Asset: Money

This page covers the basics of money in this TTRPG system.  This page also covers lifestyles, which reward player characters with experience based on how lavish a lifestyle they lead.

Money is an asset, with ratings from 0-12, which can be gained at character creation, purchased with experience, or earned in-universe through the investing mechanic.

This asset grants your character a reliable & renewable source of cash each month.

The money asset requires some kind of in-universe explanation.  Perhaps your character is a business owner, belongs to an old money family, or has a lucrative job.  Work out the details of the in-universe explanation with your GM.

Money Tracking

Create a money tracker on your character sheet similar to the example below.

Your maximum money is equal to your rating in the Money Asset.

When a player character wishes to purchase something with their money, the GM tells the player how much it costs.  The player records it in their money spent row, which is subtracted from their maximum money.

Money Tracker Example

Regaining Money

Your money refreshes each month.  Enter a zero in the “Money spent this month” row.

Loot, Booty, Plunder, & Prizes

It isn’t uncommon for player characters to acquire lots of valuables on their adventures.

When loot is acquired, the GM assigns it a rating.  This rating acts as a temporary bonus to your money, and is entered in its own row on your money tracker.  Using this temporary bonus means that you’ve spent the loot – it is gone.  Alternately, you can choose to invest the loot.

Hoarding Loot

Player characters simply cannot hold onto loot without either investing it or spending it.

If they fail to invest it or spend it within a reasonable time frame( a month or so), they fritter it away on drinks, clubs, private jets, drugs, and similar.  In other words, they spend it on a lifestyle.  Lifestyles grant experience to player characters, so your players should not be at all upset about this mechanic.  As they are burning through their fortune very fast, they automatically purchase 1 month of the highest lifestyles they can afford.

Investing

Loot can be invested instead of spent right away.

Create an Investment tracker similar to the example shown below.

The amount of Investment needed to gain 1 point on your permanent Money Asset is equal to 10x your current Money Asset rating.  Characters with a Money Asset of 0 put 10 into their Investment Needed row.  To invest, enter a number into the Investments Made row equal to the rating that the GM assigned to whatever loot you acquired.  When your Investments Needed row is equal to your Investments Made row, your Money Asset rating goes up by 1 point.  To continue investing, erase the numbers in your Investment Needed & Investments Made rows, and enter a new number in your Investments Needed row equal to 10x your current Money Asset rating.

Investment Tracker Example

Investing leftover money

If a character with the Money Asset doesn’t spend all their money each month, they may invest the remainder.  Doing this is inefficient by design.  Every 2 points of leftover money invested adds 1 to the Investments Made row.  Investing 1 unit of leftover money does nothing.

Plugin: Unsafe Investments

Use this plugin to make investing a bit of a gamble.

Once per month, roll 1d10.

A roll result of 6 causes nothing to happen.

A roll result above 6 adds the difference between the roll result and 6 to the Investments Made row.

A roll result below 6 subtracts subtracts the difference between the roll result and 6 in the Investments Made row.

Examples

A roll of 9 would add 3 to the investment track. A roll of 3 would subtract 3 from the investment track.

A roll of 1 would subtract 5 from the investment track. This plugin will never cause a character to lose points in their Money Asset rating.  It will only cause a character to lose their investments.

Sub-Plugin: Investments Biased Toward Loss

This sub-plugin creates a substantial bias toward damaging the player characters investments on a monthly basis.

Use this sub-plugin to prevent player characters from becoming ridiculously wealthy.

Change the neutral number on the 1d10 roll to 8 instead of 6.  Calculate gains or losses as the difference between the roll result and 8. Examples: A roll of 9 would add 1 to Investments Made. A roll of 3 would subtract 5  from Investments Made. A roll of 1 would subtract 7  from Investments Made.

Dipping Into Investments

Characters who are strapped for cash may wish to dip into their investments.  Dipping into investments requires a 1 month waiting period to receive the cash.  Dipping into investments is inefficient by design.  You receive temporary liquid cash on your money tracker equal to 1/4 of the Investments Made points you sacrifice.  Once the temporary money is spent, it is gone forever.

What Money Can’t Buy

Money cannot be spent to advance character traits; see experience. Concerning powers purchased with the required equipment power limiter, money or crafting may enter into the in-universe explanation for how the equipment was acquired, but the player needn’t pay anything other than experience to gain the equipment that goes with their power.

What Money Can Buy

Money is an in-universe currency that allows you to buy stuff, pay for services, bribe people, etc. Money can buy vehicles, arms & armor, & locations.  However, money cannot buy assets which provide optional vehicle mods, magic weapon mods, or magic armor mods.

Importantly, money can buy you a lifestyle.  Lifestyles grant experience to player characters, so most players will want to do this.

Trivial Costs

Some things have costs that are negligible to anyone with a Money Asset rating greater than 0.  These insubstantial transactions do not need to be recorded.  There is no need to mark them in your money tracker.

If your Money Asset rating is 0, these negligible costs can, for you, be an issue that may require roleplay or skill tests to overcome.

Example trivial costs:

• Eating at a restaurant once
• Buying a drink
• Paying a cover charge at a dance club

Negotiating, Bargaining, Bartering, Haggling, & Hucksterism

Before beginning negotiations, the GM sets a base price on the product.  The GM does NOT tell the players what the base price is.

Negotiating on price is an opposed roll between the buyer and seller.

Test: (Social) + (Presence) +/-(modifiers) OR ((Social) + (Guile) +/-modifiers)) vs (Socia) + (Insight) +/- (modifiers).

The GM rolls their dice in secret. Every 2 net successes rolled by the buyer reduces the cost by 1, to a minimum of 1. Every 2 net successes rolled by the seller increases the cost by 1, to a maximum of 12.

Lifestyles

Lifestyles simulate the luxury, or lack of luxury, experienced by player characters in your game. Lifestyles are purchased with in-game money.  They are designed to intentionally be a money-sink for player characters.  Players will choose to invest in this money-sink because it provides experience points.

You cannot ever pay for a lifestyle more than 1 month in advance.

Lifestyles & Traveling

Many player characters live a life of adventure, rarely remaining stationary for long.  This is not completely incompatible with having a lavish lifestyle.  Many of the comforts afforded by a fancy lifestyle are portable: food, servants, entertainment, etc can all be taken on the road.  However, there will be situations in which it is not practical to drag a train of servants & entertainers around, such as when stealth or anonymity are required.  In these cases, the GM will decide whether or not your lifestyle bonuses apply based on how long you were away from luxurious amenities.

Sharing A Lifestyle

Grouping together to share a lifestyle is a reasonable choice to make.  The group as a whole pays a monthly cost (seen in the chart above), and shares a lifestyle 1 step lower than the cost paid.  For example: A group may pay a monthly cost of 9(Ridiculous-class) on their money track, and will receive a High-class lifestyle.

Charity, asceticism, vows of poverty, etc.

Your character does not have to live the life of a billionaire in order to benefit(gain experience) from the lifestyle mechanic.  They could donate all of their money to charity, burn it, dump it in the ocean, or similar.  You still need to pay the cost of the lifestyle to gain experience from it.