Variation of a Giving Game (sketch)

 

Photograph of a Rai Stone, unit of currency in pre-colonial Yap (an island in Micronesia)

In a recent post I described a procedure or system for modelling a sort-of domain-level play element for Pariah. It uses a heavily abstracted "labour as time surplus" mechanic that I've tested multiple times and (while I continue to tweak it) works effectively while also being fun! 

I understand fun is subjective and-while Archons Court has found some value in the previous post-the trading rules that follow might not be for everyone. I'm attempting to create a gift-giving and feasting game that:

• ...models gift economy and "prestige giving"
• ...acknowledges scarcity of supply and culture-driven demand
• is actually a GAME where players make CHOICES 

Bear in mind that a) this has not been playtested and b) this grew out of playing (and actually enjoying) an almost endless string of cargo runs in Classic Traveller (solo). 

This is also just a sketch of some ideas, the beginnings of a game. You have been warned.

Overview

"Trade" is ceremonialised via the presentation of gifts: there is no expectation that this exchange is immediately reciprocated. Either:

The pariahs want something from a neighbouring community, so invite them to a feast

OR

A neighbouring community want to suss out the pariahs and invites them to a feast.

Hospitality is universal. You expect to be taken care of, as a guest... but you don't turn up empty handed

You've already decided what they're going to get, and as the guest, you get to present it first of all.

1. The pariahs assemble a selection of gifts and discuss how they might present it to their host.
2. The Genius Mundi (GM) determines a “base value” for the gifts (a number), and modulates this based on the perceived value/ needs of the community e.g. rice farmers are pretty well-stocked as far as rice goes… on the other hand, a rare strain of glutinous rice from a faraway land might intrigue them most of all.
3. The pariahs present the gift to their host as they desire: their may be song, dance, parades, demonstrations of strength, religious rituals or the recitation of homilies... but ultimately these help push a reaction roll on the part of the party they are attempting to impress.
4. The GM makes a reaction roll: this determines not only how the host receives the gift, but the value of the gift the host presents to the pariahs in return
5. There's an optional round of negotiations, in which host and guest either attempt to outdo one another, politely decline elements of offerings (in order to increase favour) ore even try to extract more gifts from their host. 

The Boring Part: Prestige Points (pp)

There has to be some kind of base, universal value. A bit like the equipment list in the 1e DMG, but even less authentic because the arbitrary values don't exist anywhere in the gameworld, it's an abstraction of an abstraction. It is the opposite of fiat currency, as it cannot exist without goods and services to represent it.

For the forest nomads, nature is abundant. What is truly valued can only be provided by the spirits. All else is posturing.

The settled folk know their gods provide... and if the gods don't provide, the next village probably will.... and if they don't... well: they have silos full of grain and clay jars full of fermenting foodstuffs. All else is posturing

The base unit of value in gift-exchange is prestige. The least prestigious gift is a morsel of food, being the very least you can offer your guest.

One ration = 1pp

Mechanisation

By the time this is posted I should have completely itemised this list of 300 objects and assigned them an arbitrary PP value. I'm sure that was an exhausting activity for me but seeing as it has not yet occurred I cannot quantify precisely how much so,

Using this baseline, players and GMs can navigate their own ritual gift exchanges, loosely following the sequence ordered above. The same sequence could be implemented in a more conventional OSR campaign to permit trade with non-cash society, using the standard equipment lists to set base values and then modifying for to reflect what the individual society especially values. 

• All cultures appreciate craftmanship, but utility trumps aesthetics in less hierarchical societies
• All cultures appreciate shiny things, but their value is inflated in hierarchical societies 
• All cultures appreciate sweet things, fruit and honey being a reliable source of sweetness: forest dwellers have ready access to this  
• Most cultures appreciate meat, but cultures subsisting on cereal crops appreciate it the most
• The food of certain animals might be proscribed

Reciprocity

We can imagine a delay between receiving the goods and returning the gesture, with this being modified by the degree of existing formality between the two parties.  

If a party is in need of desperate help, this delay might be less dramatic.

Sketch

I'm throwing this out there because I need to let this idea breathe a little. My notes are very confusing and the game is beginning to look unnecessarily complicated (there'a obviously a hex-flower). 

There's also an element of wanting to build in (the assumed) proto-palace economy that may well have existed between settled communities: the networks of tribute and redistribution that nomadic groups (possessing clearer understanding of immediate need) brushed up against.

Feedback appreciated. 

Links

Alone in the Wilderness
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2025/12/alone-in-wilderness.html

Archons Court Navigator Domain Play
https://archons-court.blogspot.com/2025/12/its-better-to-learn-from-other-peoples.html

3d100 Items for PARIAH
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/p/3d100-items-for-pariah.html