With the equal gold bidding system it really comes down to 3 steps. SIMPLE STEPS

#1) identify so you know how much and what it is.

#2) bid for it QUICKLY in 5% increments (no arguments on need or hurt feelings because someone else got it)

#3) pay for it or wait until everyone else has equal amount of items to the item you have received.


Because no one can bid on an item when they have a debt, only the last few people will be able to bid upon new items. Finally when just one person has no debt they receive that item at 50% (cash value because no one else can bid) and then the lowest debt among all characters gets deducted from everyones debt. This may never happen as people are paying off their debts as they receive cash so that they may bid again.

Someone can volunteer as "banker" (record keeper) or I can keep record of how much each person owes. No gold rests with banker because each person gets their share immediately from the party pot.
i.e. you owe 5000 gold and just received that much from whomever hired you for an adventure. You put it in the party pot and everyone receives their share (5000/8= 625gp) The person who just put that gold in also receives a share.

No one has to keep track of anyone elses debt, the record keeper just tells you (the group) "You have received 625 gold from the party pot" and its that simple.

A) I vote Deox for the banker.
B) A few more proposed rules:

4) Eligible bidders may refuse to bid.

5) If all eligible bidders without debt refuse to bid on the item, those with debt may bid for the item in debt order for an open bidding.
If the item is +3 plate armor, and the rangers don't want it, but Taldor has a debt already from a CLW wand, he should still get a bid opportunity before it is sold off and cashed out. (last chance before cash out.)

6) If all party members refuse to bid for an item, it is cashed out and the value distributed equally. This way, the last guy gets the choice of 50% value now or 1/8 of 50% value and still premium choice next round.

Just to double check tho,

Doesnt the merc company get all the loot?

Son of a bitch, was so ready to level up. FML.


And yes Chris, the Mercs get the gear, so we're screwed anyway.


Edit: Yeah, I can be a banker of sorts and keep track of party wealth.

Also, I think for a long while, we're not going to have enough money to effectively bid for items which means people are going to be owing the 'bank' and other party members money. I'm staying strong on 'give to who needs and don't be a jerk about it. Share the wealth and the fun.'

Oh well guess we wont be keeping the items then :( Ethier way it's good to talk about the looting system since it's prob the biggest thing that people will fight over.

We still could do the bidding system even at a low level. Just need to bring in the DM bail out scheme. It will be nice to know that when I buy that 3rd suit of +10 plate armour that I'll never use, that somebody will be there to pay it all for me :)

Your right Paul treasure is the #1 thing partys fight over.

I have to assume there is going to be some kind of quartermaster in the mercs we will be able to go to for re-equipment.

most of us will be 4th lvl soon, the wealth by level on page 135 of the DMG says we should have around 5400gp (I think, I'm going off memory here).
If the Mercs get all the loot from this job I'm sure Eric has a plan to get us from 900 (actually less after the blizzard) up to close to 5400.

*Edit*

And honestly, if that is the case its a clever workaround to the typical in party fighting that happens over loot.
Kudos to Eric (If thats not the plan then no Kudos for you)

Mike- Your rule #4 goes without saying, that would be insane to make someone bid above 50%. However the last person without debt automatically receives the item at 50% because its good as cash at any store and removes debt from other people. In this way its the SAME as your rule #6 but makes them bid on an item instead of receiving best pick/bid status forever. If no one bids (with more then one bidder) then the bidding could start backwards at 48% (2% increments)(letting people have the ability to make HUGE profits at magic store) Later in your careers you will most likely have the gold to be able to pay the price of the item you bid on to the party pot. The rule #5 you propose gets tricky. The thing about people wanting more then one item.. its up to them to intelligently decide when and what to bid upon. If something like +3 plate does come down and Taldor wants it even if he has a debt he might make a deal with someone who can bid BUT having pressure on other people to not bid on something for cash because he could use it... would break the system because of the aforementioned strong personalities.

With this many people the strong personalities in my experience get the most items. I have seen many a hurt feeling over loot unjustly distributed. My only intention is for everyone to have as much fun as possible. That being said if everyone wants to go for a different way of doing loot that is fine by me! As long as everyone except chris is happy by the end of the day. We can vote (with the dm having no vote) tomorrow on what system. I see only 2 options at this point: need before greed and the equal gold bidding. Frank could vote today or tomorrow if he cares either way.

First off, WTF ERIC AND CHRIS?

I thought we could make this 3-way relationship work, but apparently not, and that makes me a sad sad panda. Why can't we all just play a game of grab-ass and move on? I'd like that a lot. Single, we're sexy. Together we're a maelstrom of sexual pleasure and delight with a 93% chance of complete satisfaction.


Other than that. I vote for need before greed, and using 13 year old girls as cannon fodder. Also, any other thoughts regarding the 'party' or 'group' fund? If not cool, whatever no biggie. Just figured it might be a good idea to all pitch in for party items: wands, potions, raise dead, Asian massages with happy ending.

i would go for a party fund, depending on what it goes for.

1) Baby's here. Born at 8:26 am and weighing in at 8 lbs 7 oz.


2) For treasure I vote for a less formal it-goes-to-who-needs-it-the-most system. We can track who gets what to make sure that it doesn't get too lopsided (and we could use those records to convert to a more formal bid system if needed). Any treasure conflicts can be handled by in-character duels. :)

1) Congrats on yet another kid, Frank. Tell that wife of yours to stop getting on top of you and maybe you won't have that problem.

2) I CHALLENGE YOU TO MORTAL COMBAT!