Running a Shop Running a succesful shop can be some adventurer's dream. Here are a few things to help a DM provide what these kind of players crave. Location, Customer, and Prices There are many things to consider when determining the success of a shop, but some of the most important things to remember are how much you're charging for any given item, where your shop is located, and how good your customer service is. Location Is the shop in a shady back alley or is it in the town's central hub? The location of your player's shop can have huge impacts on how successful it is. Having a shop in a popular part of town will attract more customers and could even bring in exreamly wealthy customers! Customers "The customer is allways right" follwing this motto is nessisary for a store's survival! How well does your players treat their customers? Are they treated with respect even when they are being unreasonable, or are less agreeable customers scoffed and thrown out? Prices Players might try to sell items for outragous prices which simpily will not do. The average item is sold at a 30% increase and trying to sell an item for too much can lead to a bad reputation. A Whole Lot a' Tables Here are some tables for your shop running needs. How Long the Shop has Been Opened A new shop is going to have slower buesness than one thats been there for serveral years. Use the following table to determine a shop's time modifier. Time Open Modifier Less than 1 week -3 More than 1 week -1 More than 1 month +1 More than 1 year +3 More than 2 years +5 More than 5 years +7 Location A shop in the middle of the town market place is more likely to get more buessness than one in a bad part of town. Use the following table to dtermine a shop's location modifier. If the player's shop is in a settlement with a population of 50 or lower then ignore the following table and give the shop +3 for its location modifier. Location Modifier Back alley or other obscure location -3 In a residential area 0 On the outskirts of the town's central hub/ marketplace +2 In the town's central hub/ marketplace +5 Exterior Design Having an eye catching shop and displaying your wares can attract more customers. Add the modifiers from the following tables to determine a shop's exterior modifier. A sign can tell a thousand words... or what your shop is called. Sign Modifier No sign -1 Sign with shop's name or slogan +1 A good display can make an average shop great, or a great shop average. Display Modifier Clutered/disorganised display -3 No display -1 Cheap items (less than 25 gp) on display 0 Average items (25-100 gp) on display +1 Expensive items (over 100 gp) on display +3 A colorful paint job can make a buessness boom, but remember no one wants to shop in a rickety ol' shack. Exterior design Modifier Decrepid building -2 Average building 0 Flamboyant/flashy building +2

Interior Design If a shop's interior is warm and inviting than it will draw in more customers but if it's messy and unapealing then it will scary them away. Use the modifiers from the following tables to determine a shop's interior modifier. The overall apeal of the outside of a building usualy carries on into the shops interior but some wall paper can help Interior design Modifier Decrepid -2 Average 0 Flamboyant/flashy +2 If a shop's wares are carelessly strewn about then people won't want to buy them. Stock Placement Modifier Carelessly strewn about/on the floor -2 On shelves and tables 0 On fancy (gold, velvit lined, ect) shelves and tables +2 If a shop isn't frequently cleaned then it won't keep many customers. A player or NPC must take at least 2 hours each day to clean a shop for it to be considered clean. Cleanliness Modifier Clean +1 Hasn't been cleaned in a day 0 Hasn't been cleaned in a week -1 Hasn't been cleaned in a month -3 Hasn't been cleaned in over a year -5 Custimer service A happy customer can only bring in more customers but a dissatisfied custimer can dissuade two fold. Use the following table to determine a shop's service modifier. The service modifier cumulates over time and has a maximum of +5 and a minimum of -5. Treatment of custimers Modifier Each customer that is treated nicely and makes a purchace +1 Each customer to leave the shop angry -2 Changing Market Prices The prices of items constantly fluctuate do to a shortage or increase in certain materials. If a product rises in price assume it doubled in value while of a product lowers in price assume it is worth half as much as it usualy does. Use the following tables to determine the type of items, whether their price grows or falls, and how long this change will last. At the begining of each week roll on these tables to see changing values. d20 Type of Item 1 Metal items 2 Leather items 3 Armor 4 Melee weapons 5 Ranged weapons 6 Adventuring gear 7 Food 8 Ammunition 9 - 20 Nothing If you rolled anything other than 9 - 20 then flip a coin and use the following table to see if the listed items increase or decrease in price. d2 Effect 1 (heads) Increase 2 (tails) Decrease Now roll to see how long this change lasts. d20 Time 1 - 10 1d4 week(s) 11 - 15 1d6+1 weeks 16 - 19 1d8+1 weeks 20 1d10+2 weeks Onto the Game! Now that we've got all that crap out of the way lets get ready to to acually play! Custimers For every 4 hours a shop is open roll on the following table to determine how many customers try to buy something. Add the shop's location, time, interior, exterior, and service modifiers to the roll.

Roll a d20 and add all the shop's modifiers. use the following table to determine how many purchase attempts are made. d20+ location, time, interior, exterior, and service Customers -6 or lower 1 customer -5 - 5 1d2 customer(s) 6 - 10 1d4+1 customers 11 - 15 1d6+2 customers 16 - 20 1d8+3 customers 21 - 25 1d10+4 customers 25 - 30 1d12+4 customers 31 - 45 1d12+6 customers 46 or more 1d12+8 customers Wealthy Custimers Each time you roll on the prievious table roll 1d20+ the shop's location, time, exterior, and service modifiers to determine how many of a shops customers are wealthy. A wealthy customers can be destinguished from their lavish clothes and lack of money managment skills. A wealthy customers will be willing to pay much more for an item than the average person. Wealthy customers are also the only ones who will be willing to buy magical items. The amount of wealth customers in a shop cannot exede the number of customers in the shop at the time. To be clear, the amount of custimers does not change with the following role, rather the normal custimers will be replaced by the given amount of wealthy custimers. d20+ location, time, exterior, and service Wealthy customers 15 or less No wealthy customers 16 - 25 1d2 wealthy customer(s) 26 - 45 1d4 wealthy customer(s) 46 or more 1d6+1 wealthy customers Selling This is where the bulk of the fun come from when running a shop. A custimer will try to buy an item that is on display or they might ask the shopkeep if they have an item of a specific typing (examples: weapon, armor, food, ect.). When a player makes an offer to a customer roll on the following tables to determine if they accept the offer or not. If the custimer in question is of average wealth use this table. d20+ persuasion and service Acceptance Rate 5 or lower Customer will accept up to 110% of base value 6 -15 Customer will accept up to 130% of base value 16 - 20 Customer will accept up to 140% of base value 21 or greater Customer will accept up to 150% of base value If the customer in question is wealthy use the this table. d20+ persuasion and service Acceptance Rate 5 or lower Customer will accept up to 140% of base value 6 -15 Customer will accept up to 160% of base value 16 - 20 Customer will accept up to 180% of base value 21 or greater customer will accept up to 200% of base value Bartering If a customer is unhappy with an offer they will try to lower the price. Custimers won't barter forever though and will walk out without buying anything. If the player tries to sell an item for more than double the expected price then they will leave immediatly. But if they still give a good price then use the following table to determine how long they are willing to barter for. Custimers are more likely to barter more with well respected shops. d20+ time and service Times Willing to Barter 1 - 5 Will barter once 6 - 10 Will barter 1d2 time(s) 11 - 15 Will barter 1d4+1 times 16 - 19 Will barter 1d6+1 times 20 Will barter 1d8+2 times