#11: The Spice Trade and How to Use It

[RPGnet Columns]

http://www.rpg.net/columns/vegetative/vegetative11.phtml

Summary:

The importance of spices in history and your campaign.

Go to the column (http://www.rpg.net/columns/vegetative/vegetative11.phtml) for more information.

[Timothy Ferguson]

A minor note on the table of spices: paprika is made from capsicum (or, to use the American name, bell peppers), and so isn't to be found in Europe in a historical period. The eastern European paprika industry post-dates settlement of the New World by quite some time.

[torbenm]

For interstellar spice trade, Poul Anderson's van Rijn stories can serve as inspiration. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson#Technic_History for a bibliography.

[Jennifer]

I don't disagree with you on the origin of chile peppers

But I believe I saw evidence that the word "paprika" was used before chile peppers came over from America. It was made up of other spicy materials.

I could have been wrong though, quite readily. My bad if I messed up. :o

[smascrns]

Nice column. There are some historical inaccuracies but these are due to common history books more than anything else.

Some more ideas:

Smuggling spices or, better yet, spice plants from places where production his highly controled.
A fight between competing trade/production networks. The characters have to take sides of are hired by one side.
Recovering the cargo of a sunk ship/lost caravan.
Recovering the money payed for couterfeited or rotten spice.
Negotiating a trade agreement, with or without other diplomatic matters involved.