Resources

Resources in a Dark Ages game is tied mostly to land and it needs to be regularly taken care of in order to keep producing funds. If a noble man is away from his estates for too long, you never know what those tending the fields will do. With this in mind, here is a rough estimate of what resources mean in Dark Ages.

No traits Poverty. Yearly income of two coins. You have a leaky straw hut on the cheep side of town. Traveling is too rich for even your day dreams.
One traits Small savings and holdings; yearly income of 50 coins. You can maintain a typical residence in the style of the soical class you choose and seem unmiserly, even if it all becomes a pumpkin and some rats at midnight. You can maintain a servant or hire seasonal help as needed. Travel might be nice, but you can not afford to maintain your home from abroad.
Two traits Modest savings and holdings; yearly income 250 coins. You can display yourself as a member in good standing of your chosen community, with the occasional gift and indulgence becoming a person of quality. You can maintain a small staff of servants. A fraction of your wealth is available in letters of credit, readily portable jewelry and other forms that let you maintain a standard of life, but traveling too far from your home will put a strain on your resouces.
Three traits Significant savings and holdings; yearly income 500 coins. You are a prominent and established member of your community, with land and property, and the reputation that lets you draw on credit at very generous terms. Trust is as much a key resource as any particular commodity at this point. When you travel, you can maintain a one-Trait lifestyle for six months.
Four traits Large savings and holdings, yearly income 5,000 coins. Troubadours spin tales about the richness of your clothes, the health of your livestock, and the beauty of your home. You hold more wealth than many of the local authorities. When you travel, you can maintain a three-trait resouce lifestyle for a year and a two trait lifestyle indefinitely.
Five traits Rich; yearly income 10,000 coins. You have vast and widely distributed assets, with large staffs, huge tracts of land and connections to every level of society through out a region. You travel with a minimum of three-trait comforts and more, with a little effort.

You can spend temporary Resources traits (presuming you have any) to draw on those income levels. These resources traits refresh every game. Just as an illustration, if someone with Resources 2 wanted to cash out at a game on a temporary basis, he or she would have about 5 coins to spend during that session (or between sessions).  

Permanently expending these levels of resources allows for 10 times the amount of income shown. That means said person with 2 Resources could burn a permanent point for ready funds of 50 coins at his disposal.  

However, these funds, whether spent temporarily or permanently, need to be used during the game or between games. Otherwise, they are assumed to be spent on normal things: your characters need clothing, for instance. Some of you have horses you need to stable and shod. Households can be expensive to maintain. And so on.  

You can freely increase your resources with xp up to a resources of 3. Anything after 3 requires us to approve it first, and usually requires an explanation a bit beyond: "It was a good year for my crops."  

Also, influences can be used to increase the amount of money you have between games. Faith and Fire gives the following examples:  
Church 3: Did into the collections plate (250 coins).
Court 2: Borrow 150 coins as idle cash from rich contacts
Transportation 4: Route money your way (200 coins)  

There are others. Obviously, the amount you can get depends on the influences, as beggers on the street have less on hand then idle nobles. In general, these funds need to be spent between games or at game, although allowances might be made depending on what you were trying to do.  

The following are also from Faith and Fire:
A Greatsword requires Resources x 4
A longsword requires Resources x 3
A dagger requires Resources x 2
A knights armor requires Resources x 3  

Just to give some examples. Now, we allow you to get whatever items you might need, within reason, simply by asking. We will assume that if you, Joe Kindred, have survived this long, you probably have picked up a shield, a sword, and a few other useful items. However, if you wanted to, say, purchase a set of swords outside of this, we may very well check your resource level and/or require you to do something else (say, spend influence) to be able to do this.  

Finally, your average working commoner has only about a coin a week in income. While there might not be a good way to compare that to today's cash, Laws has a modern nights resources 2 providing about $250 a week. We're not going to be a stickler for details when it comes to this. If you have any questions as to exactly what something might cost, just let us know.

 
 
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