Players beware! There is a conspiracy afoot. Game Masters everywhere are doing everything they can in a concerted effort to part you from your gold pieces. Act now! Beat your GM to the punch and spend that money on something worthwhile before it gets stolen, falls off a boat, or the illusion wears off and it turns back into lead.

But seriously, your GM is urged to do this thing called "monitoring", which means that if your character gets too much wealth, he has tO lose some of it. The reason is simple and understandable: a character who can hire somebody to do his adventuring for him has no reason to adventure.

Too much money -- for your character's level -- can provide that character with better equipment and more power than he should have, making it hard to estimate an adventure's lethality, which in turn means too easy adventures or too hard adventures. If you want the baby bear's adventures ("juuust right!"), work with the GM in keeping your treasure in line with your character's level, social status and aims. Naturally, you want something in return for your willingness to cooperate, and so these ideas take money away from your character and provide something of value in return In some cases, it may be only a good feeling, but that's better than being robbed.

Material Things

Horses are a good way to get from place to place, and they are good to have in a combat as well. A warhorse can provide a great boost to the combat ability of a weak character, or provide the mobility to win a battle with enemies on foot, or enable your character to escape larger creatures. Steeds can be expensive to maintain for beginning characters, but they are generally worth the expense if they can be kept alive. Part of keeping them alive is providing whatever protection can be afforded, which means barding. Horse armor is a good way to spend money quickly.

A ship can be a good purchase for a party of adventurers. It is a good place to store treasures, can be operated by a large party and one or two trusted henchmen, and holds its value as long as you keep it off of reefs and away from monsters. Also, life aboard the ship can be a source of adventures, making the GM's job easier. Many adventures begin by assuming that the characters are aboard a ship or in a port town. If your party owns the boat, you don't have to sign on with untrustworthy knaves and risk being abandoned at the nearest island, or worse--in the middle of the ocean!

Ammunition for missile weapons, Greek fire, lamp oil, torches, rope, clothes, and even food and water need to be re-supplied at all times. Stock up when you can. If your character has money, he should purchase these things in bulk. It is doubtful that a thief will sneak into your home and steal 2,500 torches, but he might very well roll you for the same value in coin in your purse. Also, at some point, it is likely that your character will be short of cash and be unable to purchase some ordinary equipment that might make life easier. A little foresight can prevent this from becoming a major problem.

Services

If your character can find a wizard willing to do so, he may commission the creation of a magical item. Finding a wizard to create a potion or write a scroll may give the character firepower he could not otherwise acquire if he is a low-level or free up time for a more experienced wizard to do something else. Advertising that you have a large sum of gold and need a magic ring for defense is not excactly a wise move, so the character should start by asking friends or allies if they have the time and ability to perform this favor -- in return for gold or jewelry, of course. Be careful with who you trust with this: the wizard may take the money and run, hold the magic item and demand more money. Leave it out to be stolen before handing it over, or die before finishing the item.

If the GM allows, your character may be able to hire a spy to keep tabs on another character. Since hiring a spy takes away from role-playing it should be done carefully. The best way to use this tool is to hire the spy before beginning an adventure. The spy should check out loose ends from another adventure, or be used to dig up more information from rumors or adventure hooks, and when the party return from the current endeavor, you can use the spy's information to begin another.

Spying might also include routine espionage on one's neighbors if your character owns property and wishes to keep it from those who would take it by force. A half-orc might report on the state of the humanoid tribes in the area, a dwarf might be willing to provide regular notice of the goings-on underground, and a druid would certainly accept a donation to the faith in return for news of evil creatures moving through the wilderness.

If your group's style favors earnest role-playing, your character may wish to make an impression on society or improve his own quality of lifie by commissioning the creation of a visual work of art--a painting, statue, or mural. For a low-level character, this artist may be an eager student, who needs only enough to survive and purchase his supplies. For a powerful and influential character, this might be a renowned master of his art, bid for by kings and high priests. In addition to gaining a piece of art for the home, the character may improve his prestige in the community, establish his reputation as a well-rounded individual, and gain the respect of his peers.

Your character might also sponsor a talented musician, composer, or songwnter. In this way, the character may wish to immortalize his brave deeds in song, or tell the tale of a fallen companion. He may wish to dedicate a tnbute to a valuable ally -- the unknown spy who set up the fall of the Pirate Kingdom, the elven tube who sheltered the party from the Rain of Chaos, or the cloud giant whose sense of humor outweighed his desire for privacy.

If your character has a permanent home, you may wish to make some changes to the property in order to make it safer for people and property. An escape tunnel can be dug, a false treasure room set up, traps can be installed. You may wish your characters valuables to be hidden behind a secret door.

You may also wish to make your character's home more enjoyable. A garden, aviary, or fountain can liven up a home and make it look less like a lifeless dungeon. Pets common or exotic can warm the place up even more.

Business Ventures

Your character will do business with many different merchants during his career. Many of these will short-change him, sell him poor equipment, or just not respect him. On the other hand, some rare merchants will impress your character with their honesty, skill. and tact. The latter deserve to be rewarded. If you buy thern a shop and ask for some small share of the profits and free goods or services, you both win. Characters who can count on an honest jeweler can save themselves thousands of gold pieces in potential loss to fraud. Those with an inn will always find careful grooms to take good care of their mounts, polite servers who understand discretion, and good cooks whose food they can eat without subjecting it to an array of detection specs.

This arrangement can work in two ways. Your character can offer to purchase the establishment from the merchant, and then pay the merchant (and other employees) a salary. This means that the merchant has to give up his chance of riches and autonomy. But he has a large amount of gold in his hand. Or, your character can give a smithy (or inn, or mill) to a prospective owner who has demonstrated skill and honesty and is willing to pay your character back, in gold and services. Any such contract may be verbal with the rules being made up as the situations occur, or carefully drawn up and supervised by the appropriate legal clerks, in accordance with your character's alignment and relationship with the merchant in question

Powerful characters with rooms full of gold may wish to buy a large merchant company, trading coster, or shipping business. These enterprises are easy to run once they get established because they often control all aspects of their business. A shipping company, for example, may have its own woodcutters cut wood for its own porters to take to its own yards, for its own shipwrights to make into ships. Goods then go to warehouses in one city to a carefully-routed triangle, trading goods for goods more valuable at each stop. Such immense investments cost huge amounts of money, but give your character prestige, power, and influence

Activities

Your character or group may wish to sponsor some sort of competition. It can be to gather together the finest competitors in order to reseat new party members, seek out a particular henchmen of known skill, or just for fun.

Wrestling matches and foot races are two almost umversally popular forms of competition. Wrestling (or boxing, or martial arts) competitions normally use a single-elimination system which results in a dramatic final match between the two best undefeated fighters. Foot races can be part of a larger track and field. meet, or a single long-distance race. In either case, betting (whether legal or not) is often a large part of the fun for many participants and spectators.

An archery tournament can be set up at little cost--a few straw targets and some open land is all that is needed. Of course, a cash prize is important. This can be a set prize (monetary or an appropriate magic item), or it can be a purse, which is a percentage of the entry fees. Some things can malce the toumament flow more smoothly (a spyglass or two for spotting, for example), but the basic needs can be met by a few low-level characters acting in concert.

A joust caters to the nobility, and if the characters sponsor a joust, at least one of them should be a noble of some reputation, or nobody will show up! They must have extra lances, healers on hand to tend to those accidentally injured, and be able to provide meals for a large group of extravagant diners.

A specialized tournament of a different form, such as a treasure hunt for thieves or fair for wizards could also be set up. The players may have to offer some sort of amnesty if they wish thieves to come out and identify themselves. Thev must also be very careful with security if they wish to have a score or two wizards running around on their property. Damage to person or property is possible in the event of a miscast spells. accidentally-triggered protection magic, or a short temper.

Lastly, characters may well want to have a plain old party. Holidays, marriages, or success in an adventure may make them wish to invite their friends and neighbors over for eating, drinking, dancing, playing games, and general merriment.

Gifts

A gift can often sway the opinions of others who may be unmoved by actions, words, or vulgar offers of cash. Ihe character may wish to seek out a special gift or choose something from an unspecified stash of gems and jewelry. This gift can be given to a romantic interest for no occasion, an expected gift due to a feudal lord, or a pacifistic tribute to a neighboring landowner with whom the character has had border disputes.

Gifts can also be made of minor magical items the character doesn't need. These items should be given to adventurers or authorities with similar interests. Thus, a knight may give his magic shield to his church or a squire of another knight when he gets a better one. An elf may leave a magic dagger with a dryad he meets in the wilderness. A wizard may give his guild a copy of a new spell he has created or found.

Gifts don't need to be carefully thought out, nor do they need to be insignificant magic items. An impromptu gift made to a character or friendly monster is sometimes in order. How often has your character had his bacon saved by a treant, shedu, or good dragon? These items come from somewhere, and it would be an interesiing turnaround if your character gave one to them. In return for valuable information or pulling your character from a waterfall just in time.

Donations or Endowments

Donating to a temple can be mandatory for some classes. Some priests must pay a tithe, or sometimes more, to a temple. If your character is a member of a faith that requires a tithe, he should pay it. Otherwise, followers of nearly any faith are asked to make donations, and player characters should at least give something to these temples in order to stay on their good side, if nothing else. If they do, they may find that the cost of services (that is, curing and restorative spells) and goods will be reduced. If they do not regularly make donations, they may not be able to purchase anything at all from the temples.

Of course, from a role-playing perspective, characters who make noticeable donations to their respecnve faith gain the notice of the priests, who may refer adventures their way. Perhaps a fellow member of the faith is a machant whose ships have been falling prey to pirates or a monster. Perhaps the merchant has a thief in the company who makes his presence known in the usual manner. Maybe the machant himself has no need for adventurers, but an old friend, an advisor to the duke, is worried about the rebellion festering in the south and wishes some brave people would round up a few of the agitators for questioning.

Generous player character might wish to give their money to a cause that will provide their character with no chance of monetary return or oive them no immediate matenal benefit at all. A hospital, orphanage. or school could be established and would then need money on a regular basis. Providing an establishment like this with a large initial outlay would be a logical move for any good character. Ideally, your character urill be able to find somebody skillful at procuring donations from the community to help with the maintenance, but the organization may still have to be bailed out in bad times.

Good characters in a game system based on experience points (nearly all of them) might be given an award for setting up a charity. This experience point award will not be given for simply deducting a number of coins from the character sheet, but for contacting the other characters involved, running the organization, buying or clearing land, overseeing construction, notifying the people who will need its services, etc. This process could take up to a year of game time and provide numerous encounters with members of the community.

Good characters in an oppressive environment may wish to set up a "safe house" for others of like mind. This can be a stop for escaped slaves, rebels planning a coup or good rogues in an evil society. The safe house should ideally be a normal-looking home or business, and have an escape route, and possibly hidden weapon or treasure stores. Each situation will also have its own concerns and may need special equipment.

Miscellaneous

Just as many people do in the real world, your character may wish to further his education. Learning a trade is a matter of finding the right master willing to pass in his secret knowledge, but an academic education can be obtained by enrolling in a university. If your character meets the umversity's requirements (enough gold meets nearly all of them), your character can learn such skills as reading and writing, a new tongue, a musical instrument, literature, singing, alchemy, astrology, history, religion, navigation, or engineering. Depending on the campaign, there may also be trade schools or guilds where other skills may be learned.

A well-played character may have a collection that he is constantly adding to. Collectibles common to adventurers include knives, swords, or armor and shields. Coins, autographs, holy symbols, even pottery, can be interesting to someone who has a genuine attraction to that field. GMs love to use this type of game interest to motivate adventures or to reward players wrth something more interesting than " 1d6 gp for each goblin". While the other party members are searching the goblins for silver, your priest character might find, used as a booster seat at a dining table, a rare onginal of the famous autobiography Journeys Across the Planes by the patron saint of your character's faith.

Like in real life, there are more experiences to do than can be done by any one person. Especially in a fantasy world. Undoubtedly, you're motivated to go beyond this list and spend more gold than your character will ever have. That's a good thing because your character will always have the drive to go on "one more" quest.

Good luck, and good spending.

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com