Alright, I have a confession to make... I have never understood how D&D crafting works.
There is just something about it that is so unappealing on a mechanical level. Like, I have watched videos explaining the system, the benefits, and even best options for crafting consumables like scrolls and potions. I get all of that. When it comes to my own games, ones I am playing in or running, crafting just feels like a chore. I think I have had one player that actively pursued crafting and I had to scramble to figure out the mechanics every time he asked about things. My head just goes into full avoidance mode whenever the topic pops up.
The problem with this is I think that the idea of crafting your own arms, armour, and items is really cool. The idea of a traveling smith looking to test their own wares on the rigors of adventuring or an alchemist always on the look out for rare materials for their latest potion are cool character ideas. That crafting feels different than the mechanical approach that is presented for me. Maybe it is just me but it feels like the core motivator is different. Something about it being a dedicated feature of the character rather than an optimal past time just sits better with me.
Another issue that I run into all the time with crafting in D&D is the expected funds a party has are almost always lower than would be expected. I guess I don't really play at tables where loot is given out based on a monetary system. Usually items are found that are tailored to the needs of the group and the funds that you have on hand are good for covering life expenses (inns, foods, potions, and maybe some rp purchases). Even back when I was playing D&D 3.5 in high school the by the book treasure that was given out would have allowed for crafting of items but we also had items from the treasure. The funds then usually went into our own organizations/guilds that were being run in the hub city. Ya know, cool things.
So, just talking this out now I am kinda realizing a few things about crafting:
crafting is so rooted to the time and resource economy of the game that any deviations quickly make it not enticing
crafting is interesting if it is done in a thematic sense rather than a mechanical one
crafting is only necessary if the person running the game is not providing something that is desired
This is where the big question comes in: do you even need a crafting system?
So, yes and no. I think that the ability to allow players the capacity to create their own items creates a lot of very interesting game play moments. Things like making a dagger out from the tooth of a drake you killed or having a character weaving a cloak for another in the party to show that despite them being heated rivals they do not want them to come to harm sound cool as hell. The capacity to say "My character made that" and have that sense of pride is a very unique experience. I just can't help feeling like to have that I need to accept that there are going to be players that want to play the capitalist simulator and generate a bunch of items to then sell. That is on the storyteller to manage, of course, but the solution of saying that the store owner only has so much money or limiting resources available just feel like band aid solutions. It is only a matter of time before they come to a bigger city to sell their stuff off at.
It is just very hard to make something so mechanically driven into something narratively driven. I heard someone say "It is like icing on a calculator" and this is genuinely what I am feeling.
... and this is the strange scenario I have found myself in numerous times while making this ttrpg. I run into the question of "should I try to make this thing I know other people would like but I am not interested in?"
That is kind of not in the spirit of indie ttrpgs in general. My inspirations for making this ttrpg are games that are so aggressively what that person is about that it shines through. At the end of the day I keep returning to the idea that if it excites me to write then it will excite people to play it. That has been the case all the way through. There have been so many times where I have been essentially babbling nonsense to my parents or my s/o (love you and thank you for all of your patience). Things like having a mechanic that lets you side step a charge or making a reward for actually tracking a target. That stuff gets me super excited. I can see how it would play and how I would describe that action. I know that as a player i would feel smart and rewarded for using that.
So, enough philosophizing. Let's break down my general idea for crafting in The Banishing
To craft a magical item you need the 3 M's: material, magic, and method. Each one of them needs to be procured and used in the process and they dictate the variables of the creation.
Material: Anything from iron, straw, mercury, silk, or tooth. This is either an entirely stylistic role play choice or a mechanical one, but that is going to be down to the storyteller and world builder. Stuff like silver being a strong anti-magical metal or using certain wood to ward off spirits would be very neat little elements to add.
Magic: There needs to be a source of magic that is contained and can be transferred into the item. This, for me, would be the part of the creation that would involve some specific work beyond rolls or exchange of coin to find something rare to work with. The branch of a tree struck by lightning, the string of a hangman's noose, the first blooming flower of spring. Ya know, that epic quest type of shit. This also means you can have players work backwards. Have them use the metal that was melted from dragon fire to imbue that same flame into a blade or a cloak to protect them from it next time. Get creative!
Method: This one is a bit more loose and open ended. This is what is required of the process. This can be as simple as free time to focus on the loom or measuring the right ingredients into your flasks. It can also involve rituals or being in a certain place. The idea that to weave a cloak that lets you turn into mist requires the process to happen in a forest glade or by the seaside makes sense.
With these let's make the player have to ask two questions:
Do I want to spend time or money?
How strong do I want this item to be?
Each of the Ms would count for a rest (what basically boils down to the time in between active adventuring or in combat) ASSUMING that the player just has everything. For every stage there would be a need to procure what was needed or at least the information of what was needed in the case of specific location based processes. That will double the days if every day was as simple as simply going to the market and getting some metal or walking down to the local witches hut and going "hey, you know how to bind the last breath of a dying man to a spear, right?" and she goes "oh, totally. I wouldn't be much of a witch if I didn't know that. Let me get my grandma's ol' breath binding book out and show you how it is done".
Helpful witches aside, that is going to be particularly unlikely if they need to procure something kind of strange. This becomes doubly so if it is parts of a monster that they need, that stuff would be DEEPLY contraband in this world.
Huh, well look at that... a crafting system that is fluid and allows for some interesting narrative interaction to go on. In world it would mean that if they are making a super simple item it would take 3 days, a complicated one about a week, and something powerful takes however long it takes. Basically every choice to craft comes with an associated crafting check, so failures there might slow the process down. I also like the idea of taking extra time to "temper" the item to give it greater benefits. Now you can have some character that is honing the perfect ax for an enchantment suited for it, hoping every battle to be the one where they are able to procure enough angel's blood or an elemental's heart core.
It needs a bit of fine tuning but I am actually pretty comfy with this.
Thanks for listening to all my back and forth on this, it really helped in the end <3