On Sun, 4 Dec 2005, JL Hatlen Linnell wrote:
Am I the only one bothered by the idea of an easily-accessed shop full of high-powered magic items? Keep in mind the economy of this. It takes 120h to learn this spell, nearly as many to make the wand. You're paying a mage somewhere for over 200 hours of their time to make a wand. And mages are relatively rare - probably far MORE so, if people buy the "it takes less than a minute" line. They can justly charge quite a bit for their time. Keep in mind that shopkeep wants to make a profit, too. You're probably spending quite a heap of change to buy that "wand of fireballs" But it probably does NOT work that way. YOu don't have mages working as manufacturers to supply shopkeeps. This is a silly abstraction we build on our industrial-age assumptions.
Not necessarily. Mass produced magic items are a modern concept, but I see nothing wrong with the idea of a 'magical craftsman' that has a few items available that he knows will sell, and does much of his work on custom orders.
Magic items are giong to be fairly rare, usually created by mages for specific individuals, for quests, for communities in need of protection... They would come into adventurer's hands from treasure troves, through black markets, through inheritance, as rewards for service... Rarely in any logical setting would a shop be found full of magic items. Now, one curiosity might find its way to a shopkeep's hands... But its presence in a store should be an element to larger stories, and not merely a convenience for the powerhungry adventurer.
It really depends on the world background. If mages are relatively plentiful, there will be people setting up shops just to produce and sell magical items. Depending on rarity and price, it might be an unmarked shop, where you have to be 'in the know' in order to find. In a world where there are more mages, it might be just a step up from a weaponsmiths shop -- a variety of commonly sold items already available with a few sample items just waiting for someone with enough money to come along and buy them. -Bret ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bret Indrelee | 2b | ~2b = ff. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
