Game in the Brain

Crime, Society, and The State in the nineteenth century Philippines

This is a great resource insight and ideas. Reverse engineering the anecdotal stories of crimes, contraversy, and deviant and dangerous behavior opened up a lot of game ideas.

Useful facts population growth is peged at around 1.6% annual. This is mainly due to the influx of Chinese and Provincial immigrants.

for GURPS
1 Peso = 8 Reals = 32 Quartos = 128 maravedis

1 Peso = $128
1 Real = $16
1 Quarto = $4
1 maravedis = $1 (US dollar of 2004, buying power)

Examples of some wages:

• An Spanish Officer P2,500 a year
• A Independent Prostitute 12 reals a month plus Basic*
• A typical servant is paid nothing except for Basic*. Typically servants come from the province escaping a worse fate, overcrowding, or have no family who can support them.

*Basic means: food, lodgings, and clothing

Thus the 1.5 real tax per day of forced labor was roughly equal to asking a working class laborer Php1,200 pesos a day. A prostitute earned nearly equal to a skilled working class at Php 9600.