Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Other game systems do away with fine-grained tracking of gold and silver by setting guidelines for upkeep expenses. There are usually categories for destitute, poor, modest, comfortable, luxurious, and opulent upkeep costs, with descriptions of what those entail and how many gold and/or silver per day they cost.

For example, in one game system, modest upkeep involves living in a small cottage or a private room at an inn, eating mostly tavern meals, wearing clean clothes with no rips or wear spots, being able to retain tradespeople to maintain equipment, using messengers, etc., and is said to cost 2 gold pieces per day.

Is there anything like this in the Basic Fantasy core rules or a supplement? I can't find it.

Its generally a concept present in more "modern" game systems, so I see why its not included in the core rules. There is much more equipment and stuff in the Equipment Emporium, so you may start by looking there.

Otherwise, if you're interested in writing such a supplement, I'm sure you will find people interested in using it, and probably people willing to help you with it.

AD&D was IIRC 100x character level GP per month if you want to go with a more old school approach

SerGavin wrote:AD&D was IIRC 100x character level GP per month if you want to go with a more old school approach

That always seemed like a lot considering the cost of things otherwise, but it is quite simple and should account for lots of trivial things being included such as hearty tipping, exceptional meals and drinks of higher quality, and other general overpaying for standard fare, etc. Kinda makes you think that adventurers are somewhat like the rock-stars of the settings, living up life in extravagant ways.

I just find from other games that having the players constantly keeping books to see how much gold they have left can detract from enjoyment of even an old-school game. Generally I've assumed that a character has enough gold to cover basic expenses and needs to keep track of gold only for extraordinary spending. Upkeep costs would add finer grain to that.

SmootRK wrote:

SerGavin wrote:AD&D was IIRC 100x character level GP per month if you want to go with a more old school approach

That always seemed like a lot considering the cost of things otherwise, but it is quite simple and should account for lots of trivial things being included such as hearty tipping, exceptional meals and drinks of higher quality, and other general overpaying for standard fare, etc. Kinda makes you think that adventurers are somewhat like the rock-stars of the settings, living up life in extravagant ways.

bad ass troll killers but no defense against a seductive woman or a skilled shysters and flim flam men. In other words, the town saw them coming.

I have a few short cuts for this:

Make town upkeep free, but charge a considerable sum for movement. It's assumed that the characters are staying with friends / allies while in one location, but going on the road costs them.

You could you can assume that they are doing odd jobs (selling spells, working as guards) while not undertaking adventures. The cash they make from these jobs covers their day to day expenses, leaving all loot from adventures to spend on better things - like Raise Dead spells, for example.

Generally I assume that the characters want to get beyond a hand-to mouth lifestyle which is why they might be going adventuring in the first place. If they are risking life and limb but still have to worry about copper pieces to buy ale, there's no reason why they'd do it.

I consider upkeep costs largely circumstantial.