The Midnight Market

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Okay, I'm introducing my PC's to this place, and I had a question:

The MM is supposed to be neutral ground where no one fights, because it's bad for business. OTOH, several of the...currencies...of the market are conducive to hostility. What if a customer shortchanges the gnomish clan on their blood donation? Do any of the slaves exchanged ever put up a fight? What happens when someone comes to the bargaining table thinking they are a customer and comes to find out they are merely currency? Are there any rules to curtail violent misunderstandings?

[NeoTiamat]

Hrm.... I think the big rule is that of fear. You can probably get away with a fair amount of violence, if you're discreet about it, but if you get caught... well... hope you enjoy spending the rest of your life as a twisted, grotesque parody of human and canine bound to a powerful Terror-Fey.

So the big rule regarding violence in the Midnight Market is: Keep it quiet. The Minister of Fear isn't omniscient, but his ghost-ravens are everywhere and watching everything. And any disturbance they spot, the Minister investigates, and he has True Sight. Still, if you can keep it subtle enough, you can probably get away with it.

Likewise, most of the merchants probably have their own methods of ensuring compliance. First and foremost, they can simply refuse to do business with someone who doesn't pay their debts, or ask for payment up front. Moreover, most of the merchants have their own ways of ensuring payment, since they're various Faerie, wizards, undead, or other nasty stuff.

More specifically, in the examples listed:

What if a customer shortchanges the gnomish clan on their blood donation? = Malthus Karkar is a canny enough merchant to ask for the blood and money up front before handing over the weapons in question. So he simply holds back the goods. In extreme cases, a Domination should sort things out. If that doesn't work, then either the Minister is going to be showing up soon, or else Malthus will just give it up as a bad job.

Do any of the slaves exchanged ever put up a fight? = Slaves are slaves, and property, not people. Zerachiel could catch and whip a woman to death in the middle of the street in front of the Minister, and the Faerie-lord really wouldn't care so long as he was the person who had brought her to the Market as chattel.

What happens when someone comes to the bargaining table thinking they are a customer and comes to find out they are merely currency? = If they're not enslaved when entering the Market (in other words, if they're not somehow physically or magically bound when they pass through the portals), then the person who wants to use them as currency is on very slippery ground. In such a case, if the 'currency' is subdued very quickly and easily (a spell, a Dominate), then no problem. If it gets away and runs around the market, then it's probably safe.

Here you go. In far more detail than you ever wanted to know about, I wager.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I'm not familiar with the Midnight Market, but it sounds similar to the Floating Market in Neverwhere. Maybe that could be a source of inspiration?

I play in a LARP based on Neverwhere, and this is the interpretation of the "Market Truce" that's used for that game:

Q: - How exactly does the Market truce work? You've said that violence is forbidden but what happens if someone does break it? Who polices the Market and who decides what happens to rule-breakers?

A: - The Market Truce basically states that you may not take any action of violence against another person whilst at the Market. You're also not permitted to steal from anyone else whilst at the Market. Once the Markets over then you're free to do whatever you want though

If you want to take a violent action against someone there, then theres always the Circus. If you want to steal from them then tough, you've got to either get it off them by fair means or wait til the end of the Market

Who polices it? Everyone basically. Its a fact that no-one commits any violence or theft at a Floating Market merely because they know what happens to people who break that rule. If the community decides not to take action against someone who has broken the Truce then that sets a precedent, and others will try their luck. The Market will collapse into chaos and violence

Therefore if you see someone intiate an act of violence it is your duty as a resident of Brighton Below to arrest them (or if they resist being arrested to kill them), and likewise for stealing.

The act of violence in the Market is likely to earn the transgressor the death penalty, or something much worse. Stealing may result in an amputation or two instead of death

Its is the responsibility of the head of the Noble Household to find out who was responsible and effect a punishment. No Noble would ever shame the Market Truce by lying, or failing to punish those responsible.
The heads of each Household would put his own child to death if they broke the Market Truce. The Market Truce is one of the few constants in Brighton Below

Its the fear of punishment that keeps people in line. If theres any doubt over who started a fight then the truth potions will probably come out, or a ritual to find the culprit will be enacted. Either way the perpetrator will be uncovered and punished

[Kaitou Kage]

You can read more about the Midnight Market here.

[Igor the Henchman]

How about including an area or circumstance where violence *is* permitted? That way, if the PCs are reckless, or unfortunate enough to get caught fighting in the street, the Minister might simply (sternly) direct them to "take it there". Maybe there's a gladiatorial fighting pit, or a Duel Hall, or an underground dungeon kept specifically for that purpose? Or combat might be permitted, but must follow a particular ritual - requiring both parties to declare the whos, hows and wheres, and give plenty of warning to people in the street (and maybe even time for onlookers to register bets).

Other than that, just use the Minister. If you feel like the action is about to get tense, you might simply have the Minister appear behind the PCs backs and inquire (icily) what's going on. The scene freezes and everyone in the vacinity acts extremely frightened.

And, you know, normally I wouldn't advocate this, but it seems right in this case: the Minister can bypass game rules. 'Cause's he's the frickin' Minister of the Midnight Market. If the PCs stole an item, the Minister suddenly produces it from his pocket and returns it to the owner. Or he might magically know something the PCs thought was a secret. He can have any leverage over the PCs the DM might wish, or change the outcome of their actions in any way you need. Get crazy.

As I see it, the Midnight Market is essentially Ravenloft's answer to Sigil. That means you will meet both savory and unsavory characters, that combat will start eventually (PCs will be PCs, no way around it), and that rules can be twisted in favor of the unique atmosphere of the place. Once in a while, and not too overtly, but they can and should.

[EO]

I think it's better to disallow fighting altogether in the Market. If people want to duke it out, they can leave the Market and enter the normal world once more then fight there.

It'd be interesting as well, if you make an enemy of one of the merchants there, you could find him outside of the Market and kill him there if he ventures outside the Market.

[High Priest Mikhal]

I'd think that, like any other black market, folks keep it civil because they have a lot to lose by causing a ruckus. There are rules to the game. But only insofar as you can keep any breaks a secret from the others. If you're caught then the rest of them will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

[NeoTiamat]

Nice thing about all the ideas here is that they're not exclusive, really. Like I said, the merchants can just blacklist any trouble makers. High Priest Mikhal is right in that the people have a lot to lose if they start getting violent (to wit, their existence), and so anyone with even a modicum of self-preservation is going to think very hard about doing anything unpleasant. And like Igor is saying, if someone does get rowdy, it's fairly simple to use the Minister to nip it in the bud, since he's a low-Epic level Faerie.

One interesting thing to do may be to have the PCs see the Minister 'at work' soon after they enter the Midnight Market for the first time. If they see the Faerie Lord put down a rampaging vampire or some-such easily, and then some fellow Market-goer explains what just happened, they're probably going to be a bit leery of causing trouble.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions, everyone! Now that my campaign is back on track, the Midnight Market is becoming more important again, and I need a little more advice. Bear in mind my version will not be exactly like Neo's, for many reasons. For one thing, it's not a domain, but a truly neutral world between worlds.

One of my PC's has ventured into the MM, and is about to return. I'm going to be using the MM to emphasize this PC's superhuman/nonhuman nature (the PC is a dhampir). I want to play this up by suggesting that the marketgoers welcome her as a kindred spirit, even if she finds them utterly alien. The PC will be offered privileges at the Market that most mortal marketgoers never earn in years of bargaining. I may even codify these privileges into some sort of explicit membership.

I know the PC will accept for many reasons, one of the biggest being the resources the MM affords to Kara's Daughters. This PC has already used the time/space distortion of the MM to conference with PC's on faraway missions, and there's talk of using the Market to redistribute equipment to scattered cells all over Ravenloft. But therein lies the problem: how to let the PC's use the MM frequently and to great advantage without it becoming passe? I'm never one to punish good ideas, and I don't believe these uses of the Market's nature are abusive, but I'm anticipating a point in the future where the players are going through their plans and it's taken for granted that they will be able to use the Market to do the near-impossible. I'd like to keep the atmosphere as long as possible, and I'm looking for advice on how to do that.

Here are some random ideas of my own.

--The Market is for trade, not travel. If it's not explicitly stated already (I can't recall) then IMC the rule is you must return back where you came from. The PC on assignment in Invidia was able to invite a PC back home in Falkovnia into the Market to talk and exchange goods, but they go back to their respective domains afterward.

--Only "members" can invite others into the Market. The PC in Invidia was able to invite others as above, but those invited cannot bring their own guests, and may not be able to get in again without another invitation. Sketchy on the rules here, but my idea is to keep this resource associated with the dhampir PC, and not make it a general resource of the entire organization. This prevents abuse AND emphasizes the otherworldliness of this one PC.

--You're here to trade, trade! The dhampir is now considered one of the merchants rather than one of the clients, and that means she's expected to sell her wares. If she gets there with a shipment of rare potions to distribute to her fellow Daughters, she's expected to be selling them, not just handing them out. Moreover, if some creep shows up first with a fair offer for her entire stock, she'll be expected to sell them at her proposed rate.

Those are my thoughts so far on the subject. What have the rest of you got?

[NeoTiamat]

Hrm... how to keep the atmosphere. Well, the traditional method I use to keep atmosphere is to limit exposure. If the PCs are only visiting the Market every so often, when the DM decides they should visit (for whatever justification you like), it stays more interesting than if they can visit on their own. But that doesn't quite work with your idea of letting it be a resource.

The "go in/come out" same place is a reasonable thing, though it might be difficult to arrange. After all, the Market has at least one slave trader, which would be difficult to arrange.

One idea would be to make the membership thing not explicit, but more of a kind of subtle social thing. Which means that if this Dhampir wants to keep all her privileges, she's got to work for them, which means buying and selling and keeping the other merchants happy.

If every so often the PCs have to placate a demented hag or find some blood for the Clan Karkar, that ought to keep things from being too prosaic (also, adventure hooks). And on the other hand, if she lets her status slip too low... I'm sure a clever DM can think of something suitably painful to remind the PC to start making friends again.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Yeah, I was figuring on slaves coming in as property, and thus going home with the person who buys them. This would be a curious way to get around that rule, but when combined with the third idea, the risks rise dramatically. If three of the Daughters agree to go with the dhampir as "slaves" on the understanding they will be "bought" by one of their fellows in order to cross the Core overnight, all well and good. But what happens when Zerachiel starts eyeing them and making inquiries into their health and whatnot, and you can see he's about to make an offer?

[Manofevil]

Many of you may also remember 'Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome' where in a huge city called Bartertown, violence between two people is quicklybrokmen up and the fighters are taken to the Thunderdome to fight to the death where 'Two men enter! One man leaves!' as the crowd is fond of chanting.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Okay, this is gelling into a set of rules and guidelines that are giving me a source of inspiration to turn to: Season 5 of the Angel TV series. Like Angel, the PC has a rare opportunity to help her sisterhood, but it requires professional relationships with creatures that are truly evil. In order to keep the resources, she has to pick her battles and let some evils survive or even thrive in order to eliminate others. If she starts tracking down customers and other salespeople in the real world, what will the Minister do? He's ordered no violence in the market, but what about market business that extends to the outside?

[NeoTiamat]

Normally I would say that if we're talking past the grounds of the Midnight Market, then the Minister doesn't venture forth, and instead it's the collection of merchants who can make their wills known. After all, they're not bound to non-violence either, and there's enough variety in them that you can make up almost any kind of assortment of annoyed avengers.

At the same time though... the Minister of Fear is not a purely elemental force. Or not just such a force. He's a Faerie Lord, and he can think and make plans of his own. If something starts to actually threaten the Midnight Market, not just annoy it but actually threaten its existence as an institution, then the Minister would act.

He'd probably be weaker outside the Market, and his very presence may well cause squabbles with other Faerie Lords, but he'd still be a force to reckon with.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Hrm... how to keep the atmosphere. Well, the traditional method I use to keep atmosphere is to limit exposure. If the PCs are only visiting the Market every so often, when the DM decides they should visit (for whatever justification you like), it stays more interesting than if they can visit on their own.

Don't they ever try to get back in by asking a raven? Or don't you tell them that part?

Just tonight, my wife discovered a new use for the MM: tired PC goes to the MM at 12:01, takes refuge with MM member PC, then goes to sleep. After 8 hours, gets up and leaves the market refreshed, to go back to the real world at 12:21. PC can now go about her business around the clock without anyone in the real world getting wise.

Will the MM be used by all of Kara's Daughters to be up 24/7 and still get a full 8 hours sleep? I don't think so; this was a special circumstance. I'm prepared to make abuse difficult through a number of means:

--The PC had unusual dreams in the MM this time around. They were pretty informative, but next time around maybe not. Nightmares are pretty par for the course when you are sleeping around creatures of the night.

--Perhaps in conjunction with the prior option, one of the avaricious fairies starts siphoning dreams out of the sleeping women to sell at the market. Not only will they wake unrested, but those dreams might have valuable information.

--Hag in the next stall offers to share a baby with MM member PC. Horror checks all around, nobody's getting any sleep!

In other news, some gossip around the MM for the PC's benefit included a report on a vampire that was condemned by the Minister to wear his head backwards for three months. In telling the story to the PC's, Greysilk did his impression of trying to suck blood through the back of his head, to everyone's amusement.

Oh, and I added another denizen: occasionally a group of ghouls enter the market with a wooden cart carrying a stack of slates and a box the size of an icebox. One of the ghouls has a stack of books containing questions on all sorts of topics from biology to politics to geography to matters arcane. If one knows the answer to a particular question, one need only take some chalk from a bowl on the cart, write down the information on the slate (details are critical; personal experiences need to be told in context) and drop the slate through the slot in the top of the box. The box then rocks back and forth, back and forth, and back again, and a sum of money slides out of a fist-sized hole in the bottom.

My wife's PC got 100gp in Falkovnian currency for describing what happened to Lars Kerskmann in the Ministry of Science. Other questions include:

What happens when a mortal drinks vampire blood?

How long does it take for a deer to run itself to death?

How many sets of twins are in Neufurchtenburg?

Where does The White Gate charity in Mordent get its funding?

Is there any amount of lye that is not fatal when swallowed?

If a person gains accelerated healing from Spuma Vitae, exactly how long does the healing last?

Are any of the gnomes of Nova Vaasa older than 400?

What happens to a bird if the spaces in its bones are filled with water?

Of course, while some of these questions appear quite benign, the majority are at least a little morbid, and some would require...careful preparations...to acquire, if not a powers check. Of course, the well-manicured and pleasant ghoul who keeps the books is very careful to give certain books to certain people, depending upon the kind of...data...they can gather.