do you make use of wandering monster merchants to let the party occasionally refill their supplies and sell cumbersome stuff during prolonged dungeon crawls and wilderness travels?
do you make use of wandering monster merchants to let the party occasionally refill their supplies and sell cumbersome stuff during prolonged dungeon ...
sure but it's random unless they go to a trading camp or arrange for a guy to meet them at a place
While i find the idea comfy, resource management is exactly the point of dungeoneering.
If i give them the ability to restock in the dungeon it will take away that gameplay element.
It's an extension of that gameplay. You could delve further if you buy supplies here... But there's risk. And monetary cost. And maybe you'll end up in too deep.
gouge them with prices dumb dumb
I want to play in the Ovopack world.
Yeah man I was thinking the same. He's one of the few furshit artists that doesn't ooze degeneracy.
No. The point of wandering monster encounters is to prevent the PCs from going full overkill mode whenever they come across a rat and then resting and restoring whatever their semi-expendable resources are. Wandering merchants don't really help me do that.
Yes. The Mysterious Merchant is a recurring encounter in both dungeons and general travel, because I'm not going to be bothered to make more than one merchant for a dungeon crawl.
I like the idea but it only fits high fantasy heroic adventure and I've been running more grounded stuff lately.
One of the random encounters that can roll up is a Beeperson selling candles (they work like magic scrolls when lit). They have a group with them in the area collecting materials, but will give you a sting if you don't buy anything.
Gold is the most cumbersome thing by far. What they want is monster money changers who sell gems for gold but they would never trust them even if they were encountered.
No because in my setting most non-humans are enemies. Also it would make the dungeon too easy and not feel like an actual forgotten ancient ruin.
If it was forgotten shit wouldn't be living in it
>everything the merchant peddles has a chance of hindering you
Why do they specifically have to be monster merchants?
I like the idea of monster merchants if the setting is final fantasy style shit
they are not attacked at every step they take in a dungeon
They don't have to, but they're great for excuses.
Wandering monster merchants, specially those who dare to dwell into dungeons offer a lot of room for inventory management shenanigans. It might offer cool but weird magic items and buy stuff from the party, but the unconventional nature of the location and situation, the economy doesn't have to play by the rules.
Maybe they don't take gold, maybe they'll buy you stuff at a lower price, maybe something mundane is extremely valuable for them and viceversa.
When a merchant doesn't play by the rules, PCs usually get more suspiscious or wary of them, but if it's a monster they tend to be okay and think of ways to haggle with them. Non-standard rules for commerce opens the door to new deals and haggling, which is always fun.
They're meant to be slaughtered and their supplies, which they killed good people to obtain, looted.
In the wild yeah, there are few specific traveling merchants who have their own routes they take. I had one in a dungeon but it was an old abandoned temple that he kinda just lived in, not knowing there was a dungeon beneath it
I think youd have gotten better results by saying less than humanoid merchant npcs and not use some furbait dogwhistle. If you can't do Wind of the Willows narration where the inhuman part is just tangential to the plot then Im bailing. That being said merchants with differing rules and ideas of value would be nice. Maybe there's a monstrous creature thats smart enough to throw gold at your feet if you give it meat, maybe it then starts dangling looted gear from dead adventurers in your face as an incentive to give it more meat. Stuff like that would be cool. A merchant but its a catfolk that says nyah or meow is forgettable, may as well be a human or elf.