Before I begin - I am a huge fan of this game but my experience with it is very limited (i.e. I have read the rules and think that this game is awesome but have not really played).

I did run a game (a very short one) a couple of years ago - but chose to ignore the whole economics thing - just figured that the players would not want to get into all that - and just assumed that the players had enough income to maintain thier manner, wives (or kept women) and thier equipment and horses up to snuff.

I did own (but seem to have lost) my copy of the Book of the Manor - though to be honest I never really understood it (next to Ars Magica 5th editon it was the most confusing roleplaying book I ever read).

Now I am am working on trying to figure this economics thing out - primarily just using the 5.1 book and the Great Pendragon Campaign book but I am still rather befuddled.

I get the whole PC manor generates a income of 6 Libra per year and that should handle all the Knights worries.
Then there is the whole Changes to Economic Circumstances - but is that just an arbitrary things decieded by the GM? I really don't seem mechanics for this.

What if a PC marries a woman with a mannor - does his income go up to 12 Libra per year or what happens - again I have torn the book apart and can find no mechanics or rules on this.

Can anyone help me wrap my brain around this? I strikes me as a very interesting aspect of the game that would be lacking if ignored but I will be damned if I can figure it out.

Thanks
Todd

I did run a game (a very short one) a couple of years ago - but chose to ignore the whole economics thing - just figured that the players would not want to get into all that - and just assumed that the players had enough income to maintain thier manner, wives (or kept women) and thier equipment and horses up to snuff.

I did own (but seem to have lost) my copy of the Book of the Manor - though to be honest I never really understood it (next to Ars Magica 5th editon it was the most confusing roleplaying book I ever read).

There's nothing wrong with ignoring economics if that side of the knightly experience isn't interesting to you or your players. The default starting position (vassal knights in Salisbury) is that your PK isn't economically vulnerable, so just assuming that they have the wherewithal to live a comfortable chivalric life is entirely reasonable.


I get the whole PC manor generates a income of 6 Libra per year and that should handle all the Knights worries. Then there is the whole Changes to Economic Circumstances - but is that just an arbitrary things decieded by the GM? I really don't seem mechanics for this.

Knights can live as Impoverished (<£3), Poor (£3-5), Ordinary(£6-8), Rich(£9-12), Superlative(£12+). How much they spend on their maintenance is up to them, but anything other than 'Ordinary' has consequences - see the Winter Phase mechanics for some examples.

Normally a PK devotes his manor's income to maintenance and lives as 'Ordinary', job done.

Varying from 'Ordinary' is down to campaign events - if the PKs have done well and have accumulated lots of treasure (or additional manors) then they can live large as Rich, or even Superlative, knights (useful if you want an heir to survive); alternatively if the saxons keep coming round asking for tribute (see Anarchy phase in GPC) or they got captured in battle then they may find themselves living as 'Poor' whilst they dig themselves out of the debt hole they're in (time to organise some raiding parties perhaps?).

Treasure is useful in this regard - being readily fungible portable property that can be used to handle emergency and/or one time major expenditures. 'Treasure' is stuff you've acquired out of the ordinary run of your domestic economy (eg loot from battles, ransoms, bags of silver taken from haunted caverns and the like).


What if a PC marries a woman with a mannor - does his income go up to 12 Libra per year or what happens - again I have torn the book apart and can find no mechanics or rules on this.Income goes up to £12 yes, but the manor requires a knight to do feudal service (the PK can't do it because he owes service for his own manor) so expenditure goes up as well. Manors which come free of the obligation to provide a knight can exist, but they are *very* rare - this sort of thing is only given out by extremely generous (and grateful) liege lords.

If you want to boost your cash then install a household knight (costs £4/year) and a steward (costs £1/year) on the second manor and pocket the excess £1. This surplus rises to £2 if the manor is close enough to be stewarded by the PK's wife from their 'home' manor - but note that there can only be so many manors close enough to do this and diligent/suspicious liege lords will tend to frown upon their vassal knights building up a consolidated 'home base' of closely situated manors.

Alternatively if they install a vassal knight then they lose the surplus cash, but they've probably got a more loyal retainer and running/protecting the manor isn't (directly) their problem any more. This is a more compelling option if you're using the full harvest mechanics (with the possibility of significant shortfalls) from BotM however.

Regards
Luke

Must confess this is one area I simply handwave as a GM. We don't have time in our short sessions to worry about book-keeping and so I run the economics in a purely narrative way - this year is a hard year due to bad weather / raiding; you're all having to tighten your belts etc. as the plot and the actions of the players suggest. There is a whole game that can be played around the financial game hence The Book of the Manor, and I'm sure it adds a whole new dimension. One day I'll have that dream campaign and the time to do it properly!