Frank wrote:Any major economic undertaking, large or small, has to contend with the fact that civil order is a joke, there is no meaningful legal code, and any piece of real estate could be set on fire by a fvcking dragon tomorrow. In short, any enterprise needs the protection of adventurers or it can't even exist. There simply aren't any "guilds", the very idea is preposterous. A bunch of guys in a pile can't perform profitable acts of skilled carpentry without having ogres come and pound them (and/or their work) into the ground. It just can't happen.
So what?
Who says that these guilds aren't run by a couple of 4th level guys, or that the king isn't an epic character, or that the nobility aren't guys with actual character levels? The default fantasy setting is feudal, so its assumed that everyone is under someone's thumb to one degree or another.
The assumption that PCs are the biggest or only cocks on the block is just silly. The assumption that having a large level is the same as being invulnerable is a proposition not supported by the rules, as even the most powerful character can be killed by a hail of arrows or a poor save.
While a red dragon can set every crop on fire in a 30 mile radius over the course of a lazy afternoon, its assumed that they don't do that simply because there are enough powerful individuals in the world to cack anyone being that big of a dick. The only thing keeping the entire world from being set on fire, all the time, is that these powerful characters have split the world up into countries and towns and fiefdoms and empires and guilds and tribes, and when some bastard tries to upset the status quo enough of them get together to put that guy down.
Thats why adventuring exists. Some red dragon dick starts manipulating the trade routes and demanding tribute, and the local trade guilds and governments decide to risk paying some adventurers to deal with the problem. They could do it themselves, but they are busy playing Live-Action
Civilization and making sure that everyone has enough food for next winter, and risking the leadership of the civilian world over some red dragon is dumb.
Even the DMG's default hamlet(200 people) has enough muscle to take care of a threat as high as CR 7, and it only goes up from there. The reasons they don't do it is because they might lose a big chunk of their number doing it, and its way easier to just hire some appropriately leveled guys to do it.
And when some adventurer tries to carve out his own little economic empire or makes a power grab, those same guys get together to hire a red dragon to take care of them. Basically, anyone who disturbs the status quo faces the wrath of the rest of the world.