Maximillion's Inclusive Merchant Monograph

Template info

(Alphabetical List by First and Last name)

[NAME]
SELLS: [GENERAL DESCRIPTION]
BUYS: [GENERAL DESCRIPTION]
APPRAISAL: [LOW/MED/HIGH]
MAX PER ITEM: [LOW/MED/HIGH/ NO]
LIMITED GP: [LOW/MED/HIGH/ NO]
BUY STOLEN: [YES/NO]
IDENTIFIES: [YES/NO] (Item value less than 10K)
NOTES: [AS NEEDED]
LOCATION: [LOCATION HINT MOST GENERAL AND STILL BE USEFUL]
<SPOILER TAG WITH LOCATION UP TO 2 AREAS AWAY (APPROXIMATELY). LISTED AS "NEAR xxxxx"> <NESTED SPOILER TAG: EXACT AREA NAME WITH SPECIFIC DETAILS TO FIND MERCHANT>
QUEST: <SPOILER TAG [GIVER/RECEIVER/PART OF/ NO]>

Arkon the Wolf
SELLS: Ethereal chest, gold and XP storage
BUYS: NO
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Arkon maintains branches in more than one location, this is the main branch
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Butch
SELLS: Meat, blood
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Butch is a strict meatatarian
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Christa Fleur
SELLS: Lots of clothes to choose from
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Rude!
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Dandera Geigerlian
SELLS: Food stuffs
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Will grind grains and corn
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Darla Blackrose, Forge Priestess of Raith
SELLS: Armor, a few +1. A couple of misc magic items.
BUYS: Armor, weapons, crafting materials, gems, some magical and misc items
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: NO
IDENTIFIES: YES
NOTES: Wife of Talissa Blackrose, Mother of Mason Blackrose
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Dora Huemaker
SELLS: Dies
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Dora sells dye for metal, leather, and cloth
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Fenar Firehair
SELLS: Player housing
BUYS: NO
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: From the Snake Mountain Firehair Clan
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Flick Firestarter
SELLS: Fire supplies
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Need to light your way, or set something ablaze? Flick has you covered
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Galitha Darkroot
SELLS: A little bit of everything
BUYS: Everything?
APPRAISAL: LOW
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: YES
IDENTIFIES: YES
NOTES: Galitha doesn't discriminate when it comes to the source of her goods, so long as she can sell them at a profit.
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Golda Vrin
SELLS: Bakery goods
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: NO
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Not the most attractive, but certainly the sweetest baker around
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Granny's Spirit
SELLS: "Real life" recipes
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Now you too can cook like Granny!
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Mason Blackrose
SELLS: Weapons, some +1/+2
BUYS: NO
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Son of Darla and Talissa Blackrose
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Morty
SELLS: Crafting and magical components. Herbalist pouch and bags of herbs.
BUYS: NO
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Morty thinks his wide collection of components qualifies as "good stuff"
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Mother Felicity Finraven
SELLS: Stacks of healing potions, misc restorative items
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Casts healing magic for a donation
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Nariand, Holy Magi of Mystara
SELLS: Teleportation related scrolls. Magical cloaks, bracers, quaterstaves, and wands. Blood of magic and misc potions/scrolls
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Stocks teleportation related scrolls in large quantities
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Ocsana Darkfoot
SELLS: Pack oxen
BUYS: NO
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Known to haggle
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Old Dwarf Wizard
SELLS: NO
BUYS: Skeleton knuckles
APPRAISAL: N/A
MAX PER ITEM: N/A
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: N/A
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Provides item upgrades via the Aenean forums
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Phil Green
SELLS: Fruits and vegetables
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM:?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: All of Phil's produce is locally grown and 100% organic
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Selvetus Jadeleaf
SELLS: Writing supplies
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: He may not have much, but it's the finest. According to him at least...
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Serina Darkwood
SELLS: Zolaras gift, holy items, resurrection scrolls
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Soulguard of Zolaras
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Silvestro Giltamornok
SELLS: Gems, Blood of Magic
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: His gemstones are of excellent quality
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Smitty
SELLS: Wide variety of tools and supplies. Armor related accessories, some weapons, potions/scrolls.
BUYS: Many different types of items
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: 7500
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: ?
IDENTIFIES: YES
NOTES: New adventurers in Aenea are well served by visiting Smitty's shop
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

===

Talissa Blackrose
SELLS: Beverages, custom item redesign vouchers
BUYS: Gems
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: NO
BUY STOLEN: NO
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES: Wife of Darla Blackrose, Mother of Mason Blackrose
LOCATION:

Spoiler:

QUEST:

Spoiler:

All merchants can only identify magical items up to 9999 gp in value.

If a merchant fails to ID something and you later get it identified at an altar to Kalas or by another PC, when you go to sell it, if the merchant offers less than 9999 gp, they are totally low-balling your PC.

I would say the important bits to capture about various merchants would be:

1. Do they allow an appraise check to adjust their prices (most do, but not all)?
2. What item types will they purchase from a PC (if any) and will they purchase items flagged as 'stolen'?
3. Is the merchant's "buy cap" (the maximum amount they would pay for a single item or stack of items) low [5000 or less], moderate [10000 or less], high [25000 or less], or unlimited?
4. What class of item is the merchants best stock (generally speaking what tab or tabs of their store have the most useful/powerful stuff)?
5. What region of the world map (shentil, rock dome, shield lands, etc) and/or what city do they do business in?

Could be useful information to have available, although I would lean towards not including the maximum price each will pay for an item...otherwise what use would any PC have for ever even talking to merchant A (and possibly finding something unique in stock) instead of only going to merchant C (who has a bigger customer base and can afford to pay more for items being pawned).

I would also be hesitant about including quest information in the listing.

As far as a merchant low-balling a PC when he/she sells an item, that's what merchants are supposed to do. They're in business to make money.

The low-balling bit was not a complaint, just an observation and advisement to assist players with judging a given price for an item. The merchants desire to make money doesn't override the PCs desire to get a fair price, eh?

Regarding the buy caps, your statement perfectly illustrated why a PC would still talk to a merchant with a low buy cap - to see what that merchant has in stock. They just wouldnt waste time talking to that merchant for the purpose of *selling* things, which is the goal.

I'd like to see something along these lines, if for no other reason than I can't remember where all the merchants are. For the PCs that can tp multiple times, this is not a real issue, just a little time-consuming. But for those poor souls who don't wield the magic well, going to the wrong merchant can often gobble up an allotment of playtime. Be nice to have a "Beld's Big Book of Maps" companion, kinda like "Maximillion's Inclusive Merchant Monograph."

odbo255 wrote:The challenge will be to provide meaningful information but not so much as to "give away all the secrets."

The issue here, of course, is what information fits the definition of secret. "... eye of the beholder," and all that ... (or "... eye of ," in this case!)

The Amethyst Dragon wrote:Could be useful information to have available, although I would lean towards not including the maximum price each will pay for an item...otherwise what use would any PC have for ever even talking to merchant A (and possibly finding something unique in stock) instead of only going to merchant C (who has a bigger customer base and can afford to pay more for items being pawned).

I would also be hesitant about including quest information in the listing.

Nothing in the reference related to the quest(s) just whether they are part of *any* quest and their role: GIVER/RECEIVER/PART OF

Incorporated Dave's feedback and stole Eric's title.

Steal away, friend! Ya know what they say, "Thievery is the sincerest form of flattery!*"

You could even hit it in a narrative form, like "Darla Blackrose, owner of the Armored Tortoise forge and a longtime resident of Valorian's Vale, can be found selling armor and small jewelry bits ..."

Oh, yeah ... when this is all hammered out, maybe a sticky will be in order? I look forward to seeing if there are merchants that I've forgotten about ...

So I'm thinking that a merchant qualifies for being "around" a location if found within two area transitions of the named location (not including transitions for shops).

Thoughts?

I was thinking more general than that. We still want folks to explore to find them for the first time, I was thinking of it just being a general hint like with the portals.

State name - Nektaria, Macedone, etc.?

Ok, for sake of discussion let's say that an area has on average 3 transitions leading to/from it.

With the previously stated rule of thumb of two transitions, that leaves 13 areas to explore. 1 + 3 + (3 * 3)

If the rule is within 3 transitions that becomes: 1 + 3 + (3 * 3) + (9 * 3) = 40 areas to explore.

Seems like that is a lot to me. Somebody keep my math honest.

Except that you cant count all of the to/from transitions separately, because they often are the same on both ends.

Regardless of trying to model it mathematically, which isn't actually possible to do accurately, the idea is to help folks by letting them know there is a merchant in a region or city. They still need to explore it, but if they do and don't find it, at least they *know* they missed something and can ask for help.

Without the region hint, they may not even know they missed anything. Better to go with vague hint at first, and give them a chance to explore and find it on their own before giving better clues/hints and making it easy. If we end up with a lot of people always asking where the same merchant is, we can make the hint clearer.

what about using spoiler tags with more in-depth info? Or a series of spoiler tags, nested within one another like one of those little Russian dolls (or rather, lots of those little Russian dolls that nestle nicely inside each other)? Personally, I'd love to see what merchants i've been missing, and spoiler tags would give us access to that info, with our discretion as the guide.

you know

Spoiler:

daveyeisley wrote:Except that you cant count all of the to/from transitions separately, because they often are the same on both ends.

Regardless of trying to model it mathematically, which isn't actually possible to do accurately, the idea is to help folks by letting them know there is a merchant in a region or city. They still need to explore it, but if they do and don't find it, at least they *know* they missed something and can ask for help.

Without the region hint, they may not even know they missed anything. Better to go with vague hint at first, and give them a chance to explore and find it on their own before giving better clues/hints and making it easy. If we end up with a lot of people always asking where the same merchant is, we can make the hint clearer.

Interesting, I think maybe I'm beginning to see our difference in opinion. I conceived of a list organized by location, it seems you may be implying a list organized by merchant each potentially with a different hint - am I reading this right?

JT, you are exactly correct - my idea was to list the information as it pertained to each merchant as a separate entry. Some merchants who are in the same region might have the same location hint, but their names would clue the player in to keep searching if they hadnt yet located the merchant in that area.

Ok took another pass at the template. Any more suggestions?

I'll start working on a couple of initial entries.

Seems like feedback on the template (in OP) has slowed down. The location field has three potential values for each merchant. 1) A very high-level hint 2) A general location description 3) Exact details of location. 2 and 3 are presented in cascading spoiler tags. I will be putting #2 style hints into the entries that I contribute.

I'll put a few entries in place as a starter so we can all begin to flesh it out. As new entries or additional information is provided for an existing entry, I will update the OP. Entries don't need full information to be added, anything the contributor doesn't know should just be replaced by "?" the missing info can be added later.

Excellent work, friend odbo255! I look forward to seeing this project flesh out over time ...

First two entries posted. The Blackrose family of course...

odbo255 wrote:First two entries posted. The Blackrose family of course...

Missed part of the Blackrose family. I added the third "merchant" in the family to the post.

Thanks !

Hmmm ... never realized that the Blackrose family was that large. Guess it pays to pay attention!

Hi , I noticed that Darla's QUEST attribute was toggled to 'Yes' I'm assuming this happened when you made your edit.

Is she: 'GIVER/RECEIVER/PART OF' ?

Which of the above apply?

Most of the Vale is complete, never really realized how many merchants are around VV!

Changed the format a little and moved the quest information into a spoiler tag.

Blank entry for easy copy/paste

Code:


[b]name[/b]
SELLS: ?
BUYS: ?
APPRAISAL: ?
MAX PER ITEM: ?
LIMITED GP: ?
BUY STOLEN: NO
IDENTIFIES: NO
NOTES:
LOCATION: [color=black][spoiler]Near [/spoiler][/color]
QUEST: [color=black][spoiler]GIVER/PART OF/RECEIVER[/spoiler][/color]


So I'm a little stalled out on this project.

Here is what I don't know how to solve:

I want to be able to determine what types of goods a merchant will purchase, but I'm not sure what the "categories" are. If I knew what the categories were I could carry at least one item of each category and attempt to sell them to the merchant and therefore record the merchant's purchasing preferences.

Any thoughts?

I dunno ... what about the panes on the merchant's inventory? You know, weapons, armor, magic, misc, and I don't remember what the other one is.

Good idea, but I don't think it works that way, I'm pretty sure I've had a merchant accept some magic items but not others etc.

I'll double check, if so, this will be a very easy litmus test.

You can make a list from the baseitems.2da file found in the aeneahak_update.hak file, and then you can remove all the entries no PC could ever sell (reserved entries, creature items, etc). This would be a very, very long list, though, and it would take a considerable amount of time for you to complete for each merchant.

I know that some merchants won't buy anything, some merchants will buy only a few things (usually similar to their own inventory), and some merchants will buy everything except stuff marked stolen; then only a couple of merchants will buy stuff marked as stolen. But as to how to determine a merchant's exact pattern by some concise test, I haven't a clue, as my knowledge of these merchant idiosyncrasies has been built up through experience over time.

Okay, after going through baseitems.2da and removing all unused entries, there are still 206 different categories of items. This may not be the way you want to go. I put them in a spoiler here, so people don't get confronted with a long line of text.

Spoiler:

And many of those item types aren't even used in Aenea.

Have new entries been made in baseitems.2da with the last hak update?

Micteu wrote:Have new entries been made in baseitems.2da with the last hak update?

No new entries, just a couple of updated ones.