Dark Sun for Sword of Cepheus: Part VI – Merchants of Athas – Trade Rules

As part of my conversion of the AD&D Dark Sun setting to the Sword of Cepheus rules, I recently made a merchant career. It sort of inspired me to take the Cepheus Engine trading rules and modify them to be used in the Dark Sun setting. The idea being that the players could make money through speculative trading between the city-states and villages of Athas.

Note: This is an initial, alpha version of the Dark Sun/SoC trade rules. I haven’t playtested any of it yet, and will certainly tweak it over time. The Athasian Trade Goods table still needs a bit of work. I’m open to any suggestions or corrections anyone might have.

Concerning the Slave Trade: Those of you familiar with the Dark Sun setting will know that slavery is a big part of the setting. I have deliberately not included rules for the slave trade. Honestly, I find the whole subject a little too unpleasant to gamify into a rule system. The slave trade is not something I’d want my players to have any involvement in, except to overthrow it.

Speculative Trade Rules

Here are the steps needed to carry out a trade:

1. Find a supplier
2. Determine goods available
3. Determine purchase price
4. Take goods to new world or market
5. Find a buyer
6. Determine sales price

Find a supplier

Make an Average (0+) Broker roll to find a supplier. It will take 1d6 days.

If the players are part of a merchant house that has an emporium in the location, no roll is necessary.

In a city state +3 DM, Village -1 DM, Tribe -2 DM

Determine goods available

The GM can choose what goods are available or can decide there are 1d6 randomly determined goods available to buy. The GM can roll D66 on the Athasian Trade Goods table below.

Trade Code

Each kind of location has trade code, listed on the Trade Codes table below. Some goods are easier to buy or sell in different locations. For example, it’s harder to buy finished goods in villages or tribes. Each item of the Athasian Trade Goods table will list various DMs to purchase and sale rolls for different trade code types.

Determine purchase price

To determine the actual purchase price for each item, roll 2d6 on the Modified Price Table. Add the Broker skill to the roll. Also add any purchase DMs if there’s an entry in the Purchase DMs column for that location. The final price will be the item price modified by the purchase column. If the buyer declines this deal, they cannot deal with that supplier for one week.

Transporting goods to new market

It’s assumed the players have access to a wagon and mounts. The trip across Athas to the new market is presumably when all of the actual adventuring happens.

Find a buyer

When the players arrive at the new location, they can try and find a buyer. This uses the same rules as finding a supplier. If the players are trading multiple items, the GM may optionally ask them to make a separate buyer roll for each type of item.

Determine sales price

This uses the same rules as determining a purchase price, except you use the Sale column on the Modified Price Table, and you use the Sales DMs column on the Athasian Trade Goods table.

Trade Codes

Trade Code	Location
CS	City State
CV	Client Village
SV	Slave Village
DV	Dwarf Village
HV	Halfling Village
NT	Nomad Tribe
ET	Elven Tribe
GT	Giant Tribe
TT	Thri-kreen Tribe

Athasian Trade Goods

D66	Trade Goods	Base Price (cp)	Trade Amount	Amount	Purchase DMs	Sale DMs
11	Aarakocra Eggs	480	dozen	1d6	NT+2
12	Kanks	500	each	1d6	NT+2
13	Ceramics	10	lb	1d6	CS+1, Balic+3	NT+1, SV+1
14	Spices	10	lb	1d6		SV+1
15	Textiles	5	lb	1d6		NT+1, SV+1
16	Erdlu Eggs	360	dozen	1d6	NT+2
21	Granite Blocks	5000	ton	1d6	GT+3	DV+2
22	Kank Honey	10	lb	1d6	NT+2
23	Weapons	30	lb	1d6		NT+2, SV+2
24	Armor, Chitin	250	lb	1d6	NT+2
25	Leather goods	5	lb	1d6	NT+2
26	Kola Nuts	10	lb	1d6		CS+2
31	Iron	10	lb	1d6	Tyr+3	CS+2, DV+1
32	Minerals	5	lb	1d6		CS+2
33	Herbs	2	lb	1d6		NT+2
34	Fruit, Dried	3	lb	1d6		NT+1, CS+2, SV+1
35	Gemstones	1000	lb	1d6
36	Steel goods	2000	lb	1d6		SV+1, DV+1
41	Grain	1	lb	1d6
42	Obsidian	20	lb	1d6	HV+1	DV+1, CS+2
43	Wood	40	lb	1d6	HV+1
44	Artwork	60	lb	1d6	SV+2
45	Musical Instruments	50	lb	1d6	SV+2	NT+2
46	Tools	10	lb	2d6	CS+1	NT+2, SV+1, DV+1
51	Gold	500	lb	1d6
52	Spell Components*		lb
53	Magic Items*		lb
54	Esperweed	100	lb	1d6
55	Cotton	2	lb	4d6
56	Faro needles	5	lb	4d6		NT-2, ET-2, TT-2
61	Delicacies	10	lb	2d6		NT+2
62	Wines	50	dozen	1d6
63	Mekillot Eggs	600	dozen	1d6	NT+2	CS+1
64	Amber	120	lb	1d6
65	Furs	30	lb	2d6
66	Unusual Cargo*

Modified Price Table: 2d6 + Broker + Purchase/Sale DMs

Result	Purchase	Sale
2-	200%	40%
3	180%	50%
4	160%	60%
5	140%	70%
6	120%	80%
7	110%	90%
8	100%	100%
9	90%	110%
10	80%	120%
11	70%	140%
12	60%	160%
13	50%	180%
14	40%	200%
15	30%	300%
16+	20%	400%