New campaign starting wealth

ashareem · 09-02-2023, 11:42 AM

Our group is starting a new campaign, and our GM thinks that the starting wealth for a Tech 5+ setting should only be $500.

Okay, can cope with that, but how do I set that in GCA5? I'm not finding a way to edit that field under campaign settings.

Is there a way to make a campaign.gdf that sets that?

Armin · 09-02-2023, 01:42 PM

Starting wealth or starting money?

Money is what GCA looks at for showing if you've overspent on equipment, and taking Wealth advantages or disadvantages should also adjust that. By default, starting money is 20% of starting wealth.

You can adjust the percentage of starting wealth to get many starting money values.

However, if you need to set it to a completely custom value outside of the normal rules, you have to do it a bit oddly, because of the way starting wealth and starting money values work.

The Starting Wealth attribute multiplies a factor based on TL against 10 (the default Wealth Modifier) to get the normal Starting Wealth value.

The Money attribute adds a Money Base value to the value obtained by multiplying Starting Wealth by the value of any X% of Starting Wealth modifier.

The Wealth advantages/disadvantages apply adjustments to the Wealth Modifier (that base 10 value mentioned above), so those would trickle through to Starting Wealth and Money values.

It's a bit more complex that it may seem at first.

So, if you want to completely change the values for the TL system for starting wealth values, you have to basically change it in Starting Wealth's basevalue() tag. Assuming that you keep the % of starting wealth = starting money system, presumably you'd just change all the values after 1000 (1500, 2000, etc) to be 1000 instead. If you want to ignore the % of starting wealth system, then you'd set that % to 100%, and set these values all to the ones you actually want to start with, and everyone would have wealth = money.

Doing it that way should keep the Wealth advantages/disadvantages working correctly and everything flowing through as you'd expect.

(I haven't tested this, just looked at the attribute relationships.)

Note that Starting Wealth is hidden by default, and is accessible from the All Attributes tab of Attributes in Classic View or the Attributes Traits dialog.

You could also set a value in Money Base, but that won't scale with Wealth.

ashareem · 09-04-2023, 07:15 AM

Starting money, yes.

Thank you. I will attempt that and see if it works on my recalcitrant laptop.

Ashleigh

09-02-2023, 11:42 AM	#1
ashareem Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Duvall, WA	New campaign starting wealth Our group is starting a new campaign, and our GM thinks that the starting wealth for a Tech 5+ setting should only be $500. Okay, can cope with that, but how do I set that in GCA5? I'm not finding a way to edit that field under campaign settings. Is there a way to make a campaign.gdf that sets that? __________________ Ashleigh - Weregamer1 Weregaming - They were dead before we met them.

09-02-2023, 01:42 PM	#2
Armin GCA Prime Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Portland, OR	Re: New campaign starting wealth Starting wealth or starting money? Money is what GCA looks at for showing if you've overspent on equipment, and taking Wealth advantages or disadvantages should also adjust that. By default, starting money is 20% of starting wealth. You can adjust the percentage of starting wealth to get many starting money values. However, if you need to set it to a completely custom value outside of the normal rules, you have to do it a bit oddly, because of the way starting wealth and starting money values work. The Starting Wealth attribute multiplies a factor based on TL against 10 (the default Wealth Modifier) to get the normal Starting Wealth value. The Money attribute adds a Money Base value to the value obtained by multiplying Starting Wealth by the value of any X% of Starting Wealth modifier. The Wealth advantages/disadvantages apply adjustments to the Wealth Modifier (that base 10 value mentioned above), so those would trickle through to Starting Wealth and Money values. It's a bit more complex that it may seem at first. So, if you want to completely change the values for the TL system for starting wealth values, you have to basically change it in Starting Wealth's basevalue() tag. Assuming that you keep the % of starting wealth = starting money system, presumably you'd just change all the values after 1000 (1500, 2000, etc) to be 1000 instead. If you want to ignore the % of starting wealth system, then you'd set that % to 100%, and set these values all to the ones you actually want to start with, and everyone would have wealth = money. Doing it that way should keep the Wealth advantages/disadvantages working correctly and everything flowing through as you'd expect. (I haven't tested this, just looked at the attribute relationships.) Note that Starting Wealth is hidden by default, and is accessible from the All Attributes tab of Attributes in Classic View or the Attributes Traits dialog. You could also set a value in Money Base, but that won't scale with Wealth. __________________ Armin D. Sykes \| Visit my GCA5 blog for updates and previews. \| Get GURPS Character Assistant 5 now at Warehouse 23.

09-04-2023, 07:15 AM	#3
ashareem Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Duvall, WA	Re: New campaign starting wealth Starting money, yes. Thank you. I will attempt that and see if it works on my recalcitrant laptop. Ashleigh __________________ Ashleigh - Weregamer1 Weregaming - They were dead before we met them.