Part of Arcane Armory — the campaign armory · Roadmap

Shop Minigame: the game

Live since 2026-10-01.

Last updated 2026-10-06 · What's changed

Let the dice decide

In the first part of the Shop Minigame, your table rolls and your DM rules. In this part, your DM can hand a shop's counter to the dice. Shop by shop, in the shop's settings, they choose: "I rule", and every haggle and theft waits for them as before, or "The dice decide", and the dice settle it the moment you ask.

Where the dice decide, you tell the page your skill bonus and it shows you the number you need before you commit. Only you roll to talk a price down, and the deeper the discount you ask for, the harder that roll. Win and you buy the item at your price on the spot; lose and the shelf price stands, and that keeper will not haggle over it again until your DM says so. A theft is the one contest with two dice: your quick hands against the keeper's eye. Either way, a costlier or rarer item is harder to talk down and harder to lift.

Each keeper grows sharper with their own shop: the gold through the till and the thieves they catch both count, so a busy counter is a harder one. The rules are on the House Rules page.

Your DM, and getting caught

Your DM stays in charge. Everything the game does, your DM can do by hand on the shop's own page: switch it between the two ways of ruling, set how seasoned its keeper is, see every roll with the bonus you gave under "Settled by the dice", let you try an item again, and pardon you.

The keeper rolls for you too, when you ask them at the counter, and where your DM rules you can type your own roll with the request. Where the dice decide, a shop with its door shut can be broken into: you won't know what you grabbed until you are out, and a caught break-in tells you nothing. Get caught stealing or breaking in where the dice decide, and you are barred from that shop, with every one of your characters, until your DM pardons you: you can still look at the shelf, but you cannot buy, haggle, steal or break in there. A pardon also gives back every try you used at that shop. The grudge and sizing up the keeper, from the first plan, are left out. With that, the game is complete.

What it waits on

  • Waits on Shop Minigame — the game is built on the haggles, thefts and rulings of the first part, and its plan will be redrawn around what that part teaches the table.

Changes

  • 2026-10-06 Two small tools for your DM. Old results under “Settled by the dice” can be hidden from the ⋯ menu, and “Show hidden” at the foot of the list brings them back. Hiding only tidies the list: a try you spent stays spent, a bar stays until you are pardoned, and your own “Your requests here” still shows everything. Your DM can also set the keeper’s experience to an exact number in the shop settings, and the field shows the level it gives as they type. The back-room assistant can set it too, after your DM approves.
  • 2026-10-03 Part two is complete. Get caught stealing or breaking in where the dice decide, and you are barred from that shop until your DM pardons you. The bar is yours, not one character’s: none of your characters can buy, haggle, steal or break in there, though you can still look at the shelf. Your DM sees who is barred in a “Barred here” list and under “Settled by the dice”, and can pardon you from the ⋯ menu on either line, which also gives back every try you used at that shop. The back-room assistant can pardon too, but only after your DM approves. A bar earned at the dice stays if your DM switches the shop to “I rule”, and deleting the character who was caught does not lift it.
  • 2026-10-02 You can now break into a shop with its door shut, where the dice decide. The shut shop’s page has a Break in… button: give your Thievery bonus and the dice are rolled for you against a keeper who watches more closely than at the counter. You don’t see the shelf. Get away and you learn what you grabbed, and it is in your pack marked stolen. Get caught and your DM is told, and you never learn what you reached for. You get one try at each shop until your DM lets you try again. Your DM sees every break-in, and what was taken, under “Settled by the dice”. Where your DM rules, they still record a break-in for you, as before.
  • 2026-10-01 Opened as its own entry the day the first part of the Shop Minigame went live. This is the part where the shop plays back: the dice settle a haggle or a theft on their own, and the keeper levels up, remembers a grudge, and bans a caught thief until your DM pardons them. It was planned once, before the first part existed. That plan is set aside, and the game will be planned again around how haggling and stealing actually go at your table.
  • 2026-10-01 Planned again, on top of the first part, and ready to build in ten steps. Your DM chooses, shop by shop, whether they keep ruling at the counter or let the dice decide. Where the dice decide, you tell the page your skill bonus, it shows you the number you need before you commit, and the die is rolled for you on the spot. Win a haggle and you buy the item at your price there and then; lose and the shelf price stands, and that keeper will not haggle over it again until your DM says so. A theft is your quick hands against the keeper’s eye, and a rarer or costlier item is harder either way. Each keeper grows sharper with the gold through their own till and the thieves they catch. Later steps let you break into a shop with its door shut, and bar a caught thief from that shop until your DM pardons them. The grudge and sizing up the keeper are left out. Nothing changes at any counter until your DM flips its switch. Architecture page published.
  • 2026-10-01 The build has begun, with a step you cannot see. Each shop can now remember whether its DM rules the counter or lets the dice decide — every shop stays with its DM until they choose — and how seasoned its keeper is. The rules for how hard a haggle or a theft is are written down, and the dice are rolled where nobody can load them: never on your device, never by the keeper you talk to. Nothing at any counter changes yet.
  • 2026-10-01 Keepers now earn experience: one for each gold piece spent at their shop and fifty for each thief they catch, whoever rules the counter. Your DM sees each keeper’s level in the shop’s settings and can set it by hand, so an old hand can start seasoned. Nothing at the counter changes for you yet.
  • 2026-10-01 The dice engine is built, and still out of sight. Where the dice decide, a haggle or a theft is rolled and settled the moment you ask: a won haggle buys the item at your price at once, a theft that gets away puts it in your pack marked stolen, and a caught thief leaves it on the shelf. You get one try at each item for each — win or lose — until your DM lets you try again, and you are told you cannot afford your offer before anything is rolled, so that try is never wasted. No shop can switch to the dice yet.
  • 2026-10-01 Your side of the dice is built, and waits for your DM’s switch. Where the dice decide, Haggle… and Steal… ask for your skill bonus — remembered from your last try — and show the keeper’s level and the number you need on the d20 before you commit. Roll, and the dialog shows your die, your bonus and the total against what you needed, with the outcome in plain words. “Your requests here” lists every roll, and an item you have already tried says so. A shop where your DM rules looks and works exactly as before.
  • 2026-10-01 Where your DM rules the counter, you can now say what you rolled. Haggle… and Steal… have an optional “Your roll” field for the total you rolled at the table. “Your requests here” shows it while your ask waits, and your DM’s Rule dialog opens with it filled in, marked as what you said. Your DM can confirm it or change it, and their ruling is the one that counts. Leave it empty and nothing changes.
  • 2026-10-01 The keeper can roll for you, and waits for your DM’s switch. Where the dice decide, ask the keeper to haggle or to steal and, before you confirm, the wax seal shows what the page’s own dialog shows: the number you need on the d20, how seasoned the keeper is, and what a win and a loss mean. Tell the keeper your skill bonus, or let it use the one from your last try. The dice are rolled for you and the keeper says exactly what came up; it cannot roll, pick a die or promise a result. A shop where your DM rules works exactly as before.
  • 2026-10-01 One try now counts per player, not per character. Once you have haggled for or tried to steal an item at a shop, a new or second character of yours cannot try it again there either — only your DM can let you try again, and then any of your characters can take that try. A brand-new character also no longer joins a table or picks its own gold except through your DM’s invite and its starting gold.
  • 2026-10-01 Shipped — the dice decide. Your DM can now switch any shop, in its settings under At the counter, between “I rule” and “The dice decide”. Where the dice decide, Haggle… and Steal… ask for your bonus, show the number you need, and roll the moment you ask: win a haggle and the item is yours at your price, get away and it is in your pack marked stolen. Your DM sees every roll, with the bonus you gave, under “Settled by the dice”, is told quietly when a thief is caught, and can let you try an item again. Anything you asked before your DM switched stays with them to rule, and a shop where your DM rules works exactly as before. The keeper can roll for you too, once your DM has switched. Still to come: breaking into a shop with its door shut, and a caught thief barred from that shop until your DM pardons them.
  • 2026-10-01 The DM’s helper in the back room keeps up with the dice. Ask it how a counter settles and how sharp the keeper is, and what the dice decided lately, and it reads that out. It can also switch a counter between “I rule” and “The dice decide”, set the keeper’s level, or let a player try again, each only after your DM approves a plain note saying exactly what will change. It uses the same rules as the controls on the page, so nothing happens at your table that your DM could not do by hand.