Accessory - Dragon Magazine #111.pdf - Index of

advertisers, poets, storytellers, historians,
newsmen, and singers. There are bards who
own agencies which charge specific amounts
for specific services and bards who work
strictly for donations. Very rich and socially
conscious citizens act as patrons of the arts,
and are rewarded for their generosity with
epic, heroic songs or poems concerning
noble lineages and wondrous exploits. If the
DM has any secret poetic talent, these
expensive tributes to a player character’s
courage are another great way to take back
gold pieces. Bards who prefer an easy living
often work for the wealthy caring for children
or animals. Bars offer another easy
living for the musically inclined, and their
abilities are uniquely suited to calming a
rowdy clientele.
The rare psionically endowed individual
has special problems in Malachi. Those who
register with the city as sensitives are monitored,
but allowed to charge for legitimate
uses of their abilities. A few are in the employ
of the government and military, used
primarily to detect unregistered psychics.
One gambling casino is rumored to keep
several psychics on the payroll, although
officials have yet to catch one tampering
with the games. The penalties for unlicensed
or unethical use of psionic powers
are stiff, generally including a fine and
imprisonment, and on rare occasion calling
for the death penalty. Most of the citizens
don’t trust mental powers and prefer to use
the services of more reputable spell-casters,
so the few who do have psionics generally
limit their use while in the city.
Curious businesses
Aside from these examples of business in
a fantasy city, there are operations where
the use of magic is suspected but not yet
proven. Bealse, the statue seller, is a case in
point. Some of his creations are so lifelike
they seem to have been breathing a short
time before. Rumor has it that some of the
stone lions adorning mansion steps were
once living beasts, caught by a flesh to stone
spell. One adventurer reported selling the
gleanings from a gorgon’s lair to Bealse for
a fair price, but one hears many tales over a
cup of ale.
“The Frog and Mermaid” is another
source of speculation. A special menu is
offered for overweight patrons, offering all
the delectable selections from the regular
menu — with a claim that no weight will be
gained from eating the food. Satisfied diners
report leaving full and contented, but skeptics
complain they were charged for an
empty plate and a realistic illusion.
Many other businesses thrive not because
they are magical in nature but simply because
magic exists. Component dealers
needn’t have the talent themselves to roll
bat guano and sulfur balls. Exotica emporiums
buy and sell everything from monster
eggs to baby dragons to landshark-foot
sword stands. It’s not difficult to convince
characters that their lives aren’t complete
without a winter-wolf bedspread. What’s
money for but to spend, anyway? That
16 JULY 1986
vodyanoi-skin sword sheath may not work
any better than a leather one, but there’s so
much more prestige to its appearance.
Enterprising characters may even take to
butchering their more exotic kills for their
sale value. The scenario possibilities here
are unlimited. “Wanted: one mimic brain.
Inquire within.”
Malachi has a linguists’ guild, where for
a modest fee characters can gain those
additional languages. Sages and alchemists
are for hire, and membership in the common
library is inexpensive considering the
wealth of literature available. The city’s
booksellers are another place scholars haunt
to find that bit of arcane knowledge needed
to complete a private library. Moneychangers
have a guild and offices where
coins are converted (for a percentage, naturally)
to smaller and larger denominations,
or to the coin of the realm.
Other scenarios suggest themselves from
the basic city setup. Why has Ichabod the
Iceman suddenly closed his business? What
are the restaurateurs and food brokers who
have grown dependent on his services going
to do now? Clerics and other adventurers
needed to exorcise a haunted house. Wizard
needs live tunnel worm for experimentation;
top price paid. Wealthy merchant
seeks to hire housemage — must know
charm person. “Did you hear about the
poor Stormsinger family? The third member
of the family just died of a mysterious
disease. And they have that nice Brother
Bilius living with them, too. It must be a
terrible sickness to be not curable by him.
Poor man. But I heard that they’ve included
him in their wills out of gratitude for
his services. Lady Stormsinger said he was
so loyal he said he’d never be able to live
with another family if anything happened to
them.”
Malachi: background and growth
Malachi was initially designed to serve
several functions. After three years of play,
my world needed a place where adventurers
could sell the valuable pelts and owlbear
eggs collected on their travels. A system for
removing excess treasure was becoming
increasingly necessary, and the players
wanted a change of pace from dungeons
and wilderness. Lastly, it was designed to be
a reward for player characters. How many
hapless characters spend their entire lives
sleeping on one cold cave floor after another?
After all, isn’t the main reason for
risking your neck to enjoy the fruits of your
labor? Nubile slaves peeling grapes for the
weary warrior are a common component of
fantasy. Constant adventuring makes even
the stoutest character tired after a while,
and it’s nice to have a fun place to relax for
a time. So what if sometimes that place gets
as exciting as the rockiest mountain range
— it’s so much more pleasant to fall asleep
in a featherbed in the city’s finest hotel.
Malachi started as a wizard’s castle on
the mouth of a river. Within a decade, it
had grown into a walled keep. Over the
years, the city kept expanding, and existing
walls were torn down and rebuilt to accomodate
the growing citizenry. The original
keep walls are still in existence within the
city walls, and this area is the most prestigious
and expensive in the city. Old Town,
site of the first expansion, is a mixed area
containing both stately mansions and hovels
where the peasants who serve the wealthy
live. Religion Row was an addition to house
the expanding clerical population, and holds
nine temples representing each of the alignments
(the evil ones are closely watched).
This section of town is luxurious, expensive,
and well maintained. Druids’ Park is
in this section, as are the guild houses.
Newport and Riverside are the results of
Malachi’s latest growing pains and are the
least expensive and most dangerous parts of
town. There are four major marketplaces:
one each in God’s Row and Newport, and
two in Old Town. Numerous wells, fed by
the river, provide water and fields surrounding
the city provide both food and work for
the peasants.
The population consists of nobility, rich
merchants, and wealthy adventurers forming
the upper class; moderate merchants,
service people, and farmland owners constituting
the middle class; and, peasants,
laborers, and servants making up the lower
class. Slavery is legal in Malachi, and many
of the rich have large stables of slaves. One
can be forced into slavery as punishment for
certain crimes, and traveling slavers consistently
increase Malachi’s population.
Even after a year of play, Malachi is far
from finished. Approximately three-fourths
of the city is detailed, some parts as sketchily
as “Newport 138-147 — modest private
homes” to fully detailed floor plans with
every NPC rolled, named, and described.
Several edifices are empty, under construction,
or otherwise unremarkable. These are
“Outs,” in case it becomes apparent at some
point that an important and necessary
business has been entirely omitted or forgotten.
Established businesses range from
traditional armorers, fletchers, and blacksmiths
to wand and scroll case shops, potion
dealers, and insurance agencies. “Homer’s
Hospitality House” has a sign on the door
proclaiming “Humans Only," while any
creatures not possessing orc or ogre blood
feel decidedly uncomfortable at “Filthy
Flydung’s Tavern.”
Marketplaces have a periphery of stationary
buildings surrounding a square filled
with transient tents and stalls. Random
charts govern which merchants have a tent
or stall on any given day, and let the buyer
beware when purchasing an expensive item
from a roving merchant. Temporary stalls
include everything from mundane supplies
to fortune tellers (some legitimate, but the
charlatans are hard to find again) to food
vendors. The port assures a constant variety
of people and merchandise, giving the city a
sense of reality and a dynamic feeling.
Transportation can be by foot, horseback,
camelback, and elephantback (and once in
awhile something even more unusual), and
by carriage, sedan chair, broom, and magic