(TFT) Jobs table: 100,000 simulated soldiers and farmers

[Jay Carlisle <maou.tsaou@gmail.com>]

Bleh!

Try to be general and see what happens? lol

Okay, I was trying to avoid some of the complexities of all this like
bullion or tokens verses specie coin, seigniorige, debasement, and yada
yada.

I do want to address a couple of points though.

Moneys value is perceived.
I agree with this but would like to point out that the labor involved in its
production goes a LONG way toward that perception.
I'm not aware of Athenian citizens lining up to get in the mines to get
themselves some silver.
Also, that faith that is placed in currency is bolstered by how effectively
that money meets the general using populations hierarchy of needs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs
I'm not trying to be real specific here as I'd expect different cultures to
have different pyramids but it's my opinion that goods treated as money have
much greater flexibility on the pyramid so to speak than goods in a barter
system would thereby increasing the perception of value.
So generally speaking, I'd expect a labor intensive (not to mention
dangerous to obtain) good treated as money to be more valuable than a more
common good i.e. my simple statement.

As to the Dale bit I was specifically thinking about some of the effects of
the Cali gold rush.
I was thinking about saloons hiring bartenders with the biggest hands
because a shot of wiskey went for a pinch of gold or profit to be made from
shipping laundry to Hawaii and whatnot but I've also just recalled that
folks up here in my current neck of the woods (Oregon) were some of the
first outside the locals to catch wind of it and as a result the population
in 1848 of well over 25,000 was well below 9,000 in 1849 (couldn't even get
a quorum in the legislature if I recall) so what does that say about the
battle of five armies?
Still the points a good one in its basics I think, and I'd note that
California wasn't exactly easy to get to in 1849 and Cali's not landlocked
nor bounded by Mirkwood so I'd expect extreme gold-rush conditions to
persist for at least a year or so with the example as given, and remember,
Smaug's gold wouldn't have to be mined or panned, etc.

As to economics in the medieval period I'd note that things had slipped a
bit from the days of Rome but it's not the Dark Ages anymore and other parts
of the world were doing okay.
(I'll note here that the standard 1001 "Western Civ" class in the u.s. is
very particularly just that, a steady progression from the Ancient Middle
East westward to Greece, Rome, and Europe that jumps to the america's ASAP
and effectively ignores two thirds of the planet while continuing westward
via "manifest destiny" in one helluva u.s. ego stroke, but that's back to
the whole perceived thing.)
I've read arguments that Lydia was the first "free market" economy... I'm
not versed enough to judge such claims but as I understand it the medieval
economy, such as it was, can still be considered to be on a definite upswing
in Europe overall and free markets don't seem to have been unknown in days
prior.
The real dismal period economically was the Dark Ages, but again that's in
general.

I also agree with the point that the vast majority of people were involved
in agriculture, possibly upwards of 90% in some regions or even more, but
this is true long past the medieval period and is quite the boon to handling
populations as the vast majority can be "scheduled" as serfs or whatever
term you like.
Drop a million souls in Rome and it sounds like whole bunch of people but if
90% of 'em have to farm full time to feed 100% of them then you've only got
around 100,000 folks to fill everything else on Romes Job Table.
It's much more common to have too few people available in King-play than it
is to have too many which is another situation ripe for adventures like
getting a load of gold outta Dale and through Mirkwood into Rohan (I'd
advise a westward route to the Anduin maybe).
Anyway, having the vast majority involved almost strictly in agriculture
makes the rest of the economy simpler as was suggested and easier to
describe in game-terms rather than harder.

As to the availability of raw materials, that's one of the major reasons I
use Earth as a model.
Xenophon wrote of the mines at Laurium that "The divine bounty has bestowed
upon us inexhaustible mines of silver".
That term 'inexhaustible' seems to pop up a lot when considering resources,
even up to today.

The concept of limits is very useful in structuring a wide open play
environment that allows for more play options than killing for fun, profit,
and advancement.
I group limits into 3 groups.

1 Universal Limits
These are by far the firmest of the limits on the whole but also, usually,
the most obscure. Things like the speed of light are very defined limits but
also not so likely to show up in a medieval campaign very often.

2 Planetary Limits
These limits have a little bit of slack to them locally and vary wildly in
comparison. Ballistics on Mars is a whole other thing than on momma Tera
even if you (somehow) pack an Earth air pressure atmosphere on her. But on
Earth it is helpful to note that the fastest baseball throws, downhill
skiers, and sky divers, among other examples, tend to top out around 120
mph.

3 Statistical Limits
These are by far the least defined limits of the group. I wouldnt even use
the term limit for these if there was any clear consensus as to what 1
point of a statistic actually IS much less what a suggested limit of If a
GM wants to run a realistic campaign he should consider limiting the
maximum ST of human-type Figures to 30 actually IS.
I certainly understand that pegging a hard definition onto ST 30 is no
cakewalk but to have practically no description at all is no improvement
over any other undefined system such as 18/00.
If the statistics are so loose that ST 30 in one GMs campaign lets a player
break a 4 by 6 but in another GMs game itll only break a 2 by 4 then
the potential for miscommunication is high and the rule needs clarification
IMO.
A GM and her or his players should be able to look at a statistic and both
read the same basic idea.
If a GM has a clear idea of what a ST of 30 basically defines then there is
no reason at all that they cant describe what 1 point of ST is under the
same terms.
Of course that makes it sound pretty simple, but if you start looking at
more specific examples things get real squirrelly real quick.
My 1981 Guinness gives the world record for the 100m (~77 hexes) as 9.95
sec. and my 2004 gives it as 9.78 sec. and Bolts 9.58 in Berlin is the last
Im aware of.
When considering that some of the earliest record times recorded for the
100m in the 1890s were coming in at almost 11 seconds this seems
problematic, not to mention record time plateaus that persisted for a decade
or two during several time-periods over the 100+ year history of the event.
This is true of pretty much any record one would care to look at, the
Guinness record for a bantam-weight snatch improved almost 100 pounds
between 81 and 04 from around 275 up to 370, an improvement of around 75%
in roughly a generation (20 years).
Then again, 100m sprint times from around the mid-thirties through the
fifties seem to have stayed relatively level.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_record_progression_100m_men.png
So does that mean that any attempt to try and define 1 point of ST is
hopeless?
I doubt that for a number of reasons.
First is an issue of Talents and Jobs.
While Running seems to be a general (and poorly described) catchall for
innate speed that serves for a medieval setting, by the turn of the
twentieth century Id think that a Talent Sprinting had developed along with
a Job Athlete that helped to push times lower by allowing a Figure to devote
most of their effort toward achieving faster times.
As a Figure focuses Running specifically on speed over a short distance and
spends significant portions of their time practicing that focus Id expect
to see improvement.
Second Id suspect that technological developments in equipment, training,
and nutrition have played some role in the decrees in times.
Better footwear, surfaces, timers, and nutritional understanding probably
arent going to hurt matters, though I wouldnt expect the gains to be on
the same level as the actual Talent or Job.
TFT already encompasses this concept in its listed Talents with Sword and
Fencing at least (and there is no way a Figure is gonna Fence with a great
sword much less a gladius in the same manner that Usain aint gonna break
9.58 in combat boots I dont care what their ST is).
Then there is the dice and how they are used to determine the outcome.
In the case of a sprint there are several phases of the race.
First theres the starting gun itself.
A Figure has to actually hear the shot, or attempt to anticipate it.
Acute Hearing ought to help here one would think.
Next a Figure has to react quickly to the shot.
Then they must accelerate to their best speed and then maintain that speed
as much as possible through the finish.
(actually the very best modern athletes currently are just a hair faster in
the 200m suggesting that the acceleration period continues past 100m for
them)
So if I use an IQ check to perceive the starting gun, a DX check to react to
it, and a couple of ST checks for the effort of acceleration and maintaining
top speed then there are 4 opportunities for the Figure to excel i.e. roll
3  5 on a 3d6 check, 8 and less on 4d6, 11 or less on 5d6 and so on.
I feel that the locus of the above allows enough flexibility to represent
above average results based off statistics that represent a weak average.
Esleif youre stuck with MA 12 and one initiative check to win the race
regardless of the Figures involved stats.
Thats all well and good for a once in a blue moon situation if it ever
comes up at all, not many on your marks, get set, go situations in a
dungeon, but it doesnt offer much by way of dramatic tension for a chase
through the streets or similar situation in a more open play environment.

1 point of ST = 5.5 pounds moved 1 foot in 1 second.
Check this vs. TFT encumbrance, its a very minor tweak, and note that this
equals one one-hundredth of 1 horsepower allowing vehicles to drop into the
game fairly easily rather than having to use a different system altogether.
Lets check this figure vs. info on the net.
Wikipedia suggests that Joe Average can produce around 1.2 hp as a maximum
for brief durations while maintaining about 0.1 hp over a normal workday.
Joe has ST 10 which checks out to 55 pounds in sustained effort or about 0.1
hp and if we bump that by an order of magnitude for a approximation of max
effort then that puts him at 1hp with about 0.2 hp slack for dice results.
Not too shabby if I do say so myself.
Wiki also mentions that trained athletes max around 2.5 hp and maintain
around 0.3 hp which puts them solidly in the 20s.
Horses maintain 1 hp (duh) and max around 15.
Engines are pretty straight forward.

1 point of DX = 1 second to react (DX = 1 second / DX).
This allows me and my players to have a general idea of just how much
quicker a DX 12 Figure might be expected to react to something perceived by
a DX 10 Figure at the same instance if they both roll the same result on the
same number of dice.
This gives Joe Average a reaction of 0.1 second + Action movement duration
if significant (e. g. using a weapon thats too heavy for a Figures ST
increases the movement duration of the swing sword Action).

1 point of IQ = 2 seconds to perceive (IQ = 2 seconds / IQ).
This one works for combat (and sports) but also over downtime as a higher IQ
will allow a Figure to "study" faster than a lower IQ by perceiving more
material over the same duration.
Joe average has a perception time of 0.2 seconds.

I've got ST nailed at this point and it'd be hard to dissuade me from where
I'm at but, as nobody has offered a competing idea (that Im aware of) I'll
not set it in stone just yet as I'm not so firm on DX and even a bit less on
IQ... still think Im in the ballpark though and as it turns out in yet
another instance of synchronicity I ran across sabermetrics from a couple of
physics sites a few weeks ago... about the same time I noticed the Moneyball
adverts so I'm muddling through as best I can and trying to refine DX and IQ
accordingly.
Oddness abounds.

Anywho, seems I've rambled a bit... but just to throw another wrench in the
works I'll get back to economics in my close by mentioning that my Orc
cultures mostly use a potlatch economy which has an interesting history as
well including its repression by western governments.
When the Germans took Yap guess how they got the natives to resume
maintenance work on the islands footpaths?

Double bleh!

Happiness is a warm gun (and a cold Koch)
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