Location Commodities

The Horse

I have already dusted over this section in 30 Horses, but a bit more explanation is in order. Horses are a high end commoditity, like a modern car. Like cars, the breeds of horse were much like makes and models of car, some better at some things others better at other things, and of course, some being just better animals than others.

A location can be noted for have great horses, and a strong cavalry tradition. In a place with poor horses, their cavalry will be weak, infantry stronger, and getting a good horse generally much more difficult than in other places.

So the 1st question to chrome: What kind of horse is native/local to the region?

Gone to the Dogs

While less a commercial commodity than a horse, dogs are also going to be location specific. Do the locals keep guard dogs, or do they even need them? Do dogs wander the street in mongrel packs or is the lack of man's best friend painfully obvious.

The way to answer the question is to consider the hunting and sports of the region. Wetlands are going to have sight hounds to help hunt marsh game, deserts are going to have lean dogs with thin coats. Areas where livestock predation is a problem will have larger dogs able to defend the livestock from wolves, coyotes and the like. Most of the small and toy breeds can generally trace their origins back to some noble court or similar institution where they were bred to be small and quiet companions.

Cheeze Whiz

Cheese is a valuable commoditity. It is rich in nutrients, protien, is easy to carry and keeps well. Locations with milk producing animals, goats sheep and cattle, will invariably have some sort of cheese product that they make and store. The flavor of the cheese will be a factor of the location itself, in the aspect of what kind of animal produces it and what siad animal eats. Preperation is the other half of the equation.

One location that happens to be in a wet area might work to make a very dry very hard cheese that is resistant to moisture and spoilage, and is characterized by the smokey flavor it has from being cured in a smokehouse after it is formed. A seaside community might prefer a softer cheese that they pack in brine to keep fresh, the list goes on and on.

Far traveling PCs might even find their long distance foodstocks quite valuable if the cheese wheel they purchased in one town is highly prized in another town across a border and some two weeks away by usual travel. While I am not saying that the PCs should become cheesemongers, it could be a way for them to invest their after adventure loot for greater returns. Another aspect could be the PCs guarding a caravan loaded with hundreds of wheels of cheese bound for a distant market where they will bring six to ten times their value at the point of production.

Would you like to sniff the cork?

Wine is perhaps the most prestigious of location based commodities. Unless it came from the Champagne region of France, it's just a sparkling white wine. Vinters tend to be found in warmer climates with generous rainfall, and a region that becomes famous for it's wine (Burgundy, Dom Perignon) can demand exorbitant prices for their bottles.

An area with a climate suitable to produce grapes will have wine. Such areas will have access to grappa or the raw fermented grape juice that is later aged into wine. Areas that are cooler, or too dry will have to import their wine, creating a demand for the commodity that outpaces the immediate location demand. Nobles like their wine.

Wine producing areas will have a greater variety of lesser quality wines, at a much reduced price, wheras importing areas will tend to have the middle grade or better wines owing to not wasting the time and money importing the cheap wine. Growing areas are also less likely to cut their wine with water to make it go farther. This commodity can be best used with the fancy-pants elf PC who insists on a glass of wine while his compatriots drain mugs of beer.

A Round on the House

Beer, arguably one of the oldest beverages. If a region can grow grain, it can make beer.

Ale is fermented from the top down in warmer conditions. A mixture of spices and herbs called gruit can be added to flavor the beer. The ingredients in a particular gruit (groo-it) tend to secret recipes of brewers.

Lager is fermented from the bottom up in cooler conditions. Lager is less likely to be spiced or flavored due to it's cooler condition.

Before the accomplishments of Busch and his compatriots, all beer was microbrewed and locally distributed. Prior to pasteurization, most beer would spoil relatively quickly which limited how far it could be shipped. While not as regionally developed as horses and such, certain styles of beer are associated with regions, classes, and occupations. The Porter style of beer gained it's name from the dock porters who originally drank the dark and stout beer. Thusly, each region will have a taste for a specific beer, such as England's preference for ale over lager, America's Pilsner beers, and European continental lagers.

The Oldest Profession

GP, XP, beer and wenches all go hand in hand with the average beer and pretzels PC party. Gold is gold, XP is XP, we've addressed beer above, and wenches may be wenches, but they are as varied as the leaves on a tree.

Prostitution is largely dependant on the social standards of the location, a place where whoring is deemed unacceptable and even illegal the quality of wenches available will be poor. In an area where it is just another occupation, the overall quality will be better. But this isnt about overall quality, it is about variety. One location that is particulary adverse to sex for sale might only have run-aways, criminals, and the destitute sell themselves for money. Not an appealing romp in the hay for even the most callous of PCs. A coastal city might have a wenches guild where everything is done proper and business-like. Another location might be renowned for the beauty of it's blonde and buxom wenches.

I'll have a double soy machiatto

Caffiene is the lifesblood of the modern world, and in the past it was a luxury item, and almost any fantasy world is going to seem a bit hollow with some sort of caffiene based beverage. Tea and coffee are the main sources, with cocoa rounding things out. While climate generally limits production of these plants to hot and humid locales, the real variety isnt there, it is in the preparation of said goods.

You say Klah, I say Coffee

You can dress it up or give it a funny name, but in my experience PCs dont have a problem with either coffee or tea as they are, minus the whole British East India Company and all that historical business. Generally only modern beverages like carbonated soda drinks arent accepted. For inspiration of the caffiene presuasion, just stop by the coffee and tea aisle at your local grocery store and get a whiff of the variety thay have in the gourmet roasts and flavored teas.

Given the standard middle European setting for swords and sorcery fantasy, coffee tea and chocolate are going to be luxury items imported usually by ship from a foreign land. Ports will be the primary source for the goods, and will be thusly associated. One port might favor a dark and robust tea, while another specialized in spiced tea, while yet another might just do a very plain green tea. The same goes for coffee and chocolates.