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<blockquote data-quote="(Psi)SeveredHead" data-source="post: 3191055" data-attributes="member: 1165">I recently read a book called &quot;Warriors of the Plains&quot;, a book about &quot;cowboys/merchants&quot; based on real life. (Don't snicker.) It was from 1830-1855 or so, which is actually a bit before the cowboy era as I understand it, but whatever. They were competent traders and adventurer-types. But, here's the thing.Running a business takes smarts and skills. Some adventurers aren't smart (most fighter types aren't), and most don't have any business acumen. The only character from the company who didn't have business acumen was a scout, who naturally was never around the other characters except for a few days every few months.Nobles frequently had someone (a steward) take care of their land while they were gone. However this meant the steward ended up doing most of the business, while the noble could go to war, become a government minister or even adventure with few hindrances.The rules system makes it difficult for PCs to spend money on anything but magic items after a few levels. You can't start a business because it'll make you too weak to recoup your initial investment through the usual method of &quot;kicking arse and taking names&quot; - unless you don't mind not adventuring for five years to make money the less violent way. (By that time, you might be too comfortable to want to adventure again, now that you've got more to lose.) If the PCs were rewarded with a fief (or adjoining fiefs) by the king or queen, they might not have to put much money into it, in which case they install one or more stewards and go adventure. But at that point, little has changed, other than giving them a home base from which the PCs can occasionally dispense business advice. They won't even be able to invest loot they acquire later on because of the rules system.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="(Psi)SeveredHead, post: 3191055, member: 1165"] I recently read a book called "Warriors of the Plains", a book about "cowboys/merchants" based on real life. (Don't snicker.) It was from 1830-1855 or so, which is actually a bit before the cowboy era as I understand it, but whatever. They were competent traders [i]and[/i] adventurer-types. But, here's the thing. Running a business takes smarts and skills. Some adventurers aren't smart (most fighter types aren't), and most don't have any business acumen. The only character from the company who didn't have business acumen was a scout, who naturally [i]was never around the other characters[/i] except for a few days every few months. Nobles frequently had someone (a steward) take care of their land while they were gone. However this meant the steward ended up doing most of the business, while the noble could go to war, become a government minister or even adventure with few hindrances. The rules system makes it difficult for PCs to spend money on anything but magic items after a few levels. You can't start a business because it'll make you too weak to recoup your initial investment through the usual method of "kicking arse and taking names" - unless you don't mind not adventuring for five years to make money the less violent way. (By that time, you might be too comfortable to want to adventure again, now that you've got more to lose.) If the PCs were rewarded with a fief (or adjoining fiefs) by the king or queen, they might not have to put much money into it, in which case they install one or more stewards and go adventure. But at that point, little has changed, other than giving them a home base from which the PCs can occasionally dispense business advice. They won't even be able to invest loot they acquire later on because of the rules system. [/QUOTE]

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