Wealth in the TE

[James_Kiley]

Other than a fairly rudimentary cost list in the TE book, there's no real indication what various levels of the Money perk/disad represent in the book. This is likely to be problematic for me in the near future, as I want to accurately gauge what kind of payment a potential employer would offer my group, and I am fairly unsure what would be good. Any help? Steve & James? Anyone else?

jk

[Captain Obvious]

Typically, what I do in any campaign (whether fantasy, sci-fi, what have you) is base the in-game currency somehow in real world currency (I rarely let the players know how this works out exactly, though).

For instance, most handguns run anywhere from $150 to around $500. In a fantasy campaign, I'd base most one-hand weapons on around 15 gold pieces up to 50 gold pieces. In a sci-fi campaign, I'd price most blaster pistols around 150 to 500 Credits.

Once your prices are linked to the real world, imagine how much a character in a movie or a novel would offer for such a mission. Too easy.

[Captain Obvious]

I have to add the addendum that I haven't seen the price list in TE, but I'm sure with a little shopping around the real world and a little bit of high school math (remember ratios?) you can work out a feasible price scheme for your characters....

[James_Kiley]

Well, thanks, yes, I knew that; I was hoping for some kind of guidance from the Powers That Be at DOJ. After all, while high school math is right about my speed, it's tricky to look up the real-world costs for laser rifles and antimatter power plants to help build those ratios. Even using froogle.google.com.

jk

[Steve Long]

Hmmm, that's an interesting question. The difficulty's compounded by the fact that what qualifies as "wealthy" in one empire or world may not similarly qualify on another world.

Offhand, I'd think you could use the Money ratings in the core rulebook, but just substitute "Imperial credits" for "dollars." Then you can use the currency conversion table to figure out what each category means in Ackalian, Mon'dabi, etc. space.

For a little more variation, you could probably adjust for "region." Maybe to be "Well Off" in the Terran Heartworlds takes more annual income than on the Terran Frontier. A simple multiplier ("Heartworlds: x1.35") would reflect this.

[Captain Obvious]

Originally posted by James_Kiley
it's tricky to look up the real-world costs for laser rifles and antimatter power plants to help build those ratios.

I think you missed a little part of what I was saying...

If you want to price laser rifles, you look up the price of modern day rifles (assault rifles if laser rifles are military grade, hunting rifles if everyone has a laser rifle) and price them accordingly.

If you want to price an antimatter power plant, you look up an equivalent. If this is a power plant for a car or other car-type conveyance, find out how much an engine costs in the real world and go from there. If this is a power plant for a spaceship, find out how much an engine for a ship costs.

Of course, some really weird tech will be difficult to price (like a cryogenic chamber), and you may want to seriously drop the prices on some items (like computers) or else seriously miniaturize them to make the tech level feel right.