How do you handle compulsory point expenditures

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

I must disagree.

GURPS:

Generic Universal Roleplaying System.

Skills included in the Basic Set:

Merchant
Market Analysis
Economics
Finance
Accounting

I don't think that's decisive. Yes, there are those skills, but there simply are not detailed rules for using them to run a money making enterprise. There is nothing in GURPS for making money that is comparable to the incredibly detailed rules in Martial Arts for combat, or even the invention and gadgeteering rules for technology. I personally wrote both the haggling rules in Social Engineering and the rules for stock turnover in LTC3, and I am sure that neither of those is adequate to portraying the activities of a merchant on a continuing basis.

And the fact is that most GURPS players don't want to play a game of accounting for what they paid for goods, and how far they shipped them, and what they sold them for, and what expenses they incurred in doing so, and whether they can borrow money to fund the next voyage. And with no demand for such play there's no incentive to create detailed rules for it.

Bill Stoddard

[Figleaf23]

Some posters regard the rule on B517 (regarding when a character must buy up wealth) as applicable strictly to Job savings.

In order to give effect to this, should characters be keeping separate account of money gained from adventuring and money earned in jobs?

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by whswhs

There is nothing in GURPS for making money that is comparable to the incredibly detailed rules in Martial Arts for combat,

Well, not specifically for 4e, and perhaps not presented in a genre-neutral context, but GURPS Traveller: Far Trader is a real thing.

or even the invention and gadgeteering rules for technology.

Well, not genre-neutral in presentation, but the trade rules in GURPS Spaceships 2: Traders, Liners, and Transports do exist, and I'd have to say are considerably more detailed than the invention and gadgeteering rules, though less extensive than the trade, finance, etc., rules in Far Trader

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

Some posters regard the rule on B517 (regarding when a character must buy up wealth) as applicable strictly to Job savings.

In order to give effect to this, should characters be keeping separate account of money gained from adventuring and money earned in jobs?

I don't think its strictly applicable to job savings, but by its own express terms it is limited to when both of the following apply:
1. The character has a job of a higher wealth level than his current Wealth, and
2. The character has savings at least equal to the starting Wealth of a higher wealth level than his current Wealth.

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Where are the rules for using these to generate incomes directly without using them for Job skills?

Chapter 3 of GURPS Traveller: Far Trader

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by cmdicely

Well, not specifically for 4e, and perhaps not presented in a genre-neutral context, but GURPS Traveller: Far Trader is a real thing.



Well, not genre-neutral in presentation, but the trade rules in GURPS Spaceships 2: Traders, Liners, and Transports do exist, and I'd have to say are considerably more detailed than the invention and gadgeteering rules, though less extensive than the trade, finance, etc., rules in Far Trader

I've read next to none of the Traveller material; I never acquired an interest in the setting. And the first Spaceships volume presented such a highly abstract model of spacecraft that I completely lost interest and haven't even looked at anything later in the series. So I wasn't aware that any such material existed.

In any case, those rules are not in the Basic Set, and a player using the Basic Set and the more usual supplements to run an action/adventure campaign, or even a campaign about dynastic and diplomatic relations in the ancient Near East or the Hanse, would not have anything like general purpose trade and investment rules to draw on. And most players aren't looking for that sort of game. Back in my very first GURPS campaign, which was set in the Uplift universe and focused on an Earthclan trade pioneer ship, only one player showed any interest in the buying and selling that were the nominal focus of play.

Bill Stoddard

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by cmdicely

I don't think its strictly applicable to job savings, but by its own express terms it is limited to when both of the following apply:
1. The character has a job of a higher wealth level than his current Wealth, and
2. The character has savings at least equal to the starting Wealth of a higher wealth level than his current Wealth.

Yes, this.

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by whswhs

In any case, those rules are not in the Basic Set

Neither are the combat rules in Martial Arts that you offered as a comparison.

and a player using the Basic Set and the more usual supplements to run an action/adventure campaign, or even a campaign about dynastic and diplomatic relations in the ancient Near East or the Hanse, would not have anything like general purpose trade and investment rules to draw on.

While that's probably true, I think that one of the key strengths of GURPS over genre- or setting-specific games is that "its not in the core or the usual supplements for the genre or setting you are running" and "its not in the system and available for the genre and setting you are running" are not equivalent in GURPS.

And most players aren't looking for that sort of game.

That's true of pretty much any one sort of game for GURPS players.

Back in my very first GURPS campaign, which was set in the Uplift universe and focused on an Earthclan trade pioneer ship, only one player showed any interest in the buying and selling that were the nominal focus of play.

Conversely, in my very first GURPS game, which was an espionage game set in a vaguely cyberpunkish universe, the majority of the players were interested in buying and selling which wasn't the nominal focus of play.

Not that either anecdote demonstrates much of anything about anything other than those particular groups...

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by cmdicely

Chapter 3 of GURPS Traveller: Far Trader

Okay, I'm fairly certain that Market Analysis didn't exist in 3e, but sure.

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Okay, I'm fairly certain that Market Analysis didn't exist in 3e, but sure.

Market Analysis (along with Advertising and Finance) existed in 3e, they were introduced in Far Trader (well, at least, they appear in the "New Skills" section of Far Trader, its possible they appeared elsewhere first, since IIRC the 3e practice was skills went in "New Skills" if they weren't in any of the books identified as prerequisites -- but I think they were actually completely new in FT.)