RPM economy

[Servanous]

Introduction

How does magic affect an economy? It would probably start slowly at first with wizards or priests passing through town accepting donations for spells, and less than scrupulous characters selling elixirs and charms that may not work as intended. In a world where anyone can learn the basics of magic the curious or desperate would find teachers. In a world where people can contribute their physical energy to help a skilled caster bring miraculous effects into being, groups will form to cooperate for good or evil purposes. This is the world that Ritual Path Magic has opened up. This is a world where magical knowledge and the cooperation of enough people can accomplish anything. What does this magical society look like carried to its logical conclusion?
In Ritual Path Magic anyone can learn and use magic, mages and adepts are better at it but given time, training and tools anyone can cast spells useful to society. Magic items that eliminate the penalties for not being a mage are within reach of determined people and the other limits of the magic system can be worked around if one is not in combat. A Rite Master would be the one performing a ritual. For these rules the Rite Master would need at least Magery zero and Ritual adept (time) two. These cost twenty five points total but could be placed into an enchanted item allowing anyone to cast economically useful spells without penalty (a protected staff is common for this purpose and would be a thirteen point advantage). One needs Ritual adept (time) two in order to tap into energy sources without having to roll. This ability is critical to this system of magic becoming the hub of the economy. The Rite master would also be working in a consecrated space and have access to some connection to the target to eliminate these penalties. Most Rite masters will have the ritual mastery perk for the rituals they cast most often. Many will have a grimoire for their best rituals. All Rite masters would have their relevant path skills at IQ level. Any Rite master creating charms or elixirs would have a workspace kit for that. Many would try to work from a place of power if one was available. Even a Rite master with a ten IQ (gurps normal) could have a sixteen skill with enough training and equipment.

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Charms and Elixirs in my campaign:

Charms and Elixirs: In this campaign charms and elixirs can be created as unbound magic items (as in the Ravens and Pennies blog). Such unbound items can exist for Rite master’s skill * two days before expiring. Any unbound charm can be bound with a Thaumatology roll (or Ritual Magic if the character is a priest) and any unbound elixir can be bound with alchemy or herb lore. In this campaign charms take up conditional spell slots (Thaumatology or Ritual Magic + magery) and elixirs take up elixir slots (Alchemy or Herb lore + magery). Otherwise charms and elixirs use the rules as written. Also note that although elixirs take twice as long to create as charms the alchemist Rite Master uses alchemy skill if that is higher than his or her path skill. This means that an alchemist can study alchemy in depth (to IQ level) and only study the basics of the magic paths themselves (one point in each path or IQ -3). Thus with much less study an alchemist has many more potential spell effects available for sale than a Rite master that builds charms. Adventurers will also be taking advantage of the split between charms and elixirs because they can stock more single use magic items than they could otherwise.

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The Banking system:

Now on to the monetary system: The energy points in Ritual Path Magic are the basic unit of casting energy in this system. Most of the ritual is spent gathering the energy to make the spell effect work. A point of energy could be represented by a token. So long as each token can stand for one and only one point of energy that an individual has contributed to society there will be no inflation. This works because each point of energy doesn’t represent a unit of production the way a dollar does. In a system with Ritual Path Magic each point of energy IS a unit of production. Energy tokens would need to be tradable between individuals and any individual who contributed to a registered circle of magic would have the appropriate number of tokens placed in his or her account. These “magic banks” would be centralized in the cities and have branches to contact smaller settlements. The magic bank would act as both the source and sink for generating and removing magic tokens. The magic bank would be the central accounting hub of the system. The magic bank would serve as the central archive for all personal information. Name, address, birth records, marriage records, education, occupation, background check hair and finger nail clippings, and of course your account balance. We will call the magic bank The Hub.

Business at The Hub: The Hub would be responsible for keeping a registry of Rite masters who can perform various rituals. Anyone who provides energy to a ritual (including the Rite master) would have one token added to his or her account for each energy point contributed. For the unskilled masses this is most often a willing sacrifice of three fatigue points for one energy point per ritual. Rite masters can use their mana reserves or gather ambient energy. It’s also possible to contribute an animal sacrifice to a ritual, in which case the owner of the animal would get the tokens. Any time someone wants to buy a spell they must pay the energy cost of that spell to the Hub (plus the Hub fees, usually 2% of the ritual cost). Note however that the five tokens extra for charms and ten for elixirs is paid directly to the Rite master to pay for the time it takes them to make these items above and beyond the ritual. The employees of the Hub will then deduct that cost from the individuals account and book a Rite master. It is important to note that once energy tokens are spent for a ritual they are erased completely while new energy tokens are minted for participants in a circle who contribute energy. This ensures that each token only stands for one unit of production. This does not mean that people can’t volunteer their time and energy to unregistered rituals, but they will not get paid for any rituals that are “off the grid”. Also note that a failed ritual generates no tokens for the participants. In this unfortunate event people need to rest and start over.

Most people would go to a branch of The Hub to purchase a spell, exchange tokens with each other or find a job as a willing sacrifice for rituals. It is possible to have a magic item that allows two people to exchange tokens without visiting a Hub office. One possible item is detailed below:

Merchant ring: Protected magic ring (-25%) with the linked (+10% for only useable together) advantages of telesend (30) (Secure +20%, Send only -50%, Vague -50% for only sending tokens to another account) and lightning calculator (2). This ring is a seven point enchanted item which is usually only worn by merchants or the very rich. When two people wearing these rings shake hands on a deal this usually signals a transfer of funds. Since the Merchant ring is linked to a single individual it is used as a form of identification for exclusive gatherings or low level security areas.

The Hub in society: Every citizen of an area (or an empire) would be registered at the Hub. All a person’s records are kept at The Hub and would be the first place law enforcement would visit if they needed to identify or find someone. Rite masters would keep their resumes up to date at the Hub office which would include a list of facilities, tools and materials for magic rituals, a list of rituals they offer to the public, and whether they produce charms or elixirs. Rite masters would probably pay a fee for registration but being a Rite master carries a lot of prestige and earning potential. Citizens’ taxes would be taken out of the Hub directly. It’s the one stop shop for all official business.

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Exchange rates: magic to magic

Exchange rates: What is the exchange rate between tokens of energy and other services if there is one? A token of energy is three fatigue points which takes a common person half an hour to recover, for a maximum of sixteen tokens per day (eight hour work day). Charms take a half hour to create (+ lesser control magic or 5*greater effects multiplier), Elixirs take one hour (+ lesser create magic or 6*greater effects multiplier). One point of enchantment takes two hundred hours. These times would serve as mediums of exchange for magically crafted goods. Since it takes half an hour to recover three fatigue, in theory one energy point pays for the time it takes to create a charm and two energy points pay for the time it takes to create an elixir. This is not entirely accurate however because crafting these items is fairly skilled labor while willing sacrifice is unskilled labor.

If willing sacrifice is considered a poor job (1/5 income) while crafting charms or elixirs is at least an average job it would cost five energy to pay for a caster to make a charm and ten to pay for an elixir on top of the cost of the spells imbued into these items. Since enchanting is a comfortable profession earning ten times that of an unskilled laborer, twenty energy points would pay for an hour of an enchanters time. This means that four thousand energy points would buy one point of an enchantment. The exchange rate would thus be Token, Charm (five tokens), Draught (ten tokens), and Enchantment (four thousand tokens). A willing sacrifice can earn four thousand tokens in a year assuming eight hour days, five day work weeks, fifty weeks working per year.

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So now with the exchange system worked for magical services out how much do physical things cost? Let’s look at sets of goods and what kind of magical effort it would take to procure them.

Consumable items: Items created directly with magic only last as long as their duration. Food only has to last long enough to be digested (three days) while fuel only has to last long enough to be burned. Since the weight modifiers for Ritual path magic get ridiculous quickly, creating simple consumables with lesser create matter is hugely worth it. These create food spells are examples.

*Create Food/Water:*
Spell effects: Lesser Create Matter (6) + Lesser Create Energy (6)
Inherent modifiers: duration
Greater Effects: 0 (*1)

This spell creates food and drink up to the limit of the caster’s imagination. If a caster with cooking skill visualizes well, the results can rival any chef anywhere.

Typical casting: lesser create matter (6) + lesser create energy (6) (optional to create hot or cold food) + one week duration (+9) + weight of created food, base ten pounds (+0). If more food is needed more energy can always be added. Longer durations are rarely needed as most foods will spoil without special attention in at most two to three days and anything left after that will not last long enough to nourish someone that eats it. Add five energy to make a charm. According to this site http://www.precisionnutrition.com/what-are-your-4-lbs this is how much food a person needs per day.

Oh no I just had a vision of a castle made of candy that only lasts for one hour . . . the ultimate kids play land.

*Essential food:*
Spell effects: Lesser transform matter (40) + Greater strengthen matter (15) + Lesser strengthen matter (15) + Greater control matter (25)
Inherent modifiers: Duration
Greater Effects: 2 (*5)

This spell changes sticks and leaves into blocks of incredibly delicious, filling and nutritious food.

Typical casting: Lesser transform matter (sticks/leave into food) + Greater strengthen matter (food won’t rot) + Lesser strengthen matter (twice as nourishing) +Greater control matter (shape into blocks) Factors ten pounds + one year duration (+ 105 energy). Total energy 200 + five times weight modifiers. Add twenty five energy to make a charm.

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When you want something permanent like cloths, tools or buildings you can’t just create it from nothing with magic, but you can gather materials magically and fabricate the items using magic. Let’s look at soft items first. This covers anything made with cloth, leather, paper, feathers or anything else that is not hard. The fabricate spells listed here have an instantaneous duration. The magic comes in, shapes the matter involved, and vanishes. Thus the items remain until changed again either by magic or physical force.

*Soft Gatherer:*

Spell effects: Lesser Sense matter (2) + Greater Control matter (5) + Greater Control body (5) (for living subjects like crops and animals)
Inherent modifiers: Area of effect, weight
Greater Effects: 2 (*5)

This spell is used to gather soft materials like wool from sheep or corn from a field. One resource can be gathered at a time. The material is put in a pile in front of the caster but must be made into a finished product by other means.

Typical casting: Lesser Sense matter (10) + Greater control matter (25) (to move the material to the caster) + Greater control body (25) (to separate extractable material from living subjects without harming them, examples are wool from sheep, down from geese, or fruit from trees) +5*weight modifiers (for expected amount of material gathered) +5*area of effect modifiers (usually +16 * 5 for just about two acres). Add twenty five energy to make a charm.

*Soft Fabricate (Weaving spell in common parlance):*

Spell effects: Greater control matter (15)
Inherent modifiers: Weight
Greater effects: 1 (*3)

This spell takes soft materials like wool, plant fibers, leather, or down and makes them into whatever finished product the caster desires. Craft rolls are needed to make anything more complicated than bolts of cloth or other simple products. Add fifteen energy to make a charm.

Since a gathering spell can be used over a large area the energy cost to pay for enough fibers to make a shirt is pretty low (on the order of one or two energy). When you look at the cost to actually turn that material into a shirt you could be looking at something between fifteen and thirty energy (for a charm). You haven’t even considered the cost the tailor will charge you. Soft items are kind of expensive in this system but you could have an entire set of cloths made with one casting possibly at -1 to the tailors skill for each article. It is fortunate that lesser restore matter is only four energy plus weight modifiers and greater restore matter is twelve energy plus three times weight modifiers.

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Hard items are most tools, weapons, armor, generally anything made of wood and metal. One would use the following spells for these.

*Hard Gatherer:*

Spell effects: Lesser Sense matter (2) + Greater Control mater (5) + Lesser Transform matter (8)
Inherent modifiers: Area of effect, weight
Greater effects: 1 (*3)

This spell is used to gather hard materials like wood, stone and ore. One resource can be gathered at a time. The pure base material is put in a pile in front of the caster but must be made into a finished product by other means.

Typical casting: Lesser Sense matter (6) + Greater Control mater (15) (to move the material from the area to the caster) + Lesser Transform matter (24) (to reshape the material into ingots, blocks, boards or whatever the most usable form is for that material) + 3*weight modifiers (for the amount of material to be gathered) + 3*area of effect modifiers (+16 *3 for gathering from almost two acres of land). Add fifteen energy to make a charm.

*Hard Fabricate (Forging in common parlance):*
Spell effects: Lesser transform matter (8)
Inherent modifiers: Weight
Greater effects: 0 (*1)

The typical casting is just Lesser transform matter (8) plus the weight modifiers. Add five energy to make a charm.
The relative ease of using a Hard Fabricate spell takes us to the ridiculous conclusion that a suit of full plate mail is cheaper than a cotton shirt . . . but there you go.

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Houses and other buildings:

To create a house or other building one would first need to gather the materials, refine them (using the fabricate spells), transport them to the site (via the Deliver cargo spell) and then cast a construction spell. Note that two construction spells might be needed, one to build the foundation and one to build the house itself.

*Deliver cargo:*
Spell effects: Greater create crossroads, Greater control matter
Inherent modifiers: Range, Weight
Greater effects: 2 (*5)

This spell is the standard way to move materials from one site to another, typically to or from a ware house within the city.
Typical casting: Greater create crossroads (30) + Greater control matter (25) + 180(1000 mile range) + 50(450 tons) + 25 to make a charm.

*Construction: *

Spell effects: Greater Control matter (5) + Lesser Transform matter (8):
Inherent modifiers: Area of effect, weight
Greater effects: 1 (*3)

Typical casting: Greater Control matter (15) (to move materials around) + Lesser Transform matter (24) (to shape materials) + 3*weight modifiers (+9 or 10 base modifier for a modern house) + 3* area of effect modifier (+4 or 5 base modifier for a modern house).

This spell takes processed materials and turns them into a building, anything from a simple house to a bridge to a castle. The castor needs to make a craft roll vs Architecture to build the building correctly. Thus this spell is usually cast as a charm and given to a skilled architect. Add fifteen energy to make a charm.

To construct a pretty decent sized house you’re looking at ninety nine energy (for a charm). This does not include building materials, transportation costs for materials, furnishings, land prices, broker’s fees or architect fees to name a few. The price of a one family sized house can run into a thousand energy or so, not including land prices. Then there are taxes and utilities to consider with other upkeep.

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Health care:

Magical health care, yeah let’s look at a few useful spells on that score.

*Cure Disease:*

Spell effects: Lesser restore body
Inherent modifiers: None
Greater Effects: 0(*1)
As RPM page 41

*Diagnose: As RPM page 41*

*Minor healing: As RPM page 47*

*Regenerate body*

Spell effects: Greater restore body
Inherent modifiers: Altered traits for removing penalties, weight modifiers
Greater effects: 1(*3)

This spell is actually the generic name for several spells of its type. If someone is missing an eye, ear, limb or organ it’s a different ritual each time. The calculation for a typical casting is the same. Greater restore body (12) + 3*weight modifiers (+9 total for most people) + 3*disadvantage value.

*Restore youth*

Spell effects: Greater restore body
Inherent modifiers: Duration (as the amount of time reversed)
Greater effects: 1 (*3)

Typical casting: Greater restore body (12) + 3*weight modifiers (+9 for most people) + 63 (for one year reversed) +3 for each additional year reversed, add eighteen energy for an elixir.

*Grant High Pain Threshold*
Spell effects: Lesser strengthen body
Inherent modifiers: Duration
Greater effects: 0(*1)

This spell adds High Pain Threshold for one year, a very popular spell among the willing sacrifice class.
Typical casting: Lesser strengthen body (3) + Subject weight (+3 for most people) + 10 for added trait + 21 for one year duration, add six energy for an elixir.

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So we are looking at a situation in which food is ridiculously cheap (one token can get you an all-day buffet pass in most cities). Basic housing can be paid for in a year or less if someone is really dedicated. Wood and lamp oil would be pretty inexpensive as well but someone might be saving up for several days to buy a shirt.

Only the most lazy or disabled people would not be able to work to sustain themselves since it takes no skill to be a willing sacrifice, only the willingness to take pain for a few seconds (-3 to DX, IQ and skills for the next turn). Oh yes and affordable health care with eternal youth, nice perks there. These are the benefits that even the poorest citizens can afford if they have a work ethic. The rich would live fantastic lives with enchantments for every conceivable comfort and pleasure. The surest way to tell who was rich (or extravagant) would be to see how many sets of clothes and shoes they have and the quality of these possessions. The very rich would also have large houses with a lot of enchantments for amenities. Speaking of enchantments, since enchanted items are so important to a magical society what would it take to be an enchanter?