To The Right Buyer

A Procedure For Finding Rare Item Buyers

Castle Xyntillan, p47

This relic, an important family heirloom, dates back before Charlemagne, and is worth 5000 gp to the right buyer. 

p74

Among the sketches is a very bawdy collection of nudes, might fetch 700 gp to right buyer.

The Waking of Willowby Hall, p22

Above the fireplace is a wyvern head (worth 200 gp to the right buyer.)

No Artpunk 1, Dust and Stars, p86

The telescope is still intact and is worth a hefty 250000 GP to the right buyer, if it gets to him undamaged. The collection of eyepieces alone can be sold to the right buyer for 50000 GP.

No Artpunk 1, City of Bats, p99

There are 12 lizard eggs in the nest, each of which could be sold to the right buyer for as much as 50 gp. Upon closer inspection, one of the eggs is revealed to be a decorative jade egg worth 500 gp.

Wormskin #4, p45

The Dukes of Brackenwold believe the crown lost and would greatly value its return (800gp material value, up to 4,000gp to the right buyer)

Broodmother Skyfortress, p76

If the vegetation is cleared off, the sheer beauty and craftsmanship of the statue is breathtaking. The statue is probably worth tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands to the right buyer, but moving the statue would be a massive undertaking. 

Hideous Daylight, p11

A rare “Juliet” rosebush near the fountain would fetch 250 GP from the right buyer.

Halls of Arden Vul, v1p164

Each vial contains 3 doses of “Mortality”, and sells for 100 gp to the right buyer.

v1p210

The tapestry is very heavy (100 lb) and might bring 450 gp from the right buyer.

v1p281

One of the nests has a clutch of 5 eggs in it; these might be valuable to the right buyer, provided they are intact (and alive) when sold.

v1p298

Each suit is worth 150 gp to the right buyer.

v3p86

Among the coins are a platinum model of an archaic legionary fortress (1,150 gp to the right buyer)

In all of these adventures, the phrase “to the right buyer” is an exception; most items are just given a gold value. This implies that other items can be simply sold, whereas a buyer for these special goods needs to be located. I think the intention is to give the GM an opportunity to introduce a new Important NPC or complications (both of which are grist for adventure).

I have a few annoyances with this approach:

1. The modules do not typically include such a buyer (and it’s often unclear who such buyers are).

2. The modules don’t provide how much such treasures are worth to a typical buyer.

3. The systems the modules are written for (and the modules themselves) do not provide procedures for locating a buyer that answer the three main questions:

   1. How much does it cost to locate a buyer?

   2. How long does locating a buyer take?

   3. Does anything go wrong?

If the party already knows an in-game character who seems like an ideal buyer (or knows how to find one), there isn’t an issue. When they ask “How do we find a buyer” or say “I want to find a buyer”, I propose the following:

Figure Out If This Is Necessary

Have a look at the above items. Do we need to focus on finding a special person so that they can get full price out of their special rosebush for 250g, or wyvern head for 200g? No! Split 5 ways that’s 50g and 40g respectively per player which is relatively insignificant (especially given that they’ll be able to sell it to a merchant at a discount who can flip it).

On the other hand, sometimes finding a buyer isn’t feasible. Here’s a (very useful) Standard Of Living table from ACKS. Say you found the above ancient family relic worth 5000g. That is ~50 years of living to a skilled laborer, 5 months to a Baron, a few weeks to a Duke, or ~2 days to a low-end King or Emperor. In my head, that means you’re looking for someone at least as wealthy as a Baron. If there isn’t a chance that such individuals can be rustled up, don’t roll.

Roll 2d6 + CHA

• 6- Choose 1

• 7-9 Choose 2

• 10+ Choose 3

Choices:

• Locate a buyer immediately (otherwise it takes 3d4 weeks)

• The buyer pays full price (otherwise they buy at a d6•10% discount)

• Nothing goes wrong (otherwise, there’s a complication)

The GM rolls and chooses secretly based on whim. Complications are things like:

1. The buyer has to pay in something inconvenient (store credit, statues, hours of military service, etc).

2. Someone (like agents of the buyer) caught wind of the sale and wants to (or succeeds) rob one of the parties.

3. The local government claims that object has significant cultural or religious importance and attempts to confiscate it.

4. A skilled con artist produces a convincing replica of the object and starts selling it, diluting the perceived value of the original or leading to confusion.

5. Selling the object could attract the attention of local tax collectors or cause complications with trade regulations.

6. The object holds dormant magical properties that awaken when brought into a particular city or region.

7. Multiple interested parties could start a bidding war. This might seem like a good thing at first, but it could escalate into more direct and violent confrontations between rivals.

8. The object may have been stolen generations ago, and the rightful heirs come forward, seeking its return.

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Design Notes

The Table

The above should look suspiciously like a Powered By The Apocalypse table. That’s no coincidence! I find that structure useful (It’s like a reaction roll that assumes the roller has +1 in the stat) and easy to remember.

Dungeon World is filled with similar looking rolls. For instance, here’s Carouse:

When you return triumphant and throw a big party, spend 100 coins and roll +1 for every extra 100 coins spent. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7–9, choose 1. On a miss, you still choose one, but things get really out of hand (the GM will say how).

• You befriend a useful NPC.

• You hear rumors of an opportunity.

• You gain useful information.

• You are not entangled, ensorcelled, or tricked.

The main thing here is that the choices are player facing; Justin Alexander would frown deeply upon that in a D&D context. By asking players to choose which type of buyer they prefer, they’re now thinking as players or story creators rather than thinking in-character. This is something some players (or tables) love, or some avoid like the plague.

This mechanic, like other random tables in D&D, is GM-facing. The table is there if the GM wants to roll (they can always just be inspired). From the player’s perspective, they just know that they’ve caught the interest of a nearby Duke that’s coming to meet them in a few weeks.

The choices are inspired by the Unattainable Triangle

A buyer is effectively like paying for a product. Some buyers take their time to arrive. Some want to pay less (they’re expensive from the seller’s perspective). Some are disreputable or careless (low quality buyers). Rare is the buyer that will pay your asking price, right now, no strings attached.

Complication Generation

GPT4 is extremely useful for generating this kind of stuff:

Here was my prompt:

Say a party of player characters playing in adnd 1e are trying to sell an important family heirloom, which dates back before Charlemagne, and is worth 5000 gp to the right buyer. What are some possible complications?

Here’s the output. Convenient.