Legitimate RP Ways to Earn Money

Balek · Post by **Balek** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:40 am

Right now, the most easily available way to make money here is to 'gold farm.' You walk out to an area with mobs that have plenty of coins, you kill them, and you take their money. Then you wait for a repop and do it again. It's not that much fun and it doesn't promote RP.

What I want in this post is ideas for good solid RP ways to earn money. These could be ideas already in the game, or innovative new strategies. I'll start with an idea of my own.

I would like to run monthly tournaments for anyone who wishes to enter, but barring magic and 'dirty fighting.' Anyone can enter, but fighters, paladins and rangers are going to have the best shot at winning these. This would require very little imm involvement, really. The IC idea of this is that various cities around the realms hold tournaments for the amusement of their citizens. It keeps people happy, and that's good for the rulers. I would need an imm to load the tournament prize, that's all. Top three finishers get a prize, maybe 50 platinum for the winner, 30 for second place and 10 for third. Those could be higher or lower depending on how the admins would prefer it. If we start getting lots of responders, it could even be expanded to multiple events, like a joust and a dismounted competition.

Hopefully if it worked out, other people could offer competitions. Spell battles for mages, archery for rangers...

Anyway, hopefully this will get everyone's gears turning. Post ideas and suggestions for good ways to make money that involve more roleplay than gold farming.

Duranamir · Post by **Duranamir** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:47 am

Another idea

Some kind of courier or delivery job, where a mob or mobs offers jobs to take an item from point A to point B, reward would be in proportion to distance and possibly weight.

This would encourage travel and exploration as well as rewarding people with gold.

Duranamir.

Kelemvor · Post by **Kelemvor** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:56 am

The recent Griffon Rider Roleplay was the start of my own series of events which I was planning to run to open up greater opportunities for players. Likely they will run at around one a month - time and interest permitting - and the forthcoming events include

a boxing tourney (players placed in 'divisions' by class and guild and bouts held over a period of days)

a joust (As the Imm who recently took up responsibility for all things Paladin I wanted to get all those forgotten Squires and Knights online)

Ride of the Messenger (Traditional event which involves riding, swimming and archery. Might take longer to work that one out)

Others will follow, but I am perfectly happy to consider the ideas that are submitted here or you can PM me.

..............

Now, when I say 'greater opportunities' I don't really see that events giving money will reduce mob-killing. Most roleplays are about having fun, perhaps getting a pretty rename and rewards in the form of exp kismet or glory.
Money events which favour fighter types who already have the easiest time of it as far as coin gathering goes... well that doesnt really make sense to me.

Lerytha · Post by **Lerytha** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:47 am

What about, for all those animal lovers out there, a pet show?

I would think it should take the following form:

1. Beauty Contest
2. Tricks Contest
3. Any other ideas?
4. Any other ideas?

FAMILIARS would be excluded... which gives PCs with high handle animal skills the chance to excel. With imm supervision to tell people what they could reasonably do with their handle animal skill, it would be quite fun. Tasks could be to jump through hoops, to heel, sit, etc.

Maybe it could have something to do with "Beastmasters" of a circus, or rangers of some camp... or even the Lords of Waterdeep (again) doing something similar to the Griffon Race, but concerning pets.

The winner could gain gold, and "a beastmaster's medallion" to mark their supreme skill in handling animals.

Just an idea.

EDIT: Just to tidy up an unclear paragraph.

Raona · Post by **Raona** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:15 pm

I wish I could hold down a job, personally. I could write, carry, or work in the city Watch. The Watch is mentioned in the help files...is it still active? Could I write histories or poems or the like and sell them for coin to be later determined by some assessor? I could also guard caravans, beating off bandits, I suppose.

Others with other skills might work as sailors, cleaners, pilots. Perhaps one could go into Inns and "TIDY" or "WORK" for a few pence...though I know that would require code. I haven't yet found a way to do an honest day's work for an honest day's coin...but perhaps that's why we are all "adventurers"?

Isolrem · Post by **Isolrem** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 4:26 pm

repeatable quests that increase in difficulty?

e.g. everytime (or maybe every monday and wednesday, etc.) You may go to the coach in Waterdeep and be asked to accompany a merchant caravan to Berdusk. You are then responsible to defeat all the bandits along the way, and will be paid a certain amount of coins upon arrival.

the next time, more bandits, more coins
the next time, a group of orcs, more coins
the next time, rogue mages, more coins
etc.

you are assumed to be helping the same caravan master (which is why you get paid more everytime), if ever you fail the mission (and the caravan master dies) you restart at beginning.

Kregor · Post by **Kregor** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:33 pm

Duranamir wrote:Another idea

Some kind of courier or delivery job, where a mob or mobs offers jobs to take an item from point A to point B, reward would be in proportion to distance and possibly weight.

This would encourage travel and exploration as well as rewarding people with gold.

Duranamir.

Solaghar and I visited this possibility in a thread:

http://www.forgottenkingdoms.com/board/ ... sc&start=0

A subsequent proposal was neither accepted nor denied, and the thread kind of got buried.

Gwain · Post by **Gwain** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:59 pm

Mithril Chef Faerun

A cooking contest that uses commands and code to create random dishes that is judged by a panel, the winner and runner ups willl challenge the best golem chefs in the land...sound interesting?

Rhianon · Post by **Rhianon** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:05 pm

Only one so far that even mentions working.........surely there is something or somebodyout there that can create an actual working envirment........maid service, letter delivery, transporting of goods from one place to another, taxi service, for those who do not wish to walk and do not want the hassle of taking a mount out of stable etc. Party planners, the list could be endless.

Gratey · Post by **Gratey** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:16 pm

And also I was thinking about plays and such, People can arrange plays and such, and its is like 10 platinum to get into the play or something like that, and it is split between the people in the play, and the more people you get in the play, the more money you get.
Just a thought

Balek · Post by **Balek** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:28 pm

Now, when I say 'greater opportunities' I don't really see that events giving money will reduce mob-killing. Most roleplays are about having fun, perhaps getting a pretty rename and rewards in the form of exp kismet or glory.
Money events which favour fighter types who already have the easiest time of it as far as coin gathering goes... well that doesnt really make sense to me.

It's not meant to eliminate mob-killing and it probably won't reduce it more than a little. The idea is to give people an opportunity to earn money in a way that involves a lot more roleplay than gold farming. I really hope your competitions are going to include monetary rewards since yours are some that wizards and such could enter and do well in. As you noted, they probably have the most difficult time of anyone earning money and have the most to spend it on.

As for the fact that it's a money event that involves fighter types, allow me to explain further. First, it's a money event instead of an event that might include money, glory, experience, favor, kismet, or renames is because most of those require imm support far more than just loading up a stack of coins for me to distrubute. I've suggested this kind of thing before and I've been told that it requires too much imm involvement from the already overworked staff and is therefore not approved. For this reason, I am suggesting an event that I can run myself with minimal oversight. Frankly the only reason I didn't suggest that everyone pay an entry fee to cover the costs and thereby require no imm support whatsoever is because it runs counter to the concept of helping people earn money through RP. Most people entering would be losing money to enrich the top three, and that was counterproductive.

Now the reason that it favors fighter types is because every event is going to favor someone. That's the way it works, someone's going to be better at it than someone else. In a Ride of the Messenger, you're likely favoring fighter types as well because they have the higher stamina needed for swimming and a better hitroll and damroll for archery. There's nothing wrong with favoring fighter types in some competitions, just like there's nothing wrong with favoring wizard types in others. On the other hand, I think it WOULD be wrong to totally exclude fighter types from competitions of any sort, so taken as a single competition among the large number of ideas we've already recieved, I really don't see how this is a problem.

Mithril Chef Faerun

A cooking contest that uses commands and code to create random dishes that is judged by a panel, the winner and runner ups willl challenge the best golem chefs in the land...sound interesting?

This is incredible.

As for that thread that Kregor referenced, I'd still love to see the ideas expressed in that thread brought into the game. Those would also do a lot to help people earn a living doing something other than killing things.

Lathander · Post by **Lathander** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:03 pm

There is already a system in place where creators of art and books get paid.

How about a play?
- Pay the author
- Pay the actors
- Pay the musicians
- Pay concessions (PCs who provide food and drink)

Gratey · Post by **Gratey** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:18 pm

That is what I was thinking, the Actors wouldn't be paid close to a million platinum a night like some actors now adays, but I am sure it would be a good cut out of the profit from the play, the Author will get a play together, and start casting calls and get actors, it wouldn't be a large operation or it could be, but I think it's a great idea, I know of some actual play houses in game

Rhiel · Post by **Rhiel** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:47 am

How about player run "poker nights?"

Or maybe a decathalon, or a race...something like that?

Ellian · Post by **Ellian** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 4:20 pm

Gratey wrote:And also I was thinking about plays and such, People can arrange plays and such, and its is like 10 platinum to get into the play or something like that, and it is split between the people in the play, and the more people you get in the play, the more money you get.
Just a thought

While this is definitely a great idea for roleplay, a play run by PCs and attended by paying PCs would only reallocate money already present in the PC economy. To adapt the idea to Balek's intent in this thread, maybe an imm could load up coins to simulate profits from the NPCs that would likely attend a play or production in addition to the PC audience. That way, new money finds its way into the economy rather than just exchanging hands between PCs.

Ellian · Post by **Ellian** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 4:36 pm

I thought I'd split up my reply to Gratey's idea and my own ideas. Here are my ideas.

A bardic convention.
Bards gather to put on a faire for spectators to attend, with various activities and performances, charging an admission fee. The convention could have art expositions, concerts, acting, street performances, juggling, meet-the-author book signings - and of course, swindling. Imm involvement could be limited to generating a coin reward to simulate NPC attendance of the convention. The rest could be run by PCs.

A craftworkers' convention.
Normally, PCs that produce equipment and jewelery from trades either sell them to shopkeepers (which means no significant chance for roleplay) or to other PCs (which means money just exchanges hands, no new money is added to the PC economy from outside sources). At a craftworkers' convention, PCs that practice trades could show off their work and enter it in contests. Imm involvement could be limited to generating a coin reward to simulate NPC attendance and purchases at the convention. The rest could be run by PCs.

Also, on the subject of craftworkers - I've heard about "logger sports" where people compete in different skills involved in the logging profession.
http://www.pottsburyfarm.co.nz/id49.htm
Is there an equivalent to this for those involved in the smithing profession perhaps? I think it could be integrated into my craftworkers' convention idea or even held independently from it.

Akela · Post by **Akela** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:16 am

Gratey wrote:And also I was thinking about plays and such, People can arrange plays and such, and its is like 10 platinum to get into the play or something like that, and it is split between the people in the play, and the more people you get in the play, the more money you get.
Just a thought

People could pay to get in instead of making the actors pay, and the better the play, the more publicity, the more money.

-Maybe a small fee for the actors, to help with concessions, clothes, etc..

Belose · Post by **Belose** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:49 am

Oooo, poker... I LIKE that idea!!! Course.. it IS gambling.. you could end up with less than you started with....but I'd love to see a way for PC's to get together and play poker...but it would probably play havoc with already established code.. and I'd rather the builders use their time in putting in trainers, more hirelings, perhaps an apartment building..heh...j/k.... I think I'd rather have a storage locker... Braeck has all those weapons that are sheathed and can no longer fit in anything else...THAT is my biggest wish.. someplace to put all the armour, weapons, and weapon holders... free his mount up for holding oats...

Glim · Post by **Glim** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 4:24 am

Id LOVE to play poker with some of you guys.

I wouldnt want everyone to lose their money though. Cormyrian Hold Em, anyone?

Nearraba · Post by **Nearraba** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:03 pm

There is somewhat a way already to do these poker-like things. I am sure the happy-go-lucky Tymorans know a rather exciting place to take on chance & fate & would be more than happy to show in an ic way.

Legitimate RP Ways to Earn Money

Legitimate RP Ways to Earn Money

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