The economy of a Celestial campaign

[Spenser]

I'm about to start running a new campaign where the players are agents of the celestials. They travel the multiverse writing wrongs, unravelling fiendish plots, helping mortals in need, and generally Kicking Butt For Goodness.

My question is, what to do about the campaign's economy? Planar-travelling celestial agents would probably think of gold and gems as mostly irrelevant. This mindset is probably true even for non-celestial extraplanar entities -- once you've seen one palace of pure gold or forest of emerald, you've probably seen them all. Filthy lucre is fine for influencing greedy mortals, but most extraplanar entities are interested in other things. Certainly demons and devils have an active economy based on larvae, and presumably most outsiders value magic items and knowledge.

But what would celestials value? Good deeds? "Holy Energy" derived from mortals? I think the question of an economy, even a very abstract one, can't be avoided from a gameplay standpoint. Sure, the PCs can simply find more powerful items in their travels, and their superiors in the Celestial Host can simply grant them better items as they go on more dangerous missions in the future. But without some sort of liquid currency, how can we really keep track of what sort of equipment they can "afford" from the Celestial Armories?

So: how can we create an economy that is abstract enough for proper Celestial roleplaying, but concrete enough to make sure that the PCs are properly equipped for the challenges they will face? All suggestions are most welcome.

 

[the Jester]

Flat out give 'em what seems appropriate as they are sent on missions.

 

[CalrinAlshaw]

On the celestial planes themselves theres no reason to believe that there isn't any economic system and businesses and such. Perhaps for each completed "quest" they earn "credits", kind of like giving a liquid number as respect to their ability and devotion. They can "acquire/purchase" things by mere respect and reputation. Not to say most celestials would be rude and mean, just that they might require more from someone before they let them rest at their place or something, whereas highly respected individuals will be asked to stay for no more than their presense..

Calrin Alshaw

 

[Plane Sailing]

On the one hand it could be completely economy free... in the planes of ultimate goodness everyone takes what they need bearing in mind everyone elses needs and nobody is greedy...

(Like the line in Star Trek 4 where it is explicitly mentioned that in their future they don't have money)

A more workable proposition could be counting "honour" for the PCs, and certain goods and items are only granted to those who earn enough "honour". Furthermore, a reduction in honour could result in things being taken back by the celestial court... a handy mechanism for encouraging good and honourable role playing?

Cheers

 

[derelictjay]

The honor system is cool in all but would be a bit clumsy. I would problably implement a barter system, but rather trading what something is worth monetarily, the bartering would be more like an exchanging of gifts, something that an evil character, well disguised, could take advantage of (could make some interesting plot hooks).

 

[Eben]

The honour thing is nice, but I wouldn't equate it with items. I'dd rather grant abilities. An economy just sounds wrong. If somebody wanted something in a place of total goodness, why would somebody else want to deny them that thing if it is possible for them to provide it? I'dd let them have whatever they wanted when at home.
When out on the prime material plane, perhaps they won't be able to transport everything with them, or they need special abilities (i.e. honour) to do that.
Getting the things they want on the PMP will be an adventure in itself!

 

[Spenser]

Eben - I agree, an economy does sound kind of wrong and icky. I certainly don't want the players to be thinking, "Sweet! I have 50,000 HonorBucks(TM)! Now I can get that brilliant energy bow I always wanted!"

That said, Celestia's resources are clearly finite (at least outside Celestia), or else every angel would be flying around in +5 everything. And I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around the concept of a system of limited resources that doesn't also have some sort of economy. Hence my thinking that there has to be some sort of currency, even if it's very abstract (like honor) or only used at the meta-game level.

Maybe The Jester's system makes the most sense. It's certainly the simplest -- just make sure that they have gear appropriate for their level for each new mission, and that's that. A breastplate +4 for one mission, armor of fire resistance for another. The old, "to each according to his needs" thing. The downside is that the players would lose a feeling of control and ownership over their gear. Most PCs don't like the concept of their gear not really being "theirs"...

 

[Stormborn]

Use d20 Modern's Wealth system and make everything requisition checks. Let the "Wealth" stand for the honor/reputation/etc. mentioned previously, but this way you have a system that is already thought out, you just have to do a little conversion to make it fit your campaign.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

I'm a little confused: sure money is nice, but do the characters get to keep any items they find while on missions? If so, then allow them to barter those items for ones they'd rather have. The easier it is to find the specific item desired, the less valued their "found" items should have, e.g., having to trade a 20K item for a 10K item they really want.

Another option, part of their mission is to return with magic items, which the celestials can use in the creation of celestial items used by celestial agents. The more items they retrieve, the more they can requisition.

Or, give them all the equivalent of the Vow of Poverty. The characters no longer depend on equipment and are instead granted certain abilities based on how well they do on missions.

Or give them the mission briefing, then let the players requisition specific items they think they'll need. Unless you set a hard limit, you'll have to be a bit arbitrary with this. Jester's idea might work better for this.

 

[Spenser]

I'll have to check out the d20 Modern requisition system; that sounds interesting!

Barring that solution, here's what I'm thinking now -- it's roughly what Jester suggested. Each character has 1-3 "signature" items that they keep with them and improve over time. The remainder of their gear would just be filler to make sure that they are properly equipped for challenges of their level. For example, a character might have a special sword that they always use, but they can always requisition generic gear, i.e. swapping out a +4 shield for a +4 cloak of charisma.

As for found items -- good question, Sir Whiskers. I'm thinking this should be pretty informal. Found items can either be adopted a "signature" item, or get tossed back into the Celestial armory at the end of the adventure. Either way, the total each PC carries would have to be in line with the expected gear value for their level. (Of course if they REALLY need a particular relic for a particularly brutal mission, they'll probably get it, even if it breaks the cap. Rules are made to be broken.)

Hopefully this system will give the PCs a sense of ownership and control over gear, while at the same encouraging a proper Celestial disdain for obsession over phat loot. Plus it's relatively simple. What do you all think?