Lifestyle Costs

I would venture that the regular lifestyle has to be the default 0 cost option for 0 bonus/penalty purely on the ease of book keeping rule. If modules were to include prompts as to when players should be making rolls for earning a living then having the low as the 0 cost becomes feasible but otherwise it’s just another thing to be lost in the rush of an adventure. The other option is to condsider making the low lifestyle attractive by making it give different bonuses, such as to intimidate rolls or simillar perhaps? A low lifestyle could even have a penalty to the making a living roll to make up for the new bonuses?

Realistically though, unless the module writers include the lifestyle in them then it’s fluff that can be handwaved over.

I don’t think they get in the way of roleplaying. Like anything else in Arcanis, you can *say* whatever you want about your character, but unless there’s a mechanic involved, it’s tough to have a consistent adjudication throughout the campaign.

For instance, I can *say* my character is a Noble, but unless I have a mechanic (background, talent, race, etc.) that supports this, there can’t really be any ‘mechanical benefit’ to this.

Same with lifestyle. You can *say* your character is wealthy, dresses well, and is considered an elite of society, but unless there’s a mechanical way to represent this, the GM can’t really give out any bonuses/penalties consistently when you try to use that to your advantage in an encounter.

I too think that the ‘default’ could be set to 0 / 0 but allow no “Earn a Living” rolls that way anyone who doesn’t want to partake of the bookkeeping doesn’t change at all.

Then you could have a ‘regular’ lifestyle that costs a minimal amount / tier and allows the “Earn a Living”. Most folks will come out even or ahead based upon the values.

Then you have the 1-3 additional tiers above that really shine.

John

you could wait for my actual argument before posting an opposing view

Sorry, the big bold font sucked me in!

John

I’m against this… As Josh as already pointed out, it’s more bookkeeping on every.single.module… I thought that was the whole point of getting away from things like the Magic Item Creation Sheet, the complete gear list sheet, etc, etc, etc.

If you want an in-game argument against it: we already have to pay for every single inn / resort / pig sty we stay at (unless covered by some patron).

I’d be fine with it if it were completely opt in/out. Opt out: nothing happens, nothing at all. Opt in: pick your level, get some bonuses / negatives.

It’s hard enough for me to remember every single situational bonus I get from Talents and/or items like Heirlooms that I actually spent the time and effort to personally pick out for my character. Then I have to worry about stacking rules and keep straight what I get and from where just in case someone wants to cast a spell on me or hand me a new item. It’s not brain surgery, but it can very well be a PITA (pain in the ass)…

Give me the option to opt out – whereby absolutely nothing good or bad happens to me. Let the other guy at the table that really wants to put down 10Sc for the (crappy) inn’s best room and best (of the crappy) food and get to act like a big shot in the (just-as-crappy) little town, with the (crap covered) plebeians bowing and the gentry kissing his arse.

One of my characters would probably take that. The other has much better things to do in those 10 seconds of Living Bookkeeping (like finding new and creative ways to help Josh use Skyward to piss off Tony).

The goal of a role playing game is NOT to approximate life as much as possible. I don’t like bookkeeping in real life, why would I enjoy it in the fantasy land I go to escape? If I wanted a real life simulator, I’d go play the Sims (if I lived in Detroit I’d probably play Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto) or, you know, go outside.

Side note – new character Path, ‘Accountant’… He comes with a special martial maneuver: “Bookkeeping” – +18(0), Non-interruptable, bores the absolute life out of target: causes the target to become so bored that they commit suicide by the most boring means possible at the time (this can include simply no longer having the will/desire to breathe)

I’m against lifestyle cost. Aside from accounting for account sake and being a cash sink, once it becomes popular, it’s going to promote harder TNs for social skill and thus will promote required use and become a social skill tax.

While not a big fan of bookeeping, I did enjoy spending cash in the last campaign for at least one character. He would alway drop a sizeable amount of money on the record sheet to reflect livin’ large with the ladies. Spending on ale and whores as it were. In one mod I bought silks in Nishanpur and then next time I was in Old Coryan I had nice gowns made for my two favorite working girls and we went to the proverbial night at the opera. Now this character was Subotai Ironhand, my half-hobgoblin, so it was a bit like Hellboy going to the Met. Point is I didn’t get any in-game benefit from it, it was just fun to do from a RP perspective. At present I don’t have any characters that would do such a thing, but that might change once I roll out my Undir shaman. He may come from the swamp, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy a night on the town.

Now I wouldn’t mind a in-game mechanic to help my character in these situations, but I cool if the PTB say no. Just my two cents.

Low Lifestyle: No Cost. You are sleeping in a tent or the gutter. You hunt, forage, or dumpster dive for food. You take X penalty to social rolls unless interacting in the slums/dregs of society. You may make a “earn a living roll”. May not be voluntarily taken by anyone with the “Expensive Taste” Flaw.

Average Lifestyle aka “the anti-bookkeeping option”: No Cost. You stay in a reasonable flat or inn that provides meals. You may not make an “earn a living roll”, as this offsets your lifestyle needs. May not voluntarily be taken by anyone with the “Expensive Taste” Flaw.

High Lifestyle:X Cost. You stay in a nicer establisment and gain X bonus to social skill rolls. You may make an “Earn a Living Roll”.

Exalted Lifestyle: XX Cost. You stay in only the finest inns and dine at the most exclusive of establishments. You gain XX bonus to social skill rolls. You may make an “earn a living” roll. This lifestyle level is reserved for particular characters “e.g. Patricians, Legates, Noble Born, special certed invitations, etc”.
Works for me. Everything should be based around a “no bookkeeping” option.

Average Lifestyle aka “the anti-bookkeeping option”: No Cost. You stay in a reasonable flat or inn that provides meals. You may not make an “earn a living roll”, as this offsets your lifestyle needs. May not voluntarily be taken by anyone with the “Expensive Taste” Flaw.

I strongly disagree with two points of this.
1 – It makes no sense to *ever* not allow a roll to earn a living. Every character is different and makes a living in different ways. The character that intentionally takes ‘low’ because it fits his character, could yet make a living as a bouncer or theft or whatever. If ‘high’ is the first level you can roll for a living, what the hell is the point? You’re spending the money on lifestyle that you just rolled for a living. Congrats, you just netted 2Sc… How does that fit “high lifestyle” if you’re barely banking any money?

2 – Additionally, if you require someone with ‘expensive taste’ to take at least ‘high’, then there is no option to not participate in the bookkeeping.

In my almost never humble opinion, Lifestyle costs and a Earn a Living should be completely optional and be completely decoupled. BOTH are bookkeeping for bookkeeping’s sake. We have a hard enough time getting new players into this system and this shared campaign…why are we adding things to make it more difficult?

Hell, for that matter, solve all the Fate Point issues at the same time. What are those issues, you ask? Things like: some GMs being more generous/stingy than others; players ‘banking’ them and/or ‘hesitant’ to spend them, players having X points but can only spend X/3 per module, etc.

For the shared campaign, the solution is simple: every adventure all characters start with a number of Fate Points equal to their Fate Score. Points do not accumulate or carry over. Let private home games accumulate and carry over (or not, depending on the GM).