I got bored.
Okay let’s do pretendsies mercantile adventure: I want to buy all of Redgate’s salt and sell it. We’ll say, for the sake of argument, that Redgate has a -2 Salt modifier and Riverfall has a +0.
We’ll also say for the sake of argument that I’m familiar with both markets so my bonuses apply.
Note:Salt has a base price of 100 gp per Load, each Load being 80 stone.
First, I pay the market toll of 1d3- I roll a 3! Damn.
Now I know that are 1d4-1 merchants; I roll a 3! That means there are two merchants. I roll to see what the first one sells-
17! He’s a salt merchant. Well I’ll be damned. Roll 1d4- 4! He has 4 loads of salt (That’s 320 stone. Over a ton of salt!)
Since he’s a salt merchant, he’ll buy and sell salt by default. I roll 4d4 and get… 1, 2, 1, 2: 6! I then subtract 2 for the demand modifier, since Redgate exports salt, for 4. I then subtract another one for my bargaining. 3! 3 times 10 means he’s selling salt at 30% base price.
Holy shit, this is a fortunate first run. I should’ve waited to do this ingame.
So I buy his 4 loads at 30 gp each, having spent 120 gp. I then wait a week for a second merchant.
He’s a… 47… common metal merchant! This must be one of Hematite’s friends. I ask him what his metals are going for. I roll 4d4 and get 15!
By the Seeker, dude is selling metal at 150% of base price. I don’t know Redgate’s metal demand modifier, but even if the demand modifier were -3, he’d still be selling at 120%. This is crazy. I don’t want that!
I ask him if he’d like to sell me salt. Reaction roll! I roll a 5, +3 for my CHA, for a total of 8. In order to succeed, I need a 9, plus or minus the demand modifier, so in this case, since salt is cheap around here, the -2 works in my favor, and I only needed a 7. He’s willing!
I roll 1d4. He has two loads of salt he could be persuaded to mess with. Unfortunately, the little goblinoid swine has bargaining! WE BARGAIN OFF!
I roll 2d6+5! 5+3 for 8 total, because these dice hate me. He rolls a 7 because he is average and boring. I win! Thank the Divines for my enormous face that gives +3 charisma.
I buy two more loads of salt at 30 gp each; I now have six loads and I’m down 180 gold. I also need to haul 480 stone of salt. I’ll assume Magnar and co let me borrow their wagons as a sign of goodwill.
I then mosey on down to riverfall. Since riverfall is more than 4 hexes away, there’s no trade route connecting them (villages default to a 4 hex trade radius), so the salt market won’t have stablized yet and prices might still be high there.
I pay a 6 gp toll (189 gp total expenses) and enter. I pretend it’s class 3 even though it’s class 4; I roll 2d4 and find that there are 4 merchants hanging around. Two show up on day one.
I roll to see what they want: 94 and 39. 94 is precious! There’s a fur trader and a… MONSTER PART GUY!
I ask the monster part guy what he’s selling, and for how much. He wants 120% of base price so he can die in a fire. Since this conversation has increased my salt, I ask if he wants some. I roll very well! 14 total! He will buy salt. Specifically, 3d4 loads: 5!
How much will he buy it for though? I roll 4d4… BY ALL MY STARS AND GARTERS, 14! The monster part guy has bargaining though, so we roll off… I get a 13, I am unstoppable with these dice! He will buy salt for 150 percent of its base value.
I sell him 5 loads of salt for 150 gp each, 750 total. I then swivel to the fur trader, drunk on victory. “FURS. HOW MUCH?” He is selling them at exactly base price. Eat poop and die, fair trade! I ONLY BUY LOW, ONLY SELL HIGH.
I roll another 5 on my reaction roll to convince him to buy salt though; cha boosts that to 8. My mania has offended him, and he will not do business with me. Bastard!
I wait another week. Another merchant appears! 38! Another fur trader. Hopefully this one is not lying scum like his friend. He agrees to trade in salt with me! I sell him my last load for 150.
I walk away with 900 coins in my purse! I turned 189 gp into 900. That’s 711 profit for a little over a month’s work. Not really a good end sum; 711’s barely a day’s work. On the other hand, I got a little under 5 times my original investment. That suggests that I could’ve spent 4k and walked away with almost 20, if I’d just bought more salt to start with and sold more. That seems pretty rad!
Also, is it just me, or could I have theoretically purchased one fur trader’s entire load of furs at 90% of base cost thanks to bargaining, and then sold it to the other fur trader for 110% of base cost thanks to bargaining, yielding me a 20% profit per load simply for hauling them across the street?