probably some ways I could have circumvented this, but we were all getting dissatisfied with the campaign anyway, and I had no time to plan.

Ah, how I envy you DMs who are blessed with semi-rational players and enough spare time to weave your wily webs!

[Silverraptor]

Ahhhhh, bad memories. My group broke up partially because the party members wanted to raid every home in the area, despite being all 'Good' and 'Neutral' characters, and there weren't any NPCs in the area high enough level to stop them. I could have rigged up a zillion traps, but then they would have just gone for the less wealthy homes instead, and it would be hardly logical for a middle-class home to have cutting edge security.

There are probably some ways I could have circumvented this, but we were all getting dissatisfied with the campaign anyway, and I had no time to plan.

Ah, how I envy you DMs who are blessed with semi-rational players and enough spare time to weave your wily webs!

You talking about my campaign in particular?:smallconfused:

[Katana_Geldar]

Well, given that I GM a Star Wars game, shopping sprees also result in waiting times for license fees and Knowledge checks. The wonders of modernity.

I like it in D&D how I can buy the hammer of doom and walk away woth it the same day.

[Ancalagon]

With a non-crappy DM you can also do that in Star Wars...

[Katana_Geldar]

Well, I'm a Douglas Adams fan. How can I ignore the hilairty of it? My players do know we have to spend at least three days "in town" to get everything...legally that is. :amused:

[GSFB]

I am a male DM with all female players. I consider myself lucky to get the players to NOT spend an entire day of play role playing their shopping. Sometimes I resort to tactics like something in the store is cursed and drives a character insane, or the shop keeper is a sexist womanizer, just to break things up.

[Rhydeble]

"I need to get my armor fixed." - "I'm gonna buy some provisions and rope." - "I'll try to pickpocket the merchants." - "I need some new spells, gonna look out for scrolls." - "Is there a shrine to my deity in town?"

I see, so your problem is that one member of your party is going to the blacksmith, while another walks towards an adventureres mart, number three is hanging around at the market, mister wizard is raiding the local magic library, and the cleric is going to pray.

I can but notice that your ENTIRE PARTY splits up into single individuals.



Ever watched a horror movie?

[Ancalagon]

Reading this thread I get the impression there might be DMs out there who really cannot stand when their group does something the people enjoy and have fun with.

Why does it matter if players come to the table and have fun RPing in a tavern or in a shop or if they have fun doing your plot? The only thing it means is that you do not have to prepare a lot of plot for the next session, as you can use the notes you made for this one. ;)

[Liwen]

Actually, I have a similar, but not exactly identical problem in my campaign.

The setting is on Earth in the near future. There an alien invasion going on.
They have AN ENTIRE METROPOLIS worth of goods being currently pillaged in the mass panic following the alien's first strike and are just piling mountains of food, weapons and cars over others. It's getting out of hand and the list of things they have acquired is already 3 pages long.

That's a looting spree. And I cannot find a realistic way to stop it. They are using diplomacy to get more NPCs human to help them organize some kind of massive pillaging operation.

The question I ask is : why would you need 100 years worth of rations and 70 shotguns? you'll die of old age before you run out of food and you can only use one gun at a time!

The answer : it's not just for us, but for our minions who will form the army that will establish our empire.

it's had to DM this, but it's fun :smallbiggrin:

[AyuVince]

I'm not against roleplaying, it's what makes tabletop playing different from MMOs. I also hate railroading players. It's just that we play once a month at best, and unless I want to drag the quest out until next year, someone should make sure the plot gets going. :D

Also, my players don't talk to NPCs much, they just like to minmax their equipment. I might need to de-munchkinize them. Or perhaps my next adventure will have a less elaborate story and more freedom to mess about in town. Maybe they'll surprise me.

[Ron Miel]

That's a looting spree. And I cannot find a realistic way to stop it.

In real world disasters such as war, flood or earthquake when people go on looting sprees in the aftermath they may be shot by the military.

[Nimrod's Son]

That's a looting spree. And I cannot find a realistic way to stop it.
In a situation that unstable, rocks have been known to fall.

[shadzar]

You thought it was dangerous to split your group in the dungeon during one of my games...just split up in the market and see what happens. :smallbiggrin:

[Prak]

Or, in the case of my group, tavern brawls and jail sentences. :smallcool:
There's a problem with this? some of my friends' best stories come from in game bar brawls...

Hell, the town split up is what every session in my saturday game has become.

[veti]

Ahhhhh, bad memories. My group broke up partially because the party members wanted to raid every home in the area, despite being all 'Good' and 'Neutral' characters, and there weren't any NPCs in the area high enough level to stop them. I could have rigged up a zillion traps, but then they would have just gone for the less wealthy homes instead, and it would be hardly logical for a middle-class home to have cutting edge security.

To quote :vaarsuvius:: "And what exactly would be the problem with that?"

If your party wants to spend its time burgling hovels and mugging peasants, who are you to stop them? Just give them all a big alignment shift southwards, adjust their reputation accordingly, and let 'em get on with it.

If they think roughing up a two-horse burg in the middle of nowhere is worth the aggro it will cause them down the line - that's their call.

[The Odor]

When I was new to as a dm i used to give my pc`s lot´s of time doing nothing special to do untill three of my five pc´s got death sentance and the two others (female both of them) had to save them (both bards) and it took three sessions untill we where clear and continued with the quest

[Dixieboy]

I am a male DM with all female players. I consider myself lucky to get the players to NOT spend an entire day of play role playing their shopping. Sometimes I resort to tactics like something in the store is cursed and drives a character insane, or the shop keeper is a sexist womanizer, just to break things up.

There's something wrong with this post... I can't tell what for sure, but... something. :smallconfused:

[veti]

Hey, my favourite DM used to love it when the whole party got itself arrested. It was a chance to put us back on the rails (usually briefly). The local authority figure would give us a very stern talking-to and a graphic and painful description of what would happen to us if we didn't get the hell on with our quest, jaldi.

I've come to believe that by far the best thing to do, if the party faffs about too long, is give them Consequences. If they spend more than a couple of days in one place, word gets about and their enemies will catch up with them. If they spend weeks ignoring their main quest, then the bad guys will make progress and they'll start to see definite signs that the world really is ending. Twenty million hulking and irate barbarians arrive out of The East, fleeing the terrible destruction that the party has failed to do anything about. Or maybe a single ludicrously over-powered paladin-monk hunts them down. That sort of thing.

[Herald Alberich]

There's something wrong with this post... I can't tell what for sure, but... something. :smallconfused:

That he got enough girls interested in rping together in one room to form a party? Or that despite being gamers, the girls are still stereotypical enough to spend a session roleplaying shopping, perhaps?

[Prak]

That he got enough girls interested in rping together in one room to form a party? Or that despite being gamers, the girls are still stereotypical enough to spend a session roleplaying shopping, perhaps?

the shopping has nothing to do with them being female, Gamers love to roleplay shopping. No one's really sure why, we just do.

[Zanaril]

the shopping has nothing to do with them being female, Gamers love to roleplay shopping. No one's really sure why, we just do.

It's probably related to the urge to hoard one of everything.

[Prak]

quite possibly. It could also be related to the fact that buying a functioning +1 keen claymore, laser pistol, or parts for a new light sabre is somewhat difficult in real life...

[Herald Alberich]

quite possibly. It could also be related to the fact that buying a functioning +1 keen claymore, laser pistol, or parts for a new light sabre is somewhat difficult in real life...

Ah, true. You know you're having fun when even the shopping is badass.

[Prak]

Oh hell, I have fun just by confusing everyone with my shopping. Nothing like seeing the looks on people's faces when they see your dark and evil sorcerer carrying two 2x4s back to his inn room.

[Souhiro]

quite possibly. It could also be related to the fact that buying a functioning +1 keen claymore, laser pistol, or parts for a new light sabre is somewhat difficult in real life...

Well, I once went to a pharmacy, and asked for "Something that buff my HP"

The clerk give me an aspirine.

[Puschkin]

Well, I always love the "shopping part" in computer RPGs. Why? People love to get rewarded. No matter how good the story was or how much fun the adventure was, the reward you get in the end (or in between) is the physical (in game terms) representation of what you have accomplished and as thus a very important factor for your overall enjoyment. While the gold you got may be direct reward, the actual reward is what you can buy with it. That's why shopping is fun.
Oh and another thing is anticipation. The things you buy give you new opportunities (if they grant new skills) or make you stronger. It's just a good feeling if you obtained something that will help you beat opponents that you lost to in the past or that let you take obstacles that blocked your road so far.

At least that's for computer games -in pen&paper I was mostly DM and not player so I can't say for sure if it directly translates- but shopping for new items, spending skill points and learning new feats is basically everything you fought for plus preparation for the next adventure in one. It's like the training montage scene in Rocky movies: Enthralling, emotional, foreshadowing, anticipating, sometimes even greater than the actual fight, but at the very least preparing and enhancing the actual fight. Your new items and skills are like the crane kick that Daniel learned in Karate Kid and that he used in the final fight to beat his opponent.

I also found out, that if a DM tries to keep the players from shopping too much by including cursed items, skillful hagglers, crooked dealers, tax collectors, weapon laws and so on ... well, in most cases that only makes it MORE fun for the players! These sorts of things make the shopping spree kindof a mini adventure within the big adventure.
At first I was annoyed by that but I realized that I only was because I invested to much time and effort in my story. Then I remembered that we are all here to have fun. If they have fun with that kind of action, why would I stop that? Players pretty much know themselves when it's time to move on. The story you prepared doesn't become obsolete just because the players spent more time on shopping than you thought. The plot just has to wait a bit. Usually, after some time, the first player starts to become impatient and asks the others "This is getting boring, shouldn't we, like, continue with our quest?". Then, usually, some players agree while others might say "wait, I just have to do X". And THAT's the time where I start intervening, that's the perfect time to start plot events that make it clear that they should not waste any more time. But not sooner. Unless, of course, the plot requires them to leave the city without a baggage train ...