Hello,
I have a bit of a gripe with how the reputation system works, namely with how fast people seem to forget good deeds of the company.
I understand that from a design point of view it is an incentive for the players to keep travelling and nursing their employers, but sometimes it’s really jarring. We run a mercenary company that lives off of available contracts, so it’s only natural that we move on when there is nothing else to do in a particular place. Why should we be essentially punished for that? Especially in a span of just several days?
It does kind of make sense when dealing with noble houses (those ungrateful stuck-up snobs) or largest cities (a lot of things going on all the time, hence our achievements are just another occurrence), but none whatsoever when it happens with smaller settlements…
“Last week I returned your stolen relic, cleared your cemetery of the undead AND protected your village from an army of orcs – where the HELL is your gratitude NOW, you filthy peasants?!” ;]
On a more serious note it also impacts finances at the start of the campaign quite a bit as the smaller settlements often provide valuable trading goods which you really need to buy at a reputation-derived discount in order to make some much-needed profit.
Maybe the rate of deterioration could be tied to the size of town and the general reputation of the company? A small village would not easily forget venerated heroes who saved it from monsters while bigger cities would require constant activity, especially if the company is not very renowned nor respected.
.
