Tonguez said:
What is the MMS:WE system - how complex is it and how does it work?
I've got my own homebrew system for running "societies" that basically gives each group four ability scores (Parameters) namely: Productivity, Authority, Culture, Might/(Military) determined by rolling 3d6 (3-18)
These are then used to check against various DCs. The Economic System works on the basis of Harvest for each season and determines the DC = Expected Yeild/Labour
Its not so much a kingdom-wide economic system - its more of a way to simulate one when the party walks into town to buy torches and armor.
Essentially, the PCs make a purchase roll, which is a d20 modified by the size of the community and the price of the item vs. the DC for the item. The PCs can add a final buyer's modifier to the roll to try to get the item at a good price - for example, if the sorcerer was looking for a diamond to purchase, he could take a -16 modifier to the roll to see if he could find one at a 20% discount from the typical base price. If he doesn't find one at this price, he can keep rolling, all the while adding increased bonuses to the purchase roll. The sorcerer could eventually find his diamond, but at up to 4x the price if he was rolling poorly.
It assumes that in a medieval society, there are no fixed prices-- essentially every price is negotiable.
The authors mention that some DM discretion is needed to decide whats available - you can't buy a ship in a mountain village, for example. Nor is the roll modified by any skills or abilities, but the authors say you can fiddle with the system to make it so.
What I really need the system for is to provide a certain randomness to what kind of magic items the PCs can purchase in town, since 3rd edition now assumes that purchasing magic is not only possible but perhaps mandatory. I don't like the idea of PCs running to the alchemists to pick up a six-pack of
cure moderate wounds potions with no trouble. I don't envision that kind of mass production in my pre-industrial campaign world, so I think some random rolls would provide a bit of verisimilitude and balance (and of course, some fun).
Anyway, it's a nice system, but I guess what I like the least about it is the 7-page chart of purchase DCs with everything from bastard swords to glass wine bottles. What it really needs are purchase DCs for magic items, but there aren't any. The item price modifier takes care of this somewhat, but I think the whole thing could be simplified somehow--- say DC 10 for mundane items, DC 15 for magic. The less pawing through pages, the better.
As the authors suggest, I'd like to get the PCs skills and abilities involved in the rolls somehow. Tying the roll to a single skill might be overpowering, but a wisdom check modified with 5 ranks in this or that skill could fit the bill.
I was thinking of dividing the purchase roll into two rolls instead of one - roll once for availability, modified by price, community size, and other modifiers (rarity, ranks in gather information, etc). Next, make the haggle roll - modify if you have ranks in diplomacy or bluff, appraisal, blah blah. High rollers get the good prices.
