Hello, fellow roleplayers. New here, as you can probably see. Just finished reading the rulebook. Very nice game. I sort of expected "D&D in medieval England", but it turns out that this game is a completely different kind of experience. I wonder how my players will handle that.
I wrote myself a few notes while reading the book, whenever I didn't understand something, so that I'll know what to ask about on the forums. Most have already been answered either by the book itself or my common sense (...), but one still troubles me.
I don't seem to get the whole "economic" system of the game, you know what I mean? How knights earn and spend money. The relation between income and standards of living. I just don't get it. ???
Do I need to pay for my standards of living? Is it a certain amount of money that I need to expand every year to stay in that level? Or is it like a bonus I get "for free" with a high income? And then one chapter of the book says something completely different, that my income depends on my standard of living, not the other way around...
The book says, for example, that all knights begin with an estate worth 6 libra per year, but a knight with an average economic class needs to spend 6 libra per year to maintain his lifestyle. Does that mean that most knights have a net income of 0? Or something like that...?

I am sorry if that is a very broad or noobish question, it's just an aspect of the rules that I couldn't figure out.

Also, English is not my native language, so I am sorry for any spelling or grammer errors you might have found here.

Thank you very much, and have a nice day.

A humble stranger :)

Hi, and welcome!

This is how we play ut in our group:

- Getting the dough: If you are a household knight (or hold an office, sometimes), you need not worry about income - your lord pays your 6£ (or whatever) to keep you at a ordinary/normal state of living (or better, if you're an officer). If you are a landowner of your own (vassal, banneret, et.c.) or a mercenary, you have to make sure you have your money by the end of the year before. This money you get from plunder, adventure or from your land. Or from moneylenders, yikes.

- Spending the money: The money stated next to the standard of living-stuff is what you PAY to live at a certain level. My players pay that money at the beginning of every new in-game year. If they can't reach Ordinary level, then they live at Poor or worse... If they have MORE money than required, they either live as Rich or better or save it or buy stuff for it.

- So, does most knights have a net income of 0£? Yes, and no. Yes, for lazy ass sods who stay at home all year. No for brave and bold adventurers (and dastardly robber knights). If you're a sitting-on-my-butt kind of knight, then you have no pocket money.

Ciao!

// M

Well, noir wrote much of what I was going to write.

But for some added depth. You actually don't "earn" money as a knight, at least not up until conquest era when mercenary pay becomes common.

The annual cost of living for a household knight each year is £4, or £6 if he is married (unusual). This is not a salary, this is his upkeep. Thus, he eats at his lords table. His horses eats in his lords stable. His lords armorer repairs his chainmail. His lord gives him new clothes (£1) each winter. An not time in this process is money exchanged. Basically, the household knight serves as a soldier and counselor, and lives at his lords expense.

For a vassal knight, his manor normally provides an income of £6 per annum. This is what he uses to "pay" his upkeep each winter phase. Again, this has little to do with money. His peasants produces food for him, his family, his household, his horses. His wife and her hand maidens make clothes from the sheep on the manor. A surplus might be generated to by stuff not produce on the manor (weapons, armor, luxuries), but these are hidden in the game system, so to speak. So each year an income of £6 and expenses £6. That means no extra "money", unless the knight applies himself, as noir noted.

Also not that in the early ears, there is very little money in circulation. When a knight takes £11 in plunder, its not 11*240 silver pennies. There might be some silver coins, but its mostly valuables, clothes, carpets, cattle, armor, whatever. Money do become more common as time passes in the campaign.

noir and Sharpskytten have answered well. I'd add a further detail:
While your lord or your manor provides you with a certain baseline standard of living (they 'pay' the cost of maintaining you at a certain level), if you win plunder, get treasure, have a good harvest, you can accumulate extra 'treasure' (as noted, this won't be in coin, but in valuables). You can spend this to bump up your standard of living to Rich or Superlative, by spending enough treasure to make up the difference in cost.
So Rich takes £9-12/year; if your lord is spending £4 on your income, it'll cost at list £5 to maintain yourself at Rich. If your manor supports you on average at £6/year, it'll only cost £3 of treasure.
At the start of the game, this isn't much of an advantage and you may prefer to spend the money elsewhere. But after you marry (or support concubines) and try to get children, it becomes VERY valuable.