Three ways to take it off the shelf
On anything you can see in an open shop, you can buy it as-is, ask to haggle with a price of your own, or try to steal it. Purchase is the button on the item. Haggle and Steal are in the ⋯ beside it. Your table rolls real dice, and your DM types the roll in and rules. The system settles nothing on its own.
A haggle is accepted at a price your DM sets, never more than the shelf price, and you buy it there and then, out of your gold. Otherwise it is refused, and the shelf price stands. A theft either gets away, and the item lands in your pack marked stolen with no gold spent, or it gets caught and goes back on the shelf. While your DM decides, anything you are lifting from a limited shelf is held for you, so nobody else can buy it.
The item shows what you asked for while it waits. Your requests here, on the shop's page, lists everything you have asked at that counter: you can take a request back until your DM rules, and you see the ruling and your roll the moment your DM makes it. That list stays readable even after the shop closes its door. Only your own requests are ever on it.
The DM stays in charge
Your DM rules on every haggle and theft from the shop's own page, on a phone if need be, without talking to an AI. Your DM's screen offers one suggestion worked out from the dice, and only your DM sees it. The ruling is always your DM's own call. Your DM can also record an attempt made at the table, at any shop and even one with its door shut, and rule it the same way.
The rules are written up on the House Rules page. The game where the shop plays back — a keeper who rolls against you, levels up and bans a caught thief — is its own entry, Shop Minigame: the game.
What it waits on
- Waits on Hidden Catalog — the haggling and stealing are priced in information asymmetry that only exists once the catalog is hidden.
- Waits on Shops & Catalogs — the counters, their shelves and their prices have to exist before you can haggle at one or reach across it.
Changes
- 2026-10-01 Shipped — the first part is live. On anything you can see in an open shop, tap the ⋯ beside Purchase and choose Haggle… to name your price, or Steal… to try your luck. Your DM gets it straight away, your table rolls real dice, and your DM rules. The ruling and your roll appear on the page the moment your DM makes them. Until then the item shows what you asked, and “Your requests here” on the shop’s page lets you take it back — even after the shop closes its door. You can also ask the shop’s keeper to pass a haggle or a theft on for you. Buying at the shelf price works exactly as before. The game where the shop plays back is now an entry of its own, Shop Minigame: the game.
- 2026-10-01 The first part is complete. Your DM can now record an attempt made at the table — a haggle or a theft by any character at the table, at any shop, even one with its door shut or one you have not found yet. That is how a break-in happens for now: tell your DM, roll, and your DM rules. The ruling appears on your page the same way as one you asked for yourself.
- 2026-09-30 The first part is planned and ready to build, in ten steps. On anything you can see in an open shop you will be able to ask to haggle — name your price — or try to steal it. Your table rolls real dice, your DM types in the roll and rules: a haggle is accepted at a price your DM sets, never more than the shelf price, and you buy it there and then, or it is refused; a theft gets away, and the item lands in your pack marked stolen with no gold spent, or it gets caught and goes back on the shelf. While your DM decides, anything you are lifting from a limited shelf is held, so nobody else can buy it. You see the roll and the ruling, and you can take a request back until your DM rules. Nothing about this changes what you see until the step that puts the two new choices on the shelf. Architecture page published.
- 2026-09-30 The build has begun, with a step you cannot see. Each shop now has a place to keep the haggles and thefts you ask for — one open request per item at a time, so a second tap never asks twice — and your pack has a new mark for an item you got away with. Nothing on the shelf changes yet.
- 2026-09-30 Another step you cannot see yet: a haggle or a theft can now be asked for, and taken back, behind the scenes. Trying to lift something from a limited shelf holds one for you until your DM rules, and it goes back on the shelf if you change your mind, the shop closes its doors for good, or your DM takes the item off the shelf. You only ever see your own requests.
- 2026-09-30 Another step you cannot see: how your DM rules. An accepted haggle is bought on the spot at the price your DM sets, through the same purse and ledger as any purchase, and sells back for half of what you paid. If your purse is short when your DM rules, nothing is taken and the request keeps waiting. A theft that gets away lands in your pack marked stolen with no gold spent; a caught one goes back on the shelf. Buying an item at the shelf price also closes your own haggle on it, so you are never charged twice.
- 2026-09-30 Your DM now has a place to rule. When a haggle or a theft is waiting, the shop page shows it at the top, live, with how long it has waited; your DM types in the rolls and rules in one step, from a phone or a laptop, or sets it aside. The campaign page shows how many wait at each shop. Nothing changes on your side yet — the next step puts Haggle and Steal on the shelf.
- 2026-09-12 Clear to start. Shops & Catalogs has shipped, so the counters, the keepers and the prices this entry plays against all exist now. The keeper who levels up is a keeper your DM named, one per shop — so a grudge is held at one counter, not across the whole campaign.
- 2026-09-11 Moved back to In design while the manual first part gets its plan. Your DM answered the open questions at the counter: a manual haggle happens at the table and your DM enters the result, and in the later game only you roll to talk a price down — the deeper the discount you ask for, the harder that roll. Stealing stays a contest between your hands and his eye, and in both cases a costlier or rarer item is harder to talk down or lift.
- 2026-09-11 The wait now points at Shops & Catalogs, which took in the several-counters work this entry used to stand behind.
- 2026-08-22 Split in two, simplest part first: the counter will offer three ways to take an item off the shelf — pay as-is, haggle, or steal — with the dice informing your DM rather than ruling for them. The shopkeeper who levels up, remembers a grudge, and bans a caught thief comes after that, once the plain version is in your hands.
- 2026-08-15 Still queued behind the Hidden Catalog; the quick Item Editing feature slots ahead of both. Haggling discounts and theft attempts will stick to the shop listing itself, so a DM tune-up never wipes out what you earned at the counter.
- 2026-07-24 Planned end to end — twenty build slices queued behind the Hidden Catalog.