From Tazlure Gaming System Wiki

Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Precise Accounting 1.1.1 Income 1.1.1.1 Where do you keep the money? 1.1.2 Purchases from the Inventory 1.1.3 Hired Help 1.1.4 Living Arrangements & Other Costs 1.2 Semi Free Form Wealth or Assumption of Ownership 1.2.1 The Wealth skill per level 1.2.1.1 Unskilled 1.2.1.2 Basic 1.2.1.3 Apprentice 1.2.1.4 Journeyman 1.2.1.5 Master 1.2.2 How this works in practice

Introduction

Character Creation
Skills Wealth Personality Physical Description Background Inventory

There are two visions on how to deal with income,cost, inventory and hired help, and neither of them is wrong in a TGS game, and both of them have been used at some point in time at Tazlure, but a choice should be made based on:

• The number of players involved
• The level of free form allowed
• The willingness and need of moderators to deal with details as it affects their plotlines.

Precise Accounting

In this vision on role playing an exact accounting of everything a PC owns and the number of henchmen a character controls is necessary because

A) It prevents power playing

Leave it up to the players to come up with their inventory and they can end up owning everything they need at just the right time. The ball dress. The sword. The shoestring. The convenient "can do everything" servant. This takes away some of the fun of plots because it is overcoming adversity that should be attempted by players. Even if one player enjoys to win forever, it is demotivating for others.

B) It promotes realism and proactivity

There is an end to resources. If you have no food or clothing left you will go shopping. If you have no funds left you will seek a job, try to steal money or find treasure. If things get damaged during a quest, you must arrange for repairs. All of this can lead to new storylines. In other words: limited funds motivate a player to go out and do something, take initiative.

C) It has an effect on the plotlines and even inspires them

A PC has a special item from a previous quest that can be the source of new adventures. A PC is careless with his money and gets robbed. Moderators can get very excited about the possibilities some of the inventories bring. A possible con is that if a moderator ignores the plot aspects a PC might get disappointed and feel neglected. It is a two edged sword.

Over all this system is time intensive for moderators to deal with, adding to their administrative burden, since they need to regularly check inventories, discuss prices for items not on the list, deal with shopping IC, run NPC's in the personal lives of PC's etc. It is therefore especially suitable to smaller games. It is also likely to suit games that are very strictly moderated. Finally it is logical that this kind of system is used when such details actually matter in the plotline, for instance because you run a small adventure quest, or because wealth and power are at the core of what your game is about.

Income

See also Monetary System

If you work with an inventory you will want to give each PC an amount of starting funds to buy items with. It is important to figure out how money & wealth works in your setting before hand. What does the lowest serf earn? How much money would a rich merchant have? Or the King? What is the daily living cost of each? If you give out too much money from the start, then the reasons why you selected a system of precise accounting (stimulating proactivity because of shortages) will not work because PC's will never run out of money. If your game allows players to start at a higher level, it should also offer those higher levels an equally higher amount of starting funds to reflect that status.

Next comes the actual income. Possible sources:

• Job
• Allowance from parents/family/husband
• Bribery & Graft
• Trading
• Return on Investments
• Return from estates
• Crime
• Debt
• Gambling
• Rewards
• Gifts (can also be "in natura" such as jewellery)

Important is to decide not only the height of the income, but when it will be paid. If time moves forward only slowly, its proactive effect will be lost if there is too much time between payrolls. Depending on the levels you have in the game you can vary the income from very low to very high. Perhaps there are IC elements to this, because income maybe related to a job with certain duties, or a title with estate that comes with responsibilities. Perhaps a company that allows the PC to seek out certain opportunities. Our the debt that the PC went into will be collected by an army of thugs. Used this way income becomes yet another plotting tool.

Because you can use income (and thus a job or appointment) as a plotting tool, it may be advantageous to let some players start at a higher level, or as part of the setting you have created, from the start. It integrates new PC's with the existing plotlines in a most natural way.

Where do you keep the money?

From an OOC perspective money can be accounted for in a ledger or account, just a thread in the Player Compendium. Alternatively you can, as Tazlure has, use software to have the inventory directly linked to the player's account. One is not more work than the other, as in both cases you will have to create both the inventory including appropriate amounts of income.

There is, yet again, an IC aspect to safeguarding money. It is useful to know where the PC keeps his money: in a chest, in a bank account, in an old sock under his mattress. It might be stolen, or get lost during a fire. Perhaps to minimize risk a PC might even spread it over several banks. Then there is also the possibility of investment, for instance in businesses. This will create a stake in parts of the setting that will create its own opportunities for stories.

Purchases from the Inventory

Using an inventory, either simply written out or using software, begs the following questions

1. What to do with items not in the inventory? By adding the cost of an embellishment as an option you allow customizing without having to come up with a price for just about everything. Having the players suggest a prize might also be helpful (only works with none software option).
2. How to keep track of expenses? Again, make use of the ledger or account thread in the Player Compendium. Alternatively use the software.
3. How about items that are rare, or only available in certain areas? Difficult to control with the current state of software, but it is possible that some items can only be given by a moderator. In the none software option, the simple list, you can even adjust the prices for areas. So coffee might be cheap in one city and expensive in another. Can you see the trade starting up?

The TGS recommends that purchases are done OOC. It saves moderators from the need for endless shopping threads just for daily needs, clothes etc. Details that are not immediately clear can be handled in the Player Compendium. In case something specific is wished for a PC can still go shop for it. By then it is considered a role playing opportunity.

Remember that moderators can speed up the need to buy things by having things tear, dirtied or burned so that a replacement is needed. Fashion might declare last seasons wear anathema.

Hired Help

In a fully accounted system it makes sense to also include the following costs:

• pay for servants, guards etc.
• tips
• reward money
• bribes
• services

You then also have to remember to follow up on this and make sure that PC's do pay when employing a person, making use of a service etc. In this system no NPC may be assumed by the player. Of course there are variations on that, such as allowing one NPC to be controlled by the PC (a servant or steward), or even a number of them if this is a high level PC. Basically though, that is easier to do under the principle of Assumed Ownership, aka Semi Free From Wealth.

Living Arrangements & Other Costs

Why this category? Because it is important to find many categories for which PC's have to pay, so that their funds get depleted and realism is served at the same time. It also allows for alternative rewards to be given (like a house or estate) and be a double edged sword. In addition these costs can become plot tools. For instance, citizens might think the tax rises are unfair and rise in rebellion.

• Night at an Inn for rooms, apartments etc.
• Rent for a house in varying size and class
• Buying an apartment, townhouse or estate
• Periodic Repairs on apartment, townhouse or estate
• Periodic Taxes & Tithes
• Fines
• Donations to charity

Semi Free Form Wealth or Assumption of Ownership

The method that was eventually developed for Tazlure is Assumption of Ownership. This works well for larger scale games with a focus on urban or interregional plotlines, where the moderators work with Event Orientated Modding and do not want to be bogged down by technicalities. It takes away the need for mundane shopping, waiting for minor faceless NPC's (or hired help) to be played out by the moderator and simply sketches the level of assumptions that a player may make. It helps players to keep moving forward and seek out fun role playing opportunities.

Assumption of Ownership is the idea that we can reduce book-keeping and banking worries by allowing players to "Assume" what items their character "Owns." Often the purchase of said goods takes place behind the scenes and is therefore never even written out in-character. Haggling and bartering are still important parts of roleplay in the game. However, it becomes less a matter of counting pennies and more an art of trying to determine what exactly your character can afford.

Players can still role play a purchase, in which case it would fall into the realm of the moderator to determine if haggling works etc. Or the player can do the purchase behind the scenes and simply assume ownership. For personal reference the player might like to keep a list of specific items in the Player Compendium.

Wealth is taken to be a skill. That means that people will have to forego other skills if they select wealth, or be poor.

The Wealth skill per level

These are rough guidelines which are meant to help you gain a basic understanding of the levels of wealth. Your mileage may vary. As always, the moderator has the final say in outlandish situations.

Unskilled

If you don't have the wealth skill this is what you will start with.

• Career: serf/share cropper, slave, apprentice, student, thug
• Income: None
• Travel: None
• Henchmen: None
• Living: Simple cottage in a rural area

Basic

If you chose the wealth skill this is what you will start with.

• Career: Unskilled labor, indentured servant, mercenary, burglar, monk, Initiate priest
• Travel: Local coach, Passage on ship
• Henchmen: None
• Living: small flat in a city or house in a rural area

Apprentice

This is the highlest level one can hope to achieve through standard artisan skill or career. To reach higher Wealth levels, one must work through private venture or attain political/social power.

• Career: Skilled labor (artisan), bureaucrat, specialized criminal, landless aristocracy (Knight), poor fief holders (Lord), Priest
• Travel: Local Coach, Portal, or Passage on ship
• Henchmen: < 5
• Living: Basic house in a city or small acreage in the country with house, farm. Servant at the house. Stable with horse.

Journeyman

This is the usual "maximum" for PCs/NPCs through private venture alone. This rank is unattainable as a salary: people at this rank tend to provide jobs instead of taking work. This rank is also appropriate for rulers of smaller nations.

• Career: Manorial Lord with fiefdom (Marquess, Earl, Baronet), Councillor, Merchant Lord, High Priest, Crime Lord
• Travel: Local coach, Portal, or passage on ship
• Henchmen: < 20
• Living: Manor house (fiefdom) with fields, Manse in the city, villa in a rural area, all with coach house and coach, servants, few guards.

Master

This is designed to represent "End Game" resources. No single PC/PC would have the resources made possible at this level, but this level can be rewarded if they acquire a position of power that includes with it National Resources. Note that your game should only be able to support 6-10 people/entities, either PC or NPC, at this level the entire world over.

• Career: King, Caesar, Duke
• Travel: Local coach, Portal, passage on ship (regional dependencies: Airskiff, griffon, etc)
• Henchmen: As many as the pc can effectively lead.
• Living: Palace, Castle, etc with couch house, servants, armies.

How this works in practice

At character creation you can select the skill. It will gain stars just like a normal skill. Something momentous may happen to your character for his wealth to increase mid-season but often stepping to a higher level will be done with a Recess write up. Your wealth might actually decrease, if you frequently spend money that is not on your wealth level, if you are robbed, if a natural disaster occurred etc.