Having PCs affect merchant house economy

[Fnord]

What do ppl think of having the number of players employed by a merchant house affect its supply and demand? Obviously there's a lot virtual activity in a merchant house, but I'm guess the players affect it somewhat.

1) Salarr: Hunters.
2) Kadius: Crafters.
3) Kurac: Sifters.

If each House doesn't have enough of the above (and perhaps more), it might affect how much stuff they are able to sell, and the price.

If the economy was more PC driven in that way, it would encourage Houses to actively seek players out. It would encouarge players to get involved because they'd have an an actual affect.

It's also possible that PCs represent such a small part of the House's operation that their influence is neglegable, but it seemed like an idea worth discussing. Thoughts?

[jstorrie]

Houses need little encouragement to seek out more PCs, I think. In my experience most houses are so desperate to hire anyone that they'll pick up people far below their station already, which is kind of too bad.

[Anonymous]

Basing the economy on specific PC numbers when we have a playerbase with a high mortality rate and ignoring the huge numbers of VNPCs doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

To me if you want to have a noticeable effect on the well-being of your organization you need to start your own small-time one.

[Jherlen]

The handful of PCs working for a House probably doesn't have much effect on the large scale scheme of things as far as that House goes, when you consider how really massive organisations they truly are.

Merchant Houses are nearly always recruiting in both cities, from what I can tell, and even so sometimes the number of people wanting to play in them can be low. Forcing any clan with vast amounts of virtual resources to try and keep up a quota of PCs doesn't seem like a very good idea to me.

All of that said, I'd love to see more House items be craftable by PC crafters with materials gathered by PC hunters. I definitely think if it's feasible for PCs in a House to produce things themselves, they should, because that's more fun for everyone. But players in the merchant Houses should be able to call on the virtual resources of their House when needed, because that's one of their greatest advantages over the independents.

[Cale_Knight]

At any given time, there are at most fifty or so total PCs in the game.

The great merchant hosues have thousands if not tens of thousands of employees.

The disconnect there is way too big.

[Cuusardo]

The reason merchant houses hire so many so often is because the turnover rate is so high.

[Rindan]

I personally like the idea of more active PC participation in merchant houses.  The real problem is player numbers.  Merchant houses are not even a little picky.  If you want in to a merchant house, they will let you in and give you some nice benefits.  Tying their economics to player numbers wouldn't change anything.

I really don't think tying economics to player numbers is a terrible idea.  It just isn't right for Armageddon as it stands.  If Armageddon was plush with people and all levels of society were filled out roughly proportional, it would be awesome.  That simply isn't the case though.  Armageddon is a world that is mostly run by VNPCs with a smattering of PCs taking up a few roles here and there.  You have people screaming for the destruction of Tuluk not because Tuluk sucks, but because there aren't enough PCs to really fill in all of Allanak.

So, I don't think the idea is bad, just that it isn't right for a game with half of a dozen noble houses, three merchant houses, a pile of isolated clans, two major cities, and a smatter of semi-major outposts.  The population is already stretched thin enough where there is a demand for PCs everywhere.

[Sandstorm Phoenix]

I think the original poster has a good idea, but I'm forced to agree with the majority opinion here.  Rindan, in his usual eloquence, said it best.  

Unfortunately, when VNPCs and NPCs matter oh so much more than you do, you end up with PCs being somewhat insignificant to the bigger picture.  Or, at least, you get the feeling of insignificance.  (But it isn't like that hasn't had a couple few threads devoted to that.)   I especially like that Fnord is thinking up ways to better a player's experience.  Insert a thumbs-up icon here.

[Forty Winks]

I think there was a post awhile back (maybe not that long ago) that mentioned player-driven plots having an impact on the organization in some manner. Perhaps that would be a better alternative than a quota? For example, if a group of hunters were able to gather X amount of material by Y, that certain branch of the House could begin selling a new item. *shrug* You could also work that into affecting the House negatively if getting too much of an easily attainable material brings prices down.

[Jherlen]

I think there was a post awhile back (maybe not that long ago) that mentioned player-driven plots having an impact on the organization in some manner. Perhaps that would be a better alternative than a quota? For example, if a group of hunters were able to gather X amount of material by Y, that certain branch of the House could begin selling a new item. *shrug* You could also work that into affecting the House negatively if getting too much of an easily attainable material brings prices down.

It's very very likely this happens, but on an internal level and on a small scale, so few people outside the House would probably realise it.

[LoD]

I've gotten the impression in the past that PC's of various Houses believe they are far more critical to the organization than they actually are.

Whenever I play a role within a huge enterprise (i.e. Merchant House, Noble House, large clan), I envision being part of a "cell" within that organization that might comprise 1% of the total business.  While the actions, trials and tribulations of our unit may see successes and failures, their impact on the greater good of the organization is still very, very small.

You may have a Senior Agent overseeing ten Junior Agents, all of which hire and manage their own group of guards, servants, informants, aides, caravan pilots, etc...  The monthly meeting in my imagination reminds me of an organized crime ring, where "Tyral "One Thumb" Kadius" reports his profits, losses and problems in his "turf" around a big table.  

Is this guy powerful within his own little section of territory?  Sure.  Does he even really matter when you're talking about the big dogs that run the show?  No way.  Is he easily replaced.  Yes.  So having a handful of PC's have any sort of major effect on the economy of an entire Merchant House seems unlikely.

-LoD

[Anonymous]

So having a handful of PC's have any sort of major effect on the economy of an entire Merchant House seems unlikely.

My thinking was more along the lines of affecting the city-state or town to which they belonged, but that wasn't necessarily clear in the OP.

I agree that in many cases a single group of PCs would comprise a very small part of an overall organization that may span over the known world in the case of some merchant houses. However, let's look at that more closely.

Often it has been said that commonly "PCs deal with PCs" and "NPCs deal with NPCs". Examples:

1) Why does a PC Templar come into the bar and yell at a PC Bynner, instead of the hundreds of NPCs and VNPCs? Because it's implied that *NPC Templars have that covered.

2) Why is the amount of coin in a merchant's shop only affected by PC economy? Because it's implied that VNPCs are constantly buying and selling and it "balances out" that aspect.

Point being that the face of Merchant House shops PCs see and deal with is the PC-influenced side, so how much further can we push that?

[Fnord]

Whoops, that was me. Forgot I cleared my cookies.