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View Full Version : Planning out the economy of a gameworld, where to start?



xBlackWolfx
2014-11-29, 03:40 PM
Earlier today, I finnally got fed up with not having a system of my own despite years upon years of brainstorming plagued by endless indecision. So I decided, I'm gonna quit trying to make a complicated system like DnD or M&M or w/e, I'm just gonna make a simple basic system.

I decided there would be no skills or feats or anything like that, characters would be differentiated purely by their attributes, equipment, and spells (if any).

So I sat down, and been writing on this thing on and off all day. It has been quite illuminating for me, in that I see that even the most basic system is actually quite complicated. The thing I've conjured up is technically playable, minus the fact that I haven't started on the lists for spells and monsters yet, but I've hit a bit of a snag. How much everything should cost.

Its a DnD-type fantasy game, actually its a lot like basic fantasy in its theme and complexity. I was just sitting here writing up an equipment list. I have what the items do, and how much they weigh (using an abstract 'weight class' system, basically an item of X weight-class requires X strength to carry), but I don't even know where to begin on deciding how much everything should cost.

I don't actually have any idea what kind of income the characters will have. How much would be expensive? How much would be cheap? How costly should a breastplate actually be to the players, as in how much of an investment should it be?

I admit, I've never actually gotten the opportunity to play a tabletop rpg before, the closest I've ever gotten was back when I played neverwinter nights and a video I watched once of a pathfinder session. I know that most of their income will come from killing things like bandits, looting dungeons, and quest rewards. But I don't even know how much all that should be, outside the fact that I kinda dislike giving monsters gold, though a common trope in MMORPGs, it doesn't make any realistic sense. Things like bandits having gold on them makes sense, but having sub-human creatures, that don't even have the intelligence to talk, have gold makes no sense at all.

As for how the money system works, I'm just going with the highly generic copper-silver-gold coin thing (100 copper=1 silver, 100 silver=1 gold). I don't really intend this to be anything I use long-term anyway. I just want to actually have a system of my own creation I can fiddle around with. See what works, see what doesn't. I might expand upon it and turn it into something a bit more complex, but honestly I kinda doubt it'll go beyond a basic fantasy-like game.

As for why I don't just use basic fantasy? Well, you can't play that game with just 1 player, you need a group, a freaking goblin is pretty much equal to a level 1 character in that game! And besides, I just want to be able to claim that I did finally succeed at making a game, even if it does turn out to be utter crap.

Glimbur
2014-11-29, 04:58 PM
How much do you want to care about inventory?

That's a serious question. In D&D 3.5, which you have some experience with, every item matters (or it could matter). In RISUS (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm), you are assumed to have whatever you need to do what you are good at; a Heroic Knight would automatically have a steed, armor, a lance, etc. A Chef has chef knives, pots and pans, etc. It's just there because your character is competent.

So, if you want items to be another way to differentiate characters and set power levels, then you need an economy. If you just think you have to have items because you have to, you don't. And it is simpler to go without them.

If items are important, you can either try to model the real world in how much items cost (plate armor is stupid expensive, and better but not proportionally better than just a breastplate) or you could make costs directly based on how helpful the item is (plate armor costs 2x as much as a breastplate because it's 2x better). D&D 3.5 has a weird nonlinear scaling of both wealth and item costs as you increase in levels; this is nice to prevent a lower level character from blowing all their loot on one higher-level item but it is also tricky to price in a balanced manner (see the many arguments about how AC is over-costed).

That's a long-winded way of saying to start with how items are important to the PC's and build things from there. If everyone is able to only benefit from one misc magic item, one suit of armor/robes (possibly magic), and one weapon/staff (which can also be magic), then things are different than the Christmas Tree which 3.5 encourages. But characters are harder to make distinct via equipment, unless there are several options of similar power but different feel at each 'tier' of equipment.

xBlackWolfx
2014-11-29, 08:09 PM
Well really, I tried to keep the equipment as minimal as possible, but at the same time tried to imitate the actual benefits of these weapons, as best as I can anyway with my current knowledge of them.

Many of the weapons are divided into 3 categories: axes, blades, and blunt. Axes allow you to ignore the defense bonus form shields. Swords give you a better defensive score (thanks to their reach and ability to parry), and maces (aka blunt) ignore defense bonuses from chain mail. I intend on having plate armor be more expensive than mail, though obviously superior. These three categories all have 2 weapons in them, simply a one-handed and two-handed versions. The 'blades' category also includes a dagger. There's also halberds, spears, short bow, long bow, throwing daggers, and slings. Some of these weapons are actually meant for one of the races, which is smaller than the other 3 (my races for now are human, elf, dwarf, and gnome, if you care).

As for armor, its not very diverse really. You only really have the option of leather, chainmail, and plate. And leather doesn't offer any defense bonus, it's just a better material to go walking in the brush with than standard clothing, and can easily be crafted out in the field. You also have the option of purchasing 'ornate armor', which does little more than increase your charisma (aka your ability to influence ppl).

So yeah, equipment does kinda make a difference. And no, I haven't decided yet what kind of equipment mages will have, I've only really filled out the section for weapons and armor. And there isn't any equipment restrictions for the classes, its all dependent on your strength score. For instance, to wear a full set of plate armor you would need a strength of at least 14, and that's without a weapon or shield.

I don't like it in some games where everyone just automatically defaults to the best equipment, I think it looks stupid and unrealistic. If some equipment is better than others, it should be harder to get. As for warriors, I don't want them to start off walking around dressed like a knight, I want them to have to use cheaper equipment until they level up and get more wealth. Though honestly, the warrior class is the only one where equipment is really a focus. The other 3 classes are scout (ranged survivalist character, basically, kinda like a ranger), wizard, and priest (cleric obviously, minus the running around dressed as a templar bit). And class does somewhat limit equipment, in that your initial stats are derived purely from your race and class. A human wizard for example would start with a strength of 8. He could obviously wear a few pieces of armor, though the bookworm certainly couldn't carry around a full suit. Honestly, I never understood why wizards always stereotypically wear robes. I mean, if you're going into a combat situation, even if you can throw around fireballs its still a better idea to wear some sort of armor than run around the battlefield in a flipping dress.

xBlackWolfx
2014-11-30, 05:59 AM
You know what I'll do? I'll just skip the cost of everything for right now. I'll first figure out how much money the characters will actually be making, then I'll decide how everything should be priced. That would be the best way to get everything to work the way I want it to.