Goodman Games

So one of my favorite RPG rules goes back to classic DnD, but it works great here. Instead of having every character keep track of mundane purchases (beer, food, inns, prostitutes, parties, impressing the opposite sex etc.), at the end of every town stay have all the PC's owe one gold per level. This is based on the idea that adventurers, who lead high risk/ high reward lives and all might die the very next day, like to spend their money to have a great time in town while they are alive. Thus they will also probably be kinda loose with their cash and probably spend more than they mean to partying it up, with higher level heroes celebrating more and more. One gold per level seems appropriate for my PC's pay scale, DM's who's players earn more may wish to adjust. Either way this can save a lot of time in towns because nickel and dime purchases can cause a lot of note keeping and erasing. It can also cause events in of itself, such as PC's discovering their tabs are too large and having to skip town, find some quick cash etc. Any player who feels their character absolutely isn't loose with their money, or agnostic or who knows, they can choose to be exempt but I find this rule can be fun and make the game go faster, try it out sometime.

Works for me. I'm not interested in the "maintenance" aspect of the game. Who has time for that? I remember when I did, it was great. But, I just don't these days. In fact there is very little continuity between adventures, and DCC RPG lends to that style of play. Our weekly sessions are only 3 hours long, everyone has jobs to be the next morning, etc. We cut to the chase 99% of the time, unless the players want to take care of business, i.e. backstabbing bosses, lying merchants, etc. That can be fun too. Side tracked play has made for some of the most memorable play...

I agree though that some great sessions have been had while getting side tracked in the market. I just come right out and ask them if they want to play it out at the table or spend loot behind the scenes. I'm cool with whatever makes them happy.

I ran one campaign where each new session began with the characters totally broke. Reminded me a lot of the situations you see in Conan and Fafhrd/Mouser type stories, where somehow the heroes have spent all of the loot from the previous adventure.

Of course, at the end of each gaming session the players wanted to frantically buy stuff before they left.

That's actually built into the Barbarians of Lemuria rules, but if you spend your money on something cool that the DM can use as a plot hook, you get a little bit of extra XP.

Well its not meant to skip the fun of what your characters do while spending, just the parts where they ask "i wanna buy drinks for these people how much will that cost me?" then they erase small amounts of coin repeatedly. Instead you can skip the erasing and go to the drinking, worry about the tab later. And yeah, this rule was inspired by fafhrd/grey mouser stories actually, the original DnD one I mean.

I admit to being less structured than that. Every once in a while when I think about it, I tell the PCs to remove a few gold pieces from their treasure to account for mundane expenses. Sometimes it takes a while before I think about it, I then ask to remove a few dozen GPs instead of a couple.

I ask what kind of time there are wanting to have in town and how many wealth they are willing to spend. The Min per level is the absolute minimum they can spend for the effect but the % still must be meet.This lets us skip past the shopping and lets them have basic gear as they want without keeping track of it transaction by transaction. If the slayers want something specific like a clutch of Silver arrows I will look at how much was spent in town in order to make my decision.



Boring= -10% character wealth(Min 2 gold per level), -1 exp for being boring skinflint and building a reputation as a great bookkeeper. small chance to gain 1d4 silver as other slayers and real heroes toss you a copper now and then.

Mildly Entertaining= -25% wealth(Min 5 gold per level), No penalty but snide remarks about how greedy you are.

Good Times= -50% wealth(Min 10 gold per level), The Merchants like you and remember you when restocking! Gain a contact from merchant list or Towny list!

A lot of Fun= -70% wealth(Min 25 gold per level),The Merchants and Girls Love you! Gain two contacts from Merchant,Towny or Adventurers list. Gain a Adventure hook that leads towards Wealth,Fame or Glory! 50% chance to gain 1 exp!

A Great Time= -90% wealth(Min 50 gold per level), The City knows your name! All of that town speak of your exploits and heroics both from past adventures and from the wild parties afterwards! Gain three contacts from any list as well as two Adventure hooks! Your reputation grows and you have a 75% chance to gain 1 exp!

A Blowout= -100% wealth(Min 100 gold per level), The City takes lies shattered from your mighty excess. You are loved by almost everyone but the poor few that watched helpless sober stupor as the party raged around them, Gain +1 exp as well as Three adventure Hooks as well as four contacts from any list. One of the adventure hooks leads towards a magical creation from your wish list!