FASERIP

WEALTH

Wealth is the character’s physical prosperity or “money” in simple terms (FASERIP RPG page 25). It begins at Average Rank for all starting characters, before any modification.

Wealth is specific to the planet of origin of the character. Earth money means nothing anywhere else. However, Wealth could be transferred into a form valuable elsewhere in the universe or in other dimensions or time periods, if enough planning was carried out before travelling to such a destination.

Obtaining items, weapons, armor, travel tickets, medical care and all the other things people purchase in real life are all made through Wealth rolls. Successful rolls indicate the character has been able to afford to obtain the item. All character begin with typical gear that fits their level of Wealth. However it is almost certain that something new will be needed and if the gamemaster rules a Wealth roll is required then one must be made successfully to purchase the item or service.

A very brief summary of items is provided in the FASERIP RPG rulebook on page 58. The main thing for a gamemaster to always do when applying the Wealth rule is to be CONSISTENT. If something in the game world has a -1RS penalty to obtain in situation A, it should have the same penalty in situation B without a good reason not to.

Items and services can have a Quality. Quality is an increase or reduction in the Ranks of the item or service. For example a gun might have a lower Damage or a lower Material strength. For each REDUCTION in a Rank for the item or service the Wealth roll to obtain it receives a bonus of +1RS. For each INCREASE in a Rank for the item or service the Wealth roll to obtain it receives a penalty of -1RS.

Rental items are available. A rental item is something that a character can rent and have the use of for a single game session or game month whichever is a shorter span of time. If the item is damaged or destroyed during the period when the character is renting it, the character suffers a -5 Karma loss, a -1 Fame loss and has a -1RS penalty on their next Wealth roll.

Black Market items are illegal goods and services. Using a Wealth roll to obtain anything illegal inflicts an immediate -10 Karma penalty on the character whether their Wealth roll is successful or not. All Black Market items are more expensive than legal gear as well meaning that any roll to get anything on the Black Market has a -2RS penalty on the Wealth roll.

Long term or credit card debt is a potential hazard in real life and can be implemented in FASERIP as well if characters make too many Wealth rolls too quickly. Easy credit is usually available to begin with, but if or when a character next has to make a Wealth roll if the roll fails, make a note of the failure. When ten failures have occurred, a DEFAULT has been listed against the character. That character's Wealth drops by one Rank PERMANENTLY. The exact number of DEFAULTS should be tracked. Even if the character's effective Wealth is at Zero, there may be more DEFAULTS. The reason to track the drops is that the only way to restore Wealth after what amounts to a bankruptcy or costs order against the character is for the character to pass 10 Wealth rolls to remove each DEFAULT. Other characters can pay off the debt. If they remove one DEFAULT then it is a normal Wealth roll for the other character. Removing more than one DEFAULT at a time inflicts a cumulative -1RS for each DEFAULT being removed at the same time. The reason being that a financial arrangement involving multiple DEFAULTS always requires more legal scrutiny and assessment for risk.

In a world where superheroes are real, the insurance industry will surely offer insurance policies for death, accident, act of god (as legally defined in the Federal case State of New York v Odin et al). Buying a policy is a Wealth check. Buying a policy to insure against act of supervillain, artificially caused weather event or act of Alien, Godling or Mutant will require assessment by an adjuster prior to any approval of the policy. However, if the character can make any persuasion or negotiation type rolls required to get such a policy the effect of the insurance is to restore any losses suffered by the character in a single game session or game month whichever is the shorter period. This means they are healed, lost or destroyed items recovered, even stolen items brought back. Insurance companies are one of the biggest employers of superbeings and godlings for exactly this reason. The only catch for the insured superhero is that they must pass a Wealth check BEFORE any restoration under the policy. This is their payment of the excess on the cover. If they fail the Wealth check they don't pay the excess in time and the cover is not valid for the incident claimed.