GURPS Modern Personal Economics

[PiperHolmes]

How do folks handle economics in the game, particularly 'modern' campaigns?

Reason I'm asking. So somebody in the game the other night asked how much something cost; the product in question wasn't in GURPS High Tech, and to keep the game moving, I just said "Let's see what it is on Walmart.com."

After the game I did a bit of a debrief, and concluded a couple of things:

1. Players didn't quibble, because it was 'believable' to them to look up a 2019US$ price, for a game set in the present.
2. Using realworld prices in this case is an oranges/tangelos sort of thing, when compared to other prices and expenditures in the Basic Set (Generic Average Income, Cost of Living). Particularly, a GURPs $ appears to go a lot farther than a 2019 US$, when compared to a number of products.

There's two ways I'm thinking of continuing with this, going forward.

1. Just go to 2018 US$ for everything (going forward). This takes some houseruling, but has the benefit of being something the players are more likely to enjoy, particularly since it adds some incidental benefits, like making the world feel more real to them ("Hey David, why would you go to Walmart? Kroger superstore has the same thing on sale.")

2. Using the GURPs system as is, and applying a blanket ratio to anything looked up in realworld prices (i.e. not in High Tech or the Basic Characters book).

Just seeing what everybody else does, or if they have other recommendations. Thanks!

[khorboth]

For modern things, I would absolutely do this. It's fast and effective. It adds to the verisimilitude of the world. I've done similar things for traffic and driving issues as well as seeing how available information is.

[Calvin]

GURPS bucks are based on the 2004 American Dollar, and a quick check online tells me that 100$ in 2004 has the same purchasing power as 139$ today.

That gives a fairly easy ratio of -40% for any modern prices converted to gurps.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Calvin

That gives a fairly easy ratio of -40% for any modern prices converted to gurps.

This is certainly true, but I probably wouldn't bother applying it to prices looked up online for a quick check. For one thing, the prices in books like High-Tech represent more the median price, and can plausibly vary a fair bit. If you're worried that a price is just too low, you can always say that it can be found for that price, but it's Cheap quality.

[Calvin]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

This is certainly true, but I probably wouldn't bother applying it to prices looked up online for a quick check. For one thing, the prices in books like High-Tech represent more the median price, and can plausibly vary a fair bit. If you're worried that a price is just too low, you can always say that it can be found for that price, but it's Cheap quality.

I don't think anyone is worried that modern prices are too low, pretty much the opposite in fact.

And if you don't want to apply it then no one is going to force you, but a 40% swing is not small. Besides, if you find something on Walmart or Amazon, it's very likely to already be the median price for a standard quality example of the item. Besides, if this sort of thing is done frequently, it's significantly penalizing the wealth of your players to assume that everything is 40% more expensive than it should be. And it's not as if multiplying the price by 0.6 is going to make it take any longer.

[Stormcrow]

What's the price of a 12-oz bottle of cold medicine?

That depends. Is it the name brand or the store brand? Is it the daytime or nighttime variety? Is there a sale on? Is it the flu season? Do you have a membership card at the store?

The price of a single item can vary a lot. All you need to look up is the ballpark range of the answer, and that'll be good enough.

And you won't get prices that match official GURPS equipment lists anyway. You may as well just decide on your own "good enough" prices.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Calvin

GURPS bucks are based on the 2004 American Dollar, and a quick check online tells me that 100$ in 2004 has the same purchasing power as 139$ today.

That gives a fairly easy ratio of -40% for any modern prices converted to gurps.

I use a similar ratio, but it's a ratio, not an additive difference. If 2019 prices are 140% of 2004 prices, then 2004 prices are 1/140% of 2019 prices, or 71.4%. I would round that to -30%.

[Black Leviathan]

Part of my equipment section of any game world I design is "Other stuff" which is the daily things I expect my players are going to buy like a Meal out or a day's worth of groceries or a drink at an upscale bar or a hooker at a rural brothel, or setting specific costs like the price of a water taxi or phone call to an orbiting ship. I also toss in flavor economics like the price of a decent funeral or a pair of boots of dubious provenance. When I'm looking for what these things might cost I may do some internet research but most often I square prices by measuring them compared to things in our current economy and adjust them by up to 25% based on supply or demand.

When I'm blindsided by something completely out of the rule book and I can't begin to guess what it might cost, it's just not available in the local market at this time and I work out a price for it while the players are arguing about something and I have some free time.

[PTTG]

I try to use starting wealth as a persistent wealth level, which I know is not quite RAW, but on the other hand makes up for the relatively generous exchange rate of cash-for-points.

If something is cheap enough that the PC would not need to seriously consider the price (a single fast food meal, or a book, or even a tank of gas,) they don't need to worry about it (unless they have limited cash and are trying to stay off the grid or have some other extenuating circumstances).

Basically, if and only if the Players ask "can I afford X," do I even really consider their wealth at all. Otherwise it's not important.

[PiperHolmes]

Thanks all!