The Duch de Coeur is a friendly and romantic land inspired by historical France during The Age of Enlightenment (17th-19th centuries). Developing the economy is one of the most fascinating parts of using the RPS Role Play System (for me anyway)! It certainly is a way to understand economics in a hands-on fashion. It's interesting to note that Kenn Nilsson, the developer of RPS, has a background in economics and so there is a lot of thought built into the system in the first place. I have also been in correspondence with Earendil Finesmith, one of the leaders of a merchant guild in another RP environment which confirmed some of my assumptions and added new twists to my thinking. Many thanks to both of these gentlemen for their help & ideas, many of which are I have incorporated in the basics here. The Duchys RP$ Economy is a closed system as are all those environments using the RPS. RP$ can only enter via players with paid subscriptions who are earning them while they are in the Duchy. RP$ cannot be transferred in from other RPS environments and no one, not even the Duchy RPS Administrators have access to any other RP$ funds. This means that the total Duchy RP$ Economy grows through the time spent in the Duchy of each subscriber. RP$ are circulated throughout the Duchy Economy (to subscribers and non-subscribers alike) through the purchase of goods, wages earned, tips, gifts, gambling etc. RP$ leave the Duchy Economy when purchasing the RPS Scripts needed to create items such as food & drink.RP$ can be acquired by everyone using RPS (which keeps track of them) and they have no real monetary value whatsoever but are meant to encourage a richer role play environment. Every character (even a Duchy Administrator) begins with RP$0. First there are basic needs. Just like real life, earning RP$ often has a physical or mental cost to it. The harder you work the more tired & hungry you get. This means that you are going to have to eat or drink something to replenish your energy. It makes sense that role play careers and the tasks associated with them will earn RP$. Likewise food, drink, etc. are sold for RP$. There will also be some luxury items that are only available for RP$. Its also important to remember that we are role playing to have fun. If I venture into a cave full of pirates, they may demand a ransom to let me go. Now losing RP$ is all part of the adventure but losing L$ (which have a real cash value) wouldnt be. Prices The Duchy Economy is essentially a free market that has been seeded with a few basic prices associated with the scripts that Merchants must purchase in order to create goods. These run from RP$1000 to RP$4000 per script. Assuming that a reasonable rate of return for any Merchant is 50% or more, the cheapest food item would cost RP$1500. All other prices can be roughly extrapolated from this base, with basics in the RP$1500-RP$6000 range and luxury items possibly running up to RP$100,000. Wages Subscribers to the RPS earn RP$10 per minute. Assuming that the minimum average time spent per day is one hour, a player would earn RP$600 per day and RP$4200 per week. This gives us a basis for the minimum wage that would be paid for a Low Level job (servants, manual labourers etc.). Following the same guidelines, Mid Level jobs would then see wages of RP$500 to RP$700 per day (soldiers, apprentices, etc.) while the Higher Level jobs (master tradesmen, doctors etc.), requiring more skills and education would be from RP$700 to RP$1200 per day. As in real life, tipping is also encouraged as a means to circulate RP$ throughout the economy. Linden Dollars L$ come into play because of the real life realities associated with maintaining the environment. For example, tiers must be paid for the land and so rentals/prim usage must be recovered in L$. Creators also have real life dollar costs (land fees again being the major one). Though I would love to be able to provide all my pre-fabs & furniture for free, I just cant afford to even though these items can be used in a role play environment.There are also items built specifically for RPS that are purchased only with L$, the best examples being weaponry & magic aids. We will be looking to extend this market with other items that interact with the RPS and are complex in nature. It certainly is exciting watching the Duchy economy grow & prosper, especially when it takes unexpected twists & turns. I look forward to your comments, ideas and participation in this adventure! Tatiana, Duchesse de Provence