Does anybody else get unreasonably annoyed at the vast majority of rpg games that are feudal societys on a surface level but are actually capitalist societys under a thin vineer. I was trying to play pillars of eternity but became incredibly annoyed at the frist quest of the game revolving around a mill which is in a lord's domain but is privately owned and operated and which the townsfolk sell their grain to in exchange for currency (to later buy back with the same currency). I had to put the game down right there.

I think a lot of the time it's an outgrowth from developers feeling the need to have a commonly circulated currency. Although the answer in my opinion isn't to faithfully recreate feudalism but to create a unique social formation for the conditions of the world, I've always loved the eberron campaign setting for that reason.

  • effervescent [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I really just wish we could get more fantasy writers and developers to read Graeber’s Debt. I understand that players are not gonna learn a number system that isn’t base 10, but you can absolutely integrate a unique monetary system into the story

    Edit: imagine a loyalty system in which spending the king’s coin will gain you prestige with the lord, but label you as a dog of the king to the peasantry. And if you don’t spend the coin you need to learn to rely on a gift economy in which repayment of favors is never asked but always expected.

    • Quimby [any, any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      a gift economy in which repayment of favors is never asked but always expected.

      In modern times, this is known as "Minnesota"