POVERTY

[beejazz]

My question is simple: What if?
What if adventurers were not the rich heroes of typical DnD?
What if their entire motive for adventuring was just to scrape up enough money for food and lodging?
What if sometimes, they failed?
What if?

[Lmns Crn]

It certainly presents some interesting ideas for changing the mood of the game.

In a "typical" sort of world and economy, you'd have to get creative, of course. Slaying goblins and kobolds for rent-paying money is a fairly ludicrous concept, and anyway, anybody with the sort of moxie and prowess to do that could make a living as a highwayman and brigand (which could also make for a pretty cool game. "Your GP or your HP!" :P )

Do a dystopian, urban adventure where the PCs are the dregs of society, scraping a hand-to-mouth existence together as beggars, cutpurses, and assorted street trash? This could be fun. Although I'd suggest it would have to go somewhere from there; "live another day" is only an interesting motivation for so long. Maybe the downtrodden PCs can strive to reform society, bringing justice (and nutrition!) to the poor. Changing a rotten society from the inside, starting at the very bottommost imaginable rung of the societal ladder... that's a game I could really sink my teeth into.

Alternately, how about we imagine a world where everyone's trying to scrape up enough food to survive. Maybe there's been a huge natural disaster and society is falling apart. Everyone is homeless, starving. How do the PCs react? Do they work to rebuild a world where everybody can live? Do they step on others to ensure their own survival? Either way, do they succeed; do they survive?

Interesting topic. Very interesting, indeed.

[Velox]

Sounds like shadowrun to me. You're going to get those who are capable of securing food and shelter and thus power, and they will take great measures to keep that power. Everyone else is fighting and clawing and squabbling to get any crumb or scrap they can, and the heros just happen to be individuals talented enough to warrent getting a slice of the big pie.

[Captain Obvious]

Man, a "down on your luck-turned brigand" game would be so cool. Would anyone be willing to run a game of this? (I'd offer but i don't have enough time right now to run the game i have set up currently, and even when i will, i couldn't run 2 games and do other stuff). If somebody decides to do some kind of game like this, i'd love to join.

[beejazz]

@luminous: A secondary motivation could certainly be useful. Travelling cross-country (an explanation for the homeless wandering) bounty-hunting (for the voluntary violence) and gambling debt (for the involuntary violence) could go a long way, my friend.

@velox: I wouldn't go quite this far myself. I think it would take away from the mood if this went on to society-wide economic depression... though this might also make for a fun setting. I think rogues and rangers (or their equivalents) should have a mighty good time!

@supa: I've been considering it for my game... like REALLY considering it. But low-money in a game as high-magic as mine would be terribly inconvenient for the fighters. I'd gladly contribute if anyone's willing to do more of the heavy lifting.

Also... in my first post I failed to distinguish that not all failure should be life-or-death. That would just be depressing... there's always comic failure though. Like being drunk in the gutter... or losing all your money gambling.

[CYMRO]

My question is simple: What if?
What if adventurers were not the rich heroes of typical DnD?
What if their entire motive for adventuring was just to scrape up enough money for food and lodging?
What if sometimes, they failed?
What if?

Way back in the mid eighties, I ran a campaign in which each player started with 13 gp.  It was amazing how my players got creative, especially as I made treasure a tiny fraction of the norm.
Around level seven or so, I began upping the treasure, so that around eleenth level, they felt that they had hit the lottery.  It is a great way to make everyone appreciate the simplest magic weapon or quality suit of armor, much less a wand.

[beejazz]

Luminous... you've got a snake in your avi. You might want to look out for that.

[Tybalt]

It's certainly a different approach, but I like that kind of thing. For instance it could enable things like a "7 Samurai" type scenario, where the characters are actually desperate enough to work for food.

In my campaign the characters are starting out in the service of their country in a war. However when it is over, what then? None of them are heirs to the family fortune, even the one aristocrat in the group. They have skills but most of them are not useful for a life of peace...unless for instance they want to get jobs as clerks or bodyguards or the like. But what kind of life is that for a young person full of possibilities? These are the kind of people who are approached to go discover new lands, who are asked (because it is peacetime and the city garrison is busy dealing with day to day realities) to help a small village protect itself from a monster, who are hired to seek out a treasure in a remote area.

[beejazz]

History's best poverty... mostly fiction.

Champloo's Edo Japan.
Canterbury Tales' England.
Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London (note the communist revolutionary scam. ROFL).
The Old West... because I said so.
Pilgrimage to Mecca... likewise.

Actual poverty, as in certain stages in Russian, Indian, Chinese, and some parts of Middle Eastern history is a bad idea.

Likewise for major, obvious social change (much as I love the stuff) like the French Revolution... better to go with the irony of people just pretending things aren't changing radically (again like Edo, Old West, and the more hedonistic/bureacratic stages of the fall of Rome).

[beejazz]

Thread necromancy (spooky)!

Because it just might be relevant to the treasure discussion.

[CYMRO]

What if the adventurers are in a completely utilitarian culture?
No money, only extended communal barter.
Nothing made, save for purely utilitarian function:  food production and preservation, housing and sanitation, defense, and such-like.

[beejazz]

No art?

No roleplaying games!?

You monster! ;)

[CYMRO]

No art?

No roleplaying games!?

You monster! ;)

 :demon:

[Stargate525]

A fascinating concept. Would work relatively badly in a standard D&D setting, as the magic needed and expensive.

High magic would work, where the needed magic is cheap, and low magic would too, where the magic isn't needed. The middle ground would seem difficult.