Financial Role-play

This is the project currently being worked on by the Dieudonne Seal, House Mistmantle, House Buckholme and the Forlorn Cartel. It is very close to being 'done', but I am sharing it in this forum for one final brush-up There is a prize for Most Constructive Criticism.

I’ve spent days researching medieval economies and drawing up complicated tables of incomes and expenses. I’ve decided that it was too complicated, and did not assist role-play all that much. This is a simple version of a system we are intending to use with a group of people for our financial role-play. You are free to adopt it for your own uses.




Here is some suggestion for personal calculation of your character’s incomes and expenses:
1. What work does your character do, and how successful is he? Discrepancies between artisans and very good artisans are actually not that large, at most 50%
2. Does he have other members of a household? His wife may assist him in his craft, increasing revenues. You could count her as a laborer then!
3. Where does he live? Renting a room costs money. Owning a house requires maintenance and some small property-tax.
4. How well does he eat? He can survive for 0.6 silver a day, but eating ‘well’ would be in order of twice that number. Luxury many times that.
5. Does he have any additional required expenses, like maintaining horse and arms?
6. The remaining sum he has left for additional expenses, such as clothing, furniture and fun!

So, now, what was it all about? We intend to state some information about each business:
Value : value of all the items in the business, land, infrastructure, tools etc
Income: how much income does business generate
Safety: over how many weeks is an income predicted not to change
Share Price: depends on the above, how expensive is it to invest

As we role-play, do events, make decisions, trade…and even roll dices – some of the factors may change. For instance the value of a business (and with it the share value) may drop due to half of it burning down in an arson. This is a mini-game where our characters try to make money, and everybody is welcome to share in, increase or diminish our incomes through role-play! At the end of the week I will make a tally of all that has happened, roll some dices and update the information.

First and foremost, see the above numbers and information as a chance to have ‘well-informed’ role-play. This is not about richness or ‘winning’, but about fun. Hopefully this information will help make better criminal, political and financial role-play alike!



Suggestion for calculating the value your business:
1. How expensive is the equipment used?
2. How expensive are the structures used in the business?
3. What is the value of the ‘goods’ processed at one time? (High for long-distance caravans!)
4. How long did it take to get the project running? For instance, mines need time to dig before they start producing profits…all the while you got to pay your workers

Suggestion for calculating the profit of your business:
1. How many people are employed, and what do they earn?
2. Tools break, structures need repair. How much a week must you set aside to be able to replace/repair them? (usually 10% per annum)
3. Are there any taxes & tariffs you must pay?
4. How risky is the business? Are you guaranteed to complete the process every week, or can it fail? (Caravans can get raided, luxury goods may not be sold this week)
5. Now, multiply weekly expenses with a profit-margin based on the risks! ‘Normal’ margin is roughly 20%, more risky businesses can easily have 200% and even more.

... this is very good to know.

Dang, this may come in really handy! Excellent work!

*Stamps the thread with the Silferdrake Seal of Approval*

Drustai wrote:... this is very good to know.

And Drustai can save money on food, and spend it instead on fancy dresses. And she doesn't need a bedroom. Being undead has its advantages!

The problem with this, as I see it, is that it is inconsistent with the game world. For instance, in your price list, a poor horse costs 500 silver, whereas you can buy a horse from the horse trader on the Dieudonné estate for 80 silver, and I could sell you a cheap suit of armour for a lot less than the 500 silver in the list.

That is correct, but going by in-game prices is a sure way to madness.

20 silver coins for a pint stuff. That is like having to trade a silver armband to get a drink in a tavern Might as well use beer as currency instead of silver then.

Well, I like the idea, but I won't be employing it into my own roleplay, partially because of similar reasons to Valestrion, but also because I see no reason in complicating such. Especially when to a lot of people, financial RP doesn't come into play whatsoever.

I mean, fair play to those who have financial RP and enjoy it, I'm sure this system'll be very handy, especially with the amount of depth it has.

Aye, we are mostly just making it for our own purposes. We share similar ideas (ie: game-prices are pure mechanics), so yea. Not forcing it on any-one If you like it, feel free to use it.

Thanks for doing the legwork, Exaythe. However I disagree, this is most definately about richness and winning! *sends off her agents to sabotage various mines*

Sophyra better figure out a way to increase the yield from that rift and we have to start cutting corners on safety.

Oh wow this looks great!!! Well done!

Also, I completely agree with how the in-game prices for things are just game mechanics and not really the reality. I mean, of course this isn't needed, but neither is role-play needed either. :p Stuff like this just makes role-playing seem more realistic and fun.

Heard about this earlier, nice work Melny, I might write something about some of the Cartels businesses in this fashion soon.

*plans a robbery*

Shaelyssa wrote:Also, I completely agree with how the in-game prices for things are just game mechanics and not really the reality. I mean, of course this isn't needed, but neither is role-play needed either. :p Stuff like this just makes role-playing seem more realistic and fun.

Oh, I'm sure to certain people it does make things more realistic and fun. But, yeah, it's all very much about personal opinion and play style. I mean, stuff like this saps the fun out of the RP for me, which is why I'll steer clear of it.

Hehe and my copper based price fixing will come to pass!

Genevieve, to increase the yield we need to take control of the Ministry of Magic *gives Gene a wand* You know what must be done...

*Snatches the wand and casts avada kedavra on all nearby.*

This looks like an excellent idea, Exaythe!

Although, one thought comes to mind: 'Do kaldorei use the monetary system of the old alliance?'. I've never figured this out, haha.

Good work.. I think I will be suggesting this to be used by The Travelling Thespians! Just.. for the greater good of some (financial) structure in the RP.

You have done great work with this project!
If you want to spread this financial role-play, these price politics among other role-players i would have two suggestions:

-Create a simple GHI item that anyone can copy and spread it to every role-player. A list that would include some of the information posted above, working as a basic guideline how much various things could cost. This could help people realize how much they would get paid daily and what they can afford. Make gold worth its name, not something that everyone haves.

-Contact people that keep bars running and create realistic prices for alcohol. Bars are good rp hubs so many people tend to hang around them, or least visit now and then. If a tankard of ale would suddenly cost...lets say 5 copper instead of 5 silver (that i believe is the price for a tankard of ale in the pig & whistle. correct me if im wrong) People would follow behind, agree with their suddenly lower pay.

The era of silver & copper is at hand!!!

This will become 'active' when House of Nobles goes life! Hence the delay in implementation

Since I strictly follow this system, I have a question I'd like answered.

Regarding 'life savings'...
What would the size of the life savings be of two upper middle class tutors that have worked for over twenty years and have spent as little as possible?

I actually thought this deserved a bit of a bump mainly so i can find the thread easier without having to bookmark. Plus, i wanted to share it with people more because as a thug I like to give myself currency IC and stick to it.

I usually steal or earn all of my coin by playing it out and as a thug I don't expect her to have a lot of coin all the time, but it's nice to add that bit of realism and also I find it much more important if people share the same kind of currency. It may not be important for some, but if I rob someone and they give me a gold, I have to figure out if they're just rich and carry around gold or if that means less to them. And if so, how much with this currency system?

Bumping this up, someone get this stickied!