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<blockquote data-quote="Johnny Angel" data-source="post: 3407581" data-attributes="member: 13334">The Wealth System is a good idea in conjunction with the Gadget System in that it provides a nice steep marginal cost curve for adding features to items.&nbsp; The Blood &amp; Circuits line of .pdfs provides a good set of rules for this, and d20 Future Player's Companion has such rules for designing drugs as well.&nbsp; However, it's a pain in the ass for buying and selling.&nbsp; You're never sure what your wealth level is really worth.&nbsp; The die rolls involved make book-keeping a process that can't be worked backwards.&nbsp; You also have to finagle the order in which you buy items in order to get the best deal, which means that you have to do the math all over again if you later decide you need to take things off of your shopping list.&nbsp; Purchase Time is supposed to keep the system balanced, but it's another number you have to calculate.&nbsp; On top of that is a cost in both Wealth Bonus and Purchase Time in order to buy the licenses -- and that too has to be calculated.&nbsp; Compare this to a cash system in which you add the set prices of the items you're buying and subtract that from your cash total.The cash system is simpler.It's true that the cash system doesn't represent the intricacies of modern personal finance.&nbsp; But the Wealth System doesn't either.&nbsp; It's just an abstraction that stands as a way of not thinking about it.&nbsp; Indeed, thinking about what the Wealth stat actually means will simply give you a headache.&nbsp; I use the cash system and tell my players that it's an abstraction and not to think about the intricacies of modern finance.&nbsp; But if they do decide to think about what their cash totals mean, they can simply picture a big pile of Zorkmids.&nbsp; Saves headaches all around.Aside from the Gadget System, what is the advantage of using the Wealth system?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Johnny Angel, post: 3407581, member: 13334"] The Wealth System is a good idea in conjunction with the Gadget System in that it provides a nice steep marginal cost curve for adding features to items. The Blood & Circuits line of .pdfs provides a good set of rules for this, and d20 Future Player's Companion has such rules for designing drugs as well. However, it's a pain in the ass for buying and selling. You're never sure what your wealth level is really worth. The die rolls involved make book-keeping a process that can't be worked backwards. You also have to finagle the order in which you buy items in order to get the best deal, which means that you have to do the math all over again if you later decide you need to take things off of your shopping list. Purchase Time is supposed to keep the system balanced, but it's another number you have to calculate. On top of that is a cost in both Wealth Bonus and Purchase Time in order to buy the licenses -- and that too has to be calculated. Compare this to a cash system in which you add the set prices of the items you're buying and subtract that from your cash total. The cash system is simpler. It's true that the cash system doesn't represent the intricacies of modern personal finance. But the Wealth System doesn't either. It's just an abstraction that stands as a way of not thinking about it. Indeed, thinking about what the Wealth stat actually means will simply give you a headache. I use the cash system and tell my players that it's an abstraction and not to think about the intricacies of modern finance. But if they do decide to think about what their cash totals mean, they can simply picture a big pile of Zorkmids. Saves headaches all around. Aside from the Gadget System, what is the advantage of using the Wealth system? [/QUOTE]

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