Each burns for gold, all turns on gold ...

[Folkert]

"Nach Golde drängt,

Am Golde hängt

Doch alles."

(Faust. Der Tragödie erster Teil. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.)

Nothing describes the wretched issue "money" better than this quote from Goethe's Faust. :twisted:

From the Game Rules thread:

"Benefit 6+ (Wealth) = Filthy Rich [...] Just assume that your character has access to anything that a "normal" person of your level of wealth could buy through "normal" channels. Players will not be permitted to use their wealth to buy things that are of significance to the game system: equipment, weapons, etc. Use the Equipment feat for that."

From the "Wealth feat" thread:

"-Filthy Rich: Oprah, Gates, Buffet (Warren not Jimmy)."

So what can Warren Buffet (or 40 of him in my character's case ) buy through "normal" channels?

For example, where is the line between the appartment/house/skyscraper the lifestyle buys and a HQ (to be bought with Equipment points) ?

Thanks!

[Barnum]

Players will not be permitted to use their wealth to buy things that are of significance to the game system.

Basically if it has a "system function" in the game (i.e. you need rules to adjudicate its use), then wealth probably can't buy it. You have to use Equipment for that. Some exceptions might be "normal" stuff for which some game rules apply (like normal cars).

So for HQ, I would probably say that anything more than the normal Toughness for a regular building and any building making use of most of the "features" listed in the core book would probably be equipment.

[Folkert]

I'm still a bit wrestling with the whole, I'm afraid.

Let's take it to a specific example:

Gustav acquired a city block in Wading Way to build a massive complex onto it, the headquarters of his Al Kundi Kombine. (Having the genes of Hitler and Speer doesn't let you think in "small" dimensions.) Also his living quarters.

So far it's an ordinary building apart from its size and building style. As per HQ this would be:

-Thoughness: 1 EP

- Size: 5 EP

- Features: Living Quarters 1 EP, Personnel 1 EP

Would I have to pay for these 7 EP before I could use the building in my posts?

[Barnum]

No, I think your wealth could cover that easily enough. You aren't gaining any system benefit from it. It's just a place for you (and anyone else who cares to join you) to role-play.

[Folkert]

Great to hear, thanks!

Just for completeness: If I were to add, say, a Computer Room as per the feature to the complex (or others from the list), then I would start paying 1 EP each for those, right?

And as an afterthought: What about transportation? Gustav usually prefers to travel about by the means of an V-22 Osprey, but the use of such a vehicle (even with its VTOL capacity) is of course limited within Freedom City, so it probably won't ever be used in an adventure here.

Pay for it nevertheless?

[Barnum]

1. We'll have to think about that. My first inclination is to say if you want to start building a HQ (by adding a computer room), then you should just buy a HQ per the normal rules. I don't think mixing and matching will work very well.

2. No, I don't think you should have to pay for anything that you don't actually use.

[Folkert]

1. We'll have to think about that. My first inclination is to say if you want to start building a HQ (by adding a computer room), then you should just buy a HQ per the normal rules. I don't think mixing and matching will work very well.

Okay. Please let know on what you decide.

[Warmonger]

My advice as a guy who played an uber rich villain is basically not to even sweat that stuff. IT will almost never come up... ever. Seriously. Not once in any of these games has that been an issue. Now if you plan to make it an issue then I suggest you might want to invest in an HQ other than that just wing it.

[Folkert]

Thanks, everyone!

I'll probably invest into a proper HQ now to fit the background which I've have juggled around a bit. (Besides, it gave me the idea to break into the Freedom Hall just to show that their security isn't worth anything - which should be fun. )