Peelee
2013-03-12, 12:24 PM
I'm going to copy/paste an entirely-too-large description of one aspect of how the world works in one of my current campaigns. I'd appreciate any feedback on it, especially anything I've overlooked or just flat-out done wrong. It is still partially incomplete, but I'm hoping to get it finished pretty soon. Anyway, onto the ridiculousness!
l'm a campaign I'm currently DMing, all magic shops are part of a single monolithic chain. The main villain, a thousands-year-old lich, has hundreds of mages in his employ, making magical items. When Bob the Bard enters a magic shop in Townsville and asks for Rod of Better Magicks, Stanley the shopkeeper goes into the back room to fetch one - or so Bob is told. In actuality, Stanley writes the item's name on a piece of paper and tosses it into a Pemanencied Teleportation Circle. The circle is keyed to a massive hidden lair. The lair has a massive map of the country sprawled across the floor; each magic shop's circle is keyed to their precise location on the map. There are nine adjoining rooms, one for each school, and each school's room itself has nine adjoining rooms, one for each spell level the item is imbued with (items with multiple spells imbued are categorized by highest spell; if two or more are equal level, then alphabetically by spell name). The entire area is under a Permanencied Reverse Gravity (using a homebrewed Greater Permanency spell, the stats of which I have yet to write down), with constructs (I have yet to narrow down which type) who have two everlasting commands:
1.) To gather the paper that falls "down" to them, grab the item from the appropriate room, and toss it up to the appropriate circle.
2.) To immediately attack anyone who enters without speaking the command word (command word to be determined).
The Townsville Magic Shop is still restricted by city wealth (you wouldn't be able to buy a Scroll of Wish unless you went to Capital City or some other metropolis), and items can be priced according to "rarity" - that is, in the Deserted Desert magic shop, a Rod of Create Water would be 10,000 gold, while that same rod would be 750 gold in Waterport. This artificial scarcity is intentionally done to
a.) obfuscate the fact that all magic items are readily available from a single source (a fact not known to the general populace, or even to the shopkeeper that run the magic shops), and
b.) help keep the worldwide economy well-regulated and stabilized.
The profits average a 70/30 split, with the 70 going to the house. At the end of each business day, the shopkeeper takes the 70% and tosses it into the circle. An accountant construct (again, type to be decided) keeps a running tab on all goods being transferred to each shop, and notes any discrepancies. Any suspicious activity (constant disparities in documented profit and received profit) are magically reported to the lich via Sending scroll. All gold collected is sent to a teleportation circle keyed to a different lair, this being a vast, category room with no entrance or exit other than the teleportation circle. This is the treasury, the location of which the lich has memorized and can access at any time.
Magic shops are set up on a manner that appears competitive to foster the image that there is no monopoly. Different stores may have different prices for different schools, types of items, and the like (a magic jewelry shop could undercut others on rings and perhaps, for instance, while a magic General shop would have higher prices but a more well-rounded stock. Different stores pay different percentages to the house, house as low as a straight 50/50 cut for an "independent" newer shop starving for a survival against a larger, more corporate type shop.
All teleportation circles are warded such that incoming teleportation are both delayed and the the constructs notified that teleportation is occurring, and which specific circle it is at. This is via a homebrewed Greater Teleportation Circle; I have yet to stat it out and figure out the level, but the differences are:
α.) The range is changed to 0-ft, and no longer needs to be cast on a creature; it can be cast on an area.
β.) The area it covers is 25-ft + 10-ft/level.
γ.) The spell can be made permanent via the Permanency spell.
Finally, one (and only one) of the following effects must be chosen at the time the spell is cast:
δ.) Anyone in the Greater Anticipate Teleportation's area is aware of anyone teleporting into the spell's effected area.
ε.) The spell can be keyed to a single, specific individual, who will always be notified of any creatures teleporting in to the effected area.
The lich himself is notified of any attempts to teleport into the treasury chamber.
It's a fairly elaborate setup designed to encourage a high-magic campaign, yet with guards against an "anything you could possibly want" potentially gamebreaking magic supershop, and harsh penalties for attempted robberies (especially since the back “storage room" would appear to be cleared out at night by any burglar who manages to get into said empty room).
An important note: This is not necessarily intended for the players to ever discover. If they happen to stumble upon it and discover the sheer scope of it, they are more than welcome to do whatever they wish about it, including completely destroy the entire organization (if they can). However, I will at no point deliberately try to lead them into discovering the truth behind the magic shops, and it is never intended to be a plot point. It is merely a way for my BBEG to be ludicrously wealthy and powerful.
l'm a campaign I'm currently DMing, all magic shops are part of a single monolithic chain. The main villain, a thousands-year-old lich, has hundreds of mages in his employ, making magical items. When Bob the Bard enters a magic shop in Townsville and asks for Rod of Better Magicks, Stanley the shopkeeper goes into the back room to fetch one - or so Bob is told. In actuality, Stanley writes the item's name on a piece of paper and tosses it into a Pemanencied Teleportation Circle. The circle is keyed to a massive hidden lair. The lair has a massive map of the country sprawled across the floor; each magic shop's circle is keyed to their precise location on the map. There are nine adjoining rooms, one for each school, and each school's room itself has nine adjoining rooms, one for each spell level the item is imbued with (items with multiple spells imbued are categorized by highest spell; if two or more are equal level, then alphabetically by spell name). The entire area is under a Permanencied Reverse Gravity (using a homebrewed Greater Permanency spell, the stats of which I have yet to write down), with constructs (I have yet to narrow down which type) who have two everlasting commands:
1.) To gather the paper that falls "down" to them, grab the item from the appropriate room, and toss it up to the appropriate circle.
2.) To immediately attack anyone who enters without speaking the command word (command word to be determined).
The Townsville Magic Shop is still restricted by city wealth (you wouldn't be able to buy a Scroll of Wish unless you went to Capital City or some other metropolis), and items can be priced according to "rarity" - that is, in the Deserted Desert magic shop, a Rod of Create Water would be 10,000 gold, while that same rod would be 750 gold in Waterport. This artificial scarcity is intentionally done to
a.) obfuscate the fact that all magic items are readily available from a single source (a fact not known to the general populace, or even to the shopkeeper that run the magic shops), and
b.) help keep the worldwide economy well-regulated and stabilized.
The profits average a 70/30 split, with the 70 going to the house. At the end of each business day, the shopkeeper takes the 70% and tosses it into the circle. An accountant construct (again, type to be decided) keeps a running tab on all goods being transferred to each shop, and notes any discrepancies. Any suspicious activity (constant disparities in documented profit and received profit) are magically reported to the lich via Sending scroll. All gold collected is sent to a teleportation circle keyed to a different lair, this being a vast, category room with no entrance or exit other than the teleportation circle. This is the treasury, the location of which the lich has memorized and can access at any time.
Magic shops are set up on a manner that appears competitive to foster the image that there is no monopoly. Different stores may have different prices for different schools, types of items, and the like (a magic jewelry shop could undercut others on rings and perhaps, for instance, while a magic General shop would have higher prices but a more well-rounded stock. Different stores pay different percentages to the house, house as low as a straight 50/50 cut for an "independent" newer shop starving for a survival against a larger, more corporate type shop.
All teleportation circles are warded such that incoming teleportation are both delayed and the the constructs notified that teleportation is occurring, and which specific circle it is at. This is via a homebrewed Greater Teleportation Circle; I have yet to stat it out and figure out the level, but the differences are:
α.) The range is changed to 0-ft, and no longer needs to be cast on a creature; it can be cast on an area.
β.) The area it covers is 25-ft + 10-ft/level.
γ.) The spell can be made permanent via the Permanency spell.
Finally, one (and only one) of the following effects must be chosen at the time the spell is cast:
δ.) Anyone in the Greater Anticipate Teleportation's area is aware of anyone teleporting into the spell's effected area.
ε.) The spell can be keyed to a single, specific individual, who will always be notified of any creatures teleporting in to the effected area.
The lich himself is notified of any attempts to teleport into the treasury chamber.
It's a fairly elaborate setup designed to encourage a high-magic campaign, yet with guards against an "anything you could possibly want" potentially gamebreaking magic supershop, and harsh penalties for attempted robberies (especially since the back “storage room" would appear to be cleared out at night by any burglar who manages to get into said empty room).
An important note: This is not necessarily intended for the players to ever discover. If they happen to stumble upon it and discover the sheer scope of it, they are more than welcome to do whatever they wish about it, including completely destroy the entire organization (if they can). However, I will at no point deliberately try to lead them into discovering the truth behind the magic shops, and it is never intended to be a plot point. It is merely a way for my BBEG to be ludicrously wealthy and powerful.