Re: (TFT) Magical vs Non-Magical Lights

["Jay Carlisle" <selfinflicted_wounds@boardermail.com>]

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: ErolB1

> o Given the existence of gunpowder weapons, I'd say the economy resembles
> something a bit later than a purely medieval background.

Fair enough.

But
TFT ITL pg20
ARTIFACTS
"The overall technology on Cidri is medieval - it varies from Stone Age in many places to early Renaissance in a few."

and
TFT AW pg24
CHEMISTS' TABLE
Gunpowder requires 20grams Dragons' dung.

> o In my campaign, a lot of trade is on a barter basis (especially local trade
> out in the farming villages), but the law of supply & demand doesn't go away
> in a barter economy.

Well said.

W/o too much caffeinated babble, a barter economy tends to trade a supply of this, for a supply of that directly.
Supply is very do-able in a game.

> 
> o Finally, making lamp oil less available makes the "industrial disease"
> problem *worse* IMO, by making magical lights relatively more 
> attractive. If lamp
> oil costs $0.4 per liter when it is available, but the supply is uncertain,
> then when a Light item comes along at $1400, it will be more attractive to buy
> it, or trade for it, than if one did have a reliable source of lamp oil.

True, but where are these people living?
If they don't have firewood/lamp oil available that they can gather themselves then this is an "artificial" town to begin with (like a mining village on the side of a steep, barren mountain) and it seems that it would take some industrialization to provide and transport oil/wood there.
If they can't feed themselves then the caravans get bigger and more frequent.
 
> 
> Now I do handwave the sources of lamp oil (and of other, similar "raw
> materials") because I'm not trying to run a complete economic 
> simulation. 

I understand not wanting to keep up with a ton of paperwork.
IMO the GM should enjoy the game as much as anyone else and not be saddled with a part-time job trying to keep up with the campaign.
If it's not fun, it's not gaming.

> I'm just
> trying to avoid bogosities equivalent to having people living in the middle of
> the Alberta oil fields use natural gas for their stoves and dryers - while at
> the same time insisting on importing coal for home heating.
> 

War, politics and business.
They're so related.

First, I'd think that that's one powerful coal company.

Second, over 2/3rds of all power goes to industry.
It's snowing, on the beach, just above the 45th parallel, in Feb., as I type this.
I notice most of the population of Canada is below the 55th.

Without hydro-electric or other sources, those plants (above the 55th I think?) may be burning over 2/3rds of the natural gas it's producing, just to power its self.

Then there's Calgary and Edmonton, and big towns like Medicine Hat and Red Deer, all of whoms industry require twice as much power as residences.

If I were Tyrant, I'd probably make them get in their boxes at dusk and open them up at dawn.
Screw the oil.

LOL

I'd like to finish by quoting a bit from an article from National Geographic, Feb. 2001; "Swamps of Jersey the Meadowlands

 "But entertaining politics can have consequences. Just past Giants Stadium, Roseman showed me the 600-acre site called the Empire Tract. Several years ago developers proposed a retail mall and a mini-city of 14,000 people on the wetlands here. Roseman started out as an ardent opponent of the development, which would have tripled Carlstadt's population. The mini-city was the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commissions (a state agency) idea. "They were telling us it was going to happen and we had no choice," he recalled. "So we sued."
 Then Roseman became MAYOR, with a rising budget, a dwindling tax base, and, inevitably, an eye for new RATABLES, meaning tax-paying properties. This is the familiar equation that makes development in the Meadowlands irresistible. To make it even more irresistible, the owners of the tract threatened a countersuit to get their tax assessment cut from the commercial rate, as much as $350,000 an acre, to the rate for open wetlands, perhaps as little as $4,000 an acre. Carlstadt began to see the virtue of new construction in the wetlands. The developer agreed to drop the mini-city proposal and to concentrate the development on just 200 acres, rehabilitating wetlands on the remainder of the site, and Roseman agreed not to oppose the mall. "You have to remember, it's a multimillion dollar ratable," he said. "On 200 acres, we could double our tax base." But a little later, he added, "Theoretically, if development continues the way it has, in a hundred years (5 generations) they'll be saying, Why was this place called the Meadowlands?"

I quote the above because it shows a lot of the kinds of dynamics I'm trying to capture.
It's no good being King if you can't do Kingly things!
Ultimatly, by adding aspects of play that focus on other ways of affecting the gameworld besides combat, I hope to provide Figures with options other than Buged Out Crazy adventureing to make their way.
Hide from trouble and it seeks you.
There is a Timeline in my gameworld, and a clearly stated Dark Lord.
Players ignore his plans to their detriment.
Also I'll let 'em become Mnoren, or even Apotheosis.
I've got stuff for that too, although I've only run the "death game" once, where two or more Mnoren go after each others Family Trees.

Sorry for all the babble, but I think economics is HIGHLY overlooked as a playable mechanic for RPGs.
Traveler had some trading rules...

Anyway, I'd better stick with the Stats before I get in too deep on something else.

Jay

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