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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 3543979" data-attributes="member: 18280">I am reminded of the EN World stricture not to discuss real life politics, or I would point out that I do in fact work for someone who takes a portion of my profits, and then go into detail about that.Instead, let me example drug dealers, as described from the interesting book Freakonomics.At the lowest level, gang members in the drug-dealing gangs make no money at all.  In fact, they pay money to have a shot at getting a high enough position in the gang to get a street corner.  The guys working corners make less than minimum wage.  At the time of the study used in Freakonomics, they had roughly a 1 in 4 chance of sustaining serious injury or being killed per year.  The rungs over that made 80% of the profits.So, why did people work in these gangs?(1)  Because there are incentives other than money involved.  One is the chance to make it up the ladder to a position where you could potentially make real money.  Of course, as with the chance of being a professional athelete or an international superstar, the odds are vanishingly small.  Another is that the gang takes care of your family and funereal expenses if you're shot.(2)  Their other career options seem limited.  As an example, "janitor" might seem to be a good job within the context of their world.This relates to adventurers in a well-developed D&D world because the adventurers don't exist in a vaccuum.  They have a symbiotic relationship with the peoples and governments in their world.  Most adventurers, when they start out, are looking for the chance to make it up the ladder.  In the case of D&D, the ladder is the XP Ladder leading to Higher and Higher Levels.  It is also the GP Ladder, leading to bigger and bigger treasures.  It is likely that the PCs are only one set of a large number of would-be adventurers, and that not all of those adventurers are going to successfully make it up those ladders.  In some games, the PCs success may be guaranteed, but this is by no means the only (or the best) way to play the game.In a world based off of almost any real-world culture or time period, the government of the adventuring area is going to want to stay in power.  A large part of that is based upon maintaining its rights while curtailing those of others.  For example, certain weapons, items, and magicks are likely to be held as the province of government.  Would-be adventurers need to earn the right to use/have/create them.  Often, this means that they must demonstrate themselves to be staunch allies of the government.This is also, by the way, the way that the paying gang members try to work their way up to a street corner.  Being a "team player" is important in sports to get a chance to even get before a scout, let alone to having that scout recommend you.Those people simply don't exist.  Not in this world, not in any other.  Of course, you could create a world where they don'e exist -- this is a fantasy rpg, after all!   <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" /> Excepting that, presumably (and certainly using the DMG demographics!), the area that the PCs want to move onto are also ruled by people not unlike the ones they're leaving behind.  Moreover, those people have a pool of adventurers of their own, who, like the street venders and paying gang members, have demonstrated their loyalty to the current structure.  Not only will the rulers here want as much as they do from their underling adventurers, but they will want to make damn sure that these new people have neither the desire nor the power to rock their political boat.Think of it as split-off members from a rival gang moving in on your turf, and you'll see what I mean.I fully endorse this concept, from free meals and beds coming from common folk through to land grants at higher level.  However, the idea that stuff = taxes is, I think, incorrect.  The local ruler doesn't want you to be glutted with the means to take him down.  He wants you to be tied into the system.  Therefore, while some of his gifts might be pretty baubles (jewelry for the most part) or specific items needed to complete a mission (probably a loan), other gifts will be things like titles, land grants, rights to perform specific functions or colelct specific taxes, and so on -- things that make your continued investment dependent upon the healthy state of the local government.And marriages.  There's nothing like a marriage and a few kids to cement an alliance.  For a stronger alliance, how about you raise my kid and I raise yours?I like to point out The Godfather as a good example of how D&D politics can work.(Speaking of which, giving gifts to underlings is a great way to spend the extra magic items that PCs accumulate.  Eventually, they may discover themselves to be the local rulers!)</blockquote>

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