Haggling

Haggling is an art practiced in the markets over much of the world, the practice of coming to an agreement on the price of an item. In those cases where haggling is indicated as a possibility 55% or greater, the asking price for an item will usually be in excess of the actual value (and what the seller expects to get for it) by a fair proportion (usually two or three times the expectation, occasionally as much as five times the value or expected price). The seller expects to be bargained down by the shopper, so he gives himself lots of room in which to make price concessions.

If the GM’s players are in the habit of haggling and bargaining already, the GM assumedly has a good bit of experience in this form of role-playing. The techniques can be used by both players and GM whether the players are trying to buy needed equipment, etc., or attempting to sell the valuables garnered on their most recent adventures. Wailing about the food being taken from the mouths of his starving children, the shawl from his poor mother’s back, extolling the virtues of the item in question (“But, such workmanship! Where else could you find such a magnificent …”), and other statements of this type (“Ah, my friend, this is so exquisite, so valuable, a jewel beyond price! But for you, just …”) contribute greatly to the enjoyment of a role-playing session.

Ratings have been included both for desire to haggle, and for ability. The desire rating is fairly self-explanatory - either the seller will bargain in the circumstances, or he won’t.

The ability rating goes from 1 to 20 and can be used to estimate the chances that a seller will bring his price down (“…just one more time, since you are such a fine …”) and whether he will sell an item for less than the assumed value (what the seller paid for it plus normal profit markup). The higher the value the less apt he is to get out-bargained, and the less likely he is to be taken in by the purchaser’s tactics.

Haggling techniques are, unfortunately, something that must be learned; it is very difficult to describe all the possible ploys from both buyer and seller - a good session of haggling, however, can be a lot of fun.

Vendor’s Desire and Ability to Haggle

1d100		Desire	1d100	Ability
01-06	X1	Refuses, one price only	01-04	B : Bad (2)2
07-18	?	Maybe (35%) if no other customers	05-15	P : Poor (5)
19-40	/	Maybe (65%) if no other customers	16-33	L : Low (8)
41-63	%	Always if no other customers 35% even if other customers	34-67	A : Average (11)
64-84	#	Always if no customers 65% if other customers	68-85	H : High (14)
85-00	*	Always, regardless of other customers	86-96	V : Very Good (17)
			97-00	S : Superb (19)

¹ Symbol used in vendor charts

² When deciding to lower a price, roll [roll:d20] and if you beat the number in parentheses it will be lowered. Or just decide based on role-playing.

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Number of Other Customers Present **

1d100	# Present
01-36	None, check later
37-62	One
63-81	Two (together)
82-94	Two (separate)
95-00	Three or more

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