Chap 5,6 & etc- alternative Cost/Maintanance denominations

[Cuchulainshound]

I had been mentioned in an unrelated thread that the fractions in the money system drove me crazy, and there were several voices of assent. It strikes me that, altho' any one of those fractions is not overwhelming, all of them tossed together is an unecessary headache. I'm not bad at math, and some say "good", but I dread working with the current system.

Between finding a "lowest common denominator" (and here many start to blanch and back away, memories of grade school math creeping up their spines) and various rules that then further modify those amounts, finding a "user-friendly" alternative would both reduce an obstacle to new players, and make all players' lives easier, especially the GM's.

The various fractional costs to buy and support elements in the game gives us the following spectrum of fractinal values to consider:

1/2's, 1/3's & 1/4's
1/6's (road maintenance)
1/12's (maintanance of most Domain Assets, relative to cost, naval vessels)
1/24's - naval vessels docked in home port

So, at the smallest, (unless I'm forgetting something!) multiples of 1/24 of a Gold Bar can represent any expenditure needed in the game (4/24 = 1/6, 6/24 = 1/4 etc).

(The Admininistration skill's use to reduce maintanance to 3/4 is not a consideration- a note in the skill description says to round down the final amount saved, so we don't need to worry about 1/96's.)

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One immediate solution would simply be to do the first half of the brainwork for the players, and list all fractional values as "twentyfourths". This would change nothing in the math/mechanics, and be a huge labor-saving gesture. Stone bridge maintance would then cost 12/24, not 1/2, but that's hardly intimidating. Folk would still have to add

7/24 + 9/24 + 2/24 + 1/24 + 1/24 + 1/24 + 6/24 + 4/24 + 7 Gold Bars (= 8 & 7/12 GB)

but some sort of addition's gotta happen somewhere in there, and that beats the alternative:

7/24 + 3/8 + 1/12 + 1/24 + 1/24 + 1/24 + 1/4 + 1/6 +7,

right?

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A simpler version would be to smile, create an accounting coin (that may or may not exist in the Game World) called the Gold Twenty-fourth, the GT, 1/24 of a Gold Bar, and list all maintanance in GT's. It would get rid of the fractions (and folks' innate resistance to/fear of them) entirely, at least until the math was done.

7gt + 9gt + 2 gt + 1gt + 1gt + 1gt + 6gt + 4gt, + 7GB = 7 GB + 31gt, = 8 GB, 7 gt = 8 7/24 GB.

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The only other real alternative to fractions is... a decimal system.

1/24 (.0416666...) is acceptably close to .04 GB (1/25), (only 4% smaller.*) This would reduce maintanance by that same amount, 4% less than the current system using 1/24's.
(* Actually, it's .0416666... smaller, which makes sense if you think about it.) (But don't.)

(tables are beyond me in vB code, apologies)
Costs in .04's of a GB, with notes on original fractional monetary value in parentheses:

Table 5-4: asset maintenance costs in .04GB/1GT increments
Asset _____ Build _____ Maintenance/
Type ______ cost ______ season

Bridges:
(wood)________3__________ .24 (1/4)
(stone) _______6__________ .48 (1/2)
Ferry_________1__________ .08 (1/12 = .08333)

Fortification:
(province) ____8 GB x level__ .64 x level (2/3/Lvl)
(holding)______4 GB x level_ .32 GB x level (1/3/)

Highway (cost by terrain)
(plains, etc)___ 2___________ .16 (1/6 = .16666)
(desert, etc)___ 4___________ .32 (1/3)
(swamp, etc)___ 6__________ .48 (1/2)
(glacier, etc)___ 8___________ .64 (2/3 = .66666)
Palace_______ 6 GB x level__ .48 (1/2)
Seaport______ 6 GB________ .48 (1/2)
Shipyard_____ 4 GB x leve___ .32 (1/3)

Now, looking at those values, I'm not sure that would help anything, and might be worse. Using the identical values from above (7/24 + 9/24 + 1/24 + 1/24 + 1/24 + 1/24 + 1/24 + 6/24 + 4/24 + 7), that would be adding:

.28
.36
.08
.04
.04
.04
.24
.16
7.0
8.24, or 8 6/24*
(We added about 30 twentifourths, and that .04 difference per added up with them. This doesn't "break" the new system, only reduces the maintance costs by that .041666% compared to the old system, saving 1/24 of gold spent in comparison between the two.)

Observation: IMO looks like the /24's, and especially "GT's", would be far easier than wrestling with multiples of .04, altho' either would be better than "lowest common denominator", as it now stands. I only include this since folk would be thinking of it, and to compare it to below.

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As a slightly more aggressive solution, 1/20 of a GB would make the math child's play, as adding ".05's" is easier still, and I, for one, would recommend that it would be worth it, but that would require a bit more shifting of the costs.*
(*I'm going to guess that there are some opinions as to the need to shift costs for game balance. If this were indeed considered, this would kill two birds with one stone.)

Table 5-4: asset maintenance costs in .05GB/1GT increments
Asset _____ Build _____ Maintenance/
Type ______ cost ______ season

Bridges:
(wood)________3__________ .25 (1/4)
(stone) _______6__________ .50 (1/2)
Ferry_________1__________ .10 (1/12 = .08333)

Fortification:
(province) ____8 GB x level__ .60 x level (2/3/Lvl)
(holding)______4 GB x level_ .30 GB x level (1/3/)

Highway (cost by terrain)
(plains, etc)___ 2___________ .15 (1/6 = .16666)
(desert, etc)___ 4___________ .30 (1/3)
(swamp, etc)___ 6__________ .45 (1/2)
(glacier, etc)___ 8___________ .60 (2/3 = .66666)
Palace_______ 6 GB x level__ .50 (1/2)
Seaport______ 6 GB________ .50 (1/2)
Shipyard_____ 4 GB x leve___ .30 (1/3)

That same long calculation (faking the actual items represented) might then look something* like this.

.30
.35
.10
.05
.05
.05
.25
.15
7.0
(* Unlike the consistancy of .04 vs 1/24, the differences here vary depending on rounding off at the source of the maintanance; there is no way to compare final outcomes, but care would be taken to ensure it would be similar.)

This would be something any gamer could live with.

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In Game Color/Considerations:

If a Gold Bar = 2000 GP*, then 1/25 of a bar would be 80 gp, 1/20 would be 100. (For reference, BTR 1 gp = ~1/3 oz, or ~50 to the pound, or 110/kg, so we're talking about something of about 1.5-2 pounds of gold.) Been trying to think of a nifty name for such a thing (that doesn't start with "b" or "p"), something that only merchants or the wealthy would usually employ, but GT (gold twentieth/twentifourth) seems to work.
(* Actually, one Gold Bar has a "value equal to" approximately 2000 GP, as most treasuries are not purely comprised of vast stacks of coins. But for the coins that are there, GF's would be far easier to count/handle/maintain.)

If round like (an exceptionally large!) coin, it could be a Crown (gc) or Sun (gs), or if more like a modern book or paving tile a Gold Flat, GF, if the GT is not used. Either way, they are probably stamped with various marks and certifications, and possibly a scene from Anuire's history.

As a storyteller I like the image of flat, formed, stackable, transportable, [s]stealable[/s] slabs of gold better than any other shape, because IG they could be described in those stacks, and transported/handled/bundled more easily as such.

(There is a cinematic image that I've always liked, that of the medieval Japanese custom of wrapping pre-counted stacks of money in paper for presentation. This could be incorporated into the "colour" of Cerelia, or of some of her cultures, that of a baron or guilder sliding a thick wrapped stack of GT's over to a character during a reward or negotiation...)

The GT is also a valuable and recognizable "coin" for RP purposes, whether for one regent to send a cash payment to another, or for PC's to find in their adventures. Whether a chestful in a wagon, or one in the vest of an assassin, GT's speak of regent-level wealth, of a fraction of a Gold Bar that you can hold in one hand.

Thoughts?