Trade

Play

Moss: We heard there’s a brilliant blacksmith in this castle, right? How about we try to get some better gear?

Ref: Sure, down in the tunnels beneath the castle you follow the clangs and heat of the forge. Sure enough you find a blacksmith toiling, the walls lined with an array of arms.

Tal: We said about getting bows, is there a bow on the wall?

Ref: So arms are generally split into Common, Uncommon, and Rare.

Ref opens the book for the players and gestures over the list.

Ref: Since this guy is a proper weaponsmith I reckon they’ve got plenty of Common stockpiled, and some Uncommon and Rare tucked away in storage or made to order.

Tal: Wait how much money do we have?

Ref: You have a bit, but big bags of money are for rich merchants. You’re Knights! You need three things to make a trade: somebody who can supply the thing, raw materials if needed, and something to give in return.

Moss: Okay, let’s see what their deal is first.

The group play out a conversation with the blacksmith, who seems fiercely loyal to the Lady of the Castle.

Tal: Okay, well we’re here to help the Lady, so could we take a couple of bows?

Moss: Wait, I also want a proper sword.

Ref: The smith happily pulls some bows off the wall and hands them to you, a quiver of arrows each.

Tal: Actually why would a blacksmith have bows? Are they metal bows?

Ref: I guess this is a general weapon store. When you ask about the swords he seems less open. “I’ll have to speak to the Lady about that, I’m sure you understand.”

Moss: Okay, all the more important we make a good impression.

Thoughts

Playing a game without tracking of currency or abstract wealth ratings is an adjustment for most players. The intent is to get players into more of a feudal mindset, where longstanding exchanges of service, labour, protection, and goods make up the majority of trade. Aside from any sense of immersion, this approach encourages players to consider the place of the characters in the world and the network of relationships between non- player characters.

Here we see that in a well-worn scene of RPGs: shopping for weapons.

What does the blacksmith want? Ref thinks they’re content. Working for the Lady gives them a relatively secure life in the castle. When Knights arrive to help the Lady it seems fitting that the blacksmith would help up to a certain point, but still ultimately need the Lady’s approval to give out Rare items like swords. The players could have tried to bribe him, but does this smith really need money? I suspect he wouldn’t be so easily tempted. Instead, as the players learn more about this character, his place in the castle’s society, and his relationship with the Lady, they might be able to pull his strings a bit more effectively.

Later, Tal points out that maybe the bows should be located elsewhere, as they’re made from wood, not metal. It’s pretty common for players to question apparent errors like this, and it shouldn’t be considered malicious.

Instead of immediately hitting undo, consider why the seemingly inconsistent element could be true. Here it’s obvious, but you can create some interesting situations by throwing such queries back at the players.

“Yeah, that is weird, right? Why do you think that could be? Do you want to ask somebody about it or investigate?”

Sometimes they’ll shrug it off, sometimes it’ll set them on a tangent, but wherever possible I like to keep to my word as a Referee, which means we’re sometimes discovering and justifying the details of the world together.