The Law of Commerce
The Merchant is the first Profession released in the game. Like all Professions, Merchant first becomes accessible to a character of any Path who is Tier 3 or higher.
Osterra’s Merchant's Guild is Organizer approved, and meant to be a little meta in the same way that the Guilds for the Skill Paths are there to help facilitate good role playing practices, fair play, as well as govern and regulate players' skills, spells, and abilities. The Merchant's Guild works to provide guidance and player services to those interested in building commerce in the realm.
Reapproved by Skip Lipman, October 2023
For a listing of vendors, please see The Marketplace.
For the changes from prior Seasons, please see Seasonal Changes.
The Path of the Merchant
As always, players should play to the spirit of the rules, which for Merchant, is to create opportunities for characters to earn and spend coin, turning the wheels of commerce. All combinations of abilities within Merchant and other Character Paths are subject to Organizer oversight.
Merchants circulate in-game physical coins in Osterra’s economy. Shops must be separate from the Land Game; they cannot buy, trade, or sell land game resources, such as Golden Dragons or Ore. Likewise, merchants dealing in real-life currency are also governed separately, through Organizers directly.
All those who choose the Merchant Profession are, in essence, aspiring or active members of the Merchant’s Guild. Members of the Merchant’s Guild are privy to a variety of benefits that allow for greater supply of their wares, locations for storefronts at events, prime access to dodgy deals, and (on rare occasions) protections from interference in their dealings.
Whether you are running a cantina, bank, performance venue, doctor’s office, tea room, or fight pit, you might have a home in the Guild. These ventures are in-game, trading coins for services– they periodically require RP and occasionally serve as vessels for lore dissemination and adventure hooks. Dutifully serving these important functions gives you access to unique benefits. But like real-life business, the rules, responsibilities, and perks affecting merchants change fluidly with demand, event location, and market conditions.
Meta-gaming or min-maxing presuming market conditions will be static is a recipe for disaster.
With that in mind, you’ll need a business to found! There are application forms to fill out and agreements to sign. Typical bureaucracy!
These are hard-hitting questions like:
What’s the name of your shop?
What service(s) does your stand provide?
What kind of reputation do you envision the vendor to have? Above-board? Sketchy?
What’s your logo look like? What does your stand look like?
Where in Osterra is your Headquarters located? What specific Hex/population center?
Are you the sole Owner? Do you have apprentices?
The current Guildmaster can help you concentrate this information and the vision you have for your marketplace debut. Reaching out and filling out an application with basic information is the first step on the journey.
Costs
Important: All Costs are subject to change. Like real life, merchants must cope with unexpected changes in the economy and environment.
Merchant's Guild Licensure: To be a card-carrying Merchant’s Guild member, called an Owner, the character must be Tier 3, and an initial one-time investment of 25 gold pieces is required for a License. This represents the costs of founding, whether that’s sourcing and supplying, navigating the legal system of the country, or even greasing the right palms, depending on your shop’s backstory. You can pay up front OR take as long as you’d like to pay off that 25 gold, but Merchant’s Guild reputation, perks, and benefits cannot be accrued until that 25 gold is paid in full. Think of it as a trial period without upkeep! Initially, only one Owner can claim Merchant’s Guild benefits.
Apprentices/Operators/Co-Owners: An Owner makes all decisions on behalf of their business, but some shops may require more than one set of hands. An Owner may approve a person (called an Operator or Apprentice depending on RP) who can work at the vendor and receive the Owner’s chosen Merchant’s Guild benefits at a reduced cost of 5 gold each. Alternatively, if the second or third person pays the same Licensure cost as the Owner, they may be made a Co-Owner immediately (see below) and receive the same benefits as the Owner and a vote in what decisions are made.
An Owner may only have two other persons maximum associated with the vendor at any given time, either as Owners or Apprentices. Apprentices may be any Tier. Owners must be Tier 3+.
Workers may earn benefits independent from each other, based on how often they work.
If an Apprentice/Operator later wants to found their own business (or join as a co-Owner), every event they work under the Owner reduces their initial License Cost by 20%, representing saving up the money and materials. After 5 events, they can start their own shop without a License cost at all.
After 4 months’ work, an Operator/Apprentice may petition the Owner to be made a Co-Owner for no cost, gaining all the benefits given to Owners; if the proposal is accepted by the Owner, future decision making is made by majority vote (Guildmaster determines how to break ties)
Upkeep Costs: After you’ve paid your License cost in full (but not before), a merchant owes coin at the end of each harvest, payable to the Organizers: 9 gold+ 3 gold per additional operator/apprentice or co-Owner. This is represented as operational costs, taxes, or even kickbacks to keep your stand running. This Upkeep value can be deducted by making approved Charitable Contributions. This style of playing the Merchant Game is for the risk-averse, desiring to limit costs. The Upkeep value can instead be increased by Dubious Dealings. This approach is higher risk but offers greater potential for profit, dealing in the Black Market.
Silver Oath: Some Merchants primarily deal in Silver Coin. Merchants who already hold a Merchant's Guild license may pursue a special Silver Oath license for the Season.
The Merchants who hold this Silver license have the option to make their Gold Upkeep Cost Silver instead. For example, if a typical vendor owed 12 gold pieces to Upkeep at the beginning of a Season, a Merchant who committed to a Silver License could pay 12 silver pieces instead. Their Upkeep, however, must be paid entirely in silver coin. Paying 1 gold and 2 silver is not allowed.
This vendor may not offer any one good or service over 10 Silver Pieces. They also may not accept Electrum or Gems as payment. A Merchant may expend a Dubious Dealings token (see below) to ignore these limitations for one transaction of one good/service-- or two Dubious Dealings tokens for one entire event.
Responsibilities
Important: All Responsibilities are subject to change. Like real life, merchants must cope with unexpected changes in the economy and environment.
In order to earn perks and rewards, The Guild requires your assistance…
Getting Services Approved: As law-skirting as your dealings may be, we need to make sure you’re compliant with safety and game rules every day of every event. Work with the Organizers or the Guildmaster to describe each service you are providing. Think of it as the mandatory Weapons-Check for your Merchant vendor. We want to make these services comply with location, safety, and game regulations—this is strictly out of character, so don’t worry about sharing secrets. Any in-game effects especially need approval and should match the Owner’s character sheet capabilities. If food is being served, Merchants must either have the product be individually packaged with nutrition facts and allergy information OR have an indicator or card on-site that details this information. Food rules and expectations may be different for each venue, but we’ll do our best to help you navigate it.
Working Events: You do not have to work every event, and when you work is up to you. But Merchant Guild benefits (below) kick in for events that you are committing to the Minimum Working Time for them. The Minimum Working Time for benefits is 90 minutes per event-day manning the stand.
Day Events: 1.5 hours.
2-Day Campouts: 3 hours.
3-Day Festivals: 4.5 hours.
These hours can be spread across days or served all at once. It’s fine to run errands in between or take breaks, but the key is to commit time to your stand in order to reap the benefits. You can also work for less time and not take the benefits.
Time is only recorded during roleplay hours (i.e., not after the day’s events during campouts).
For shops with multiple workers, Minimum Working Time is counted individually, but can be served together. A Master and Apprentice can work together, for example, but they both need to hit minimum time to count as an event they individually benefit from, if working separately.
On a case-by-case basis, rehearsing for an event or NPCing in an LARP Adventures Organizer’s module may count for Minimum Working Time (i.e., gathering the materials, creating costumes, rehearsing the motions, setting the stage, and the performance itself.) Please discuss ahead of time with the Guild. Most Organizer-driven content is acceptable.
Scheduling: If you’re looking to earn Worked Events toward your Merchant’s Guild benefits, you need to let the Guildmaster know your shop is attending-- ideally a week before the event. Exceptions exist, but we want to make sure we know who’s coming and announce it to the Realm to drum up business. Some venues will have limited space available.
Rogue Enablement: At every event, you must have a non-trivial segment of your wares observe the Rogue’s Tier 4 Fence skill discount. This means 25% off for Rogues that possess that Skill. Price accordingly! Likewise, we hold no suspicion for these Fencing Rogues who sell key items to us. They’re just like any other supplier to us, so forget their face if asked. The same goes for Pickpocket. Please facilitate Pickpocketing mechanics (you or others being pickpocketed) out of game and without in-character knowledge.
Driving the Narrative: You may be called upon to serve a critical plot point, story element, mini-adventure, or quest by the Organizers or the Guild generally– or you can drive your own! Depending on content and your in-game reputation (see below), these responsibilities may be eligible for reimbursement. But we always help with spreading in-game information to characters.
Benefits
Important: All Benefits are subject to change. Like real life, merchants must cope with unexpected changes in the economy and environment.
Once the Owner has paid Licensure costs, they have a Merchant's Guild License and are eligible to grow a reputation and claim benefits. After every harvest in the land game, a Season begins, representing 3 months: January to March, April to June, July to September, and October to December. If a Merchant would like to opt into merchant activities:
On your first season in business, pay only the Licensure Cost (see above, in Responsibilities)
On subsequent seasons, the Owner pays the lower Upkeep costs in physical coin (Land Game Golden Dragons are ineligible), based on number of employees and Dubious Dealings tokens (below). Charitable Contributions can be deducted from these costs up to token maximum (below).
The Owner declares which chosen Perk(s) they want to take for the coming season (see below): the Guildmaster records it as well as the characters the perks apply to. If the Owner does not attend, they may nominate their Apprentice to make decisions until they return.
The Owner may instead take a Leave of Absence, where there is no Upkeep Charge for that season. Like Factions, a Guild member must participate in play to continue to be viable. After three seasons, if the shop is not represented in play, it loses its Guild backing and reputation.
And with that, your Merchant Season begins. You’re able to set up after a Services Check each event (like a Weapons Check), and you begin to build how the people of Osterra view your vendor. You will also receive a Merchant’s Guild badge, a physical representation of your membership in the Guild that allows you to invoke its perks. This badge is your stand’s for the Season but should be returned after each event to the Merchant’s Guild.
Reputation
As an Owner, you are always shaping your reputation. You could play it completely above-board and virtuous. Or you could dip into risky deeds— dealing in illicit activities-- and develop a seedy reputation that’s just one step ahead of the law. What kind of merchant do you aspire to be?
Sterling Reputation: Acquire Charitable Contribution tokens. By investing coin into good will projects or donations, you may expend a token to deduct from your shop’s upkeep by a max of 33% per token each season (to minimum 0%). Giving starting gold to new players, donating to Osterran work projects, or providing good-aligned quests with monetary rewards count as charitable contributions, among others. Charitable Contribution tokens are recharged each season when you pay upkeep.
Sordid Reputation: Acquire Dubious Dealings tokens. Your shop upkeep increases by 3 gold per token, but you can spend a token to request the Merchant’s Guild step in, mitigate, or eliminate the consequences of your shop’s actions. Particularly dastardly deeds with little plausible deniability may require more than one token. If it costs more than the tokens you have, the Merchant’s Guild will not cover for you, so cover your tracks! Dubious Dealings tokens are recharged each season when you pay upkeep.
You start with zero of both tokens, but may receive one based on your character's reputation. Reputations typically start neutral, change slowly, and grow over time. You have the opportunity to earn up to three of either of the tokens by choosing them as perks each season OR awarded as consequences of roleplaying events. Your shop may only have three tokens maximum between the two reputation types of tokens. Special quests or programs may only be available to those with a certain number of Charitable Contribution or Dubious Dealing tokens at that Season’s inception.
Charitable Contributions | Dubious Dealings | Example Types of Services |
3 | 0 | Non-profit, Healing, Blessings, Charities |
2 | 1 | Guardians, Arcane Casting, Librarians, Food Service |
1 | 2 | Poisons, Info Dealing, Thieving, Theatre Production |
0 | 3 | Assassinations, Black Markets, Gambling, Consulting |
Basic Benefits Package
Every merchant is entitled to the following basic services that allow them to succeed. Unless otherwise stated, they are for events in which they are working.
Advertisement: The Guild will facilitate awareness of your operation at the events, including outreach as needed. Merchants of particularly Sterling Reputation will be recognized publicly as a pillar of the community.
Security: Every shop will receive a Tier 5 Lock for one container, in which they can keep their coin or valuables. The Merchant’s Guild reacts swiftly with extreme prejudice (in-game) to reprimand criminal activity visited on its members doing business, up to and including (in-game) force—petitions of complaint should be directed to the Guildmaster. However, you theoretically can be targeted, especially in adventures and quests, so make sure you are careful!
Overtime: Working double the Minimum Working Time at an event earns you an NPC bonus skill point. For example: 3 hours at a day event, 6 hours at a campout, 9 hours at a Festival. Working time is counted individually. If an Owner and Apprentice works together 4 hours at a campout, and the Apprentice stays on for four hours after the Owner leaves, only the Apprentice receives the extra skill point. This skill point does not stack with one conferred for NPCing.
Chosen Perks
At the beginning of every season, an Owner may choose a number of benefits for their shop and/or employees for the next three months. The amount is equal to 1 + 1 per three events an Owner or Co-Owner has worked, whatever is higher (maximum 4 perks).
Events with Minimum Working Time Earned | # of Chosen Perks available at Season Start |
0-2 | 1 |
3-5 | 2 |
6-8 | 3 |
9+ | 4 (Current Maximum) |
Perks - April to June 2024 Season
Each Perk may only be taken once per season, save when expressly noted. These perks only last until the next season (the same all three months), except for Reputation modifiers. For vendors with multiple co-Owners, you must indicate which character is receiving the perk. Perks are not transferable between workers!
Unless otherwise stated, these benefits only apply for events you are working and at your stationary shop location. Merchant Guild perks are dynamic and change each Season.
To make it visually easier: Green perks indicate prerequisites of Charitable Contribution tokens. Red Perks indicate prerequisites of Dubious Dealing Tokens. Purple indicates an absence of Reputation tokens, favoring neither side but indicating highly practiced merchants can take it.
Sterling Reputation: Increase your maximum Charitable Contribution tokens by 1 (up to a max of three) or subtract Dubious Dealings by 1 (to a minimum of 0) for this Season onward. You may not choose Sterling Reputation and Sordid Reputation in the same season.
Sordid Reputation: Permanently increase your maximum Dubious Dealings by 1 (up to a max of three) or subtract Charitable Contribution by 1 (to a minimum of 0) for this Season onward. You may not choose Sterling Reputation and Sordid Reputation in the same season.
Business As Usual: (Prerequisite: 6+ events) You enjoy a successful business with none of the problematic parts of fame. Expend either a Charitable Contribution OR a Dubious Dealings token. Each Co-Owner and Apprentice is granted one interaction at this event where they declare and roleplay “Business As Usual.” Gesturing casually with their stand’s Merchant’s Badge, the Worker engaging in the interaction will not be remembered by those who passively observe or interact superficially (like making a sale, doing a chore, giving a passing greeting). For up to 5 minutes, the Merchant will not be seen as a threat or draw scrutiny by NPCs or those who do not know them well, and they can go about their business. Attempts to forcibly recall the specific Merchant’s presence or qualities (e.g., Compel Truth, Interrogate) fail on others, as observers honestly cannot remember the details. Certain NPCs may also tolerate your presence in ‘just doing your job,’ when they’d otherwise balk or attack. If a Merchant draws attention through in-game violence, hostility, or suspicious behavior, they forfeit these benefits immediately, subject to Organizers or other referee rulings.
Merchants who take this perk should create a card that details these Perks they can give to NPCs OR discuss with Organizers running the scene beforehand to minimize misunderstanding.
Center of Commerce: (Prerequisite: 6+ events) Your Headquarters brings greater resources and industrious workers to the community around it. The population center(s) you have designated as your Headquarters gains a bonus yield this coming Harvest, if it is a Town or City. The type of Resource is associated with the type of Hex of the Population Center.
Resource Type:
Plains/Shoreline - Food
Forest - Wood
Mountain - Stone (even if Ore/Silver/Gold is present)
A Merchant may choose which resource for hybrid-resource hexes (example: for +1 Food, +1 Stone hex, a Merchant might choose Food OR Stone, but not both). If it is located in a Town, your Headquarters gives a +1 bonus. If it is a City, your Headquarters gives a +2 bonus. These bonuses cannot be stacked with other Merchant HQs in the same population center
Detain: Once per event this Season, you may tap a character with a weapon under 24 inches saying “Detain” to Bind someone to your stand’s location (see the Rogue Skill for proper interaction). These bonds are not able to be made mobile and last for 5 minutes, confining the person to the stand for that amount of time or until released. If the Merchant or another free person also possesses Bind, the detained person can be moved by them without risk of escape. The captive can Slip Bonds while Detained, if they have the Rogue Skill. A Merchant may release the detained person at any time, or the detained person may be freed by others with 1 minute’s effort, resetting if interrupted. Using Charitable Contribution Token or Dubious Dealings tokens increases the number of per-event-day detainments by 1 (there is now an additional trap, so you may detain two persons at once, for example).
Exploration Financier: At every event this Season, The Owner may reduce a chosen Adventuring Party’s movement or Exploration costs by 3 Dragon Gold after other effects like the Warrior’s Renown. Using Charitable Contribution Token or Dubious Dealings tokens increases the savings by 2 Dragon Gold each (minimum zero Dragon Gold). Multiple Merchants' Exploration Financier perks may stack Gold Dragon reduction on a single adventuring party.
Fearsome Foe: (Prerequisite: 1+ Dubious Dealings token at Season Start) Interlopers are intimidated, wary of running afoul of your business activities. Once per Season, for an Adventure Party you've joined, you may reduce a random encounter's party by 2 (minimum: 2+ enemies remaining). Before any skirmish takes place, let the Cartographer know that you are utilizing this Perk and explain that it reduces number of challengers rolled by 2 and the intention is to RP that out. During combat, flash your Merchant's Guild badge and RP intimidation of the monsters, and the Cartographer selects who flees. In the event of multiple kinds of monster, the weakest variant are the ones who flee (Warriors, not their Chieftain; goblins, not the orcs.) Monsters who cannot be communicated with or are under control (e.g., skeletons, zombies, thralls) are targeted, but are immune to this benefit. You may recharge this Perk by expending a Dubious Dealings token. Multiple Merchants' Fearsome Foe Perks stack, but the minimum 2 enemies must be maintained.
(New!) Fearsome Influence: (Prerequisite: 1+ Dubious Dealings tokens at Season Start) You may spend a Dubious Dealings token to chase off 2 monsters challenging your Adventuring Party on a Land Search. Before the first skirmish, discuss with the Cartographer organizing the fight. Before the first blows, you must RP flashing your Merchant's Badge phys rep and intimidate the monsters. The two chosen by the Cartographer will run. With war parties who have multiple types of monsters, those who are intimidated are always the weaker variety (Osterran Warriors, not the Chief; Goblins, not the Orcs). Creatures with sufficiently low intelligence (zombies, skeletons, thralls)-- though targeted-- are unaffected. You may use additional Dubious Dealings tokens, reducing the monster's party by 2 for each token. Regardless of how many tokens used, the minimum number of remaining monsters must still be 2 or higher.
Fence Protect: At the beginning of each event this Season, you receive a special Decoy Coin Pouch (phys rep provided by the Merchant). The first time you are the victim of Pickpocket, you may substitute the coin pickpocketed from you with a note that they stole a Decoy coin pouch instead-- with nothing in it! You may expend a Charitable Contributions token to recharge this ability, if it's expended during an event. In addition, you may petition for reimbursement from the Guild on revenue lost by the T4 Rogue ability Fence, up to 25 gold per Season.
Phys Rep: A coin pouch you wear and a note you send to the Rogue when Pickpocketed. Please mark that this is a Merchant's Guild Perk in the note's text.
Limitations: This does not protect against filching in-game items or artifacts (such as Familiar Eggs or Sunbringer), which are prioritized above this decoy pouch.
Forbidden Bargain: (Prerequisite: 2+ Dubious Dealings tokens at Season Start) Through shady dealings and pacts, you leverage your reputation to empower your workforce. Once per Season, the Owner spends one Dubious Dealing token. They choose a Wizard, Bard, or Healer spell they know. All co-Owners (including the choosing Owner) and Apprentices– who have worked Minimum Time at least once this season– gain one use of the selected spell, which fades at the end of the event-day. For this one spell, the worker’s Path and other spells are not prerequisites– only their Tier. The spell focus (spellbook, holy symbol) must be substituted with a Merchant’s Guild badge. The spell is the Owner’s Tier or Worker’s Tier, whichever is lower.
Example: an Apprentice Warrior could cast Magic Shield (Wizard T3) once, provided she was at least Tier 3, intoned a 50 word spell, and had the denoted green shield. The Apprentice’s Magic Shield blocks up to T3 spells, despite the Owner being Tier 5. She does not need Read/Write Arcana to cast this one spell. All other physical representation requirements still apply.
Hometown Advantage: (Prerequisite: 6+ events worked) You know the region of your Headquarters better than most. For this Season, an Adventuring Party that you join can ignore all movement point penalties for Forest and Mountain exploration on the Hex in which your Headquarters is located, as well as all hexes adjacent to it. Once per event, You may spend a reputation token to increase that radius to a maximum of 2 hexes adjacent to your headquarters.
Good Vibes Only: (Prerequisite: 2+ Charitable Contribution tokens at Season Start) Your (stationary) shop location is Sanctified as a Tier 6 Healer spell during your Working Hours. Only merchants with 1 Dubious Dealing token or less can enter, as well as harrying thieves or ne'er-do-wells. If dispelled in any manner, you may spend a Charitable Contribution token to reactivate it. You may also use Charitable Contribution tokens to increase the field's tier by 1.
Phys Rep: A white ribbon around the area of your stand that thieves cannot access, complete with label of the Tier. Signage is optional but will drive home the protection and prevent misunderstanding.
Gracious Teacher: (Prerequisite: 2+ Charitable Contribution tokens) You and yours have become exceptional mentors to the community. Once per Season, the Owner spends one Charitable Contribution token. All co-Owners (including the choosing Owner) and Apprentices– who have worked Minimum Time at least once this season– may confer one skill they’ve earned to one other person (a Student) not associated with the business for the rest of the event-day. The skills need not be the same across all Teachers, and the skill is treated as the Teacher’s or the Student’s Tier, whichever is lower. All Path, physical representations, and other requirements must be met, and the Student must be of sufficient Tier to learn the skill. To teach, the Teacher must use the Merchant’s Guild badge as a focus (and roleplay plus go through the relevant rules). All Students forget their taught skill at the end of the event-day– they receive no actual skill points. No Student may benefit more than once per Merchant’s Guild Season in this way.
Example: a Tier 6 Owner Rogue might teach a Tier 4 Rogue customer with Pickpocket to Conceal 1 Item (Rogue T4) on their person. Meanwhile, the Rogue’s Apprentice Healer (T4) teaches a Tier 6 Healer to Compel Truth for four statements each use. Both Students forget these temporary skills at the end of the day.
Sea Legs: Your company is no stranger to literal shipping. This Season, a Faction Fishing Fleet, Transport Vessel, or War Galley of your choice increases its movement speed by 2 and increases its yield by 3 Dragon Gold per harvest (if relevant), provided it does not support an Invasion or similar PvP Offensive Action. You may expend a Reputation Token to extend this benefit to a second vessel. These benefits do not stack on the same ship.
(New!) Headquarters Shift: For strategic positioning, you opt to move your Headquarters. If you have not designated a headquarters, your HQ is your Faction's Capital City. This Perk is applied last this Season. You temporarily become the equivalent of an Adventuring Party on the Land Game Map and may move as an Adventuring Party allows from your original Headquarters hex. Other characters may use their offensive actions to accompany your merchant caravan and help you, should you be targeted.
Moving your headquarters costs an upfront 30 gold/Perk gained + 5 gold per movement point you spend each turn (moving through Forests, Mountains, and Blasted Lands take extra movement points). For example, a merchant with 4 Perks (9+ events) costs 120 gold upfront and then 5 gold per movement point spent each turn. While you may not take Hexes, you may travel through unoccupied or friendly Faction Hexes, observing the Land Game's movement rules and your other Perks that may increase movement.
At the end of any event, you may settle in a willing Faction's population center and recuperate the original 30 gold/Perk investment (but not the movement costs). If you opt not to settle after a turn, you are still on the map-- other Adventuring Parties may opt to attack you in lieu of a random encounter for Exploration. If they are successful, they take control of the Hex you were on, and they take your original 30 gold/Perk investment. You do not get it back when you settle.
If you have not settled at the end of this Season, you may not take Perks next Season relating to the Land Game until your business has reached its destination.
(New!) Hometown Advantage: (Prerequisite: 6 events worked) You know your HQ region well-- better than most. Each event, an Adventuring Party you join may ignore movement penalties of Forest and Mountain Hexes on your stationary Merchant Headquarters hex and all hexes adjacent to it. You may spend a Charitable Contribution or Dubious Dealings Token to increase the radius by 1, to a maximum of all hexes that are two hexes adjacent to your headquarters.
Locked Down: Your Security benefit this season also includes a resetting Tier 5 Trap that either does 5 torso damage OR does one damage through armor with a 5-minute duration Hold poison: Owner’s choice. You may utilize Charitable Contribution or Dubious Dealings tokens to increase both the Tier of the trap AND the lock by 2 each for the duration of the Season (Tier 7 Lock and Trap). You are considered as having the keys to disarm both.
Phys Rep: Make sure your cashbox has a trap + lock phys rep. This can be provided by the Guild or by yourself, but it must telegraph all relevant information to a would-be thief. Additional signage may help, but is optional.
Maker’s Mark: Choose one item type the Owner can craft that you have a Service for at your stand, such as poisons or traps. For events the Owner (or designated Apprentice) is working this season, double the maximum quantity the Owner (or designated Apprentice) can create. These bonus items must be sold at the stand at the standard price of the Service and not to Owners, Operators, or Apprentices. You may take this multiple times, each applying to a different item type or different Owner.
Mana Font: When the Owner hits their Minimum Working Time at an event, they can choose to gain back 100% of their mana for use immediately in creating scrolls and potions to be sold. These bonus scrolls and potions must be sold at the stand at the standard price of the Service and not to Owners, Operators, or Apprentices. You may take this multiple times, each applying to a different Owner.
Merchant Emissary: You may strategically move your Headquarters. Apply this Perk last this Season. You create an emissary sent to found your new HQ, which is represented as an Adventuring Party on the Map, following the rules of movement (6 movement points per turn), except that it cannot claim hexes. However, the emissary benefits from your other Perks.
To form your emissary: spend 30 gold/Perk gained by days worked (120 gold for 4 Perks at 9+ events) upfront. Each turn, you spend 3 gold per movement point spent to move the emissary (forest and mountain hexes cost more movement points than plains.) At the end of any turn, your emissary may opt to settle in a willing Faction population center you have arrived at (approved by Faction's leader), in which you recuperate the upfront cost (but not the movement point costs.) At the beginning of next Season, your HQ will formally move to where you settled.
If you have not settled, you are considered an Adventuring Party on the map. Characters may utilize their offensive actions to accompany your merchant caravan and prevent harm from happening to it. Other Adventuring Parties may attack you instead of having a random encounter on the same hex. If the assailants win, your emissary is destroyed and the upfront cost is surrendered to the assailants.
Special: If you have a second co-Owner, you may keep the old Headquarters as well, so long as it is at least 6 hexes from any HQ of your business. The second co-Owner now directly manages at that location. If there is a third co-Owner, a third HQ may be founded-- again, it must be at least 6 hexes away from the other two.
On the Move: Your stand does not need to be in one place, so you can acquire Working Time away from the Market. The time only counts if you are actively holding and selling your wares or engaging in a performance associated with mercantile activities. Some merchants may have business trips, while other merchants might operate fully without a location, but for time to count, they must be actively operating. Perks and benefits for stationary locations do not apply while on the move. This perk applies to all workers at the stand: an Owner might be at the stand, while two Apprentices work on-the-move, for example.
Opportunist: (Prerequisite: 9+ events) (Prerequisites: 6 events worked) Once per event, you may spend a Dubious Dealing OR Charitable Contribution token to change any of your Chosen Perks for the rest of the season, except for Opportunist, Sordid Reputation, Merchant Emissary, and Sterling Reputation.
Paid Time Off: You may choose 1 event this season in which your Merchant’s Guild benefits and Perks still apply (including Security but not Overtime), if you’re not working at that event or on location. This counts as an event worked, but you must still attend the event. This must be the same event for all persons employed but can be chosen at any time during the Season. Alternatively, you may choose not to work and instead reduce your Shop’s Upkeep Cost by 33%, rounded up to the nearest gold (minimum: zero upkeep).
(New!) Seafarer's Celerity: This Season, up to 2 Trading Vessels associated with your Faction increase their movement speed by 2 and yield an extra 2 gold each at Harvest time, provided they are not utilized for an Invasion Offensive Action. For multiple Merchant Vendors in the same Faction, the benefits on selected Trading Vessels do not stack, but 2 more Trading Vessels may be selected. No more than 6 Vessels may benefit in a single Faction.
Smuggler: (Prerequisite: 1+ Dubious Dealings tokens at Season Start) You may conceal one item in your (stationary) stand per event, as the Tier 5 Rogue Skill, during your Working Hours. Only the Owner and Merchant’s Guild leadership know where this compartment is. You may spend a Dubious Dealing token to increase the number of items concealed by 1.
Trade Route: (Prerequisite: 3+ events) You make good time when traveling to and from larger markets. This season, once per event, an Adventuring Party you join in the land game receives three extra movement points on their turn (forest and mountain hexes cost more movement points than plains), provided the start of their movement is on a hex with a Town or City. This does not stack with other land game movement benefits.
Venture Insurance: (Prerequisite: 1+ Charitable Contributions Token) When you fall, the community comes together to uplift you for your good deeds. If you join an Adventuring Party for Exploration and lose the best-of-three skirmishes, that Faction recuperates the cost of the Exploration Offensive Action. You may expend a Charitable Contribution token to recharge this Perk, but may only use it once per event.
(New!) Trade Route: You make good time when traveling to and from larger markets. This season, once per event, an Adventuring Party you join in the land game receives two extra hexes of movement on their turn, provided the start of their movement is on a hex with a Town or City. This does not stack with other land game benefits that increase movement.
(New!) Venture Insurance: (Prerequisite: 1+ Charitable Contributions tokens at Season Start) When others knock you down, you are uplifted by the community due to your good deeds. Once this Season, when you join an Adventuring Party and lose a best-of-three Exploration skirmish, the associated Faction recuperates all Gold Dragons invested in that Land Search in their coffers. The Merchant may recharge this Perk by spending a Charitable Contribution token. This Perk does not apply to Invasions.
Other perks will become available in time based on our merchant communities. Some may even initially be business-specific, usually made available through continuous roleplay. Custom perks or wares can be applied for, but likely carry an additional cost of time or effort. Suggestions for new perks/wares should be submitted to larpadventures@gmail.com. These ‘proprietary services’ will be posted and advertised.
Most Important Reminders
Both LARP Bleed and min/maxing are anathema to the Merchant's Guild-- it is designed to balance fun with Service to the LARP Adventures community. All Professions are meant to elevate the experience for this fun hobby we all share.
While some of our characters are dastardly in-game, we come to it with mutual respect for every other character playing the game. Rivalries or enmity is encouraged, but only in-character. Separate the Player from the Character sometimes requires active management. Failure to do so will likely will result in kind reminders and then Organizer intervention. Excessive LARP Bleed or min/maxing does not have a place in the Guild.
“No merchant is entitled to a monopoly on a type of service. Competition is healthy. We’re not in the business of making things personal, either. We’re all here to make Osterra better in our own ways.
Pushing too far to exploit the letter of current regulations draws unwanted attention from regulators—and invites ham-fisted attempts to curb the behavior. Twisting the freedoms we are tacitly afforded threatens all merchants, and it’s in the Guild’s interest to discourage the behavior. Above all, fair pricing, fair play, and access to all. Be wise, be discreet, and don’t break things without a good reason.
Happy dealings. I look forward to seeing your own totally legitimate business!”
– Trez Arrigo, Guildmaster
For a listing of vendors, please see The Marketplace.
For the changes from prior Seasons, please see Seasonal Changes.
