Eccentric but plausible ways a character could be rich?

[Ragitsu]

For a "modern day" character (1980 onwards), what kind of background could be fun yet practical that explains their great wealth?

[tkdguy]

Winning the lottery can work. The character may be hounded by the media for a while, however.

[Escafarc]

How rich are we talking about?

[Ragitsu]

How rich are we talking about?

At least a millionaire.

[Escafarc]

Poker Player would lend itself to being a hero's day-job in a number of different genres.

[tkdguy]

Poker Player would lend itself to being a hero's day-job in a number of different genres.

That's a good suggestion. The hero can acquire a reputation similar to that of Bruce Wayne, so nobody would connect him with his vigilante alter ego.

[Enforcer84]

Inventor would work.
Broker
Venture Capitalist

[Ragitsu]

Inventor of the solar powered flashlight?

[Escafarc]

Inventor of the solar powered flashlight?
Dehydrated Water

[Enforcer84]

How upstanding do you want them to be?
Slum Lord, er Investment Realtor...
(Adult) Movie Producer
Music Producer

[Vulcan]

My last character with Wealth got it by hacking his Hunted's bank accounts. Lots of computer skills helps with this one. :D

[Ragitsu]

Fairly upstanding, yeah. One idea I had in mind was the invention of a new very-efficient fuel cell.

[Shadow Hawk]

If the character had slowed aging or doesn't age, a very small investment at a lousy compounding interest rate will still be worth millions if you wait long enough.

Time travel: go back in time. Acquire a small to medium amount of coinage. Bury it in a secure location. Travel back to the present. Dig up your coinage. Sell as antiques.

Time travel 2: Go forward in time. Acquire sports almanac, or business section of newspaper. Go back to present. Invest accordingly.

Sports star in unusual sport. Bowling champ. Darts champ. Pokeman champ.

[freakboy6117]

some suggestions from movies and TV shows
in About a boy Hugh Grants character was Independently wealthy based on his dad writing a popular Christmas song.
how about creating the next angry birds.

only fools and horse (a British sitcom about incompetent street traders) had them discovering that they had an amazingly valuable antique they had picked up years ago in a job lot .
the short lived show John Doe which was about a man who wakes up with no memory of his life but knowing literally everything else builds up a fortune from pocket change with a combination of horse racing and stock trading.


Canadian mystery show Endgame revolves around a chess grand master confined to a luxury hotel due to agoraphobia following the death of his wife to pay his hotel bill between playing online matches and in against 5 opponents at once in his suite he solves crimes for a fee

[tkdguy]

Inventor of the solar powered flashlight?

I used to have a friend who did that for his physics project in high school.

[dmjalund]

He invented Facebook

[Enforcer84]

Fairly upstanding, yeah. One idea I had in mind was the invention of a new very-efficient fuel cell.

Could get him killed :)

Or at least the oil companies would try to stop him. That could be plot hook right there.

[Ragitsu]

Could get him killed :)

Or at least the oil companies would try to stop him. That could be plot hook right there.

Have you ever ran or been in a Dark Champions game where corporate espionage was the driving motivation to adventure?

[shadowcat1313]

this ones plausible, highly unlikely, but it happens on occasion
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110619/ap_on_re_us/us_homeless_man_rich

[Ragitsu]

How rich can one get owning the land a vital or popular crop is grown on? I'm thinking "tea owner".

[Bloodstone]

Inventor of the solar powered flashlight?

http://www.bogolight.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXNinc_rr2I

[Martin2]

How about someone you never met and have no family connections left it you in his will?

Story being that a year before they died they changed the will excluding all the family and left it to you.

Could be used to add a hunted family member want their money back complication

Just explain it to your GM that you do not know why he left it to you but he can make it up. So you will have the family trying to get it back.

The reason? Just picked you out of the phone book (they could have an old contact address for you or your mothers address to indicate a very old back story)? Wrong person and the other person with your name will be looking for his money (villain / hero)? Did you assist him or his family or just got rid of an enemy he did not like in your other line of buisness and he found out your secret id?

Give it to the GM as a plot idea ;).

[Enforcer84]

How rich can one get owning the land a vital or popular crop is grown on? I'm thinking "tea owner".
Or perhaps the inventor/producer of a popular energy drink, or diet program?

[Escafarc]

How about someone you never met and have no family connections left it you in his will?

Story being that a year before they died they changed the will excluding all the family and left it to you.

Could be used to add a hunted family member want their money back complication

Just explain it to your GM that you do not know why he left it to you but he can make it up. So you will have the family trying to get it back.

The reason? Just picked you out of the phone book (they could have an old contact address for you or your mothers address to indicate a very old back story)? Wrong person and the other person with your name will be looking for his money (villain / hero)? Did you assist him or his family or just got rid of an enemy he did not like in your other line of buisness and he found out your secret id?

Give it to the GM as a plot idea ;).

How about the character, sometime in the future, travels to the past and leaves the fortune to himself.

[Ragitsu]

Or perhaps the inventor/producer of a popular energy drink, or diet program?

"Caffeine: it's MY super power"

A hero hiding in plain sight...genius.

[Enforcer84]

"Caffeine: it's MY super power"

A hero hiding in plain sight...genius.

A fitness guru who espouses some sort of "combat exercise" like Taebo or Sport Kickboxing would also have a reasonable excuse for certain vigilanteesque injuries...

[Gary Miles]

Characters father was a famous explorer, discovered a lost valley in South America, populated by Mayans. Father was killed, character inherits the wealth of gold in the valley that the Mayans tribute to him.

[Mister E]

imho, levels of "thrift" ought to be built as straight Money.

Have you thought about maybe starting The First National Electricity Bank of America?

[Mister E]

Have you ever ran or been in a Dark Champions game where corporate espionage was the driving motivation to adventure?

Does cyberpunk count as Dark?

[Ragitsu]

Does cyberpunk count as Dark?

Unless it's run in a comedic fashion, cyberpunk is classic "Dark Champions" material.

[Silverbullet]

How about: You make a (relatively) small investment in the oil speculation a few years ago. All of the law-suits clear themselves up and *blammo* you turn $50k into $6-8million.

Saw this in some news report, somewhere. Must be nice...

[Ian Mackinder]

Character was a child star (music, TV, movies or combinations thereof) who somehow bucked the usual trend.

Unlikely, I know, but it COULD happen. Instead of blowing/otherwise losing all that money in his/her teens/twenties, a sizable chunk of it was actually very well-invested.

[yamamura]

Character was a child actor whose parents invested wisely his earning so when the parts dried up and he became a young man, he had a large amount of wealth at hand.

[Arkham]

Unknown to everyone, character's grandfather was a bankrobber. When the character inherits the house, finds WWII Ammo boxes full of money and jewels from safe deposit boxes in the attic, now worth many millions of dollars. Everyone thinks grandfather was just a depression-era hoarder.


Character ( or their father ) invented a popular RPG that got turned into movies and numerous popular console and computer games before selling the whole property to a major game company ( who proceeded to run it into the ground ).

Character invented and patented the 'industry standard' of some low level software networking architecture and now collects royalties from Apple, MS, Google, EBay and Amazon.

[Hyper-Man]

A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin' crude.

[Hyper-Man]

Now this is the story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-air...

[Ragitsu]

Bubblegum inventor, perhaps? However, they wouldn't be quite as eccentric, as, say, Willy Wonka.

[Ian Mackinder]

Yeah, well.

I dunno what sort of return Mr Wonka's business was making but, even assuming the Umpa-Lumpas worked for free, the overhead on his plant must have been horrific.

[gewing]

If the character had slowed aging or doesn't age, a very small investment at a lousy compounding interest rate will still be worth millions if you wait long enough.

Time travel: go back in time. Acquire a small to medium amount of coinage. Bury it in a secure location. Travel back to the present. Dig up your coinage. Sell as antiques.

Time travel 2: Go forward in time. Acquire sports almanac, or business section of newspaper. Go back to present. Invest accordingly.

Sports star in unusual sport. Bowling champ. Darts champ. Pokeman champ.



I was thinking of someone who got it the second oldest way. Inherit it. Great granddad owned land in Pennsylvania, when the Oil boom struck, well, guess where it was?
Grandpa was a high ranking Nazi. Sale of art treasures made him rich. Trying to make up for his ancestor's crimes, he fights a neverending battle...

the REALLY old way to get it is to Steal it. whether by cunning or brute force...

[Ragitsu]

I was thinking of someone who got it the second oldest way. Inherit it. Great granddad owned land in Pennsylvania, when the Oil boom struck, well, guess where it was?
Grandpa was a high ranking Nazi. Sale of art treasures made him rich. Trying to make up for his ancestor's crimes, he fights a neverending battle...

the REALLY old way to get it is to Steal it. whether by cunning or brute force...

A character using their ill-gotten inheritance to do good. I like it.

[Shadow Hawk]

the REALLY old way to get it is to Steal it. whether by cunning or brute force...

"In America, the two traditional ways of making millions is theft and inheritance. The prefered way is to have your grandfather do the crime while you inherit." - Dogbert (Scott Adams)

[Jormonma]

-Be born in Qatar, qatari people get paid just for exist, and in 10 years or so you can be a millionaire.

-To be identical to a gangster who is gonna be paid in a Casino by letting him win in every game he plays up to the money the Casino owners owe to the gangster. At first the character thinks he is the most fortunate person in Earth, but then the mistake is discovered...

[Doctor Agenda]

Grand-dad invented whiteout.

[Enforcer84]

Discovered Oil?

[Hyper-Man]

Discovered Oil?

You mean like a Hillbilly prospector?


A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
Then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground came a bubblin' crude.

Beverly Hillbilly that is ;)

[Enforcer84]

Well sure!

[Ragitsu]

I'll spare you all from the "baby oil" joke ;).

[Escafarc]

Grand-dad invented whiteout.

That should be Grand-mother which would make you a Son of a Monkee:D

[Shadow Hawk]

That should be Grand-mother which would make you a Son of a Monkee:D

Couldn't you be the Monkee's nephew, then?

[moquif]

Professional athlete who had to retire early
dot-com founder who sold his company at the right time
out of court settlement
head of own religion
stockholder in a big company that sells so many products you buy one every time you go grocery shopping
winner in reality show

[Escafarc]

Couldn't you be the Monkee's nephew, then?

I believe Mike is an only child.

[Panpiper]

I have a character with a 5 point wealth perk justified by a great many other skills that go into defining and paying for his secret Id as a Nobel prize winning physicist. (A Nobel prize has a cash award of 1.5 million dollars, which if well invested easily justifies a wealth perk.) The super ID is a fairly interesting energy projector who really has no need for an Int of 23 and 30 points worth of sciences and related skills/perks, but it makes for a much more interesting character to play than someone who is simply a plumber, or reading novels in their down time by the pool they paid for with an inheritance.

[Marcus Impudite]

Assuming he or she is not adverse to being a "sellout," there's always merchandising: T-shirts, hats, action figures, breakfast cereal, sports bottles, coffee mugs, etc.

[Ragitsu]

Does "cure for a disease" pay well, in actuality?

[Orion]

I don't think you make so much finding the cure as being the company selling the drug. Now if you're smart enough to both create the cure, and head the company that markets the cure, you might be able to print your own money.

My organic chemistry prof at Texas A&M was too lazy to turn some bunsen burners off in his lab one night. He said it was a closed-system experiment, and a standard one at that. Many people had done this experiment/setup, so no worry. Came back the next day and instead of a clear liquid bubbling away, there was brown goo. Spent significant time figuring out how that could happen, because it was completely unexpected. After that, spent time figuring out exactly what it was and what the goo could be used for. Ended up getting the chemistry prize right below the Nobel. Some drug company built a brand new factory in Brazil to mass produce the stuff, and hired him away to run the place. I assume he got pretty good money for all this, but bet the drug company got the majority. As I dimly remember, the goo treated some people with genetic disease that limited digestion of certain proteins.

[Karmakaze]

Massive financial settlement from the company responsible for the industrial accident that caused the character's superpowers.

[Folded]

Restaurateur, in the Emeril Lagasse or Paul Prudhomme style
Owns one or more popular theme parks (I may use this one myself)
Blackmailer - has good dirt on a number of people
Magazine publisher (Hef as superhero, heh)
Photographer - could be high-end journalist or artist
Owns the likeness rights for a popular cartoon character
Hacker can have multiple variations
1)Various ways to funnel digital cash into one's bank account, for actual money
2)Print your own credit cards
3)Want something? Break into the manufacturer's computer and order it delivered
4)The ATM trick from T2
5)Alter legal records to grant yourself ownership of land, corporations, etc...

[Hyper-Man]

Restaurateur, in the Emeril Lagasse or Paul Prudhomme style....


You mean like this (http://www.herocentral.net/herocentral/get/files/premium/Titanium+Chef.HTML)?

[John T]

Dehydrated Water
Made a killing in the big "Marshmallow Market Crash".

[cutsleeve]

Some ides which come to mind are.

1 You refined or invented a new process, better widget, or more cost effective design for something that while small and insignificant on its own is actually used extensively in a field or industry. I doesn't give you much fame except in small trade circles but has allowed you to live a comfortable life.

2 You created a product that was a complete failure in your country of origin. However due to a smart shift in marketing, your product has seen increased appreciation in another county. You have contracted out production to a company in that foreign company and after taxes and tariffs you manage to pull in a modest income allowing you to enjoy a life of leisure. You occasionally get asked to speak in the foreign country and appear for publicity.

3 You built a modest business producing a product that was quite popular in a few markets. However you had rich and powerful competitors. You always worried that they would use their market strength to crush your smaller company. To your surprise though that competitor saw the value of your company, the high value of your company. They offered to buy it out taking over the brand name and production. While losing your company hurt you've found ways to ease the pain a bit. You have a mention on a Wikipedia page when people look up your product on the internet.

These ways of becoming rich have basis in reality and happen quite often. Each one allows for a level of anonymity but still has some quirk that can be used for a giggle.

[Ragitsu]

2 You created a product that was a complete failure in your country of origin. However due to a smart shift in marketing, your product has seen increased appreciation in another county. You have contracted out production to a company in that foreign company and after taxes and tariffs you manage to pull in a modest income allowing you to enjoy a life of leisure. You occasionally get asked to speak in the foreign country and appear for publicity.

Very nice.

[Shadow Hawk]

It occurs to me that most of these 'wealth' sources work best for scientific/gadgeteer/power armor types.

Mystics...
Predicted the future. Hit the lottery.
Solid Gold Ancient evil artifact demystified. Sold gold.
Exorcised rich man's son.
Leader of mystic cult. Collects 10% tithes.

[Ian Mackinder]

Consider the "accidental origins" favoured by many superhero PCs. The character was given a big lump of hush-money (or out-of-court compensation) by a major corporation after s/he was accidentally zapped with weird rays, doused in chemicals, bitten by a radio-active whatsit and/or genetically altered at their facility.

Naturally, this payment requires that the character keeps totally quiet about what happened - and when the character finds out they got superpowers from it, that can complicate everything.

Alternatively, either or both of the character's parents had the accident and got the pay-out, and the character simply inherited both the money and something extra.

[Old Man]

Respond to an email from a Nigerian prince who needs help transferring some money. He does.

Patent the mouse click. Microsoft buys your patent.

Invent silent Velcro™. (From Garden State (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_State_(film)))

Write a stupid little phone game (http://www.rovio.com/index.php?page=angry-birds) that becomes an Internet sensation.

Bank error in your favor. (Bank, which is not Too Big To Fail, then fails.)

Win reality TV show.

[Arkham]

Start a blog where people post pictures of cats. It seems blogs with pictures of cats can get _VERY_ popular.

[Folded]

Owns the copyrights on the trademark and copyright symbols.

[Enforcer84]

Develops an operating system built on security principals and sells it several governments and corporations. Information Security is in it's infancy right now (which is why the hackers are beating companies like proverbial red-headed step-children). A tech genius hero could make quite a living (as well as have adventures built around) helping to halt corporate espionage and cyber-terrorism

[Mister E]

Suing comic book companies for using your likeness. =P

[Michael Hopcroft]

Wrote a best-selling series of young adult fantasy or science fiction novels. Once it caught on it became a license to print money with all the movie, videogame and other subsidiary rights that came with it. The downsides are that you are now a celebrity (gets in the way of crimefighting) and everybody wants to know how you're going to follow it up (or, if you're still working on the series, everybody wants to "help" you finish it).

Became the agent for a sports or entertainment megastar, getting a share of their massive income in return for arranging contracts, casting, tour deals, etc. A lot of work, but less work than being the megastar yourself.

[Agent 13]

Invested in (or headed) a deep-sea salvage expedition to ancient Spanish treasure ship. Comes with attendant problems like pirates or ghosts or pirate ghosts...

[Vondy]

Trial lawyer working on a speculative basis for the victims of evil corporations, criminal organizations, and assorted super villains.

Beat them on the street and beat them in court.

[Ragitsu]

Anyone that wins a lottery is going to get a lot of attention: good and bad.

[Bolon]

How about just having a public identity and working for a few large corporations under sponsorship? Your costume is covered in advertisements like a nascar driver. You would also have the need to make appearances for the companies and a code of conduct watched by your sponsors.

Right now they have a tv show where the guy become rich from security software and uses the backdoor to get information so he can fight crime.

How about create a computer AI who is used for national security but on the side, still contacts the hero and helps the hero with diverted funds.

[Escafarc]

Internet porn

[Ragitsu]

Internet porn

Making, or selling?

[Folded]

Famously good:
Interior Decorator
Hairstylist
Makeup Artist
Special Effect Artist
Stunt Person/Daredevil (30PD/ED would go a long ways towards making stunts safer)
Performance Artist (no, you can't make money doing this, but it'd be funny to combine this with a hero)
Conductor of a major symphony orchestra
Developed effective cure for baldness, flatulence, acne or the like (minor but widespread condition)
Invented toy whose fad time has come and gone
Made a series of cult classic movies (preferably embarassing ones) twenty years ago, and Netflix/DVDs are generating royalties, even better with a Public ID

[Vondy]

Marketing and licensing?

Action figures, comics, video games, swag, appearance fees, cameos in films and television, full length blockbuster movies....

[bigbywolfe]

Making, or selling?

Yes?

[Folded]

Duplicator: He/she is the ENTIRE assembly line, and collects a paycheck for each position, per union rules.