Here are some things to keep in mind regarding Merchants:

1) Merchants ARE characters, and therefore can be played as will best befit the character. Darby is old, has a heart disease, and doesn't like tacky clothing. Pavel is a gruff old-school Russian, who also does not suffer the foolish gladly. They are free to express their characteristics by roleplaying them as they will. The key to player interaction with them is to learn just WHO they are... not WHAT they are (which we all know is a merchant).

2) Merchants -should- make it known how many items each player can get at the start of the session. If they only say one, then so be it. If you're lucky, maybe you'll be able to order more. We -try- to keep it consistent within each session, but sometimes we run out of time (for whatever reason) and have to start keeping things short and sweet.

3) Think out your choices before hand, and have a backup if the Merchant doesn't want to make what you want. This will keep the line going quickly, keep the Merchant from getting frustrated by dawdlers, and keep the other players from wanting to murder the person who is taking sooooooo long.

4) Copywrited and Trademarked items are completely forbotten. Yes, I know that there have been some which have slipped through security in the past, but I don't want any new ones going out... it would be a bad, bad, no good, horrible, terrible, ghastly thing if Modus was hit with a Copywrite infringement suit.

5) If a Merchant says "No" to an item, you can ask "Why?" It might help if you added on "Please tell me so I know better what you won't make in the future." :)

6) Premium Subscribers don't get additional items just because they're Premium Subscribers. They get other goodies (including Premie only merchant events). That is not going to change. If you don't feel you are getting your money's worth, then you always have the option of becoming a normal player. An increase of items isn't on the docket.

7) Do not ask for things which are not normally manufactured by large industrial nations. If you couldn't normally find it in the US, Japan or Europe (just naming a few, and not slighting any countries purposefully), you probably won't get it.

8) Pets are right out, as are magical creatures. For one thing, like "children" I don't see how many players would take the responsibility to truly Roleplay a pet... feed it, walk it, keep it out of the battle zone, not stuff it into a locker or backpack when they got tired of it. So, no dice on pets.

I think that's a fair whack for now. :) I know most of you have already heard these things... but what the heck, someone was asking the whys, so here they are.

Siri

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