Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sir Knight]

((Well, since the bodies are going to rot, then we should probably sell it along with all the cultist hoods, robes and daggers from the wheelbarrows then equally divide the opal between everyone before we buy anything.))

((well,i would like to know how much money we will end up having then,because i will buy a weapon then maybe.))

Two things.

One, I should explain that I "roll for rot" whenever a carcass reaches 48 hours.  You killed the rock hydra on day 15, afternoon.  It is now day 16, afternoon.  So mmmmmaybe you'll make it to town just fine.  Maybe.

Two, you have totals in my last post:

Totals:

Dustan (Dustan Hache): 36.5 opal (so far, you've listed items worth 19.5 opal if you sold them)
John (ziizo): 62 opal (so far 37 opal)
Alyssa Alpine (Rautherdir): 92.5 opal
Dwain (Starver): 67.5 opal
Gary (Coolrune206): 3.5 opal
Bob (magmaholic): 39.5 opal (so far 29.5 opal)
Louis (dustywayfarer): 30 opal
Tohil (randomgenericusername): 80.5 opal (so far 14.5 opal, and selling all bindstone would be 50 more)
The second group's wheelbarrow: 148.5 opal (John talked about using 40.5 opal)
The third group's wheelbarrow: 170 opal (all 170 noted by John)
Plus, there's that standing jellyfish carcass: 50 opal

. . . And it's all itemized, too.  Add up whatever.

Just remember that you only have so much space.  Like, you can carry an expensive weapon around for just 2 kg, but if it's worth 35 kg of opal then turning it into cash would be a bad idea . . . unless you intended to buy something else with that cash.  (This is why everybody gets a lockbox in Rock Bottom where you can store extra stuff for later purchases.)

Now, I've done interim math, and it's cool whether you want to sell a carcass or not.  If you don't sell, players can just trust me to sell junk from the wheelbarrow to fill in the cracks for Alyssa (Rautherdir) and Dwain (Starver).  (And possibly Tohil (randomgenericusername), since I still think Dustan (Dustan Hache) would prefer he didn't sell the old tunic when it could be turned into bandages.)  Then I'd post the new inventories and you all could decide whether to stay as-is or make new trades.  What do you think?

[randomgenericusername]

((Could we butcher the corpses and sell the parts that could rot right here while keeping the rest? Also, I want to make my old tunic into bandages instead of selling it.))

[Sir Knight]

Could we butcher the corpses and sell the parts that could rot right here while keeping the rest?

Ah, good idea.  Generally I say that it takes a whole time period (morning, afternoon, or evening) to butcher something, so carving up the standing jellyfish would require you to stay here while you do the work.  However, Alyssa (Rautherdir) already carved all the edible meats out the rock hydra; it's down to stuff like connective tissue, excess fat, and the more valuable hides and bones.  (These creatures are large enough that I count them as returning two "hide objects.")

Though I don't have detailed information on just what proportion of something's weight is in its skin and so on (and please don't expect me to be realistic on that!) I could say that you can sell the rock hydra hide and just shove all the loose bones into a bloody mess in the wheelbarrow for the rest of the journey.  It may "rot" in that it smells bad, but there'd be no real loss in value.

Anyway, punchline: sell only the rock hydra's skin and you'll get 20 opal.

You could butcher the standing jellyfish, yes, but you'd have to spend time here instead of getting on with your adventure.

[Rautherdir]

((Hmm, I'll upgrade my equipment later then.))

Sell the Damaged Tunic and the Cultist Hood. Keep everything else.

[Sir Knight]

((Hmm, I'll upgrade my equipment later then.))

Sell the Damaged Tunic and the Cultist Hood. Keep everything else.

And not buy anything?  Probably best not to sell anything, then.  You're cramped for space.  Whereas turning bulky items into a nice light sword would save a lot of space.

Really, just tell me to sell surplus from the junk cart (damaged tunics, mostly), and I'll do the math to get you your sword.

As GM, I really want to see the players make progress!  (And not get bogged down by my putting a full RPG system in a silly forum game.)

[randomgenericusername]

Can we choose to stay here for now to butcher the corpses and sell the parts that could rot for opal while keeping the bones and stuff for ourselves to sell later? I want to do this so we don't lose possible money. If someone has to butcher the things, I will do it. I'm waiting for all the other buying and selling to happen to see exactly how much opal we would have and what things will be out of stock to see what we could buy with the spare money we will be left with.

[Starver]

I'm sticking with my own maths¹, and letting you all haggle the loose details, whilst I fill my secondary, non-selling, waterskin and gaze out over the water in contemplation.


¹ - I'm upgrading that tunic, for the 2 deficit that maybe someone/GM can deal with and (if the corpse is sold), would appreciate two fine skulls and one normal for 20 opal and those extra 2 opals go back into the economy².  No claim or binding preference regarding the communal ores (suggest the novel bindstone continues to go back with us) or jellyfish corpse (not novel, selling it probably best), but I'll ask that we take all vials and at least some of the leathers go back to the 'big city'.

² Side note. Normally currency, even fantasy currency, is arbitrary value-holding stuff that is handier to carry than goods you might otherwise barter. This world has that inverted. 

[Dustan Hache]

There's a reason I wanted to buy glowstone that one time we were in rock bottom. This right here is what it's all about.

Side note. Normally currency, even fantasy currency, is arbitrary value-holding stuff that is handier to carry than goods you might otherwise barter. This world has that inverted. 

I mean sure, opal is a semiprecious gem, but still: we shouldn't be trading 20 pounds of deadweight for a 5 pound dagger. Currency is only viable if it is portable.

[Starver]

In defence of the choices made by the people in this world, this opal stuff seems to not be practical for anything else (except, maybe if they have the luxury of doing so, decoration) so as a fiat currency, it satisfies most of the conditions of stability of a cash-like item (doesn't rot away, isn't easy to fake, you don't use it in manufacturing, etc) and no doubt there's something of a control over mining too much out of new veins at a time (gold-rushy competition, at the very least).

That's the world they live in. So far as we know, of course.

[Dustan Hache]

Well, It could be used in glass if melted properly. It is silica based (aka, same stuff as sand).

[Sir Knight]

And this is also why I've been encouraging--nay, expecting--people to do things like hold onto mined ores which (so far) are worth 2, 4, or 5 times as much as their weight.  And why I even handed the players some nice lightweight etherstone bars when you were paid for your last adventure.

And why I keep saying "Please, please buy something!  A sword weighs so much less than the loot you're carrying!"

It's like the humans down here are trading inanimate non-milk-producing cattle for all their goods.  Perhaps this inversion of your expectations that "money should be easy" works better in my head than otherwise.  But, just looking at modern fantasy games, if people really did lug around 1,000 solid gold coins to buy their medieval armor, they'd find their money pouches in the same situation.

To avoid carrying kilograms of dead weight, all it takes is using opal as an intermediary, buying something, and "getting on with it."  But it's been difficult to cash out and spend the winnings in your wheelbarrows.  That's surprised me: sure, sure, the characters wouldn't always agree how to divide the wealth, but can't somebody get some armor, somebody else get a weapon, a couple people say "pass," and call it good?

The overall goal is "please let's advance the game and make your characters more powerful instead of sitting around with all this loot."  But if there's simply no way to agree across the team, then I'll change the rules to allow cashing out your goods in a way that'll save you on space.  Deal?

(It's kinda contrived . . . but also precedented, and it'll tie into the plot.)

[Coolrune206]

And this is also why I've been encouraging--nay, expecting--people to do things like hold onto mined ores which (so far) are worth 2, 4, or 5 times as much as their weight.  And why I even handed the players some nice lightweight etherstone bars when you were paid for your last adventure.

And why I keep saying "Please, please buy something!  A sword weighs so much less than the loot you're carrying!"

It's like the humans down here are trading inanimate non-milk-producing cattle for all their goods.  Perhaps this inversion of your expectations that "money should be easy" works better in my head than otherwise.  But, just looking at modern fantasy games, if people really did lug around 1,000 solid gold coins to buy their medieval armor, they'd find their money pouches in the same situation.

To avoid carrying kilograms of dead weight, all it takes is using opal as an intermediary, buying something, and "getting on with it."  But it's been difficult to cash out and spend the winnings in your wheelbarrows.  That's surprised me: sure, sure, the characters wouldn't always agree how to divide the wealth, but can't somebody get some armor, somebody else get a weapon, a couple people say "pass," and call it good?

"Aaaand that's why I want a shield!", Gary declares, temporarily smashing the fourth wall.

[Sir Knight]

To avoid carrying kilograms of dead weight, all it takes is using opal as an intermediary, buying something, and "getting on with it."  But it's been difficult to cash out and spend the winnings in your wheelbarrows.  That's surprised me: sure, sure, the characters wouldn't always agree how to divide the wealth, but can't somebody get some armor, somebody else get a weapon, a couple people say "pass," and call it good?

"Aaaand that's why I want a shield!", Gary declares, temporarily smashing the fourth wall.

Heh.  I was thinking about that.  Though you did propose taking 270 in value for yourself, you know.  Maybe you'd get better results by going for a regular iron shield, at 135 . . .

But honestly, if it's just too frustrating, I'll add a system for temporary storage of value that doesn't take up as much space.  Just tell me; then I'll take what instructions people have given me so far and narrate it all together into a new update.

[Coolrune206]

Nah, I quite like the fact that currency is bulky. It prevents players from building up too much extra funds, and rather inspires them to take weaker items they might not normally take.

Gary shrugs and looks downcast. "Yeah, guess I'd be willing to compromise for the regular shield, but the fine one is just so.... fine!"

[Sir Knight]

Nah, I quite like the fact that currency is bulky. It prevents players from building up too much extra funds, and rather inspires them to take weaker items they might not normally take.

Glad you think so.  However, gotta think long-term, too.  My plan was that the super-duper-expensive items simply couldn't be purchased from stuff you'd carry around: 500 kg of opal?  1000 kg?  Obviously you'd never have that on hand, and instead you'd have to sell off cheaper items and turn that value into your 500-plus item.  Like, plan to do it.  A lockbox full of twenty sickles?  700 kg in value, and even that's not the most weight-efficient loot.

But would anyone do it?

I like the system, yeah, but if people tell me they don't want to juggle this sort of thing in a game that's supposed to be about exploring a mine, then I'll change it to make things go more smoothly.  And, hopefully, it won't over-correct and obliterate the need to care about your inventory in general.