Wealth: Abstraction vs. Accounting.

[Dannyalcatraz]

So I ask: When it comes to keeping track of wealth, do you prefer to do something resembling actual bookkeeping or do you prefer to make it more abstract?

Depends upon the system and campaign.

In something like D&D, where you can acquire gear with your gold or by finding it, I want accounting.

In something like HERO, where you can do that AND buy it with build points- which is the most common- I keep it abstract.

 

[steenan]

For me, it strongly depends on the style of the game. If (buy-able) equipment plays a big part in characters' effectiveness, or if gaining wealth is one of the main motivations, money shouldn't be abstract. It is also good to keep it non-abstract if the game assumes characters to be poor, making even trivial purchases hard dilemmas. On the other hand, if the game centers on non-financial matters, making wealth abstract saves time and allows players to concentrate on more important aspects. Also, if the wealth structure is too complicated to reasonably track (because of modern financial instruments, because of wares being traded with variable prices etc.), abstraction may not only save time, it may also give more realistic and/or fun final results.

 

[Jack7]

In our most recent game, we use physical fantasy coinage (not sure of the manufacturer) which is placed in a pouch for each of the characters, held by the player. You have what's in the bag - and so yes we count right down to the actual copper. Lots of fun. I would not find an abstract system as fun.

We use a separate sheet for each character to track "Wealth" of all different kinds. Heirlooms, artifacts, gems, jewelry, items, and money, etc.

But this is a much better idea for monetary exchange, and I'm gonna adopt it. It will also better allow for haggling and negotiation over prices for goods and services. Sort of like a little money and value game within the game. It's a good idea.

 

[Ahnehnois]

For D&D I track gold pieces, for modern games I use the d20 Modern Wealth System.

I wuold always use abstract if it was feasible, but so much of D&D is designed around the acquisition of expensive magic items it would be too difficult to convert it to anything. Even when tracking gp, I don't usually do it "down to the last copper". I figure if the PCs can buy 10,000 gp magic items they can find a bed for the night or some food without much trouble. Likewise, I doubt magic item dealers really pay 1,107 gp and 5 sp for a +1 longsword; they probably round that a bit.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Depends on the game, though I tend to prefer tracking wealth exactly. However, that gets a little difficult when lines of credit, etc, are involved.

I once played a short barbarian campaign (D&D 3e) where we tracked wealth exactly - but that really boiled down to our gear, a few goats and the random odd golden trinket found while adventuring. There was also "clout" that came from personal renown and being favored by powerful npcs. End result was a hybrid accounting/wealth/reputation scheme that worked well enough for a really low-power game in a barter economy. I think the "bag of coins" system mentioned above would have worked really nicely for this kind of thing.

(Other lessons learned: Goats aren't as good for springing traps as I was led to believe.)

 

[roguerouge]

I'm the guy that posts about how much renting an apartment in Freeport should cost. Few abstractions, if any.

 

[Kaodi]

I believe that I am firmly in the "accounting" camp. Perhaps that should be taken with a grain of salt because I could happily belong in the camp that likes to buy properties and build bases, control territories and that sort of thing, where it is important.

But I think that when the game often boils down to "kill things and take their stuff" it would be rather a shame if you made that "stuff" abstract. I mean, it would be like making all magical items abstract, "You have now aquired enough loot to be at the +1 magic level."

Now, of course, as has been noted here before, abstracting magic items is completely doable (or maybe it was more rolling magic items into the characters themselves), and depending on the type of game you run, even desirable, but I do not think that I would want it to be the default option. Rather, I do not think it would be that cool in a campaign where "kill things and take their stuff" was the actual motivation.

 

[cmrscorpio]

I love the d20 modern abstraction of wealth. Because it can fluctuate depending on items bought, and it grows based on level, which allows higher level characters to be able to get cooler equipment, but they don't get those items without some noticeable cost.

White Wolf did a good enough job in getting it to work within its system. It assumes that players aren't going to try to go overboard with purchasing *everything* that they can afford because it isn't going to affect their buying power if a storyteller isn't there to stop them.

If I could, I'd only use abstract wealth. Unfortunately, practically no group wants to use an abstract system to keep track of wealth in pseudo-medieval fantasy. I've currently got a couple players for whom the acquisition of wealth is almost as important as experience points. They keep track of every copper they pick up. To me, it is an unnecessary headache. Don't get me wrong, I love roleplaying the interaction with merchants and the actual negotiation over prices, but the actual transactions themselves I couldn't care less about.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Every time I start a new campaign, I intend to have more abstracted wealth and ammunition...

Every time, te players INSIST on bookeeping every single copper and I always end up asking the archer how many arrows he has left...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My answer would be "42."