RE: Re: Increasing Wealth

From: bernuetz.oliver_at_...
Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 13:22:21 -0400


Alex :

>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).

Your right of course I realize belatedly that I'm not advocating anything more abstract but a more concrete approximation.

>> 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 think I didn't make it clear that I don't feel all that comfortable with this sort of approximation. Frankly I'd prefer something more concrete and easily definable.
I'm not interested in winging everything in the system. Why can't it be easier to calculate the differing effects if I give two cows to a poor man as opposed to a rich man. That's where the real difference is I think.

>> 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...

Let me see if I can explain my suggestion better. I saw the suggestion as being like the value system in Torg or Masterbook. It's a way of represent large numbers without having the scale getting out of hand (something like masteries work in HW). It keeps the numbers you work with to lower numbers, i.e. you don't need numbers in the thousands to reflect superheros. The advantages of the wealth rating as presented in HW that yes it means you can ignore figuring out day to day living expenses and such. Which is great. You could also potentially use the wealth rating like any other ability. (e.g. A merchant tries to crush an opponent by using his wealth level versus his opponent's). If you switch to a straight linear scale you remove this ability. That's why I suggested making a given wealth rating being worth a wealth points or whatever. This still allows you to manipulate wealth levels relatively easily but makes them represent larger numbers (which you don't have to manipulate directly). The reason to use a non-culturally based scale is that it lends itself to use in other cultures. It's still essentially an approximation but I think it's a better one. Basically it's a combination of a linear and non-linear scale so you get the advantages of a linear system (better control of belongings) with a non-linear scale to allow for easier manipulation of the numbers involved.

Every single example of wealth so far has been Heortling based. What about if you want to use it in a less traditional setting say one where the players get to keep everything they find? It doesn't work so well there.

Oliver

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