A Knave in the Market, Part 2
Just Buy This Stuff
Players can automatically sell goods for 50% of the base price at a rate determined by the settlement's market cap. Goods can be sold during any watch that it makes sense that they would have access to a market to sell them in.
| Settlement | Market Cap |
|---|---|
| Village | 50c/watch |
| Town | 200c/watch |
| City | 1000c/watch |
Lets Make a Deal
Players can opt to haggle if they would like to try to sell goods at higher prices or faster rates than automatic sales would permit. Each haggling attempt takes a watch, regardless of the outcome. Haggling occurs in a series of offers and counter offers, where the seller makes an offer and the potential buyer reacts, accepting, rejecting or making a counter offer of their own.
First, determine the difficulty of the check based on the market. The players may or may not know whether the goods they are trying to sell will be easy or hard to sell in the market they are trying to sell them in; if not, the referee should initially keep this information hidden.
Second, adjust the difficulty based on the difference between the offered price and the 50% base selling price, and how much more goods are being sold over the market cap.
| Condition | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Buyer is merchant | +5 |
| Seller is merchant | -5 |
| Goods are undesirable | +5 |
| Goods are sought after | -5 |
| Base price difference | +1/5% |
| Market cap difference | +1/5% |
| Seller counter offers | +5/counter |
Make a social check, D20+CHA+MODS-(RCHA|RWIS)-DIFF, to determine the buyer's reaction to the offer.
| Check | Initial Offer Result | Counter Offer Results |
|---|---|---|
| 1 or less | Refuse | Refuse and slander |
| 2-5 | Low Counter Offer | Refuse |
| 6-15 | Counter Offer | Counter offer |
| 16-19 | Accept | Accept |
| 20 or more | Accept with elan | Accept with elan |
If the buyer refuses the offer, they won't entertain purchasing the items again this month. If the buyer slanders the seller, the seller's reputation is damaged with the buyer as well. On the other hand, if the buyer accepts, they will pay the price asked, and if they accept with elan, the seller's reputation with the buyer is improved.
If the buyer makes a counter offer, roll to determine what price they counter with. If this is the initial counter offer, it is relative to the base resale price of the goods; otherwise, it is relative to the buyer's previous offer. If the offer would be equal to or better than the seller's previous offer, the buyer will accept that offer rather than countering.
| D20 | Low Counter | Counter |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | -20% | -10% |
| 2-5 | -10% | -5% |
| 6-10 | -5% | +0% |
| 11-15 | +0% | +5% |
| 16-19 | +5% | +10% |
| 20 | +10% | +20% |
After the buyer's offer, the seller may accept it or end negotiations without penalty. They may also make a counter offer themselves.
If the seller makes a counter offer, recalculate the portion of the difficulty determined asking price based on the buyer's previous offer and the seller's new offer. Secondly, add an additional +5 to the difficulty for each counter offer the seller has made. Then, make another check to determine the merchant's reaction.
This process continues until either side ends the negotiations.