***
The Family Budget Tournament
Mr. and Mrs. Smith had fallen upon difficult times. It was not easy being united not only by the bonds of holy matrimony, but by a shared desire to rid the world of the Prime Evils. What had once seemed—in the early days of their love—to be adventurous, exciting (dare we say it—sexy!) was now rather banal. Worse, though… money was starting to become a problem.
“If this is Monday, it must be meatloaf night,” mused Mr. Smith, preparing to remove his gauntlets and wash his hands.
“Well, it’s Tuesday,” snapped Mrs. Smith, teleporting out the front door. “Which means it’s…”
“ …Travincal,” finished Mr. Smith with a groan.
*
That night, exhausted and covered in the disgusting blood and ooze left by the Council in their death throes, Mr. Smith heard his wife sobbing in the kitchen. There he found her, seated at the table, counting up the gold and surveying that night’s “profit.” He knew what was coming.
“It’s not enough!” she wailed. “We’ll never be able to afford that new orb I’ve been after! And I need training… you should see the kind of damage per second Mrs. Jones gets next door! I can’t keep up!”
Mr. Smith had been expecting this. Truth be told, adventuring just didn’t pay the way it used to. He had similar frustrations, though he tried to bottle them up inside—that, after all, is what barbarian men do. But earlier this week, when he’d busted his Diggler against the hide of a particularly frisky Succubus, he discovered he didn’t have the cash to get a new one. Something would need to be done, if they were to continue their lovers’ quarrel with evil.
“Dear,” he began, a bit uncertainly, wiping her tears with the sleeve of his arctic furs. Finally, he steeled his nerves.
“Dear,” he repeated, more confidently this time. “We need to go on a budget.”
Mrs. Smith covered her face in her hands and wept. But she nodded her assent. “You’re right,” she moaned, wiping her eyes with her hands. “A budget. We have to.”
***
In this tournament, you will play a married couple who are forced to count their pennies as they battle the forces of evil. Nearly everything has a cost, which you will keep track of in a separate “budget sheet.” Certain actions will bring you income—others will bring the bill collectors. Your couple may choose to keep their finances totally separate, or, if you prefer, they may operate off of a single combined budget—the choice is yours. Either way, careful balancing will be required, if you are to be successful.
GENERAL RULES:
No S&E to escape death or similar cheese.
You must play hardcore, or play softcore but remove your characters once they have their first death. Once both of your players are out, you’re finished (see below for more on this one).
Game version 1.11 or higher.
You may use FAMs, or play vanilla… either way.
You may play on any /players setting, and change it at any time for any reason.
All runewords are eligible, whether they are ladder or non-ladder.
This tournament is single-pass, and untwinked.
You may not return to earlier difficulties or acts for any reason. Once your couple has left a place, they’ve left it for good.
There is no time limit on the tournament. It will probably end when D3 comes out, and we all have new shiny things to do!
YOUR LOVEBIRDS
You must pick two characters to be your lawfully wedded couple. Generally speaking, you will probably wish to pick one male and one female character (but see below for more on this). They may be any class you wish, and there are no restrictions whatsoever on skills… aside from what you can afford (but please see a couple of rules unique to Necromancers). Your couple must adventure separately (no MP), but they must always be within the same act. When both characters have reached the end of an act, then you may hold a Family Meeting, during which the characters can trade gear back and forth if desired.
Same-sex unions are permitted. However, if your characters choose to live an alternative lifestyle, they will face the prejudices of their intolerant society: the only mercenary that will accompany them is an Act 2 Prayer mercenary (he thinks their lifestyle is a choice, and that they can be “cured” through divine intervention). And he *must* be hired as soon as you reach act 2, at the usual $50 cost (which means you need to save an appropriate amount of funds). The Rogue mercs can be used until they are killed for the first time, but they cannot be resurrected.
INCOMINGS:
Your loving couple will earn $20 for each Quest they complete (a quest is only completed when the box is turned gray), and $20 for each Waypoint they activate. Waypoints and Quests are not mandatory: if you want to avoid something, feel free. But you will not get any money, and in this tournament’s capitalist society, that could be a problem.
Your couple may also earn extra money through their cottage industry: selling arts and crafts.
*** Runeword items may be sold at a value of $1 per included rune #. For example, a Steel sword would earn $4 ($3 for the Tir, $1 for the El). A Stealth armor would fetch a price of $12 ($7 for Tal, $5 for Eth). And so on. You may *not* simply sell runes… they must be used in runewords for them to have any value.
*** Crafted items may be sold for $1 per rune #, plus $1 for the perfect gem used in the recipe. So a pair of Blood gloves would be sold for $5 ($4 for the Nef, and $1 for the gem).
*** Perfect Gems may be sold for $1 each.
Finally, your couple may sell their spare set and unique items on Gheed’s List for $5 each.
OUTGOINGS:
Skill Points cost $1 per point per skill level. So to place a point in a level 1 skill, you must pay $1. To put a point in a level 6 skill, you must pay $6. To put a skill point in a level 12 skill, you must pay $12. And so on. Pay attention here, folks… this means that to max a level 30 skill, you are talking about an expense of $600: that is two full acts’ worth of quest and waypoint income. Budget carefully.
Attribute Points are priced as follows: $1 for Energy, $2 for Strength and Dexterity, $3 for Vitality.
Mercenaries are called Mercenaries for a reason. Your act 1 Normal Rogue is free (though you are stuck with the one you randomly are provided). After that, if you want to hire a different mercenary, it’s $50. You must pay this charge *every time* you switch your mercenary.
Equipment. Your lovebirds (and their mercenaries) may wear any plain white or plain (non-magic) ethereal item for free. All charms are also free. After that, life gets costly:
*** It costs $2 to equip a blue magic item or a gray socketed item (with or without things in the sockets themselves… once you’ve equipped the item, you may fill the sockets at no additional cost, except for runewords).
*** It costs $4 to equip any other kind of item (rares, runewords, crafts, sets, uniques).
Every time you equip an item you or your spouse (or their mercs) has not equipped before, or decide to keep it in your in-game stash to save for later, you must pay the fee for the new item. Once you have paid to use or save an item, you do not need to pay to use it again—your characters and mercs can then use the item freely.
Necromancer Penalties: Because a necromancer can get more mileage out of cheap, level 1 skills than any other class in the game, there are two penalties to the class, designed to balance things out a bit. First, Skeleton Mastery is charged to your budget as a LEVEL 6 skill (meaning it costs $6 per point, not $1 per point). Also, any necromancer using skeletons, skeletal mages or revives must pay $200 for a mercenary, instead of the usual $50… after all, who would want to work around all those creepy undead critters? It takes a lot more dough to get someone to sign up for that kind of duty. Note that the act 1 Rogue that you receive as a quest reward is still free for Necros of any type.
GAMBLING
You may gamble for items… and it really is a gamble in this tournament. Each attempt at gambling costs your family $1. But if you get an item from gambling that you wish to equip, it may be equipped for FREE. Please note that this only applies to gambled items that can be equipped as-is (for example, if you gambled a pair of gloves, and then made a crafted item from them, you would have to pay to equip the crafted item as usual).
GIFTS
The following items/bonuses/etc. may be used for free, since you receive them as gifts:
*** Your Act 1 mercenary (but only the one randomly given to you is free… if you wish to switch elements, that will cost you)
*** Wirt’s Leg, Horadric Malus, Act 2 staff/amulet, Khalim’s flail, Gidbinn, Hellforge Hammer
*** Rings received from Akara and Ormus
*** Imbued items from Charsi
*** The skill points from the Den, Radament, and Izual quests. These stat points must be used in the act when you earn them, they cannot be saved.
*** Stat points from the Book quest in act 3 (again, these must be used when awarded, not saved).
*** The class-specific rare item you receive from Anya in act 5
*** Any item personalized with the act 5 quest reward.
STASHES, MULING, ETC.
Each character may keep anything they like in their in-game stash. However, in order to save equippable items in the in-game stash, they must first be paid for. The only exceptions to this rule are charms, since they are free, and also any items listed as “Gifts” above.
Your character may keep any item in their character’s backpack at no charge. But if it is equipped, or transferred to the in-game stash, it must be paid for.
Each of your characters may also keep a separate ATMA (or other muling program) stash for socket-fillers, charms, potions, keys, scrolls, and Wirt’s Leg ONLY. Nothing else can go in there. Ever.
Most of the time, your couple will adventure separately, and therefore their stashes (both in-game and out-of-game) must be kept separate. However, at the end of each act, your couple may have a Family Meeting, during which they may freely swap gear.
DEATH, SCORING, REPLAYING
If one of your two characters dies, then they are declared “Missing in Action.” You lose all of their gear, but everything in their ATMA stash will go to their widow/widower.
If both of your characters die, then your quest is complete. The winner will be the couple with the highest combined total of quests and waypoints. In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most unused cash will win.
You may re-enter the tournament if you like, but each time you re-enter, you must play two new character classes. Therefore, you may enter a maximum of three times (and one class will remain unplayed).
If you require any rule clarifications, please post questions here. Otherwise, sign up! The tournament starts right now.
Code:
Player Name Characters and Classes Last WP Activated|||I will enter Bobbie (Assassin) and Glide (Necromancer). From the test run, I can attest to the fact that patience is almost as necessary as the pencil and paper. Just like any couple on a budget, sometimes it is better to wait for something better rather than spend every nickle that comes your way.
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Skunkbelly Mr. and Mrs. Skunk (druid and sorc)
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Player Name Characters and Classes Last WP Activated|||A couple of questions, if I may:
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Skunkbelly Mr. and Mrs. Skunk (druid and sorc)
Wolron Bobbie and Glide (Assassin and Necro)
Is the gambling charge $1 for each re-roll of the gambling screen, or for each item gambled?
Can the cow level be played at all? If so, does it count as a quest?
Do the couples have separate bank accounts, or a combined account?
Also, did you guys consider implementing a loan system at all? I guess it would have added an extra layer of complexity, but it's something that poppped into my head while reading the rules, so I thought I'd bring. Could have been fun if the bank could repossess items to the value of the outstanding loan balance at the beginning of Act 5 in each difficulty level, or some such.
|||Quote:A couple of questions, if I may:
Is the gambling charge $1 for each re-roll of the gambling screen, or for each item gambled?
Can the cow level be played at all? If so, does it count as a quest?
Do the couples have separate bank accounts, or a combined account?
Also, did you guys consider implementing a loan system at all? I guess it would have added an extra layer of complexity, but it's something that poppped into my head while reading the rules, so I thought I'd bring. Could have been fun if the bank could repossess items to the value of the outstanding loan balance at the beginning of Act 5 in each difficulty level, or some such.
Every time you click on an item in gambling mode, it costs $1. You might try to gamble 11 swords before you get one that you really like. That means that sword cost you $11. If you never found one you liked, then you simply lost $11. I guess that is why they call it "Gambling". During the trial run, I tried gambling quite a bit, but it was never too useful. It is a good way to get blue items in the early (very early)game though because they end up costing $1 instead of $2 (if you are not too particular ).
The cow level is not a quest or a WP, so it gains you nothing in the way of budget dollars. However, you can go there if you like and maybe you will find something that you like. Note that Wirt's leg can be kept in your ATMA stash for that purpose.
Couples can pass budget money back and forth only at the end of an act. During the playing of an act, each of them is on their own.
A loan system was not considered.|||Very interesting idea. I am not sure if I will have the time but I plan to give it a try. The rules are a bit more complicated in terms of required book keeping but having two lives and two single-pass worth of items would definitely help a HC noob like me.
Quick question, does "selling arts and crafts" to earn money actually mean selling items or can we mule them over to our non-tourney stash.|||Quote:
Quick question, does "selling arts and crafts" to earn money actually mean selling items or can we mule them over to our non-tourney stash.
No need to actually sell the items... as long as they are permanently removed from your play in this tournament, the purpose has been served.|||Looks interesting, I might have given it a try if SC (death is disqualification) was allowed.
Isn't Wirt's leg difficulty-specific?|||Code:
Player Name Characters and Classes Last WP Activated
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Skunkbelly Mr. and Mrs. Skunk (druid and sorc)
Wolron Bobbie and Glide (Assassin and Necro)
GoldenredDragon Gunnarr and Gabija (Barb and Sorc)
I'll be trying this out. I'm not too scared about skill points. Attribute on the other hand are terrifying, and for equipment, I have NO idea what I'll be doing... Mostly naked running, and lots lots lots of gambling ? (Well, you have to sell most of the stuff for regular gold anyway, as you can't keep them.)
I'll just have to get to the idea of playing hardcore. (Never liked the idea of it before...) Nightfish's Berserker, and a Firewall/Orb sorc. I've always wanted to try out firewall... :P|||Quote:
Looks interesting, I might have given it a try if SC (death is disqualification) was allowed.
Isn't Wirt's leg difficulty-specific?
Wirt's leg is available in normal/NM/Hell difficulty. Since you need it to enter the Cow Pasture, you are allowed to put it in your ATMA stash for use after you kill Baal in that level of difficulty.
By the way, you ought to try HC. It multiplies the fun just as it multiplies the difficulty. When you have to think hard before doing something risky, you begin to really get into the intricacies of the game.|||Cool idea, we'll see if I enter or not though.
You said you can sell S/U items on Gheeds list, does that just mean any S/U?
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