Wealth Awards and the Wealth system - Question?

molonel · Apr 23, 2007

I'm running my first two d20 Modern games right now. I'm using a lot supplemental and homebrewed material, but for the core rules I'm trying to stick pretty heavily to the core d20 Modern book.

The wealth system is interesting, but I'm wondering if I'm skimping the players.

I haven't given them any treasure awards for wealth, yet. They are getting on toward 4th level, and all they've gotten is awards by level for profession checks.

Do you give out wealth awards? If so, how do you determine what's appropriate?

anton1066 · Apr 24, 2007

Holy Zombie Jesus! You have not given them any wealth in 3 levels?

Heres the easy way to do it: give them a cash amount, like $1,000, have the party split up the cash then have each memeber 'sell' the cash to increase their wealth bonus.

Aussiegamer · Apr 24, 2007

the wealth system is simple and if you stick to simple then its OK.

One way to just say after an encounter you got +4 wealth and they split it up or such....don't give items as then you have to rejig the wealth found.

Its dry and dull!

Deekin · Apr 24, 2007

Aussiegamer said:
the wealth system is simple and if you stick to simple then its OK.

One way to just say after an encounter you got +4 wealth and they split it up or such....don't give items as then you have to rejig the wealth found.

Its dry and dull!

Or how I do it my game.

"You find a briefcase full of money. It's a +4 Wealth bonus, divide as you see fit. "

This is not D&D, it is not About killing things and taking their stuff, ergo, wealth tends to be glossed over.

Also, unless you are using d20 Future, than game balance does not really depend on wealth. The Gunslinger can always afford bullets, after all.

ValhallaGH · Apr 24, 2007

molonel said:
The wealth system is interesting, but I'm wondering if I'm skimping the players.

Depends. Have they been hurting for funds? Have they been unable to do heroic things because they couldn't afford the supplies?

If the answer is "no" then you're cool. That just means that whoever they work for expects them to do the things they've done as a 'normal part of business'. No Christmas bonuses, windfalls from improved stock options or any of that because what they've done is company standard.

If the answer is "yes" then you've got a problem. Your drug dealers need to start having a safe full of cash, or your thieves need to have a pile of untraceable (and nonreturnable) loot lying about for the heroes to legally claim in thirty days, etc. The easiest way is to describe the bag o' money or the pile o' jewels or the artwork or the whatever and then tell them that it works out to a +X wealth bonus for each of them. A nice mix of flavor and mechanical simplicity.

Remember, as long as everyone is having fun, you're doing a good job. Maybe it could be better but it could definitely be worse.