bernuetz.oliver_at_...:
> I wasn't trying to say that Heortlings wouldn't refer to value using cows.
> Of course they would. I was trying to suggest a less abstract alternative
> to the wealth system presented in HW.
And I'm pointing out that it _was not_ less abstract (it just unrolls the log scale).
> This is fine if you want to roll for everything (not that there's anything
> necessarily wrong with that) but what if you just want to add three cows to
> your herd? Or just want to say I've got a new gold torc, etc., etc. That's
> the minor I suppose advantage my suggestion has.
I'm certainly not suggesting you should roll for everything: far from it. Rather, I said that first of all, there should be a table relating wealth numbers to "real" wealth, as much as anything to convey a better _feel_ for the numbers. Armed with that, you're in a better position to "wing it". ("You're prosperous, and you've raided another dozen cows? That feels like about a +2, if you want to stump up the HPs...") The augment mechanic I was suggesting specifically as an "optional extra", not as a procedure to be slavishly followed on ever occassion.
> I was never trying to imply that the narrator wouldn't describe items and
> wealth in local terms. I was just suggesting something that might work
> across cultures. Sure it's abstract. The only advantage that I see is that
> assigning points to wealth is that it allows you to easily add stuff to your
> wealth and makes it harder to boost your wealth level once you're really
> rich without having to resort to some augmentation table (sure this has more
> tables involved but less math). Obviously it's more concrete than the HW
> system but I really don't like the way wealth works the way it is. But I'll
> stop inflicting this on others now since I'm in a minority of one on this.
I don't really see the attraction of wealth being cross-cultural. I do understand that if you want a certain amount of detail about your net worth, it might be just as well to dump the whole idea of a wealth rating, and just count your wealth on a good old fashioned linear scale -- but I'd think the _best_ linear scale to use would be one that's meaningful in (local) game world terms: Cows, milli-wheels, etc...
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