Producing and Selling Art

Art and Income

Art is not a quick way to gain a regular income. That is what the income merit is for. The income merit indicates that money is coming in, it is up to you to specify how, maybe its from the sale of artwork, maybe not. If you regularly produce artwork, but have not bought the income merit then you have to assume that your character is a bad businessman/can't afford to become well known because the art would be recognised/whatever.

It is also unacceptable to give works of art to other people, who then sells them and gives you a mansion, or a car or whatever in return (OK, so no one's doing this at present but I've seen something similar happen in another game ``Oh, I have to pay 80% of my income to the church. I know don't pay me for this mission, pay my mate Jon and he'll buy me any equipment or magic potions or stuff that I need'' and I want to stomp on it before it happens). If you are given works of art by someone then again any money you make from selling it is assumed to be covered by your income merit and any perks you choose to give to the artist in return, should come out of this income. If you have suddenly made friends with an artist ``in game'' who you did not know when you created your character then you should apply to the story council for permission to increase your income merit with experience points, they will tell you how many it is going to cost.

You may think that the sort of increase in money that can be gained in an increase of income is too small to indicate the genuine increase in income that would follow from ready access to good paintings. However, bear in mind that the value of modern art depends greatly on its availability. Either you are selling a constant stream of work, in which case you will flood the market and its value will go down, or you are only selling the occasional piece, in which case although it commands a high price, the net effect spread over a number of months is mirrored by the increase in income.

There may be rare occasions when you are likely to come by an unexpected windfall of money due to the sale of a picture. This should not occur more than once a year (if that - otherwise it will count as income). If this is the case then discuss it with the story council.

Disclaimer

Obviously if one character is willing and able to hand over a large sum of money (or whatever) to another that is quite all right by these rules. So long as the first character can justify possession of his money with his income merit, and (if the sum is larger than his income) is aware than he cannot do this sort of thing too often. That is so long as the money comes from somewhere and is no longer there once it has been given away!!!!!

Producing Art

Please excercise common sense when producing works of art. Artists are not production lines. If you are producing something new every day, then the work will, in all likelihood, be substandard examples of less artistic merit than you are capable. About one piece per Toreador Ball should be more than sufficient.

NPC Briefing Sheet