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Trade Skills in Fantasy


Christopher R Taylor

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There's a concept in almost all Massively Multiplayer Online Games (that claim to be Role Playing) - trade skills which players use to build things for their characters to use or sell.  Putting aside their utility or quality in these games, I like the concept for real RPGs.

 

As part of the Jolrhos Field Guide, I'm putting details for how you can make your own stuff, using trades.  So instead of being a blacksmith and just using it to fix your armor, you can gather parts and make your own.  Instead of just buying scrolls or handwaving them, you can learn how to make and scribe your own.

 

So far I have blacksmithing, tailoring, leatherworking, spell research, herbalism, poisoner, bowyer (fletcher, etc) all prepared.  Other options could include potter, provisioner (cook), woodworking, engineering (simple mechanical things, seigeworks, etc), brewing, jewelry, animal trainer, and alchemy.

 

What sorts of trades would you be interested in or think would be useful in a game?  Stuff you wish you could do or think would be interesting to do in a fantasy role playing setting.  This would be the kind of things you might do off camera or between adventures to make money, better yourself, help your fellow characters, and so on.

 

If you think its all just a stupid idea, well move on and post somewhere else :)

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I think it's a fine idea, and skills often get shortchanged. So far, you've already listed everything that springs to mind but I'll give it more thought.

 

Well, unless you want to get into some weird kinds of magic and magic items. In Stephen R. Donaldson's The Mirror of her Dreams and A Man Rides Through, all magic involved creating special mirrors. You couldn't do magic without PS: Glazier.

 

Hmm... Ancient Mesopotamian magicians would shape figurines of protective demons out of dough. Maybe this is a route for summoners -- but you have to gather the right ingredients and treat them just so, so the figurine transubstantiates into the spirit. In this setting, everyone needs the local bakers but views them with suspicion due to the higher mysteries of their craft.

 

Dean Shomshak

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This is pretty close to what I did in my Valdorian Age campaign.  Some players had very useful professional skills - armorer/weapon crafter/black smith or house steward - which ended up being played out in the game.  The armorer/weapon crafter/blacksmith ended up working at a local blacksmith shop for a while.  He was a dwarf and he slowly remembered (he had amnesia) how to refine metal like his people did and how to build 'modern' forges.  The end result was that he built and his partner created a smithing guild in town.  The players ended up owning a tavern/inn and the steward along with a character who could make deals like know ones business set up a successful inn.  It was fun.

 

Do remember some professions require a regular place to do the work and you can't just start and stop the work at the drop of a hat.

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Others to include: Weaver, Tanner (distinct from leather working, although related), Furrier. Glass maker / blower. Cobbler. Milliner / Haberdasher. Dyer.

 

Stonemason?

 

Jewelry is pretty broad. Generally the split is more Silversmith, Goldsmith, but for game purposes it's probably moot.

 

Cooper, Wheelwright and Cartwright, although you might include them broadly under woodworking. 

 

Brewer, Vintner and Distiller, although again you may include under provisioner.

 

Locksmith.

 

- E

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Well I'm less interested in jobs as such than in trades that can produce useful stuff for adventurers.  I mean, anyone can take PS: Haberdasher and make hats in their free time, but the book is about recipes and stats, information and game tips on things that PCs make such as potions, armor, etc.

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I'm a little confused about what you're talking about mechanically.

 

So far I have blacksmithing, tailoring, leatherworking, spell research, herbalism, poisoner, bowyer (fletcher, etc) all prepared.  Other options could include potter, provisioner (cook), woodworking, engineering (simple mechanical things, seigeworks, etc), brewing, jewelry, animal trainer, and alchemy.

Many of these could be Professional Skills, but for example Mechanic and Animal Handler are their own Skills, and so is Weaponsmith.

 

 

What sorts of trades would you be interested in or think would be useful in a game?  Stuff you wish you could do or think would be interesting to do in a fantasy role playing setting.  This would be the kind of things you might do off camera or between adventures to make money, better yourself, help your fellow characters, and so on.

 

If you think its all just a stupid idea, well move on and post somewhere else :)

 

I don't think it's a stupid idea at all. I'm intrigued. I just get real nitpicky sometimes.

 

For example, I would say that Cook, Baker, Brewer, and Vintner, are all different trades (and I think if you ask someone following any of those occupations, they would agree.) But my understanding is that any silversmith can be a goldsmith or vice versa because the skills involved in working with those metals are not that different.

 

When you say "provisioner" I think, not so much of a cook, as someone who knows the techniques of preservation; how to smoke, dry, salt, jerk, and pickle various foods for long journeys or long term storage.

 

 

May I suggest

 

Apothecary

 

Scribe

 

Cartographer

 

Arcane Scribe (may or may not be a spellcaster, but knows how to select the right parchments, compound the exotic inks, and self-induce the meditative trance that enables safely copying a scroll or spell book without activating the associated forces.)

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Animal Handler: Palindromedaries

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Well in the interests if brevity and clarity, I'm trying to fold similar skills into single umbrellas.  For example, there are a lot of kinds of  people that work with metals, usually specializing in certain kinds, but I'm folding them all under blacksmith.  There are 3 different skills and jobs in building just an arrow, but I want to stuff all arrowmaking, bow making etc into one heading.  That doesn't make historical or strictly factual sense, but it works well for a game.

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How about using Professional Skills for things like ordinary blacksmithing, whitesmithing, silversmithing, etc, but define "Metalworking" or "Metalsmithing" as a kind of Power Skill that allows all the above plus Weaponsmithing (to make metal based weapons and armor) and similarly using Power Skills for other gonzo Trade Skills?

 

Also, perhaps use the Extraordinary Skill rule for crafting truly wondrous items (Skill must be at least 18 and take at least a -10 to roll to "do the impossible.")

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary asks, if a blacksmith works iron and a whitesmith works tin, what would a graysmith work?

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Don't forget the second oldest profession....Entertainer. Many players with Bards spend so much time rallying troops and macking on Tavern wenches that they never even bother to pass the hat and get paid for a night of songs & stories.

Even other types of characters like Rogues, Clerics and Fighters may know enough old jokes and tunes to earn themselves a bowl of stew and a warm place by the fireside at an Inn when the Party is low on funds and hospitality is running a bit thin.

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Well its probably worth at least a chapter on how to use ordinary professions and trades in the game as well.  The Bard example is a good one; its not just about songs that cause vines to wrap up your foe, its about singing and entertaining.  The Fool's Guild series by Alan Gordon is a great look at the job of the entertainer in these kind of settings.

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  • 2 months later...

This is turning out to be sort of a self-solving problem.  As I work up each trade skill and create the fantasy materials in the world, the trades are creating themselves.  You can make armor out of Dragon's bones, but that's not really blacksmithing, it falls better under stonework.  And you need leather and cloth to make armor.  And the leatherworker needs woodworking for parts, and so on...

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I didn't notice anyone mentioning gem cutter.  Sure you might be able to fashion the nice, soft metals with silver and gold smithing, but if you want any gemstones in those settings, you need someone that knows how to properly cut (it's actually quite difficult getting the crown, facets, girdle, pavilion, and table right to make those things sparkle and shine) and polished correctly.  You could just stick with the overarching "jeweler."  It just depends, again, on how specialized and nit picky you care to be.

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I didn't notice anyone mentioning gem cutter.  Sure you might be able to fashion the nice, soft metals with silver and gold smithing, but if you want any gemstones in those settings, you need someone that knows how to properly cut (it's actually quite difficult getting the crown, facets, girdle, pavilion, and table right to make those things sparkle and shine) and polished correctly.  You could just stick with the overarching "jeweler."  It just depends, again, on how specialized and nit picky you care to be.

Ah, a faceting snob. Left out cabochons altogether I see. =P

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Jeweler is probably the focus, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to work it into a player tradeskill as opposed to just a job.  I mean, I could put janitor into the book but it has no bearing on player characters.

 

What I might work up is something like sockets in Blizzard games; small augments you can add to items

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nods. Augmentations can be pretty generic if you do it right. Runes can be wood, stone, glass, etc and vary by both the rune and the material. Gems can be augments that add base stats or boost SFX by type (rubies help fire powers, hematite wards off blood magic, rose quartz boosts healing). Claws, teeth, bones, skins (handle wraps or the life) can build bane weapons for that creature or imbue with properties of the creature. Lots of possibilities.

 

- E

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The trick is coming up with how to make stuff magical, without requiring a mage around to enchant them.  Some substances could easily have magic in them innately - dragon bones, etc.  I'm looking at something like was in EverQuest, with creating mana in a bottle the way Enchanters did in the MMOG, which then is used in trades for enchanted products or activating enchanted potential in materials

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Interesting idea. Just having a list of recipes would be a great addition. What does it take to make Dragonscale armor? Well the recipe says you need x (number of) scales from a dragon, tanned dragonling hide and steel or mithral (for the buckles). It takes y number of days to create, assuming you have all of the components listed, a workshop and the know-how (Armorsmith at least 14-). The end result is z (Dragonscale armor 6rPD/6rED, plus 50% rED Damage Reduction versus Fire only, blah, blah blah). Your format doesn't have to follow that of course. The "blah, blah, blah" in particular should probably be excluded. :)

 

That would probably be a useful resource. 

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Yep, that's the plan.  Lots of recipes, lots of details on end results, lots of information on how to run trade skills and make them part of a game, costs, equipment required, etc.  Its a bit tedious to make, but I think it has some value for fantasy gaming and can be used in pretty much any game system with very minor adjustments.  It will be specific to my gaming world in terms of ingredients, but the concepts can be used anywhere that has dragons, etc.

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  • 3 weeks later...

There's a concept in almost all Massively Multiplayer Online Games (that claim to be Role Playing) - trade skills which players use to build things for their characters to use or sell.  Putting aside their utility or quality in these games, I like the concept for real RPGs.

 

As part of the Jolrhos Field Guide, I'm putting details for how you can make your own stuff, using trades.  So instead of being a blacksmith and just using it to fix your armor, you can gather parts and make your own.  Instead of just buying scrolls or handwaving them, you can learn how to make and scribe your own.

 

So far I have blacksmithing, tailoring, leatherworking, spell research, herbalism, poisoner, bowyer (fletcher, etc) all prepared.  Other options could include potter, provisioner (cook), woodworking, engineering (simple mechanical things, seigeworks, etc), brewing, jewelry, animal trainer, and alchemy.

 

What sorts of trades would you be interested in or think would be useful in a game?  Stuff you wish you could do or think would be interesting to do in a fantasy role playing setting.  This would be the kind of things you might do off camera or between adventures to make money, better yourself, help your fellow characters, and so on.

 

If you think its all just a stupid idea, well move on and post somewhere else :)

I have a house rule for enchantment. If it is made by your own hand it is a +3 to enchant. If not -3 though the makers roll to make it is complimentary.

This explains why even the crudest object in the hand of a hedge wizard can be potent items magically.

While explaining the  getting an expensive item to enchant trope.

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This is turning out to be sort of a self-solving problem.  As I work up each trade skill and create the fantasy materials in the world, the trades are creating themselves.  You can make armor out of Dragon's bones, but that's not really blacksmithing, it falls better under stonework.  And you need leather and cloth to make armor.  And the leatherworker needs woodworking for parts, and so on...

Dragon bones are more for staves, cups, dice, anything that you could make out of ivory.

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