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GM.Casper
2009-11-17, 08:17 AM
I am currently GMing a fantasy campaign set in a large city. I have set price lists for various foods and lodgings. The PCs can survive by eating porridge and sleeping in a gutter- or they can splurge on exotic foods and rent expensive apartments. When they have the gold, they do spend it- for roleplays sake. But it would be nice to have some mechanical bonuses/penalties too for this kind of stuff.

We use homebrewed rules. Penalties could be applied to basic stats: Strength, Dexterity, Fortitude, Intelligence, Will, Perception, Charisma, or to skills or Stamina. Any suggestions?

truemane
2009-11-17, 08:35 AM
Personally I think it complicates things unnecessarily and you'd be better off showing the mechanical difference in lodgings with things like increased security, better info gathering in the common room and things like that.

BUT...

If you do go this route, decide what the 'Average' is and have that offer zero penalties. And anything lower drops your Dexterity/Strength/Wisdom? Maybe one point off of one of them each day? So it accumulates over time? -1 Dex the first day, then -1 Str and then -1 Wis, etc?

And one day of 'Average Lodgings' erases X number of days of Poor Lodgings?

Thinking 'realistically' (always a tricky thing) if you go to sleep in a crappy bed you wake up stiff and sore but usually it's okay after you stand up and walk around a bit. The only real issue with substandard living is malnutrition.

Which, if you wanted to reflect mechanically, would make a certain amount of sense.

Ashtagon
2009-11-17, 08:55 AM
Poor nutrition could be done as penalties to attack rolls and physical skills (those keyed off Str/Con/Dex).

Plain nutrition ("mutton, yesterday, mutton terday, and blimey if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer") would give morale penalties to all skills. These two (poor and plain) nutrition penalties should not stack.

Highly nutritious foods (protein shakes etc), realistically, shouldn't give any benefit unless continued for months on end, and the benefits would rapidly vanish if the regime is ended. Unless you are playing in a modern/futuristic setting, these shouldn't really exist anyway, and nor should the idea that such things could exist.

Luxury foods (expensive imports, rare meats, and other conspicuous consumption) could probably grant circumstance bonuses to the various social skills in a high-society context.

Over-eating (I'll have one of everything on the menu, please) probably shouldn't be created as a game mechanic.

Poor quality housing/shelter should definitely increase the odds of getting an unwelcome intruder at night. Really uncomfortable bedding might also reduce the effective amount of sleep you get that night; you'd spend the last half of the next day fatigued or something.

High quality housing/shelter is safer from intruders, and at conspicuous consumption levels would grant bonuses on social interaction skills in high society.

Ouranos
2009-11-17, 11:15 AM
Sleeping in gutters at the time would also mean you stink. Bad. that was where the "toilets" ran off through. I'd DEFINATELY give a big penalty socially to that. I mean seriously guys, if you were used to bathing once a month, you'd ignore a sligh smell. But when someone walks up and litterally smells like the back end of a horse, your willingness to help them to anything BUT a bath is generally reduced. Alot.

Lysander
2009-11-17, 11:41 AM
In addition to specific daily bonuses related to security and gather info checks from the patrons, you could simply establish a character's preference as a representation of who they are in society. A person who only sleeps in cheap inns and eats in cheap restaurants will get a reputation of being cheap and lose standing. Not only will it hurt your reputation, when you finally need to mingle with high society you'll have social penalties for not knowing how to cut a steak properly and critique wines and whatnot. Imagine if you in real life only ate at McDonalds every day and then went to a country club and tried to negotiate a business deal with a CEO over dinner.

Of course it works both ways. A rich person who only eats at fancy eateries will have trouble fitting in with the lower class.