Fantasy Converging Fates - OOC Page

[Little_Red_Cassette]

GojiBean VERY important question
are monsters edible?
i need to know if we can Dungeon Meshi this as an option

 

[ERode]

Dunno, no matter how scary Ersatz is, it’d be common knowledge that shes taking an F Rank Quest. Get too mouthy with her quest-giver and they’ll just take someone who’s more friendly and personable.

 

[GojiBean]

GojiBean VERY important question
are monsters edible?
i need to know if we can Dungeon Meshi this as an option

Some of them are.

General rule of thumb in this RP world is that any monsters who use poison are not edible unless one naturally has a very high poison resistance either due to racial resistance, or having built up a resistance the hard way.

 

[Little_Red_Cassette]

forgot wulfram throwing his hat in the leader ring, but yknow, my ass is tired

 

[Solivagante]

Guild Payments

All Quests pay based on the client's ability to do so. The higher the Rank of the Quest, the more money the client has to shell out for the Guild to accept it and tack it on the Quest Board for the Parties to see and accept. There's a lot that goes into a client's decision on how much to offer, but here are some basic examples to get the idea down.

For the below examples I'll use Copper only, but any division of Silver/Copper/Gold will also be applicable to how the payment is distributed once the Quest is complete.

F Rank Quests:

- Find my lost pet: 5-20 Copper
- Kill a problem monster: 40-50 Copper
- Help me travel safely to X location: (pay based on distance) 5-50 Copper (is the most common range)
- Assist (insert higher Rank) Party (insert name) with Dungeon Exploration: 50-100 Copper
- Assist (insert higher Rank) Party (insert name) with Dungeon Conquest: 200+ Copper (depending on Dungeon Rank/difficulty)
- Deliver (insert goods) to (insert destination): 20-30 Copper (if in the same village/town/city), 50+ Copper (if destination requires travel)
- Gather and deliver materials for (insert client name and location): 10-40 Copper
- Help (insert local business) advertise themselves/their latest product: 10-100 Copper (depending on how many Party members are assisting, and for how long)
- Investigate my family member's disappearance: 50+ (the exact amount depends largely on the client's pocketbook and how much they're willing to part with to find this family member, but it can go into the hundreds if they're desperate enough to recover this family member)

Those are some basic examples. And, of course, you're free to come up with your own Quest designs for this RP and such. Since the Party is F-Rank, they don't have negotiation power to ask/demand more of any client.

As we rise in Rank the Quest payouts will go up since higher Ranks demand a higher premium on rewards. But even then it's only when we get up to C+ Rank that we'll be able to barter for better wages and expect to get away with doing so without backlash. Disgruntled clients can and will report attempts to barter to the Guild which can result in reprimands and/or monetary fines.

Hmm. I know these are off the cuff, but I do think that they may be a bit low (or the cost of living a bit high), especially given that in the Lore it's stated that party Leaders normally take 40% off the top. (and I'm assuming that the payouts above are what the party receives, minus any Guild fees/profits).

Partly this depends on how long any of these quests take. But even if 'kill a problem monster' refers to a monster in the party's immediate area (so no travel time) and can be accomplished in a day, you're still looking at pretty low payouts for individual party members.

Let's say you have a 4-person party and the standard leader cut of 40%. A 40 copper monster job gives the leader 16 copper, and the others 24 to split. If they divide it evenly, that's 8 copper per person. Doing just this type of quest every day, with no days off, nets the non-leader party members a whopping 56 copper per week. Guild lodging is the cheapest around, and that costs 20 copper per week, leaving 36 per person for meals, equipment, and other needs... but meals cost a minimum 8 copper? Even if that's per diem and not per meal, this party will starve (except the leader, who is taking in 2x as much as anyone else).

If that same party assists a higher-level party with exploration, at a rate of 100 copper, and assuming each exploration only takes one day and it's possible to take seven of these quests in a row, the non-leader party members are clearing just 20 copper per day. 140 copper a week (or 120 after guild lodging) will cover meals at 8 copper per day and leave 64 copper for other expenses - but replacing leather armor alone could eat up all of that, let alone weapons or other equipment; and dungeon exploration would likely cause more wear and tear on gear than just fighting a single monster per day.

I come to two conclusions here - one, this massively disincentivizes the formation of larger parties (or incentivizes them taking on multiple quests, as has been mentioned) and two, I'm not sure there's much of a financial benefit to adventuring, since this would be a very high-risk occupation for what are, potentially, starvation wages until you have significant amounts of experience. It seems like it would be very hard, both physically and financially, to survive long enough to make it to a higher rank, and that there would be a strong bias in the guilds towards people who come from wealth being the only ones who can actually afford to rank up.

If that's an intentional part of the worldbuilding - that fame and glory go to the 1% and the lower levels of adventuring are a meat grinder of the desperate masses - then carry on

If not, maybe the costs of living should be reduced (as they actually were historically in many places - link is not for a base 10 money system but the point stands), or the standard leader percentage pared down? That strikes me as the most glaring inequity, that especially at lower levels the leader of a party could be the only one actually making enough money to live on.

(can you tell I'm acutely aware I've been procrastinating on my taxes this year? the numbers game is hanging over my head.)

 

[GojiBean]

Hmm. I know these are off the cuff, but I do think that they may be a bit low (or the cost of living a bit high), especially given that in the Lore it's stated that party Leaders normally take 40% off the top. (and I'm assuming that the payouts above are what the party receives, minus any Guild fees/profits).

Partly this depends on how long any of these quests take. But even if 'kill a problem monster' refers to a monster in the party's immediate area (so no travel time) and can be accomplished in a day, you're still looking at pretty low payouts for individual party members.

Let's say you have a 4-person party and the standard leader cut of 40%. A 40 copper monster job gives the leader 16 copper, and the others 24 to split. If they divide it evenly, that's 8 copper per person. Doing just this type of quest every day, with no days off, nets the non-leader party members a whopping 56 copper per week. Guild lodging is the cheapest around, and that costs 20 copper per week, leaving 36 per person for meals, equipment, and other needs... but meals cost a minimum 8 copper? Even if that's per diem and not per meal, this party will starve (except the leader, who is taking in 2x as much as anyone else).

If that same party assists a higher-level party with exploration, at a rate of 100 copper, and assuming each exploration only takes one day and it's possible to take seven of these quests in a row, the non-leader party members are clearing just 20 copper per day. 140 copper a week (or 120 after guild lodging) will cover meals at 8 copper per day and leave 64 copper for other expenses - but replacing leather armor alone could eat up all of that, let alone weapons or other equipment; and dungeon exploration would likely cause more wear and tear on gear than just fighting a single monster per day.

I come to two conclusions here - one, this massively disincentivizes the formation of larger parties (or incentivizes them taking on multiple quests, as has been mentioned) and two, I'm not sure there's much of a financial benefit to adventuring, since this would be a very high-risk occupation for what are, potentially, starvation wages until you have significant amounts of experience. It seems like it would be very hard, both physically and financially, to survive long enough to make it to a higher rank, and that there would be a strong bias in the guilds towards people who come from wealth being the only ones who can actually afford to rank up.

If that's an intentional part of the worldbuilding - that fame and glory go to the 1% and the lower levels of adventuring are a meat grinder of the desperate masses - then carry on

If not, maybe the costs of living should be reduced (as they actually were historically in many places - link is not for a base 10 money system but the point stands), or the standard leader percentage pared down? That strikes me as the most glaring inequity, that especially at lower levels the leader of a party could be the only one actually making enough money to live on.

(can you tell I'm acutely aware I've been procrastinating on my taxes this year? the numbers game is hanging over my head.)

Heh, I feel ya on the taxes thing. I got mine done not too long ago. But it's still fresh in my mind cause I hate tax season.

And yes. There is an element of the worldbuilding which favors those who can push themselves into the upper 1%, so to speak.

However, you do raise a good point that it's still perhaps a bit too damaging in terms of how little is distributed for our F-Rank Party. Especially given its size. So, I've make an adjustment to both some of the costs, and a fairly substantial change to the payouts (outside of basic goods and meals) which hopefully will make things at least a little more workable.

I've also added a new page (linked like the rest at the top) to help keep track: Fantasy - Converging Fates (Mechanics Page)

 

[AnonyMouse]

like if you see a 7 foot woman with red pupils that carry little less than the despair of a thousand in them staring down at you with a dark cloak that occassionally has tentacles slithering out of them and a spiked tome for 20$ extra on the monster extermination you probably wont argue too much about it, thats all im sayin

Nothing about Ersatz gives me the impression she'd be good for negotiations, lol. Most of what you described here sounds like someone I'd nope out of business dealings with. Funny thing is, Marcy is kind of the opposite. Maybe it's because she's half minotaur, so she tries to avoid being intimidating. Minotaurs are known for being hulking rage monsters, so she doesn't want to seem volatile. Slow movements, calm tone of voice, always appears composed and logical... which is sort of intimidating in its own right, kek.

forgot wulfram throwing his hat in the leader ring, but yknow, my ass is tired

'Tis fine. In my headcanon, your latest post came before that. The timeline seems to work out neatly that way. Time is funny in RPs.


GojiBean
Niiice! I like those numbers a lot better. It's a liveable wage, without taking away the grind of being an F Rank adventurer. The big money is in dungeon crawling, but dungeon quests probably don't come up often. I'm glad the entry level stuff is relatively cheap. Adventuring should be a labor of love, not a get-rich-quick scheme, so I'm glad those dirt cheap jobs are still in there. We're doing the Lord's work, haha. I think you nailed the balance here.



Anyway, my next post will probably be about living arrangements. Marcy has to talk the others into moving into her manor if she wants to stay where she's at. It's more of a 'really big house' than a true mansion, but still nicer than an apartment and has amenities like a library, storage space, kitchen, garden, stable, etc. I'll have to think on how to price that to make it appealing but not a cheat code. Also, living together is great for teambuilding... right? *insert nervous laughter here* I'm sure we'll all get along great.

 

[Little_Red_Cassette]

Alright alright, fair enough on the intimidation. Probably wont have to do too much haggling now anywho considering the prices are a bit more manageable now

 

[Solivagante]

Heh, I feel ya on the taxes thing. I got mine done not too long ago. But it's still fresh in my mind cause I hate tax season.

And yes. There is an element of the worldbuilding which favors those who can push themselves into the upper 1%, so to speak.

However, you do raise a good point that it's still perhaps a bit too damaging in terms of how little is distributed for our F-Rank Party. Especially given its size. So, I've make an adjustment to both some of the costs, and a fairly substantial change to the payouts (outside of basic goods and meals) which hopefully will make things at least a little more workable.

I've also added a new page (linked like the rest at the top) to help keep track: Fantasy - Converging Fates (Mechanics Page)

I usually do mine in Feb, but I've been feeling unmotivated this year and now March is almost over. SIGH.

Anyway, I didn't crunch the numbers this time but at a glance the increase looks reasonable to me and makes adventuring more of a reasonable undertaking.

I was also thinking about this last night as I tried to fall asleep, and the even simpler solution might be just avoiding exact numbers altogether -say, something like 'a four-person party needs to complete x number of monster exterminations per week to be solvent' or something along those lines. And then you'd get things like 'the income from assisting with one dungeon exploration can cover expenses for two weeks, or may allow party members to invest in gear upgrades or better lodging', etc. Since this isn't a stats-based RP, approximate measures may be easier to parse in terms of character motivation/decision making.

Actually, I might just sit down and run numbers on the new stats to get a rough idea anyway. (I would also suggest that anything with travel time should be priced by the day, including the return journey, and clients can provide transportation to reduce their net request cost. The return journey thing is based on my work in travel; if you hire a private driver to take you from A to B, they'll charge you for the time returning from B to A as well, since that is travel time that they could otherwise take normal fares in their home location.)

If I do work this out - are we still thinking the normal Leader percentage is 40% off the top?

 

[Solivagante]

Okay, I went ahead and made a quick spreadsheet:

I didn't include some of the quest types which I think would be most likely to take varying numbers of days. Room/board base cost is for 10c/wk guild lodging and 8c/day meals, so 66c total cost per week. I included both high and low fee estimates where given. Party sizes are based on our current breakdown of characters - though worth noting that I don't expect either of our groups to keep the flat 40% rate for leaders.

So, 'lost pet' quests are pocket change, and don't make sense for a whole party to pursue. Cheaper monsters, it probably depends a lot on how close they are (and how bored people are) because they're not really 'full time' employment. 100c monsters start getting into okay business, especially for the 6-person party. Dungeons are by FAR the best option, especially with the x-factor of loot as mentioned in Ersatz' last post.

If dungeon exploration takes about a day, then your average member of a 7-person party can cover weekly expenses working 4 days, and have about 14c left over to save for other expenses; supplemented with other quests (maybe this is where lost pets come in, though I don't know how often the townsfolk are losing their pets!), they could afford to fully replace leather armor every 2 weeks or so. Presumably this would not be needed quite this often, but it's a useful benchmark. Swords are going to take closer to 2.5 months to save for replacement, so remember to clean your weapons before you put them away and keep them in good condition!

I just wanted to have a rough idea of how characters might look at quests and expenses. Hope this might be helpful to at least one other person!

 

[GojiBean]

Heh. Looks all good to me.

I'm going to get my post up tomorrow. Ran into too much crap today to finish anything.

Sorry for the wait guys.

 

[AnonyMouse]

I'm working on a post, but I'll hold it until a few more reply. I'm hoping to hear from Phayne since Grimm seems to have the most to respond to on my end.

 

[Phayne]

I was waiting to see what Seirinas opinion would.be

 

[GojiBean]

Finally got some time to work on my post. I'll try to have it up in the next hour or two.

 

[GojiBean]

Just in case it pops into anyone's mind after reading my post, loot chest money is not counted towards the regular reward money earned by completing the Dungeon Exploration/Conquest Quests. It's supplemental. So, any Exploration/Conquest Quests we complete will pay a fixed amount, and we keep everything we find while doing it.

 

[Nellancholy]

I would assume that's the kind of thing that's negotiable but has to be upfront on the part of the quest poster,like "I need you to retrieve X thing from Y dungeon,I'll give you this amount up front and 80% of everything you find inside"

 

[GojiBean]

I would assume that's the kind of thing that's negotiable but has to be upfront on the part of the quest poster,like "I need you to retrieve X thing from Y dungeon,I'll give you this amount up front and 80% of everything you find inside"

A good observation.

It depends on the Quest type the client (which is what I'm calling "Quest givers" from now on) submits to the Guild.

If they submit a singular Item Retrieval Quest, then they only have a claim to that item. Nothing else. Whatever the Party finds, the Party keeps.

If they submit a Spoils Collection Quest, then the client may ask for a certain amount of Dungeon spoils including monster parts, coins, specific items, etc. They must also be very specific about what they want collected and returned to them, and the amounts. Anything and everything outside their specified list is 100% the Party's to keep.

For example, if they said they wanted the Party to gather a total amount of money equivalent to 1,000 Copper, 5 Orc Claws, 10 Goblin Eyes, and 5 Devil Bat Wings, that's all they get when the Party comes back. Whatever else the Party collects during that time is theirs to keep. Even if they found 50,000 Copper the client would have no claim to anything but the initial 1,000 they asked for. If they got greedy and tried to change the Quest so now say they need 10,000, the Party can report it to the Guild and they'll take care of the rest.

 

[ERode]

Rosaire about to pass out from all of Grimm's yapping.

 

[Goonfire]

So I figure armor with replaceable parts would be very popular among guild members due to its practicality. Brigandine like Wulfram's would only need the damaged plates replaced, as well as the cloth if it can't be stitched or patched. It's less expensive than replacing a solid plate cuirass, because less skill and time are required to produce something functional.

Here's an example of brigandine. Pay attention to the cuirass (torso armor). Those rivets are holding many small, layered plates/strips.

 

[ERode]

Aaand posted. Leaving Rosaire's party registration and quest-taking for my next post, just so there's a possibility of someone intercepting him before he goes for it.

 

[Goonfire]

Why do I feel like someone's gonna grab him by the ear in their next post?

 

[ERode]

Grimm can’t reach his ear and he wouldn’t mind be pulled around by any of the others because of the inherent opportunities involved, so as long as your comment isn’t gonna turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy, well, by all means!

 

[AnonyMouse]

No need to. He can't register anyone without their consent and I bet forging our signatures gets him kicked out of the Guild. Marcy hopes most of them can see that it's either a bluff or a really dumb, desperate move. (And, if it is a calculated bluff to apply pressure and spur them to reach a decision, she kind of respects him for that. Clever boy.)

Rella, on the other hand, ain't the sharpest spoon in the drawer. Doggo sees movement, doggo pounces. Gotta keep the pack together, lol.


I'm working on a post. Actually started it a few days ago, so it shouldn't take as long this time. (Actually, I'm gonna edit down most of what I wrote, in light of Rosaire's sudden move. Marcy was somewhat longwinded, but she can cut to the chase now.) Post should be done today.

 

[GojiBean]

Shweetness.

I'm really enjoying the shades of dysfunction in the group already. For every point of cohesion and agreement, there's three points of contention/argument. And I love it.

Makes for some juicy early game drama setups.

(evil laughter)

 

[Nellancholy]

On the other end,let's see how the ego I gave Salka drives a wedge into things