The Status skill and abstract wealth

[hix]

I've never been able to get my head around abstract wealth systems, they always seems like more work to abstract than just counting up the pennies or credits or Rho. Anybody like using this kind of thing? How do you resolve it?

[Ravenheart87]

I find it easier to grasp and manage actual currency, so I use that instead. RQ3e has a neat price list. Then there is ...And a 10 Foot Pole by ICE, which has a price list for every era.

[Questbird]

An abstract wealth system would work in an environment where most people -- or more importantly, most PCs have some wealth and the focus of the adventure is not the accumulation of treasure or individual items. For example, a complex modern society where goods are plentiful, like Call of Cthulhu. In that game the investigators have jobs and income and an abstract wealth system can be used to determine if they can acquire finance or capital items for their investigations without nickel and diming every purchase. It could also work in cultures where some classes or castes are supported by the State, like priests or scribes of ancient Ur or Babylon. An abstract wealth system also works in cultures with some financial complexity, where you don't  have to carry around all of your coins in a bag*: investments, assets, interest, banks; details which may or may not interest adventurers.

If you have a wealth/status 'skill' from 1-100 it gives an indication of relative societal rank, which can also have effects on interpersonal skill checks against someone from the same culture. This 'skill' can be more fluid than others, and it can go down as well as up. In that way it's a bit more like Allegiance points than a skill.

* I reckon campaigns where you carry all your coins around all the time nearly always ignore their encumbrance

[hix]

" ...And a 10 Foot Pole by ICE"

Did you just recommend a rolemaster book that's not available in pdf and the cheap one on amazon is $129.99? I appreciate your grognard levels.

Edited May 7, 2023 by hix

[Mugen]

On 5/7/2023 at 7:42 AM, Questbird said:

If you have a wealth/status 'skill' from 1-100 it gives an indication of relative societal rank, which can also have effects on interpersonal skill checks against someone from the same culture. This 'skill' can be more fluid than others, and it can go down as well as up. In that way it's a bit more like Allegiance points than a skill.

Is Wealth supposed to be rolled with a d100 ? If so, I would not use a 1-100 scale to describe one's ability to buy things.

I see myself as a member of the upper middle class, with a good income. But if I go to the McLaren shop in my street, I know I won't be able to buy any of the cars they sell there, because they're as expensive as my flat. However, there are people who can do it, because they have much more money than I do.

On the other hand, if I go to a supermarket, I will be able to buy a lot of things without taking care of their cost, whereas someone from a lower social class will have to carefully chose the products he buys.

[Ravenheart87]

11 hours ago, hix said:

" ...And a 10 Foot Pole by ICE"

Did you just recommend a rolemaster book that's not available in pdf and the cheap one on amazon is $129.99? I appreciate your grognard levels.

Yeah, it's hard to get it, but if you are lucky to see one in the wild for a decent price, grab it by all means. It's well worth having for every campaign, and it isn't really a RoleMaster book - it's 99% system and setting agnostic.

[soltakss]

On 5/5/2023 at 11:12 PM, hix said:

I've never been able to get my head around abstract wealth systems, they always seems like more work to abstract than just counting up the pennies or credits or Rho. Anybody like using this kind of thing? How do you resolve it?

The way I do it is:

• If you want to buy something that is available at your Wealth Level or below then you can always buy it without a roll.
• If you want to buy something that is available at your Wealth Level or below then you can buy it if you make a Status roll (You might get a penalty to the roll if the object being bought is way over your Wealth Level).
• If you want credit, or want to extend credit, then make a Status roll

And that's about it, really.

Some people try to abuse it by buying lost of things, I'd either allow it or make a Status roll to see if their funds have dried up.

 

[Questbird]

On 5/8/2023 at 4:22 PM, Mugen said:

Is Wealth supposed to be rolled with a d100 ? If so, I would not use a 1-100 scale to describe one's ability to buy things.

I see myself as a member of the upper middle class, with a good income. But if I go to the McLaren shop in my street, I know I won't be able to buy any of the cars they sell there, because they're as expensive as my flat. However, there are people who can do it, because they have much more money than I do.

On the other hand, if I go to a supermarket, I will be able to buy a lot of things without taking care of their cost, whereas someone from a lower social class will have to carefully chose the products he buys.

 

In the modern world there are different markets for different wealth levels. An antique store in Manhattan will charge different amounts for the same items as one in a small regional town. Movie stars don't shop at the same grocery stores as down-and-outers, and the prices at those stores vary accordingly. That's why these skills often combine wealth and social status to access goods and services. If my character is 'middle class' there will be certain expectations of what things I might own or be able to acquire easily. If I want my character to have access to things associated with a higher social status, like a fancy McLaren, I would make a Wealth/Status check. If I failed or fumbled it maybe I could still get one, but with a huge and unserviceable debt burden, such that I need the payout for this adventure to work out...

[Chaot]

On 5/6/2023 at 1:56 AM, Ravenheart87 said:

 ...And a 10 Foot Pole by ICE

I break this book out for every single game I run. It's amazing.

[Chaot]

On 5/5/2023 at 6:12 PM, hix said:

I've never been able to get my head around abstract wealth systems, they always seems like more work to abstract than just counting up the pennies or credits or Rho. Anybody like using this kind of thing? How do you resolve it?

I view it as, if it's reasonable that the character could buy it, they can buy it. If it's a really big purchase, their 'wealth' score goes down because that portion of their 'wealth' score is no longer liquid.

[Atgxtg]

On 5/5/2023 at 6:12 PM, hix said:

I've never been able to get my head around abstract wealth systems, they always seems like more work to abstract than just counting up the pennies or credits or Rho. Anybody like using this kind of thing? How do you resolve it?

I've seen it work out for some games. I usually comes down to what the focus of the game is as well as how the abstract system works. In my experience wealth systems only seem to work in games and groups where the players and the player characters don't want to deal with money more than they have to.  For instance it was decent in the older Marvel RPGs because the focus was on stopping the bad guys, saving the world and such. I've never seen it work well in Dungeon crawl RPGs since they tend to focus around the accumulation of items and wealth.

For the ones that work, the usual method is to assume that a character can afford/own/buy items with a rating lower than their rating., and that they must roll for anything at their own rating. Typically there are limits to how many rolls they can make per week/month or some such, and no roll is required to buy items several levels below their wealth rating (i.e. J.P. Morgan can always afford to buy a new coat, shirt or what not). Also in most such system characters do not have to roll for normal daily expenses (i.e. most people don't roll to see if you can afford to buy lunch at McDonalds) unless their wealth rating is very low.