200% markup is more than fair. You don't get business that often - some people expect to make money off of trades. Take things that are going to be needed repeatedly, and charge much more than usual for them. I charge 500 gold minimum for backpacks, usually more. They cost me like, 100 gold to make, most of them.

I make about a 65% profit on health, depending on which herbalist I buy from. And that's for something a lot of people need often. Books you need a much higher margin to have sustainable income, to cover downtime with no business.

the problem is from memory only scrolls disintegrate, so no matter what we're running ourselves into the ground just by selling.

It'd be nice if say copies slowly dissapear (not masters) so that we have something that we can sell regularly.

also i've been trying to get the silverscribe cartel to agree on prices. the main diffuculty is that no one is active enough.
hmm if i don't start making some money (nejii has the market cornered if you even mention books he will offer instantly. i swear it's like a reflex) i may have to think about changing tradeskills, though the tome is nice (would be better if the healing spell worked better, i've chained it with waxing and the scroll does near nothing)

also whee Cwin

If books/scrolls ever decay, I will go on a rampage and kill people You just need to learn to use that fact to your advantage, and make MORE money off of it instead of constantly trying to sell for LESS.

aww, i don't like people complaining. but it would be nice if we had a few more decaying things to sell.
hmm perhaps i shall become a tailor (nah) but i don't want to go about 175%

Noo.. you're supposed to charge out of the ass since things don't decay.

Outlay is too high though..

aww, i don't like people complaining. but it would be nice if we had a few more decaying things to sell.
hmm perhaps i shall become a tailor (nah) but i don't want to go about 175%

EDIT: eep, could a mod delete this please

It'd be lovely to have more uses in bookbinding, but maybe that will come with libraries.


Hmm, I say we do away with the automatic letter system and make it so you have to see a scribe to send a communique.

And you thought looking for a desk was restrictive.

Enchanters pay 5 gold per charge. You pay 30 gold per charge. Now, my math isn't the greatest, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say 5 * 2.00 != 30.

Books for help files = immersion

Lusternia needs more immersion

Therefore books for help files are good if we can work out the logistics.

You're right, there are logistical issues (especially without libraries), but if we could sort this out, lets face it GHELPS make no RP sense. This is actually pretty cool.

We need a remotely accessible help format with a simple syntax, or novice training is hell. If libraries can provide that, great. If not, leave us with GHELPs.

Immersion is nice, but getting novices up and running is far more important. Immersion at that level can come later.

perhaps G/CHELPS could be reserved for novices? and laws. anything that doesn't really concern them could go into a book, the main reason i raised this point (apart from letting everyone know i'm trying for fair prices) is because i like bookbinding for what it could be, but no one really gets it or doesn't want to spend the money

My markup is like 25 freaking percent profit plus cost. The books are ridiculously expensive to make because of the outlay and wood, I can't help there.

And I already made you guys a breviary! *peer Shorlen*

Weren't you the one going on about this saying it should be 200% and having a go at poor saran for under pricing.

also i don't like charging markups on comms, the market is a little annoying right now

...no...no I wasn't. Underpricing me would annoy me because I already make few sales because books are too expensive and too unnecessary, plus my prices with a 125% markup are already reasonable, but it's as good a way to compete as any other, so eh. *shrug*

Hmm, that's an interesting one. Have Ghelp/Chelp only availible to novices: once they graduate, the files aren't accessable.

Meanwhile, Laws can be put as a HELP LAWS, similar to how I remember from Aetolia. A seperate help file, that can be set to be public (thus EVERYONE can read) or private (only members of the orginization can see).

The idea, overall, is to get us towards books over Helps but without losing anything and maybe even gaining something in the process. Thus, any ideas to make literature powerful enough to live on it's own would be wonderful.


I.e. when Literature is updated, have it 'glow softly' when you enter the realms until you read it. (of course, if it already does something similar then nevermind: as you can tell I know very little of Bookbinding and it's creations in it's current form )

I like the glowing softly thing actually.

:shrugs: all i know is i've been told i'm cheaper than you

Personnally, I chose bookbinding purely for my own selfish reasons, and have little to no want or reason to sell to the outside world...

That said, You problem with the help files/books is easy to solve.
First, get a master book made for each level of a persons existence in a guild, or each path in the guild. Then, have a library section of your Guildhall. Meaning, multiple rooms for the library, each room holding a tome, and each room representing a section of the Library. This will work perfectly even after librarys come out, because it will be like big reference books, explaining various things.

After the rooms are ready, make copys of the masters, and flame and drop the copys in the cooresponding room. Then just guide the novice to the propper room, and voila, instant training, easy to teach, and perfect for RP. Then, when librarys come out, make it so that if they want more detail on a subject, or want to see what others have written on it, they can look it up.

I think that makes perfect sense. And that is taking into account that for some reason you all think some information should be hidden and the various paths should be in different books.... Interesting RP idea, so if you want that, have a restricted room in your Guildhall with a book holding all the 'secret' info... The multiple books is rather foolish, it could all be put in one book, with a proper table of contents, to explain everything in it. Then it'd just be a matter of one open room, one restricted room, and four books, two masters, and two copys. If you have different spheres, or secretaries who need masters, then have more than one master made so that the various secretaries can update their particular section whenever they need to.

Any of this sound workable? Seems easy enough to me...

Of course, this whole idea sorta screws the bookbinders who want to make gold, cuz then you have the problem that basically, they sell a bunch of books for the next two or three years, and then few if any people are going to need them again. Personally I like the idea that copys should decay eventually but masters never do... It would give bookbinders decent business, and make it so people don't just take the books completely for granted...

Much as I hate to say it, Xavius comment needs elaborating. Enchanting isn't a high-cost skill, and it also isn't very high-demand. Because we often get very few customerds, and in many circumstances we will only make 1000 - 1500 gold gross from a customer, we need to have that very high cost-profit ratio.

The way bookbinding seems angled is that it won't be needed very often, but because of the high costs involved, the bookbinder is meant to charge quite a lot for each volume. Bookbinders will get even less custom than enchanters, but their ware overall produces more profit per customer than many trades, which should even it out. I think the Divine plan to take a look at the outlay and stuff once libraries are in and they can effectively measure its strengths and downfalls.