Baker's Shop

As a heads up, this is the third list I've published today.  This is what might be called a "fun" list or perhaps a frivolous one.  At any rate, it fits into the post I wrote awhile ago about ways to play with the nutritional intake of the player characters.  A list like this offers a wider variety of possibilities for what a mage or fighter might eat on a particular day, or how they might view their character's personal habits.

I mucked around a bit before posting this today working out the price of an apple pie.  It might seem strange to think that anybody would bother including an apple pie in their trade system, but if you think about it there's no bother.  The price of the apples has been calculated, as has the price of flour, yeast, sugar and so on, and those things are already incorporated in the cost of the luxury baker who makes pies and cakes.  All that is needed to determine a price after that is to follow the recipe.

Sometimes I love my system.

I only included an apple pie, but I could calculate a peach cobbler, a mince-meat or a pecan pie if it came to that.  I would if a player expressly asked me to (would take about 90 seconds) ... which doesn't mean the baker would have it in stock.

I like that most of the things on this list can be sold to citizens on the street.  A player could make a few coin buying it in a shop and risking the guards by selling it to a passerby - if a silver piece or a few coppers was worth the risk.  It helps explain how a lot of the lower class hawkers might make their income, or how much income they might have on their persons at a given moment.  "Yes, you step up to rob the goodwoman; she has no money, but she's carrying a pie ..."

Wouldn't be bad.  Even the shopkeeper would buy it for 3 g.p.

Of course, there are certain principles to be followed here.  The "shopkeeper" in this case wouldn't be the baker himself - but it would be the local inn or tavern-keeper, who might take it off your hands to sell to his customers.

I want to make a point here that also applies to the apothecaries' table.  It might be noticed that the cake and the pie are served on a plate and in a pan.  These are bought an paid for by the patron, too.  The price for each is included in the price of the object.  At the apothecary, a lot of the items are contained in jars, vials, phials, pots, flasks and so on.  These are also included in the price of the object in every case.  They are worth money, too, if you try to return them to the glassmaker or the potter (tables I haven't posted yet).  Otherwise, one might imagine the party leaving behind a litter of objects, never thinking that the earthenware plate holding the cake is worth almost 2 g.p. (it's the pan that makes the pie more expensive).

Well, that's enough to write about a baker.