Sith_Happens
2015-03-11, 05:52 PM
So I'm about to start GMing Fate Core and, since the players are for the idea of money troubles being a possible plot element, I've come up with what I think is a fairly simple wealth-tracking system that still keeps a decent level of abstraction. Before I implement it, though, I'd like some input on three questions:
1. Is this system in fact functional, or is there some glaring flaw I'm missing?
2. Do the various pieces of the system actually reflect what they're supposed to (as described in the second spoiler box) with some degree of accuracy and internal consistency?
3. Given the premise of this campaign, is the system in question actually appropriate for it?
Characters have a wealth stress track with the standard 1-2-3-4 boxes, and access to the 3 and 4 boxes being keyed to Resources. Wealth stress does not clear on its own like other forms of stress do.
The Resources skill functions as normal, except as follows:
Target numbers for Resources rolls are significantly higher across the board.
If you fail a Resources roll to purchase something, you can choose to succeed instead by checking a wealth stress box whose value at least equals your shifts of failure (much as if you'd taken a "hit" to your wealth stress).
Whenever you happen upon a source of funds other than your character's source(s) of regular income (if any), such as loot, a "quest" reward, etc., that source of funds is treated as a boost, though it works differently than normal boosts:
The boost has a specific value associated with it, determined by the GM at the time you receive it.
The boost cannot be invoked.
If you are in a position from which you can liquidate the source of funds the boost represents, you may "cash in" the boost as a special overcome action, representing that you have done just that. Roll the boost's value against your Resources rank. If you succeed, clear one or more wealth stress boxes whose total value is no higher than your shifts of success.
If the boost represents a source of funds that is already liquid, cash it in as soon as you receive it.
If you have shifts leftover from the above roll, each second shift becomes a Flush with Cash boost that may be invoked on a future Resources roll.
Your Resources rank represents your "equilibrium" level of wealth, so to speak, as determined by your character's off-screen financial behavior (e.g.- day job, typical spending habits, etc.). Or, to put it differently, it represents your average purchasing power over an extended period of time.
Your wealth stress track, on the other hand, represents the short term ups and downs of your financial situation. Taking wealth stress can mean that you've dipped into your savings, or taken out a loan, or kept a balance on your credit card, or something else of that sort. Fundamentally, it means that your purchasing power in the near future has suffered. Clearing wealth stress means you've saved up money again, or paid off your debt, or whatever is applicable; in other words that you've recouped your earlier loss of purchasing power. The Flush with Cash boost is an overflow value, so to speak, indicating you have more money saved up (or some other form of purchasing power) than usual.
Under this system, the difficulty of a Resources roll to purchase something is based not on "Can I afford this," but on "Can I get this at a price that is more or less inconsequential to me." If you fail the roll and choose to take wealth stress to get the thing you want anyways, that means the thing in question cost enough to actually impact you. The more stress you took, the more that purchase "hurt."
You gain wealth stress boxes based on your Resources because the wealthier you are, the more capacity/leeway/options you generally have to throw amounts of money at things that are huge even in relative terms.
Rolling monetary rewards against your own Resources rank is basically the opposite of taking wealth stress; if you succeed on the roll to cash that reward in, then you've earned enough money to actually be meaningful to you.
The setting and genre as a whole are what like to call "wacky, anything goes space opera." Levels and styles of magic and technology may vary considerably (and independently of each other) depending on where you go. If you can imagine it, you can probably find it somewhere in this universe eventually.
As for the premise, the players have decided to basically be the crew of the Serenity, except that they're also a small-time rock band wandering through space in search of their next gig.
Unlike in Firefly, they will not be spending the entire campaign within some single state/government's territory. While they will probably spend all or most of their time in places such that their money is convertible from that of any one of those places to that of any other of those places (either directly or in steps along the way), I might occasionally decide to throw them into the middle of a region with essentially no economic ties (even indirect) to anywhere they've been before.
Other concerns:
* I have no idea how to handle team checks with Resources in this system, in terms of who takes how much stress based on what criteria.
* I'm not sure whether the system does or should reflect the effect of large purchases on how affordable later things are to you, in terms of my description of "succeeded on the Resources roll" as "buying that thing didn't affect your situation enough to be worth noting."
1. Is this system in fact functional, or is there some glaring flaw I'm missing?
2. Do the various pieces of the system actually reflect what they're supposed to (as described in the second spoiler box) with some degree of accuracy and internal consistency?
3. Given the premise of this campaign, is the system in question actually appropriate for it?
Characters have a wealth stress track with the standard 1-2-3-4 boxes, and access to the 3 and 4 boxes being keyed to Resources. Wealth stress does not clear on its own like other forms of stress do.
The Resources skill functions as normal, except as follows:
Target numbers for Resources rolls are significantly higher across the board.
If you fail a Resources roll to purchase something, you can choose to succeed instead by checking a wealth stress box whose value at least equals your shifts of failure (much as if you'd taken a "hit" to your wealth stress).
Whenever you happen upon a source of funds other than your character's source(s) of regular income (if any), such as loot, a "quest" reward, etc., that source of funds is treated as a boost, though it works differently than normal boosts:
The boost has a specific value associated with it, determined by the GM at the time you receive it.
The boost cannot be invoked.
If you are in a position from which you can liquidate the source of funds the boost represents, you may "cash in" the boost as a special overcome action, representing that you have done just that. Roll the boost's value against your Resources rank. If you succeed, clear one or more wealth stress boxes whose total value is no higher than your shifts of success.
If the boost represents a source of funds that is already liquid, cash it in as soon as you receive it.
If you have shifts leftover from the above roll, each second shift becomes a Flush with Cash boost that may be invoked on a future Resources roll.
Your Resources rank represents your "equilibrium" level of wealth, so to speak, as determined by your character's off-screen financial behavior (e.g.- day job, typical spending habits, etc.). Or, to put it differently, it represents your average purchasing power over an extended period of time.
Your wealth stress track, on the other hand, represents the short term ups and downs of your financial situation. Taking wealth stress can mean that you've dipped into your savings, or taken out a loan, or kept a balance on your credit card, or something else of that sort. Fundamentally, it means that your purchasing power in the near future has suffered. Clearing wealth stress means you've saved up money again, or paid off your debt, or whatever is applicable; in other words that you've recouped your earlier loss of purchasing power. The Flush with Cash boost is an overflow value, so to speak, indicating you have more money saved up (or some other form of purchasing power) than usual.
Under this system, the difficulty of a Resources roll to purchase something is based not on "Can I afford this," but on "Can I get this at a price that is more or less inconsequential to me." If you fail the roll and choose to take wealth stress to get the thing you want anyways, that means the thing in question cost enough to actually impact you. The more stress you took, the more that purchase "hurt."
You gain wealth stress boxes based on your Resources because the wealthier you are, the more capacity/leeway/options you generally have to throw amounts of money at things that are huge even in relative terms.
Rolling monetary rewards against your own Resources rank is basically the opposite of taking wealth stress; if you succeed on the roll to cash that reward in, then you've earned enough money to actually be meaningful to you.
The setting and genre as a whole are what like to call "wacky, anything goes space opera." Levels and styles of magic and technology may vary considerably (and independently of each other) depending on where you go. If you can imagine it, you can probably find it somewhere in this universe eventually.
As for the premise, the players have decided to basically be the crew of the Serenity, except that they're also a small-time rock band wandering through space in search of their next gig.
Unlike in Firefly, they will not be spending the entire campaign within some single state/government's territory. While they will probably spend all or most of their time in places such that their money is convertible from that of any one of those places to that of any other of those places (either directly or in steps along the way), I might occasionally decide to throw them into the middle of a region with essentially no economic ties (even indirect) to anywhere they've been before.
Other concerns:
* I have no idea how to handle team checks with Resources in this system, in terms of who takes how much stress based on what criteria.
* I'm not sure whether the system does or should reflect the effect of large purchases on how affordable later things are to you, in terms of my description of "succeeded on the Resources roll" as "buying that thing didn't affect your situation enough to be worth noting."