Saturday, October 5, 2019

Runeforest Incursion (Into the Wyrd & Wild + Stygian Library): Money and Downtime

Subject to change but here's the first draft at least.

There are two currency types for Runeforest:

Supply is equivalent to about 1 gold in other systems and used as a universal survival and bartering unit for everyday expenses and items

Prestige is more nebulous, comprising general goodwill, positive reputation, available favors, and lots of cash to grease the right palms. 
100 Supply can be converted into 1 Prestige
2 Prestige can be converted into 100 supply, as it's difficult to liquidate non-cash assets 
It would take approximately 3 Supply/day to survive in an absolutely hostile environment (with no food/water/shelter available other than what you bring yourself)

1 Prestige could be spent for a night out at the most exclusive bar in Polis, buying expensive liquor and making friends with important people
10 prestige could be spent on a simple magic weapon or armor
15 prestige could fund/arrange for the creation of a small business
(above numbers subject to change)

Your Company's mysterious patron has supplied a simple barracks on the outskirts of Polis, where you may live in humble conditions for free.

If you wish to spend a downtime in the Trading Post, you will have to rent a room or make other arrangements.

Downtime Actions (if used) take one week. Possibilities include but are not limited to:


Clean Your Kill: Automatically succeed on a corpse butchery roll for up to 200 pounds of flesh
Carousing: Get drunk and blow an unknown amount of money and dignity, get an 'X' on a random stat. Odd, detrimental, or beneficial events may occur.
Check the Rumour-weave: Get answers to questions about oddities encountered OR learn of specific threats for the current/upcoming Runecycle
Go Hunting: Decide on a Quarry. As long as it has 5 marks or less you should be able to hunt it successfully, but may incur a level of Exhaustion. 
Wizard Business: Practice with spells or magic items. Spell research, breeding, and other eldritch activities go here.
Find New Blood: Find some new recruits for the Company. Potential recruits will accompany you as a Retainer for one mission before deciding whether or not to join officially
R&R: Clear an extra level of exhaustion and get new saves against disease or other temporary conditions.
Negotiate: Spend some amount of Prestige to get access to exclusive Trading Company Officials or Wytch-Guard Captains. Gives options for prestigious Guard or Hunt jobs for future sessions.


Design Notes: I struggle alot with how economics should work in the games I run, but I like the concept of differentiating the "everyday" fund with the "wheelbarrows of money and favor" fund. It's heavily inspired by the Blades in the Dark system of Coin/Stash, where players and gangs only have access to so much liquid cash at a time and instead have to put additional funds into a combination retirement/rainy day fund that's more expensive to cash out than it is to cash in.

I'm not really sure if I have the right idea on how to spend Prestige- the lowest spending option is meant to be the equivalent of blowing several thousand dollars on a night at a bar by buying shots for everyone and the like. Should 10 of those nights really equal a shiny magic weapon though? I have no idea.

Right now the plan is to reward anywhere from .5-4 Prestige for completed jobs depending on a number of factors, split between the participants. More dangerous jobs can of course earn more Prestige.

The downtime rules are heavily inspired by Lungfungus' Rules Here. If the players do decide to take downtime actions though, the nature of Runeforest cycles means they risk losing the advantage of any maps or information about the current cycle iteration they might have.

No comments:

Post a Comment