Post by Ymbert Montgomery on Oct 6, 2019 10:55:15 GMT
(Much like the Church guide, this concentrates on Merchants from the point of view of their customers).
The Gentlemen of Paris naturally require a lot of material goods to uphold their status. The Merchants provide them with these goods. While obviously they require several (very few clothing stores sell wine) for the purposes of the game it is possible for characters to choose to patronise a specific merchant for most of their needs.
How to choose a Merchant
This is very simple and works much like choosing a Confessor. All you need to do is order (as a standing order) that your character will be using a specific merchant. This will give the merchant a percentage of your support costs (including conspicious consumption) which will make them happy. If you order one than one merchant it will have no mechanical effect and exists only for RP reasons.
Social Benefits and Penalties from Shopping
Naturally, the Social Level of your merchant is very important. If a character is lower SL than the Merchant they will get SP of the difference divided by 2 (rounded up). If they are no more than 2 SL above the Merchant they'll get 1 SP.
On the other hand, characters 6 or more SL above the Merchant will lose SP for shopping there! (This means they are likely to require some inducements).
Discounts
A Merchant may try and encourage you to shop at their establishment by offering discounts. These may be general (10% off to all customers) or conditional (50% off to SLs of 10 and higher, 20% off to members of the clergy) etc.
How this works is as follows. At the start of the month you'll pay your support costs as normal, but in the pre monthly phase you will get a refund of the stated amount.
Example
Jacques (SL 5) is shopping at Honest Pierre's (SL 3) General Store.
Jacques has a Conspicious Consumption level of 1, costing him 15L overall. Pierre will get a cut of that spending. However, Pierre offers a 10% discount to all cavalry members, a discount that Jacques will qualify for.
So Jacques pays 15L at the start of the month and is then refunded 2L (as always, rounding up to the nearest whole number) at the end of the month. While this isn't a big gain, considering Jacques also gets 1 SP for frequenting the shop it can be considered worth it.
Special Offers
Once a month a merchant may buy a special item. While this can be anything (from hats to duelling pistols) they all have the same mechanical effect. Each special item will provide a specific amount of SP to the purchaser and the merchant. The maximum number of SP available per item is 20 and only one item can give SP to an individual every month.
The Merchant may pass on the item in any way he wishes from a straight sale to a raffle.
Investments[/fonts]
Due to their financial acumen merchants double the profits from investments.
This does not, however, reduce any possible losses so risk is still involved.
This bonus is available if the merchant is managing the investment for someone else. However, if they do so they can choose to embezzle or simply to keep all the money for themselves! Doing so may lead to duels and/or criminal charges....
The Gentlemen of Paris naturally require a lot of material goods to uphold their status. The Merchants provide them with these goods. While obviously they require several (very few clothing stores sell wine) for the purposes of the game it is possible for characters to choose to patronise a specific merchant for most of their needs.
How to choose a Merchant
This is very simple and works much like choosing a Confessor. All you need to do is order (as a standing order) that your character will be using a specific merchant. This will give the merchant a percentage of your support costs (including conspicious consumption) which will make them happy. If you order one than one merchant it will have no mechanical effect and exists only for RP reasons.
Social Benefits and Penalties from Shopping
Naturally, the Social Level of your merchant is very important. If a character is lower SL than the Merchant they will get SP of the difference divided by 2 (rounded up). If they are no more than 2 SL above the Merchant they'll get 1 SP.
On the other hand, characters 6 or more SL above the Merchant will lose SP for shopping there! (This means they are likely to require some inducements).
Discounts
A Merchant may try and encourage you to shop at their establishment by offering discounts. These may be general (10% off to all customers) or conditional (50% off to SLs of 10 and higher, 20% off to members of the clergy) etc.
How this works is as follows. At the start of the month you'll pay your support costs as normal, but in the pre monthly phase you will get a refund of the stated amount.
Example
Jacques (SL 5) is shopping at Honest Pierre's (SL 3) General Store.
Jacques has a Conspicious Consumption level of 1, costing him 15L overall. Pierre will get a cut of that spending. However, Pierre offers a 10% discount to all cavalry members, a discount that Jacques will qualify for.
So Jacques pays 15L at the start of the month and is then refunded 2L (as always, rounding up to the nearest whole number) at the end of the month. While this isn't a big gain, considering Jacques also gets 1 SP for frequenting the shop it can be considered worth it.
Special Offers
Once a month a merchant may buy a special item. While this can be anything (from hats to duelling pistols) they all have the same mechanical effect. Each special item will provide a specific amount of SP to the purchaser and the merchant. The maximum number of SP available per item is 20 and only one item can give SP to an individual every month.
The Merchant may pass on the item in any way he wishes from a straight sale to a raffle.
Investments[/fonts]
Due to their financial acumen merchants double the profits from investments.
This does not, however, reduce any possible losses so risk is still involved.
This bonus is available if the merchant is managing the investment for someone else. However, if they do so they can choose to embezzle or simply to keep all the money for themselves! Doing so may lead to duels and/or criminal charges....