Cyberworld's Currency Flux Rolls: do you think they do what it thinks they do?

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

A question to the experienced cyberworlders AND/OR economists (armchair or professional) of the forum. This Flux mechanic found on CW60 and the nearby pages . . . what exactly is it supposed to do? It seems like it wants to replicate the effects of the enormous financial crisis of the early 90s, but it just feels very contorted, and the result seem . . . weird. Did you use the mechanic? Did you find it suitable for a particular use?

Some day I might want to use a mechanic for representing a world where no single currency dominates (unlike the ₤/$/€ trio of our world), and this thing seem to be closest, in intent, game-mech for such a thing. But I'm leery of cannibalizing stuff I don't quite understand into new mechanics.

Thanks in advance!

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Greetings, all!

A question to the experienced cyberworlders AND/OR economists (armchair or professional) of the forum. This Flux mechanic found on CW60 and the nearby pages . . . what exactly is it supposed to do?

It's trying to recreate a real element of some cyberpunk (and military SF) stories, where the money you've agreed to be paid in is suddenly worth a lot less than when you closed the deal (a challenge to your character's personality, do you still do the job?), or the money you brought with you, which seemed completely adequate has fallen in value so much it no longer is (a challenge to your resourcefulness). In the interest of fairness I guess this was converted into a random system in which you could also win rather than left as a method the GM could arbitrarily use to lower the value of your money and hence generate those story challenges.

And no, I'd not use this mechanic. If I really had to have a mechanic, the simplest one is probably to require everybody to divide their assets among various currencies (but still record them in $GURPS) and roll when they want to spend the money from one particular pool to see how much lower or higher than normal prices are (still expressed in $GURPS) relative to that pool.