So after not much searching I found the way everyone puts a currency system on proboards. Though it'll still be a manual system I think that one of Simile's ideas will work to help make the system flow well.
We're going to have an accounting thread. Each member will have their own post and keep it updated for their purchases (it should be simply enough for me to add in the mass earnings, like Hatching attendance). So if you want to buy something you'd put, for example:
-10 marks for [item] (Earth date) -10 marks for Common Flitt Egg (7/10/11)
And then a staff member would edit your marks in your profile account, subtracting the appropriate number and making a note in the by-date sales post that your request was fulfilled.
While this will effect character creation I plan to allow a number of "first character" marks for new members so they may have a little room to work with creation. Then the other characters later can be made with earned marks.
Considering the time skip, events that happened but weren't credited with marks and so on, I feel its best to start over for everyone. Our members have had a chance to create some characters that may have cost marks already, and so it seems that starting at 0 for everyone is the best option.
That's probably good considering retroactive bank accounts for us old members would become rather massive.
I mean Turns upon Turns of earnings... Jeez, I don't even know how we'd calculate that.
Tiger Cirryyth of Weyrharper V'ridian Black Sunristh of Weyrling A'kai Blood Zojiroth of Candidate Master Moraiya Lavender and her fading Starlight Fayzeth Elraishsa of the Wild Rowensae and Pscittasch Lylore the Strange Oldbies: R'nos, Felora, K'cin, S'nire(deceased)
To throw it in for a mix, might I suggest a few things be put on the price board?
For various stuff:
Flitts- Flitt trainer (4 or more flitts) (my personal opinion that you'd have to pay)
Pets - Exotic (choice of various exotic animals, more expensive than Runners) Rodents (mice, hampsters, rats) Birds (messenger birds such as owls or pigeons)
Relations - Crafter (cost dependant upon rank?) Head Drudge (cheaper) Noble Family (espensive) Famous Persons (like that one actress from Fort! OMGS!) -these options would likely dictate how a character's mannerisms developed. For instance, a Noble character would likely be more stuck-up or overly courteous all the time while somebody who's Aunt was a Headwoman likely hates chores or perhaps is a neat freak.
Characteristics Tattoos Uncommon piercing (such as nose, eyebrow, or lip) Debilitating deficiency (deaf, blind, mute, physical, mental, might have RP requirement but I know people who like to play these kinds of chars. For instance, Synire v2.0 is a mute schizophrenic who can talk but doesn't) Exceptionally attractive/unattractive (purdy or not! in the case of the later, think villains looking super scary) Weapon ability (encourages a bit of hostility, which is healthy for RP) Impress at a younger age? <--- speculation, might not even be possible For Dragons: uncommon color deviation, such as a crimson having weird purple streaks on his underbelly, or a bronze having tiny wings for his size.
Tiger Cirryyth of Weyrharper V'ridian Black Sunristh of Weyrling A'kai Blood Zojiroth of Candidate Master Moraiya Lavender and her fading Starlight Fayzeth Elraishsa of the Wild Rowensae and Pscittasch Lylore the Strange Oldbies: R'nos, Felora, K'cin, S'nire(deceased)
Post by sweetlilangel on Jul 12, 2011 12:03:19 GMT -8
If you make too many characteristic and background information have to be paid for, you encourage too many sues. I don't think Crafter should be something paid for, since that's the way majority of pern makes their living. I could see the tatoos and piercings and what not, but paying to have them be exception attractive or not seems silly to me... especially since everyone has their opinion of what is attractive and what is not. You don't want to put too many limits on how creative people can get with characters..
Another thing I'd like to throw out as a suggestion.. One site I was on had a set amount of marks you received for an IC week/month based on character rank. (the marks went to the individual characters, but you could also pool them to be used for OOC things..) .. For example: a brat would get around 5 marks a week as an "allowance"... Also if you had more than one occupation you would get marks for both.
Last Edit: Jul 12, 2011 12:19:15 GMT -8 by sweetlilangel
Post by Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro) on Jul 12, 2011 14:11:03 GMT -8
I second Lil on the receiving marks on a weekly or monthly basis. Especially as then you could have a plot device where a character thinks they're related to someone (but they're not) or where a character doesn't think they're related to someone but then they are. From what I remember, it is possible in cannon for characters to impress at younger ages.
The reason I haven't favored a marks-per-unit-time system is that I thought perhaps people who weren't about would end up with large bank accounts. I had a thought however, that if there were a 'pay collection thread' (or some similar name) with a couple simple rules the negative could be avoided while rewarding active people. Say, at the end of the month, you have to post links to the threads you've RPed in - at least so many (not sure how many yet though. Maybe four at least, perhaps rewards for increments more) - then you'd earn your marks.
It's enough to keep records for each RPer. I don't want to split it by character.
@lil - I agree that crafter status shouldn't be something to be paid for. Perhaps if someone wanted to make an older character a craft Master in a Hold area if the Holds had more active PCs then that might have to be a buy-able reward, but just being an age appropriate rank (Apprentice (12-16/18) or Journeyman (16/18+)) is fine with me.
Are there OoC rewards anyone would be interested in?
Tattoos might be something to start charging for though. They're like scars.
I doubt most Pernese would keep rodents, considering their tech level and need for agriculture. Rodents are probably viewed as pests, not pets. At one Weyr I RPed at however, there was a character with a tamed wild feline. A very interesting pet that was well RPed and known throughout the Weyr. Something like that might be interesting. And birds might fall under exotic pets. With LifeWings becoming more common people might want 'mini LifeWings' like flitts are 'mini dragons'.
I'm in agreement with Jay that flitt trainers should be a bought item that increases a character's flitt capacity.
Then I've never been a supporter of piercings on Pern because of metal being expensive and piercings being painful and even dangerous because of infection risk.
As for blind, etc. I left those off with at least one other thing from the precious list because, like Lil said, I don't want to encourage the making of those characters. It's not that they aren't allowed, but I don't really want them seen as a 'reward'.
Skill ranks for some things, bought with marks, might be an interesting idea to get around some parts of RP that must be just discussed (like victors of fight scenes), but then if how do you decide between characters of equal skill or different higher level skills? It just gets talked out again. -shrug- Exceptional proficiency might be something I consider adding to the list. Combat arts have become more of a part of Pern since the War, so more people might know them.
Post by sweetlilangel on Jul 12, 2011 19:45:55 GMT -8
I think the way they did at the Weyr I'm talking about was they did an activity check at the end of the month.. Just requiring and "Hey, I'm here" sort of thing to show you were at least checking the site.. Since It's sometimes hard for people to post once a week due to school or what not. And what about people with Legitimate LOA? They should be punished because life got busy?
I consider anything to do with character creation OOC. A couple sites I'm on ( I think they share and admin) Do "amulets" that given to a character insure certain things.. Like one garuntees Impression, One enables the wearer to Impress despite age-limits. Just various stuff like that. (These also cost upwards of 100 marks.. Then again we get a mark per-post on that site as well as larger amounts for character creation and plot participation/flights/hatchings/ etc...))
The other thing is, you already have this thread here to keep track of marks. It could be the Player's responsibility to know how many marks they get based on their characters' ranks if you chose to go that route. Rather than you having to update their accounts, they have to... And then if their not around for a payday or two.. oh well.. they miss out on those marks.
Well, perhaps there could be a mark reward for posting in the month activity check and let us know what's going on with life (small) and a larger reward for having some minimum number of IC treads posted in. That way LOA people can still get a few marks, but won't be rewarded as much as active members. How does that sound?
I also have to say on teh specials that those, even HADs should be pretty expensive, especially considering rarity of each adn they need to be somewhat limited at times and so on.