You might have read my previous entry in this series in which I discussed things that player characters might spend their hard earned gold on (excluding building strongholds). I only scratched the surface in that article so I decided to follow it up with a second entry.

With adventurers delving into underworld mazes and bringing up various treasures there is definitely an implication that the "world economy" of any fantasy campaign based on the original rules would yield opportunities to buy more than just the mundane items listed in Men & Magic.

There are also mundane items mentioned across the various rule books and supplements that are not in the basic equipment list, such as shields of variant sizes, and a few additional weapons. I will also cover some suggestions regarding these.

Things to Spend Money on in an OD&D Campaign - Part 2

Sometimes players will need to spend gold on things they need outside of what is listed in the basic equipment list given in Men & Magic. For many items it is straight forward enough to assign a price and an associated encumbrance. Here are a few simple examples:

Variant Shields

Item Cost Weight Time Required to Forge

Small shield 5 150 1 day
Large shield 15 150 2 days

Shield of variants sizes will eventually come up if using the Adjusted Dexterity rules in Eldritch Wizardry as there are associated dexterity penalties for shields of small, medium or large size. So, if we assume that the price listed in the basic equipment list is for a medium shield then we could add the small and large shields in there. Perhaps to obtain a variant shield a character will have to visit an armorer and have one forged. We might expand the rules regarding shields as follows:

Shields: Shields listed in the BASIC EQUIPMENT AND COSTS list in D&D VOL.I are normal-sized shields. Variant sizes can be purchased from an armourer. A small shield can be counted against only one attack per melee round but offers less of a penalty to the characters adjusted dexterity rating during combat (see ALTERNATIVE COMBAT SYSTEM (addition) in ELDRITCH WIZARDRY. A normal-sized shield can effectively be counted against two attacks per melee round. A large shield is counted against up to three attacks per melee round and offers the highest penalty to the characters adjusted dexterity rating during combat.

These additional rules borrow from AD&D and are suggested because if there is no limiting qualities to smaller or larger shields then the penalties given in Eldritch Wizardry are kind of pointless! Characters would always purchase small shields to minimise their dexterity penalty and there would be no consequences!

Additional Weapons

Characters might visit a weapon maker (which is a sort of smith-armorer specializing in the manufacture of high-quality arms). These weapon makers could be a great place for characters to purchase additional weapons not listed in the BASIC EQUIPMENT LIST of D&D VOL.I such as:

Item                    Cost   Weight   Time Required to Forge

Sickle                                           3              20                 1 day
Military Pick                          5              50                 1 day
Warhammer                                    5              50                 1 day
Crescent-shaped Sword       10            50                 2-8 days
Sling                                              1              50                 1 day
30 sling stones                      1              --                 --
Javelin                                         1               50                1 day

The reason these additional weapons and variant shields require time to forge is that they are not just items for trade available at any old bazaar. They are manufactured to order by the relevant craftsmen.

Spell Casting Services

Times may often arise when characters need access to spells of levels they are yet to obtain. Local clerics and magic users (if available) might be willing to help for a price. Here are some suggested prices:

Cost of Spell Casting Services per Spell:

1st level     2,000 Gold Pieces

2nd level     4,000 Gold Pieces

3rd level     8,000 Gold Pieces

4th level     16,000 Gold Pieces

5th level     32,000 Gold Pieces

6th level     64,000 Gold Pieces

Fantastic Mounts

I found some very interesting prices for certain magical beasts in the type-written OD&D draft which will help in regards to characters who wish to visit a "stable" or "dragon market" or the like in order to purchase one.

Pegasus                    2,000 G.P.
Hippogriff                                         3,000 G.P.
Roc                                                          5,000 G.P.
Griffon                                                9,000 G.P.
Hippogriff/Pegasus Saddle     40 G.P.
Roc/Griffon Saddle                     125 G.P.

These "fantastic" mounts should not just be available anywhere. Middle-sized settlements (populations under 900) might have only standard mounts for sale. For populations over 900 there is might be a 5% chance each that a more exotic mount will be for sale.

Magic Swords & Arrows

Encountering traders or merchants in the various settlements might wield opportunities to purchase magic swords and arrows. Here is my suggestion for probabilities:

Population Under 1,500 = 5% chance of 1 magic-sword (roll for possibilities using D&D VOL.II) & 5% chance of 3–30 Magic Arrows

Populations over 1,500=5% of any 3 magic-items or maps (roll on MAGIC/MAPS DETERMINATION TABLE in D&D VOL.II for possibilities)

Special Equipment Made to Order

Characters may also require something to be made that is otherwise unavailable, this could be an ornately decorated or heavily personalised weapon, a chest with a complex lock or trap, or perhaps an innovative piece of siege equipment. All these things and more can be handled with a few simple rules.  (if you're reading on a phone you might wanna tilt the screen into landscape for this one):

Costs of Craftsmen: the cost of any item crafted (that is not otherwise detailed above) is calculated at 1 G.P per month of time required with added multipliers for materials, size and scope. For example, payment and time required for a large iron chest would be 1 G.P, multiplied by 2 for size and scope, (2 G.P.), and multiplied by a further 9 for the iron required (18 G.P.). The chest will take 20 days to complete (base time required, further multiplied for size & scope).

BASE COST & AMOUNT OF TIME REQUIRED TO CRAFT AN ITEM:

                   Durability/Material                Base   Base
Detail/Intricacy   Complexity & Resource  Mechanical  Time   Cost
& Personalisation  Availability           Complexity  (days) (G.P.)

Basic              Basic                  Basic       1      1
Basic              Basic                  Complex     2      1
Basic              Complex                Basic       10     1
Basic              Complex                Complex     15     1
Complex            Basic                  Basic       20     1
Complex            Basic                  Complex     30     1
Complex            Complex                Basic       45     2
Complex            Complex                Complex     90     3

COST & TIME MULTIPLIER FOR SIZE & SCOPE
Easily portable                 1x
Fit in a room but not easily portable         2x
Structural or building sized         6x

COST MULTIPLIER FOR MATERIALS:
Clay, feather, bone, plant, pitch, resin etc 2x
Wood                  3x
Leather                 4x
Glass                 5x
Paper                 6x
Shell                 7x
Textiles         8x
Metal                 9x
Gemstones/Precious metal         10x

I covered the above rules in my Solo Dungeon Crawler Solo Roll Play Podcast in Episode 5. 

Let me know what you think...

Screen shot from Solo Dungeon Crawler Solo Roll Play Podcast Episode 5