[DF] - Party wealth disparity

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by Kromm

DF offers an old-school take on delving. In the bad old days of gaming, delvers were generally self-interested and greedy, and didn't share without huge interest rates and/or unpleasant bargains. The few who weren't like that . . . were also clerics and monks and paladins, who started dirt-poor and/or lost their power if they owned more than they could carry. For the most part, money went along with the desire to accumulate and keep it, not with the goal of giving it away to anyone but a charity – and fellow PCs were explicitly not a charity. That was right in the rules!

In those bad old days there were no such thing as one player starting out with substantially greater wealth than another, so if you can buy wealth with character points, you're never going to emulate them completely. And player characters are (supposedly) balanced. If someone has spent 30 or 40 points more on Wealth than the other characters, then he has spent 30 or 40 points less on becoming a good fighter or a good healer og a good mage or a sneaky locksmith. What good is he going to be to a dungeon-delving party if he doesn't contribute his wealth? What's the reward for being a good fighter? A share of the loot. What's the reward for being a healer? A share of the loot. What's the reward for being able to zap the opposition? A share of the loot. What's the reward for being able to open locks and backstab enemies? A share of the loot. Why should someone who can't do any of these things very well get a bigger share of the loot?

Mind you, I'm all for letting players negotiate these things. If the big dumb fighter is dumb enough to let the rich guy con him out of a share of the loot, that's all right[*]. But if the rich guy is feeble enough to let the big, effective combat monster con him out of a share of the loot, that's all right too[*]. I don't see why the Wealthy guy is inherently entitled to a bigger share than anyone else. Not in any dungeon-delving party I'm a member of, he isn't (Unless he's me, of course ;-)).

[*] As long as it doesn't create ill feeling between the players.

Hans


PS. What is DF, anyway?