Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Silversmith


I haven't much to say about this table ... it's fairly straightforward. There are literally endless possibilities for things that could be added; the chalice, for instance, apart from being fully engraved, might be fixed with stones, or it might have gold handles, or the quality of the engraving might be increased, so that having been created by a greater artist than an engraver, increases in value. Contrariwise, the spoon might be smaller or larger, the same being true with everything on the list. What 'size' they may be is arbitrary.

Everything on the list was found, at one point or another, on some website that included the 'shipping weight' of the object (apart from packaging) that made it possible to determine a weight. Weight + workmanship + material + distance from source determines the price ... and like any other table, these prices would change were this not Constantinople (the same location at which I posted the previous table).

That is why the prices won't do for your world, I'm afraid. At least at the silversmith almost all these items come from the same place (engraving does not, so the distance from the engraver vs. the distance from the manufacturer independently alter up and down with respect to one another to produce a final price). I don't post these tables to suggest a price, but to emphasize the variety of possible goods which might be offered to the players or which the players may want to buy.

In the beginning, my players were at first overwhelmed by that choice ... but I have learned since that, having worked out methods for gathering their way through the tables, they appreciate the intrinsic materialism that comes from having a great deal of 'stuff' to peruse through. I suggest that the reader expand their equipment tables, and in expanding, determine uses for all the things there, to draw the character's interest. How, for example, might the mask be employed, or does the snuff box impress when the character draws it out for a pinch? How many of these things are really necessary for the well-presented individual, who might give a thought to the practice of "entertaining" in order to "parley" with the local administration in order to get their desires?

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