I was in a conversation in which I brought up the possibility of getting invited to the Queen's party if they give the Queen nice gifts (i.e. expensive treasures they might have brought up from the dungeon).
This led to the question of why the PCs would want to do this. There are of course lots of tactical and strategic reasons for wanting to be invited to a party, but I am thinking this comes to the general idea of why players would want their PCs to spend money on things like expensive food, clothes, gifts for women, and other things that might not have a direct tactical and strategic benefit.
In my games, I've been using a rule that the PCs spent about 10% of their income on stuff, including food, lodging, maintenance on their equipment, entertainment, et cetera. In return, I did not require tracking expenditures on every arrow shot or meal eaten. I just asked players to write down what they were taking, and basic supplies like rope, grappling hooks, pickaxes, et cetera were essentially "free" (included in the 10% 'tax').
For the game I'm planning, Reputation will be a part of it. (I'm not sure exactly how I would track it, maybe on a scale of 1-100.) How PCs spend money would have an effect, and attending parties, wearing good clothes, giving people gifts, et cetera would certainly help.
If any of them have ranks in knowledge(nobility) that would let them know that giving a gift will not make them look bad. Is there a reason they will need the queen's help in the future? Why are they going to visit is a related question that might help us to help you.
The original question I was trying to brainstorm was how to get the PCs to turn treasure over to the queen, instead of just keeping it. Ways other than selling it for cash/trading it for items/paying taxes. One idea is that by giving gifts to the queen, they could gain her favor. They could also get invited to her parties.
But for this thread, I don't want to be distracted too much be the question of the queen and the PCs relations with her. I'm thinking about getting the PCs to spend money in general.
The original question I was trying to brainstorm was how to get the PCs to turn treasure over to the queen, instead of just keeping it. Ways other than selling it for cash/trading it for items/paying taxes. One idea is that by giving gifts to the queen, they could gain her favor. They could also get invited to her parties.
But for this thread, I don't want to be distracted too much be the question of the queen and the PCs relations with her. I'm thinking about getting the PCs to spend money in general.
You have to give them a reason to spend the money. Those reasons will depend on the campaign though.
They also need a reason to go to the parties.
NPC allies dropping hints that the Captain of the City Watch has a fondness for a rather expensive brew made only by a family of Halflings just outside the city, which they can use to curry favour with the Captain and potentially give themselves a chance to smooth things over in the case of a F.U.B.A.R. encounter.
Beggar children. I have seen very few 'good' aligned PC groups who don't give the children handfuls of copper and silver coins anytime after mid-level, if not building orphanages for them or letting the little mites stay in their base/castle/lair.
Are the PCs spending any money on their families? Do they want to? PCs who didn't leave their home and family on bad terms might send a monthly 'present', be it a roll of silk (enough to make a Dress or Three out of) a chest containing materials for a cousin who is a crafter, a wagon-load of exotic timber for their wood-worker cousin, so on and so forth. Give the PCs letters from their families thanking them for the goods, giving the PCs a bit more of a 'firm place' in the game world and opening up plot-hooks for future shenanigans (Although abuse this rarely and carefully, nothing sends a Player over the Moral Event Horizon like them learning the Evil Cultists they have been chasing for the past seven levels just made their kid sister into a virgin sacrifice.)
Festivals could include the tradition that anyone wearing a certain type of mask or garment is allowed to run rampant through the city, untouchable by law. PCs have to either let these people in, and watch as their home gets rampaged through by these drunken imbeciles (or worse, sober enemies using the holiday for nefarious purposes!) and the PCs now have to repair their abode, swap out all the locks, add bars to the windows, that sort of thing.
The original question I was trying to brainstorm was how to get the PCs to turn treasure over to the queen, instead of just keeping it. Ways other than selling it for cash/trading it for items/paying taxes. One idea is that by giving gifts to the queen, they could gain her favor. They could also get invited to her parties.
But for this thread, I don't want to be distracted too much be the question of the queen and the PCs relations with her. I'm thinking about getting the PCs to spend money in general.
You have to give them a reason to spend the money. Those reasons will depend on the campaign though.
They also need a reason to go to the parties.
This.
Why would someone spend money on something that does not earn them anything? Spending 1000gp on a cloak of resistance +1 makes it easier for them to make saves. Spending 1000gp on a spectacular wardrobe and trinkets for a spoiled noble or royal does nothing.
Motivation.
A lot of this goes to what level players are comfortable roleplaying. I've been lucky to always have ladies in my game. I find ladies tend to play their characters like ladies, which means every time they made it to town, they visited the bath houses, sought out clothing, and had custom jewelry made (sometimes magical).
This tends to inspire the guys to spend a little, too.
One guy we used to play with loved coming to town and throwing money around for big parties, binges, etc., because it always presented him with opportunities for brawling and bad public behavior.
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Buildings. PC's love to have a base. A temple for the religious, a tower for the wizard, a fortified keeps for the fighting types etc...
You can have them invest in these buildings and gain reputation from them. Upkeep would increase too. Buildings and their grounds don't take care of themselves for free. Then people have to be hired and/or leadership feat taken. ooo, you want a vault to store your goodies? That is gonna cost ya. Traps to help defend it? that is gonna be expensive.
Now all those things also give them reasons to get involved with people. The queen (or other person) needs to approve transfers of property. Your neighbors are being troublesome and taking you to court before the local lord. Time to schmooze. etc.
I agree, it comes down to how much roleplaying the players are doing. Acting the "big spender" is not going to appeal to a purely tactical minded party. If they're really mired in tactics vs. strategic thinking, they might wonder why they should care about the queen since she won't go into the dungeon and fight with them. Probably.
Do you have the faction guide? If you want to encourage the party to give stuff to the queen to get on her good side, just make her a faction. The more presents you give the queen, the more she does for you in return, as measured in the amount faction points you get.
You might want to introduce 'the competition', a rival adventuring party working the same general area as the PC's. These rivals manage to curry favor with several of the elite citizens and 'steal' several of the prestigeous missions. They donate to the town's defenses and culture, buy and obtain gifts for the local nobility and are in general well liked by the common folk, being the local children's heroes and being offered free drinks and popular with the ladies. Many players will be feeling left out off the spotlight and start considering to maintain better than average appearances and reputation.
One way is to set it up as an alternative to the "Magic Mart" The Queen has access to her family's armory and treasury. Her great-uncles sword (+1 flaming longsword) is just collecting dust, and that dashing fighter who just gave her jewels wrested from the depths of the local dungeon is using a blunt, rusty bit of iron. I'm sure old uncle would want to see it put to good use....
You can use the same mechanics with temples and the like. From a WBL standpoint, cash gets erased, gear gets written down, It's all fair. But it adds a lot more flavor.
One way is to set it up as an alternative to the "Magic Mart" The Queen has access to her family's armory and treasury. Her great-uncles sword (+1 flaming longsword) is just collecting dust, and that dashing fighter who just gave her jewels wrested from the depths of the local dungeon is using a blunt, rusty bit of iron. I'm sure old uncle would want to see it put to good use....
You can use the same mechanics with temples and the like. From a WBL standpoint, cash gets erased, gear gets written down, It's all fair. But it adds a lot more flavor.
I like this idea, especially since it does not make sense to be able to "mail order" magic items in this setting.
Also, it could require extensive travel to find a noble who has the magic item one wants, and to deliver valuable treasures to his collection.
I could even set up a situation where the PCs have to acquire MacGuffin A to give to Noble B to get MacGuffin C to give to Noble D et cetera.
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I was in a conversation in which I brought up the possibility of getting invited to the Queen's party if they give the Queen nice gifts (i.e. expensive treasures they might have brought up from the dungeon).
I like the idea of favors (for you) and markers (favors you owe). A part of this could be invitations to meet powerful people in the campaign, access to better equipment, access to unique services, actual allies (as opposed to most NPCs that betray you). Spending money either directly or through gifts/costly services/etc... make for a great way to encourage PCs to part with excess wealth.
Another thing I like to add is lifestyle/upkeep (cost of living in the CRB pg. 405). with the addition that characters that 'throw their money around' gain bonuses to various social skills as they're greasing the wheels either directly (straight cash, illicit goods, etc..) or indirectly (hosting parties, paying for drinks, etc...).
Not all reputations are good however, and with my current party low reputations may become the norm. I generally represent this by raising prices, limiting access (suddenly Mr. Merchant doesn't happen to have that item he said he could order in by the weekend), and incurring penalties on social skills.
Have the PC's learn a lesson about influence.
Have them tasked to do a certain thing; then have a rival group who happens to be in favor with the queen swoop in and usurp their efforts, and make sure to hint that the other party, despite being under-geared or even under exp'd managed to succeeded by dearth of influence. (Having those Royal Guards while raiding the thieves guild sure did make it easier, or something of the sort.)
Also, the implications of this thread harken back to the age old problem: Magic Item Economy. If your gold isn't spent on it, your losing the game.
Makes me sick.
-Idle
1) Information
2) Land
3) Building
4) Upkeep of 2 and 3
5) Magic items
6) Theft, can they really watch there gold all the time.
7) Food and Inns
8) Bribes, for favors.
9) Rust Monster (eats coins)
10) Other monster (eats anything)
11) Enemy Druids = Transmute Metal to Wood = OUCH !! (my Favorite)
12) Research spells (CLxSLx10) = x 2 or x 3 or x 4 gold = To find out info like password for a Adamintium Golam.
13) Travel (carage, horse, fly, teleport, gate, etc).
14) Church = Orphanage
15) Church = Cleric or Paladins = 10 to 20 % of all income (before taxes)
16) Church = Anyone who wants healing from chruch = 10% of all income (before taxes)
17) Church = Donation for a good cause, feed a family, raise a house. Tax on being Good Alignment.
18) Church = Information or Favors
19) Donation to the city Guard = Retirement fund/Grease the wheels.
20) A call from home = Son we need some money to keep the family farm.
Take a page from older editions - For every 1 gp spent on non-adventuring related goods and services the PC gains 1 XP.
My Ale & Whores houserule. :)
I like both Remco & Khuldar's ideas.
A competing party is a good way to show the players what the "ideal" is. Might be a bit of work for the DM, might be fun if you like to build characters.
Depending on the campaign, it's reasonable to assume that most of the magic items are owned by the local establishment as opposed to just available at "Magic R Us". So you have to be in with the establishment if you want to buy or trade for new items.
One thing to keep in mind is that a PC party is almost a small army. Depending on the size of the city/town they're in, and how high their level is, they could make the local rulers nervous. So this could provide an additional reason for the PCs to get on the queen's good side.
There could be a local rule that no one is allowed to have a weapon/armor better than +1 unless they have royal permission. No misc items over 2,000 gp, can't have more than two potions or scrolls, no wands above 2nd level, etc.
You just have to be careful that the restrictions don't make the players want to leave town and go play somewhere else.
If the players get in good with the queen, you could offer a number of benefits depending on how well they're doing. 10% discount on equipment and magic, free healing, stuff like that.
...set it up as an alternative to the "Magic Mart"...
+1
The way to go isn't to give them one more thing to spend their money on. If you do that they'll say "Well, that's nice, but I can get a hard, numerical advantage by buying what I normally would anyway." What you have to do is restrict the ability of the players to just buy whatever they need.
Maybe the only people who know how to make aligned weapons are the local clerics, whom are more likely to be impressed with charity than a straight-up show of wealth.
Maybe the local Thieves' Guild is the only place to get that material focus your players need, because it's illegal in this city. In order to get in thick with the thieves, the PCs need to meet a contact at a local casino.
Maybe only members of the royal guard are allowed to carry weapons above +X, so you need to befriend the local monarch in order to acquire one without becoming a wanted criminal. Some parties won't mind this one so much, but deny the wizard a few rest periods from being chased, and he'll start to regret hanging around with a wanted man...
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The Living Arcanis organized play campaign has a nice system of Lifestyle costs.
At the beginning of each module, players have to decide how much their characters spend on Lifestyle.
For 12GP, you have a medium Lifestyle with no special advantages nor problems.
If you spend less, you get a malus on Charisma-based skill checks and may even lose one of your prized possessions.
If you spend more, you get a bonus on Charisma-based skill checks.
Also high-society characters (depends on the class or feats, usually) have to maintain a Medium or Rich Lifestyle at the minimum.
If you have any prized mount or somesuch, you need to pay for it too or lose its special benefits.
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Having to persuade a character to spend gold in general means whatever you're throwing at them simply isn't challenging enough. A simple solution is make the campaign more gritty. When you're +1 weapon isn't doing it anymore, it's time to cash in the winnings and bring out the big gun.
As for your queen's party scenario, the players need to have an ideal that spending money is like an investment. Money spent now will transform into goodies for later. Now the goodies must be something they appreciate. A good weapon for the hack and slasher, tomes that gives extra spells/skill points to the gandalf wannabe, and a title/territory to the vain. Find out what they want and use it to make them spend.
Make some item cards of the kind of things you want them to buy. If combined with the general equipment experience, they might start buying things just to have them. A physical presence and the ability to "window shop" makes a difference.
Also, fiat rules for things like bling and clothes improving thier cha based rolls. Give some crunchy love to the swag. That's been the way since the first GMs wanted to make the first awesome swag.
I was in a conversation in which I brought up the possibility of getting invited to the Queen's party if they give the Queen nice gifts (i.e. expensive treasures they might have brought up from the dungeon).
This led to the question of why the PCs would want to do this. There are of course lots of tactical and strategic reasons for wanting to be invited to a party
If by "tactical and strategic reasons" you mean that they'll get something out of this, stuff like influence, reputation, status, popularity, favours, then you answered your question.
I don't see how anyone (other than maybe a dyed-in-the-wool loyalist) would want to blow lots of cash on the queen just because they think you should be nice to your queen.
It certainly isn't like that in the real world. Gifts given by rich and/or powerful, influential individuals to others like them aren't gestures of generosity. They're usually meant to increase power and influence and/or wealth in some way.
And honestly, that should be enough. Smart players will realise that they can "buy" a lot of power with those shiny trinkets. They might not get an immediate +2 to attack rolls or anything like that, but that it can be very advantageous to be in the queen's good graces.
but I am thinking this comes to the general idea of why players would want their PCs to spend money on things like expensive food, clothes, gifts for women, and other things that might not have a direct tactical and strategic benefit.
You mean other than the power & influence thing above, right? Well, the answer is simple: Because if fits their character concept.
It's all about roleplaying, or not roleplaying. If they're not interested in stuff other than dungeon delving and combat, then they're not interested in that stuff. Better encourage them to roleplay more instead of forcing them to.
In my games, I've been using a rule that the PCs spent about 10% of their income on stuff, including food, lodging, maintenance on their equipment, entertainment, et cetera.
Now that's quite the sucker deal, provided we're talking about standard PF wealth guidelines.
It might be somewhere around the right amount on low levels, but the higher you get the more ridiculous the numbers become really.
Going from level 2 to level 3, for example, involves, on average, 13 encounters of EL 2 (plus one of level 1/2), and will, on average, net the characters 2000gp each.
You can deal with up to 3 such encounters per day (an encounter with an EL equal to the average party level is supposed to drain about 25% of their daily resources, so the 4th could kill someone). That would mean that in less than 5 days of dedicated dungeon crawling, you get a level. And a big enough dungeon will probably have the necessary 13.something encounters (or a number of encounters of different ELs that will work out the same). But let's say that they take things more slowly. It's not all dungeon crawling, they have smaller dungeons, and travels, and some downtime on the weekend. Let's say they take 20 days instead of 5 (some lazy adventurers)
Since you would dock them 200gp, that would mean a 2nd-level character would pay 10gp per day for expensive stuff. And by expensive stuff, I don't think we mean scrolls, wands, potions, and the like. Just food, lodging, entertainment.
That's already quite high. It translates into 300gp per month.
To compare that to the cost of living according to Pathfinder: 100gp/month means wealthy, living in a sizable home or a nice suite of rooms in a fine inn. Only expenses in excess of 10p would have to be tracked.
1000gp/month is extravagant, living in a castle or mansion, living like an aristocrat, only needing to track purchases in excess of 100gp.
So those lowly adventurers are already well on their way to becoming aristocrats. They wouldn't need to track fine food (except maybe 5-star catering) and they could get high-quality consorts without having to look at the money.
They could live like Charlie Sheen (except that they could demonstrably do real magic ;-))
Looking at level 10: Not quite 15 encounters needed. Let's say they slowed down even more, now taking a whole month to get to level 11.
In that time, they make 30750gp each. So you dock them 3000gp for that month. That's three times as much expenditure as an aristocrat. And note that nothing of this goes to magic items or the like. It's just everyday needs: Living in a huge castle, wearing a new designer dress each day, having their own staff of worlds-class chefs and a whole army of domestic servants catering to their every need, and probably having the queen we were talking about as a prostitute on permanent hire.
And that's just wrong in my opinion.
Personally, I just ignore the whole cost of living thing. I ignore the cost of ammunition and basic adventuring gear. That stuff is peanuts compared to the magic items they usually hunt down starting as early as level 1 in some cases. Why dealing with the hassle of letting them write the same list of items every character they ever played started out with, or tracking arrows and rations and such if they're easy to obtain, or have them subtract a few coppers and silvers for food and lodging when they hit an inn? In the long run, the money they spend on this common stuff doesn't matter one bit, it's not exciting or heroic to micromanage that stuff, nobody I know plays RPGs to do that stuff instead of slaying dragons and their ilk.
If they actually want to live in a big mansion of their own, or buy a castle, and then don the richest fabrics and date the fantasy equivalent of supermodels, they'll have to spring for that, but I won't force such an extravagant lifestyle on them. And I won't have them pay "Adventurers' Tax" by overcharging them for common items.
There could be a local rule that no one is allowed to have a weapon/armor better than +1 unless they have royal permission. No misc items over 2,000 gp, can't have more than two potions or scrolls, no wands above 2nd level, etc.
I've got to pick on this idea a little: how does anybody know if a PC has a +2 weapon or not? The characters in the game do not even have sourcebooks that say "The Fabled Sword of Seghugha is a +3 Frost Defender..."
And they certainly don't have the sophistication regarding things magical to scientifically apply a metric to magic item power.
But perhaps in a different setting a rule like this could work.
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I've got to pick on this idea a little: how does anybody know if a PC has a +2 weapon or not? The characters in the game do not even have sourcebooks that say "The Fabled Sword of Seghugha is a +3 Frost Defender..."And they certainly don't have the sophistication regarding things magical to scientifically apply a metric to magic item power.
But perhaps in a different setting a rule like this could work.
Uh...Detect Magic, Identify, etc.? There are lots of ways. It's not like the nobility don't have Wizards on the payroll.
I was thinking about how I was going to handle money in the game, what with guilders and cronins and floridas and whatever they were using for money in those days.
And I decided I'd probably be better off with something like a Wealth statistic as in D20 Modern. For this campaign I might have Wealth, which measures how much ready case a PC can come up with, and Property, which measures how much stuff a PC has which is not as easy to liquidate.
I am thinking this system can work well. At character creation, a Paladin could give herself a high Property value to represent the value of her armor and weapons, and perhaps a small holding to provide an income. A Monk, on the other hand, could get something else, and make do with a small Property value to represent that he does not have or need very much in the way of material goods.
However, the thinking that motivated this thread was about specific treasures, which I think should be detailed moreso than in a typical campaign. Usually, the GM says something like "You find a necklace worth 200 gold pieces." Instead, I'd probably want to say something like "You find a necklace. The Bard recognizes it as part of the jewelry worn by the Princess Margarita de Floridi when she married the Duke Marco Adriminio in 1284.
Another possibility that occurs to me is that such items might not only be treasure, but might also have minor supernatural powers, maybe ones that are only activated under special circumstances. Maybe this necklace, for example, enables the wearer, if female, to see invisible creatures under the light of a full moon.
I think cards would work well for organizing this kind of stuff.
Uh...Detect Magic, Identify, etc.? There are lots of ways. It's not like the nobility don't have Wizards on the payroll.
I've got to pick on this idea a little: how does anybody know if a PC has a +2 weapon or not? The characters in the game do not even have sourcebooks that say "The Fabled Sword of Seghugha is a +3 Frost Defender..."And they certainly don't have the sophistication regarding things magical to scientifically apply a metric to magic item power.
But perhaps in a different setting a rule like this could work.
Actually, in this setting, being low magic, they probably don't.
But, also, would a character in a good fantasy novel or movie say "Eye, that's a +2 glaive-guisarme you have there. Commoners are only allowed to carry +1 weapons. You need to give that thing up to the royal guard, or face arrest."
As a DM, it is easy for me to tell the player what the bonus is for their equipment, and a character will know that the new sword they found is better than the sword he is currently using, but they are not going to be able to put numbers to it.
They could have a rule against "witch weapons", but even then, in this setting, proving that a weapon is a "witch weapon" may be difficult.
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Actually, in this setting, being low magic, they probably don't.
Which "this setting" are you referring to? Golarion isn't particularly low magic.
But, also, would a character in a good fantasy novel or movie say "Eye, that's a +2 glaive-guisarme you have there. Commoners are only allowed to carry +1 weapons. You need to give that thing up to the royal guard, or face arrest."
Well, no. But they could easily have anything but raw Enhancement Bonus be illegal. A Flaming sword has to be an effective +2 after all, and that's much easier to check. Any guardsman worth his salt can tell a masterwork weapon (which all magic weapons must be) from a normal one and do a basic check to see if it does anything fancy. A few enhancements like keen might get through, but not many.
As a DM, it is easy for me to tell the player what the bonus is for their equipment, and a character will know that the new sword they found is better than the sword he is currently using, but they are not going to be able to put numbers to it.
A sufficiently skilled wizard can. I mean, he has to know the difference or the value placed on different levels of magic items stops making sense. It's probably not a simple numerical value, but he can certainly tell the difference.
They could have a rule against "witch weapons", but even then, in this setting, proving that a weapon is a "witch weapon" may be difficult.
Detect Magic is 0 level. One first level Wizard (or sorcerer, or bard) checking at the city gates is easy enough to arrange.
Uh...Detect Magic, Identify, etc.? There are lots of ways. It's not like the nobility don't have Wizards on the payroll.
I've got to pick on this idea a little: how does anybody know if a PC has a +2 weapon or not? The characters in the game do not even have sourcebooks that say "The Fabled Sword of Seghugha is a +3 Frost Defender..."And they certainly don't have the sophistication regarding things magical to scientifically apply a metric to magic item power.
But perhaps in a different setting a rule like this could work.
Actually, in this setting, being low magic, they probably don't.
But, also, would a character in a good fantasy novel or movie say "Eye, that's a +2 glaive-guisarme you have there. Commoners are only allowed to carry +1 weapons. You need to give that thing up to the royal guard, or face arrest."
As a DM, it is easy for me to tell the player what the bonus is for their equipment, and a character will know that the new sword they found is better than the sword he is currently using, but they are not going to be able to put numbers to it.
They could have a rule against "witch weapons", but even then, in this setting, proving that a weapon is a "witch weapon" may be difficult.
If you want to restrict the power of magic items walking around the street, you might want to make the cut off point CL 5 items. These items have a faint aura under a detect. If you have people patrolling the streets with detect magic, odds are they are not going to identify objects, as that take 3 rounds of handling the object. 2 rounds of concentration will tell you the highest level aura in a crowd; if there is something moderate or better, you can focus down and find the person who needs to be talked to.
In a low magic game, powerful swords and items are going to have names and history. There shouldn't be generic +3 flaming swords out there. Anything with that much oomph is going to have a story behind it (and possibly be recognized even without detect)
In reference to getting the PCs to spend money on the Queen...
In Medieval Europe, the king's court did not stay in one place throughout the year, but travelled from one castle to another. It was an honor to have the royal court set up residence at your place, but it was also very expensive. It was expected for the host to provide a large banquet every day, to provide lodging for the dozens of people who travelled with the king, to provide entertainments (hunting trips by day; music and other performers by night), stables for horses, a large-enough force of soldiers to adequately protect the court, etc. Not to mention the fact that the king expected to sleep in a high quality bed, eat off high quality plates, etc., etc.
I have read that some of the kings of England preferred to remain on these travels for as much of the year as possible in order to cut down expenses for themselves!
Anyway, even if your PCs don't have a castle, they could still be notified of the great honor of sponsoring the court for a month, and then have the added expense of needing to pay someone for the use of their castle.
Characters go to parties to spy on their enemies. Some monsters, such as vampires, attend parties. Also, it helps conditional modifiers. Gather information should be +3 to +6 depending on the party. At conventions, attending parties could get you certs or patrons. You might make allowances such as only expensive weapons and armors can be worn. Note that handmade magic items can have extra value when given as gifts.
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I was in a conversation in which I brought up the possibility of getting invited to the Queen's party if they give the Queen nice gifts (i.e. expensive treasures they might have brought up from the dungeon).
This led to the question of why the PCs would want to do this. There are of course lots of tactical and strategic reasons for wanting to be invited to a party, but I am thinking this comes to the general idea of why players would want their PCs to spend money on things like expensive food, clothes, gifts for women, and other things that might not have a direct tactical and strategic benefit.
For the game I'm planning, Reputation will be a part of it. (I'm not sure exactly how I would track it, maybe on a scale of 1-100.) How PCs spend money would have an effect, and attending parties, wearing good clothes, giving people gifts, et cetera would certainly help.
Let me say I wouldnt mind in my games smoozing up to higher class/level NPC's. But let me also say, not everyone is wanting to play DC Lobbyist the RPG game.
Let me ask, if they balk at spending it on nice gifts for the Queen or NPC, what ARE they saving their money for? Twisting their arms to do something they dont want to do, IF they have other plans for the money is a bit much.
Try thinking of it from the party's persepective: Why should they give up their hard won loot to NPC's, stuff they risk life and limb for, expended resources to gain? Just to give them away to some randomly powerful NPC? Try working on a carrot approach, rather then one thats beast them into it.
First of all, it was someone else's idea to restrict the power of weapons the PCs can carry. I've got to problems with PCs having a +5 Greatsword of +6 Strength Enhancement and Circle of Protection from Evil, as long as I decided that I was ready to give it to them, which is probably never.
(In the last game I ran, the PCs had a +1 rapier, a Cat's Grace amulet, and a couple other items of similar power among the lot of them.)
I think my Wealth and Property system will work out well though. PCs find a great treasure and they then have choices
1. They can sell the treasure and increase their Wealth
2. They can keep the treasure and increase their Property
3. They can give the treasure away and gain increases in reputation and access
4. They can keep the treasure on a "treasure's list" for future use.
I'm not trying to get the PCs to do one thing or another, but considering the type of campaign I am envisioning, and how to encourage certain tropes.
I think using Wealth would tend to make the PCs very generous, because they can give away or spend amounts up to a degree of lavishness and not have to worry about saving up for a +3 flaming greataxe. In fact, saving up for a +3 flaming greataxe is kind of pointless because there is nowhere they can buy it -- they have to track down rumors and then either recover it from some treasure hoard, or trade something of value (either goods or services or a combination of both) to somebody who has it.
I meant to say I have "no" problem, not that I have "to problem".
I have run relatively low magic worlds. My idea for Audor is that many of the secrets of magic were lost in a war among the wizards fought hundreds of years ago, in which one wizard sought to monopolize magic by eliminating all competition.
After the war, magic is common enough that every baron has some sort of low level wizard on his payroll, and the law enforcement patrols on the highways between the towns have a small measure of arcane magic. But magic is rare, and expensive, and the Wizard's Guild makes sure that wizards get paid good money, as opposed to making sure everybody has as much magic as they want.
For the new campaign I am considering, magic is very very rare, such that most people won't ever encounter a real wizard. I'm basing it on 17th Century Europe, and anybody suspected of being a witch is liable to get burned at the stake.
I see the persecution against witches potentially dying down slowly over the course of the campaign, and figure that spellcasters are likely to be regarded the way that mutants are regarded in the Marvel Universe.
On the other hand, local authorities may be persuaded to look the other way or even discourage prosecution of individual spellcasters. The case of Joan of Arc, for example, essentially hinged on whether or not the local authorities approved of her actions.
As for gift-giving, I see that going both ways. I'm reading about Queen Christina of Sweden, and she was known for her extraordinary generosity towards people she liked.
Why would someone spend money on something that does not earn them anything? Spending 1000gp on a cloak of resistance +1 makes it easier for them to make saves. Spending 1000gp on a spectacular wardrobe and trinkets for a spoiled noble or royal does nothing.Motivation.
You must be a hoot at christmas. ;)