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Post by burningtorso on Jun 3, 2014 19:49:40 GMT -6
Now most of the villages will be isolated and fear each other, however there would probably be a few that do limited trade.
Wanted to see if anyone on here would help me brain storm the following:
*Merchants/Trade - I imagine not much happens, but what are your thoughts on this?
*Imports/Exports - What do you guys see being common trade items, aside from slaves in this setting?
*Inns/Bar - In a trade area, they might have some crude form of Bar or Inn, if you could even call it that. Thoughts?
I have been working on a settlement developer for my campaign and these are some areas I have not fleshed out yet.
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jdjarvis
Level 4 Theurgist
Hmmm,,,, had two user names, I'll be using this one from now on.
Posts: 123
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Post by jdjarvis on Jun 3, 2014 21:03:23 GMT -6
I suppose the degree of trade depends on how your take on Carcosa functions overall. Is it a cthuloid neverwhen hellscape, or post apocalyptic cavemen, or a picaresque dying earth (among a few options)?
I myself am leaning towards sword & planet dying earth myself. There's some trade but you really have to worry about local customs and the often dangerous leaders of villages.
Most places aren't big enough for formal taverns or inns so finding accomidations can be tricky but depending on local culture there may be locals willing to provide spac for travellers.
Unless extremely xenophobic and isolated a village is going to be aware of other villages nearby and have some sort of relationship from mutual antagonis to subjected vassals to begrudged allies.
Does your Carcosa have coins in it's treasures? If it does there shoould be something to buy.
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Post by burningtorso on Jun 3, 2014 22:49:57 GMT -6
There are coins, but have my settlements set up on what they prefer, being coin, gems or barter.
My Carcosa is blend of few themes. Post apocolyptic cave men & Cthuloid hellscape are big themes, but have a influence of the space aliens doing culture modifications on humans in (usually) an isolated Arcology for some settlements.
My campaign also borrows Crusssdaddy's "Restorative Orders".
I am definitely planning on having any taverns/inns that might exist in my game be rare and only in the settlements that do trade with others. Just trying to think of a way to approach it that is not the typical fantasy tavern. Want these to really stand out as new or strange for not just characters but the players as well and not "Just another Bar...".
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Post by strangebrew on Jun 4, 2014 3:06:16 GMT -6
*Merchants/Trade - I imagine not much happens, but what are your thoughts on this? I would imagine roving bands of nomads, real mysterious types like the Bedouins of Arabia. They might have random items of interest, things found in ancient ruins and so on, but not trade goods as in food staples, artisanal goods, or raw materials. *Imports/Exports - What do you guys see being common trade items, aside from slaves in this setting? Like I said above, not much. Shiny things and artifacts maybe. *Inns/Bar - In a trade area, they might have some crude form of Bar or Inn, if you could even call it that. Thoughts? I would consider some non-Western analogues to the tavern. For example, maybe model these places on opium dens, sweat lodges, vision chambers, pleasure domes, etc. They might be drinking alcohol, though weird fungi or something like that might be more interesting. |
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jdjarvis
Level 4 Theurgist
Hmmm,,,, had two user names, I'll be using this one from now on.
Posts: 123
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Post by jdjarvis on Jun 4, 2014 6:15:05 GMT -6
Strange brew made a few good points.
Instead of an inn wandering PCs find themselves being offered space in a warehouse, a spot in the house of the dead, an evening in the pit of lucid dreaming, a sealed cloister in the harem of he who rules with a jagged blade. A nice relaxing salt rub, snail cleansing, body waxing, or herbal delousing may be in order as well and only an uncouth savage would turn down such things.
Anyone read Ring World, given the infertility between races of man it looks like a prime environment for rishathra? Visitors of the same race/color should also be careful of what huts they get invited to for an evening, just sleeping a whole night in the some house might constitute marriage (or at least declaring intentions to marry) in some places. It's also possible for wanderers of the same color spend a few awkward or comfortable nights exchanging genes before returning to the road. Having relations with the unmarried second daughter of the leader may be expected and the penalty for failing to comply may be borne by the visiting party and the unlucky local.
Real life has had many stranger situations for travellers, surely carcosa will be a step beyond.
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Post by jcstephens on Jun 4, 2014 10:28:30 GMT -6
Given the difficulties of farming in a monster haunted wasteland, I expect meat will provide most of the food. In this case salt (for preservation) will be a highly valuable commodity, and people will pay anything they've got for it.
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Post by crusssdaddy on Jun 4, 2014 23:03:47 GMT -6
I would think skills are highly sought in trade: technology repair, dinosaur husbandry/taming, etc.
I'm increasingly looking at adventurers as a complete breed apart from village/castle/citadel dwellers. When adventurers arrive at one of these locations, it's like when modern missionaries or explorers or ethnographers arrive at a village in Borneo or the Amazon: great curiosity, eager to trade for tools, impressed by technology, offered a spot in the headman's hut, etc. Excepting those occasions when you are greeted by having your head chopped off and offered to the local deity.
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Post by eaterofkittens on Jul 30, 2014 0:59:31 GMT -6
Food: purple cabbage with thick green veins and carnivorous vines/antennae, amphibious goat things, slow moving insectoid pigs, perhaps tarantula chicken things that lay lots of eggs,
Think of staples which would grow in certain climates. Rice, beans, corn, wheat, and bananas. Then weirden them.
Herbs: delicious, psychoactive, poisonous
Clothes: Available to people with access to tannable hides,silk worm variants, wool or cotton, leather. Not sure what clothes are made of on carcass. Beads and grass maybe. Large skulls
Weapons: Everyone is making their own weapons unless there lucky enough to have alien tech which they'd be foolish to sell. They'll be looking to buy whatever isn't easy to come by in their area. Shaped stone knives, sharp wood and bone or obsidian spearheads, metal knives and swords would be very valuable. Not sure what quality of metal. If they don't have steel, their flimsy tin or copper swords might blunt, bend, or break after a good hard blow.
Tools for building: hammers, saws, scraping tools, fixatives (made from boiled creatures and sap) grease, flammable oils
Comfort items: pillows, fragrances, feathers or mothwings (soft and pretty is the important thing) dino saddles, curative unguents and analgesics, skin soothing powders and creams (or snails)
Paints and pigments, bead, rugs, blankets, (again not sure what stuff is made of. Perhaps it's better not to know...)
Hygiene products, aphrodesiacs, maps and schematics for construction, carvings and figures, toys and games
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