Possibly a dumb question but I can’t find mention of it anywhere in the current version: how many Coin do individual characters start with? I know the crew overall starts with 2 – is that meant to be the pool of all the coin for everyone in the crew? Also, one of my players took the Noble background (he’s a rich kid in this for the kicks) so I’d think he would certainly have access to more than 2 coin but what’s the point where it becomes unbalancing?
Possibly a dumb question but I can’t find mention of it anywhere in the current version: how many Coin do individual…
Possibly a dumb question but I can’t find mention of it anywhere in the current version: how many Coin do individual…
They’re scoundrels because they have little money. All they have is what they got together, which is why they are a crew of scoundrels.
None. If you want to plat as a (formerly) rich character, you can justify it in that her last investments were on the hideout, assets or whatever.
You could justify him not having any “Coin” because his regular finances are tightly controlled, so he can’t be spending his legit money on fancy lockpicks or the like.
I’d consider pushing back on the “only for kicks” angle. My take on background is it is where the character came from, who they were, before they became a scoundrel. Because now they are a scoundrel.
The ex-noble can “say” he’s in the game for the adrenaline and can leave whenever, but I don’t think that attitude should actually reflect the reality of their situation. The premise of the game is he’s a scoundrel in a crew profiting from breaking laws and hurting people. I’d guess the game will suffer if the ex-noble has a different reality.
Yepp, Duskwall is not a kind city, and the characters are pretty much over the edge.
He can also certainly have access to Coin even if he starts the game with none in his pocket. He could roll to acquire an asset during downtime (perhaps with a bonus from a noble friend or contact), or make whatever Action roll during an operation (perhaps with a better position from being a noble), and gain an appropriate amount of Coin per the result.
The move Acquire an Asset can’t get you Coin. First, temporary use of Coin doesn’t make any sense; Coin is already too abstract and liquid. All you do with Coin is spend it, how do you do that temporarily? Second, the result indicates the quality of the Asset, and there is no use for poor or fine Coin. The system only cares for the quantity of Coin.
As far as I can tell, Coin is only gained from pulling off scores. Full stop.
The ‘quality’ of the asset gained is the quantity of Coin you gain. I would let the GM interpret that as they wish, according to the situation and the Coin values. Further, Coin absolutely makes sense in this context; people temporarily gain money all the time. Why couldn’t a PC use Acquire An Asset to borrow Coin?
My point is that, if a GM wants to support a player’s desire for their Noble PC to have Coin available, there are tools you can use. If you wouldn’t run the Asset mechanic the same way, okay.
Likewise I do not think that Coin is only, full stop, gained from Payout. I don’t believe it is the rule or intention of the game to make that the only way a PC ever gets a Coin. As always, the GM should use the game mechanics to interpret the fictional situation at hand.
Yeah, I don’t agree. A GM can give Coin, sure, but that doesn’t mean they should or that the move Acquire an Asset works that way.
The idea of temporary Coin generally doesn’t make any sense; all Coin is temporary. I’d carve out an exception if the players wanted to use Acquire an Asset to find someone to loan them some coin, but that’s going to require payback. It’s a good hook, especially if the job they’re borrowing Coin for doesn’t pay off as planned.
But that’s kind of a tangent, because we’re talking about a character who doesn’t want to borrow Coin, he wants to have it.
Instead, I’d offer the player the chance to take a new Special Ability on their character sheet. Something like Independently Wealthy : When you Acquire an Asset, take +1d if you obtain the asset using legitimate, non-criminal means.
Worth pointing out that as of v4, Payoff is not the only way to acquire Coin: you can also get it via Claims (Drug Den or Gambling Den provide +1 Coin during downtime), and each PC gains coin when you mark 8 Crew Advancements.
You could possibly offer to let the Noble PC’s Estate be a Claim that the crew holds with a similar benefit; it also comes with a nice hook that their Estate could be seized by a rival faction.
A loan as an asset could work, with a clock to repay. The bigger the loan, and the longer the clock, the bigger the interest. And the threat would be some NPC faction has the crew vulnerable and could reduce the crew’s hold as a single NPC downtime action, if they don’t repay or just whenever they wanted.
I like the idea of a special ability that a noble character takes instead of one from their playbook or as a veteran advancement. A noble claim is cool, but I’m leery of giving that claim from the start. I’d think it’d have to be claimed through a score, that is unless they want to have it in lieu of a hidden lair. Also, I think these could boosted a little, giving +1d on any downtime roll if the noble PC wrangles financial help from a noble friend or contact.
Thanks for pointing out the other ways to gain Coin.