EdOWar
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 315
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Post by EdOWar on Feb 8, 2018 16:13:32 GMT -6
I wait until they're back. I also roll individually for everything because of the unexpected results. My NYC D&D group found 27 gems, and when I rolled them, one was worth 10,000 and two were worth 5,000. Getting that much money at first level changed the entire course of the campaign. That's why rolling for everything matters. It takes things in a direction you could never guess. Just so I'm clear, did you roll the gem's values after they got back to town? Or were the values rolled when originally stocking the dungeon? Thanks.
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Todd
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 111
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Post by Todd on Feb 8, 2018 21:36:21 GMT -6
I wait until they're back. I also roll individually for everything because of the unexpected results. My NYC D&D group found 27 gems, and when I rolled them, one was worth 10,000 and two were worth 5,000. Getting that much money at first level changed the entire course of the campaign. That's why rolling for everything matters. It takes things in a direction you could never guess. What table do you use to roll for gem values?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2018 22:32:15 GMT -6
I used the table in the 3 LBBs and we rolled when they got back to town. That's always how I do it.
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graelth
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 111
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Post by graelth on Feb 9, 2018 4:52:38 GMT -6
Exactly. This is a feature, not a bug. Not only do I not want to have to referee a group of 15 players, I don't want to referee a platoon of NPCs. Minimizing the size of the party is a goal of mine as well, considering I have extra players this year. Makes my life much easier. This is good advice to remember, in my case, and I'll be sure to keep it in mind. On that note, it is also worth mentioning this little gem from Book 1:
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Todd
Level 4 Theurgist
Posts: 111
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Post by Todd on Feb 9, 2018 7:56:40 GMT -6
I used the table in the 3 LBBs and we rolled when they got back to town. That's always how I do it. I was looking for the table last night, couldn't find it, then looked again right before I was going to post to that effect and then found it on the last page. I must have been too sleepy.
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EdOWar
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
Posts: 315
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Post by EdOWar on Feb 9, 2018 14:32:03 GMT -6
I used the table in the 3 LBBs and we rolled when they got back to town. That's always how I do it. This is kind of fascinating to me. I've always generated the value of gems/jewelry during the dungeon stocking process. But in many ways it'd be a lot easier to do it after the PCs get back to town. It'd be interesting to expand this idea to other kinds of treasure, too. Fancy looking furniture? Sure, it looks expensive, but might not actually be worth much. Is it worth the time to haul it back to town? There's really only one way to find out. That's one of the things I love about these boards, always discovering new ways to do things.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2018 15:22:49 GMT -6
Minimizing the size of the party is a goal of mine as well, considering I have extra players this year. Makes my life much easier. This is good advice to remember, in my case, and I'll be sure to keep it in mind. On that note, it is also worth mentioning this little gem from Book 1: Players in the campaign, not in one single session. Gary had about 12 to 15 players and we played 2 to 3 at a time. I've been astounded at the number of people who think he crammed 50 people into one room.
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Post by sixdemonbag on Feb 9, 2018 15:31:36 GMT -6
I’m realizing that one nice side effect of rolling in town is that you don’t waste time rolling for gems and jewelry that the party never finds or decides to leave behind. It’s a small timesaver anyway, and the players get to eagerly anticipate the roll. Interesting. What about letting the players roll as well? Could be fun.
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Post by Starbeard on Feb 9, 2018 15:56:52 GMT -6
I really like @gronanofsimmerya 's "roll it when we get back to town" method. I've experimented with it here and there, and I think it's just a matter of time before I adopt it wholesale.
It has the advantage of dispensing entirely with the need to play out the whole haggling part of town business. After all, the gem's potential value is unimportant if the only gp/xp you get is from its real value in trade. Rolling on the table reflects all of the back and forth of getting it appraised, valued and sold, and the table's result is the best deal you were able to get, whether that deal was good, fair or raw.
Some ideas running with this idea:
• Once you roll a value you can decide not to take the trade, believing that you can get a better deal in the future. At the next trade, simply roll again to see what the new final offer is, but there's a 75% chance that the original offer was actually as good as you'll ever get, and the gem is now automatically worth only 1/3 the original offer.
• You can do this not only with gems, but also jewellery, and even draw up a table or two for other common genres of valuable objects.
• Characters who are very good at appraising might be allowed to roll on the table while still in the dungeon, with a % chance based on Intelligence of having that value be accurate when they get back to town (otherwise roll on the table again for a fresh value).
• You can adjust the value rolls to reflect the state of the market (higher for areas with rich fools, lower for poor areas), or supply and demand (lower for gems, higher for textiles). The roll could also be affected by the character's Charisma, to reflect bartering savvy.
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Post by waysoftheearth on Feb 9, 2018 18:10:25 GMT -6
I wait until they're back. I also roll individually for everything because of the unexpected results. My NYC D&D group found 27 gems, and when I rolled them, one was worth 10,000 and two were worth 5,000. Getting that much money at first level changed the entire course of the campaign. That's why rolling for everything matters. It takes things in a direction you could never guess. So true. Using the tables can generate weird and wonderful game circumstances that you'd rarely consider by design. It can also take a chunk of the "planning" load off the ref (who has enough to do besides), and also introduces fun surprises for the ref too. Riding the crazy whims of happenstance is part of what's great about D&D I've been astounded at the number of people who think he crammed 50 people into one room. To be fair, there have been photos getting about the internet showing DA and EGG running (con?) games for large groups. (Not 50, but maybe a dozen or so...) I’m realizing that one nice side effect of rolling in town is that you don’t waste time rolling for gems and jewelry that the party never finds or decides to leave behind. Another positive element of this is that you needn't pause dungeon delve in situ to resolve the value of 2 or 5 or 15 gems on the spot. Delaying that to later means game play can be smoother...
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