Shops guide

Overview

Deploy a shop, set its prices and restocking rules, and let players shop from the web or Discord between sessions.

What Are Shops?

Shops are virtual merchants for your party. Deploy a shop design, then manage its inventory, prices, restocking, and transactions. Players can buy and sell at revealed shops.

The Problem Shops Solve

Without ScryRPG:

• “Hold on, let me find my shop notes…”
• Opens calculator “15 gold times 1.5 markup equals 22.5 gold”
• “Did anyone write down what the shop had left?”
• 5 minutes later “Okay, where were we?”
• Or worse: the table rejects inventory tracking entirely and just handwaves all gear

With ScryRPG:

• A player opens a revealed shop, chooses an item and quantity, then confirms the purchase
• The purchase updates the character’s inventory and the shop’s stock and funds
• Web views update after transactions; reopen a Discord shop panel to load current details

Quick Start

Two Ways to Get a Shop

Path 1: Use an Existing Design

• Choose one of your shop templates in the party’s Shops tab and deploy it
• You can also deploy a shop design from its marketplace detail page

Path 2: Create Your Own

• Create a shop template from scratch
• Add items and configure pricing
• Save the template, then deploy it to a party

Deploy from Your Templates

Step 1: Open the Deploy Dialog

1. Navigate to your Party > Shops tab
2. Click Deploy Shop (visible to GMs and managers)
3. Search and choose one of your shop templates

Step 2: Select and Customize

1. Choose a template from the list
2. Optionally override the shop name (e.g., “Grimjaw’s Forge at Waterdeep”)
3. Expand Customize deployment (optional) to set a shopkeeper name, location, and description override
4. Click Deploy to Party

Step 3: Control Visibility

• New shops deploy hidden by default so you can prepare them before players see them
• Prepare inventory and pricing while the shop is hidden
• When ready, reveal the shop so party members can see and use it

Buy Something

1. Browse Shops: Open your party, choose Shops, then open a revealed shop
2. Choose who is buying: Select your character or Party Inventory, then choose the destination container
3. Browse and Buy: Choose an item, set quantity in the buy dialog, and confirm
4. The item is added to the destination container and payment comes from the selected character or Party Inventory

The Reveal/Hide Mechanic

You control when party members can see each shop.

How It Works

When you reveal a shop, it becomes visible to party members.

GMs and managers see visibility controls in the shop hero area. The hidden-state banner also has a Reveal control.

Example: Town Arrival

Before the session, deploy shops for all the merchants in town:

• “Grimjaw’s Forge at Riverdale” (blacksmith)
• “The Gilded Leaf at Riverdale” (apothecary)
• “Wanderer’s Rest at Riverdale” (general store)

Leave them hidden after deploying. During the session, reveal each shop as the players encounter that merchant. Players can browse a shop after you reveal it.

Shopping Between Sessions

Once a shop is revealed, party members can use it anytime:

• Between sessions from their phone
• During the session from Discord

Players can handle routine purchases between sessions, leaving more session time for play.

Understanding Shop Designs

Think of it like D&D monster stat blocks:

Example: One Design, Multiple Shops

You create "Standard Blacksmith" design with 10 weapon types

Deploy to Campaign 1 as "Grimjaw's Forge at Waterdeep"
  - Players buy 3 swords
  - Now has 7 swords in stock

Deploy to Campaign 2 as "Ironheart Smithy at Neverwinter"
  - Players buy 5 swords
  - Now has 5 swords in stock

Edit your design to add shields:
  - Grimjaw's Forge: Still only has original swords
  - Ironheart Smithy: Still only has original swords
  - Future deployments: Will include shields

Each deployed shop is its own independent entity.

Pricing System

Markup and Buyback

Every shop has two pricing modifiers that control the economy:

The interface shows the player-facing charge and offer rates as percentages. Shop designs and deployed shops store modifiers as multipliers. The shop’s sell modifier controls what players pay; its buy modifier controls what players receive when selling.

Common Pricing Models

Adjusting Prices After Deployment

You can change a deployed shop’s modifiers in Manage > Pricing > Edit. In Edit Pricing, turn on Custom pricing to set overrides, or turn it off to use the template defaults. Use this for:

Haggling: Player rolls well on persuasion? Lower the markup from +50% to +30% for that shop.

Quest Rewards: Merchant offers better prices after players save their caravan? Set markup to 0% permanently.

Economic Events: Famine hits the region? Raise food prices by increasing the markup.

Price Shopping Strategy

The same item can have different buy and sell prices at different shops:

A per-item price override in a shop design replaces the modifier-based price for that item. Compare the displayed prices before you trade.

Restocking

Shops can automatically replenish eligible stock on a schedule. GMs and managers can also trigger a manual restock.

Auto-Restock Schedule

Each shop template can define a default restock interval as a number of days:

For example, a 7-day interval checks weekly and a 1-day interval checks daily.

Instance Overrides

A deployed shop can override the template’s restock schedule. Open Manage > Restock > Edit, turn on Custom restock schedule, and enter an interval. Set it to 0 to disable automatic restocking for that shop.

Per-Item Overrides

Individual items within a deployed shop can also override the shop’s restock schedule:

Shop default: 7-day restock

Longsword: Uses the shop default
Healing Potion: Custom 1-day restock
Legendary Sword: Custom 0-day interval, does not automatically restock

Edit per-item restock settings by opening an item from the Manage inventory list. Stock can also have a custom chance to appear during restocking.

Manual Restock

GMs and managers can use Restock (the rotating arrow icon) in the shop hero. It restocks items that are eligible under their restock schedules. It does not necessarily restore every item to the same quantity: stock quantity and stock chance settings affect what appears.

Restock Quantities

When an item restocks, its quantity is generated from that item’s configured quantity range. A stock chance can also leave an item off the shelves for that restock.

Shop Till and Starting Funds

Shops have their own currency inventory (the “till”). When players sell items, the shop pays from its till.

Starting Funds

When creating a shop design, set Starting Funds in the optional Economy section. The initial currency is placed in the shop’s till when deployed.

Making Change

When a player sells an item, payment comes from the shop’s available currency. The till can contain multiple denominations, and the shop uses the available currency for the transaction.

Limited vs Unlimited Funds

• Limited funds: The shop can run out of currency. Players cannot sell if it cannot pay the quoted amount.
• Unlimited funds: Shop always has money. Simpler but less realistic. Enable via the “Unlimited Funds” toggle when creating the shop design.

Shop Tabs

Each deployed shop has tabs in the shop hero area:

Shop Tab

The main shopping interface. On desktop, this is a two-column layout:

• Left column (Sell Panel): Select a character or party inventory and a container, view funds and encumbrance where applicable, then browse items to sell to the shop
• Right column (Buy Panel): Browse the shop’s wares split into Rare Finds and Common Goods, search and sort items, click to open the buy dialog

On mobile, these become “Buy” and “Sell” sub-tabs.

Activity Tab

A transaction history for the shop. Players see activity for revealed shops; hidden shop activity is limited to GMs and managers.

Manage Tab (GM and Managers)

Visible to party GMs and managers as Manage. Contains:

• Quick Stats: Number of non-currency stock entries, their total value, available funds, and restock interval. The item count counts entries, not the number of units in stock.
• Pricing section: Current markup and buyback rates with an Edit button to open the pricing dialog
• Restock section: Current restock schedule with an Edit button to open the restock dialog
• Inventory editor: Item list with inline quantity editing, remove buttons, and Add Item, which opens the item picker. The picker also has Quick Create Item. Open an item to edit identification, base value, and custom restock settings
• Danger Zone: Delete button (GM and managers) to permanently remove the shop and all its inventory from the party

Print Cards

Choose Print full set from a shop marketplace page, creator workspace, card showcase, or any deployed shop you can view to send its authorized inventory to Print Studio. Deployed shops use the exact item snapshots for that party, including mystery-safe unidentified details for players. From Print Studio you can set size and layout, then print, save as PDF, or download images. It is a handy way to hand out cards at the table when players buy something.

If Print Studio contains cards, ScryRPG asks whether to Replace Deck, Add to Deck, or Cancel before changing the workspace. Printing a set is available on every plan. Saved-deck capacity is tiered, and Patron additionally includes managed custom party card backs.

See the Printable Cards guide for the full workflow, including double-sided printing and QR codes.

Who Can Do What

Shop designs do not use deployed-shop slots. Subscription limits cap how many deployed shops you can have across all parties at once. Free and Player plans have a concurrent cap; GM and Patron plans have no concurrent shop cap. The difference between shop roles is context:

Shop permissions apply per party, so you can manage shops in one party and trade as a player in another.

Tips

Before the Campaign

1. Deploy shops for your starting town
2. Hide them while you adjust inventory and pricing
3. Reveal them during session 0 or when players arrive

Preparing for Sessions

1. Deploy any new shops players might encounter
2. Adjust existing shop inventories via the Manage tab
3. Reveal shops as players discover them

Advanced Techniques

Regional Economy: Different towns have different shops with different modifiers. Coastal towns sell fish cheap; desert towns charge premium.

Traveling Merchant: Deploy a shop that “appears” when you reveal it and “leaves” when you hide it.

Seasonal Stock: Adjust shop inventory manually via the Manage tab to reflect seasonal availability or special events.

For All Players

• Shop between sessions: Do not waste game time buying rope
• Move currency to an accessible container for easy transactions
• Compare prices: Check multiple shops for best deals

Common Questions

Can anyone create shop designs? Yes! All users can create shop designs and share them in the marketplace. Within a party, GMs and managers can deploy, manage, restock, reveal, hide, and delete shops.

Do shops persist between sessions? Yes. Deployed shops stay in your party until a GM or manager deletes them. Inventory, prices, and till balance persist.

What happens if a shop runs out of currency? Players cannot sell items until the shop gets more currency (from purchases or manually adding currency). Alternatively, enable unlimited funds when creating the shop design.

Can I return items I purchased? No formal returns. You can sell items back to shops at the shop offer price, which depends on its pricing settings.

Do changes sync in real-time? Connected web views receive price, inventory, and transaction updates. Discord shop panels are snapshots; reopen /shop or refresh the panel for current state.

Do shops deploy visible or hidden? Shops deploy hidden by default. Prepare their stock and pricing, then use the visibility control in the shop page to reveal one.

Ready to Deploy?

Create a shop design or deploy one of your templates to a party.

What’s Next?

• Discord Bot Guide - Manage shops from Discord
• Currency - How gold and transactions work
• Inventory Guide - Deep dive into inventory management
• Marketplace - Finding quality shop designs