Post by anedwcan in Cthork Borg comments

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Richard, I'm struggling with the economy in this game. Unlike Call of Cthulhu you don't abstract away money - investigators get more money after each Investigation.

But there doesn't seem to be any "standards of living" expenditures - instead you gain ever-more money (actual specified dollar amounts) until you have enough to buy everything on the equipment list. Unless an adventure makes a deal out of needing to pay for something expensive in order to proceed with the plot, tickets on the next steam ship to Egypt, purchasing a rare book or whatever, there doesn't seem to exist any reliable "money drains".

How do you handle money at your table? What expenditures did you have in mind when you decided to hand out $40 (or $20 per point of Social Standing, the rules say two things) after each adventure?

Did you simply assume each investigation finds creative ways to charge each Investigator roughly $40 on average, to keep money roughly the same assuming no windfalls or disasters?

kumada119 days ago

I mean, I'm not generally trying to keep money the same when I'm GMing. If it accumulates, it accumulates.

If you want to play a more financially constrained game, you could tax a percentage of players' loose cash at the end of each investigation. This would affect some Classes a fair bit---I think Skinflint breaks---but heavily affected Classes could still work around it with investments.

That said, the economy in Cthork is designed more game-y, less simulation-y than in traditional cosmic horror titles.

Social Standing is what kind of income you have access to, but it's also the way in which you're habituated to living, unique drains on your resources, etc. Your cash on hand doesn't have to, and isn't really expected to, always be in accord with your Social Standing.

If players are looking for things to spend on, there's more options for gear and investments in Rumrunner's and in the other supplements. But if you're worried about too much money breaking the system, it has not been my experience that money is the thing to worry about. Cthork PCs can get pretty darn strong over time, to the point where Fascinations And Aversions, Ragged Cuts, and Sense And Stability are all kinda about reining them in.

anedwcan18 days ago(+1)

Thank you for your swift reply!

Btw, Getting Better states you gain $40 after each investigation (page 65). Social Standing says you gain $20 per point of Stability at the start of each investigation (page 15)?

This suggests an Investigator with Stability 3 would gain $100 for completing one investigation and starting another? Or did I read that wrong?

kumada117 days ago

Yep! $40 flat, then money based on Stability. You could definitely cut the $40 if you wanted to accentuate the differences between players' incomes.

I'm also making a note to add financial difficulty sliders to the next supplement. A lot of the current difficulty sliders are focused on stat points and max hp loss and long term complications, with money as a backstop. That backstop should also be adjustable.

itch.io

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