The Merchant 

In Dungeon World, it pays to be pragmatic. And hey, you just happen to 
be an expert on both - getting paid and being pragmatic, that is. Now, it 
might not seem like you’re best suited for the dirty, lethal work that so 
much of adventuring seems to be. That work needs doing, sure, and 
you’re grateful to all of your companions. But, no, to the entrepreneurial 
mind, adventuring is so much more! Finding rare and valuable treasures 
and resources is only the immediate reward - think of the untapped 
markets, crying out for goods and services! Think of the unexplored 
trade routes! Think of the proprietary rights! 
So let those murderers, fighters, and thieves sneer and laugh. 
They won’t be laughing once the coin starts pouring in. After you take 
your share, of course.  

 
   
 

The Merchant  Level:  XP:  ❏❏ ❏❏ ❏❏ ❏❏ ❏❏ ❏❏ ❏❏ ❏❏ ❏❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏  

(Next level at __+current level)

Name: _______________________________________    Look 

Human: Shylock, Merlinus, Marco, Woolman, Apu, Metcalfe, Hooper, Geezil, Ea-nasir  BODY: Tall, spindly, rotund, or ____________ 
Dwarf: Urabar, Guldin, Dorspear, Bomick, Jovrirra, Norammock, Thergi  EYES: Suspicious, welcoming, greedy, or ____________ 
Halfling: Shinepurse, Skipson, Linus, Maebrix, Ellie, Ariara, Ulsire, Rosbyn, Xodak    CLOTHES: Simple, regal, extravagant, or ____________ 
MARK OF WEALTH: Gold pocket watch, fur coat, sapphire ring, or ____________ 

Alignment    Assign to your stats: 16 (+2), 15 (+1), 13 (+1), 12 (+0), 9 (+0), 8 (-1) 

STR ⬤  INT ⬤ 
❏ Good 
Help a person in need with your wealth or wares.     
❏ Lawful    Strength: Weak ❏ -1    Intelligence: Stunned ❏ -1 
Keep your word in a deal or bargain. 

❏ Evil 
Gain wealth at someone else’s expense. 
  DEX ⬤  
 
WIS ⬤ 
❏     Dexterity: Shaky ❏ -1    Wisdom: Confused ❏ -1 

CON ⬤  CHA ⬤ 
____________________________________________________ 
____________________________________________________     

Starting Moves    Constitution: Sick ❏ -1    Charisma: Scarred ❏ -1 

 
It’s A Free Market (CHA) 
When you set up your cart in a safe location to sell your wares, 
roll+CHA. On a 10+ choose 2 of the effects below. On a 7-9, choose 1.    HP Max: HP: 
Max HP = 6 + Constitution 
On a miss, gain 2d4 coin in addition to whatever the GM says.   
● You bustle and bargain with reckless abandon and your goods fly 
off the shelves; gain 4d4 coin. 
● You encounter another wealthy figure who offers you an 
  Damage: D6 +    Armor: 
interesting trade.   
Tags:      
● The community is happy with your presence; gain 1d4 coin. 
That’s My Specialty!    Background 
Choose a type of item from the list below. In addition to general 
wares such as food, clothing, and gear, you sell a selection of the type  ❏ Human 
of item listed.   You’re familiar with a wide range of people and places. You speak 
❏ Armor  an additional language of your choice. 

❏ Weapons  ❏ Dwarf 
❏ Books and Scrolls  You’re a hardy traveler used to carrying a heavy burden. You 
❏ Ingredients and Poultices  have +2 to your load. 

❏ Exotic Sundries  ❏ Halfling 

❏ Tools and Parts    You’re easygoing and easier to talk to; communities are never 
When you pull something from your inventory that you’d likely  unhappy with your presence. 
have in stock, spend up to 9 coin and roll+increments of 3 coins  ❏  
spent. On a hit, you have exactly the thing. On a 10+, you recoup 3 
_____________________________________________________ 
coins worth of expenses.  
_____________________________________________________ 
Careful Appraiser (INT) 
When you spend time examining an object, roll+INT. On a 10+ you 
may ask the GM 3 of the questions below. On a 7-9, ask one. 
● When was this object made? 
● What is this object’s likely purpose? 
● What is the most important thing about this object?    Bonds   
● How much could this item be sold for to the right person?  I depend on ______________ to protect my wares. 
● Who would want to buy this item and why?  ______________ owes me a substantial debt, and I will not leave 
An Eye For Weakness (STR)  their company until it’s paid. 
When you attempt to sunder a defenseless or vulnerable  It’s good business sticking with ______________. 
handheld object, roll+STR. On a 10+, you’ve found the weakest part  ______________ is a total sucker! I bet I could sell them anything. 
of the object and break it. On a 7-9, you break it, but choose one-    __________________________________________________________ 
● It takes longer than expected  __________________________________________________________ 
● It’s dangerous to destroy  __________________________________________________________ 
● It’s only partly broken - it could be fixed without a lot of effort. 
__________________________________________________________ 
 

Template by Jason Shea, (CC-BY) Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License 
 
 
Gear    Coin: ___ Load: ___ / ___ 
You start with:   (100 coin = 1 weight) (Your Load is 6+STR) 
A Wooden Cart, hand-pulled, with load equal to your Strength. 
________________________________ ________________________________ 
30 coin 
Shield (+1 armor, held, 1 weight)   ________________________________ ________________________________ 
Dungeon Rations (5 uses, ration, 1 weight), Uses left: ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏  ________________________________ ________________________________ 
Choose one:  ________________________________ ________________________________ 
❏ Hammer (close, 1 weight) 
❏ Staff (reach, 1 weight)  ________________________________ ________________________________ 
Choose one wondrous item you’ve received in your travels:  ________________________________ ________________________________ 
❏ Monsieur Montgomery’s Healing Elixir (0 weight, 3 uses, heal 15 HP)  ________________________________ ________________________________ 
❏ A Silver Cravat that can turn water into wine. (1 weight) 
❏ Portable Feast (1 charge, ration, 1 weight, rechargeable)  ________________________________ ________________________________ 
❏ A pair of crystal spectacles that can read any language. (0 weight) 
_______: ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ _______: ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ 
Advanced Moves (Level 2+) 
❏ Silver-Tongued  ❏ Quarter-Master Chef 
When someone accuses you of lying, you may take -1 forward against  You gain the specialty “Expensive Food and Drink.” Additionally, when you 
them and assuage their immediate concerns until your actions prove  serve as quartermaster for a perilous journey, there is always enough 
the matter.   food for everyone even on a miss (this does not mean you can’t lose 
rations). 
❏ Gold-Fingered 
When you gain coin through sales or moxie, gain extra coin equal to  ❏ Mr. Or Mrs. Smith 
your level plus your CHA.  When you have enough time, enough coin, and access to a forge, you can 
make weapons and armor. When you do, you can add or remove one tag 
❏ One Fell Blow  from the item. The GM will tell you how much it costs. 
When you attempt to sunder your opponent’s arms or armor, 
roll+STR. On a hit you find the item’s breaking point: the victim deals  ❏ Spell-Trained Eye 
-1d6 damage or takes -1 armor. On a 7-9, choose one:  Add the question “Is there anything magical about this object, and if so 
● You become injured in the process  what?” to your list of questions for careful appraiser. 
● The item you broke it with also breaks 
● It’s only partly broken - it can be fixed without a lot of effort.  ❏ Trade Network 
When you put out word to the merchant caravans about something 
❏ It’s Not A Syndicate  you want or need, roll+CHA. On a 10+, someone has it, just for you. On a 
When you Recruit hirelings to your business, you take +1 if you make  7-9, you’ll have to settle for something close or it comes with strings 
your business practices known, and you can always pay your hirelings’  attached, your call. 
cost in coin. 
❏ Store Security 
❏ Everything Is A Negotiation   When you defend your wares or an item valuable to you, you always 
When you offer a violent creature something it desperately wants,  get +1 hold, even on a 6-. Additionally, you can spend hold to prevent 
roll+CHA. On a hit, they’ll stop fighting. On a 7-9 they demand more than  passing harm from damaging the item. 
you originally offered.   
 

Advanced Moves (Level 6+) 

❏ Oregon Trail  ❏ Everything Must Go 
You upgrade your cart to a full-blown wagon. It has a load of 40 and  All items you carry become weapons with the tags thrown and near. 
requires at least one animal to pull it. 
❏ It’s Not A Shakedown 
❏ Amateur Enchanter  Requires: It’s Not A Syndicate 
Requires: Mr. Or Mrs. Smith AND Spell-Trained Eye  When you use hirelings to intimidate potential buyers when you sell 
When you discover a magical effect with Careful Appraiser, you may  your wares, you may treat a 7-9 as a 10+. Every time you do this, your 
add it to your list of enchantments. When making or modifying armor or  reputation as a criminal will grow. 
weapons in the forge, you may use rare materials to bestow an 
enchantment from your list. The GM will tell you what you need.  ❏ Trust The Midas Touch 
When you attempt to turn a nonliving object to gold with your bare 
❏ I Break It, You Buy It  hands, roll+WIS. On a hit, it becomes beautifully gilded. Primarily metal 
Requires: One Fell Blow AND Everything is a Negotiation  objects quintuple in value, and the value of non-metallic objects increases 
When you sunder an enemy’s arms or armor in the heat of battle,  tenfold. On a 7-9, the power lingers in your being: the GM gets 1 hold to 
you may Parley with them and offer to fix their weapons at cost. On a  spend to turn anything you touch with your bare skin to gold. 
10+, you convince them to stop fighting and give you their arms to fix. 
On a 7-9, they stop fighting, but refuse to give you their gear and are  ❏ Action Archeologist 
either angry or fearful of you.  Choose one of the following as an additional specialty: magical artifacts, 
enchanted jewelry, potions and potables, or cursed objects. The GM will 
❏ The Iron Banker  tell you about ways to reliably acquire goods of your new speciality. 
When you legitimize a political power with your wealth, you are 
repaid with interest and in political clout. The GM will tell you who  ❏ Lieutenant Warbucks 
you’ve offended, infuriated, or caught the interest of.  When you take advantage of growing tensions and sell to both sides, 
name the factions and what you'll be supplying them with and roll+CHA. 
❏ The Invisible Hand  On a 10+, choose two. On a 7-9, choose one. 
When you invest your coin to create change, spend 100 coin and roll +  ● You are going to be very, very, rich. 
extra 100s of coin spent. On a 10+, your investment bears fruit. On a 7-9,  ● Your supply is safe from harm and danger 
the GM will offer you a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.   ● Your duplicity goes unnoticed by both sides. 
The Merchant 
● It’s A Free Market 
○ It can be assumed that, if the Merchant does not take the final option, that whatever else 
they might be, the community is not happy that the Merchant is there. 
● That’s My Speciality! 
○ Spending 0 coin would allow the Merchant to roll+0, if they so choose. Spending 3 coins 
grants a +1 bonus, 6 coins a +2, and 9 coins (the maximum) +3. On a 10+, the Merchant 
gains 3 coins back, even if they didn’t spend any. 
● One Fell Blow 
○ The move trigger doesn’t necessarily include that the Merchant uses some tool or the like to 
break the arms or armor, but the fiction likely demands it. On a 7-9, breaking the arms or 
armor barehanded has a pretty grim interpretation for the option “the item you broke it 
with also breaks”. 
● Store Security 
○ The additional hold option is a slightly different version of the Defend option “redirect an 
attack from a thing you defend to yourself” - the Store Security option to prevent passing 
harm doesn’t block a deliberate attack, but can be used to protect items from ambient 
dangers. 
● Mr. or Mrs. Smith 
○ Neither this move nor we endorse the gender binary or any normative statements about 
gender. 
● It’s Not A Syndicate 
○ It can be a syndicate if the Merchant wants it to be. 
● The Iron Banker 
○ The GM will also say how much coin is required to bankroll a regime. 
● The Invisible Hand 
○ The effect is a little like the Wizard’s Ritual. Any change is possible, with deep enough 
pockets and enough time. 
● Lieutenant Warbucks 
○ The factions don’t have to be at war with each other (yet), but there should be some conflict 
between them that the Merchant can point to (and exploit).