> > 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.
>
> Let me put it to you this way: our society does not recognise the
> capacity to buy stuff is social authority. But that is what it is;
> the capacity to command the market, which is by definition the
> productive behaviour of society.
That was a rather tortuous way of conceding my point, to wit that what it measures in game terms is one's capacity to buy things. Sure, in some extreme case, this might be entirely unrelated to your existing material wealth. But I'm not trying to describe the extreme case, I'm trying to describe a usefully illustrative median one.
> > 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?
>
> You're stuffed trying to find a mechanically predictable way to do
> it. You have to fall back on contextual judgement.
I don't think these are as opposed as you seem determined to make them. It's hard to make contextual judgement when the game system is intent on giving you no context (and 75% of this list is seemingly intent on keeping it that way).
> > 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.
>
> Thats what the TN list in HW is.
No, it's not, as I've repeatedly explained. Firstly, it's right royally screwed up, as should be clear. Secondly, it's considerably too "gappy"; lastly, it expresses "buying resistance", in total isolation from other concepts of wealth (such as the interpretation of the wealth stat, or adding wealths, both of which it's quite useless for).
> > 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".
>
> If a player wants to spend 75HP on wealth, more power to them. But I
> bet there'll be few of them. If, however, you say "my acquisition of
> x cows gives me y points for free, or for 1 HP", you will end up
> there far faster and with less in-game rationale.
I find it odd that you think acquiring cows in finite numbers, in a manner arising from game-play is either "less in-game rationale" than playing the Stand-Alone HP game, or more likely to add up to unreasonable amount, given that the latter is a) in principle completely separate from game play, and b) exponential.
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