Game in the Brain

Some Low Tech prep Notes. TL:DR low tech economics is very unfair, and learning it makes me appreciate the present and look out for mistakes that repeat the past.

Military Budget Factor is CS p.9 makes up a percentage of the Entity’s Revenue equal to MBF*2. Basically CR 6 (wartime) budget means that the Entity is channeling everything (100%) to Military while peacetime CR6 is about 40% of the revenue generated by the entity.

Note that people don’t really get paid monthly because the number of transactions over time increase inefficiency and the total cost of transaction (look up transaction velocity). So typically you really would be looking at Annual Incomes instead of monthly incomes. Actually in GURPS mass combat it is really MUCH better to look at things in annual.

Taxation in Low Tech. 

Monopolies and Price Control are effectively a form of taxation. (practiced even up to now, and in the Philippines practiced until the end of the 19C ). The Incomes in GURPS is just the “take home”, since the incomes in the basic set values still was enough to buy food and very basic basics. In low tech 75% of Income of struggling wealth went to Food and a Lord won’t get much out of their tenants after this. Typically taxes were already extracted before any payment to the farmers, simply because its harder to chase after a farmer that got too much compensation and its better to err on the lord’s coffers.

Basically the Income of the Peasant (Status -1) is not what is taxed from him, but this is his take away.
If you are measuring any low Tech holding, you measure it by the number of FAMILIES not individuals because: of a population 20% is are the adults able to work, and 80% are those unable to do full work load (Children and Old people). Even women were not fully counted as “working adult” although when their husbands, sons, brothers, or fathers are forced into fighting for their lord it still doesnt change the required work output.

In Low Tech its what ever is the average Income. In the end it doesnt matter, its all $300 because if its a Slave it does work as any other person but only gets to take home $120, if its a Serf he only gets to take home $300, if its a landed freeman then he still pays about the same tax as the Serf. Higher and Higher status pay less and less taxes relative to their wealth, and then there is corruption. So its easier to count everyone as Struggling or $300 like in Building Low Tech landscapes.

Households

Its better to look at things as house holds. its easier to fudge the demographics this way for many purposes. Divide by 5 and use the Pop value or Household value.

Looking at an entity like a Home

The simplest way to look at Entity finances is breaking it down into: Housing (includes House keeping) and Security Force. Low Tech entities is typically CR6! (since DND confuses medieval with wild west america, its has created this impression of “freedome” lolz which is really not the case). If not the Lord, even his security advisor (wife, brother, aged father etc…) would implement measures to prevent controlled substances and goods from going into the wrong hands.

40% Security Force. This means take a Region, calculate revenues based and use that to budget the Security force.

the rest is either Pocketed. Converting Revenues to “Cash” half the value.

Housekeeping aka Administration

This is money that goes into the Community in the form of infra, walls, roads. forum, market, employed civil servants etc… The GM sets these values, since they can be very variable he needs only to roll or make up his mind. As a rule of thumb the GM can set the following Values.

50% on administration which has a loss to corruption equal to the Chief Administrators Skill minus 15 * 5%. So a Skill 12 typically suffers corruption of 15%. (the GM should make talented administrators Rare, Taken, or severe drawbacks ex. a skilled administrator but of a minority ethnicity).

Once you get the Net value of Administrative Budget, roll for how many years. 2d*2  and add another die when you roll a 6, and every time you roll a 6. This is the value of the “Built Up Infra. Typically work is measured in man days, use $300 divided by 20 which is $15 equals to the man days.

Example.
Cibotus aka Apamea (Phygia) (a region and feif; with a town at its center called Cibotus)
Population: 1,600 housolds

Physical and Magical Environment
Terrain: Mountain, Coast, Lake
Appearance: Attractive (+1) Hygiene: +1

Culture and Economy
Language: Greek          Literacy: Broken
TL: 3
Wealth: Average          Status: -2 to 4

Political Environment
Gov’t: Oligarchy
CR: 6 (Corruption -1; Administrator-12)
Annual Revenues: $2.88M (minus 0.432 lost to corruption)
Military Resources (annual): $576K DB:*

*2d-1d
rolled 6, 4, 4 = +4
Some old roman fortifications still exist.

Population. 

Lets look at regions instead of Towns or Cities, because it’s easier. In Medieval Demographics made easy population density divide the values in square miles by 2.6 for Metric kms. 11C Anatolia would have made the recovery since Justinians’ plague at 28/sqm.

Take your Regional Center, the town, city or market village, and multiply it by 10. That’s your population for the region.  Cibotus would be around 800 people or 160 homes, a large village. By the Fortification roll, maybe one built over an old greek or roman port a few hundreds years old.

working back, about 285 sqkm region.

Quickly Build Full Time Starting Security Force.