(3.x and Pathfinder) Why do people care so much about commoners?

[Endarire]

Greetings, all!

In a game that's primarily about PCs as heroes killing, looting, exploring, and leveling, why care so much about the minute details of the world, like commoners and their economy? Typically, the common folk are somewhere between background noise/scene dressing and implied detail.

[denthor]

depending on the level of realism you need armor smiths, food clothing shelter inn keepers. someone to protect while you level up.

Also it doesn't hurt if you have a base of operations, NPC rangers clerics druids Not to mention shop keepers to buy equipment from.

You might even just for kicks need oh I do not know information gathers.

Just like in real life no one can do it alone support is needed

Oh yeah read your signature flickerdart gave you a great answer this is a roleplaying game not a video game or some mechanical play by numbers. you might lose and need someone to rescue you

[icefractal]

Greetings, all!

In a game that's primarily about PCs as heroes killing, looting, exploring, and leveling, why care so much about the minute details of the world, like commoners and their economy? Typically, the common folk are somewhere between background noise/scene dressing and implied detail.Do people care much about the minute details of the world? It's not like the Commoner class is at all elaborate, or that most Commoners even get a stat-block for that matter.

Now if you're talking about the "Commoner Optimization" threads, those are because it's a challenge - how powerful can you get when you start from the weakest base around?

The economy on the other hand, I'd hardly call a minute detail! :smalltongue: Fortunes, famines, dueling merchant princes sending out assassins, rebellions, raising armies, founding kingdoms - those all sound like things that heroes would find pretty important!

And also, basic questions like "So I robbed The Lead Fortress and now I have like, literally thousands of masterwork swords - how much trouble will selling them be?" or "I can finally afford a flying carpet - now how difficult is finding one for sale?" or "Now that we kicked the imposter prince out - screw monarchy, we're running this kingdom ourselves! How difficult will it be to supply an army to defend it?" are things that come up in the normal course of play.

[johnbragg]

Greetings, all!

In a game that's primarily about PCs as heroes killing, looting, exploring, and leveling, why care so much about the minute details of the world, like commoners and their economy? Typically, the common folk are somewhere between background noise/scene dressing and implied detail.

Because we want our heroes to have some impact on the imaginary world. For that impact to be meaningful, the imaginary world has to make some kind of sense. If our heroes are meeting the Duke of Smallcity to be recognized for their efforts, and our heroes are dragging around 50,000 gp in coin and gems, it matters what kind of money the Duke can lay hands on because that tells you about the balance of power.

Movies and TV put a lot of resources into making their background scenery look right. In this medium, the economy of the world is a lot like the background scenery in a movie. The filmmakers do their best to make Toronto and Vancouver and a California desert look like London and New York and the Old West and the Roman Empire.

[J-H]

Because nerds like excessive detail.

[Florian]

I don´t care for any type of "simulation" at all, neither the game world, nor what kind of world would be created by strictly applying the d20 rules to it.

[Tipsy_Pooka]

In a game that's primarily about PCs as heroes killing, looting, exploring, and leveling, why care so much about the minute details of the world, like commoners and their economy?

Maybe, because some of us want more from a TTRPG? Put another way, why play a TTRPG, when I can just boot Skyrim, and indulge in all the "killing, looting, exploring, and leveling" with better graphics? Isn't it also possible that I find a sad enjoyment from world-building?

Also, the best part of TTRPGs is the ability, for everyone, to craft a cooperative game, where everyone gets to indulge in what they find enjoyable about it.... to each their own though.


Because nerds like excessive detail.

Also... this

[rel]

Background detail makes the game world feel more internally consistant and alive.
Also, such details can be used as a framework to support realm level stories and adventures that are interesting and rarely possible in other mediums.

[Darrin]

Mostly to impress the nerdocracy.

Breaking the planet in half with a wizard or druid is entry-level powergaming. Yeah, that's great... those classes are pretty much designed to smash up planets. Do it with a commoner armed only with some farm implements and livestock, and you're peacocking for the admiration of your peers.

[TotallyNotEvil]

For one, I like being fair. More than that, I like being consistent.

"We've killed all the gnolls in the keep, how much for repairing the walls? We are keeping this baby!"

"Ok, lets put together everyone in the village to help us fight those Goblins."

"I ask the King to triple his offer, to make ir worth our while."

What will it cost them to repair the old keep? How long will it take? What about running costs? How much to they earn for ruling that region?

How many people that can fight are there, really? What odds do they stand?

Can the King pay this much? Shouldn't he have offered more from the start? It looks like he spends more to feed his army for a day than he is offering these high level adventuerers to take care of this tricky problem. But wouldn't he have too much gold then?

That kind of stuff is important if the players interact past the most superficial level with the world.

Hell, "ok, I will break into this shop after nightfall". How much cash does the shopkeeper has? It's easy to never question how he easily affords to buy the loot from the PCs.