RPG-ology #91: Shares

This is RPG-ology #91:  Shares, for June 2025.

Our thanks to Regis Pannier and the team at the Places to Go, People to Be French edition for locating a copy of this and a number of other lost Game Ideas Unlimited articles.  This was originally Game Ideas Unlimited:  Shares, and is reposted here with minor editing [bracketed].

This article was originally published in or about 2001; core ideas from it were re-used in the 2018 article RPG-ology #19:  Treasure Auction available in print in RPG-ology Volume I:  The First Five Years.  It was thought that there was enough difference between the two articles to make it worthwhile to publish this seven years later.

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At the end of each adventure, there are usually a few loose ends left to gather.  In my experience, there are generally a bunch of things that have been collected during the course of the adventure, and a bunch of people who feel they have some claim to those things.  The problem that confronts the party–and by inference the players–is how to fairly and reasonably divide those things among those people.  A number of methods have been suggested and tried in different game books and by players.  I’ll give you a few that might spark your own thoughts.

The cash is usually easy.  Everyone generally divides it evenly, or as evenly as possible, among the surviving characters.  Sometimes there will be distinctions made, such as that adjunct characters get smaller shares.  Usually if you don’t survive, you don’t get paid.  Say duh, if you like, but I’m not convinced that it should be that way.

The last time I recruited a party, I offered each potential party member a percentage.  We do large games, and often have parties in excess of twenty player characters, so my percentages were ranging from two to five percent.  I made it clear that the people I expected would be bearing the brunt of the danger–the higher level characters, those who had been with me on earlier missions, the ones I trusted or who had skills I anticipated needing–were being offered larger shares; but it was equally clear that I had not promised out everything, so I had the power to raise any one character’s share without lowering any other (or to add additional members to the party without impacting anyone’s share).  I also stipulated in the contract that each character was to provide me with next of kin or other assigned heir, and that if they were unfortunate enough not to survive the mission I guaranteed that I (or in the event of my death, my officers) would deliver their share to that person.  We were not truly equal, and we were not equals, and in that situation it was perfectly fair to divide the treasure unequally, so long as that was understood in advance.

But how do you divide the things?  Be they bits of jewelry or magic weapons or potions or laser rifles or computer components or whatever it is in the milieu that has value but is not directly negotiable, there are always these things that are acquired that count as treasure and need to be divided.  How do you divide these?

There is a certain equity to selling the whole lot and dividing the money; but then, there will always be something that someone in the party can use effectively.  The others will probably feel that if one person is going to get some item, he should get less cash–but on the other hand, the person getting the item will argue that they will use the item for the good of the party, and should not be penalized for that.  So to balance it you end up trying to divide objects with very different values evenly among characters with very different needs and strengths.

The oldest method I’ve seen recommended in print amounts to casting lots, drawing straws, if you will.  It is suggested that each player roll the dice for his character, and then each pick in order from highest to lowest roll.  It’s not so simple as that.  It is suggested that higher level characters should get more rolls and adjunct characters only half as many.  It’s an interesting way to do it; but it somehow doesn’t strike me as realistic.  I can’t really imagine a bunch of adventurers drawing straws to see who gets what.

Many parties fall back on the dictates of their leadership.  That is, whatever method they use to decide everything else they also use to decide this.  That usually means someone in charge decides who gets what.  But even here, there are many different approaches.

Perhaps the most common assumption is that whatever is given to a character belongs to that character, and he can use it or sell it or do whatever suits him.  I have seen several parties in which this was not the case.  The top people in these groups regarded all special items as property of the party for the use of party members to benefit the party.  No one owned these things; they carried them and used them however they saw fit, to benefit the party.  Thus you might have a +3 long sword or a laser rifle, and you might be very good with it; but if you left the party, or you died, there was no question about whose it was–it belonged to the party, and they would not hesitate to give it to someone else who would put it to use on behalf of the party.  After they fought whatever it was that was protecting that valuable piece of equipment, why should you be permitted to walk away with it?  You are welcome to remain part of the team and continue to use it; but we aren’t going to lose you and that powerful weapon on the same day.

Party consensus is very similar to this; the group agrees as to how things will be divided, for the good of the group.  Usually if something isn’t useable by someone in the party, it’s sold by the party, along with other valuables such as jewelry, and so converted to easily divisible cash.

Completely random assignment of items may sound like a crazy strategy, but it’s actually not so implausible as it sounds.  After all, if a character is given an object he can’t use, he’s in a position to bargain with whoever can use it to get something of value to him–even if it’s only the future good will of other party members.

I devised a method I had never seen used; although when I used it we were splitting a huge hoard (and it took several game sessions), it made good sense for that group, and several players in that group have insisted on using the method in other games.  It guarantees that everyone will get a fair share of everything, as long as nothing is so precious that it alone is worth more than anyone could afford and there are at least a few items which are of value.  I held an auction.

The auction concept is simple.  First, the cash is divided; it helps if there’s a lot of this, but as long as there’s a reasonable amount the system works.  Someone agrees to chair the auction; he has to determine the order in which things will be auctioned, and he has to be prepared to set a starting bid which he will pay to the pot if no one else bids.  It is more effective if the items likely to have the lowest value are placed first and those having the highest value last, because money is going to start changing hands and the knowledge that the good stuff is yet to come can impact bidding strategies.

The auctioneer presents the first item and announces his bid.  If no one is willing to pay more than that for that item, he takes it as his own and places that much of his own money into the pot; if someone thinks he has undervalued the item (which if he is smart he probably has) they can bid higher; the bidding progresses until no one can or will bid more.  The highest bidder pays his money to the pot, and takes the item.  In this way, every item goes to the person who thinks it has the most value to him, for a value not less than whatever value is placed on it by the person who values it second most.  Each item is presented in turn in this fashion.

The auctioneer has another very powerful weapon:  he gets to decide when the pot is divided.  It is always divided according to whatever shares have been agreed, and any remainder that cannot be so divided is left in the pot.  Thus it is possible for the auctioneer to boost his own currency when he is short and to choke competitive bidders when they are short; but it is overall to his advantage to keep the money in the pockets of the bidders, because as long as they all have money they will bid up the items and pay the pot.  On one occasion I divided thirty thousand gold among twelve characters, ran the auction, kept feeding the money back into their hands, and walked away with my cut at twelve thousand; I only took two items, because I thought they all paid way too much for whatever they bought.  But that was their prerogative.  If Spyder Norwind thought that magic sword was worth thirty thousand gold (and was willing to borrow money to cover that bid), my kensai was adequately compensated for my share of what to him was a useless weapon.

It helps to set a minimum raise, and preferably a fluid one, such as one percent over last bid.  This prevents such outrageous raises of ten thousand dollars and one cent, increases that don’t benefit anyone and merely prolong the bidding.  Also, if you have a large number of items, try to break it up a bit–role play the auction, then role play a break for something else like dinner and come back to role play the rest.  After fifteen to twenty items, players really start to get the hang of how it works; but after forty, they start getting punch drunk.  I have said that several players at that original auction now think it the only reasonable way for a party to divide its treasure; however, after three or four game sessions spent dividing up well over a hundred items (along with the attendant interruptions, which included a cleric invoking the presence of her deity to ask whether an object had importance to him, a fighter accidentally setting off a magic item the illusionist beside him had purchased, a fight breaking out between several characters, characters making private deals such as selling items they previously purchased or promising services or interest on loans to raise cash to cover a bid, and adventures beyond this I cannot now recall without my journals), one player has vowed not to play in any game in which this method of treasure division is used.  It’s a wonderful way to keep the annoying twit from pestering our games.

I hope I’ve given you some new ideas on how to treat those pesky treasure objects you always have to divide.

[Next week, something different.]

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