In Legends Never Die, each nation might have its own unique economic system that might not use money, maybe not even barter. The idea that shops even exist for players to visit and pick items from is a very modern concept.
Bluntly, most games use a form of capitalism that is ahistorical and not really appropriate for this setting. Also, there’s a practical concern – we don’t want players to need to learn a different economic systen every adventure. So economics and the concept of wealth is handled very abstractly.
So, here’s how it works in LND.
Wealth
At the start of each Scenario, adventures (PCs) are given a Wealth rating that is based on their Glory at the end of last Scenario (fickle fame and fortune, as well as intangible reputation and status). This is a number from 0 to 10, which essentially means:
- 0, Poor: A character with the equivalent of no income. An outcast struggling to survive.
- 1-2, Average: The wealth of a typical professional, getting by but not thriving.
- 3-5, Good: Affluent wealth, that of a very successful professional.
- 6-9, Excellent: Rich wealth, that of a guild leader or expert professional, or even a minor aristocrat.
- 10, Spectacular: The wealth of major nobility, even a queendom’s ruler.
How wealth is implemented might vary in different areas. But look at a character’s wealth score to see if they could own something, and if they could, they have it or can get it shortly.
If something exceeds a character’s wealth, they probably cannot get it outside of adventuring for it.
Wealth Slots and Gear
Your wealth score has a second use for adventurers. You have a number of Wealth Slots equal to your Wealth Score (which, remember, is on a range from 0 to 10). During play you can say, “I have this sword,” or “this coil of rope”, or “this ornithopter”, and if it’s something the group agrees exists in the world and is something you could have, you do – or you will get it shortly.
Some items automatically take up some slots- medium armour takes up 1 slot, and heavy armour 2 slots.
As with the ornithopter example, you can spend slots to have unusual items that aren’t commonly available. You can leave slots empty and add the equipment when you need it – but the slot is then occupied and can’t be used for anything else.
You might need to justify whether you can own something by referring back to your Legends or previous adventures. “I stole an ornithopter in the last adventure. I still have it.” If you have welath 6+, you can probably justify pretty much anything that readily exists in the world.
The rulebook suggests some items should always be special in some way, for instance giving +4 to skill. Whether you can have them might depend on your Wealth rating (maybe adding an amount to one skill equal to Wealth rating, and sometimes granting a different benefit). It’s meant to be freeform, and encouraging players to be somewhat imaginative with equipment – withn the constraints of what it’s possible for available equipment to do.
If you have an opportunity to reset your equipmet (like visiting your home and spending an evening there), clear your equipment slots, and maybe fill some of the now-empty ones with useful items.
Mundane Gear
Theres a space on the character sheet for Mundane Gear. This might be deprecated (giving attacks more space). But for now, you can use undane Gear to track anything acquired by means other than the wealth system above, and equipment that isn’t special in any way.
Conclusion
We don’t use a detailed money system, because some nations don’t use money.
You have a Wealth rating, and that tells us how many special items you can acquire at a time, and some of these might be the equivalent of magic items in other systems. They give players the opportunity to do unusual things, or just to treat equipment abstractly and not worry about long, detailed equipment lists.
Read Legends Never Die!
