Re: (TFT) Jobs table

[K Peterson <krpeterson1@yahoo.com>]

So, if you don't mind me asking, how do you handle 'economics' when you play
TFT? Do you just give out a base amount of cash to starting characters? Do you
have players just pick out the equipment they want for their characters?


 
From: David O. Miller <davidomiller@verizon.net>
To: tft@brainiac.com
Sent:
Monday, September 12, 2011 1:46 PM
Subject: Re: (TFT) Jobs table


Maybe I was
lucky but the first time I played TFT the referee did not whip out the
economics tables. We didn't care that the Wizards guild would hire out an
apprentice for $50 a week for a Wizard of IQ 9 or other such nonsense. Instead
we played a cool adventure. I was a human fighter with a sword. I was mauled
by bears. It was fun. I've been playing TFT ever since.

The point of this
story is that in all honesty I, in over 30 years of playing TFT, have never
even read through the economic rules more than a casual glance. IMHO they
appear to be dry, counter productive to both creativity and what the game is,
at heart, all about. They are simply not needed. I've often wondered why they
were even put in there in the first place. (Most likely because they were
trying for a complete RPG package and felt like they had to pad the rules out
a bit. They were competing with D&D at the time after all.) And, for what it's
worth, let me point out that Steve Jackson didn't even write the economics
rules. As he mentions 75% were done by a playtester named Draper Kauffman, Jr.
The same can be said for other elements of ITL. I don't really use, nor rely
on, the random stocking tables, trap tables, guilds, weight carried and I
especially don't use Prootwaddles.

So, my personal style of playing TFT is
probably summed up by Shakespeare: "The play's the thing". For me the
economics rules don't "fit" into my style of playing TFT. If it did I might
give Traveler another chance.


Cheers!
David O. Miller
www.meleewizards.com
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