Trade
A downloadable game
While monarchs and nobility battle, befriend and betray each other in fickle turns, merchants steadily build their own international network of power and wealth through trade. But their lives are not easy. Merchants face unknown landscapes, the unforgiving sea, ambitious competitors, bandits, petty rulers, war and civil strife – all for a few more coins in their pockets.
Here is a simple system to introduce the dynamic adventure of trade into Cairn by Yochai Gal and other old school games. You will need a standard poker deck of fifty-two cards, with the jokers removed.
You will also need Connections, Reputation and Ships & Buildings. Free to download.
Inspired by:
Find the Right Buyer (Nick K, 2020)
Machiavelli: The Prince (MicroProse, 1995)
The Merchant of Prato (Iris Origo, 1957)
Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel, 2009)
Writing, Graphics & Layout: Matt Kelly
Editing & Development: Yossi Krausz
For use with my other supplements for domain-level play.
Published under CC-BY-SA 4.0
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $3 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Comments
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👍 Thanks for sharing!
Whats the goal with the quantity of goods available by suit percentages?
Is the intention to usually need to stop at multiple cities per buy/sell?
If I need to acquire a lot of grain, no matter how much "a lot" is, the city likely won't have enough? (1/4 for 100%)
Its nice and simple, but I'd be worried players would go "well we need X, so lets say we need X*2 to the dm"
This is really cool. I'm excited to use it!
🙌 Let me know how it works for your table. To answer your question: The goal with quantity available by suit is to introduce some texture to the fiction and some uncertainty to the adventure. "Well you didn't get everything you want. What do you do now?" It's another way to make sure the players have real choices to make.
Players need to be more specific than "a lot" when buying. What is "a lot"? Do you want to fill your ship? Do you want as much grain as 1000 coins will buy (because that's all the money the characters have)? Those are general quantities that a percentage can still affect. "There's only enough grain from this seller to fill half your ship." Plus there's always a chance that a single deal or multiple deals cobbled together in one location will get them 100%.
As far as players trying to game the system... These aren't mechanics to just blindly follow. It's up to the warden to call bullshit. Also, the warden should always feel free to use this system a la carte to benefit the fiction and the fun.
If a warden wants 100% of goods to always be available to characters who are buying, go for it. 👍
I'm fine with players not being able to buy the max supplies they can handle, the problem is when they know the rule.
Players can buy a bigger boat so the store has more room to buy/sell
But I didn't consider when you use multiple cards you'd have multiple "deals". I was thinking it was generally 1 "roll" on the quantity