08-03-2022, 12:34 PM | #21 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
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It's as realistic as the effort you put into determining local currency exchange rates with the GURPS $. |
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08-03-2022, 12:48 PM | #22 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
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But one doesn't have to convert everything - or indeed, anything - to period currency. Having a TL 6 campaign where players start with a default of 10,000 "credits," and you simply use the prices in HT and elsewhere for gear and the like, can be perfectly legitimate. And if you're already running a game like that, and suddenly one of your players decides he wants his character to buy a comfy couch to put in the base for relaxation when the characters aren't having two-fisted adventures, you need a price... and just looking one up online and eyeballing off of that is a lot easier and faster than converting everything to period dollars right then (and then tracking down the item you're looking for in an archived catalogue from that time period).
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08-03-2022, 10:48 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
Remember, Starting Wealth is designed for PCs suitable for a given campaign.
In a military campaign, or a campaign set aboard a ship, much of the gear the PCs use will be issued, rather than purchased, so starting wealth can be lower. GURPS 3E also wasn't consistent in converting period prices into standardized GURPS $. Prices and Starting Wealth might be more or less accurate for the era, but don't necessarily "convert" when using other books. |
08-03-2022, 10:56 PM | #24 | |
On Notice
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Sumter, SC
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
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Prices are also not constant with the change over. For example the Thompson machine gun in WWII (p 96) is $70 (4.6% of average, $1,500, income) but in High Tech (p 124) it is $2,300 (23% of average, $10,000, income) Similarly the Ford GPA Jeep goes from $365 or 24% (pg 106) to $12,000 or an eye watering 120% (pg 237)
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08-03-2022, 10:58 PM | #25 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
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If you're doing a 1930s Cliffhanger game, or something similar, make it a house rule that any item advertised in a mail-order catalog of the era is legitimate equipment, using period prices and currency. Then, give your players a link to relevant catalogs before play begins. It would be even cooler if it was possible to get reproduction mail order catalogs from various eras. Having books from the era you're gaming in is very immersive. I've got a few 1920s-era Baedaker Guides which are great for that sort of thing. |
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08-03-2022, 11:23 PM | #26 | ||
On Notice
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Sumter, SC
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
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I don't think there was any "conversion" with Classic GUPRS with regards to GURPS $. If anything it looks like they used actual dollar amounts and adjusted starting wealth accordingly. Greece seems to be an exception with its $5,000 for TL1 as that is totally insane.
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08-03-2022, 11:42 PM | #27 | ||
On Notice
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Sumter, SC
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
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"$20,000 in 2014 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $768.79 in 1890" "$20,000 in 2014 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1,410.85 in 1930" Never mind that average wealth at TL6 is half that of TL8 in GURPS $. So that average TL8 income would be Comfortable at TL6. 10 character points please. :-)
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08-04-2022, 01:06 AM | #28 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Buffalo, New York
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
Depending upon which eras you want realistic costs for, determines what sources you may want to dig up.
For me, I utilize Montgomery Ward's catalog from 1875 (Free PDF if you google for it). I also have both the Sears Catalog from 1897 and Montgomery Ward Catalog for 1895 as well. I also have access to a complete Times OLD WEST series books that i can use for research purposes. That I utilize ACES AND EIGHTS price lists for goods and services also helps to fill in the void. For 1920's stuff? Just google Sears catalogs and you'll find a fair number of them. Our own Hans-Christian Vortisch has had articles published in the Call of Cthulhu books by Chaosium Publishing that you may want to get your hands on. 1920's investigator's Companion and Investigator's Companion II are good sourcebooks for prices AND wages if you're inclined. One of the books has a fair bit of information on automobile prices as well as aircraft prices - along with steam ship pricing if I recall correctly. Feel free to message me off list via the "email" function (ie, click on my name for the drop down menu and select email) and ask me if there are any recommendations I can offer. If you want a specific price for a specific item, I can always look or let you know i don't have it. :)
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08-04-2022, 07:26 AM | #29 | ||||
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
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If option a isn't something the GM wants to go with, option b is markedly more work, and potentially likely to cause issues at the table (take a player who's character has $10,000, then tell him that, no, his character actually has $850 in period dollars, that player's immediate knee-jerk reaction is going to be something like "You just stole most of my money, what the hell?"). And some GM's and players may well favor not needing to track exactly how much money the characters have in period currency, being perfectly comfortable using GURPS $ - for example, some DF groups want to track every gold piece, silver penny, and copper farthing*, while others are fine with just saying a character has $620 or whatever. *Or even more precise; I previously came up with a monetary system in which coins could be made of copper, silver, igneum (70/30 silver/gold alloy), electrum (50/50 silver/gold alloy), crown gold (10/90 silver/gold alloy; pure gold wasn't used for coinage), and rarely platinum, and coins came in three sizes - a penny, with similar dimensions to a US penny; a bit, with similar dimensions to a US quarter or dollar coin; and a groat, which is just a doubly-thick bit. I suspect if I had ever actually tried to use it in a game, however, it would have been quickly abandoned in favor of just tracking GURPS $, but I could be mistaken. Quote:
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I had a typo, which I'll correct momentarily. The first year listed should have been 2004 (where GURPS $ are roughly calibrated to), not 2014. In 2014, 20,000 GURPS credits would be worth around $25,000 US. Well, yes, starting with $20,000 GURPS at TL 6 would typically mean having Comfortable Wealth. Similarly, starting with $20,000 GURPS in a DF campaign would typically mean being Very Wealthy [30], as you're looking a 20x Average Wealth. I went with a constant amount of GURPS $ rather than a constant Wealth level, both to avoid confusion and because, realistically, a character of Average Wealth in 1890 (near the beginning of TL 6) and one in 1930 (near the end of TL 6) probably shouldn't have the same GURPS $ (although for most campaigns, this is probably fine).
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08-04-2022, 01:25 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: Costs in GURPS dollars
For my current here and now campaign I just told the players. Look on Amazon and divide cost in half.
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