Trading Points for Money discussion
 

Spending points on in-game effects is exactly what Impulse Buys is about, spending points to find money is pretty quintessentially an impulse buy (and B26 says these points are just spent and don't go on your character sheet; which is something GCA still does wrong, but I digress). Spending points to find money is really just a specific case of Player Guidance.
I am not sure what you are asking for, errata for the Basic Set?

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

So this mean if I buy reusable Impulse points if I have any that are going to go stale because I haven't used them at the end of the session I can change them for goodies?

That actually is pretty cool!

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

Yeah, I get that. I guess I've always considered this as part of character creation. I don't think I've ever had a player do this in game.
I think so, yeah. Over the past decade there have been plenty of little rules presented as options or increased detail that feel more like stealth errata to me. This is one of them. If they feel the original rule is unbalanced/unfair then I feel it should work its way into errata, not buried in a specific game line or non-core supplement.

As much as I love the PU line, Impulse buys is not every GM's cup of tea. I don't use it - well, I guess I'm using some of it now.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

And doesn't sound at all abusive.
/Sarcasm

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

I don't think that there is anything wrong with the Basic Set rule, it just isn't as generous. In many games being able to spend a Character Point to just find thousands of dollars might be far too generous.

You can use Player Guidance (or Serendipity) to get stuff anyway, so there's probably not much abuse here, if these are already options in the game. This is probably one of the reasons why Destiny Points recharge so slowly by default.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

By default it is 10% if I read pg 8 correctly, the 100% is if people complain about signature gear

One thing that confuses me is that "It can be extremely handy to spend a few points to stumble across just the weapon or vehicle you need, no strings attached!"

And

"In all cases, this rule never produces “instant” results, least
of all in combat! The gear or money shows up via standard
channels – courier at the door, envelope in the mail, electronic
bank deposit at the start of the business day, etc. – while no
action is going on. To conjure valuables out of thin air, get
Snatcher and see Changing the World (pp. 13-15)."

Seem very contradictory . . . one says it just shows up for you to stumble across, the other seems to indicate its like just ordering it off Amazon and waiting for it to appear

And then there was the Player Guidance example of 'Hey, I find a chainsaw?'

I am getting a bit spun about

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

I could read the first as explanation for what WILL happen, not necessarily what's happening at this exact moment.
Spend points now, and in the near future your character will just stumble upon the item.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

It means you can't spend a point and just have a chainsaw on you. You can spend an point and then find a chainsaw when you search a toolshed.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

Cliffhanger followed by commercial break and lucky happenstance saving the day. A Team, MacGuyver, yeah, I'm looking at you two.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

An alternative way of putting it:

You can spend points to guarantee the tool shed you are searching has a chainsaw. You can't spend points to guarantee there is a chainsaw in reach when zombies suddenly attack you in a dentist's office.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

This is very true. And true apart from errata too. The ruleset it sprawling louchely.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

I don't know why trading points for money is 10% but Signature Gear is 50% and gives it more story impact.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

Signature Gear is supposed to be an item or small set of items that are iconic to your character, so conceptually you can't have a lot of different things that fit, and it is very unlikely to be something you can buy after character creation (or at least if you do, it usually will require quite a bit of role-playing to justify). Conversely points traded for money don't require any explanation more complicated than a windfall, can happen at any time during play, and the money can be spent on anything, even trivial or frivolous things.

That said, as I said, Impulse Buys suggests more generous options.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

We actually have in our games started using a variant of Sig gear (named 'sir pudding Santa Claus Sig gear') which is MUCH more generous

Allowing say Rand al'Thor to actually afford his nice sword as a starting character

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

Raw cash in arbitrarily large amounts can be used for all manner of things. Including say buying a sword, or healing potions, or hiring a detective etc

A signature gear sword . . . can be used as a sword

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

Started a digression in the proper (GCA) forum...

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

The single biggest difference between buying a sword with money acquired through points and buying a sword signature gear is what happens if you lose the sword. In the former case, unless you put effort into retrieving or replacing it, it's gone. In the latter case, you'll eventually get it back. You pay extra for the signature gear because you get the security of knowing that you're never going to be parted from it for long.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

But the point is, you don't pay extra for the signature gear. You pay less. Five times less!

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

This is what GMs are for. To make rulings and balance stuff out when things fall out of balance.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

A bad rule is a bad rule whether GMs can overrule it or not.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

Which is why multiplying the effects of Trading Points for Money by five was a huge step in the right direction. The option becomes somewhat viable at that point, and is made even better by having Signature Gear be plot-protection only and unrelated to the cost of acquiring the item in the first place (done through any combination of Wealth, Trading Points for Money, or acquiring loot in play).

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

We've been playing with increased Trading Points For Cash values and Signature Gear as a perk since a few years after DF came out. It definitely seemed to cut down on everyone and their dog starting with Signature Gear (while not making it unused, so that sounds more like the right balance), made Trading Points for Cash attractive, and just generally seems to be working smoothly.

I'd not noticed that was a special rule in ATE; I'd kind of forgotten :)

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

Not sure this falls into the "bad rule" category. This one always felt to me like it belonged in the "different settings for different campaigns" category.

Re: Trading Points for Money discussion
 

It feels like an inadequately flexible rule.

The thing that makes it hard to work with is there is no advice for when its a good idea and when its not.