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Iku Rex
2008-11-08, 09:41 PM
I'm looking for an RPG book about trade in a medieval fantasy setting. Preferably d20 System.

I'd like rules for a campaign where the player characters get hold of their own ship, airship or some other way to transport large amounts of cargo, and then set out to make their fortune as traders.

What I have so far:

From WotC there's the business system in Dungeon Master's Guide II and the "Play the Market" chapter in Power of Faerun. Unfortunately the DMGII system doesn't seem very good in general, and the "Shipping Business" addition in Power of Farun doesn't handle the "free trader" kind of deals an adventuring party might engage in. Power of Faerun is heavy on fluff, much of it from the Forgotten Realms, with few concrete game mechanics.

GURPS Traveller - Far Trader is a good example of what I'm looking for, except it's Sci-Fi and has a lot of Traveller specific information. Still, it's probably possible to adapt some of the rules for a medieval fantasy setting.

Edit: For the Eberron setting, Explorer's Handbook has transport prices on page 18. I suspect the prices may not work so well if the PCs are selling transportation rather than buying it... Also, the Lyrandar sailing ship rates seem to be 10x too high. Should be in cp rather than sp.

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-11-08, 09:44 PM
I think Stronghold Builder's Guide had some info. You'd need to reverse-engineer some numbers, but it's something.

Matthew
2008-11-08, 09:51 PM
I think that Western Europe: A Magical Medieval Society would probably be helpful in this regard, but it is not explicitly concerned with the economics of trading.

streakster
2008-11-08, 09:54 PM
Here's the Economicon (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=659653), if that helps at all.

The Tome of Fiends linked within has rules on how to run a Pain Still, I believe.

Iku Rex
2008-11-08, 09:54 PM
I think Stronghold Builder's Guide had some info. You'd need to reverse-engineer some numbers, but it's something.As far as I can tell the Stronghold Builder's Guide only has crude rules for getting a very small annual profit (or at least no additional expenses) from your initial stronghold investment. I don't think it will be very helpful to a trading campaign.

Edit:


I think that Western Europe: A Magical Medieval Society would probably be helpful in this regard, but it is not explicitly concerned with the economics of trading.I'll have a look, thanks.

***

Here's the Economicon (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=659653), if that helps at all.Interesting. I don't agree with a lot of it, and it doesn't work that well for what I had in mind, but it's still worth reading.

bosssmiley
2008-11-09, 11:03 AM
A Merchant's Guide to Rokugan is handy for OA settings and is nothing to do with ancient secret societies plotting to overthrow the existing order, no sirreebob.

rayne_dragon
2008-11-09, 11:53 AM
I seem to recall Ars Magica: City and Guild being great for trader oriented quests, although its more rooted in history than fantasy.

Matthew
2008-11-09, 12:23 PM
I'll have a look, thanks.

Just in case you are having trouble finding this, I should mention that I got the name a bit backwards; I should have written: A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe (http://www.xrpshop.citymax.com/catalog/item/3906392/6232094.htm). It is very good for building kingdoms, and presents a reasonable and fairly straight forward economic system to use with D20/3e.

AslanCross
2008-11-09, 04:46 PM
Eberron (Explorer's Handbook) has detailed rules for large airships as well. The ships are very large compared to most ships even in Stormwrack. The sample shown there was 285 x 75 feet. Note that it's actually a flying ship and not just a zeppelin.

mabriss lethe
2008-11-09, 05:09 PM
A Merchant's Guide to Rokugan is handy for OA settings and is nothing to do with ancient secret societies plotting to overthrow the existing order, no sirreebob.


BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

As awesome as that book is...I really don't think it's what the OP's looking for. Except maybe the first two pages.

-edit: I completely missed the whiteout text...

Iku Rex
2008-11-10, 12:05 AM
As has been pointed out, the Merchant's Guide to Rokugan has little or nothing to do with trade and merchants. Spoiler my ass.

Ars Magica: City and Guild has some generic medieval information, but it's fairly specific for Ars Magica and Mythic Europe. The most interesting part is the chapter about travel and trade routes in medieval Europe.

I did have a look at A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe, and while it's a remarkably useful book at first glance (it covers several situations from the campaign I'm in at the moment) the trade system is focused on small-scale PC purchases.

However, it did lead me to the best find so far: A Magical Society: Silk Road (http://xrp.yourgamesnow.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13). It's about long overland caravan routes, not just the real-world silk road. Nothing about ships, airships or other ways to carry cargo. But it has a huge, detailed list of trade goods, with prices, weight and bulk, that should be useful for any kind of trading campaign.

It also has an expanded trade system. I'm not entirely happy with all aspects of it (after a quick read-through), but it is probably a good starting point.

Tyrrell
2008-11-11, 11:31 AM
I seem to recall Ars Magica: City and Guild being great for trader oriented quests, although its more rooted in history than fantasy.

It's a great book for making adventures about being a merchant. The flavor of Ars Maigca is distinctly different from that of most D&D games so it might not be completely appropriate becasue it draws so much from history, but the book is full of trade fairs that are run by demons or faeries, craftsmen who make items with magical properties because of their great skill and Wizard's guilds supported by magical trade, so yes it's more historical than you might be used to but it isn't just a book of 13th century economics.