At the start of the month I introduced the 2025 RPG Blog Carnival topic for June, Magic Shops and Their Alternatives. As a brief reminder, I asked participants to consider the ubiquitous but oft-maligned magic shop, as well as their various alternatives, like magic item brokers or crafting mechanics, or ripper docs and black market alien tech shops. I was hoping for responses that approached magic item shops as a problem in the hobby and that provided a variety of solutions.
