D&D Walmart

[KingSmitty]

I'm currently in a campaign with a lot of NPC interaction, and I've stumbled across the "Cobblers" a merchant mafia of sorts, and I want to put them all out of business somehow by open my version of a Walmart.

I have no idea where to really begin except to get a large building and start stocking my shelves with everything. I expect ranks in Profession: Shopkeeping and skill focus (Profession: Shopkeeping) is in order.

What kind of things should I be looking into?

Plan A is to systematically impersonate the other merchants (Im a changeling) and fire their employees so they can come work for me. Also stealing their wares and selling them for cheaper is part of the plan. Murder is on the table if neccesary.

I want my customers to be able to get everything at my shop, for less, while still raking in the gold. Is this do able without much headache?

[Jeff the Green]

Plan A is to systematically impersonate the other merchants (Im a changeling) and fire their employees so they can come work for me. Also stealing their wares and selling them for cheaper is part of the plan. Murder is on the table if neccesary.

I don't think Walmart is quite that unethical.

[AvatarVecna]

Remember the golden rule: there is nothing--nothing--a wizard with enough power and petty motivations can't and won't do to show how incompetent others are. Ignoring the multitude of game-breaking tricks available to you, you're a high-level adventurer; you can afford to by stuff at full price and sell it cheaper; you won't make a profit that way, but your adventures will let you afford to do so. At a certain point, you become rich enough to literally throw money at this problem until it disappears.

For something more likely to make a profit? Be a high-level spellcaster abusing Leadership. Three feats (Leadership, Extra Followers, Assemble the Horde) can get you a veritable army of cheap, optimizable labor. of varying levels, as well as a cohort boss to run the company for you.

[JDL]

If you're planning on taking on a cartel, you're going to need to target their finances.

The core concept of business is "buy low, sell high." As a merchant you want to purchase your goods as cheaply as possible and sell them for the highest mark-up the market will tolerate. The problem with single-handedly trying to take on a powerful incumbent is the leverage they hold over the market. Who supplies you your goods? Are they owned or controlled by the cartel? If so, they will likely offer you goods at a high cost or even outright refuse to sell them to you. Where will your raw product come from if the sources are already in someone else's hands?

Second is the cost of transportation. Moving your raw products to your stores takes time and money. Again, if the shipping is controlled by your rival, you'll bleed money. Don't forget the possibility of your stock simply "falling off the back of a truck" and never being seen again. Lock in your logistics stat, without it being bulletproof you'll fail before you even start.

Finally your capital dictates how well you can afford to expand. Are you planning to franchise or will you run the whole show as a chain store with a central headquarters? Franchises offer less capital investment requirements and also buffer you against losses if a store fails, but also dilutes your control over the entire venture. Who's to say your rivals won't purchase your stores under a franchise and then convert them over later?

If you really want to take on the cartel, trying to beat them at their own game is in my opinion a poor strategy. Instead of fighting them head on, try getting someone else that's bigger than them to do your work for you.

In this scenario it sounds like the cartel owns most of the merchant trade. Therefore your best bet is to go for the bigger fish: the Government. You know these guys will be cooking books and short-changing the tax man. If there's one thing that will get a Government to act it's the knowledge someone isn't paying them what they should. Get dirt on the organization. Find out who their leaders are and nail them to the wall with tax fraud. Take enough of them down and the organization will be so busy doing damage control they'll have no time left to try and squash you and your new competition to their monopoly.

Plus, all the stuff I just listed above? Like the golden rule says, "Do unto others before they can do unto you." Attack their logistics. Buy out their franchises. Control their raw supplies. Strangle them and then move in and take over. After that it's just a matter of slapping a "Walmart" sign over the doors of their old businesses and you've killed two birds with one stone.

[the_david]

You could start a cult that is all about sharing. You start by sharing what food you have. Then you start attracting cleric followers who can purify and create food. (Not to mention healing) A wizard could use fabricate. All you ask in return is for people to share what they can miss.
Pretty soon you'll have a system where everybody lives in a perfect symbiosis without using money.

[WeaselGuy]

following to pull some sort of campaign shenanigans against my future players, with this being a background in the living world...

[KingSmitty]

Thank you for all of your imput, next session occurs a week later in game, i have a lot to prepare for.

[Ruethgar]

As a PC you are already selling things at half market value, if you're doing that on a large scale who would be insane enough to buy anywhere else. Also note that you can have your Mass Unseen Servants or Servant Horde perform tasks that require no more than DC 10 untrained skill checks which includes crafting all very simple and typical mundane items. If the DM insists that unseen servants can't do that, finagle a War or Chained Unseen Crafter(requires more investment but w/e). Profession miner is also an untrained skill and can provide raw materials for some of the crafted items.

[Fitz10019]

You'll need greeters, preferably retirees. Find your earliest PCs' character sheets and age them appropriately.

[atemu1234]

Maybe have the greeters be dominated by a powerful Psion, and if the power is broken they beg the PCs for death?