Quote:
Originally Posted by ecz
I will not spend words to say the obvious, that the economic system coming with the game, i.e. jobs, price list of the various items, rules for living expenses, was solid and rather complete. Besides I do not know if at that time any other RPG ventured in this camp.
But of course, in the case of a new TFT edition, the rules need some adjustment also in this section.
in no particular order, just to start the discussion, here are the main points:
Job Table:
too many jobs, too similar. It's better to have less jobs divided in broad categories. We have eight different "soldier-type" jobs for heroes, and seven for wizards. I would reduce drastically the number to three, 1) basic -low skilled, 2) average skilled, and 3) chief-leader position.
pay can be weekly, but the risk should be rolled once after each full month of work or four weeks in a row. Besides notable successes and risks should be harder to get. 3/18 should be the norm with few exceptions. This way players are not tempted to try to improve their characters through virtual events during the daily job, forgiving the adventures!
In my games jobs were divided in five Classes. Each Class coinciding with a "standard of life". The first class jobs require an high weekly cost, the fifth class is for bare subsistance, thus for example a mercenary captain will pay for his own manteinance a weekly cost much higher than a woodsman. The same happens in TFT I admit, but I would prefer that no one can save enough money to buy very expansive objects simply working as teacher or healer. Instead, according the RAW as written, in a year an ordinary armourer earns about $2600, a Burglar twice this amount. A little treasure.
The Job table is a great idea, but players should not be encouraged to pile up money just working. More adventures and less boring weeks at work enhace the fun, the mortality rate, and lower the risk PCs reach unrealistic attribute levels ...
Prices for items.
We discussed this in another thread. In my opinion or items become more expansive, or pays decrease! I dislike a fantasy world where anyone -just working a few years- could amass so many money to buy a castle or a powerful magic item. In my CGs the price for magic items was exactly doubled requiring two times the ST and the ingredients listed. I understand that this is subjective, however. May be it's just me to see this problem.
coniage, taxes, banks, moneylenders are basically ok. Perhaps they should be treated more in depth.
Comments?
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I never used either the jobs or the economic system from the game, although I understand that many people thought they were important features.
Jobs: My PCs were usually busy on adventures and normally had sufficient funds in downtime that they did not need "jobs" as per ITL. Where they did need to work to provide income this was specifically part of the role play experience and was always played out as part of the story and not relegated to a table.
Economics: I always just found it easier to approximate prices in the game to prices in the real world as much as possible, this made it easier for me to work things out on the fly. Basic necessity of life = Loaf of bread £1 (1 copper piece) therefore a subsistence labourer provided with shelter but expected to pay for his own food would get 1 or perhaps a bit more coppers per day. Obviously, not many people in our modern society are paid so badly.
Cheap Hotel room/room at the Inn £40 (40 coppers) per night.
Horse (equivalent to a car) a few hundred for a banger/nag, several thousand for a good quality mount and tens of thousands for a thoroughbred.
Sword (equivalent to a handgun) maybe a hundred for something cheap, hundreds for something decent and over a thousand for a good weapon.
And so on