Forum Activity for @tatiana-dokuchic

Managing a Historical RP Economy

General Discussion

Minister of Finance: An Essential Role

It's my firm belief that managing a successful economy within a Historical RP requires a Minister of Finance.  Depending on the RP the title will vary: Minister of Finance, Estate Manager, Lord High Treasurer etc. but whatever the title the duties remain the same i.e. to keep the economy moving while balancing the budget.

In a perfect RP everyone would participate in the economy by buying, producing/serving, and selling.  It's been my experience (gained over the past 11 years of analysing numerous Historical RP groups) that there's usually a huge imbalance between supply and demand.  People really like to craft and sell.  No one likes to buy.  Crafters build up an inventory of goods until they reach a point where further production is pointless. People lose interest, the economy dies and everyone goes back to having monthly tea parties.

Ideally at the top of your social hierarchy you should have a king like Henry VIII who likes to dole out money (until he bankrupts the huge treasury left to him by his father and has to dissolve the monasteries in order to recover- but I digress).  Even if the person(s) at the top of the food-chain understand that spending is important using a system like G&S it means that they probably won't start out with vast funds (they'll have to fake their wealth) and fresh injections of capital will always be required.  Let the Minister of Finance help with that.

Moving down the class ladder, you're never going to be able to force people to spend what they see as their hard-earned coins. You may impose certain fees but make them too onerous and there will be a revolt … shudders at the thought of the sans-culottes marching on the palace.

You may be able to come up with various scenarios that make spending fun, more power to you if you can because it takes skill and effort.

In the meantime you should count on someone who's job is keeping the coins circulating.  This person must be supported by the RP group's management.  It's most likely going to take L$ in the beginning and the ultimate goal should be to have a system that is L$ cost neutral.  Think of this as just another real cost of RP.

A Minister of Finance is well worth the investment as it allows other players to go happily about their RP lives, never needing to worry about economic stability.  It's also an enjoyable role for the right person; I can testify to that myself!

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 31 Mar 2019 10:10:04AM

Fisher of the Month Challenge April 2019

QH Challenges

See you on the docks!

Made my first attempt at the Country Coffee House .  The venue is beautiful and not a lot of lag.  To find the fishing hole you have to walk out the backdoor of the cafe and head through the woods.

Caught a ton of fish, a box of tea seeds, and a basket of gold.  No luck with seafood so zero points to start with.

ETA: After a long, grueling session I'm on the board with two points.  One oyster & one salmon.  Again I caught a ton of fish and a box of tea seeds.  In the end I basically had to jump in the lake and club the seafood with my rod!

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 30 Mar 2019 01:52:23PM

Fisher of the Month Challenge April 2019

QH Challenges

Let’s put the fun back in fishing!

It's that time again!  Get out your rod & reel and head over to the nearest fishing tournament.

Our last challenge, back in November,  really was a whole lot of fun and I particularly enjoyed all the fish stories that came out of it. Please post your tuna tales again

Since the month of April is a bit short I thought we could start today (March 30th) and go until the end of April.  Rules are the same as the last round.  Selling Fresh Seafood has been updated making it easier to earn coins.

 

For the month of April challenge points can be accumulated as follows:

ONE point for each piece of seafood caught.  Seafood includes (Eel, Lobster, Oyster, Salmon & Seaweed)

ONE point for each kilogram of Tuna caught.

 

Note that no points are awarded for Fish or non-seafood items such as baskets of gold.

 

Example:  I spend the afternoon fishing and catch an eel, three salmon, a 5 kg Tuna, thirty fish and a secret bottle.  Total points accumulated for the afternoon is nine.

 

As we’ll be working on the honour system, i.e. no fish inspectors will be coming by to access your catch.  please post your daily catch totals along with the monthly tally to-date here.  Stories about your fishing adventures are most welcome!

 

The winner will get a lovely trophy and, more important, bragging rights as “Fisher of the Month of April”.

 

What should you do with your catch?

Honestly that's up to you but if you're looking for some ideas ...

Cook it:  Popular dishes include, Cooked Lobster, Lobster w Oysters (secret) and Sushi but there are scads of other ones.

 

Sell it Fresh: The QH Co-op can always use more seafood.  See QH Seafood Market  for information on selling your fresh catch.

 

Package it:  Seafood packing tables are readily available, and salt is now being sold in the Market to make preserving easier.

 

Most of all, HAVE FUN!!

 

Questions, comments, ideas, post them here along with your tallies & stories.

Artwork: François Bocion (1828 to 1890)

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 01 Apr 2019 03:37:50PM

Best currency hud?

General Discussion

My apologies for the necro-post but you bring up some interesting points here, Mansur.  Please see Managing A Historical RP Economy  :)

Managing a Historical RP Economy

General Discussion

Picking systems & tools:

The QH Co-op has been using the Guardian de las Sombras (G&S) system for the past three years and I'm pretty much sold on the system.  It's always a relief when you've bought into something to see them expanding their products on a regular basis as G&S has been doing.

Originally rooted in Gorean fantasy it has expanded its scope so that it is quite suitable for historical RP be it Medieval, Renaissance, or the Age of Enlightenment and beyond.  G&S has a large community base  providing good support and the possibility of OOC trade.  This expanded trade network has really helped the QH Co-op's economy remain viable and I don't think we could have survived without it.

I would recommend that any historical RPGs that want to interact with others of their kind (the QH Co-op for example) use the free G&S HUD as their currency HUD.  Even if you don't intend to use any of the G&S activities in your RP, a standardized form of currency management for the historical community would really help to integrate our different groups.

Looking back at past posts, I found Mansur's Best Currency Hud?  query.  Sorry for the two year delay, Mansur, but you bring up an interesting point about functionality " it would be customizable at the admin level and give me a large amount to start with (so that I can give it to folks as needed for their roles)."

The G&S HUD is not customizable and you don't get a large amount to start with but I'm still recommending it because I know from experience that it's easy to use, reliable, and has a large client base.  Starting your economy from scratch is challenging when have very little cash to begin with BUT there are strategies that can be incorporated into your RP that will give you the pleasure of building your economy.  Where's the fun of everyone starting out with a zillion dollars and not having to work for it

Managing a Historical RP Economy

General Discussion

Creating an economic component for your historical RP can be challenging.  Keeping that economy thriving can be down right daunting.  I've always believed that an economic facet can provide a richness to historical RP that is well worth the time, effort, and money invested but it certainly isn't an easy endeavor.

Inspired by Abbondio's blog post The Workings Of The Banco Rezzonico (In G&S Economy) , I'm creating this discussion so that we can share our ideas and experiences for the benefit of the historical community.

Some ideas for discussion include:

• Picking the right systems and tools to help manage your economy
• Strategies to help you get started
• Closed vs. open systems
• Encouraging healthy cash flow
• Usability: how easy & enjoyable is your economic component both for the average RPer and the management
• How important is historical accuracy

These are all open-ended questions with no right or wrong answer and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts

QH Seafood Market

QH Resources & Guides

I hadn't thought of that, Una.  Right now I'm being selfish and enjoying it as a public building.  I might eventually getting around to expanding the dairy aspect of it because I love that RL historical connection.  Basically just looking at it makes me happy

QH Seafood Market

QH Resources & Guides

Many thanks to Stangbo & Una for being the dropbox beta-testers.  I'm delighted to report that everything worked as expected and there were no explosions of seafood.  Thank goodness because tiny pieces of eel are so hard to remove from a good gown

QH Seafood Market

QH Resources & Guides

Check out The Workings Of The Banco Rezzonico (In G&S Economy) .  I'm thinking this would be an excellent way for the QH Co-op to pay for Fresh Seafood.  Funds could be transferred from the QH Co-op account to the account of the individual selling the seafood

I've been racking my brain for ways to Make Fishing Fun Again.   Our group used to tournament fish quite often in the early days before the introduction of baskets and packing tables.  I understand & appreciate where Sombra was going with the added complexity but it had the unfortunate side effect of turning off hobby fishers.  Seafood became more of a big business, sold only for L$ or coins at an exorbitant rate in an effort to fight off re-sellers.

I'd like the Hamlet to have as many "fun" activities as possible so hopefully this will help.  My secret dream is for someone to create a character that lives in The Boudoir and is our resident fisher.  I think that the juxtaposition between the fancy residence (of the interior at least)  and the chosen occupation provides a lot of material for a rich character background.  If anyone has a friend out there looking for a new rp character please suggest this to them!

updated by @tatiana-dokuchic: 26 Mar 2019 08:19:33AM

QH Seafood Market

QH Resources & Guides

I'm looking for a few brave souls to test out the dropbox.  Una's had a go at it and so far so good.  You will find one in the Fresh Seafood Sales Kit located at the Fishmonger stall.

Please report back along with any questions you may have and I'll post the answers here so that everyone can learn from them.

Thanks!

Tat