The mnothly income of factions of the known worlds
Find the Monthly Income (Income/12) divided by 2 (Living expenses, Debts, Loans, Ect.)
This yeilded the Base Monthly Income that the PCs have after upkeep is paid for. (Income/24)
I then had the PCs roll 1D20 per month since their last payday. The roll yeilded a percentage as listed below:
1 0% Emergency at home, No Income 2 25% 3 40% 4 50% 5 60% 6 70% 7 75% 8 85% 9 95% 10 100% Monthly Base Income 11 105% 12 110% 13 120% 14 125% 15 130% 16 135% 17 145% 18 150% 19 175% 20 200% Investment Boom, Minor Inheritance
I have a Lotus spreadsheet with the actual income values printed. (If you would like a copy, then ping me and I will send it to you individually.)
If they do something out of the ordinary, then they have out of pocket expenses. But they still have to maintain their residence, guild fees, tithes, etc. It just comes off the top.
This way, I do not have to deal with the hassles of characters having to pay for daily expenses. It is taken care of for them, and me. And I can let them roleplay their level of status without fumbling to find cash on their character sheet.
By Lee Watts
How do many of you handle the contracts with the Guilds? Here is an example of how I did it one time. IT also shows how the guildsman makes his cut.
Contract: Labor
Between: Eskatonic Order (Father Has'te) & Muster (Josette Desporte)
Requirements: 20 Common Laborers, 5 Guards, 1 Overseer
Period of Employment: 3 months
Job Description: Archeological Dig
Transport to: The Planet Nowhere, Desmath Archeological Site
Transport Allowance: 300 FB, Bond Placed w/ Reeve Ian Northridge
Beginning Date: Mid-Spring, Northern Hemisphere, Nowhere.
Total Agreed Price: 1,468.5
Common Labor (20 @ 1/month for 3 months) 60.0
Guards (5 @ 50/month for 3 months) 750.0
Overseer (1 @ 75/month for 3 months) 225.0
Transport allowance - Bond placed w/ Reeve 300.0
Reeve's Contract Fee (10%) - PAID 133.5
Total Paid in Advance: 433.5
Balance Due: Upon completion of dig
Agreed and Signed this day on Pentateuch
Now the "Transportation Fee" is the signing bonus for the muster. He will use much of this (or as little as possible) to arrange for the laborers to be in place.
Since the Muster will have "laborers" already on planet as well as guards and overseer, there really will not be any transportation cost, except moving the workers to the site on planet.
Of that 300 FBs, the Muster Agent will keep 100, 100 will be eaten by Guild Fees/Dues and the other 100 will go to the Guildsman who actually arranges for the workers on Nowhere.
Placing that bond with the Reeve allows for the money to be banked with letters of credit being sent to the various parties, so that you don't have large chests of cash being passed from ship to ship. (I figure that it is easier to ship the letter of credit in a mail tube to the destination then hiring a courier to transport the actual cash.)
The Reeve's Fees of 10% of the total transaction is to cover the writing of the various letters and arranging transport to the destination. 5% (or half of the fee) stays with the Reeve who writes the letters and the other 5% will go to the Reeve how has to cash the letter out.
I tried to create a very involved system to represent the total control that the Reeves have on the flow of money. If someone offends the local guildsmember and then tries to cash a letter of Credit, the guildsman can refuse, stating that she does not have enough cash on hand to cover it. Or she can say that the person who issued the contract is hard to reach, so that there is a 5-20% processing fees.
I don't see huge amounts of cash floating around. Most of the letters will be used by the planetary guildhead to off set letters of Credit owned to other planetary guildheads. Only when there is a massive trade imbalance between planets, will the guild have to ship actual cash. The main commodity will be stock futures or agricultural production from economically depressed nobles who have had to sell the future crops so that they could live today.
I believe that the Reeves are the most powerful guild. Money is power. And any guild that can bring a noble to his knees by shuffling paper around, is powerful. The Counting Houses must be overflowing with tracing money and paying off debts.