02 Economy

In a standard TTRPG, players meticulously track every copper, silver, and gold coin they find. In Apprentices, this level of accounting quickly becomes tedious and narratively meaningless.

Instead of tracking exact coins, this game uses an abstract Funds system to represent a character's purchasing power during a given month.

The Funds Levels

A character's wealth is represented by their current Funds level:

1. Destitute: You cannot afford anything beyond the scraps on your plate. You live on the streets or rely entirely on Academy charity.
2. Poor (Standard Starting for Low-Born): You can afford basic rations, a shared dorm room, and very cheap mundane tools.
3. Adequate (Standard Starting for Middle-Class): You can afford comfortable living, decent meals, standard mundane weapons, and perhaps one or two cheap alchemical ingredients per month.
4. Affluent (Standard Starting for Nobility): You can afford luxury housing, high-end mundane gear, minor magical items, and bribes for lower-level officials.
5. Wealthy: You can buy expensive spell components, high-grade crystalized mana, and influence powerful people without blinking.
6. Astronomical: You have tapped into a major magical vault or criminal enterprise. You can buy almost anything that has a price tag.

The Struggle: Living Expenses

Living in the city, especially as an Academy student, is not free.

At the start (Day 1), every character must establish their Living Situation.
If a character begins the month at the Poor or Destitute Funds level, they must secure their basic living expenses.

If they do not upgrade their Funds to at least Adequate by Day 5 of the month, they suffer a persistent -1 die penalty to all Physical and Mental rolls due to malnutrition, lack of sleep, or crushing stress, which lasts until they manage to secure proper lodging and food.

Acquiring Funds

To buy expensive gear or survive the month, players must spend Time Slots to acquire Funds.

When a player dedicates a Time Slot to making money (e.g., working a mundane job, brewing and selling alchemical potions, mugging someone in the lower city, or robbing a vault), they make an appropriate attribute roll (e.g., Mental, Social or Physical), or a specific move like Force Your Way or Manipulate and Provoke.

Depending on the danger and difficulty:

• Standard Work (Safe): Requires 2 dedicated Time Slots and a successful appropriate roll to raise your Funds by 1 level for the duration of the month.
• Dangerous/Illegal Work (Risky): Requires 1 dedicated Time Slot and a successful, high-difficulty appropriate roll to raise your Funds by 1 level (or potentially 2 levels for massive heists). Failure usually results in severe Hard Moves from the GM (jail time, injury, police tracking).

Core Mechanics ======================================== Character Creation