Re:(TFT) Re: TFT Digest V3 #468

[John J Hyland <johnnyboytmm@juno.com>]

---------- Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu> writes:---------------
I think it's the GM's responsibility to either

a) Figure out what the world looks like once laced with "Industrial Magic"
-OR-
b) Figure out reasons (could be social as well as "technological" or
"financial") WHY the industrial magic won't become widespread.

          . . . 

	I have to comment here that there's some basis for this in the TFT
system. AW claims (pg. 3) that only 1 in 300 persons on Cidri will be
Wizards. That sure doesn't match the ratio in any party I've ever seen.
	
         . . . 

	Whatever choice is made, I don't think the GM should allow a party
to profit enormously from an innovation that any NPC could have made - but
some profit from opening the local franchise might be acceptable.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark,

   All good points. Some reasons in my world why Gate trade/travel is not common :

 1) Regulatory - It is regulated (or prohibited) by local government (too easy to avoid trade/travel taxes).  It is one thing to be a merchant, and another to be a Gate smuggler/pirate.

2) Social - In my opinion Of the 1 in 300 NPC's who are wizards, not many have gate, and of those who do not too many invested the time and trouble of becoming powerful wizards to become glorified teamsters or wharehouse watchmen

3) Expense - Anyone with a mule and a cart can try his hand at trade/commerce, and if he is good at it can grow his business over time - low barriers to entry.  To set up a gate nexus you need a bunch of resources up front to hire wizards to establish and later maintain the gates, and a bunch of far flung trading contacts so most trade is not carried on this way. And any hired wizard could really extract a lot of your profits.  Any day he calls in sick your network is closed.

4) limited market.  If you just use a gate to bring coal to newcastle you will not make a fortune.  It only really works for expensive/rare items from far away, otherwise people will buy a local equivilent (cross elasticity of demand for the economists in our midst) So only in large urban areas would there likely be enough demand to support this sort of trade.  And the govt burden and "Gate Rights" fees will be higher there. 

But in a mid-sized city or large town, If the players really wanted to, and had a wizard with the ability to create and maintain gates, and the resources to set up the nexus, and pay for the  "Gate Rights" from the respective governments, and the contacts to obtain goods in far off lands.  I would let them.  The barriers to entry are high, and the likelihood of engendering acrimony among other traders is higher.  But if the want to try it I'll let them.  

I am certain, that the way I run my worlds, it will be less profitable than they imagine, but they will eventually make a modest profit - in keeping with your suggestion that

"some profit from opening the local franchise might be acceptable"  

 Also mostly my wizard players have too much wanderlust to stay put that long.  


On the other hand, all PC alchemists and Master Physickers spend their down time making healing potions.  Because there is no such thing as too many healing potions.  And in my world they cost more than the list price (150), since if I am an alchemist there is no way I work for a whole week just to earn 43 losy silver (the markup over CI over ingredients of the listed price of the potion) but I definitely spend the time to make sure my party has all the healing it can use.  


One more economic note.  If you start a snake ranch to enjoy economies of scale in magical ingredient production, you flood the local market, and create an imbalance of supply and demand.  A new (lower) equilibrium price will be reached, reducing your price per snake, unless there is a sudden increase in alchemists and magic item creators.

No one ever gets rich easily in my game.  They have to work for it.

John




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