Following up on yesterday's post, here is what one of my players commented on over on Dungeons on Automatic:
Vic LaPira wrote:
"Over the last 15 Felltower sessions that I played in (I missed one where there was lower than average loot), the average over that time period is around $5,844 without the major haul (average of about $1,000 per share, because the number of shares varies). The average INCLUDING the big haul where we got $141,000 in one haul ($28,200 each) for almost no work (!) is $16,241 (average of $3,153 per share for 5-6 shares). That does not include magical items, such as the magical longword from the Sword Spirit duel; the huge equipment haul from the Baron Sterick fight: @$250,000 Worth of armor; a fine meteoric iron broadsword worth $25,800; a fine balanced dwarven throwing axe with puissance +1 and accuracy+1, which destroys any shield (except meteoric iron or orichalcum) on impact and has quick draw on it, probably worth upwards of $30,000); and the magic items from the huge loot haul, which included an iron ring of endurance, a ring of three wishes, a necklace of fireballs, and a “ring of protection +1” that was really a cursed poison ring that killed one of the characters (and there went $15,000 of that $28,000, LOL).
It’s great fun, but definitely NOT too much loot. The characters could each be earning $3,000 per session and still be dead broke every few sessions. That’s why they keep delving!"
That's actually more than I'd expected. I did have to increase the loot a little while back when I realized I was being too parsimonious. But my players spend money like water going through a fire hose, mostly on things they'll need that don't last:
- potions
- scrolls
- hirelings
- food
- upkeep
- research
- healing
- consumable magic items
on a few permanent things:
- new armor
- new weapons
- replacements for the above when they're damaged beyond useful repair
- minor magic items and enchantments I allow for easy purchase
- better mundane gear
Even with the money that the PCs see, and the gear they find but keep, I'm probably still giving out loot a little on the low side as evidenced by how often PCs go broke and have to beg and borrow to get what they need to delve.
Still, I bet if I gave them twice, triple, even five times as much loot . . . they'd still spend it down like crazy and hope for more to make up the loss. Expensive one-time things start to become expensive every-delve things very quickly . . .
Ah, but it’s never enough for the drovers. Example A: last DF session, super-fun, had each delver get $1,920 in loot BUT due to an encounter with an ooze with a corrosive attack, Hjalmarr had to spend $1,050 on repairs for armor pieces, his shield and his weapon. Net profit is only $870. Throw in upkeep and the like—Delvers gotta keep delving!
ReplyDeleteDelvers not drovers! Damn autocorrect!
ReplyDeleteAlthough "Desmond's Drovers" would be a fun term for the B-Team.
DeleteThanks for this post. I've only had 1 team of delvers leave the dungeon so far and they have a weird hodgepodge of loot they can't identify and $500 ish each in cash. I'm trying to decide if I should let them hire an assessor for their loot at the moment.
ReplyDeleteFor magical gear, I let them hire someone to cast Analyze Magic. For non-magic gear, I generally just tell them what it is when they get to town. But I run the kind of game where people just dispose of everything at the store at the end of the session or keep it, not one with more in-town depth.
DeleteAlso got 4 shortswords we think are shortswords
ReplyDeleteWell, only way to check is to stab each other with them and track all of the damage. If they do sw/cut and thr+1/imp, they're probably shortswords.
DeleteThere is probably another way to check, now that I think about it, but the method above should work fine.