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View Full Version : [3.5] My magic item shop generator



ericgrau
2009-10-14, 01:09 PM
I came up with an Excel spreadsheet to randomly generate magic item shops, or all of a single town's magic item shops put together. The idea is to stop the standard "magic item shops" where PCs can buy just about anything... and then promptly loot the storekeeper b/c he has a billion gp in magic items. And yet hasn't managed to take over the world yet himself. Ya, none of this really happens (usually). But buy-anything shops do break versimilitude pretty bad or other shops are so restrictive that the PCs have no idea what to get without repeated DM refusal. Anyway, you can download the spreadsheet using the link below. It's pretty simple to use.

Magic Item Shop Generator (http://www.freefileserver.com/381672)

And here's a copy of the readme to give you an idea of what you're getting into:

Purpose:
The Magic Item Shop generator creates and sorts a bunch of items to put in your magic item shops.

How to Use:
Type in a level and multiplier then hit the go button. You're done! Adjust the portions of major, medium and minor magic items if desired. The current numbers are more or less arbitrary. Note that if the "Level" is too low you won't get any medium/major items regardless.

What it all means:
The shopkeeper (or the entire town) has items equal to treasure from "Multiplier" encounters of EL "Level". Make sure the total value of such isn't more than what the shop keeper or entire town could afford. After all they'd be doing a lot more than selling the magic items if they were that rich.


There's a lot of improvements I could implement but they all take time and I'd like to see what features people would really like to have.

jokey665
2009-10-14, 01:16 PM
Is this supposed to work in/have you tested it in OpenOffice? Because it isn't working for me. I'd use Excel except for that whole "pay money for it" thing. >_>

ericgrau
2009-10-14, 01:34 PM
I've never tried it in Open Office, sorry. Does Open Office support macros? Do you have yours enabled?

I'd strongly suggest Office 2003. It's great, probably better than the newer versions and cheaper. You don't get the compatibility issues that you do with Open Office. I tried Open Office for a bit but the whole not working with Excel files and errors importing/exporting MS Office files in general killed it.

jokey665
2009-10-14, 01:43 PM
It does support macros and I have them enabled. Not sure what the issue is.

Shademan
2009-10-14, 01:44 PM
this is GREAT!
thanks alot!

The White Knight
2009-10-14, 01:51 PM
Visual Basic macros do not work in Excel 2008 for Mac
:smallfrown:

EDIT: but I'll try it on my PC at home later!

Fluffles
2009-10-14, 01:56 PM
I just have the shop keepers keep all of their stuff in bags of holding. Among a pile of Bags of devouring.

root9125
2009-10-14, 01:58 PM
This is absolutely brilliant. Doing it by hand was not so fun, and actually DID result in my PCs murdering the shopkeeper. So this is very nice. :D

wizuriel
2009-10-14, 02:00 PM
looks very purdy :D.

Would there any way to make it request various types of items? Maybe the town only has a potion maker, or the local church only has scrolls it can sell.

Edit would be great if could then include and combine mundane items. Have like a weapon seller that specializes in just swords :D

ericgrau
2009-10-14, 02:13 PM
Anything is possible. Keep the suggestions coming and I'll consider everything.

I think there's already a mundane equipment shop generator online somewhere. You can google it and see. But IMO every mundane item should be somewhere in town.

I'll toss in a category selection drop down menu right now since it's a quick change.

shadow_archmagi
2009-10-14, 02:21 PM
Hey this is really great! I'd been wondering for some time how to give the PCs a bit of choice in magical items without either overwhelming them or making work for myself!

<3
<3
<3
<3

THIS IS GREAT

Myrmex
2009-10-14, 02:24 PM
It doesn't do anything for me. I put in level & multiplier, and the only thing that changes is total wealth.

ericgrau
2009-10-14, 03:03 PM
Did you hit the go button? :smallbiggrin: Are your macros enabled?

Myrmex
2009-10-14, 03:07 PM
There's a go button? Macros are enabled.

ericgrau
2009-10-14, 03:13 PM
Probably some kind of version error with excel not displaying the graphic. You can also run the macro with Ctrl-Shift-S or from Tools => Macro => Select_Items, Run

And thanks for all the positive responses.