Mercantylism and Trade throughout Western Lýthia and Hârn

Civilization is the lubricant that drives trade throughout all of Lýthia. Even the various tribal groups of Hârn and mainland Lýthia. practice some form of trade with other tribal groups or surrounding civilizations. With the rise of civilizations and its corresponding growth in populations trade likewise has increased significantly; but nowhere was the rise as pronounced into commercial growth as in the towns, because townspeople produced specialized goods and depended on trade for nearly everything else. Not the least contribution was the fresh, sustained, and widespread demand of a middle class between the relatively unelastic demands of a few landed rich who could afford but seldom needed to buy, and the many landed poor, who needed to buy but seldom could afford it.

The following will look at the two key aspects that drove commercial enterprise on Hârn and Lýthia: retail sales, which were of a local nature, and wholesale sales, which spread as far as eastern Lýthia

Wholesale Sales

Wholesale selling is the resale (sale without transformation) of new and used goods to retailers, industrial, commercial, institutional or professional users, to other wholesalers, or involves acting as an agent or broker in buying merchandise for, or selling merchandise to, such persons. Wholesalers will usually physically assemble, sort and grade goods into large lots, or break bulk lots, repacking and redistributing them into smaller lots. Upon selling to a customer, whether another wholesaler, a retailer, or a direct consumer the costs of packing and shipping, along with a little extra for profit are added onto the original price.

How Freight Effects Wholesale Operations per Harndex (1983)

Freight rates are based on weight/volume per league, but such data is difficult to use. A close approximation will be to increase the retail price of any good transported by land (5% per hex), and water (1% per hex). For example, if an item is transported 20 hexes (100 leagues) by land, it would cost 100% more; the same distance by sea/river would be 20% more.

Buying Wholesale per HârnPlayer

Players must keep in mind that these are "retail" prices (in the canon pricelists) at the indicated source which may not, of course, be the original source. The selling price of goods must cover work done to make them saleable, tariffs and tolls, transport costs, and losses to shipwrecks, storms, pirates, and brigands. A mercantyler might buy some items listed for as little as 10% of these prices, and sell them for roughly 50% (or more) to the named source. Exotic goods from eastern Lýthia change hands many times and sell in Hârn for up to 100 times their original cost.

Suggested Use in the Game

The Simple Way

For simplicity's sake, of the two options I will discuss, the one just described and the one following this example, the above description is the easiest to employ on the fly. Thus, when a PC mercantyler purchases a load of goods the GM needs to determine the actual cost of the item or items and then roll a 1d10 to generate a multiple signifying at what percentage the goods were purchased; use the following to identify the multiplier (1 = 10%, 2 = 20%, 3-4 = 30%, 5-7 = 40%, 8-10 = 50%). Next, multiply the resulting percentage by the total price of the item(s) being purchased. Once the PC has reached his destination, determine how many land and/or water hexes have been traveled and generate the new selling price at the destination. If a local guild has the monopoly on these items the mercantyler must offer them to them first; if they produce these items locally they may refuse to buy them at the price generated, otherwise they have first choice at the price you generated. If they do not purchase all of the mercantyler's goods he may sell them in the local market at the generated price.

For example, a PC mercantyler purchases 100 beaver pelts with a retail price of 30d each for a total of 3,000d. He rolls a 4 and multiplies the 3,000d by 30% for a purchased price of 900d. He travels 21 hexes by land to Tashal to sell his pelts. This means his pelts will sell for 105% (5% x 21) more than he paid for them or 1,845d. An NPC hideworker that purchases the pelts will still have to prepare them before he can resell them for the suggested retail price. In all, the PC has earned a profit of 945d to spend on additional trade goods.

The same process can be used if a PC craftsman needs to acquire raw materials from a mercantyler. The GM determines how far the mercantyler has brought the desired goods and again rolls a 1d10 to see how much the mercantyler purchased the goods for. The GM then lets the PC know how much the goods will cost per desired unit(s).

For example, a PC metalsmith wants to buy 200 pounds of iron for his business. The GM determines that the NPC mercantyler from whom he is discussing the deal has brought in the iron from 15 hexes (75% onto the original price) away over a land route and has rolled a 6 for a multiple of 40% of retail price. Since iron costs .50d per pound, he paid .20d per pound and has 500 pounds for sale. Therefore, the craftsman must pay .35d per pound or 70d for the 200 pounds. Since this is usually in the form of pig iron he must work it a bit to remove any impurities before he can use it to make any iron tools. As a result, he has obtained his 200 pounds of iron for 30d less than if a miner had been in his town; in that case he would have had to go to the miner to buy his iron since the mercantyler would have had to offer his iron to the miner before he could sell it in the market.

As stated above, this method is very simple to use on the fly. The down side being that it gives very inflated profits for anything over 100 hexes. The following method is a bit more complicated and offers a more varied profit range, especially for goods transported over very long distances.

Using My Voyage Data Tables

These tables come from my Mercantylism article and are based on the Voyage Data Table found in the Pilot's Almanac.

The first thing the Gm, if the mercantyler is an NPC, or the player, if the mercantyler is a PC, must do is choose what kind of merchandize they are bringing into town to be sold. Once the goods have been identified, along with their base retail price, use the method mentioned above for determining how much the goods were purchased for by rolling a 1d10. Once this has been determined your ready for the next step.

If the goods were brought in by an NPC mercantyler the GM must determine if the goods were move on land or water only or a combination of the two. If only by land or water determine the length of the voyage or roll a 1d20 to do this. If the trip came over both land and water determine the distance for each using the appropriate table. Since this is an NPC mercantyler use the profit claim column to determine what the new price will be for the goods being sold by multiplying the profit claim by the listed retail price. If only land or water were used its quite simple; but if both were used you must multiply the retail price by the appropriate multiple for the length of voyage carried on each.

For example, a PC metalsmith wants to buy 200 pounds of iron for his business. The GM determines that the NPC mercantyler from whom he is discussing the deal has brought in the iron over a land route; the GM rolls a 1d20 for a 6 and generates a short voyage for a profit claim of 200%. The GM also rolls a 1d10 and rolls a 6 for a multiple of 40% of retail price. Since iron costs .50d per pound, he paid .20d per pound and has 500 pounds for sale. Therefore, the GM generates a sale price by multiplying the profit claim against the price the mercantyler paid; thus, the craftsman must pay .40d per pound or 80d for the 200 pounds. Since this is usually in the form of pig iron he must work it a bit to remove any impurities before he can use it to make any iron tools. As a result, he has obtained his 200 pounds of iron for 20d less than if a miner had been in his town; in that case he would have had to go to the miner to buy his iron since the mercantyler would have had to offer his iron to the miner before he could sell it in the market.

If a PC mercantyler has brought the goods in, then select the appropriate row for the distance traveled, generate a profit claim using the Price Multiple column; if the journey was over both water and land, generate a multiple for each based on how long the voyage was over each. Once you have the multiple(s), multiply items's listed retail price the multiples. If a local guild has the monopoly on these items the mercantyler must offer them to them first; if they produce these items locally they may refuse to buy them at the price generated, otherwise they have first choice at the price you generated. If they do not purchase all of the mercantyler's goods he may sell them in the local market at the generated price.

For example, a PC mercantyler purchases 100 beaver pelts with a retail price of 30d each for a total of 3,000d. He rolls a 4 and multiplies the 3,000d by 30% for a purchased price of 900d. He travels 15 hexes by land (75 leagues - medium) and 6 hexes by water (30 leagues - local) to Tashal to sell his pelts. For the land leg of his trip he rolls 7d6/10 for 230% and the 10d2/10 for the water leg generating 140%. The 100 pelts will now sell in Tashal for (900 x 2.3 x 1.4) 2,898d.

The danger here for a mercantyler is bringing commonly made goods into a market that already has a producer present.

Retail Sales

Retail sales is the business of selling products and services to the public as the ultimate consumer. Retailing involves selling many different products and services, either from a store location or in direct selling in the markets or as a peddler. The majority of retailers within Lýthia are craftsmen who produce and sale goods related directly to their guild's monopoly; the Chandlers' Guild being the one exception. In addition to craftsmen and tradesmen selling their services, you will also find rural folk and certain unguilded occupations, such as fishermen, selling their produce at the local marketplace or from their own properties when the occasion presents itself.

The guilds regulated such aspects of business as prices, wages, hours of operation, and product quality; thus prevented one shop from underselling another. The idea being that the guild organization rather than competition was the rule; the results being occupational stability.

Setting of Prices, Production Quotas, and Wages

The guilds set both minimum prices for its goods and how much a craftsman could produce over a period of time. The idea of setting a minimum price was to stop one shop from undercutting his competitors and reduce economic competitiveness or the selling of inferior products to consumers. By setting a how much a craftsman could produce over a period of time they desired to cut down on the production of inferior goods and thus maintain the overall quality of the goods being sold. The minimum wage was meant to protect the workers in the shops and insure that they received a wage that they can support themselves and their families on.

The prices found on the price lists are the minimums set throughout Hârn and Western Lýthia. That said, Those prices can be modified based on the price rating for a particular shop, as the next entry will demonstrate.

The Star Rating for Prices Within Hârnic Location Modules

Although the above section states that the prices in the canon pricelists are the minimum prices for goods and services on Hârn or Western Lýthia, those minimums can be changed due to the price star rating for each establishment. The rest of this section will look at what those ratings mean and how canon interprets them for game play.

Cities of Hârn

Within the introduction for this module the following can be found in regards to prices listed for each establishment:

Prices: An indication of prices likely to prevail at this establishment, based on prices listed in the master module booklet, Harndex.

Low: 80 - 90%

Average: 90 - 110%

High: 110 - 130%

High+: 130 - 150%

Original Pricelist

The following comes from the original pricelist:

These prices are base prices; that is they assume normal availability combined with reasonable transportation and distribution costs. The gamemaster may adjust prices to reflect times of surplus or scarcity; and in some cases to reflect the quality and size of the item. It should be pointed out that the prices marked on map keys as low (80-90%), average (90-110%), high (110-130%), and high+ (130-150%) are a reflection of the general availability of those items in the area covered by the map as well as the quality of goods and establishment.

Suggested Use in the Game

Based on the above, a shop with a low rating could mean that there is a surplus of shops or goods supplied by this guild thus their prices are lower as a result. If there are only of few shops from this guild it could be that the shops quality is quite poor and the guild has forced them to sell their wares at a lower rate; of course everyone in town knows of this and only the poor would frequent such an establishment. On the other hand, an establishment with a high or high+ rating could be the only establishment selling these goods and thus command higher prices. The other option, if there are more than one of these shops from the same guild, being that the establishment has a high quality rating and is able to sell at such high rates. Again, most everyone will know this and only the wealthy would be able to afford their wares.

Finally, as it is mentioned below under the wholesaler, if a town does not have a specific guild present or the guild that is present must import items they do not produce locally the prices charged may be higher due to what they must pay to the mercantyler bringing them into town.

The Effects of the Quality Star Rating on Prices

Quality is the other rating that will affect prices within the game. Quality can either be a reflection of the shop's overall quality and the goods it produces or just the shop's master's skill level; either way, both can affect the shop's prices and reputation.

Cities of Hârn

Within the introduction for this module the following can be found in regards to quality ratings listed for each establishment:

Quality: A rating describing the standard of goods or services to be found here.

*: Poor

**: Inferior

***: Average

****: Good

*****: Excellent

Suggested Use in the Game

As stated earlier, quality can have a direct impact on prices since not guild would want the stigma of allowing inferior goods being sold at regular prices. Therefore, prices could be reduced or increased using the following:

Poor: 75% base price

Inferior: 85% base price

Average: 100% base price

Good: 120% base price

Excellent: 140% base price

In addition, quality can be used to reflect the shop's or master's overall mastery level, here is an example of how to apply this rule:

Poor: 51-60 (50 + 1d10)

Inferior: 61-70 (60 + 1d10)

Average: 71-80 (70 + 1d10)

Good: 81-100 (80 + 1d20)

|Excellent: 101-120 (100 + 1d20)