Investments in a Gold for XP Game

So, James Young of tenfootpolemic has a great post about mechanics for investments in his game world. You have versions of conservative vs. risky investment with more wildly fluctuating results at either end of the spectrum, and generally incentivises engagement with the game world. I've played in that world, and the investment mini-game becomes a fun little bit of business. However, it does require a lot of bookkeeping and reflecting on it started me thinking about the concept of investment generally, especially in a gold for XP system.

Gold For XP

The idea of gold for XP, from a game design perspective, is to incentivise going into dungeons and returning with loot. If you could just level up by remaining in town and waiting for your investment bonds to mature, there's a much lower risk vs reward ratio. One could of course disallow the investment of gold as against the spirit of the game, but it seems unfair to restrict player agency like that, and there wouldn't be much of a post here if it was just "Don't let people do that" 

So let us assume, for the sake of argument, that your players want to invest their gold but are now looking at the knock-on effects in a simple gold for XP conversion. How then, to square that circle? One could of course arbitrarily rule what does count as "XP worthy gold acquisition" but you would risk making all sorts of contradictory rulings. Do rewards from quests count? Does something have to be in an underground complex in order to count? Does violence need to be employed in the acquisition of wealth in order to progress on the XP track? All of these answers are slightly unsatisfying and require more bookkeeping on top of bookkeeping the investments.

You could of course go the other way, and allow your players to grow wealthy and powerful on the proceeds of their diversified portfolio. Possibly refocus the nature of your game onto industrial espionage and market domination. In which case, I guess you don't need this post. Go become an Adventure Capitalist!™

However, if neither ad-hoc rulings suit your temperament read on!

What Do Players Want?

Easy, kill monsters, take their stuff, level up... right? 

Ok, wrong train of thought. Why do players want to invest their money? Easy, so they can gain more money. However, why would they want more money? Money, in the words of Cody Johnston, is fake and money in an RPG world is appreciably more fake than that. So where is the value, other than obtaining an arbitrarily high number? 

I'm so glad I can find a Simpsons quote for every occasion

Players, and IRL people too I guess, want the security, status, and power that money can bring. So, why not directly translate to that rather than muss about with complex bookeeping? To that end I present what I hope is a pretty simple tiered system of investments to sidestep the gold for XP problem, as well as to provide a nice way to get gold out of the system, and to incentivise more wealth seeking behaviour.

Investing Made Easy

To summarise: investments do not make any money. They give social and material bonuses, but the liquid financial assets are reabsorbed into the investment.

For the purposes of this model I've broken down investments into three basic types: commercial, agricultural, and esoteric as I am trying to make this as broadly applicable as possible. 

Commercial: Shops, taverns, businesses, the like

Agricultural: Land, castles, the foundation of the wealth of the aristocracy

Esoteric: Temples, wizards towers, anything that doesn't really fall into the other boxes

The idea is that each tier of the investment hit increases the benefits which the investment grants, with the investment leveling up like a character. This way, if the PCs are actively working to grow their investment with in game action (rooting out bandit activity near their smallholding, spreading the word of their god to increase worship at their shrine, burning down competing businesses in the dead of night, etc.) it is easy enough to award "bonus investment" on the way to the next tier.

A note on costs: I have no idea what the basis of your game's economy is what with different people valuing gold, silver, and company scrip at different rates so I've based the starting point as the cost of full plate armour, since it is the final purchase for a character in the beginning game. After that piece of equipment, a fighter is pretty much at the apex of performance in terms of purchasable assets and will be looking for other things to sink money into... in other words, it is an entirely arbitrary large, but not inconceivable, number. After this, the cost between tiers grows exponentially, as more money for greater expansion. 

Level 1

Cost: 1000 Money Units

Your first level investment, whether it be a cheese shop, dairy farm, or shrine to the Cow of Heaven, will always be a single place tied to a specific location .This serves to anchor the investment as a real thing, rather than an ephemeral benefit giving device, and means that there is an anchored location that the investing PC is now tied to, however tenuously. 

The basic benefit common across all types of investment is that this is a house, a place to stay where the shelves are stocked with food, there is always a sleeping pallet, and you can lock the door at night. You always count as being in comfortable conditions for the purposes of recuperating whilst in your house.

Commercial: You have a single shop with an employee. The employee runs the shop, and can run simple errands for you in town, but is too taken up with running your business to accompany you anywhere adventurous. You can obtain up to 100 money units worth of mundane equipment from your shop each time you visit. You can convert this equipment into gold only if you transport it to another settlement (your shop is the market here after all, you would just be selling it back to yourself). You must be in the town, or location to gain the benefits. Your business can shelter you in comfort (such as a small apartment above a shop, or a state room in a tavern) and an average number of adventuring companions in rather more basic way (tavern common room, the floor of the shop after hours).

Agricultural: You have a smallholding farm. This is a small building surrounded by fields. You can always acquire a horse for yourself when you return here. There are assumed to be a number of peasants who till the fields, but at any one point the farm can spare a single farmhand to accompany you on your adventures. This farmhand has the qualities of a henchman, and will follow the rules regarding henchmen and morale but whose stipend is paid for by your investment. If your henchman dies, you can obtain a replacement by returning to your property and dragging off a different farmhand. Your farm can shelter you in and any number of adventuring companions in comfort, and all present may take as many rations as desired in the form of produce.

Esoteric: You have a shrine, library, or laboratory. Not so much an investment, as a price break on doing other things. When at your property, you are assumed to have all the necessary equipment you would need for research or currying divine favour. This one is a bit harder to model, as the mechanics for magical research vary so much across systems, but a price and time break of 10% seems reasonable. Also, whether from the divine aura, or many experimental magical potions, you and all your companions may regain all hitpoints for free when visiting. Your property can shelter you in comfort and an average number of adventuring companions in rather more basic way (rolling out mats on the floor of a chapel for example). Your property maintains one acolyte who oversees the day to day running of things, they are skilled and well financed enough to be able to source relatively rare spell components or the like, but nothing that would take more than a week to locate. They are taken up with the business of maintining the shrine/overseeing your lab/polishing floors, and cannot spare the time to come adventuring with you.

Level 2

Cost: 3000 Money Units

Commercial: You have a large business which is a going concern. Perhaps you have some small shops in nearby towns with one great emporium where you founded your business. In the town where you founded your businesst you can requisition up to 500 money units worth of mudane equipment. In any of these locations you can always be assured of  comfortable lodgings for your entire party. You also have a large enough staff that you can bring along a retainer to carry your bags. This will be an unskilled henchmen, and will follow the rules regarding henchmen and morale but whose stipend is paid for by your investment. In addition, although it will probably reflect poorly on you as an employer, if your henchman dies you may acquire a replacement at no cost next time you pass through your business' zone of control. Additionally your business is a source of extra information and gossip.

Agricultural: You have invested enough that you are considered a Landed Knight. You have a small fortified tower, or manor house surrounded by fields (this structure is eminently defensible against a sizeable host if need be). In addition to being recognized locally as one of the gentry, or at least more well born than the other ratcatchers in your group, you also have access to a larger range of assistance from your tenants. You now have, supported by your lands, a Squire (a first level fighter with sword, shield, and chainmail mounted on a palfrey), as well as two hirelings to serve as pages (henchmen). In addition to this, you can always reequip as knight when visiting here: you can pick up a replacement destrier, sword, lance, full plate armour, shield, or any other equipment which a knight may require.

Esoteric: In anticipation of pitchfork wielding mobs you have constructed a fortified wizard's tower, or if you are of a less suspicious bent perhaps you have built a temple. In any case you have a doting staff of acolytes, and a standing in the community. You also get a lot more free spell components when utilizing your investment. When you are actually at your property, all possible ingredients are available immediately. If something is particularly difficult to obtain (the heart of a unicorn or the tear of a fae for example) it may take a little time for your team to source it, but they will manage it eventually (named items and treasures will still need to be quested for: you can requisition a diamond, but you still need to meet Lao Che in order to obtain the Peacock's Eye. You can also spare a sorcerer's apprentice (or equivalent) who will accompany you as a henchman, but can read and write and will additionally add +2 to spell effects as they assist you in the field. If you are careless enough to lose them, you must return to your property to be issued with a new one. 

Level 3

Cost: 10,000 Money Units

This would be about as far as I would assume the average player would be bothered to invest to, but of course I could be wrong.

Commercial: At this point your business has multiple locations. Any large settlement in the immediate region of your original location has one of your outlets where you can draw resources from. Due to this wide ranging control of trade lanes you can easily requisition transport for yourself and your party, or have equipment ferried to you at an average speed (assuming you can get a messge to your organization somehow). When you are in a city you can requisition any mundane item regardless of cost, you can't generate money from these as the market you would be selling to is your own investment (what would you be spending money on in any case that you cannot get for free). When you are in a city large enough to have one of your outlets you and your party are always accommodated in lavish quarters for free, and additionally you have an army of staff capable of completing any mundane errand effectively instantly. You also have influence with any mercantile organizations, craft guilds, and city councils due to your economic influence. You can also be accompanied by a loyal agent who will grease palms, arrange meetings, and generally allow your wealth to grease the wheels of society for you (you don't have to actually arrange knowing the right people to bribe/threaten, it's done for you). 

Agricultural: At this point you have invested enough to be the local Lord of the Manor. You are the largest landholder in the immediate region, and are recognized as such. You have a title of nobility and will be accorded all the social standing of such. As a local magnate, you also have a gang or armed fellows who can accompany you on expeditions, or just going around the local villages in an impressive fashion to let them know who's boss; about a dozen first level fighters with hand weapon and shield, your basic city guard. Your manor is also upgraded to be a small castle, possibly just a little motte and bailey affair, however with supplies enough to support about fifty armed defenders which you can levy in times of war (your dozen are the only full time heavies that your estate retains). Your fortification will also have a blacksmith and a number of other artisans able to fabricate any weapons or armour, carts and tackle, a boat if your estate has a river or bay, and additionally you will be able to requisition any number of horses you might require to ensure your party can travel in a manner befitting retainers to a worthy of your station.

Esoteric: Your temple/wizard tower/tesla factory is now an organization of great note, and a formidable structure in its own right. You now have a magically warded/divinely consecrated base, within which you have essentially ultimate arcane power. You cannot die in your base, you can move the architecture around with a whim, you have infinite supplies of jaffa cakes, whatever you want and fits thematically... within the walls of your structure. All magical supplies that you might need are available to you at all times, spell research always works, you can chat to your god any time you want, and summoning demons is always secure. In addition to this you have a dedicated priesthood/group of acolytes who are able to perform minor magical tasks for you, and your sorcerer's apprentice is now a first level wizard/cleric in their own right. In addition to this you have a slew of parishioners/worshippers/skeleton servants/tech-bro fanboys who are able to perform menial tasks and labour in the surrounds of your property. You also have the respect, or possibly fear, of the nearest settlement and are treated with deference there, further afield people may actually have heard of you as a weird worker of wonders. If need be, you are now an appropriate big bad for a first level party.

Level 4

Cost: 50,000 Money Units

This is a point where the benefits become largely notional, and the idea of investing further is just to make big numbers bigger. At this point adventure hooks are likely to be generated by the investment itself, the obstacles to growth that must be overcome (see this post for more ideas).

Commercial: Your business, whatever it may be, has expanded to encompass the entirety of the polity it started in, and has stretched beyond its borders. You reliably have an outlet in any major settlement, inside or outside the starting "kingdom" and agents of your business can be found in most settlements that do not have an outlet. You can requisition materials, labour, and even political favours essentially anywhere you are likely to travel and there still be economic activity. Unless you are in a large city, you will still need to wait for your agents to travel back to one of your branches and send things via. You are also able to bring with you from any major settlement a staff of three retainers (maintained by your investment) who can be of any retainer variety you wish, and always count as being exceptionally well paid for the purposes of loyalty and morale. Your loyal agent also gains class levels in whatever the appropriate support class may be fitting to your game (may I suggest a Valet).

Agricultural: You are now the Baron. You are officially a noble of the blood, with lineage and prospects of marriage alliances with other great houses. Money can buy a lot of fancy family trees, and enough spilled ink to wash off even the most unseemly origins. You are not only recognized within the kingdom you started in as nobility, but internationally as well (with all the danger and opportunity that comes with that). You gains all the benefits of your property anywhere within the region it is located, as you are assumed to have several manor houses and hill forts as well as your main castle. When outside your local region you can rely on the obligations of your "cousins" (fellow nobles) to furnish you with lodgings for yourself and your retainers, as well as any small incidentals you may require. You can even reasonably expect this level of hospitality in foreign countries, as a respected noble of a foreign state. As has been observed before, it's expensive to be poor and really rather cheap to be rich. You also have political power within the region, certainly being the ruler of the local region the laws are yours to encode and enforce (although be wary of insurrection and revolution), and beyond your borders you are seen as a power in your own right. You also have a full compliment of soldiers, being a military unit of up to fifty assorted fighters equipped to your liking, and additionally can call the levies of your estates for more armed yeomanry (although this is really getting into wargame territory). You can drag a reasonable number of them along on adventures with you, however beyond your estates you will need to sort the logistics of feeding them all. You can also host, and be invited to, lavish parties to display your wealth to your noble peers. 

Esoteric: Your esoteric investment is now paying dividends beyond the confines of your town. Your acolytes and apprentices have been hard at work in forwarding your interests and a secret society now exists dedicated to supporting your cause. How secret depends on flavour of course, ranging from fan club level ("Password? Oh don't worry about that, it's our patron's favourite exlaimation 'Excelsior, true believers!' come on in, would you like to have a look at the latest literature?") to cloak and dagger isolated cells clandestinely spreading heretical occult knowledge. In any case, in any town or city you go to there is a chance to find one of your devotees; they will always be able to make themselves known to you clandestinely and are willing to support you and "arrange" for anything you might need to support your occult endeavours. These "favours" are less reliable than the overt economic and political powers of other investments, but will never be traced directly back to you. The magical aura of your original tower now extends over the nearest settlement. You are able to employ illusions, charms, mind control, and scrying powers at will within the town. You can definitely see why people might want to form a torch wielding mob/hire some adventurers to sort you out.

Level 5

Cost: 1,000,000 Money Units

At this level, it truly is a completely dominating effect. I would say that this is the maximum level for an investment, as there is no greater power or market share to be gained by pumping in more money. This is the maximum that the economy can bear.

Commercial: Your business empire has dominated the known commercial sector of the world. You have a major business in every single settlement, and you would need to travel many thousands of miles before you outran your trade routes. Anywhere you can conceivably go, you will have business connections and markers you can call in in order to requisition any material comfort or service you could possibly require. You have fleets of trading vessels, miles of caravans, legions of scribes and agents. You have a 2/3 chance of having any given political figure in your pocket and can sway policy decisions (although best to remember this is not mind control and they do not work for you they just owe favours). Money is essentially no longer an object to you, have you considered buying your way into the aristocracy?

Agricultural: Your star has risen through the firmament of the aristocracy and you have arrived at the rank of Earl with powers rivaling the King. You have recognition internationally as both a member of the highest tier of nobility and as a major power within your nation. You have political sway which can influence the decisions of kings and Emperors, and you have a small army to back it up. However, if you are going to continue filling your house with Tyrian carpets and fine silks, ornamenting yourself with precious gems, and lavishly spicing all the meals at your extravagent banquets, maybe you should consider investing some of your money in trade?

Esoteric: You have an established University or Temple that dominates intellectual discourse in the region. You are seen as a luminary, a great prophet, possibly a god-king to some; if anyone thinks of you as an evil sorcerer who must be destroyed they certainly think you are also too powerful to be assaulted directly or with less than an alliance of the great heroes of the age. This is the level of Thulsa-Doom's snake cult in Conan the Barbarian. You have a large cult of accolytes and apprentices, as well as a fanatical following of loyal underlings. You have hidden agents in every level of society, assassins and poisoners willing to do your bidding at a mere word. You have the resources and support to begin forging your own magic items fit to purpose. Your magical influence now stretches across the region your original site is located in, and most villages live in fear of you/rapturous devotion to you. Why would you need anything more, you're a super-cool wizard!

Liquidating an Investment

Sometimes you just need money fast. You can convert your business into capital essentially instantaneously. However, you only receive money units equal to the base cost of the current tier. For example, your honey business "Blood Honey 4 U" is currently at level 3, but you have been investing towards level 4, and have invested a total of 25000 money units. For some reason, you suddenly need to bribe a dragon to not burn down your town. If you sell your investment you will only receive 10000 money units (the cost of level 3), after all you are trying to get money fast!

Some Final Thoughts

So there you have it, a relatively easy to track, simple investment system that sidesteps gold for XP problems whilst modelling the social and financial advantages of having a large landholding or investment. It also explains why the tavern owner is a retired level 20 fighter, as their player made the first tier investment ages ago, and always meant to put in more but sort of let it slip their mind. I find it a bit better than the "automatically gain a stronghold when you reach level x" structure for this sort of thing, partly because it self selects the players who want to do that sort of thing, and also because that we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly and this is a good way to utilize the sunk cost fallacy to our advantage.

Anyway, I hope this is a useful (or at least entertaining) post. Please let me know if there's anything you think could be changed or modified, and definitely let me know if this is implemented (successfully or otherwise) in a game.