Wealth Systems in RPGs
Wealth and money sinks in tabletop and video RPGs emerge as a core design problem: players either end up so rich that gold becomes meaningless, or so constrained that treasure feels pointless. Commenters explore alternatives such as abstract “wealth stats,” stress and lifestyle mechanics, debt, carousing, and stronghold building, as well as systems where money is tied to risk (Dark Souls–style) or core activities like running a ship or criminal crew. Many argue that giving players meaningful, often narrative-driven ways to spend resources—and defining clear in-world goals beyond personal power—is crucial to keeping progression and rewards satisfying.
Tension Between Wealth and Upgrades
- Central problem: gold often scales exponentially, while challenges and purchasable upgrades do not.
- Two broad DM strategies:
- Keep PCs poor or “rich-poor” (rich, but nothing meaningful to buy).
- Some find this dramatically interesting; others find it demotivating if treasure can’t be spent.
- Key insight: the real control lever is not wealth quantity but availability and impact of upgrades.
Ways to Limit or Redirect Wealth
- Provide expensive, situational costs: safer travel, hirelings, engineering solutions (flooding dungeons, building bridges) that also consume time.
- Turn wealth into a liability: thieves, rival adventurers, lords, dragons, or tax collectors targeting the party or their associates.
- Use debt and ongoing obligations (lifestyles, ship mortgages, Shadowrun-style cyberware, structured party debt) as perpetual money sinks.
- Offer civic or moral gold sinks: funding towns, strongholds, armies, or helping the poor; can drive story and hard choices.
Abstract and Alternative Wealth Systems
- Several games use “wealth/resources” as a stat: if purchase cost ≤ stat, you auto-succeed; at or above it, you roll.
- Pros: minimal bookkeeping, faster play, supports roleplay-centric purchasing, discourages loot-for-its-own-sake.
- Cons: weakens the visceral thrill of treasure hoards; can clash with crunchy, gear-focused systems.
- Variants:
- Burning Wheel–style “resources” as credit/favors, with successes improving and failures “taxing” the stat.
- Hybrid models (e.g., lifestyle tiers + discrete “coin” for big spends/stash/retirement).
Logistics, Encumbrance, and Currency Design
- Encumbrance can push players toward lighter stores of value (gems, letters of credit, banks, dimensional storage), though it’s often handwaved.
- Some systems use physical inventory slots (Diablo-style grids, Torchbearer, Mouse Guard) to force tradeoffs in what gets carried.
- Games where money itself is heavy (water in Caves of Qud, gold in certain CRPGs) naturally limit hoarding.
Player Motivation, Hoarding, and Pacing
- Lack of useful sinks leads to huge endgame surpluses (e.g., CRPG players finishing with tens of thousands of unused gold) and regret about compulsive looting.
- Many players hoard consumables and money “for later”; suggested fixes include: limited-but-recharging resources, small hard caps, or systems where not spending means literally leaving value behind.
- Some designs make wealth risky or transient: stress systems where you must spend to relieve stress, souls/currency that can be lost on death, or survival mechanics where currency doubles as vital supply.
Broader System and Campaign Design Issues
- D&D is criticized for:
- Removing clear magic-item pricing and stronghold rules that once created natural sinks.
- A “murderhobo” default with no built-in job or mission, making money the only obvious motivation.
- Other RPG models tie economy directly to the core activity (starship crews, criminals with upkeep, investigators saving humanity), so money is a tool, not the main point.
- Some advocate for high-mortality or narrative-focused systems where gear and wealth can’t “break” the game because survival, sanity, or story stakes dominate.