|
There are a number of different options for merchandise. Your choice will be dependent on your personal preferences and the skills at your disposal. A well balanced shop offers its customers a wide variety of goods. Here are most of your options:
Arms Merchant: the arms merchant carries GM smithed weapons and armour. Some of the shadier arms merchants have been known to traffic in poisoned weapons (the abundance of both professional and amateur assassins in our fair land ensures a steady market for these dishonourable weapons). The arms merchant doesn't run up against the item limit (125 items) but will almost certainly run into trouble with the weight limit (400 stone). A good arms merchant is restocked daily.
Currently, the most popular weapons are katanas, krysses, war forks and halberds. The most popular armour is GM Plate Sets, GM "Archer Suits" (chain tunic, ring/plate arms, chain legs, chain coif, plate gorget, ring gloves) and similarly constructed coloured suits of armour.
Magical Artifacts Merchant: the magical artifacts merchant carries magical items of various quality and has a wide assortment of armour and weapons from which her customers may choose. Ever since the Fishing Fiasco of '99, most magical artifacts merchants carry a majority of high quality items (force+ or silver for weapons, hardening+ for armour). The arms merchant doesn't run up against the item limit (125 items) but will likely run into trouble with the weight limit (400 stone). A good arms merchant is restocked daily.
Currently, the most popular magical weapons are katanas, krysses, war forks, halberds, quarter staves and war maces. Today's most popular magical armour includes chain, plate and leather (for the meditating mage who can't wear much else). Other magical items which sell well are accoutrements with charges of spell reflection and bless.
Reagent Merchant: the reagent vendor sells reagents in bundles of 10, 20 and 100 at a slight mark-up over store prices. The reagent shop rarely has a problem with the weight limit, but will often hit the item limit wall. A purveyor of reagents knows where to shop and spends a lot of time restocking her vendor - up to 3 times a day, with heavy traffic. A true reagent shop carries nothing but reagents and a few runes to the shop.
The best selling reagents are black pearl and mandrake root, with a twist of blood moss.
Ars Magica: the pedlar of items arcane carries runes, scrolls, spell books, filled potion kegs and individual potions. As with the reagent shop, the item limit is the killer here. If you're selling both potions and scrolls, you should consider two separate vendors.
The best selling items are greater heal, deadly poison and explosion potions, almost all recall runes (especially to dungeons), rune books (both full and empty) and recall, mark, gate and resurrection scrolls. Most high level scrolls will sell (although, since the Fishing Fiasco, there's no shortage of level 4-7 scrolls in the world), as will full spell books.
Craft Master: The craft master sells the various craftable goods available in the game. These goods include house add-ons, furniture, clothing, certain weapons and warrior supplies (staves, bows, xbows, arrows and bolts), music supplies (most notably the standing harp and music stand), potion kegs and trapped containers. The craft master could run up against both the item limit (125 items) and the weight limit (400 stone), depending on her particular inventory. A good craft master is restocked every couple of days.
The most popular items are house add-ons, potion kegs, black dyed clothing, lockable chests and armoires, exceptional quarter staves and dyed furniture.
Fishwife:. That's not your father's fishwife! Today's fisher folk don't eke out a living by spending 10 hours at sea, another 8 hours trying to sell their wares by the docks and then returning to their lean-tos to catch a few hours' sleep before starting all over again. On the contrary, today's fisher folk get out of their 4 poster beds at around noon, board their yachts for a few hours of light fishing, come back to the marina for cocktails and a 6 course meal and then retire to their country estates for the evening. Ever since the Fishing Fiasco of '99, the fisher folk are among our richest citizens and have only one goal in mind when they comb the seas - the Message in a Bottle ("MIB"). Once fished up, these MIBs provide a plethora of magic items, gold, gems, scrolls and, if that weren't enough, fine works of art, pillows, sea shells and some more grisly souvenirs of the ships from which they came. Fishing vendors stock the finest in magical weapons and armour, sunken treasure and scrolls. Believe it or not, some fishing vendors (although only a small minority) also sell... fish! The fishing vendor doesn't usually run up against the item limit (125 items) but may run into trouble with the weight limit (400 stone). A good fishing vendor is restocked every few days.
The most popular items are high quality magic items, paintings and pillows.
The Fence: Sometimes a merchant is offered rare goods that aren't usually available to the public. When such items are offered, the wise shopkeeper knows better than to question their origins and just quietly pays off her supplier and puts the items out for sale.
Many of these items have become known to Britannians as semi-rares and include coils of wire, whips, horseshoes and other items normally reserved for the shops of NPCs. Trade in this fare can be brisk, as the items make excellent house and shop decorations. Given the relative scarcity of these items and the limited number of different semi-rares available, the Fence doesn't usually run into either the weight limit or the item limit (even if a Fence were to have access to a large supply of "borrowed" goods, she would be too smart to put out large quantities of the goods, for fear of driving down prices and attracting the attention of the law).
|
Stratics Central
