Trade Guild Faction / Player Group Discussion

[Aglet Blacksoul]

You would kind of be like the Tinkerers from the Wheel of Time. Gypsies. I think that is pretty cool! Best of luck to you.

[Alterity]

If you end up getting enough interest, you could spark some interesting RPing opportunities if you had two rival groups, each trying to undercut the other group's prices, and trying to be better minstrels etc. Could come down to a few fist-fights at times too!

Rivalry tends to also get folks interested. If you wanted to get a rivalry going, I'd do it based off timezones, as most Euro's would have trouble making EST times, they could do their own thing.

Just a thought

[Kamen]

Agreed. Still working on one group though. Yes, closest comparison would be a band of gypsies. So, any renewed interest? The trade guild concept wouldn't necessarily be the primary focus at the start. We would likely come to Cear with little more than the clothes on our backs and a song in our hearts. We would survive on wit and charm, using song and useless goods as the foundation with which to (with any luck) build our vast trade empire.

Recap below:

This is a continuation of a discussion started on the Dasaria IRC channel.

The main concept is to start a weekly player group who's primary goal is to start a trade guild in Cear. Some of us feel that the game economy has become too OOC and would like to remedy it through IC action and RP. The focus of this group would be to try to manipulate prices to a realistic value to be determined through the course of play for many types of items not commonly available at NPC merchants, such as those crafted and enchanted by player characters, as well as other rare items that can only be found.

This is intended to be all done IC and allow for intrigue and conflict if other IC merchants don't adopt to the guild prices for example. It would likely be a non-lawful organization that relies on bribes, extortion, threats, and IC violence but everything is negotiable at this point an I am starting this thread to get some input from others in a single place before this goes into action.

One such idea is to have the initial group all start as halfling gypsies coming to Cear. This would involve players only leveling their characters with the group and likely some OOC discussion about the character backgrounds as they will have known each other for some time and come from a common background. They would also have to be self sufficient with a wide array of skills, most notably crafting/enchanting skills/feats, spot/listen, conversation skills, and other such traits to make a well balanced group that can work together as merchants and as adventuring companions.

DM involvement would be appreciated for specialized adventure and conflict, but all of this can be done with player involvement only, even down to setting up a sort of chanti town of tents where they can hawk their good from. Part of the play time would be dedicated to adventuring and another part to RP in town, so we are likely looking for a prime time on the weekend to get optimal random involvement when they setup shop in the middle of N Cear or wherever. Having at least one crier/bard in the group to entertain passersby would be great. I know there are a few of you out there that are really awesome at coming up with songs and rhymes on the spot.

Well, I'm sure I've missed a few other topics that were already discussed so feel free to add to the discussion. The end result will hopefully be an enjoyable player group and a robust IC economy that all can benefit from. So many transactions are handled OOC now. While this group wouldn't police OOC transactions, we are hoping to put the fun back into keeping it IC. The fun of opening a player-run enterprise is in the RP, haggling, IC/RP thieves and other intrigue; not in making game money. That being said, please comment below.

Current discussion is to morph the player group into a band of traveling minstrels to take advantage of the TKL Performer. There could still be an aspect of commerce along the lines of the original concept. The groups sets up tents, camps out, entertains passersby, and hawks their wares. I don't have a musical bone in my body, but my understanding is that someone could write the music and scribe it for the others. It could be great fun to have a group playing in harmony while others sold goods and/or performed other services. So... mostly bards, some crafters/enchanters...

Current discussion still involves rolling new characters and only playing together as a group.