How do you handle Ransoming/Auctioning Artifacts?

[Jafazo]

Throughout their adventures a hero decides to part with an artifact that has come into his possession by selling to his comrades, otherwise he keeps it even if he can't use it, this includes potions. Not very sporty, but possible. This can be any artifact like Borin's Armor, The Talisman of Lore etc. How do you handle it?

[cynthialee]

Allow it. Then when they heroes fail I point out how optimizing gear would have likely prevented a wipe.

[mitchiemasha]

This is purely up to players... And, usually the only reason we may see an actual fight between the heroes break out in Quest (UK edition)

[knightkrawler]

It's up to them.
BUT. My cards have these nifty little icons, declaring if a "Potion" is in fact a potion or a tonic.
Potions aren't spoiled and can be crried over from quest to quest, tonics can only be used during the quest they're found in.
Artefacts can also be sold for a randomly rolled sum of gold pieces. Nobody's ever done that.

[mitchiemasha]

'Tonic' Yes. Good idea.

[Daedalus]

It's reaching way back into the foggy depths of my memory, but I believe my original 90s group agreed any Hero gaining a permanent artifact forfeited his share of the reward for that Quest.

[DarakuTenshi]

I have never DMed a game where the players could actually complete the base set due to greed.

[torilen]

Two ideas here:
1 - Force the idea of encumbrance or carrying capacity. That way, at a certain point, a hero will HAVE to decide
to get rid of some stuff. The way I play and GM, my heroes would be able to carry quite a bit before being forced
to get rid of anything, but it would still work as the heroes grow in level/experience/number of quests completed.
You can use an idea tossed around a bit here - that being that heroes can also pay a "bank" to store items and gold,
but this would cost a certain amount per quest or per month or such, and would still have a capacity limit.

2 - I've always emphasized the idea that the heroes are just that - heroes - and that they are friends who get along
and help one another through life. As such, if they find or gain possession of something that they really don't need
(a wizard finding Borin's Armor, for example), then they will freely give it to the hero who can use it. If they can
use everything they find, but some other heroes are lacking during a quest, they all might want to think about
redistributing the goods between them all to maximize their ability to complete their quests (as someone else
said above).

Now...idea number two - this would not work with hirelings/mercenaries/guest heroes helping out for a quest
or two. In those cases, the hero party would just have to make sure the others could make it through the quest
as best as possible without giving up anything really expensive or useful or important.

[The Admiral]

Allow it. Then when they heroes fail I point out how optimizing gear would have likely prevented a wipe.

Exactly. A Barbarian would be stupid to keep a Wand of Magic. But role play is role play, so if the Barbarian is an oaf, let him be.