Heh. It's quite difficult to perfectly balance a game economy.
This is why NP's are so cool. Hopefully, even if you make a zillion
gold/turn, the game still won't explode. Gold is useful, but it's
not a top-3 resource.
A question I put to the playtest design list was "Let's think of more
things to spend money on". More fun than "Let's whittle down the ways
players can make money." I would like the various ways of making money
to be roughly comparable, just so that there isn't One Best Way to make
money. If you would rather build an inn than cure runny noses, for
roleplay reasons, you shouldn't be totally hosed. I'm not concerned that
you can make 400 gold/month reading palms, just that it's out of line
with some other pursuits.
-- Rich Skrenta <skrenta@pbm.com>