ADD - Equipment & Services - Living Expenses

Pages 75-76 of the Adventures Dark & Deep Players Manual give rules for the monthly living expenses of characters.

One's social class will dictate the minimum monthly expenses associated with the lifestyle associated therewith. Note that this is simply a minimum, and should be deducted automatically by the game master from the pockets of the characters as “living expenses” including lodging, food and drink, entertainment, new clothing, etc. Other considerations may increase the monthly living expenses dramatically: high-level mages conducting experiments, characters who have hired henchmen or hirelings, etc.

If one is unable to spend the minimum for poor living according to one's social class due to lack of funds, roll 1d12. On a roll of 1, the character will go down one social class rank in the eyes of those around him. Resuming the required spending amount will raise the social class one rank on a similar roll of 1 on 1d12. If a character spends enough for fine living in a higher social rank for three consecutive months, begin checking monthly (again, a 1 in 12 chance) to see if the character has raised himself to the next-higher social class. (Of course, there will always be those who look down their noses at the nouveau riche no matter how well they live.)

Since the rules explicitly state that such expenses include lodging then the price of staying at inns, etc. must be assumed to be included in these monthly living expenses. This could be handled in a few ways depending on the particular circumstances:

• Any given inn could be ruled to have accommodations for varying social classes. This is not uncommon in real-life hotels, though such often fall into two categories, one being hotels catering to the lower class and middle class, the other being to hotels catering to the middle class and upper class.
• Characters of significantly higher or lower social class than others in the group may be ruled to have to stay at a different inn than their poorers or betters.

At the first adventuring session a player plays in a given month, living expenses will be charged to his character(s) for any living expenses not yet paid since the last time the player participated in an adventuring session.

Reproduced from page 75 of the Adventures Dark & Deep Players Manual.