06-16-2021, 08:34 AM | #221 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2013
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
Quote:
Quote:
It costs (in points) more to have it replace some given fraction of monthly income. At TL 3, each point of II for a character with Average Wealth is $10/month, while an Average job pays $700/month - each [1] in II provides ~1.5% of the pay of a comparable job. AT TL 8, each point of II for a character with Average Wealth is $200/month, while an Average job pays $2,600/month - each [1] in II provides ~7.5% of a comparable job, a boost of x5. At TL 10, each point of II is $500/month, compared to wages of $5,600/month - ~9% per [1]. This is a problem if assuming II should be based on wages, but I don't think that's outlandish, given that's a very likely use-case for it - if you want to build a character who doesn't have to work, II seems like it would be the go-to trait... but it isn't. An easy fix, of course, is to base II on wages rather than on starting wealth. Not having a job gets you extra time roughly comparable to not needing to sleep, so basing cost for "completely replaces the need for a job" on Doesn't Sleep seems appropriate. Of course, Doesn't Sleep also works on the weekends and has direct adventuring uses, so I'd eyeball the appropriate cost for Doesn't Work as [10]. That implies each [1] in II should pay out 10% of monthly income for your wealth level.
__________________
GURPS Overhaul Last edited by Varyon; 06-16-2021 at 08:42 AM. |
||
06-16-2021, 09:11 AM | #222 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
Quote:
Meanwhile, at TL12, where goods are plentiful and everyone can easily have all their basic needs met, someone of Average Wealth needs just one level of Independent Income ($1,000 per month) to make ends meet. Leisure is much more possible at higher TLs. And this is explicitly what the GURPS system of money is trying to do. "Variations in starting wealth by TL reflect increased prosperity due to civilization's progress — not inflation" (p. B27). That's exactly what we see with Independent Income: the more prosperous, higher-tech societies enable more prosperous lives and lifestyles. It all works exactly as intended. It's an abstraction, sure, but it's an abstraction that accomplishes its stated goal. |
|
06-16-2021, 09:50 AM | #223 | |
Join Date: Oct 2005
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
Quote:
10 percent is much easier to get to, Ecuador has CDs that you can make over 10 percent on, crypto staking can get you to 10 percent. I remember reading a book a few years ago, and at the time the S&P index fund was returning 9.96% per year. Those are things fairly average people can get their hands on. I am sure being a top end investor in certain sectors can get you a whole lot more, no problem. These things seem incredulous to average people like you and me because they are not talked about openly and it takes a certain level of wealth to even be considered for the "club". |
|
06-16-2021, 10:32 AM | #224 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
Quote:
__________________
GURPS Overhaul |
|
06-16-2021, 11:03 AM | #225 | |||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
Quote:
Quote:
I don't have a problem with those numbers. Cavemen spend all their working time just to subsist. Starfarers work a full-time job, and most of their cash goes to entertainment, vehicles, travel, whatever they like. For adventurers, most of the extra cash will go toward heaps of adventuring equipment. This is what the system is trying to do. Why can't an Average Wealth, Status 0 citizen of a TL12 society spend their $10,600/month wages on a Status 4 Cost of Living? They can! If their society cares about things like Status, then they'll trigger the consequences of living above their station as given on page B265. If they live in a classless meritocracy, then there might be no consequences to living a Status 4 lifestyle, and everyone of Average Wealth will do it. They'll still be Status 0, unless they have ways of getting more Status, and won't be able to influence people with their high Status, because they won't have any. (If everyone has a fancy car and fancy clothes, then you can't drive up in your fancy car in your fancy clothes to impress on everyone that you're in charge here.) Quote:
|
|||
06-16-2021, 11:25 AM | #226 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
Quote:
Personally, I would change CoL to be lifestyle at a stated wealth level (so you have Average or Comfortable or whatever), costs a percentage of starting wealth for that wealth level (possibly slightly TL-variant) and just note "there may be a social expectation of a particular wealth level for a particular status, in which case you must live at that wealth level or suffer a reaction penalty. If you are gaining status from wealth, you cannot gain more status than what would be granted for the wealth level you are living at." |
|
06-16-2021, 11:49 AM | #227 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
|
06-16-2021, 12:00 PM | #228 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
Quote:
If so it's probably not "making ends meet". It's barely stayiing alive and probably risks nutritional deficiency syndromes.
__________________
Fred Brackin |
|
06-16-2021, 12:24 PM | #229 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2013
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
GURPS Overhaul Last edited by Varyon; 06-16-2021 at 12:34 PM. |
||
06-16-2021, 12:30 PM | #230 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: Independent Income at later TL stages
It's the low end of per capita GDP around 2004 (basis for GURPS $). Which isn't super healthy, mind you, but lots of people manage to survive on it.
|
Tags |
cyberpunk, independent income |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|