Troll Lord Games

The title works better if picture Julie Andrews singing it, to the tune of "Climb Every Mountain".

So, anyway, you hit that point where the PCs have a lot of money. They're flush with cash, and need to spend a bit of money on lodging or bribes or whatever.

Do you bother to track every copper? What kind of wealth system would you institute that lets them just buy some things, without worrying, yet keeps them from infinitely accumulating wealth?

As a CK, I tend to have PCs track every bit of wealth. Some players do not like it, but I tend to make some of the more mundane aspects of the game more important to keep a sense of realism. Though, I could certainly see a wealth system that is like some of the modern setting RPGs. For example, PCs just pay an lifestyle upkeep every so often to ignore the small stuff.

~O
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

I don't usually bother as the party is off adventuring in dungeons or locations where money means luggage. If they happen to come across a monster or something that cares how much moolah they've got, then I'll recall what they did, but for the most part, the party only cares about gems -- they leave the coins behind.
_________________
If it matters, leave a message at the beep.
Serl's Corner

It varies IMC. Sometimes I handwave everything from rations, water, and ammunition all the way to encumbrance (within the limits of common sense). Other times I track everything down to the last waterskin. I normally fall somewhere between. I hardly ever enforce material components for spellcasting, for example; instead allowing the caster to spend the cash that the more expensive castings would cost whenever he casts the spell (eg- 100gp on the spot when casting Identify).

Players need to keep accurate records of what they take with them in my game, since they only gain EP from coin when spent. Then you have the local church wanting a donation to build a new chapel on the land, not to mention the 25% treasure fee imposed to go up a level (both of which do NOT earn EP), and you find my players spend a lot. The one thing you don't find in my house rules on the subject is what I'm going to say right now. Referees either give out too much treasure, have no plan in place to take the treasure away from the characters, or both.

If characters do not have a lot of money available to them then they will be motivated to continue adventuring, so be stingy in awarding your treasure. Not every adventure has to give the players gold, and in fact many adventures shouldn't. The biggest problem in fantasy role playing is too much treasure.

For example, one adventure I played in a long time ago had a fighter with somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,500,000 gold pieces alone stowed in his portable hole. The Referee gave out too much treasure and had nothing in place to take away that money. How could the Referee have taken care of this problem?

1. Require the building of a stronghold. The fighter was a 15th level character and should have had one.

2. Have the money mysteriously disappear. The fighter stowed all his treasure in a portable hole. Portable holes have a tendency to have their contents disappear.

3. Require fees to advance to the next level.

4. Not give out so much treasure in the first place.

I could go on, but the 15th level fighter with the portable hole filled with treasure should have never happened.
_________________
NOTE TO ALL: If you don't like something I've said, PM me and tell me to my face, then give me a chance to set things right before you call a moderator.
My small homage to E.G.G.

I have them track it...after all...I need to know just how much I can take away to make them squeal...yet not quit the game.
_________________
The obvious will always trip you up FAR more than the obscure.

Baron Grignak Hammerhand of the Pacifica Provinces-

High Warden of the Castles & Crusades Society

Players track their wealth, I check player sheets before games and if something is too out-there note to myself that I'll need to throw something in the adventure(s) to reduce the overage. Taxes, tithes,

bribes, poor orphans begging on the street, prostitutes with champagne

tastes, etc.

Start of every game I announce how much each needs to deduct from their total wealth to cover living costs from last game to this one -- more time = more spent, natch. The few times players have balked at this it's been easy to point out things like, "Hey, your character is a flambouyant, high-living fighter. He doesn't just buy lodgings and meals, he goes to the tavern and tells stories of his adventures and buys rounds of drinks".

Players know their characters, I know their characters, descriptions like the above usually quell any arguments over monies.

Omote wrote:
As a CK, I tend to have PCs track every bit of wealth. Some players do not like it, but I tend to make some of the more mundane aspects of the game more important to keep a sense of realism.

~O

I'm with you here!

After adventures, I ask the players how well their characters are living. Depending on how much they decide to spend per day, I give them differing narratives of their life until the next adventure.

If the PCs try to get by on a copper or a silver a day, I treat the player to a nice, squirm-inducing depiction of medieval poverty, complete with roaches, bedbugs, rats, diseased prostitutes with running sores, sharing a bed with sweaty laborers in an unheated tavern common room, tainted water, rotten food, and checks to see if the PCs come down with nasty diseases or parasitic infestations.

At a gold piece or more, the players start getting a depiction of living in a private room (with heat!), edible food, halfway decent-looking prostitutes, and consuming drinkable wine. At this point they won't get randomly beaten up by the town "guards" any more.

If they spend several gp a day, I describe the nice houses (or posh inn rooms) they are renting, the pretty prostitutes they can afford, the nice foods they eat, the entertainments they can see, and the several changes of decent clothes they own.

If they spend more than 10 gp a day, they go to society parties, spend time with the finest courtesans, are patrons of the arts, wear silks and furs, engage in sophisticated romances with noble ladies, rent fine houses, have servants, don't get arrested for minor offenses, and may even get to vote.

The quality of the rumors the PCs hear, leading to adventure and jobs, improves as they live higher.

Actual bribes to make crimes "go away" are extra, of course, as are specific pieces of jewelry or gear that the PCs want to purchase. In particular, I let Rogues makes checks to see how much they have been able to steal, and if they fail the check they must make a Charisma check to have the opportunity to bribe their way out of prosecution.
_________________
The Engine of Oracles: Creations For Gaming
http://engineoforacles.wordpress.com/