Making Your Own Goods

Adventurers with appropriate skills may want to save money by
making their own equipment. Use the following guidelines in this situ-
ation.
Starting equipment always costs “list price,” even if the PC could
have made it himself. Assume that buying materials and taking time
out to make the item had the same impact on the PC’s starting wealth
as if he had bought the item.
Building equipment in play is legal . . . if the GM is willing to go
along with it. Some things to consider:
1. What raw materials are needed, and how much will they cost?
“Parts cost” is usually around 20% finished item cost.
2. How long will it take? PCs who build equipment between adven-
tures can’t earn income or learn skills during that time. PCs who build
equipment during adventures are out of the action.
3. What skills are required, and what happens on a failure or critical
failure? As a rule, failure just ruins the raw materials. Critical failure
produces equipment that fails catastrophically when used!
It would take several books to list all possible items, raw materials,
building times, and skills – so this must be left up to the GM.
tracked them to their lair, wiped them
out, and took their loot. Now, assum-
ing the heroes have enough pack ani-
mals, it will be a simple matter to take
the goods into town. Locate a
merchant (using Area Knowledge –
or Streetwise, if necessary). Make the
best sales approach possible. The
GM makes a reaction roll for the
merchant. If he’s interested in the
goods, he makes an offer, which the
players can accept or reject. Simple.
But it doesn’t have to be that sim-
ple. Identifying treasure, and turning
it into cash, can be a major part of the
challenge! Some possibilities:
• The treasure is not portable. How
will they get it home?
• The treasure is not recognizable
as such without a skill roll – or looks
like treasure to the unskilled observer,
but is really junk!
• The treasure is valuable only to
certain collectors or specialists.
Getting it to a buyer might be an
adventure in itself.
• The treasure is illegal or immoral,
making it risky to trade.
• The treasure is perishable or dan-
gerous, and requires special handling.
• Somebody else is hunting the
treasure.
• The treasure is not goods, but
information – a clue to the real loot, or
a major plot hook toward the overall
campaign goal.
In spite of your best planning, the
players will occasionally find “loot”
you had not anticipated. For instance,
the slavers had the PCs trapped in iron
cages . . . and when they escape, they
take the cages with them to sell for
scrap. This is when you improvise. If
you have no clear idea what the goods
are worth, just make the story inter-
esting. If you want the party to have
money, then there’s a demand for
scrap iron in the next village. If not,
nobody is interested. Simple.