D&D (2024) Bastion rules: every pub owner is at least 13th level

[Shardstone]

There are logistics involved in having employees and owning property. D&D, even now, at least pretends to be a game with rules related to the in-universe setting. The kind of metacurrency-based rules you want are, IMO, better off in another game.

I'm sorry but I don't agree with this line of logic. Logistics isn't fun. Don't give me unfun homework at the table just because it's realistic. If I wanted to do taxes, I'd be a tax accountant, not a DM (some of whom are probably tax accountants...)

 

[Shardstone]

Then where did the building come from? Do the PCs just wish it into existence when they hit the appropriate level?

Background. I can write this off a thousand different ways and still keep it satisfying. This is not a real problem.

 

[Shardstone]

500 is huge numbers?

Did most people miss their 2nd grade calculus?

also, most "expensive" prices are multiples of "100", cant remember when I saw last time price of 2758.


The game must have only ONE currency, be that gold, BPs, Etherium, stolen souls or whatever.

There is no need for gold being for food and drinks,
BPs for construction projects,
Etherium for magic items,
or souls for divine scrolls/potions.

Sure, those can exist as TRADE goods, that means 100% interchangeable with gold and one another.
Same with gemstones, a 10 carat ruby is worth same amount of gold in the whole setting/game.
It's just more practical way to carry large amount of value(gold)

So, I'm going to ignore everything you said about soil points and etherium because all that stuff is stupid as hell and has nothing to do with my point and I never said it, ever.

Let me put this in the plainest English possible.

I do not want to do accounting. It is that simple, man. I don't care if I sound like an idiot to you because I think having to count hundreds and hundreds of gold and divvy it up is too much work. I do. Not. Want. To. Do. Accounting.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm sorry but I don't agree with this line of logic. Logistics isn't fun. Don't give me unfun homework at the table just because it's realistic. If I wanted to do taxes, I'd be a tax accountant, not a DM (some of whom are probably tax accountants...)

Fine, but I want stuff like this to make in-universe sense. If you don't care about that, we're not going to agree.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Background. I can write this off a thousand different ways and still keep it satisfying. This is not a real problem.

You can make up whatever you want on the spot, but I would never call that satisfying.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So, I'm going to ignore everything you said about soil points and etherium because all that stuff is stupid as hell and has nothing to do with my point and I never said it, ever.

Let me put this in the plainest English possible.

I do not want to do accounting. It is that simple, man. I don't care if I sound like an idiot to you because I think having to count hundreds and hundreds of gold and divvy it up is too much work. I do. Not. Want. To. Do. Accounting.

Then don't. Use these rules if you like them. What's stopping you?

 

[Yaarel]

That's a cool idea, but magic is usually portrayed in a very scientific way in D&D.

My impression is, D&D generally avoided a "theory of magic". But recently, maybe with Primal distinguishing from Divine, plus Feywild Arcane, and Psionic understood as a "transparent" magic Source, 4e and 5e is sifting thru a clearer understanding of what magic is and how it works.

The theory needs a narrative that feels magical, and be good for gaming mechanics.

If the magic feels too technological then it feels less magical, especially if it can be bought and sold in a department store.

I prefer a D&D setting that is scientifically familiar. Yet the science needs an opening that allows magic to work plausibly. Making magic function via intentions and relationships helps avoid the mechanical reductionism of science.

 

[Irlo]

You can make up whatever you want on the spot, but I would never call that satisfying.

Agreed, sort of. (I don't think Shardstone was suggesting making stuff up on the spot but rather working out the details in the background. I could be wrong.) Regardless, the Bastion and the associated rewards need to be tethered to the fiction for me to accept them, but I think the system can still be an abstraction of monetary transactions, political and social influence, connections, etc. I'd say for this to work at all for me and my table, it would have to be an abstraction, because, yes, I do logisitics for a living and I don't want to bring that level of detail into my game. (To be clear, I would expect my characters to engage with logisticis -- but I shun it as a player and DM).

If I spend Bastion Points to acquire a magic item, that item would not just pop into existence without explanation. Spending the points would represent the work -- tracking down the item, negotiating with the seller, hiring someone to steal it, or researching and implementing the methods to create it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Agreed, sort of. (I don't think Shardstone was suggesting making stuff up on the spot but rather working out the details in the background. I could be wrong.) Regardless, the Bastion and the associated rewards need to be tethered to the fiction for me to accept them, but I think the system can still be an abstraction of monetary transactions, political and social influence, connections, etc. I'd say for this to work at all for me and my table, it would have to be an abstraction, because, yes, I do logisitics for a living and I don't want to bring that level of detail into my game. (To be clear, I would expect my characters to engage with logisticis -- but I shun it as a player and DM).

If I spend Bastion Points to acquire a magic item, that item would not just pop into existence without explanation. Spending the points would represent the work -- tracking down the item, negotiating with the seller, hiring someone to steal it, or researching and implementing the methods to create it.

It's back to preferences here. I don't care for metacurrency personally, and would use things that are real in-universe if you want in-universe benefits.

 

[Epic Meepo]

I really hope the designers find enough room in the DMG to include both an expanded version of the (gold-based) Stronghold rules from the 2014 DMG and an expanded version of the (abstract-currency) Bastion rules from UA. Then tables could pick whichever of the two rules modules works best for their play style. Bonus points if the designers find a way for the two modules to work together if a table chooses to use both at the same time.