Do you actually roleplay out shopping sessions, or do you just let players buy stuff right from the lists to save time?

I ask mainly because my last game had the dm realizing most of the players go through exactly the same routine when shopping, of flipping through item list -> bargaining ->paying, and it ate up like an hour because every player in our group of six was doing this one at a time from a different shop.

I like to roleplay it out myself, but sometimes there's no real events planned to take place while doing so and the people waiting just want to get on with it.

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Why do people start threads and then just spam pictures into it while contributing actually nothing?
There's 4 posts and then a bunch of images.
There's a reason these threads die so fast.

>let players buy stuff right from the lists
Next you'll tell me that the stuff they want is always available.

I assure you OP is not the one spamming images.

>spamming pictures =/= contributing actually nothing
>spamming pictures == contributing pictures and nothing else

I myself prefer it over no posts or shit posts.

Please elaborate

I'd like to fuck her goods

I'm a big proponent of in most cases playing out shopping sessions.

Reasons for:
>Lets the GM have a bit of a rest from combat encounters and dungeons
>Lets the players interact between themselves
>Lets players display more sides to their character than just 'muh build' and how fast they can kill/incapacitate something, and maybe use their abilities in interesting ways
>May help prompt shyer players get a bit into it, following the lead of their more confident compatriots
>Can lead into 'beach episode'/other sort of downtime
>Excellent way to find plothooks
>Puts players more in touch with the actual roleplaying of the game and at least somewhat curbs murderhoboism
>Great for teaching players to settle with something else if you want to help them break out of their habits/patterns, having something be unavailable but presenting something similar

Reasons against:
>Takes time
>Can be very boring if done incorrectly
>Buying basic necessities like arrows or rations can get fucking tedious and time-waste-y
>Needs a deft hand
>Some players might not be into semi slice-of-life stuff

I like to roleplay out my shopping sessions with my players, especially if they have tried to dig in to black market items.

if we have a lot planned for the session or there isn't much that is needed to be bought, I just let them purchase things off a list.

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That's when you put in a rogue element, like say an old, creepy shopkeeper, who is selling odd curios in a back alley, like a three legged chair that never falls over despite the three legs not being of matching length. And he keeps trying to sell one PC a candle, even though the PC just wants to buy the magic amulet/set of arrows/hat that was in the window display.
Y'know, something to mess with the players a bit. Bonus points if it drags on, and the others come around to see what's taking so long, only to get roped into the shopkeeper's "buy candle, very good quality, yes?" speech.

Depends on the circumstances.
>the players are looking for something cool, they are in a totally foreign place, you have a plot hook in mind, you want to (re)introduce an npc, or they need a break from the intense action
Sure! RP it out!
>the players just need more supplies before heading out
Generally, I don't because there's more enjoyable experiences to be had.

>anime
kys

Several of my most favourite NPCs are actually merchants the PCs met while shopping
>young and naive wizardess with sick mother who helped the party destroy a forest spirit
>gnome tailor with a disdain for plebs who's an amazing informant about the upper class issues
And so on. Shops really build worlds.

What's it like to freely post, entirely and brazenly ignorant of where you are?
Do you enjoy making a fool of yourself?

They kind of don't exist in my campaigns.

The good stuff is never sold, it's either made to order or found. The only things that are sold openly in a marketplace are commodities and supplies. But, after several of my early campaigns many years ago, I found out that supply management is a tedious formality that distracts from the fun parts of the adventure, so I did away with it.

There is, of course, the problem that many new people expect supply management to be in a game and are puzzled when it isn't. But I guarantee to you that people who are aware of the system already don't miss it.

Huh, didn't expect that game here, of all places.

I usually scale how much role-playing people do while shopping based on what level their characters are / how far they have progressed. Low-level characters usually don't have much cash but only need a few things. This means that we can get through shopping in-session without taking three hours, and bartering/haggling is important for the player to get a good deal. Eventually, players will have enough money that most purchases are no big deal. They also might need to buy a lot of crap at once (especially if it's a sci-fi game and they are doing cybernetics, biomodding, getting gun attachments, getting ammo, etc). In the late game, I just tell people to shop after the session and tell me what they bought (at the book stated price). If they get something especially big or important I might have them RP that.

Shopping for stuff usually bores me, as GM and as player. But some people always seem to enjoy it, so I guess the best option is to play it out but try and limit it to not move focus from the game.

Had one session where the GM spent the entire evening on us going shopping. At some point we realized the guy was just treading water because he had not prepared anything. Would have preferred to not play at alm really.

>if done incorrectly
>needs a deft hand

I've been wanting to incorporate more slice-of-life type stuff into my games lately, anyone got any tips? It just seems like there's such a fine line between boring and worthwhile when it comes to slice-of-life, and that it depends quite heavily on the players for it to actually be fun. Is there anything I can do as GM to encourage/include it in my campaigns?

My gm let's me buy mundane shit whenever but something rare/armor takes either time to be fitted/smithed and magical items we have to spend gold to search for then roll a random number on a d20 to see if it's even available for purchase.but we have a kind of poor campaign going on, level 7 and I've only just now amassed 1k gold.

Im trying to learn how to run a more entertaining market trip for basic items and the sort, but I do have an npc I love to one in one of my home brew settings. He is a magical merchant that pops up all over the world and deals in just about anything. He is a great way to make money too as he will buy things like casting spells for him and the like leaving the party wondering where those 3 fire balls they portaled for him ended up.

It depends. If you have short and interesting descriptions of the goods your party can find on a local market, have plot hooks integrated in this session, or just have some short side quests, then why not...

The simplest advice I can give is to make interacting with shopkeeps and the like as natural as you can. Play off of every trope and personality type you can think of. Have the big beefy bartender who wants everyone to drink up, and may even throw in some on the house if you can out drink (insert local heavy drinking champion here). Have the motherly inkeep who refers to everybody and their mother as dear. Have a layabout apprentice who suddenly jumps into action when he hears the master coming.

My players really enjoy interacting with characters who have a personality of their own, even if they aren't relevant to a story or the goals if the group, and once I create a persona for a particular shop I make note of it, so it's always the same person at the same shop. Occasionally they'll get really attached to someone, And they'll comment on it when suddenly there's someone else tending the bar.

I once had a PC track down a inkeep that had sold out to live in the country with his family due to illness. He arrived too late to see him before he died, but he attended the funeral and left a substantial amount of money as a gift to the family as thanks for having the inkeep take such good care if the party for all the years. The player later told me that it was one of his favorite sessions ever.

TL;DR Keep it simple and natural, it's all on the small things.

Shopping is the fucking worst if it doesn’t actually end up revealing interesting information or plot hooks. So it takes a good DM. I’d much rather time compression was used, shit got summarized, than fucking playing out complete nothing fucking pointless contentless timewasting shit

Like if there’s no one in this town who can buy my magic item, just fucking tell me I waste all day in-game, rather than making me waste all session IRL

And if you’re a player who haggles, then fuck you with a rusty fork

Are there adventures at those shops? Danger? Clues?

A SCENE THAT DOES NOT INCLUDE BOTH PLAYER DESIRES AND OBSTACLES IS A USELESS FUCKING SCENE

So, for a scene to be useful for you, it must have danger or at least adventure for clues? Fuck, one of the most hilarious scenes in my games so far was when a witch tried to steal a chainmail bikini with the help of shitty stealth skills and an invisibility spell.

I liked to make google spreadsheets with items and prices alongside some fluff about the shopkeeps. My guys usually stopped in a town and took a few days (the time between sessions) to bulk up their pockets with useless crap and lottery tickets.
I’ve had a player call up a shopkeeper to help get disguises together and they all bonded pretty well. They even got him to burgle some elite gear mid-boss battle and he showed up later in the final dungeon as a captive hanging over a lava pit.

WANTS: CHAINMAIL BIKINI
OBSTACLE: IT HAS TO BE STOLEN AND HER SPELLS ARE SHITTY

NOTICE HOW PLAYERS MAKE UP THEIR OWN DUMB GOALS IF THE DM IS GIVING THEM NOTHING TO DO? YOU PROBABLY ONLY DECIDED TO FIXATE ON THE BIKINI BECAUSE UNTIL THEN THERE WAS NOTHING INTERESTING IN THE SCENE. NO GOAL AND NO OBSTACLE. CONGRATULATIONS, YOU PROVE MW RIGHT.

Imagine being this autistic lol

If Every action leads to reward, then you're actions have no meaning, red herrings, flavour, world building and thematic additions make the world more fleshed out.

Turn off caps lock you sped.

Peep this

dmdavid.com/tag/a-priest-a-warlock-and-a-dwarf-walk-into-a-bar-and-nothing-happens/

>If Every action leads to reward
So sorry about your functional illiteracy.

Depends on how long they'll be staying in that town. If it's a dungeon crawler campaign, they'll be spending a lot of time around these people, so the shopkeepers will be very fleshed out, and my players generally want to interact with them a lot.

If it's just a small village that's a stopover, I'm less likely to have a good character running the store, but I still try to make it at least somewhat interesting.

>Adventure Danger Clues
These are plot rewards.

I've been trying to get players to barter. My players are all new and I feel like trading in character is a good place to practice roleplay.

good post

>Not having the bartender be the motherly figure
>Not having her scold adventurers who overdrink
>Not having them accidentally mumble 'yes mom' without thinking

Because you're adults who don't get to play eight hour sessions anymore, and you want to spend the time you do have doing something exciting.

I guarantee you are under 25

I *make* my players buy stuff right from the lists, both to save time, and to avoid the imbalanced mess that is haggling in every system ever.

That's also excellent, I was just throwing out some easy to RP examples. I've actually got a NPC pretty similar to that, except she only does it to the younger ones.

Almost always roleplay it out unless it's something really minor for one player like "Since we're going cave spelunking I want to pick up a lantern and some oil".

Roleplaying it out is especially important from more home-base focused campaigns where the party adventures out from a central location. They're gonna be interacting with those shops a lot so you'd better have proper NPCs to run them.