Silk and Spices: The Merchant Campaign in Fantasy


To get away from hack-and-slash in fantasy campaigns, many gamers are turning to economic development, building modest feifs or engaging in trade. It's not a bad choice. After all, the life of a merchant and his companions combines travel to exotic lands to match the grandest heroic campaign with the subtlest social and political machinations imaginable. However, few games provide much direction for day-to-day transactions so important to carrying on trade. This article is intended to remedy some of that lack, describing low-tech economies and merchant negotiations in useful game terms.

The Ancient Economy for Gamers

One of the most important details in merchant campaign is how the economy works. The problem with the economies implied by many fantasy games is that they look like modern consumer-oriented capitalist economies. There are convenient shops where characters can slap a stack of coins down on the counter and walk out with whatever they were after at a stable, listed price. This is convenient, but unrealistic. Ancient economies bear little resemblance to the modern economy, and neither should economies of low-tech fantasy societies.

Making a living as a merchant in a low-tech setting is remarkably difficult. The merchant must raise capital in a setting where capital is very hard to accumulate, travel to lands only slightly understood, and transport expensive goods at enormous personal risk to sell on a profoundly unstable market. However, each difficulty is an opportunity for adventure. Is a merchant's favorite commodity being taxed? Perhaps he can talk his ruler into eliminating the tax or, better yet, exempting him while taxing his competitors. Is a competitor getting better prices at the same source? It's time to find out who (or what) he knows. There are several points to keep in mind about a low-tech economy:

  1. Money is scarce. Literally. Taxes are regularly levied in grain and livestock, and even employees of a powerful lord or wealthy merchant are paid with room and board, jugs of wine, or new clothing in addition to a small cash stipend. Characters should expect to trade goods at least in part for other goods and only gradually convert them to money. If a merchant absolutely must sell immediately for money, he will have to accept a lower price.

  2. Prices are unstable. Peasant farmers, the basis of any low-tech economy, perch on a narrow margin between surplus and starvation. A small variation in the weather can cause huge variations in food prices. The price of grain one year is often twice as much (for a bad year) or half as much (for a good year) as the year before. Variations in food prices in turn effect the cost of labor and, ultimately, the prices of everything. "Average" prices were actually relatively stable, with an annual inflation rate of 1% or less for most of antiquity and the Middle Ages. However, goods were rarely available at that average price, but rather varied wildly in a broad but stable range.

  3. Travel is difficult. Roads are bad, navigation is primitive, and most people distrust strangers. In many places, foreigners have few or no legal rights and, without guards or native allies, can be robbed or murdered with impunity. Information is hard to come by and unreliable when it can be found. What news there is arrives in the form of traveler's tales and occasional letters circulating among scholars and the upper classes. News from one city may reach a neighbor fairly quickly, but news from a more remote area is likely to be inaccurate, out-of-date, or entirely fictional.

  4. The price of doing business is high. Many large transactions are taxed. The tax is typically small (on the order of modern sales taxes), but even a small tax will eat into an already small profit margin. Merchants might be required to belong to a guild and buy the right to trade and travel freely, which means that an individual merchant must buy his way in and pay regular fees. Apart from taxes, moving goods from one place to another is quite costly. Local rulers charge steep tolls for use of the roads, when there are roads at all, and even over the relatively good roads of the Roman Empire, the cost of transport could double the price of a load of grain after about a hundred miles. And, of course, the wary traveler may want to hire guards to protect his valuable cargo against pirates and bandits...

  5. Many goods aren't worth trading. Individual farmers and craftsmen make a modest profit by selling their own goods, but rarely enough to justify adding a merchant as a middleman. If, for example, a merchant were to buy wheat and take it to a city for sale, he would have to pay the farmer a price close to what he had been getting before in order to make it worth selling. Once he got to the city, he would have to sell it for more than what the farmer had been getting in order to turn a profit. Since he is competing against a thousand other farmers (or, at best, a hundred other merchants) selling the same product, he isn't likely to make much of a profit. A merchant may make a living from transporting produce and selling small goods, but he won't get rich. The real money is in rare materials and exotic items that would be otherwise unavailable, but those goods are the hardest to get.

  6. Land is the only reliable wealth. Given the difficulties of trade, wealth is measured not in coins but in acres. A good-sized plot of land with a few tenants won't bring a huge income, but it will yield enough food to live off of and a bit of extra labor to draw from in the off-season. More importantly, it won't sink in a storm, rot in a storehouse, or be stolen by bandits. Even after fire, plague, or war, the land itself will still be there. Historically, it wasn't until the sixteenth century that merchants became more interested in reinvesting their profits than in buying land and taking on the trappings of country gentlemen.

  7. Trade isn't a respectable occupation. Many societies (including imperial Rome, imperial China, and medieval Japan and Europe) had an abiding distrust of merchants. Unlike farmers and craftsmen, merchants produce nothing visible, so their value to society is not immediately obvious. It was difficult for many to imagine that one could turn a profit on a monetary transaction without the other party coming out behind. As a result, many societies regarded merchants as little more than con men, "cheating" their customers and taking unfair advantage of the hardship caused by local shortages.

Running the Marketplace

Whatever other complications there may be, the core of a merchant campaign is buying and selling. The rules below aid the GM in determining costs for transported goods. First, the GM determines the price of goods at their source. Second, the merchant who buys them must carry the goods to his destination. Finally, the GM determines the price the merchant can get for the goods once they are brought to market.

Buying: Consult the list below when a character wants to buy something at or near its source, not at its destination. The GM should feel free to arbitrarily pick prices in the given ranges to reflect quality and scarcity or abundance. Individual items may be bought at the prices given in equipment lists in appropriate world books. The purchaser should roll a Quick Contest of Merchant skill with the seller. The sale price is adjusted by 2% in favor of the winner per point he won the contest by to a maximum of 20%.

Foods
Item Cost
Beer $4-10/gallon
Wine, common $5-15/gallon
Wine, fine $15-80+/gallon
Distilled liquor $20-100+/gallon
Oil (olive, sesame, or other edible oil) $4-8/gallon
Vinegar $3-7.5/gallon
Condiments (fish sauce, flavored pastes, etc.) $5-12/gallon
Grain, low grade (coarse oats, millet, etc.) $0.1-0.75/lb.
Grain, high grade (soft wheat, fine rice, etc.) $0.5-1.5/lb.
Flour increase grain cost by 50%
Beans $0.75-2.5/lb.
Nuts $2-5/lb.
Vegetables, dried $3.25-7.25/lb.
Fruits, dried $3.75-8/lb.
Meat, preserved $5-10/lb.
Confections
(candied flower petals, sweetened pastes)		 $6-30/lb.
Herbs, dried $2.5-$5.75/lb.
Spices $2.5-$7.5+/lb.

Textiles
Item Cost
Raw wool $3-12/lb.
Raw linen/cotton $3-10/lb.
Raw silk $5-45/lb.
Leather
(leather weighs 2-5 lb. per square yard, depending on thickness)		 $15-40/sq. yd.
Fur
(furs weigh 1.75-5 lb. per square yard)		 $20-100/sq. yd.
Wool cloth
(wool cloth weighs 1.75-4 lb. per square yard)		 $6-30/sq. yd.
Linen/cotton cloth
(cotton and linen weigh .75-1.5 lb. per square yard)		 $6-30/sq. yd.
Silk cloth
(silk cloth weighs .25-1 lb. per square yard)		 $10-70/sq. yd.

Other Goods
Item Cost
Perfumes $10-50/oz.
Beeswax $3.5-8/lb.
Ivory $12-20/lb.

Shipping

While low-tech vehicles have a cargo capacity of 15-20 lb. per cubic foot, most goods weigh at least 30 lb. per cubic foot, so it is far easier to overload a ship than to overfill the hold. If it becomes important to know a cargo's volume, most foodstuffs weigh 35 to 50 pounds per cubic foot, cloth and clothing weigh 45 to 60 lb./cf., wood weighs 35 to 60 lb./cf., and stone and ores weight 150 to 200 lb./cf. With the exception of some raw materials (lumber, metal ingots, etc.), goods must be shipped in crates, casks, or other packing material. Packing materials have a weight of 10% of the goods carried. At TL 1 and 2, liquid goods are transported in heavy ceramic vessels which weigh as much as the goods themselves. At TL 3, wooden casks and glass bottles come into use and packing weight drops to 10% of the cargo's weight.

Overland transport is expensive, but there is often no alternative. Traveling with loads of goods counts as heavy work (see GURPS Bestiary p. 73), and the GM may adjust water requirements as necessary for climate. Prices for grain may be determined using the chart above. Common pack animals may be fed the cheapest grains available. Contrary to the GURPS Bestiary, hay is cheap but not free in a low-tech economy. Hay costs 25% as much as the cheapest grain. Unless a caravan is heading across a desert, fodder for the animals (and for the caravan's personnel) may be bought along the way.

A caravan should have at least one driver for every cart or two or three animals, plus one packer (Packing skill 15+) for every twenty. In addition, a caravan may need guides, a master (if different from the merchant forming the caravan) and assistants, and guards. Some caravans take "passengers" who pay for the privilege of traveling safely with the caravan through hostile territory. If so, the caravan master may hire servants to look after them. Finally, the caravan master will be responsible for any tolls along the way. Tolls are usually low (a silver or two per man, a little more for every animal or cart), but they can add up if the caravan goes through the territories of a number of different rulers.

Using a ship requires either buying a vessel or reaching an arrangement with a ship owner, equivalent to chartering it. A merchant ship needs at least a captain and several sailors. For extended journeys, it may need a cook, navigator, and carpenter. For sailing in difficult waters close to land, it may also need a pilot (a navigator/steersman familiar with a particular part of the sea).

Clearly, this can get quite expensive. If there are enough merchants in one place to form partnerships, it is common for them to pool resources for extended trading expeditions. For example, several merchants might hire a ship, each paying for a sailor and an appropriate portion of the "rent" on the ship and receiving in turn a share of the cargo space and enough space on deck for each merchant (or his agent) to set up a tent.

Selling

When a merchant wants to buy or sell something that has been shipped a significant distance, the GM must determine the local price. Using the buying chart above, the GM should determine the price of the commodity at the source nearest the place of sale (which is not necessarily the price at the merchant's source!), roll four dice, add appropriate modifiers, and consult the chart below. The result is a percentage of the price at the nearest source. The local price reflects conditions of abundance or scarcity at the point of sale, difficulty of transport, demand for the commodity, and the ability of people at the selling point to pay a fair price. If the merchant is trying to buy or sell a commodity within fifty miles of a source, this step should be omitted and the buyer and seller should skip to a contest of Merchant skill. Modifiers for exotic versions of locally produced commodities may be reduced as the GM sees fit. An otherwise unremarkable type of grain from half a world away is, after all, still just grain. The GM should also feel free to limit the amount of any commodity the merchant can sell, particularly in poor or sparsely populated areas. No matter how good he is, no merchant will get fair market value for a matching pair of Fine broadswords in a small village.

After the local price is determined, the seller should roll a Contest of Merchant skill against the buyer. The winner adjusts the final price in his favor by another 2% for every point by which he won the contest to a maximum 20%. If the merchant doesn't like the price he is offered, he can keep his goods and wait for the market to improve. The GM should make a new roll at least every month of game-time, by which time prevailing conditions may have changed. However, during that time, stored goods may be subject to spoilage and pilfering.

Local Price

Roll % of Price at Source
0 or less 33%
1 45%
2 50%
3 60%
4 66%
5 75%
6 80%
7 85%
8 90%
9 93%
10 95%
11 98%
12 100%
13 100%
14 100%
15 105%
16 110%
17 115%
18 120%
19 125%
20 135%
21 145%
22 160%
23 175%
24 200%
Add an additional 25% for every point above 24.

Modifiers
Shortest known route to nearest source by water (ocean, canal, or navigable river):
50-150 miles: +1
150-250 miles: +2
250-500 miles: +3
500-700 miles: +4
Over 700 miles: +5, +1 for every additional 200 miles

Shortest known route to nearest source by land:
50-100 miles: +1
100-200 miles: +2
200-300 miles: +3
Over 300 miles: +4, +1 for every additional 200 miles
Regular trade route interrupted by weather, war, etc.: +3
Commodity is completely unfamiliar at point of sale: -3 or more
Unusually high imports of that commodity: -3
Economic troubles at point of sale: -1 to -5
Commodity is illegal at point of sale: +3
Foods sold in a bad harvest year: +3 or more
Common foods (e.g.: grains, olives, beer) sold in a good harvest year: -3 or more
Foods sold during or immediately after a siege: +5
Specific luxury good "in vogue": +4
Specific luxury good out of fashion: -5

Modifiers for land and sea distance are cumulative if the route goes over both land and sea. For example, if some exotic silks must be carried 250 miles by sea (+3) and another 75 miles inland (+1), the total modifier is +4. Use the lowest applicable modifier for distance. Merchants cannot increase the price of their goods by taking a roundabout route.

Conversions To Other Game Systems

While the economy rules are written for GURPS, they can be used in many other game systems with a little modification. GURPS's "$" is a generic symbol for the standard unit of currency, be it dollars in a modern-day campaign, credits in a SF setting, silver pieces in a fantasy world, and so on. In other game systems, simply substitute the "standard" denomination for $. For example, in the Harn system, the price might represent copper pennies, while in AD&D it would probably represent gold pieces.

A Contest of Skills has two characters roll against their skill and compare the magnitude of their success or failure. This can be reproduced in any skill-based system. In a d100-based skill system, such as Runequest, both characters should roll against the most applicable skill on d100 and determine their success relative to their skill (for example, a merchant with a skill of 60 who rolls a 40 has succeeded by 20). Find the difference between relative successes or failures (e.g.: one merchant succeeds by 12, the other by 33; the winner beats the loser by 33-12 = 21) and divide by 2.5 to determine the percentage cost adjustment for the winner. In a system that uses dice pools and numbers of successful rolls, such as Shadowrun and the White Wolf's World of Darkness games, simply subtract the number of the loser's successes from the winner's and multiply by two to get the percentage cost adjustment.


Originally published in issue #26 of Pyramid magazine, published by Steve Jackson Games. Copyright 1997 by Steve Jackson Games. Posted with permission.