tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post1587176139486064263..comments2023-10-14T03:58:59.333-06:00Comments on The Tao of D&D: No Price TagsAlexis Smolenskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-31375866469568901472013-08-02T21:10:13.593-06:002013-08-02T21:10:13.593-06:00I'll have to echo Hedgehobbit on this one. I u...I'll have to echo Hedgehobbit on this one. I used to keep everything mysterious on values, but gave it up as inevitably it turned into my having to keep an endless list of treasure found compared with their statements of "I have four lbs of #113." Luckily, there is always one anal retentive guy willing to keep track of weights, then we do the divy at the end. He's the one in charge of making sure encumbrance is handled, not me. He even makes the decision of what to jettison or cache, as his records are largely "a mix of silver and bronze armlets of outlandish make, three are encrusted with rock crystals." I find it akin to dropping the mapspeak we used in eighth grade "The ten foot wide hall elbows in 80 feet, with iron doors on the right wall in 30, 40,50 and brass double doors at 70" and just being willing to shoot everyone an updated map to their email account on Monday. You have to start choosing what you're spending time on, what enhances vs. what keeps the story moving.Gort's Friendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08684913847135419951noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-45838972699176212062013-07-30T11:57:25.826-06:002013-07-30T11:57:25.826-06:00Life really is a bitch, Hedgehobbit.
Perhaps they...Life really is a bitch, Hedgehobbit.<br /><br />Perhaps they might learn from the adage, "let the buyer (or the seller) beware."Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-79145318932433923082013-07-30T09:47:55.779-06:002013-07-30T09:47:55.779-06:00I used to keep the value of items secret but now I...I used to keep the value of items secret but now I don't see the point. If they find a gem that's worth 1,000 GP, and I offer them 50 GP for it, I'm kinda screwing them over, if I offer them 1,000 GP then there was no point in keeping the value secret in the first place. <br /><br />It's different from secret monster hit points because the PCs will eventually know that number when they exceed it and the monster dies. But with gems (or any kind of non-coin treasure) what is to be gained by having a secret value that the player will never know?Hedgehobbithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17606283586332210195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-19759422865656055482013-07-26T09:39:23.367-06:002013-07-26T09:39:23.367-06:00Agate was, most likely, included because it was hi...Agate was, most likely, included because it was historically a very rare stone. If I recall correctly huge deposits were found in South America and utterly changed the value of the stone from what it was in the ancient world.<br /><br />I only know this because I wondered the same thing and did some research many years ago now.<br /><br />D.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-57023454630624867312013-07-26T08:12:37.713-06:002013-07-26T08:12:37.713-06:00Rough and at the time, it was worth $6,000.Rough and at the time, it was worth $6,000.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-44812916517250928162013-07-26T07:54:46.143-06:002013-07-26T07:54:46.143-06:00I thought the way you handled it with the online g...I thought the way you handled it with the online game was pretty good. "... this seems to be worth more than that and maybe twice as much as the other thing..." it gave the players rough orders of magnitude without reducing it to a price tag. I admit in my own games I generally just tell them what the stones or jewelry are worth as a convenience to me. I'm better organized these days when running, though, so maybe I'll start tracking it myself and allow these values to be a small mystery in the game. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-82945507044541393162013-07-26T04:25:01.625-06:002013-07-26T04:25:01.625-06:00Thanks for the story about your father's findi...Thanks for the story about your father's finding. Just out of curiosity, how much was worth that topaz?<br /><br />RE: gems; yes I do the same. I only allow dwarves, gnomes and thieves a chance to spot the actual value. I use the Intelligence score (% of knowing spells) as chance to estimate the value of the gem, the lower they roll, the better the estimate (w.r.t. the starting % score.)Antoniohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17258180992723371727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-9874579149082308092013-07-25T15:40:21.184-06:002013-07-25T15:40:21.184-06:00I've got a bunch of foreign coins, antique coi...I've got a bunch of foreign coins, antique coins and worn out coins in my treasure hoards and some of the players are baffled they don't know the exact values of all such loot (the reply is of course: how many 19th centuury dracma do you think you can get for $10.00). The gem issue is one I'm working up a simple classification system for that still doesn't have a handy 400gp tag on a gem. A little mystery isn't a bad thing.JDJarvishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07691101939920824546noreply@blogger.com