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@scribblesarehere

Art Account. She/They

DM Tip: The Trouble With Treasure/ An Alternate Wealth System

If you’re a player or dungeonmaster who’s at all interested in game design you might’ve noticed D&D’s treasure and economy systems suck. You also might have noticed even if you’re not interested in game design, because the longer you play d&d the more it becomes glaringly obvious that the game doesn’t actually HAVE a treasure and economy system despite pretending otherwise.  This is a major problem given that seeking riches is one of the default adventuring motivations, and largely stems from the fact that back in ye-olden days gold was directly related to experience points, so wealth accrued exponentially in line with the increasing cost of levelling up. This is why magic items cost to damn much despite being not only a staple of the genre but absolutely necessary to the long-term viability of certain classes (as I discuss here in my post about gear as class features).  

After being cut lose however, nothing was really DONE with gold in d&d from a gameplay perspective: Treasure generation largely fell to dm discretion or random tables, and the useful things a party could buy steadily shrunk to the point where characters could be stuck with their starting equipment for an entire campaign.  “Too much gold and nothing to spend it on” became one of the major criticisms of d&d 5e, but only touched on the problem that without something worthwhile to spend treasure on the party has less and less reason to venture into the dangerous unknown, take dodgy contracts, or perform any of a half dozen other plot beats that make up traditional adventuring.

 The system likewise breaks down once you pass a certain threshold of wealth, or once you try to model larger economic activities: divvying up a lockbox full of dungeon plunder to reequip your heroes before launching out on the next mission works great for the first couple of levels, but completely falls apart when you’re dealing common enough story tropes such as running a business, transporting cargo as merchants, or caring for the estates around a castle.

What I propose is splitting d&d’s economy into two halves: Wealth, which represents the piles of GP and other coins the party carries with them, and Resources, more abstract points which chart how plugged in the party is to local systems of production, trade, and patronage.

If you’d like an explanation of how these systems work, and how they can improve your game like they improved mine, I’ll explain both of these mechanics in detail below the cut, as well as subsystems that let your party open businesses, operate estates, build castles, and make a living as merchants.

if they ever make another pirates of the caribbean, it should be about the flying dutchmen and her crew 200 years later. it’s a cursed ship with an undying crew that ferry lost souls. they ignore #4 in canon and will turner is still the captain, but because of the long years of service and the mortality of his family he’s jaded and tired. he hasn’t been using his one day on land for decades, and when he finally decided to go to port he’s like “what the actual fuck” bc it’s 1990 & there’s modern technology and cars and ppl assume he’s a street performer bc he’s dressed like a fucking pirate. the original cast is there as well bc reincarnation or something lmao

ok i love our flag means death its great but seeing people refer to it as 'the gay pirate show' like no. it's a gay pirate show. black sails didnt pop its pussy being the gay prestige pirate drama of all time, making pirates not only cool again but also intrinsically linked to queerness, just for people to give credit to another show for doing it years later. black sails walked so that our flag means death could walk also, but in a sillier way. know your queerstory.

A Few Tips For Describing Scenery For Your Players

1. Details!

Details and description are important. Describe the weather and the buildings and little things that stand out. Describe the people that are around the player’s characters. Don’t just say that it’s raining, the buildings are old and that the people are wearing dark clothing. try and describe 3 to 5 aspects of each while keeping it short. You don’t need to describe every person in the place, just pick a few. that stand out.

Example: The harsh rain fell down upon the town and soaked through the adventurers clothing and spaces in their armor, chilling them to the bone. Very few townspeople were outside. The ones that were outside huddled in doorways and under other means of protection from the rain. Due to their dirty and rather skinny appearances, they do not seem like they have much of a choice but to brave the storm. The dirt path the adventurers are on is quickly turning into a muddy mess while they try to find an inn or tavern to stay in while waiting out the storm. Finally, after passing two shops as indicated by their signs, and a few houses with cracked steps and wood peeling off of them, they found the inn.

I know this could have been a bit better but i think it does a pretty good job of painting a picture.

2. try and use multiple senses when describing something.

You don’t always have to do this but it definitely helps when the scene is important, the place/ person is going to be revisited, or the place/ person is going to change,

(not exactly about using multiple senses but i thought i would stick this here to go along with adding more detail and because feeling that something is off is kind of like a sixth sense.) An example of when more detail is important is when a player uses a skill check or, what if the homeless people from the example in the first tip are actually important. You might want to add in that maybe the players feel a little uneasy or feel like they are being watched and the next morning they are confronted by these people that were outside the previous night.

Going back to using several senses when describing a scene, In the first example, i could have added how the rain smells.  I could have also added how the rain sounds against armor and the rooftops.  If you like using a computer while playing, you could set the mood by playing the sounds of rain instead of describing the sound.

3. Use descriptive words.

The Orc is running at the players with his axe drawn.

The Orc is charging at the players with his axe gripped tightly in his hand.

The orc whips around to face the players and lets out a powerful battlecry.  He pulls his axe from behind his back and grips it tightly as he charges towards the players.

4. Use words that everyone knows.  

Make sure you try to use fairly common words when describing objects, people, and places. Don’t use basic words very often. Don’t say pretty, say beautiful or gorgeous.  

Try and pay attention to the age group you are playing with. Using the words that you would learn as a junior or senior in high school as well as year one college English would probably be a safe bet if you are playing with adults and a group of people that you do not know that well,

*Kicks down the door* YOU KNOW WHUMPY TROPES I LOVE SO MUCH BUT BARELY EVER SEE?

MAGIC FATIGUE/EXHAUSTION/OVERUSE.

Give me those sweet side effects of overusing magic:

  • Getting lightheaded and weak, struggling to stand let alone keep fighting
  • "Are you ok?" "Yeah I'm fine. *immediately faceplants because their legs can't support their weight anymore*"
  • F a i n t i n g
  • Physical injuries like burns, broken bones, etc
  • The risk of permanent damage either physically or mentally
  • Can I get uuuuhhhhh "loses a sense either temporarily or permanently depending on the severity of the overuse"?
  • Stopping their heart (cue the team scrambling to drag their dumbass friend back from death)

THERE'S SO MUCH YOU CAN DO AND I SO RARELY SEE IT.

There is a type of plot that is prevalent in YA books and starting to get into general lit that I do not like. It is a similar trope to the MacGuffin, but instead of the plot being driven by an object, it is driven by the characters being in some sort of situation with formally fixed stakes.

Just as a MacGuffin is an object with no specific properties that affect its importance to the story, the identifying characteristic of this plot is that exact nature of the situation is irrelevant or at least not very important.

A very common example is when characters are involved in some sort of game or competition—for example, the first Throne of Glass book involves the protagonist competing to become the king's assassin, but the plot of the book would need to change very little if the competition was a beauty pageant.

"Gamified" plot lines like this often also include MacGuffins (to drive the "game"), confirming the tropes' similarity in my head.

The other common example is the "magic/superhero/assassin school" plot. The "school" is often just a device that brings the characters together and keeps them on a predetermined track, but there's nothing about what the characters are learning or even the school's specific identity as an educational institution that affects the plot.

Whenever people try to tell me to ship "moral ships" I like to think about how inherently immoral it is to flirt with service workers at coffee shops where they're obliged to be nice to you so... many coffee shop AUs are like. Immoral. But given that they are a fantasy where this is instant romance without the fear of trapping a service worker in an uncomfortable situation that's tantamount to workplace sexual harassment, I enjoy the cutesy coffee shop AUs immensely.

And that's basically my attitude towards all fantasy. There's lots of things I enjoy in fantasy that wouldn't work IRL. Enemies to lovers. Sudden kisses. Miscommunications in relationships. Codependency. Fight sluts who physically assault each other while emotionally connecting.

Once you start ascribing your morals to the fiction you consume, you tend to miss the issues in even the most innocuous, innocent seeming scenarios. It's easy to judge other people's fictional enjoyment until someone points out your innocent coffee shop AU is romanticised workplace harassment.

But it's all fiction. It's a fantasy. That's why it's fine.

A lack of education around things like consent, healthy relationships, self respect and respect of others, bodily autonomy, etc, has made people think they can rely only on fiction to tell them what right - but that's dangerous. And unsustainable.

More Kisses Mod #3 + Bonus Sad Hug

More Kisses Pack 3 is finally ready! This new pack adds 2 new kissing animations. This time I've also included a sad hug animation. This is not romantic and can be used by any sim. This set of animations was also made in collaboration with Utoypa CC who worked on the animations. They make a lot of fun different animations. Check out their work because it is truly incredible! 

Searing Kiss

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Frenzied Kiss

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If you are familiar with More Kisses then you know that there are moodlets that happen after the kiss, I have now added a bunch of new moodlets over 30 and there can also be negative moodlets. I have also fixed the problem where every time after a kiss sims would get the first kiss moodlet. 

Finally, the soothing snuggle interaction has been something I have wanted in the game for so long. This interaction will be available to a sim who is close to another sim with, at least an 80+ friendship score and if the targetsim is sad. 

The sim will comfort the other sim by hugging them. Let me know what you guys think about having interaction for different situations. 

Soothing Snuggle

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Possible outcomes after the interaction

Known Bugs

The only thing I have noticed so far is if you want to run this animation, try to run it alone without anything else in the queue, that is how it will work best.

I would appreciate reports on any bugs that may arise.

Credits

Thank you to the pancake1 for their s4animtools this was so life-changing when it came to making animations available in-game!

Big thanks to Utoypa CC who always makes the best animations!

Requirements?

You need:

The Mood Pack (If your UI disappears or there are UI issues after you play an animation with a mod it is because the mood pack isn't properly installed or installed at all. Please make sure you make note of this.)

More Kisses Mod #1 (Not necessary if you download the All-In-One version)

BG Compatible

Future Plans and Updates

More interactions. Once I create more animations I will make the selectable interactions option. 

How to install the mod?

Choose the All-in-One Download or download More Kisses #1 Mod for this pack to work. Be sure to also redownload #2 if you want it in your game. I have updated More Kisses #1 and #2 for the latest patch so redownload it, to get the latest version.

Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Mods <--- Place the package file here.

If your UI disappears or there are UI issues after you play an animation with a mod it is because the mood pack isn't properly installed or installed at all. Please make sure you make note of this.

Public April 7th

Download: Here

Mod Updates & Fixes

Fixed an issue with a script error

Improved Practical Spells

Update of Mods with Traditions (Seasons) so Infants “don’t care” about them:

No Work Tradition School Holidays Tradition Random Holiday Traditions Wellness Traditions Social Activities

Be aware my site lms-mods.com is currently 99% of the time down, because of high traffic. I cannot even log in to update the data in the tables. I will update my site as soon as the traffic calms down a bit.

I recommend to download my updated Mods via the All in One zip from my first Patch Update Post, or via CurseForge for now.