Friday 22 July 2016

Goods and Services in Hero Kids

Just the other day I was contacted by Josiah Fiscus who, after reading my July 8th post, A Way to Use Loot and Gold in Hero Kids was inspired by my Item and Equipment Pricing Chart to create his own chart for randomising Items and Equipment one could find in a treasure hoard.  He arranged it in an interesting way, grouping the entries by their cost as outlined in my prior blog post.  He and I discussed it back and forth and after some further tweaking by he and I, here it is as a downloadable PDF for your reference: Hero Kids - Item and Equipment list.

I'll take a moment to both thank Josiah for his generosity in allowing me to share this on my blog, and to encourage anyone who finds themselves similarly inspired to submit it as well.

Josiah's input and creative interest in my blog spurred me to make a set of companion charts for detailing what one could find at various businesses in a typical fantasy town.  Rather than attempt an exhaustive listing of every conceivable business one could encounter, I instead created a few generic examples:
  • Armorer
  • Bowyer & Fletcher
  • Weaponsmith
  • Eatery/Inn
  • Livery Stables/Saddlery
  • Herbalist/Alchemist/Magic Shop
  • Tailor
  • General Store
My charts aren't configured for randomised results, instead, they are grouped into categories, combining both the Items and Equipment pricing system outlined in my Loot and Gold post as well the default arms and armor ranking system outlined in my July 15th post Naked Hero Kids wherein I theorise on the stats of unarmed and unskilled Heroes.  Thus I have grouped the entries into the following ten categories, each with their own purchase price:
  • Items - Mundane, Minor: The most basic of consumables. A meal, or a potion. Simple services are also covered by this category. 1 Gold Coin.
  • Items - Mundane, Major: Consumables which last a set time instead of just an instant effect. I also included extended services here. 2 Gold Coins.
  • Items - Magical, Minor: The same as Minor Mundane Items, but with a magically conferred benefit. This would cover a simple magical service too. 4 Gold Coins.
  • Items - Magical, Major: The same as Major Mundane Items, but with a magically conferred benefit. This covers extended magical services too. 5 Gold Coins.
  • Equipment - Simple: The "lesser" of the default equipment a Hero starts play with. Their sword, bow, or shield. 2 Gold Coins.
  • Equipment - Advanced: Conceptually the same as Simple Equipment, but are more advantageous things such as a full suit of armor or a large two-handed weapon. 3 Gold Coins.
  • Equipment - Mundane, Minor: Equipment with a simple or specific use, or offering only a limited usage benefit. Rope, a lamp, or a weapon with a situational benefit like the Raider's Battleaxe. 3 Gold Coins.
  • Equipment - Mundane, Major: Equipment with constant beneficial abilities or uses, usually applicable to multiple situations. The Hunter's Longbow, Heavy Shield, or a Pony. 4 Gold Coins.  4 Gold Coins.
  • Equipment - Magical, Minor: The same as Minor Mundane Equipment, but with a magically conferred benefit. 4 Gold Coins.
  • Equipment - Magical, Major: The same as Major Mundane Equipment, but with a magically conferred benefit. 5 Gold Coins.

One could easily regroup the goods and services to represent a different type of venue, such as a Blacksmith, a Potion Shop, a Fish Market, a Fur Trader, Rug Merchant, Gem Seller, or whatever else you wanted to include in your game.  All you need to do is assign the goods and services accordingly, adding any new entries into the appropriate category.

Speaking of new entries, in populating my charts, I ended up creating almost half a hundred of Items, Equipment, and Services which were not previously detailed elsewhere.  I may compile them into a set of equipment cards in the future, complete with category and pricing info as per my previous systems.  I have included the eight example Fantasy businesses as a printable PDF for in game reference: Hero Kids - Sample Fantasy Shops.

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