[AW] Barter counting?
Moreno R.:
I am having some difficulties understanding how Barter works in Apocalypse World.
I am used to having money (or wealth in general) treated in two kind of manners in rpgs:
1) Games where you count every single copper piece, and there is a price for everything (D&D, for example)
2) Games where there is a stat (or a advantage, or a bonus, or something character sheet) that say that you are "wealthy" (or "poor") and you can afford (or not) to buy things that other characters can't, without counting coins.
Sometimes the "wealthy" stat can change following a exceptional payment, but it still remain a stat, non a number of coins.
"Barter" is confusing to me because sometimes it has to be counted like (1), other times its like a stat like in (2). When the player create his character, barter is used in a very abstract manner ("and you have two barter"). A lot of characters get some barter at the beginning of a session, without having to play getting it. But then there is the price list, and the "make them pay" MC move...
From my reading of the rules, the characters are supposed to keep track of the barter they gets and spend during the game session, and the MC should "make them pay" sometimes to keep track of what they spend simply living and eating. But it seems to me overtly complicated for the results (it's even more complicated that counting coins, and less precise), and I think I am missing something here.
Apart from the general problem, I have some particular ones in my game.
All the other PCs work for Marco, the Hardholder. So they should get the listed amount of barter every month? (4-barter the Battlebabe, 1-barter the driver, etc.)? If the Hardholder negotiate a different amount, this mean that Marco can keep the difference (if she pay them less) or has to pay the difference (if it's more) from the barter she gets at the beginning of every session? (I am thinking that would be very easy to keep that barter, instead of losing it at the end of the session: all she have to do is lend money to the other characters, as "advance pay"...)
If the Hardholder increase her gang by hiring other guys, she get the barter to pay them during the following sessions, or she has to pay the difference from the surplus? In this second case, how can she save to increase her gang, if she can't keep the surplus?
The 1-barter and 4-barter that the Driver and the battlebabe are getting are counted in their total barter, or it's assumed that they spend the same amount every month?
lumpley:
Where is the battlebabe getting 4-barter a month from?
-Vincent
Moreno R.:
Quote from: lumpley on August 17, 2011, 06:05:09 AM
Where is the battlebabe getting 4-barter a month from?
"rules of play: the character's crap", page 236, "things worth 1-barter"
"a week’s employment of a battlebabe or gunlugger as bodyguard,
gang leader, or thug-on-hand."
To be exact, it's 52-barter for a year, = 4.33-barter for a month.
Eero Tuovinen:
Remind me, where is Marco getting the Barter to pay the other PCs in the first place?
Moreno R.:
Quote from: Eero Tuovinen on August 17, 2011, 08:01:45 AM
Remind me, where is Marco getting the Barter to pay the other PCs in the first place?
It's one of the things I would like to know...
The Hardholder "wealth" move description says that the barter Marco gets (or not) every session is surplus barter. The Hardholder playbook explain "Your holding provides for your day-to-day living, so while you’re
there governing it there’s no need for you to concern yourself with that."
So I would assume that she get the barter to pay for the wages of her men, outside that roll (let's keep wants outside of this for simplicity)
The Battlebabe and the Driver are parts of her gang, and their wages are regular expenses for the holding.
(The hold is a fortified island, with a lot of citizens, good defenses and a big market. Marco gets A LOT of barter if she roll a seven or more, so it's reasonable to assume that if that amount is her share, the total money circulation inside of the city is really big. They even have a kind of currency they "print" instead of a straight barter system)
If they gets their wages from "city money" and not from Marco's share, they can simply get the barter they need every week/month, and in this case, see my first post for the questions
If they have to be paid from Marco's share, the situation would be absurd: a really rich city that can't afford a Battlebabe as chief of the city guard.
(no Hardholder could afford a battlebabe as a hireling, judging from the game numbers: they would have to make their wealth roll every single time, and even that would not be enough - they can't save money from a session to another)
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