Post by Kenneth New on Feb 25, 2012 16:24:05 GMT -5
Overview
In heroic level games we always use the wealth system instead of tracking every coin earned and every bill accrued. In general, this system works best since we don't want to have to play accountant. Nevertheless, John and I have noticed a little distance between the characters and the rewards of their labors. We have no desire to go back to trying to track every copper piece and to keep track of monthly bills.
What follows is a system that allows us to give out treasure (one of the rewards of gaming) while not needing to track bills and taxes. The HERO wealth system (Book 1, p105) tracks how much income each character has. The values are given in dollars. Some adjustment is required to make them work in our games.
Cash on Hand
At the start of any story (or at the beginning of each week), each character can be assumed to have cash on hand equal to 1% of their annual income.
In the Modern Arcana game, this means that average characters have $250.
In the fantasy games, this means that average characters have 750 copper pieces.
Large Purchases
If the character needs to make a large purchase a few times a year, they can draw on five times as much cash. This means that they may have tighten their belts a little for a few months.
In the Modern Arcana game, this means that average characters have $1250.
In the fantasy games, this means that average characters have 3750 copper pieces.
Expenses and Rewards
Characters can earn and spend money during the course of a story. They just spend money out of what they have on hand. It's the money that remains at the end of the story that matters (including any shares of treasure).
Finishing the Story
After a story, the player has to look at the money the character has remaining and make a decision about what happened to it.
Uses of Wealth
If a character has the chance to purchase something during the course of a story, they can simply erase the money and purchase the item. [Remember that some items require the expenditure of character points as well as cash.]
However, if a character has a resource pool, they can replenish up to 1 character point of equipment each day of game time. This doesn't require the character to spend cash out of hand. The purchase price comes from background wealth.
In heroic level games we always use the wealth system instead of tracking every coin earned and every bill accrued. In general, this system works best since we don't want to have to play accountant. Nevertheless, John and I have noticed a little distance between the characters and the rewards of their labors. We have no desire to go back to trying to track every copper piece and to keep track of monthly bills.
What follows is a system that allows us to give out treasure (one of the rewards of gaming) while not needing to track bills and taxes. The HERO wealth system (Book 1, p105) tracks how much income each character has. The values are given in dollars. Some adjustment is required to make them work in our games.
- In the Modern Arcana game, each value needs to be reduced by a factor of 5 in order to better reflect the economics of the 1920s.
- In the various fantasy games, 1 dollar = 1 copper piece.
Cash on Hand
At the start of any story (or at the beginning of each week), each character can be assumed to have cash on hand equal to 1% of their annual income.
In the Modern Arcana game, this means that average characters have $250.
In the fantasy games, this means that average characters have 750 copper pieces.
Large Purchases
If the character needs to make a large purchase a few times a year, they can draw on five times as much cash. This means that they may have tighten their belts a little for a few months.
In the Modern Arcana game, this means that average characters have $1250.
In the fantasy games, this means that average characters have 3750 copper pieces.
Expenses and Rewards
Characters can earn and spend money during the course of a story. They just spend money out of what they have on hand. It's the money that remains at the end of the story that matters (including any shares of treasure).
Finishing the Story
After a story, the player has to look at the money the character has remaining and make a decision about what happened to it.
- The cash was just rolled back into the characters wealth level. This should be the default assumption, especially for relatively small amounts of cash.
- The characters "lived it up" until the cash ran out.
- The characters spread the wealth around, giving the player the opportunity to purchase reputation, contacts, etc....
- The character invested the cash. This is for those who're trying to raise their wealth level. Once the character has accumulated an amount of investments equal to the annual income of the next wealth level, they can purchase 1 point of wealth (and erase the savings).
Uses of Wealth
If a character has the chance to purchase something during the course of a story, they can simply erase the money and purchase the item. [Remember that some items require the expenditure of character points as well as cash.]
However, if a character has a resource pool, they can replenish up to 1 character point of equipment each day of game time. This doesn't require the character to spend cash out of hand. The purchase price comes from background wealth.
