Resources -Vs- Coins

[GM_Chris]

Well we are really looking at adjusting things int he of season. There is no reason things should take so long and if it is, and that is a reason for less props then we have an issue.

As for coins. Yes I think it should be player done. I am more than willing to work witht he player base when it comes to coins. I am willing to contribute to the cost of coins as well.

What would happen, if the players wants to do coins, is that the players would have to accept money instead of tags. We as the GM's would be told by the bank "players" what the exchange rate is and we would tell you what the "cost" is to you.

Basicaly, you would stop putting tags in your checkin folder but money. We would then take the resources out of the bank and give the money to the the bank.

Well while I am writting this I suppose we COULD come up with money and then change everything to money ourselves taking tags right out of the picture. Trade routes would turn into territory where those in control get a tax and that "tax" would have to still be paid out to players to they could turn it in.

Thoughts?

[cole45]

we came "This close" to having coins. In fact, phil JUST gave us back our contribution for the fund. So it's not that people are unwilling to donate.

[WayneO42]

With the move to Caldonia maybe we as GM staff can institute a coin system there if thats what the player base wants

[GM_Chris]

Well heck....I REALLY hate saying this, BUT if people are willing to donate but want it to be controlled by GM's then we could rework the system to be all money based.

That means sword item creation/upkeep and ofcoruse people upkeep would all switch to money.

Spell casting components and advanced item components would have to remain tag

[WayneO42]

The easy way to do a coin system moderated by GMs would be to have routes stay the same. They would produce resources just like they do now. There would then be an in-game exchange rate. The change from resources to coin would be done "Upstream" of the players. The leader of an org would get money instead of the resource tags. The exchange rate would stay stable as would the cost of upkeep for a person and items. The fluxuation in the economy would come from the amount of resources a production source produces just as it does now.

Basic items would be upkept at the start of the game at check in. Show your tags, pay the coin for upkeep, and then the tag is validated by the check-in person. Coin collected for upkeep would be kept seperate. At the end of the game, the coin from upkeep is divided equally between all of the PC craftsmen with the upkeep skill and put in their envelopes so they can pick it up at the the next event they attend.

Magic item upkeep would still need to be done in game by a player empath. We could get away from using tags for magic components/upkeep and go to purely gems representing them. One color Gem could be upkeep and another could be components. That would leave alot of other colors of gems open for plot devices, trade, etc. An even easier way would be to get rid of the notion of a seperate mystic upkeep and components and just make it all one. Mystic production sources would then come in as coins or gems (PC choice).

The cost to produce a commodity would be determined by what resources are required to make the commodity and the price of those resources. Items requiring advanced upkeep based on commodities would still need to be done in game and commodities would have to remain as tags.

If we wanted to be a little more advanced, we could allow organizations to manipulate the exchange rate for a resource based on how much of that resource they control via trade routes (Production sources). So, if Guild Stinking Toad controlled half of all the food coming into the game, they could manipulate the exchange rate up or down by maybe 25%. Sure they would make more money but it would be coming from their fellow townsfolk who would now have to pay more in upkeep.

Thoughts?

[GM_Chris]

Mystic components have to be tage since they must be ripped in half upon use.

Mystic could be coin or tags though.

[WayneO42]

We could still do gems and have them drop them in a bucket upon use.

[Torakhan]

With the move to Caldonia maybe we as GM staff can institute a coin system there if thats what the player base wants

You know, it would be interesting with the Caldonia move. Is Caldonia stable enough to HAVE a monitary system? Or is it still barter and services? If they have a monitary system, then a change to "make a living" could come from services rendered for "money" or getting personal supplies acquired by working a living from the land (or stealing?)

(WARNING! The following is by no means well thought out or even useful! It is just my ramblings without much foresight and just a raw idea!)

John, the Alchemist can make 5 coins, or 3 supplies or 1 brewed liquid. He can then sell/trade in-game for what he needs. OR, he can work with a group and organize. For each 5 people in their group that makes the same thing, they increase their outcome by 10%.

Bill the Warrior decides to work with 5 other warriors. They decide to work for the King as a group and make 6 coins each because of their grups combined efforts to work together.

Or maybe each person has to offer 50% of their "production points" to the shared item, but can use the other 50% of their "Production points" to produce something on their own. Bob decides that he's going to help his fellow sheppards with their Wool part of the time and thus adds half of his points to Cloth, but also produces Food on the side. His points aid the Cloth union with their increased numbers, but he also knows that at least he won't be starving this month.

Okay, LOTS of holes, lots of issues, I know... but it creates more control for the players as to what they produce, and encourages groups to work together for the same outcome. You can still factor in the "problems that the characters encounter" during the down-time (but I highly suggest letting the members know that they didn't produce the amount of Food they expected because um... their farms were burned or whatever the reason is.)

Hey? Why don't we have any food? Did anyone work on MAKING food? I guess we'll have to trade in our Steel we worked so hard to mine in order to feed ourselves.. what's the exchange rate? Why is YOUR food more expensive than theirs?

[GM_Chris]

I do not like handing money out to craftsman that do upkeep. The people who make goods SHOULD charge the players what ever they want to charge.

As for Caldonia....

Final Haven was the jewel of what was left. Soooo you can guess what caldonia is like

[WayneO42]

The people who make goods SHOULD charge the players what ever they want to charge.

So upkeep would still be done in game by a craftsman who would then turn in coin based on how many items they upkept at the end of the game? I like upkeep up front and at check in if we do coins. Its easier. Sure, craftsman could charge whatever they want but how many PCs would actually charge more than the required to upkeep?

[GM_Chris]

Oh sorry wayne I was thinking armor repair not upkeep.

You are correct in how it is done.

Mystic I am against you because it is on the fly. I am in the woods and cast the spell and then 3 hours later I need to rememebr how many components to drop in a bucket.

[marduk]

I think that the resource system is one of things that makes FH cool. Please don't ditch all that for coins.

[NewGuy]

I just want to give you a heads up on having to re-work/re-word the way a few skills work if that's the case. (barter, wilderness survival, utilize resources, aquire) Simple rewording would probably suffice (receive one food and one cloths value worth of coin, for example, or a utilize resource saying that a sage can buy all the resources for their personal upkeep only, at the rate equivalent to the cheapest basic resource)

You probably already knew this, but I just wanted to be sure obsticals were seen before you ran into them

[WayneO42]

I think that the resource system is one of things that makes FH cool. Please don't ditch all that for coins.

What makes the resource system cool? To me, its the fact that the players themselves really dictate the economy. If worked properly, a coin system can have the same feel

[Sheogorath]

Well about a combination: Like still barter and trade for goods yet also have things have a coin value like food=1 gold mystic=5 gold etc. Then you can both trade goods as well as sell and buy. The values would be set by either gms or the current supply. If steel were very short then the cost of buying it would go up.

Or even set up like a npc store that gets its supplies from locals and sells small quantities to the town. Like only components or already made certain weapons.

Actually in a way, support points are already like gold/coin. One is using support points to buy trade routes. so it would be easy to just keep everything the way it is yet change support points to coin given to guild and that is used to buy trade routes and other things. And as for how players get gold...either by getting paid by locals (npcs and towns) for protection and or finding treasure. then that could add a wild card element of some may have even more coin then support points they would unusually have.


Either way it could work yet brining in coin would probably just complicate things.