How should a dwarf react to being offered a pair of women's shoes?

[Tinkerer]

The question is; how would a dwarf blacksmith know, at a glance, the value of a pair of high-fashion shoes (ladies or otherwise)? Unless they were made by a famous shoemaker that made instantly recognisable shoes (which is unlikely), it's just a fancy looking pair of shoes; maybe worth a bob or two and worth considering, maybe not worth more than the best that he could pick up from the local cobblers. If they were recognisably valuable, then the value alone is further reason to be suspect and reject the offer out of hand; after all, if someone's offering something of such great value, then whatever they want (whether it be information or something more material) is also suspect. If this smith is honest, he may simply not want anything to do with such potentially nefarious dealings.

The point is, that this deal and reaction has no implications regarding transexuality, crossdressing or similar, unless there's some factor that the OP has missed out (e.g. an offensive slur used in the rejection).

Same way as the adventurers. Appraisal of the shoes. How did the adventurers know the value? Was one of them a haute couture aficionado? I'm gonna guess it was the appraisal skill. I definitely concur though that the reaction has no dire implications within it though. And since OP has mentioned that they routinely make up stories as jokes I'm gonna assume that this is one of those stories since the events laid out within it do not seem to add up.

I think youre too used to video game economics where you can sell any item to and vendor for the same price. Just because he has a trade doesn't mean that he can therefore barter any item. Theyre in random joe village, theres no market for 500 GP shoes. Nobody can even afford them. They are functionally worthless because he cant do anything with them, and that's before you get into the fact that they ripped them off a dead person.

The town is large enough for a steam engine, that suggests some measure of wealth. I own a store and if someone came in asking for information and tried to offer me their car to sweeten the deal I would take the car and provide them with the same information which I would provide them normally. Then I would give the cops a call and check to see if the car was stolen and if it was then I could give them the description of the dangerous criminals and they would confiscate the car. If it wasn't I'd sell the car and be laughing all the way to the bank.

[Douche]

It wasn't a smithy, it was a steam engine maintenance man. You guys hear that there's one dwarf living in town and you automatically assume they're a blacksmith? That's racist.

And I posited the shoes to them as being like Louboutins (?) or some equally recognizable brand. Ergo "famed clothier". You don't have to be a fashionista to see a Gucci purse on the ground and say "I could probably hock that on craiglist for like $100 or something!"

They also ended up selling the shoes to a sassy importer for 300 gp.

[War_lord]

...Why are people debating the shoe economy of a fictitious world in someone's head, and not the fact that the OP's story, as presented, makes no sense?

So they offer the dwarf the shoes, which the dwarf refuses in terms the OP assures us could not reasonably be seen by anyone as offensive. And the OP insists that they themselves did not use any offensive terms.

And then this player sends an email saying they're leaving the game. Not saying they're bored with the game, not saying the DM was generally being an ass, but specifically accusing the OP/DM of being transphobic. That kind of specific accusation doesn't come out of nowhere. So either:

1. The OP is leaving huge gaps in the story on purpose, because they know the missing material will paint them in a worse light.

2. Or this story is entirely fictitious and the OP is relying on the sheltered and gated nature of the gamer crowd to make sure it doesn't get questioned to the point they have to back down like last time they pulled this. There's plenty of people who want to believe this story, because it confirms their biases and fears.

[Tinkerer]

Honestly War_Lord because the shoe economy is the more interesting and debatable point. If Douche did do something I doubt they are going to admit it plus several people have stated that they don't believe it for a second and provided evidence to back that suspicion. I see no reason to beat that dead horse any further. Now the physiology of dwarven feet plus local market conditions for high end shoes on the other hand, that's something I can debate.

EDIT: And I did correct my previous post where I mentioned blacksmith. Honestly my mind just recalled that it was a sooty hot job and auto-corrected to blacksmith.

[RifleAvenger]

Honestly War_Lord because the shoe economy is the more interesting and debatable point. If Douche did do something I doubt they are going to admit it plus several people have stated that they don't believe it for a second and provided evidence to back that suspicion. I see no reason to beat that dead horse any further. Now the physiology of dwarven feet plus local market conditions for high end shoes on the other hand, that's something I can debate.

EDIT: And I did correct my previous post where I mentioned blacksmith. Honestly my mind just recalled that it was a sooty hot job and auto-corrected to blacksmith.

The circumstances of trying to sell valuable, but niche or odd, items given local economics is indeed a cool idea to debate. Not every store is pawn shop after all, and people in a small town might not have much use for gold bars over spare change or commodities.

I don't see why it has to be debated here, where it's supporting attention for a known liar's tale that's potentially meant for either trolling or to purposefully make a certain group of people look bad or irrational.

[Bohandas]

...Why are people debating the shoe economy of a fictitious world in someone's head, and not the fact that the OP's story, as presented, makes no sense?

So they offer the dwarf the shoes, which the dwarf refuses in terms the OP assures us could not reasonably be seen by anyone as offensive. And the OP insists that they themselves did not use any offensive terms.

And then this player sends an email saying they're leaving the game. Not saying they're bored with the game, not saying the DM was generally being an ass, but specifically accusing the OP/DM of being transphobic. That kind of specific accusation doesn't come out of nowhere. So either:

1. The OP is leaving huge gaps in the story on purpose, because they know the missing material will paint them in a worse light.

2. Or this story is entirely fictitious and the OP is relying on the sheltered and gated nature of the gamer crowd to make sure it doesn't get questioned to the point they have to back down like last time they pulled this. There's plenty of people who want to believe this story, because it confirms their biases and fears.

My assessment is that either

1.) the story is true and the player has some kind of personality disorder

OR

2.) The story is not true and the OP is nuts

[Bohandas]

The other day, my players were pilfering dead bodies after coming upon the site of a massacre. Among the bodies was a noblewoman, who was wearing a pair of knee-high stilletto boots, from a famed clothier. The boots were valued at 500 gp, by their estimate.

As an aside, it has always been my personal theory that this exact situation is probably where the term "munchkin" to refer to a powergamer comes from. Character comes across a dead body and instead of roleplaying the situation their first instinct is to steal their expensive shoes.

[ExLibrisMortis]

For what it's worth, I would be weirded out if someone offered to pay me with a $2000 pair of high-heeled boots smelling of blood. Not so much because of any cross-dressing that might be associated, but because it's really weird and I would look really weird trying to sell them. Why do you even have these boots? Why do they smell of blood? Where's the police when you need them? Am I about to get stabbed by the guy TWF-ing stiletto boots? That's just more trouble than it's worth, you know.

Not that I could distinguish a $2000 pair of boots from a $20 pair of fakes, so the point's moot.


Oh, and it takes one minute to appraise something. The dwarf couldn't just see the value being offered.

[Douche]

Look guys, my personal views aside, I thought that I would create a depiction of toxic masculinity. I did not portray it as a quality to be admired. It was actually meant to make the dwarf look weak so that everyone else could feel morally superior to him. So it's actually the opposite of transphobia.

The whole scene took maybe 2 minutes so I'm not sure what else I could add to the story to make myself look like a villain, but I have been fully polite and accommodating to all my players.

I suppose a picture says 1000 words. A gif probably says even more. Check this one out
https://media.giphy.com/media/hpn1MBPvBUkbm/giphy.gif

You can see that Kramer is clearly uncomfortable with something, and he wants to end the conversation ASAP (he seems to be yelling "STOP"). I didn't raise my voice and I wasn't aggressive like this, but this is the sort of attitude that I was displaying when offered those shoes.

[War_lord]

Look guys, my personal views aside, I thought that I would create a depiction of toxic masculinity. I did not portray it as a quality to be admired. It was actually meant to make the dwarf look weak so that everyone else could feel morally superior to him. So it's actually the opposite of transphobia.

Is anyone still doubting this is trolling?

[Keltest]

Is anyone still doubting this is trolling?

I mean, most people are talking around him anyway, so does it matter? The plausibility of trying to barter a given piece of medium or high quality loot in some small town somewhere is an interesting topic.

[War_lord]

I mean, most people are talking around him anyway, so does it matter? The plausibility of trying to barter a given piece of medium or high quality loot in some small town somewhere is an interesting topic.

It's signal boosting him. I would suggest creating a new thread to discuss the issue of video game vendors (The guy who runs a vegetable stall in a Halfling village will happily buy a +2 knife of bloody shanking off you) vs realistic vendors (Some vendors won't do barter or purchasing, those that do will only accept things they can sell at a profit or use themselves.)

[denthor]

As an aside, it has always been my personal theory that this exact situation is probably where the term "munchkin" to refer to a powergamer comes from. Character comes across a dead body and instead of roleplaying the situation their first instinct is to steal their expensive shoes.

Read your comment. Is the following way out of line?

Ultimate chick flick two women fighting over a pair of shoes?

That were taken off of a dead woman.

Did dwarf wish to represent the lollypop guild?

Follow the yellow brick road?