>...like the GURPS rule that no-one ever uses...
>... you are supposed to pay the XP cost,
In GURPS, that's correct - the "character points" box should contain a number that it would be possible to build that character from scratch with using the points system. If the referee lets you have a spaceship, and wants you to be able to keep it, then he should simply give you the XP points that it needs.
>If you are going to charge HPs for money, new friends,
>contacts, ... where does it end. If you defeat someone
>in an argument and people take your side, do you have
>to pay HPs to keep them on your side?
Yes, if you want to make use of that as a relationship ability. Relationships take a certain amount of effort to maintain.
>I suppose I can see the argument for this
>but I have chosen not to use it for wealth.
Sure, wealth can be handled in Hero Wars just like in any other game, as a list of assets and their associated values. And if you mean that you are using the wealth rating mechanic, but don't charge HPs to cement it, then you will need to work out how much wealth rating those 30 cows represent, rather than the players deciding how much of it they want to cement.
>If I wanted to buy a ship, how many
>cows is it worth, at standard values?
I don't think there is such a thing as "standard values". In KoDP, if you
send out a trading mission to buy goods with cows or vice versa, then you
sometimes get a bit better than 1:1 depending on the ability of your
trader. If you go trading for food, I've seen anything from 1:2 to 1:10
cows to food ratio. Converting a cow to food gets you 1:1. I think this is
a fair representation of primitive economics - you might get a ship for 100
cows, then the next year when you sell it it might only get you 10, because
there was a plague and cows are scarce, or you might not be able to trade
it for cows at all. Printing a price list with cows and ships at "standard"
values is misrepresentation that plays to our sense of modern economics.
Hero Wars has chosen not to go down that road, but if you like that
paradigm, then there is a price list on my web site that you are welcome to
use.
http://www.snark.freeserve.co.uk/rqequipment.html
To pick a modern parallel, how much is a given .com business worth? Six months ago, it was probably worth up to 10 times what it is now, and it's still the same company making or losing the same amount of money.
PS. If you're still looking for an aswer, that was long-hand for "I don't know". Like I said, I haven't actually used the wealth rating much, so don't have a very good grasp of relative values.
Philip Hibbs http://www.snark.freeserve.co.uk/ Opinions expressed may not even be my own, let alone those of any organisations, nations, species, or schools of thought to which I may be affiliated.
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