> > > Well, I personally would not go there - I think its not the
> correct
> > > transaction to record.
> >
> > Could you expand on this somewhat enigmatic remark?
>
> I tried to do so previously, and I don't really want to get bogged
> down in the anthropological morass. As I said, wealth is a feature
> of social authority, so ANY mechanical system of addition and
> subtraction, with or without logs, is unlikely to reflect a plausible
> value IMO.
Odd that it's used to express your chances of being able to buy stuff, then. If you want social authority, but a social authority ability.
> Thats why I think its entirely plausible that the player,
> expending HP and thus to an extent "authoring" the character, may
> raise their wealth value. Trying to calculate it from first
> principles is doomed; go with what is in essence a proportional
> measure. Measure "change to character" rather than "change to
> wealth" (via HP expenditure)
And if, for some mad reason, I want to relate this "character transaction" _in any way at all_ to the rest of the game world? I'm stuffed, right?
> > This is hardly a problem with game-world-scaled wealth mechanics,
> > which is what Julian and I are arguing for. This is a more
>
> It is precisely, because what constitutes wealth, what constitutes
> much and little wealth, vary by culture and local economy. I assert
> it is impossible to have a meaningful cross-cultural "wealth
> rating". They are EXACTLY as contextual as any other ability.
I amn't in the least bothered about the cross-cultural stuff. Give me guidelines that would work for _just one culture_, and I'd be a happy man.
> > pressing consequences of the "raising wealth like any another
> > ability" approach (i.e., the existing HW rules, pretty much),
> > where a linear "expenditure" (that is, 1 HP) gets you 'escalating'
> > returns. (i.e, "+N HPs" means, not so much "+X cows" as "=Y%
> > cows".)
>
> That seems entirely appropriate to economic behaviour. In a sense,
> on the spend-money-to-make-money principle, someone with a larger
> economic base is able to accumulate larger returns at much the same
> proportional expense as a less wealthy person. This is the correct
> transaction to record.
And as _I_ explained previously, this is an unhelpful and incorrect generalisation. This is _precisely_ the thinking that will lead you down the path of "spend a few HPs and become as rich as the Red Emperor".
> So the question: "What the heck amount of game world wealth does
> _that_ rating really correspond to?" can only be answered after you
> know who is asking.
Sure. It's the "... and not even then" apparent corrolary I object to.
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